# Pro black-screen tuner failure, but Mini works!



## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

Hi Folks,

I'm a Cox customer in south San Diego county, which is SA/Cisco territory. I purchased a Pro and a Mini a couple of weeks ago and have been experiencing an intermittent live-tv tuner failure issue. At times, 50% of the channel changes fail with a black screen. At other times it works well as I select sequential channels with the channel up/down button.

I've looked at other threads here containing various tuner problems, and I've seen this black-screen issue mentioned before. Most of the threads seem to reference failures to use all of the tuners available on the cable card, but I'm not sure that's my problem. As a test, I started six simultaneous record sessions, all channels encrypted as reported by the CCI variable being 0x02. I confirmed that the six encrypted channels were actually being recorded by looking at the content, first with the Mini and then with the Pro. All was well. I then stopped the recordings and confirmed once again that all six had appropriate and unique content. I would assume that all six of my tuners are working correctly.

But this is interesting: the problem is mostly non-existent when tuning live-tv on the Mini! I've tested this by confirming that the Pro was failing most channel changes, then running upstairs to find that the Mini was working perfectly on the SAME channels the Pro was failing! I repeated this experiment a number of times with similar results. So why would the Mini's tune requests to the Pro work, while the Pro's own requests to itself fail? This doesn't make any sense, but it is what it is, and suggests an issue in the Pro itself.

Some threads here suggest that the cable card's firmware needing updating. But wouldn't stale cable card firmware affect both Pro and Mini channel selection?

Here are my stats:

90-db signal strength
35-db SNR
Manuf ID: 259
Firmware: PKEY1.5.3_F.p.0601

Cox also supplied a Cisco STA1520 Tuning Adapter.

For the record, the Mini does fail to tune from time-to-time, I'd guess maybe 1% of channel changes, versus 50% on the Pro (at times). I've also had the "waiting circle" a time or two that required a Mini reboot. 

Don't get me wrong, the Pro and Mini are great, and I'm happy with the purchase. I'm sure that Tivo will fix this issue soon since it (or a variant) seems to be affecting multiple customers. Indeed, I'm going to purchase a few more Mini's.


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## NJguy (Sep 11, 2013)

Maybe the mini was just using a tuner that was not tuned to the black channel. I think around post 135 Margaret tells you what to do to see if all 6 tuners are working properly. I was having the same thing happen and figured out I only had 4 tuners working and when I went to my mini's (I have 2) they would draw on a tuner that worked.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

NJguy said:


> Maybe the mini was just using a tuner that was not tuned to the black channel. I think around post 135 Margaret tells you what to do to see if all 6 tuners are working properly. I was having the same thing happen and figured out I only had 4 tuners working and when I went to my mini's (I have 2) they would draw on a tuner that worked.


Yes, I saw Margarett's postings. But I've demonstrated to myself that all six tuners are usable by recording six simultaneous streams, then confirming that all six recordings had correct content.

Today I set up five simultaneous recordings, leaving one free tuner. In this case, the Pro had absolutely no black screens when channel surfing. I surfed around for 30-minutes and couldn't find one black screen! Kill the recordings and the black screens return.

The "Tuners 5 and 6 not authorized" thread now has talk about the problem possibly being related to the Pro trying to tune to an analog channel. It can't play analog, doesn't have the circuitry. But there are indications that it's trying on channels which simultaneously broadcast analog and QAM. Check post #396 by HarperVision.

Since the mini uses the Pro's hardware, and the mini doesn't see the problem, what does the mini do that the Pro doesn't? Maybe it accesses the channel list differently and doesn't request analog content?

I've also reported all this to Tivo customer service and Doug, after consultation with the developers, said he was puzzled and that they haven't seen exactly these symptoms before. There is one possibly related issue they're working on and Doug will submit our observations, they may possibly be relevant.

Doug also recommended swapping out my TA as a long shot, which is on order and will be here on Monday.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Yes, I saw Margarett's postings. But I've demonstrated to myself that all six tuners are usable by recording six simultaneous streams, then confirming that all six recordings had correct content.
> 
> Today I set up five simultaneous recordings, leaving one free tuner. In this case, the Pro had absolutely no black screens when channel surfing. I surfed around for 30-minutes and couldn't find one black screen! Kill the recordings and the black screens return.
> 
> ...


