# Random channels go black on TIVO HD



## DrDatabase (Mar 15, 2003)

I'm experiencing a wierd problem with my tivo hd. It has OTA and m-stream cable card installed on Cox Orange County Ca. Firmware is 9.2

All the correct channels display fine in the begining but over time I'll lose random channels (only cable not ota). They aren't part of a particular tier of premium or HD channels but a truely random selection. Some could be basic cable channels along with a mix of premium or HD channels.

I can sometimes get a non-performing channel to display if I repeatedly change to that channel from a lower numbered channel.

When I do a system reset all the channels work again for a day or two. Then I'll start the cycle over again with a random mix of channels not displaying any picture or sound.

I don't know if its the m-card, some wierd cable issue, flaky firmware or a bad tivo unit.

Has anyone out there experienced anything similar?


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

Are the channels you lose analog or digital? Or both?


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## csgraber (Feb 8, 2006)

I have TimeWarner NE Ohio.

I suspect that I may have the "random channels" going black, but I know mine aren't random.

As you may know you have encrypted and non-encrypted digital channels. The non-encrypted will never go black (I forget which ones, but they include DIscovery HD, local HD channels, and the just normal channels like comedy) - your selection may vary.

The black channels are unlocked by your cablecard. If something happens. . .and the cable card doesn't "refresh" correctly it can loose the encrypted channels - and they go completely black.


I restart my tivo and it seems to refresh the cards correctly. I usually check showtime every sunday just to make sure I get Dexter that evening 

Please note - mine doesn't happen That often (twice in the last month). My guess it is a combination of signal quality and something your cable company is doing.


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## shanebowman (Oct 9, 2005)

Wjhile I am on Time Warner and can only get S Cards, I experience the same thing everytime the ********cable company upgrades their lineup. I don't notice until soomething does not record. Time Warner is putting all of their new HD on a switched format so cable cards can't get them so it is extremely frustrating as the new programming is of no use to me. TIvo evidently does not recognize the update since the channels are not available, but it makes random channels go black. A reboot fixes it until the next update.


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## pedz (May 13, 2007)

I am experiencing the same problem as the original poster, I have a series 3. There is a set of channels that regularly go black (comedy central, TNT HD, and some others) and I have to do a reset to get them back, and the reset always works. But it happens every couple of days. I was waiting for 9.2 to see if that made a difference, but I have 9.2 now and it is still happening. It is very frustrating.

Any thoughts will be appreciated. I will probably call TIVO this weekend if it persists (now that I have 9.2).

Thanks,
peter


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

H'mm. I spotted a similar problem with my second THD this morning -- some of the encrypted digital channels would not tune. There are two CCs in that unit, and the two tuners differ in which channels they can't tune.

I'll try a reset when I get home from work tonight and see if that clears it up.


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## DrDatabase (Mar 15, 2003)

bkdtv said:


> Are the channels you lose analog or digital? Or both?


 It can be a mixture of encrypted and non-encrypted channels and both digital and standard analog channels are equally affected. I definitely think the problem lies more on the Tivo end of things. I too will start my complaint process with Tivo. If they hear from enough of us these might work on a fix.


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## macizoe (Dec 31, 2006)

I am having the same problem with one of my Series 3 units. Channels go to black, if I restart the unit they come back. It seems to be happening a lot on the HD network feeds. and just started in the last few weeks. I am on Time Warner in Northridge, CA.


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## j_edge (Jun 2, 2002)

macizoe said:


> I am having the same problem with one of my Series 3 units. Channels go to black, if I restart the unit they come back. It seems to be happening a lot on the HD network feeds. and just started in the last few weeks. I am on Time Warner in Northridge, CA.


I'm having the same problem on Time Warner Austin, TX. I've been experiencing it for the past 6 months or so, but it has seemed to get a lot more frequent in the past month. I had just decided to call Time Warner since it always seems to be on CableCard 1 (the bottom slot) to see if they could swap that one out when I thought I'd do a search just to see if I'm the only one and found this thread. For me it is just specific channels, like the HD Network channels. The Tivo doesn't seem to notice anything is happening as it will show as recording, however the arrow does not move (and nothing is actually recorded). Other channels work fine when this happens and the only ways I've found to fix it are restart the Tivo or eject the card and reinsert and let it reacquire the signal. Nothing out of the ordinary in the diagnostics screens, signal strengths appear to be the same as the other card, etc.

So has anyone heard anything from Tivo regarding this issue, or had luck just replacing their CC(s)?

-j-E


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

having a similar issue, but a reboot does nothing. Affected channels are all in the analog tier (but are being digitally simulcast). Cable co came out, line is fine and m-card SA box can tune the channels fine. Anyone hear anything from TiVo?


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## pcsmith811 (Sep 27, 2005)

same thing happens to me (series3)... cox in AZ. it's pretty annoying and I lost a couple recordings this week because of it.

is this a cable company issue or Tivo issue?


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## steinercat (Nov 16, 2007)

same problem here.

1 month old THD.

Cox Las Vegas.

ABC HD was blacked out most of the day yesterday. Reboot, restart, on/off, cables....did NOT solve the problem.

Woke up this morning. ABC HD back in action. go figure!

*using HDMI.


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

I think my issue might be related to deployment of ADS in my area.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

For those with the problem, have you verified both CableCards are still authorized properly?


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

Yes still verified. I get all premium channels, just not a few analog ones that are now being simulcast digitally.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

dig_duggler said:


> Yes still verified. I get all premium channels, just not a few analog ones that are now being simulcast digitally.


Did you test through the Test Channels menu? You can't verify by changing channels because the first CableCard gets used when none are in use. Also, did you verify the Auth for both cards in the CableCard menu?


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

Also seeing this in Phoenix. Cox is my provider. Although, I do remember getting a few postcards in the mail from them regarding upgrades to equipment in our area and possible interruptions in service. 

I forced a reboot yesterday and the missing channels came back.

I have a TivoHD with single M-Card.


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

rainwater said:


> Did you test through the Test Channels menu? You can't verify by changing channels because the first CableCard gets used when none are in use. Also, did you verify the Auth for both cards in the CableCard menu?


Yes. And verified on both cable cards. And yes both cable cards are authorized. All black screens are tuning successfully according to Diagnostics. I believe if the cable cards were not authorized I would not be getting premium channels or that _some_ simulcast channels would display correctly while some give the black screen.

I seem to be unique (in this thread) in that reboot does not bring anything back. I'm guessing in my instance that the mappings for the cable cards aren't right or they are using SDV for some of the simulcast. Don't think it's the SDV as the channels that aren't coming in are fairly popular (Comedy Central, Sci Fi). In either case I suspect Brighthouse networks, but can't say for sure. Their SA boxes with M-Cards tune fine.


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## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

Same problem. Comcast in Houston, M card.


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

bigray327 said:


> Same problem. Comcast in Houston, M card.


Does a reboot (temporarily) fix it?


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## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

dig_duggler said:


> Does a reboot (temporarily) fix it?


Yeah, for whatever channel it's on at the moment, but it usually just shuffles around which channels are black. 

9.2a, BTW.


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## rtw1701 (Nov 27, 2007)

I have same problem with my THD, and brighthouse cable. Sort of good to know not just me, but hopefully other than a long reset to fix will come out.


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## film2k (Dec 10, 2007)

DrDatabase said:


> I'm experiencing a wierd problem with my tivo hd. It has OTA and m-stream cable card installed on Cox Orange County Ca. Firmware is 9.2
> 
> All the correct channels display fine in the begining but over time I'll lose random channels (only cable not ota). They aren't part of a particular tier of premium or HD channels but a truely random selection. Some could be basic cable channels along with a mix of premium or HD channels.
> 
> ...


I have Cox Cable in northern Virginia. They have started adding new HD channels but they are only supported by two-way devices (i.e., their digital set-top boxes and their DVRs, but not one-way cable cards in the Series 3.) Their solution (after a visit from the tech today) was to get rid of my Series 3 box and get a Cox DVR. Needless to say I was not pleased, and have no intention of doing so.

TiVo says they are committed to deploying a USB device that will plug into the back of the Series 3, allowing it to have two-way communications, by the 2nd Quarter of 2008.


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## tim4umd (May 29, 2007)

same problem here in Las Vegas COX cable with 2 tivo HD. I have 2 tivo HD and happens at same TIME! SO it must be a combination of both. Why doesn't tivo have a solution. If a channel doesn't come in in 30 seconds to autorefresh the cards. doesnt seem hard. computers can log out and log back in to refresh. why cant tivo.
Oh well I will call Tivo and COX and Monday. My $ is on the fact they blame each other and deny any knowledge of the problem RESETS SOLVE THE PROBLEM< BUT ARE TIME CONSUMING


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

Still seeing this issue - every day or two - rebooting is still fixing it but is a pain. Let us know what you find when you call Cox.


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## Roderigo (Mar 12, 2002)

tim4umd said:


> same problem here in Las Vegas COX cable with 2 tivo HD. I have 2 tivo HD and happens at same TIME! SO it must be a combination of both. Why doesn't tivo have a solution. If a channel doesn't come in in 30 seconds to autorefresh the cards. doesnt seem hard. computers can log out and log back in to refresh. why cant tivo.
> Oh well I will call Tivo and COX and Monday. My $ is on the fact they blame each other and deny any knowledge of the problem RESETS SOLVE THE PROBLEM< BUT ARE TIME CONSUMING


What happens if you just remove and reinsert the card? What do the cablecard and tivo diagnostics screen say when things aren't working. Maybe there's a clue as to what's going on wrong there.


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## cmonroe (Sep 1, 2007)

I've been having this problem ever since the 9.2 update as well. 8.x and 9.1 were perfect for me, my TiVo would stay up for days. The worst part is I sometimes leave for a week and come back to find my TiVo has only recorded a couple days worth of shows. Are there any stats I can look at to help narrow down the cause?


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## pcarp516 (Dec 18, 2007)

dig_duggler said:


> I seem to be unique (in this thread) in that reboot does not bring anything back. I'm guessing in my instance that the mappings for the cable cards aren't right or they are using SDV for some of the simulcast. Don't think it's the SDV as the channels that aren't coming in are fairly popular (Comedy Central, Sci Fi). In either case I suspect Brighthouse networks, but can't say for sure. Their SA boxes with M-Cards tune fine.


