# Roamio HDMI out no signal



## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

My Roamio "died" yesterday out of nowhere. While watching TV, suddenly the HDMI signal just dropped out. Tested multiple cables on many TVs, nothing. Contacted weaknees see if they could fix it, they said this is not an issue that can be repaired. Great. 

My Roamio works using the component cable, but my god who can use that and not be disappointed in the PQ difference? Why no RGB output? Ug! Here is hoping getting a replacement doesn't cost a fortune. Hopefully TiVo CSR will hook me up for being a long time customer... we'll see.

I have a Series 2, TiVo HD, and now this Roamio. My other TiVos have had zero issues. I can't believe the HDMI port can't be fixed.


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## jerryez (May 16, 2001)

Call TiVo support and see of they can fix it for a fee.

Weaknees add says:
TiVo Repair Flat-Fee Service - One Price Fixes All TiVo Problems.* Guaranteed*.
Under our flat-fee repair program, one price covers whatever is wrong with your TiVo.** It also includes the cost of shipping from us back to you! The repair is warranted for 90-days (subject to our standard warranty terms and conditions).


That ain't what their add says. Call them back. Hve them fix it or remove their add.


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## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

nickels said:


> My Roamio "died" yesterday out of nowhere. While watching TV, suddenly the HDMI signal just dropped out. Tested multiple cables on many TVs, nothing. Contacted weaknees see if they could fix it, they said this is not an issue that can be repaired. Great.
> 
> My Roamio works using the component cable, but my god who can use that and not be disappointed in the PQ difference? Why no RGB output? Ug! Here is hoping getting a replacement doesn't cost a fortune. Hopefully TiVo CSR will hook me up for being a long time customer... we'll see.
> 
> I have a Series 2, TiVo HD, and now this Roamio. My other TiVos have had zero issues. I can't believe the HDMI port can't be fixed.


Confused - Component Cable is RGB. Did you mean composite cable? Do you have a Roamio OTA? The Pro and Plus have Component/RGB, while I haven't tried it, I'd expect it to be close to the HDMI.


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## Rolow (Jun 1, 2004)

Same thing happened to me. Everything works perfectly except the hdmi out. I ended up buying a mini and moving my TiVo to the office. The biggest disadvantage to the mini is when a lineup change occurs you can't remove channels you don't receive from the mini.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Weaknees replied and said the unit is not repairable. TiVo CSR also said that, and offered me a deal for an exchange. 

To be clear, my TiVo has composite out - the one plug that splits out to yellow (video), and white and red (audio) plugs. I am sorry if I called it component, which is way better. The PQ for the composite out is terrible compared to HDMI. I can't take it, so I am doing the return.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

jerryez said:


> Call TiVo support and see of they can fix it for a fee.
> 
> Weaknees add says:
> TiVo Repair Flat-Fee Service - One Price Fixes All TiVo Problems.* Guaranteed*.
> ...


Read the fine print - the flat fee service is for older models of TiVo. 


> TiVo Repair Flat-Fee Service - One Price Fixes All TiVo Problems. Guaranteed.
> 
> Under our flat-fee repair program, one price covers whatever is wrong with your TiVo.** It also includes the cost of shipping from us back to you! The repair is warranted for 90-days (subject to our standard warranty terms and conditions).
> 
> ...


That page shows this:


> For these units, we do not currently have a flat fee repair option. We can repair most problems with these units, but there are some (rare) motherboard problems we cannot fix.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

nickels said:


> The PQ for the composite out is terrible compared to HDMI. I can't take it, so I am doing the return.


Doesn't composite support a max of 480i? Quite a downgrade from 1080i or 720p. Likewise, instead of RGB I think it uses YCC, which is one luminance channel and two chrominance channels, much like old-school analog television broadcast. It is a lower bandwidth approximation of RGB colorspace, using less bandwidth for color. Sort of like JPEG compression. It throws away more color data, and that's possible because human vision is more sensitive to black/white info than color info.

Anyway, the HDMI on my TivoHD died long ago, and I've been using component ever since. I really can't distinguish between component on my TivoHD and HDMI on my Roamio, if the source data is the same.

In practice, my TiVoHD records OTA while my Roamio is cable, and the same program tends to be higher bitrate OTA than cable, so it can look better.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

My roamio basic failed at 97 days of service. Dead dead, did not power on!
Tivo said: no warranty for you!
But, because it was on monthly service; tivo said, only, $50 to send a referb unit.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

They first told me $149+ tax for the exchange. Before I hung up I was honest about my feelings: 
"I'm a long time repeat customer, this is a fairly new unit, and paying $150 to fix it sounds excessive"

The rep agreed, and dropped the price to $79. Works for me, as I can't watch it through composite much longer. MY EYES! My model has no component out port.


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## ryanmcv (Nov 13, 2015)

My Roamio Plus just experienced the same exact issue last night. Called up TiVo this morning and they wanted $149 + tax for an exchange. After a bit of prodding, I got the price down to $79. Thanks for creating this thread!


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## G0RD057 (Dec 4, 2016)

My Roamio Pro just started having intermittent HDMI connection issues this week.
The problem started right after this recent update. 
I think the update broke my Tivo video output.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

I have a friend that I set up a Bolt for less than a year ago who called today having sound and color issues that tend to go away if they switch inputs and come back to the TiVo. I'm thinking it could be an HDMI issue also. I had them try switching HDMI cables and haven't heard back if that solved their issue. Also wondering if an update has caused this issue?


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## sinanju (Jan 3, 2005)

The update seems to have caused a weird situation with HDMI for me, too. I turn on the TV, everything looks fine, then a second later, the screen goes black and then comes back a second after that.


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## jwilson7256 (Dec 26, 2011)

Same HDMI problem with my Roamio. Just stopped putting out a picture to the TV. Tried different TV and HDMI cable with no success. Contacted Weekknees for a repair and they said they do not fix HDMI issues. Tivo was no help either. Everything else on the Roamio works fine so I bought a Tivo Mini and now use that to get by the issue.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

jwilson7256 said:


> Same HDMI problem with my Roamio. Just stopped putting out a picture to the TV. Tried different TV and HDMI cable with no success. Contacted Weekknees for a repair and they said they do not fix HDMI issues. Tivo was no help either. Everything else on the Roamio works fine so I bought a Tivo Mini and now use that to get by the issue.


Did you have the back of Roamio pushed up against a wall so that the pressure from the wall bent the cable? I read that the pressure on the cable from the wall is also acting on the HDMI port and can cause the HDMI port to fail over time. They recommended buying angled adaptors for all cables that are plugged into the back of an electronic device.


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## jim1971 (Oct 11, 2015)

This may sound a little obvious, but try a different hdmi cable. I have had hdmi cables fail before and they did what you describe is happening to you. Also, the hdmi handshake can be weird sometimes. Unplug and plug back in the cable to fix it, usually.


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