Update: Wed Oct 2 2013

The replacement tuning adapter was delivered Tuesday and I installed it Tuesday evening. I don't think it's premature to announce that my black channel problem has been fixed! I've spent cumulatively about 45-minutes toggling the channel selector looking for black screens but haven't seen a one. Channel selection remains reliable on the Mini.

I still think something funky is going on in the Roamio in that a slaved mini was able to tune perfectly, but the Roamio wasn't able to tune for itself.

I also noticed that "Analog" doesn't show up in the CableCard diagnostic screens now, where they were prevalent before.

FWIW, the CableCard firmware remains at PKEY1.5.3_F.p.0601.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Update: Wed Oct 2 2013
> 
> The replacement tuning adapter was delivered Tuesday and I installed it Tuesday evening. I don't think it's premature to announce that my black channel problem has been fixed! I've spent cumulatively about 45-minutes toggling the channel selector looking for black screens but haven't seen a one. Channel selection remains reliable on the Mini.
> 
> ...


I KNEW it would happen! As soon as I posted the above I went to check channels again and the problem has returned!

The "Analog" modulation tag appears in the CC diagnostics screen again too.

I've been testing on the HD channels between 1030 and 1070, where the standard definition analog channels appear between 30 and 70. It seems that when I have a tune failure on, for example, 1039, if I then tune to 39, then back to 1039 it usually works. Could the tuning adapter be picking up bogus channel information somehow, that the mini ignores?


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## SDRoamio (Sep 24, 2013)

I'm also in San Diego, on Cox with the same Cisco/SA gear. I was having "black screen" tuning issues as well - although not as bad. Is your cable going from the wall to the TA, then from the TA to the Tivo (plus the USB from TA to Tivo)? If so, try splitting the cable from the wall, with one going into the TA, and the other going directly to the Tivo. That did the trick for me - although, unrelated, i'm having the issues described in the "Roamio RWD/FFD/30sec Local Channel Issues" with FOX in HD.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

SDRoamio said:


> I'm also in San Diego, on Cox with the same Cisco/SA gear. I was having "black screen" tuning issues as well - although not as bad. Is your cable going from the wall to the TA, then from the TA to the Tivo (plus the USB from TA to Tivo)? If so, try splitting the cable from the wall, with one going into the TA, and the other going directly to the Tivo. That did the trick for me - although, unrelated, i'm having the issues described in the "Roamio RWD/FFD/30sec Local Channel Issues" with FOX in HD.


At this point the RG-6 is fed directly from the Cox digital telephone interface to a two-port splitter. One leg of the splitter goes to the cable modem, the other to a two-port tap. The no-loss leg goes directly to the tuning adapter, the -6dB leg goes to further splitters for analog-only tv's. The TA is then connected directly to the Pro Roamio. But I tried a two-port splitter to feed the TA and the Pro, but there was no difference. One of the Cox technicians told me the TA didn't introduce any loss over the downstream feed. Indeed, he said it sometimes boosts the signal, which implies internal amplification? So the cable modem, TA, and Roamio should all be seeing -3dB from the feed.

But the signal levels are really moot, because the Mini works! It uses the same feeds, CC, and TA after all.

Do you have a 4 or a 6 tuner Roamio? I think the 4's have analog input circuitry, while the 6's don't. What happens if a 6-tuner Roamio is told to tune to an analog channel? Black screen? Maybe the Mini is smart enough to not request an analog channel? Just wondering...


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

No Roamio model has an analog tuner. I think you're confusing that with OTA capability, which the base model has, but it's still digital only.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

HarperVision said:


> No Roamio model has an analog tuner. I think you're confusing that with OTA capability, which the base model has, but it's still digital only.


Ah, thanks for clarifying.

BTW, I reported my symptoms to Tivo last Saturday and they admitted we're seeing a very interesting situation. They recommended that I swap out the TA just on the off-chance it was causing the black tunes. I did that last night and indeed, the problem did go away, for 12-hours. Black screens are back in full force this morning.