You're not unique. My Tivo HD is experiencing the same problem. I've tried resetting the box, repeating guided setup, everything short of doing an erase everything on my tivo and crossing my fingers. I had the comcast guy out over the weekend. He verified that the cards are properly authorized. In fact, I haven't had problems with my premium channels, only the extended basic cable channels between channels 40 and 100.

I did some extensive checking and troubleshooting while looking at Tivo's website. I did learn the following. All of the channels under 100 show as "Not_Subscribed" when you are looking at the "conditional access" screen under the cable card menu. What's odd about this is that all of the basic non-premium channels show up as unsubscribed; some of them work and some of them do not.

My working theory of the problem is this, and it may be entirely wrong. Comcast's boxes do not require authorization to display any channel under 100, they are all fiat authorized from the factory to do so. The cablecards, however, require conditional authorization for every channel. Why do some work and some don't? I suspect that some of the channels are digitized in a way that renders them in higher quality. The cablecard's permission settings do not allow decrypting of an unauthorized channels.

So what's the solution? If I'm right, the cable companies need to add authorization to their flash packets for all the basic and extended basic channels. I'm going to call TiVo tomorrow and ***** about it because I wouldn't be having this problem if I was using comcast's DVR. (despite the fact that I'd want to kill myself every time I had to use it...)


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

I am still seeing this. And last night, a reboot wasn't actually bringing the channels back. Everything was fine for first few months - just start seeing this. Did anybody find out anything? 

Are you all still seeing this issue?


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

As a follow up, I removed the CableCARD and was able to tune channels 2-99 without issue. Reinserted the CableCARD, and the same channels went back to black.


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## jimerb (Apr 17, 2005)

I have the same problem. There are some other posts on the board with the same sympthom. None have a solution.

It sure would be nice if Tivo support was reading and commenting on this forum on a regular basis.

This is a major problem and there's no fix in sight. I've had a case open for a couple of weeks now and they told me the other day that they were sending it to level 3. I told the tech that this is on the fourms with a lot of people with the same issue.


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## bweeston (Nov 23, 2007)

I'm posting this response to see if this may be a cause. I'm in the Cox Phoenix area with two TivoHD's using an M-Card in each. I've begun to notice that a specific group of channels drop out the day I schedule a recording online and usually after Tivo sends the record message to my Tivo. 

The last thing I do before going to sleep at night is change all tuners to one of my non-HD movie channels. I don't change anything else or look at my Tivo's until returning home from work the next evening.

The channels I lose are 100 and above and include my movie channel tiers which have a gray background. My HD local broadcasts are there but "premium" channels above 715 have black background as well as my HD movie channels. A reboot clears the problem up, but I'm wondering what triggers the loss of these channels during the day. I talked with a Cox cable tv technician and he assured me that Cox doesn't do any random or routine hits on cablecards but will send some hits to their cable boxes. If Tivo is sending updates or regularly connecting to my TivoHDs for whatever reason, some of those connections seem to cause a disconnect for extended basic and premium channels.

I came home yesterday to see my recording lights on and when I tuned to the HD movie channel I thought was being recorded, there was no picture to view.

It is irritating to come home and find your scheduled recordings are recording only a black background and you have to reboot to get back your entire tv lineup.


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## Mace (Sep 22, 2002)

My cable company, Charter, has an option on their phone support system to reset cable box(es). It has been over week since I did this, but I have had no more random channels going black on my series 3 TiVo.


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## ginamona (Dec 28, 2006)

Exact same problem here in Phoenix with Cox. Black screens on 100-700 every couple of days. Resetting of Tivo always works but extremely frustrating.


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

Same kind of thing in Fairfax, Va. I lose the digital Channels and non local HD channels about every week or 10 days on my Tivo Hd. This doesn't happen on my S3 with 2 SA S cards. Its already taken 3 HD boxes from Costco to try and solve other problems. Ready to pull my hair, what little I have of it out...or take it back to Costco and get an 8300 DVR. Not very bright, but at least it doesn't lose channels...and Cox has been out and changed the M Card twice. Found no problems with it.


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## Pat4701 (Jan 1, 2008)

I have the same problem with my new TIVO HD. Restarting the TIVO seems to always resolve the issue but it doesn't fix the hours of blank screen recorded instead of the show I wanted.


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## Supermurph (Oct 15, 2007)

Just adding . . . . me too (Cox in Phx). Tonight is the first time that resetting the Tivo doesn't bring them back. Can anybody post if you have this problem and are NOT using HDMI? I was thinking it might be that connection before reading these posts.


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## superunknown911 (Dec 30, 2006)

Same issue here with Cox in Phoenix. All channels that are not basic cable (all HD and digital cable channels) go black/grey. VERY frustrating and happens every 2-3 days using a single m-card. Wish Tivo would do something about it!


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

Add me to the list...

Cox / Phx
Single M-Card
Tivo HD
Component Video

Random channels go blank and a restart fixes it.

I replaced my S3 with the THD because of pixelation issues. When the tech was out, the single cards never really worked with the S3 but when we installed a M-card into the THD, my pixelation went away. Now I have this issue with the channels going blank every couple days.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

Supermurph - I am using component and am experiencing the issue. Reboots used to fix the problem...but as of right now I have gone 5 days and several reboots without the channels coming back.


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## yakima2k (Jan 17, 2005)

bweeston said:


> I'm posting this response to see if this may be a cause. I'm in the Cox Phoenix area with two TivoHD's using an M-Card in each. I've begun to notice that a specific group of channels drop out the day I schedule a recording online and usually after Tivo sends the record message to my Tivo.
> 
> The last thing I do before going to sleep at night is change all tuners to one of my non-HD movie channels. I don't change anything else or look at my Tivo's until returning home from work the next evening.
> 
> ...


I am having exactly the same issue as posted here. Couldn't have typed it any better myself...

ps - I'm a Charter subscriber on the Outer Banks of NC


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

My guess with the variety locations of users and the common piece being that they are all behaving the same with the same equipment (THD, M-Cards, blank channels, restarts fixes) that this might be a Tivo software bug.

Thoughts?


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## yakima2k (Jan 17, 2005)

YazooWho said:


> My guess with the variety locations of users and the common piece being that they are all behaving the same with the same equipment (THD, M-Cards, blank channels, restarts fixes) that this might be a Tivo software bug.
> 
> Thoughts?


I think it's absolutely a Tivo issue, because I do not experience channel blackout on my Charter HD box in the bedroom. It's definitely something to do with the way the Tivo HD and the CableCard are interacting.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

yakima2k said:


> I think it's absolutely a Tivo issue, because I do not experience channel blackout on my Charter HD box in the bedroom. It's definitely something to do with the way the Tivo HD and the CableCard are interacting.


And I would say it's absolutely the case that it (the Cox Phoenix problems - there are other problems in this thread that are different) is a cable company problem. There have been several locations discussed in this forum where the cable company is changing how they handle cablemaps as they prepare for SDV. In a number of them, the cable company has goofed up with the symptoms seen here. In a couple, the company has found the problem, admitted it was their fault, and fixed it. (The problem is just bad cablemaps in some locations; in others it is bad programming such that the cablemap works for M-cards but not S-cards or vice versa).

Your Charter HD box undoubtedly does not have cable cards in it, and thus is unaffected.

The cable cards and the TiVos are pretty constant throughout the country (and most people have no problems). What causes these sorts of problems in particular locations are cable company goofups.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

CrispyCritter said:


> And I would say it's absolutely the case that it (the Cox Phoenix problems - there are other problems in this thread that are different) is a cable company problem. There have been several locations discussed in this forum where the cable company is changing how they handle cablemaps as they prepare for SDV. In a number of them, the cable company has goofed up with the symptoms seen here. In a couple, the company has found the problem, admitted it was their fault, and fixed it. (The problem is just bad cablemaps in some locations; in others it is bad programming such that the cablemap works for M-cards but not S-cards or vice versa).
> 
> Your Charter HD box undoubtedly does not have cable cards in it, and thus is unaffected.
> 
> The cable cards and the TiVos are pretty constant throughout the country (and most people have no problems). What causes these sorts of problems in particular locations are cable company goofups.


That might actually make good sense too, because, as I previously posted, Cox had sent out postcards to my neighborhood and I have actually witnessed a Cox contractor swapping out some equipment at each of the boxes between every few houses in the neighborhood. This was about 2 weeks ago.

How do we get it fixed if this is the case...and if the cablemaps are screwed up, why would rebooting fix it for some?


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## dwiller (Sep 28, 2001)

I am having the same problem and am VERY frustrated. I have Comcast. A Series 3 TiVo with 2 S-Card CableCards. I've had my Series 3 since 9/06 with no problems until now. 

When I first noticed the problem, restarting TiVo fixed it. Now, I'm losing channels randomly. When I go to 'Test Channels' in the CableCard menu I get "No Channels Available". 2 days ago, I had nothing in the 200s and nothing above 807 (so most of my HD channels). Then later that same day, I got the 200s back. I called Comcast and they scheduled me for a service call next week (at $25). Last night I had no channels at all, nothing. I restarted, nothing. I plugged the TiVo directly into the wall, in case I had a signal issue with all of my splits and amplifiers. Nothing. Put the TiVo back into it's splitter, plugged the coax from the splitter back into the wall, and then I had channels! I couldn't believe it. (I was in the 'test channels' screen in the CableCard menus when I did this). Watched all sorts of stuff last night, tested the lower channels, tested the 200s, tested my HBO in the 300s and all of my 800s HD channels. All worked.

Wake up this morning, I've got a black screen. TiVo is trying to record something on one of the HD Discovery channels. Start flipping around. The only channels I'm getting are from 226 - 307 (including my HBOs) I'm using the Signal Strength Meter (under settings/channels menus). It won't even let me type in 805 for example. I'm seeing about a 77 for channel strength for the channels that show up in the signal strength meter.

I tried my trick of unplugged the cable line and plugging that back in and it didn't work. I also tried rebooting again and that didn't work. I have things I want to tape tonight. This is very frustrating. I ditched the cable HD box because it was unreliable. That's why I paid $800 for this TiVo because I couldn't STAND the cable company box. But now I'm thinking I might have to go back to it. I just can't have my cable not working. If this is a TiVo issue I want to be reverted to the 9.1 software, because I didn't have problems like this until the 9.2 update. If this is a Comcast issue they'll never admit it because my other Comcast boxes work.