So I reported the TA swap to Tivo and they now will escalate the issue. Again, here are the main points I've observed:

1. Intermittent black screens when tuning to a HD channel.

2. All six tuners work, confirmed with simultaneous recordings on different channels.

3. The problem does NOT appear when five tuners are recording, leaving only one for live TV.

4. Every time a black screen is observed, the CC reports "Analog" as the modulation type.

5. Whenever a black channel fails to tune by retrying, a tune to its analog equivalent will work, after which a tune to the same failed black channel will mostly work. For example: 1039 fails. Tune to 39 works. Now a tune to 1039 will work. (most of the time)

6. The Mini, slaved to the one and only Roamio, ALWAYS WORKS!

That the Mini always works, using the same CC, TA and channel lineup, is probably the most interesting symptom and suggests a software issue in the Roamio itself.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Try rebooting your TA and see if the problem goes away again. If that "fixes" the problem you may want to consider buying one of those cheap lamp timers and using it to reboot your TA every day when you're not recording anything.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> ....That the Mini always works, using the same CC, TA and channel lineup, is probably the most interesting symptom and suggests a software issue in the Roamio itself.


 I tend to agree with that statement 100%!


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

Dan203 said:


> Try rebooting your TA and see if the problem goes away again. If that "fixes" the problem you may want to consider buying one of those cheap lamp timers and using it to reboot your TA every day when you're not recording anything.


Surely you jest!  How would a lamp timer know about scheduled ongoing recordings?

I've also tried rebooting the TA, it usually doesn't make any difference.

BTW, I'm not angry about this whole thing. I think the Roamio and Mini are great. This glitch will be fixed, probably more sooner than later. At any rate I have a work-around in that tuning the analog channel first clears the blockage. Also, Tivo's support representatives are really good and knowledgeable, the two I spoke with impressed me. Nicole even offered to extend my 30-day product return window, but I declined the invitation.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Surely you jest!  How would a lamp timer know about scheduled ongoing recordings?


I was thinking more like having it turn off for a few minutes in the middle of the night.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Surely you jest!  How would a lamp timer know about scheduled ongoing recordings?...


He's not, and please....don't call him Shirley!!!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

If you really wanted to get fancy you could probably do something more automated using a PC, custom software and a Z-wave module.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> If you really wanted to get fancy you could probably do something more automated using a PC, custom software and a Z-wave module.


 How 'bout we just get TiVo to fix their software instead?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

If it is a TiVo problem and not a TA problem then I agree. In this particular case it sounds like a TA problem. Maybe the reason it worked temporarily after he replaced it is because it hadn't yet downloaded a firmware update and that firmware update is what's actually causing the problem.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Dan203 said:


> If it is a TiVo problem and not a TA problem then I agree. In this particular case it sounds like a TA problem. Maybe the reason it worked temporarily after he replaced it is because it hadn't yet downloaded a firmware update and that firmware update is what's actually causing the problem.


 But the point is the OP says tuning via the Mini works every time vs tuning with the Roamio sometimes failing. If it was a TA issue then it should fail at about same rate tuning either with Roamio or Mini. Which is really strange since the Mini is just requesting that the Roamio tune to a specific channel and hence it's actually the Roamio doing all the tuning and the Mini is just streaming the feed. Certainly seems like a Roamio bug to me...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You're right, didn't think about that.

I've had quite a few times where I've turned on my TV and see my Roamio sitting at a black screen. But it seems to be some sort of decoder/scaler issue, and not a tuning issue, because if I hit instant replay there is video being recorded it's just not being played back properly. I wonder if that's what the OP is seeing.

OP - How many of the resolutions to you have checked on your Roamio? Maybe these channels are triggering a resolution switch that your TV or the scaler in the TiVo isn't adjusting to properly and that's why you're getting a black screen?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

moyekj said:


> But the point is the OP says tuning via the Mini works every time vs tuning with the Roamio sometimes failing. If it was a TA issue then it should fail at about same rate tuning either with Roamio or Mini. Which is really strange since the Mini is just requesting that the Roamio tune to a specific channel and hence it's actually the Roamio doing all the tuning and the Mini is just streaming the feed. Certainly seems like a Roamio bug to me...