Dave


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

yroca said:


> That might actually make good sense too, because, as I previously posted, Cox had sent out postcards to my neighborhood and I have actually witnessed a Cox contractor swapping out some equipment at each of the boxes between every few houses in the neighborhood. This was about 2 weeks ago.
> 
> How do we get it fixed if this is the case...and if the cablemaps are screwed up, why would rebooting fix it for some?


My understanding is that rebooting forces a new downloading of the complete cablemap. The cablemap is then supposed to be refreshed every so often on these active systems, and it sounds like that is not happening correctly. As far as I know, the only ways a user has to try to refresh the cable map are to reboot, or to call the cable company to get another hit.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

CrispyCritter said:


> My understanding is that rebooting forces a new downloading of the complete cablemap. The cablemap is then supposed to be refreshed every so often on these active systems, and it sounds like that is not happening correctly. As far as I know, the only ways a user has to try to refresh the cable map are to reboot, or to call the cable company to get another hit.


My TiVoHD has lapsed to the point where rehit / reboots aren't fixing the issue. This problem seems to get worse. Anybody else where a reboot is not fixing it?


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## Supermurph (Oct 15, 2007)

Supermurph said:


> Just adding . . . . me too (Cox in Phx). Tonight is the first time that resetting the Tivo doesn't bring them back. Can anybody post if you have this problem and are NOT using HDMI? I was thinking it might be that connection before reading these posts.


After posting last night, I called Cox. They hit my card and that didn't work either. When I woke this morning, I turned on the TV and then everything was working. It's still working fine tonight. I'm sure it's temporary.

I searched through Tivo's knowledge base to see if I could find anything and something caught my eye. Take a look at paragraph c below. When I do this, it always says Tuner=0, but I have one MS card in slot 1 (presumably Cablecard 1). Am I interpreting this incorrectly or is this a clue?

------------------------------------------------------------------

For each CableCARD that is having an issue:

a. Tune to a channel that is having a problem and press RECORD to lock the tuner to the CableCARD.

b. Press the TIVO button and select Messages & Settings, then Account & System Information, and then Diagnostics.

c. On the Diagnostics screen, look for the number of the problem channel, and then look above it for the Tuner number (this reads "RecordChannel" in some software versions). This indirectly gives you the number of the CableCARD that is tuned to the channel. Tuner 0 is CableCARD 2, and Tuner 1 is CableCARD 1. (You can confirm this by pressing the CHAN DOWN button until you see the CableCARD Association number.)

d. If you cannot view any channels on this CableCARD, press the CHAN DOWN button until you see the Signal Lock listing. If the setting is No, or it keeps changing, the CableCARD is not receiving a cable signal. (When the signal keeps changing it means the DVR is searching for - and not finding - a cable signal.)


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## shane_pcs (Jan 3, 2008)

I am also having this issue in the Dallas area. I thought they had deactivated some of my channels. Turns out I just have to reboot the device. What a pain.


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## dwiller (Sep 28, 2001)

yroca said:


> My TiVoHD has lapsed to the point where rehit / reboots aren't fixing the issue. This problem seems to get worse. Anybody else where a reboot is not fixing it?


Yup, reboots not working here either. This is terrible. Just terrible. I redid Guided Setup last night after adding my antenna back into the the mix so at least I can record the local HD channels off air. After redoing Guided Setup, I had basic cable channels working and the 200 tier, but nothing above the 400s. So no Music Choice in the 500s and none of my HD in the 800s. Annoying. At this point, I don't know if I should ditch most of my cable service, because what's the point in paying $150/month if I'm not getting the channels, or if I should just suck it up and go back to the Comcast DVR (and hope I can get one that has the TiVo service) which makes my current Series 3 with lifetime service a boat anchor. I just don't get it and I don't know why TiVo hasn't responded to this thread.


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## drhump (Oct 13, 2003)

i am also experiencing this issue on one of my Series3's. I have Verizon FiOS with 2 singlestream cards. Haven't tried to reboot because i have a Seagate FreeAgent Pro attached to it and rebooting is dicey.


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## superunknown911 (Dec 30, 2006)

Is anyone experiencing this issue with Cox and Single Stream cards or is the issue only appearing with the Multi Streams? I may consider switching ot two single stream cards if it will fix the issue. Otherwise, going to sell my TivoHD and go to Dish. I'm so fed up, and now a reboot is not fixing it.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

I have a single M-Card. Cox is coming out Saturday - they looked at my signal strength history and said about 2 weeks ago, the signal definitely dropped. That was about the time they were switching out equipment in my neighborhood. I will post again Saturday afternoon with an update.


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

I got something similar except mine went Gray. ALL the encrypted HD channels. Nothing else was affected. I went into the Cable Card Menu and ran the diagnostics (where it shows like 6 different items starting with like SAblah blah blah). I have a Scientific Atlanta M-card. It failed every single diagnostic test and said it couldn't open file \something\something

I rebooted the Tivo HD and it worked fine aftewards. 

Not sure if it's a Tivo problem or the M-card/cable problem.


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## chuvakuhn (Nov 20, 2007)

I have a fairly new TivoHD with the 9.X software. The cable service is Time Warner Cable Southern Manhattan here in NYC. About a week ago, I started to experience some blank channels(all black screen). Some shows were partially recorded before going blank. I really didn't look too much into this problem since I was going on vacation, I was hoping that the glitch will resolve itself by the time I come back.

When I got home from vacation two days ago, I checked my TivoHD and it no longer receives any channels except for a limited lineup - both SD and HD. The diagnostic screen show that the blank channels are tuned, with noise ratio of 36-37, but with no picture, and they are not random at all. It looks as if the cable card is only programmed to receive basic channels. The following is what I can receive:

1	NY1	
2	WCBS	
3	TNT	
4	WNBC	
5	FOX (WNYW)	
7	WABC	
8	TBS	
10	CNN	
11	CW11 (WPIX)
702	WCBS HDTV	
703	TNT in HD	
704	WNBC HDTV	
705	WNYW HD	
707	WABC HDTV	
708	TBS HD	
709	WWOR HD	
711	WPIX-HD	
713	Thirteen HD

I tried both a reset and a power down. The blanks channels would show a split second of the picture and then display a cable card screen indicating that I should call the cable company, the phone number, cable card SN and host ID are displayed. It would do this only once on every tuned blank channel after a reset or power down. I called TWC and they tried sending a signal to the card. It worked the first time, I was good for about 5 minutes and then the same channels started to blank out again. A second call to TWC(a long wait) and a second sent signal did nothing. Now I have a scheduled appointment for this Saturday for the cable guy to look into this.

Very frustrating.

**When the single Multi-stream cable was first installed, the operator only needed the host ID and not the card SN, as opposed to what is indicated in the Tivo setup guide. I hope this wasn't the cause of the problem.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

OK. Cox guy just came and I appear to be 'fixed' - at least for now! I was lucky and got a tech who seemed to know his way around the TiVo interface. 

To recap - my issue was everything was going fine and out of the blue I lost ability to tune most channels (I was only getting 2-22 and 703-715). Reboot seemed to fix it for a while, but then even reboots would not resolve.

Everybody needs to check a value in the CableCard Diagnostics screen. To get there, go to Messages and Settings, Settings, Remote, CableCARD, & Devices, CableCard Decoder, Configure CableCard1 (at least for me with single M-card), CableCARD Menu.

Once in the CableCARD Menu, choose "SA CablceCard CA Screen" and Goto Page 2. You should see a "SubExpireTime". Mine was December 26, 2007, 5:04PM. The tech indicate this meant my CableCard was no longer authorized. He went out to the truck - to his laptop to reauthorize it - and came back in and all the channels were back. The new date says February 4, 2008, 12:48PM.

I asked him why they had to roll truck to discover this, and he seemed to indicate they can't see the SubExpireTime from their side, but I am guessing if you see a date in the value that is in the past, you may be able to call in and have them reauthorize your card (instead of 'hitting' it).

Hopefully this post can be of help to the many of you who were experiencing something similar.


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## sk1069 (Jan 6, 2008)

yroca said:


> Hopefully this post can be of help to the many of you who were experiencing something similar.


yroca, I could kiss you!!!

I have Cox Phoenix as well, and this problem was driving me nuts. I had a tech scheduled to come out on Saturday, but I had to cancel due to a family member with the flu. I was going to call and reschedule, but then I saw your post.

I called Cox, and the representative I talked to was a little reluctant to believe me. I had to convince him by reading him your forum post. He reauthorized and re-hit me. I restarted the TiVo and the channels were back. The "SubExpireTime" now says February 5th, 2008. Hopefully this Cox Rep will remember what happened and spread the word on how to fix it.

My only question is, what happens on February 5th? Will I have to call in again on February 6th or will Cox have figured it out by then?

Thanks again for posting the solution!


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## dwiller (Sep 28, 2001)

Today I seem to have some basic cable channels, and I have channels in the 200s (including Encore) up through 224. What is interesting is that 224 is the channel that was just added (THEN) - I think it's called. After that, nothing, and nothing in the 800s where my HD channels are. I also noticed that one of my CableCards (#2) has nothing all zeros for the CableCard #, Host # and Data #.. Obviously that is not good. I tried unplugging the cable for a while and am rebooting now.

Ok, I'm still getting no data for Cable Card #2, but looked back at my records (I copied ALL of the numbers (serial #, host #, data #, unit address #) down when I had these installed in Sept of '06....I used to have version 4.05 on my cable card #2, and 4.21 on cable card #1. Now they are both 4.21...I wonder if that is part of the problem or why things have stopped working.

Comcast is coming Wednesday.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

sk1069 said:


> yroca, I could kiss you!!!
> 
> I have Cox Phoenix as well, and this problem was driving me nuts. I had a tech scheduled to come out on Saturday, but I had to cancel due to a family member with the flu. I was going to call and reschedule, but then I saw your post.
> 
> ...


sk1069 - glad to hear that was your issue as well. I am hoping it helps many others who had the same issue. Unfortunately, we have wait until February to see what happens. The tech seemed to indicate that sometime before then, the TiVo and Cox will communicate and get another date in the future.


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## Highlander67 (Mar 29, 2004)

Well it's a major issue. I ended up returning my M-Card yesterday to Cox (im In Arizona) because of the constant channels going black, or in my case going grey. After resetting my TivoHD 3 times within a week, I took the cards back until this issue can get fixed.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

yroca said:


> OK. Cox guy just came and I appear to be 'fixed' - at least for now! I was lucky and got a tech who seemed to know his way around the TiVo interface.
> 
> To recap - my issue was everything was going fine and out of the blue I lost ability to tune most channels (I was only getting 2-22 and 703-715). Reboot seemed to fix it for a while, but then even reboots would not resolve.
> 
> ...


I checked my m-card as described above and it shows a date of January 28th, 2008. Thats about a month from when the card was installed. I'm still having the same issues with blank channels and reboots work.

For the record:

THD
Mcard
Cox/Phx (Scheduled to come out today with a new card)

So I'm guessing it still a issue even if the date is in the future sorry to report.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> I checked my m-card as described above and it shows a date of January 28th, 2008. Thats about a month from when the card was installed. I'm still having the same issues with blank channels and reboots work.
> 
> For the record:
> 
> ...


I had Cox come out with a new MCard today and so far today no issues. Like before, it would come randomly so I will wait a few days before passing judgement.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> I had Cox come out with a new MCard today and so far today no issues. Like before, it would come randomly so I will wait a few days before passing judgement.


I didn't have to wait days before it happened again. Here is excactly what happened this morning when I went to go check to my Tivo. The reason I'm posting this is because I really think its a tuner issue or something with the TIVo. This is my 3rd Mcard and they all behave the same way.

Turned on my system and it was on Live TV (705 HD CBS). Good, like it should be.
Changed the channel to Noggin (106) for my kid...nothing. Got the usual blank screen.
Looked at the progress bar and it wasn't moving. No response to pause, play, FF, 30 sec, nothing. Pressing Live TV button just toggled me between the the Channel (705) that was showing and a blank station (106). 
However when I press the channel up from 106, it went to the next channel and showed that. Went back down one to the original channel and nothing.
So I did it again and went up one channel and press record so it would lock that tuner to record that station. Pressed Live TV and went back to 705. I then changed the channel to 106 and NOW it showed.
I went back to the show that was recording and stopped it, and then changed the channel to 106 and everyother channel, switching between tuners and they seem to all work fine.

Something happened in the Tivo to stop showing the channel and after playing around with the tuners, it released it and started to show it again. If I remember right, the channel that was blank (106) was one of the last channels we watched last night but I will have to make sure tonight.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> I didn't have to wait days before it happened again. Here is excactly what happened this morning when I went to go check to my Tivo. The reason I'm posting this is because I really think its a tuner issue or something with the TIVo. This is my 3rd Mcard and they all behave the same way.
> 
> Turned on my system and it was on Live TV (705 HD CBS). Good, like it should be.
> Changed the channel to Noggin (106) for my kid...nothing. Got the usual blank screen.
> ...


YazooWho - I will have to repeat your steps when I get home. I noticed that 106 (NOGGIN) was not tuning on my end either - but I think it is the only channel. I will see if playing around with the tuners resolves it like it did with yours.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

yroca said:


> YazooWho - I will have to repeat your steps when I get home. I noticed that 106 (NOGGIN) was not tuning on my end either - but I think it is the only channel. I will see if playing around with the tuners resolves it like it did with yours.


One other thing I'm going to test tonight is to write down what channels were the last channels that were tuned the night before and see if those are the only channels affected. One of mine is usually 106 because of my kid and that seems to be one thats always blank the next morning.

Let me know what happens with yours.

Thanks.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> One other thing I'm going to test tonight is to write down what channels were the last channels that were tuned the night before and see if those are the only channels affected. One of mine is usually 106 because of my kid and that seems to be one thats always blank the next morning.
> 
> Let me know what happens with yours.
> 
> Thanks.


By the time I went to repeat your procedure, I had lost almost all channels - reboot fixed it. I did try your procedure before the reboot just to see, but it didn't change anything. I will watch for 106 to drop out again and try what you said. Getting tired of the reboots though - but just glad the channels come back.


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

Happened again to me tonight. Except this time, it was even the basic cable stations. I tuned into one and got a little round twirly "ZEN" icon that said, Please wait negotiating tuner or something like that. After about 10 seconds it tuned that channel and then all the others came back.

I've got an SA M-card


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

yroca said:


> By the time I went to repeat your procedure, I had lost almost all channels - reboot fixed it. I did try your procedure before the reboot just to see, but it didn't change anything. I will watch for 106 to drop out again and try what you said. Getting tired of the reboots though - but just glad the channels come back.


OK - 106 (NOGGIN) was missing this morning, but nothing else that I noticed. 107 was fine, so I switched to it and manually started a recording on it, and then did channel down to 106 and it tuned it no problem. That looks like a workaround in certain instances.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

All,

*UPDATE*
I called Tivo support again last night and it was the first time that a tech admitted that there was an "Known Issue" and their engineers are working on it.

I described the problem and we tried to look at the "Diag" screen in the CableCard Menu and I got an error. I have seen this error before and a reboot clears it. We restarted the box to get some info from the card.

I gave him my HardWare number and a few other Version numbers he requested. He also asked for my daytime phone number so an engineer can get a hold of me if needed. He told me that the problem isn't the box, isn't really the card, the connection or with the cable company. He told me that there is an issue with the card communicating with the cable companies server and when it can't communicate anymore, you will see those errors in the CableCard menu and start losing channels.

The only official fix (according to Tivo) right now is to restart the box until their engineers find a fix.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> All,
> 
> *UPDATE*
> I called Tivo support again last night and it was the first time that a tech admitted that there was an "Known Issue" and their engineers are working on it.
> ...


Thanks for the update - keep us posted. Lost channel 106 (NOGGIN) again tonight. Went to 107 and pressed record and went to 106, but it didn't work, so I went to 105 and recorded (so both tuners were locked on), and then change channel back to 106, which prompted me to cancel the recording on 105, and then it tuned fine - so it seems specific to one of the tuners or streams. Just though I would add that piece of info.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

yroca said:


> Thanks for the update - keep us posted. Lost channel 106 (NOGGIN) again tonight. Went to 107 and pressed record and went to 106, but it didn't work, so I went to 105 and recorded (so both tuners were locked on), and then change channel back to 106, which prompted me to cancel the recording on 105, and then it tuned fine - so it seems specific to one of the tuners or streams. Just though I would add that piece of info.


Funny you mention that because I tried the same tests again and got the same results.

On another note, when I got a blank channel and when trying to "trick" the tuner didn't work, I went into the CableCard menu to look at the CC screens and got the errors I had reported to Tivo. Something like "error xxx//diag.html" on every screen I tried for the card. A reboot worked and I was able to get the info.

When the trick works, you are able to retrieve the info from the CC menu.

This confirms that when the CC loses connection or wheatever it does to the server, that's when channels start disappearing and we get blank channels.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> Funny you mention that because I tried the same tests again and got the same results.
> 
> On another note, when I got a blank channel and when trying to "trick" the tuner didn't work, I went into the CableCard menu to look at the CC screens and got the errors I had reported to Tivo. Something like "error xxx//diag.html" on every screen I tried for the card. A reboot worked and I was able to get the info.
> 
> ...


Correct - and I also have seen those errors in the CableCard diagnostics referencing various HTML files. Again - reboot fixes that. At least TiVo is aware and hopefully working on the fix.


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## MarkinAZ (Dec 18, 2007)

Hi,

I've had my two HD Tivos for about 3 weeks now. I've had Tivo with DirecTV for years with maybe a half dozen restarts. My initial install resulted in audio sync problems and slow motion reported in another thread. That was fixed when I had the SA s-cards replaced with a single m-card per box. But that is when the other problems started like the occasional frozen channel but more frequently, channels going gray.

My two boxes seem to do this in sync. I can receive all channels up to 22 and my local HD channels over cable and antenna. The problem appears to be with the simulcast or mapped channels.

I'm really convinced this has to do with the cablecard but I'm looking for a consistent factor. Is it all cablecards, m-cards, s-cards, SA or Motorola. With the number of posts and concerned that Tivo hasn't addressed this yet. I really want to keep my Tivos but this type of instability is not something I can live with.

I'm hoping all of you that have posted would reply and post your setup. I'm posting mine below. I would like to see if we can find something that is the same from a hardware standpoint for all of us.

My setup
Cox Cable
1 SA m-card per Tivo
OTA antenna connected and configured
Tivo USB wireless network connection
Software version 9.2a

Thanks to all and lets hope Tivo is listening.

Mark


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## MarkinAZ (Dec 18, 2007)

I'm replying to myself because I think I have another piece of the puzzle. I spoke with Tivo support and they pointed me to CC screens to look for EMM or Entitlement Management Messages. This is what tells your CC what channels you get.

My expire date and CP Auth are fine but my EMMs processed show 0. After some research I've found this is a very necessary part of ongoing viewing. I found the EMM field in the CC configuration screen under CA Info, the top menu option under CC configuration. So at this point I'm pointing the finger at Cox until I see some other reason not to.

If anyone else has a chance to take a look post what you see for your EMMs Processed.


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## ChadS (Nov 3, 2007)

I have the same exact issue occuring with my Tivo HD here in Phoenix. It has been forcing me to do a reboot every few days. I am also seeing the error message in the CableCard diagnostic screens when the channels go black. I'm not so sure that it is a Cox issue though as I had a CableCard installed in my TV for about a year and never had this problem (although that was a S-Card).

My setup
Cox Cable
1 SA m-card
Tivo USB wireless network connection
Software version 9.2a


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## MarkinAZ (Dec 18, 2007)

I think the switch to the M-card and proper configuration is the issue. M-cards are new to Cox in Phoenix and I wonder if they know how to properly configure them.

The information on the screens in the CC configuration is different than the S-cards. I'd bet if you go back into your CC configuration while everything is running fine you'll see the EMMs Processed showing 0 or 1. I could be wrong but I know another Tivo user here in Phoenix that is showing more than 12 for the EMM count and their card was re-paired yesterday.


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## ChadS (Nov 3, 2007)

Just checked the "SA CableCard CA Screen" menu and "EMMs Processed" is showing 0. Right now all channels are working and tuning with no problem. I will monitoring that over the next couple days.


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## superunknown911 (Dec 30, 2006)

I had this same issue and it was driving me crazy with Cox in Phoenix with a single M-Card. I called Cox out to replace with two S-Cards and the issue has gone away (crossing fingers) for over a week... Not the solution I wanted but I'll pay the extra money for the card to have it keep me from going crazy..


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

All,

*UPDATE*

If you read an earlier post by me, I talked to Tivo support and they admitted there was a problem and they requested some info, etc.

Tivo Support called me yesterday to let me know that they confirmed that there is a issue with the particular SA M-cards that Cox/Phoenix has issued. He told me that Tivo is working with SA and Cox to get the problem resolved. As of right now, there is no fix other than rebooting, but Tivo wanted me to know that they found the issue and are working on a solution.


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## ChadS (Nov 3, 2007)

superunknown911 said:


> I had this same issue and it was driving me crazy with Cox in Phoenix with a single M-Card. I called Cox out to replace with two S-Cards and the issue has gone away (crossing fingers) for over a week... Not the solution I wanted but I'll pay the extra money for the card to have it keep me from going crazy..


Interesting. Keep us posted as to whether or not this "solution" holds up. Like you said, not the greatest but better than having to reboot every 2-3 days or so.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

ChadS said:


> Interesting. Keep us posted as to whether or not this "solution" holds up. Like you said, not the greatest but better than having to reboot every 2-3 days or so.


I wouldn't recommend going from M cards to S cards. I had S cards and there is an Audio sync issue impacting users in the Phoenix area. The video will tile and then the audio is out of sync until you hit pause/play. On some shows it can happen as often as every 90 seconds *throughout the entire show*! This was primarily impacting the SD channels as well as Discovery HD for me. It got so bad that I switched to the M card which people said fixed it.

Now I hear that the M card loses channels once every couple days but a reboot fixes it. I've not had this happen to me yet, but it seems this is a _better_ problem than the audio sync issue.

Can someone who's experienced both comment?


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

BrianAZ said:


> I wouldn't recommend going from M cards to S cards. I had S cards and there is an Audio sync issue impacting users in the Phoenix area. The video will tile and then the audio is out of sync until you hit pause/play. On some shows it can happen as often as every 90 seconds *throughout the entire show*! This was primarily impacting the SD channels as well as Discovery HD for me. It got so bad that I switched to the M card which people said fixed it.
> 
> Now I hear that the M card loses channels once every couple days but a reboot fixes it. I've not had this happen to me yet, but it seems this is a _better_ problem than the audio sync issue.
> 
> Can someone who's experienced both comment?


I have experienced both issues with both a TivoHD and S3.

I originally had a S3 (Cox/Phx 2 S-cards) for about a year until December when I had both pixelation and audio sync problems all over the channels. I tried everything from signal, new cards, new connections and cabling to fix the issue and nothing worked. I finally went out and bought a THD to test to see if it was Cox and not the S3. I hooked up the THD with the same s-cards (call in to Cox to get it paired) that were pixelating in the S3 and sure enough, same thing happened.

Called Cox and the tech came out with 3 s-cards and 1 m-card. Only one of the s-cards worked with the THD and the m-card worked fine (for a while). I decided to keep the m-card with the THD and keep the S3 until a fix is found.

Now the THD has channels that go blank and reboots work to fix them temporarly until Tivo, SA and Cox figure out whats going on with the cards.


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## MarkinAZ (Dec 18, 2007)

It's too early to say for sure but I think I've made some progress on this. A tech from one of the contracted companies came out yesterday since phone tech support didn't seem to have much knowledge about CC.

He checked all the connections and levels and made a few adjustments. They tried to re-hit my cards and still no progress on the EMM count that Tivo support says is critical. I asked him to check the CC ID and Host ID numbers. The CC#s were correct but both Host IDs were wrong. They corrected that and hit the cards again and finally we started to see the EMM count increase. Before the tech left both cards showed EMMs Processed at 51.

Only time will tell if this does the trick but it is progress as I see it. I hope this helps all of you that have had this problem. I'll report back if it doesn't fix this permanently.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

YazooWho said:


> I have experienced both issues with both a TivoHD and S3.
> 
> ...
> 
> Now the THD has channels that go blank and reboots work to fix them temporarly until Tivo, SA and Cox figure out whats going on with the cards.


Yazoo - Which issue was more irritating? I couldn't stand the pixelation/tiling/sync issue so I moved to M card... I've not experienced the channel drops yet. No idea how frequent or disruptive it can be. At least they've acknowledged there is a real issue there. Hoping I chose the *lesser *of two evils here.


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

BrianAZ said:


> Yazoo - Which issue was more irritating? I couldn't stand the pixelation/tiling/sync issue so I moved to M card... I've not experienced the channel drops yet. No idea how frequent or disruptive it can be. At least they've acknowledged there is a real issue there. Hoping I chose the *lesser *of two evils here.


Defintely the lesser of the 2 "evils" is the blank channels. I have made it a routine now to restart twice daily and I havent had any channels go blank on me for about 5 days.

I couldn't stand the pixelation and audio syncing at all. Neither did the rest of the family. When some shows are basically unwatchable, it got really bad.

When I got my m-card installed, it was fine for a few days and then it started to blank out. Especially channel 106 (for the baby) which we watch in the mornings.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

YazooWho said:


> Defintely the lesser of the 2 "evils" is the blank channels. I have made it a routine now to restart twice daily and I havent had any channels go blank on me for about 5 days.
> 
> I couldn't stand the pixelation and audio syncing at all. Neither did the rest of the family. When some shows are basically unwatchable, it got really bad.
> 
> When I got my m-card installed, it was fine for a few days and then it started to blank out. Especially channel 106 (for the baby) which we watch in the mornings.


Good to hear!! I wish the Tivo would give you more control over things via an API. There is so much I could do in the way of cooperative scheduling, scheduled reboots to stave off dropped channels, etc if they would just open it up. Thanks for the quick feedback


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

YazooWho said:


> All,
> 
> *UPDATE*
> I called Tivo support again last night and it was the first time that a tech admitted that there was an "Known Issue" and their engineers are working on it.
> ...


Starting to wonder if 'something' hasn't changed already on Cox's end. I seem to have gone a good 4 or 5 days now without reboot which is unusual (normally 2-3 days at best).

The thing I have noticed is I will switch to some channels and the screen will stay black for 2+ seconds (and I start to think I will need to reboot), and then the channel will come up. The delay isn't on all channels - but I wonder if something has been changed.

Has anybody else had the issue in the last day or two?


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## YazooWho (Sep 30, 2004)

yroca said:


> Starting to wonder if 'something' hasn't changed already on Cox's end. I seem to have gone a good 4 or 5 days now without reboot which is unusual (normally 2-3 days at best).
> 
> The thing I have noticed is I will switch to some channels and the screen will stay black for 2+ seconds (and I start to think I will need to reboot), and then the channel will come up. The delay isn't on all channels - but I wonder if something has been changed.
> 
> Has anybody else had the issue in the last day or two?


I have been doing some tests and sending them into Tivo because the issue has not been officially fixed. My guess is that you have been a little lucky but it will return.

Try going into the CableCard menu and look at the different screens. Alternate between a few of them (CP, DIAG, Host) a few times. After a few menu choices or a few mins, you might get the "Failed to load..." errors. after that happens, your channels will start going blank again.

FYI.. I'm still having the issue.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

I have had the issue maybe 2-3 times since Thursday. It's pretty aggravating, but nowhere near as bad as the audio/visual sync issue was.

I just finished working with the Executive Resolutions dept (Abigail) the other day on another issue. I guess I'll add my name to the list so I know when they get this channel drop issue fixed. I wish ))Tivo would open up access to certain commands via an API. It would also be nice if the Tivo worked with snmp. I could capture when it fails to record with the error that I don't have access to a channel (clear indicator of this problem) and trigger a reset.


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## diamondback7 (Feb 11, 2005)

Just to chime in so Tivo/Cox knows they have more users with problems.

I have Tivo HD with Mcard with Cox in Phx. Same blank channel problems as everyone else.

Series 3 with two single streams does not have this problem. 

EMM count on Tivo HD is 0.

What do I need to tell Cox to do to get the EMM count up? Does anyone know how to get in touch with someone halfway competant with cable cards at cox phoenix?


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## colflagg (Sep 19, 2007)

diamondback7 said:


> Just to chime in so Tivo/Cox knows they have more users with problems.
> 
> I have Tivo HD with Mcard with Cox in Phx. Same blank channel problems as everyone else.
> 
> ...


I have a Series 3 with two single stream cards that is working fine and another Series 3 with two Mcards that is having this same issue. I'm glad I found this thread, because having to reboot every few days is very frustrating and I'm glad there's a known issue that is being worked on.

I've been thinking about putting my Tivo on a programmable "timed" outlet to reboot it for me on a nightly basis. This way I won't keep missing my scheduled recordings when the channels go out every 2-3 days. Something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/2046.html?src=WG1010247

Looking forward to a resolution.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

colflagg said:


> I have a Series 3 with two single stream cards that is working fine and another Series 3 with two Mcards that is having this same issue. I'm glad I found this thread, because having to reboot every few days is very frustrating and I'm glad there's a known issue that is being worked on.
> 
> I've been thinking about putting my Tivo on a programmable "timed" outlet to reboot it for me on a nightly basis. This way I won't keep missing my scheduled recordings when the channels go out every 2-3 days. Something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/2046.html?src=WG1010247
> 
> Looking forward to a resolution.


I have used an Intermatic timer that I picked up from Home Depot - that has similar features - ability for 1 minute interval - which is important. I was using to to powercycle a cable model daily. The only thing I would worry about is possible damage caused to the TiVo hard drive by powering it off and on in such a manner on a daily basis.


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

I live in Fairfax, Va, also a cox market, and I have a Tivo S3, Humax Dvdr, and a Tivo HD. The S3 has 2 scientific atlanta S cable cards. I never have problems with digital channels on the S3 or Humax. However with the Tivo HD, with one SA M-Card, I am now on my 4th HD box (thank god i bought at costco where they can be easily exchanged). I keep losing all non analog channels (above 102) and all non local HD channels. I have to reboot or call Cox to get the card reauthorized. Cox has changed the M cards and it still after 3-4 days to maybe 2 weeks loses them again. I wonder if getting S cards installed will help. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

One other question I had. Is this only a problem with the M Cards in the HD unit? I am not having similar problems with my S3 with S Cards.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

colflagg said:


> I have a Series 3 with two single stream cards that is working fine and another Series 3 with two Mcards that is having this same issue. I'm glad I found this thread, because having to reboot every few days is very frustrating and I'm glad there's a known issue that is being worked on.
> 
> I've been thinking about putting my Tivo on a programmable "timed" outlet to reboot it for me on a nightly basis. This way I won't keep missing my scheduled recordings when the channels go out every 2-3 days. Something like this: http://www.smarthome.com/2046.html?src=WG1010247
> 
> Looking forward to a resolution.


I considered this solution... but had the following questions/thoughts:

Does rebooting *prevent *the issue or just fix it once it happens?
Would rebooting without using the GUI be too abrupt and damage your hard disks?
Is there a way to programatically instruct your Tivo to restart w/o using the interface? Thinking something like an API/webservice I could call from my workstation/laptop/cellphone/etc to have it restart when I'm not sitting in front of my unit.
Does anyone know if there's a way to get the Tivo to throw off SNMP traps/notifications when a show fails to record? Even if I couldn't get it to auto-restart, I could have it page me and thus would know it had to be restarted. As it is now, I don't realize it until I sit down to watch a recording that was not recorded.


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

I just had it happen again to me as well. I don't get a black screen, I get a gray screen. TivoHD said "channel not available". When I went into the diagnostics, I got the same errors as before.

SA M card.

I wish they'd fix it.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

jcaudle said:


> I live in Fairfax, Va, also a cox market, and I have a Tivo S3, Humax Dvdr, and a Tivo HD. The S3 has 2 scientific atlanta S cable cards. I never have problems with digital channels on the S3 or Humax. However with the Tivo HD, with one SA M-Card, I am now on my 4th HD box (thank god i bought at costco where they can be easily exchanged). I keep losing all non analog channels (above 102) and all non local HD channels. I have to reboot or call Cox to get the card reauthorized. Cox has changed the M cards and it still after 3-4 days to maybe 2 weeks loses them again. I wonder if getting S cards installed will help. Anyone have any ideas?
> 
> Thanks


Appearantly this is a known issue which Cox, Tivo and SA are all working to resolve. I had the Tivo HD with 2 S cards and the Audio Stutter/Sync issue currently impacting that configuration was *far* more irritating than the channels dropping every couple days. At this point I'm living with the lesser of two evils in hopes that they fix it soon.


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## sagamore (Dec 26, 2005)

Same problem here, intermittently. Tivo HD with an M Card on RCN. Sometimes the picture goes black. Some of those times it does seem to coincide with some other network activity on the Tivo. But yesterday we started getting picture/audio breakup (like digital static/pixelation) on and off until the picture finally went black. Restarting provides temporary relief.


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

superunknown911 said:


> Is anyone experiencing this issue with Cox and Single Stream cards or is the issue only appearing with the Multi Streams? I may consider switching ot two single stream cards if it will fix the issue. Otherwise, going to sell my TivoHD and go to Dish. I'm so fed up, and now a reboot is not fixing it.


Do NOT go to 2 single stream cards! I just switched from two S-cards to one M-card because I was having maddening audio/video synch problems that rendered programs virtually unwatchable! While this problem is frustrating, it's not as bad as that! ... Though, I don't know cuz this dropped channel business has happened to me 3 times now (in 10 days) and it's quickly getting old--especially if I end up missing a show I wanted to record ... or if rebooting no longer works. This is crazy! We pay way too much for cable and TiVo service to be going through this!


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

yroca said:


> ...Once in the CableCARD Menu, choose "SA CablceCard CA Screen" and Goto Page 2. You should see a "SubExpireTime". Mine was December 26, 2007, 5:04PM. The tech indicate this meant my CableCard was no longer authorized. He went out to the truck - to his laptop to reauthorize it - and came back in and all the channels were back. The new date says February 4, 2008, 12:48PM....


Hi all. I have this problem too...only my screens go gray. But the channels I loose vary and a re-boot brings them back. It happened just now and I rebooted and all is well again. Then I saw this post and I tried the above. The SubExpireTime listed is Feb 13, 2008. So does this mean this is _not_ the source of my problem? Since this has happened 3 times in 10 days, I doubt I'll make it to Feb 13 without it happening again. HELP!


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

Highlander67 said:


> Well it's a major issue. I ended up returning my M-Card yesterday to Cox (im In Arizona) because of the constant channels going black, or in my case going grey. After resetting my TivoHD 3 times within a week, I took the cards back until this issue can get fixed.


So, if you're not using the cards, what are you using?


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## bizzy (Jan 20, 2004)

saibari said:


> So, if you're not using the cards, what are you using?


the force


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

MarkinAZ said:


> It's too early to say for sure but I think I've made some progress on this. A tech from one of the contracted companies came out yesterday since phone tech support didn't seem to have much knowledge about CC.
> 
> He checked all the connections and levels and made a few adjustments. They tried to re-hit my cards and still no progress on the EMM count that Tivo support says is critical. I asked him to check the CC ID and Host ID numbers. The CC#s were correct but both Host IDs were wrong. They corrected that and hit the cards again and finally we started to see the EMM count increase. Before the tech left both cards showed EMMs Processed at 51.
> 
> Only time will tell if this does the trick but it is progress as I see it. I hope this helps all of you that have had this problem. I'll report back if it doesn't fix this permanently.


So, I've finished reading the posts in this thread--sorry if my earlier posts reflected that I hadn't finished reading, but this problem is so aggravating that I was anxious to provide feedback and get help! Anyway, I checked and my EMM is 0 also. However, you've posted since you made the above fix and it appears you're still experiencing the problem--is that correct? If so, then does this mean the EMM reading _isn't_ an issue?

And while I agree that this is the lesser of 2 evils (with regard to the a/v synch issue) this dropped channel business is still a major problem in my opinion!


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

...neither seemed to have any knowledge of this being a common problem!  The TiVo tech said it was confusing because the fact that a re-boot solves the problem seems to indicate the issue lies with the TiVo hardware, but the EMM count being 0 points to a cablecard problem. She then did a 3-way call with Cox and the cox tech sent a signal to the card and said if I continue to have problems they'll send out a tech. <sigh> The TiVo tech further said that the firmware, which reads 1.0 should be at 6.13. So the card is either not receiving or not processing the signal properly.

If whatever the Cox tech did solved the problem, I'll report back. But that's highly unlikely. I imagine I'll have a Cox tech out here some time next week!


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## aztivo (Feb 23, 2005)

saibari said:


> ... The TiVo tech further said that the firmware, which reads 1.0 should be at 6.13. So the card is either not receiving or not processing the signal properly.


This is very strange as my cbale cards SA Single stream also say firmware 1.0 samy with my m card


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## FarscapeOnTivo (Jan 6, 2005)

We have had this problem for some time now. It only affects non-local channels. The channels will suddenly be lost at what seems like random times. I am fairly certain that this problem didn't present itself until I requested and received software version 9.2a, as we went for a couple of months with the HDTivo on the original version of software without this problem. The day after the download of 9.2a we got blank channels, but I am not for guessing on root causes. 

It would always fix itself on reboot. This made us assume it was an bug with the Tivo software and not the cable. We did this as a fix quite often after reading this forum expecting Tivo to eventually update to a newer version and fixing itself.

Yesterday morning however, we experienced the blank channels again, but this time the reboot is not working. We have rebooted and unplugged many times and the problem is still there.

I have been on the phone with Cox Cable and Tivo. Niether seemed to be aware of the problem. I find this strange, as I work in technologies for my company, and we work closely with telephone services. In my experience a problem of this magnatude would not go uncommunicated to the representatives on the phone. As a matter of fact something like this would have clear documentation scripted for the representative to be trained in a flash. Anyway the Tivo rep. eventually recommended that we trade cable cards and then if this did work that they would replace my HDTivo free of charge.

I have a question for those who say that this is a "known issue" that is being worked on by Tivo. Where have you gotten this information? Was it from someone over the telephone at the 800 number? 

Has anyone tried writing letters to the CEO? Or even through the BBB.


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## cmonroe (Sep 1, 2007)

FarscapeOnTivo said:


> We have had this problem for some time now. It only affects non-local channels. The channels will suddenly be lost at what seems like random times. I am fairly certain that this problem didn't present itself until I requested and received software version 9.2a, as we went for a couple of months with the HDTivo on the original version of software without this problem. The day after the download of 9.2a we got blank channels, but I am not for guessing on root causes.
> 
> It would always fix itself on reboot. This made us assume it was an bug with the Tivo software and not the cable. We did this as a fix quite often after reading this forum expecting Tivo to eventually update to a newer version and fixing itself.
> 
> ...


I've got the exact same problem and a reboot almost always fixes it for me. The symptoms are the same; locals still work and it started occurring right after the 9.2a update. I left my TiVo for 10 days while on vacation and when I returned a reboot did not solve the problem. I checked the CableCard stats and noticed that I had 0 EMMs processed. I called Cox and the rep had me back up within 30 seconds, he claimed that he had to re-register my CableCard in their system for some reason. It was cool that Cox fixed my issue so fast, but annoying that I have to be around to reboot my TiVo every couple of days.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

diamondback7 said:


> Just to chime in so Tivo/Cox knows they have more users with problems.
> 
> I have Tivo HD with Mcard with Cox in Phx. Same blank channel problems as everyone else.
> 
> ...


 I live in Gilbert and was have tiling issues on my S3 so bad many channels would freeze for up to 5 seconds repeatedly, making shows on many channels almost unwatchable -- this on a new box that replaced my 10- month old unit a couple months ago. Cox made several visits and tried all sorts of things to clean up the signal before finally replacing cards. But the tech didn't have two single stream cards. After much fiddling with cards, as of a week ago I now have either have one multi-stream + one single stream, or two multi-stream cards. The freezing/tiling seems to have disappeared -- hooray! -- but in the past four days I've had channels disappear twice. Reboot "cures" the problem, temporarily. I am thinking about calling Cox and requesting they install two single stream cards and see if that cures this latest problem. The only reason I hesitate is that I can bear the current, lost channels problem, but I fear if I have Cox mess around with cards again the tiling/freezing could recur, and that problem is not bearable.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

hddude55 said:


> I live in Gilbert and was have tiling issues on my S3 so bad many channels would freeze for up to 5 seconds repeatedly, making shows on many channels almost unwatchable -- this on a new box that replaced my 10- month old unit a couple months ago. Cox made several visits and tried all sorts of things to clean up the signal before finally replacing cards. But the tech didn't have two single stream cards. After much fiddling with cards, as of a week ago I now have either have one multi-stream + one single stream, or two multi-stream cards. The freezing/tiling seems to have disappeared -- hooray! -- but in the past four days I've had channels disappear twice. Reboot "cures" the problem, temporarily. I am thinking about calling Cox and requesting they install two single stream cards and see if that cures this latest problem. The only reason I hesitate is that I can bear the current, lost channels problem, but I fear if I have Cox mess around with cards again the tiling/freezing could recur, and that problem is not bearable.


I wouldn't do this. I had dual S cards in my THD and had the tiling/audio sync issue. It was WAY worse for me. I have only had to reboot my Tivo 2-3 times in the past 10 days or so. More than I would like, but better than the other option. If you go back to the two S cards, you will likely have the tiling/sync issue again.


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## budf15 (Jul 28, 2005)

I'm using Charter in Suffolk, VA with a Motorola M-card and I've been dealing with this problem for a few weeks now myself. Called Charter tech support who had me restart the TiVo and then they did their remote thing to talk to the M-card. That didn't work. Next called TiVo again. They immediately transferred me to the TiVo HD tech support who again had me try unplugging and restarting the TiVo, this time waiting about 5 minutes. Again no worky. Diagnostics screens all looked good. Of concern here was the fact that the TiVO HD tech said this problem was very VERY unusual, and was not a problem they were aware of. Huh? We then brought Charter tech support on the line again who this time decided it was a fault on their end not mine. Unfortuntately, that doesn't help solve this issue and I'm not convince that's all that's going on since the problem seems to roll through many channels at random times. So we'll see what happens.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

BrianAZ said:


> I wouldn't do this. I had dual S cards in my THD and had the tiling/audio sync issue. It was WAY worse for me. I have only had to reboot my Tivo 2-3 times in the past 10 days or so. More than I would like, but better than the other option. If you go back to the two S cards, you will likely have the tiling/sync issue again.


 OK, I'll leave well enough alone for now. If only the Cox techs were more familiar with our boxes I would think some of these widely reported problems would be solved. But as a percentage of their total customer base, we are probably a small fraction of one percent so every time we deal with techs, it's like starting from scratch, including the need to educate them on the basics of our machines. The last three techs have insisted my first generation Series3 only needs one multi-stream card, so it's not shocking they have no clue how to troubleshoot anything. This forum is about the only chance we have to get solutions for the far too many issues surrounding this "new" technology.


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## DaddyBC (Aug 21, 2005)

hddude55 said:


> I live in Gilbert and was have tiling issues on my S3 so bad many channels would freeze for up to 5 seconds repeatedly, making shows on many channels almost unwatchable --


I live in Gilbert also. Have tiliing on both S cards. Running SNR of 35 on both cards and most channels. An OOB SNR of about 26-27 on both. (Whatever OOB SNR is)

Also getting the intermitent black channels. Have had Cox out 10 times, new cards, new cable runs, increase decrease feed, no changes whatsoever.


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

DaddyBC said:


> I live in Gilbert also. Have tiliing on both S cards. Running SNR of 35 on both cards and most channels. An OOB SNR of about 26-27 on both. (Whatever OOB SNR is)
> 
> Also getting the intermitent black channels. Have had Cox out 10 times, new cards, new cable runs, increase decrease feed, no changes whatsoever.


I would have them switch you to 1 M-card. However, be advised that you will then almost certainly have the dropped channels issue.


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## saibari (Jan 11, 2008)

cmonroe said:


> I've got the exact same problem and a reboot almost always fixes it for me. The symptoms are the same; locals still work and it started occurring right after the 9.2a update. I left my TiVo for 10 days while on vacation and when I returned a reboot did not solve the problem. I checked the CableCard stats and noticed that I had 0 EMMs processed. I called Cox and the rep had me back up within 30 seconds, he claimed that he had to re-register my CableCard in their system for some reason. It was cool that Cox fixed my issue so fast, but annoying that I have to be around to reboot my TiVo every couple of days.


Actually, not so "cool"! If you're still having to reboot every couple of days then they did NOT fix the issue!

*UPDATE:* As I expected, I experienced the dropped channels problem again last night.  This time it was affecting channels in the 20's through 400's. I didn't try beyond that so I don't really know how far it went. However, the 700's were working. So since the HD channels I was watching and recording weren't affected, I thought I'd leave the situation alone and see what happens. I called Cox last night and they "hit" my card and scheduled a tech to come over tomorrow afternoon. Well, the channels are still out.* So "hitting" the card didn't help.* However, I've restarted and all is well again. ... for now!

I'll let you know what the Cox tech says tomorrow... As others have mentioned, apparently we cablecard users are a tiny fraction of Cox's customers so I'm afraid we're getting short-shrift. So if neither Cox nor TiVo solve this issue soon, I will be filing a complaint with the BBB and any other pertinent organization because this is UNACCEPTABLE!


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## aztivo (Feb 23, 2005)

oaky so a quick recap I have a S3 and a THD both with the freezing pictures. last sunday I had the cox contractor come out he knew nothing about tivos (shocking I know) I told the to bring a few Mcards and some Scards. He shows up with 4 cards one M card that I put in my THD and it gives us the numbers and as he is calling it in it goes into update mode (date on card is 12/7/2007) it updates in about 15 min. everything has woked fine from that point on on my THD All the cards he brings out that are Scards are from 2004 so I tell him I need newer ones he comes back 2 days later and has 3 cards from 04/25/2007 so we get them in and long story short (too late) I am having very little freezing on my S3 maybe only once an hour and only for about 2 seconds.


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## hddude55 (Jan 5, 2007)

saibari said:


> Actually, not so "cool"! If you're still having to reboot every couple of days then they did NOT fix the issue!
> 
> *UPDATE:* ... So if neither Cox nor TiVo solve this issue soon, I will be filing a complaint with the BBB and any other pertinent organization because this is UNACCEPTABLE!


I suppose any effort is better than none, but BBB is funded by member businesses, so if you really think they are in the consumer's corner, follow the money and guess again.


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## mwenn1 (Aug 15, 2007)

Yeah I am having the audio/video syncing problem with COX in Phoenix as well. It is very frustrating to have to hit pause 3/4 times during a show just to keep things synced up. I hope they find a fix soon.


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## DrBlove (Aug 9, 2007)

I have a similar story and perhaps a solution (that so far is working for me). I too was having an issue of where my S3, dual M-Card (yes multi not single) dropping channels and then sometimes they came back. The pattern was odd... one time one of my cards was not getting channels while the other one was... recently both cards were dropping about 50 channels all over the place some HD some SD some premium etc. So an already long story short, had the cable guy come out and he through the problem was that my signal was too "amplified" and that using "snap on cables" versus screw on cables was causing problems. I had an amplifier on the line that was bidirectional from Radio Shack, removed that from the line, removed an unused splitter and replaced the snap on coaxial cables, and then... every channel is back... nothing else done... nothing with the cable cards... I no phone calls to reset the cable cards... needless to say I was very surprised. When I asked him why he thought that this would fix the problem, he said that non-"Comcast" amplifiers would amplify incorrect spectrum's of signal, and that this could cause channels to drop from time to time at random times and might cause cable modems to drop for brief periods as well... to be honest I am not sure if I believe it, but it sure enough no problems since... it has worked for the last 4 days...

Any one having this problem have amplifier/bad wire issues that might explain their issue?


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## teddyk (Oct 14, 2002)

Crossposted in Cox Cable Thread..

Same problem here. Bought my father in law a TIVO HD for Christmas and He just lost his entire digital tier (Channels 100 and up). Reboot failed to fix the problem.

Cox tried to remotely send a signal to the cablecards to no avail. My father in law made an appointment with Cox and they sent a technician, who inexplicably did nothing with the cabecards. He didn't try to replace them, didn't check tivo diagnostic screen, nothing. He simply checked the cable companies converter box, which runs to the tv through a separate input, and pronounced that it was working and, therefore, the problem is with the TIVO.

I called Cox and asked for a new tech who could try to replace the M Card. Coming tomorrow.

Ugh.

Tivo HD
Cox Fairfax (Virginia)
Scientific Atlanta M-Card


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## Mark D (Jan 31, 2008)

Purchased a TivoHD around New Year's. Everything with setup and the cablecard went smoothly until about 2.5 hours later, then the encrypted channels froze. The cablecard menus/screens were unavailable. Rebooting would fix the problem, but again only for 2.5 hours. Basically, seems like I have the same problem that most others do here, but it occurs more often, a real pain.

I had the cablecard replaced, then the TivoHD swapped out yesterday. A new M-card installed in the new TivoHD, and I still have the problem. My cable provider is a small company in Texas called GVTC, so they will have no clout with Tivo regarding a solution.

My signal strength was only showing in the 60's and 70's, so I put a motorola bi-directional 15db signal amp on the line. This increased the signals to 70's and 80's, but the problem persists. Tivo representative said my signal needs to be a minimum of 97%. Cable company says -6db at the wall jack for digital signal is plenty, especially since it was before the signal amp was installed. Tivo reps had no idea what the signal should be at the wall, but said the Tivo signal should be high 90's.

I am going to explore the signal issue some more (try to hookup Tivo directly to cable drop with another line), but I may have to abandon the TivoHD. I've been through 3 cablecards and two TivoHDs in a month. I love the features, but it just doesn't work. I assume the Tivo Series3 HD has the same issues?


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## brewman (Jun 29, 2003)

I am with Charter and have an S3 with 2 S-cards and an HD with a single M-card. I have no problems with my S3, but my HD experiences the "no channel" (gray/black) problem on a regular basis. I'm going to try havnig the m-card replaced with two S-cards and see what happens. BTW, I have no problems with audio/video sync/droppouts on my S3.


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## Balzer (Nov 12, 2006)

I have had this problem occasionally since I purchased my TivoHD last July. It has always been just the basic analog cable channels that went black. The digital and HD channels always continue to work. Rebooting fixes it. It happened three times in the first week after I purchased it, and occasionally since then, probably just over a dozen times total in 7 months. After those three times in the first week, I called Tivo support and they did some basic troubleshooting, then gave me a case number and forwarded it to an engineer or something. They called me back the next day and left a message on my voice mail, asking if I would remove the two Motorola S-cards and see if it happened without those installed. I didn't want to do that, and miss out on my HD programming, so I didn't return the call and didn't follow up. It's been so intermittent since then that I decided not to worry about it. Most of the programs I record are off HD channels anyway. On a side note, if I could get Sci-Fi and F/X in HD, I wouldn't have to record much of anything off the basic cable channels. Besides, a lot of the shows that I've missed are replayed several times later in the week, or I can watch them online or download them if I have to.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

Balzer said:


> I have had this problem occasionally since I purchased my TivoHD last July. It has always been just the basic analog cable channels that went black. The digital and HD channels always continue to work. Rebooting fixes it. It happened three times in the first week after I purchased it, and occasionally since then, probably just over a dozen times total in 7 months. After those three times in the first week, I called Tivo support and they did some basic troubleshooting, then gave me a case number and forwarded it to an engineer or something. They called me back the next day and left a message on my voice mail, asking if I would remove the two Motorola S-cards and see if it happened without those installed. I didn't want to do that, and miss out on my HD programming, so I didn't return the call and didn't follow up. It's been so intermittent since then that I decided not to worry about it. Most of the programs I record are off HD channels anyway. On a side note, if I could get Sci-Fi and F/X in HD, I wouldn't have to record much of anything off the basic cable channels. Besides, a lot of the shows that I've missed are replayed several times later in the week, or I can watch them online or download them if I have to.


When this happens to me, my HD channels revert to showing the non-HD version making it appear as though they're not affected. I lose everything above channel 22 as well as any non-local HD channels like HBO, Discovery, etc. My ABC/NBC/CBS/CW/etc all show SD content with the black bars on the sides until I reboot.


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## rtvtom (Nov 23, 2006)

I am on Cox Phoenix, and I have had this problem since October. TiVoHD goes black on all digital channels above 22 at least once a week. Since about mid-December the local channels (3, 5, 10, 12, etc) have bad tiling. Signal strengths are all good. My Series 3 box I have had since August 06 has been perfect since day 1 with its two single stream SA CableCARDs. With the TiVoHD Box, I have already had Cox techs out 3 times, and have tried several different vintages of both Multi and Single-stream cards, and none will do the trick. I also got my box warranty swapped for another and still have the same issue.

When are TiVo, SA and Cox going to actually fix this!?!?

According to my Cox techs, the Cox Phoenix headend Engineers don't even have a TiVoHD box to test on yet, even with all the problems that seem to revolve around the TiVoHD/SA Card/Cox lethal combination (which seems to have the highest failure rate on the Cox Phoenix system n particular). I told them I'd lend them my box for testing -- anything to help get this resolved!

One "workaround" of sorts for the SD locals I have come up with (for a temporary survival tactic) is to put in a splitter behind the box. I split the cable and then fed the signal to both the "Antenna" and "Cable" connectors, then I redid Guided Setup and chose Antenna and Cable, this way the VHF SD locals can also be tuned as analog -- bye bye constant tiling! Now I can once again live with [only] the weekly reboots for the intermittent black digital channel issue!

There are definately two separate "My TiVo's in black" issues. The CableCARD issue (low EMM counts) AND the one where exiting out of certain menus using the Live TV button (without left arrowing all the way back out several layers first) will result in black on all channels and even black background to menus.

I have ordered some attenuators and in-line tilt filters from smarthome.com based on a theory that unbalanced strengths on the cable feed are not received well by the TiVoHD unit. I will post my findings with that once I receive the hardware and test some of it.


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## EEsooner (Feb 8, 2008)

I had a similar issue with my Series 3. I had 2 S cards installed - 1 would not work (BAD_SEED_CHECKSUM error). So for the next tech visit, he brings an M Card. In reading the threads I thought that an M card and an S card could work in a series 3. The tech thought that all I needed was a single M card, although I knew that would not work.

So we give the single M card a go. It does not work - downloads everything, receives EMM's, but is not showing the channels. "It needs time" says the tech, and "let's install the good S card". After installing the S card that was previously working, the tivo begins to show channels. The M card however is still not showing all the channels (similar to what is described in this thread). Some channels work - some are grayed out. Ones that are grayed out work some times and some times they do not.

I call tivo support and finally the tech tells me that in a series 3 you have to either have 2 M cards or 2 S cards, but mixing will not work. I believe him as clearly my M card is not working.

Third visit from comcast and the tech brings me an S card. We take out the M card, plug in the S card, he activates, calls CSR and within 5 minutes it is up and working. I record on one tuner and check the other - working like a charm. Have been up and running for 3 days now and no longer am I seeing the occassional channel being grayed out.

Not sure if this applies to the issues people have been discussing on this, but I thought I would share.


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## yroca (Dec 6, 2004)

nirvanayoda said:


> Anyone ever fix this problem? I still have it.


Same here. Same issues. There is talk on another thread by TiVoPony of a software update in the next few weeks - but since he hasn't psoted here, I am not sure it will have anything pertaining to this issue.

Any update from anyone else on this?


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

Nope, still waiting for Tivo to fix it.


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## colflagg (Sep 19, 2007)

Any updates on a fix for this issue?


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## h0mi (Dec 29, 2007)

Ive had this problem from time to time with Cox in San Diego but today, restarting the tivo failed to fix it. RIght now Im in the middle of redoing the guided set up and its taking forever & a day and did not appear to fix the issue. Ill try some of the thinks mentioned earlier in the thread but this is getting exasperating and makes me want to cancel my tivo service altogether and figure out some way of ditching the tivo.


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## rtvtom (Nov 23, 2006)

I just spoke with a Cox Phoenix tech support supervisor, he called me to give me an update. He informed me that he made some calls and sent some emails up the food chain and got word that SA has a fix in the works (in testing now) and that this fix should be pushed out the the cards soon. Let's hope "soon" is really soon and that it actually does the trick!

Meantime, in response to h0mi's post, I have found that once or twice (in the midst of dozens of reboots for this issue) in the event the reboot DOES NOT return functionality, that the cards (in the diag menu) will display that they are not autorized. When they lose authorization you need to call your cable co and insist they "re-authorize" the cards not just "hit" the cards. DO NOT let them talk you into a truck roll, don't take no for an answer and escalate to a supervisor if needed.

One of the Cox reps tried to tell me that they were not obligated to support TiVo/CableCARD config. I shut him down quick. I informed him that any device that accepts CableCARD is in cimpliance with Cablelabs specs and that the FCC mandate that cable companies "play nice" with CableCARD makes no exception for TV sets vs DVRs. None of the cable techs that have been dispatched to my house were even aware that the cable companies have been required by law to support CableCARDs since last July. I even gave one of the techs a copy of TV Technology with an article on that very fact.


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## BrianAZ (Aug 13, 2007)

rtvtom said:


> I just spoke with a Cox Phoenix tech support supervisor, he called me to give me an update. He informed me that he made some calls and sent some emails up the food chain and got word that SA has a fix in the works (in testing now) and that this fix should be pushed out the the cards soon. Let's hope "soon" is really soon and that it actually does the trick!


Thanks for the update! I've been trying to get Cox Executive Relations to give me the scoop on the investigation but haven't received anything yet.


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## xoclipse (Jun 9, 2007)

All my channels are black right now and restarting isn't helping...this is really frustrating. So Cox is going to be updating the CableCard firmware to fix this issue?


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## Roderigo (Mar 12, 2002)

rtvtom said:


> None of the cable techs that have been dispatched to my house were even aware that the cable companies have been required by law to support CableCARDs since last July.


Actually, cable companies have had to support cablecards for much longer than that (I forget the date). Last July was when they had to have their own newly deployed boxes using cablecards.


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## rhornsby (Jul 31, 2004)

I live in Columbus, OH and my only option for cable providers is TimeWarner. I've been going round and round with them and TiVo about this very problem on my S3. We've replaced the two S cards with two M cards. TiVo replaced my box at one point with a refurb, but it didn't fix the problem - and I obviously lost all of my stored programs, preferences, etc. I wouldn't have minded nearly as much if the problem was fixed (or if the damn copyright flag wasn't stopping me from archiving the content).

I've gotten multiple different answers from TiVo (get M cards; cable signal loss; this is an issue with SA cards but not Motorola cards; etc) and the cableco. TiVo sometimes says this is a "known problem", but when I called just last night, they *still* had no ETA for a resolution. Like others have mentioned, this is a significant issue when you expect the TiVo to change channels and record unattended. Rebooting the box every night may or may not work - because the problem happens so randomly.

Super frustrated that I paid so much money for this thing. I wish I would have understood the problem when it first started happening shortly after getting the cablecards. I'm really at a loss here.


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## illegalprelude (Jan 19, 2009)

I have to join the bandwagon and report this problem as well. Ive had it for almost a year now.

With my Tivo Series 3, all my channels work fine and even my basic HD channels like NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox work fine, but the problem is with all the higher HD channels like TNT, USA, Discovery, MTV, Sci-fi etc.

Now i know these channels over all work because in my house, I also have a Time Warner Digital Box hooked up and those show the channels just fine, just the Tivo unit does not pick them up and they USED to.

Now ive done the rebooting of my tivo unit and neither Card 1 or 2 pick up thse channels but the banner, does indeed display the information.

Update:
I just called TW and they reblasted my Cable Cards and nothing, same issue. Im going to go into the TW store today and see if I can get new Cable Cards and see if that fixes anything....


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## rhornsby (Jul 31, 2004)

A call to TiVo and/or TimeWarner usually was able to fix the problem - but the fix was always temporary, and inexplicable - no rhyme or reason. The channel didn't seem to matter, and it didn't make a difference if it was HD or not.

I *tend* to blame TW - because the problem started intermittently and rarely. It progressively over about a year or so happened more often and was more difficult to fix. TiVo replaced the box, I had the cablecards replaced, etc. However, TiVo also told me more than once that they were aware of the problem and that a software fix was in the works - but the next call maybe no one at TiVo knew what I was talking about. So frustrating, I finally gave up and canceled the subscriptions on both my S2 and S3. 

Now I have the AT&T u-verse DVR, and it sucks. Just in time for TiVo and Netflix to finally get their sh*t worked out.


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