Yeah, what he said!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> You're right, didn't think about that.
> 
> I've had quite a few times where I've turned on my TV and see my Roamio sitting at a black screen. But it seems to be some sort of decoder/scaler issue, and not a tuning issue, because if I hit instant replay there is video being recorded it's just not being played back properly. I wonder if that's what the OP is seeing.
> 
> OP - How many of the resolutions to you have checked on your Roamio? Maybe these channels are triggering a resolution switch that your TV or the scaler in the TiVo isn't adjusting to properly and that's why you're getting a black screen?


That's not it. I am working with the TiVo engineers and margret and they see strange issues in the logs I sent them regarding the "analog" anomaly. They are working on a solution.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

Dan203 said:


> You're right, didn't think about that.
> 
> I've had quite a few times where I've turned on my TV and see my Roamio sitting at a black screen. But it seems to be some sort of decoder/scaler issue, and not a tuning issue, because if I hit instant replay there is video being recorded it's just not being played back properly. I wonder if that's what the OP is seeing.
> 
> OP - How many of the resolutions to you have checked on your Roamio? Maybe these channels are triggering a resolution switch that your TV or the scaler in the TiVo isn't adjusting to properly and that's why you're getting a black screen?


I don't think it's a conversion issue. When a problem channel appears, the banner describing the channel shows under the black screen. The banner then times out, leaving just the black screen. Also, wouldn't you hear audio in any case? (I don't know, maybe not?)

For the record, video is set for 1080i, 1080p, and 1080p (24-fps). (Netflix now sends 1080p)

The TV is a new 60" Vizio M601d-A3R, which should be able to handle anything thrown at it.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

HarperVision said:


> That's not it. I am working with the TiVo engineers and margret and they see strange issues in the logs I sent them regarding the "analog" anomaly. They are working on a solution.


That's interesting! How can we see the logs? Web interface? Hidden ssh port?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

lew-wolfgang said:


> That's interesting! How can we see the logs? Web interface? Hidden ssh port?


Don't think it works on Roamio interface anymore (but haven't tried it). This works for series 4 units:
You can inspect the Logs using Clear-Clear-Enter-Enter-0 from the System Information menu

TiVo can collect logs from your unit for inspection themselves (I think after you give consent to do so).


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

To send logs to TiVo using Roamio you hit "911 clear" then "777 clear" while you're experiencing your issues (black screen, V5x error, etc) and then connect to the TiVo service twice.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

HarperVision said:


> To send logs to TiVo using Roamio you hit "911 clear" then "777 clear" while you're experiencing your issues (black screen, V5x error, etc) and then connect to the TiVo service twice.


What do you mean by "connect to the TiVo service"? Rebooting?

Thanks for the info!


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

lew-wolfgang said:


> What do you mean by "connect to the TiVo service"? Rebooting?
> 
> Thanks for the info!


Force a call to the TiVo service twice under network settings. The box normally connects to TiVo once a day.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

I've been able to easily duplicate the OPs problem I'm my current Roamio (4-tuner) with MoCA connected Mini setup on Bright House Networks in Tampa, FL. BHN uses Cisco TAs. 

I get very inconsistent live TV tuning on SDV channels while the connected Mini works 100%. I've rebooted the Roamio and the TA a couple of times. The problem is very consistent and repeatable. I think I will post a video to demonstrate it.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Cox Phoenix w/ Cisco Tuning Adapter also,

I am seeing something very similar on a Pro. Very often when tuning to a SDV channel there is just a Black screen, without the usual SDV prompt saying:

_"This channel is temporarily unavailable.
Press SELECT to try tuning to this channel again."_

I rarely see the above prompt when a SDV channel does not display, Channel Up/Channel Down will sometimes tune the channel but not always.
Also DVR Diagnostics lists Analog and No CableCARD Association.
If I do get the SDV prompt, and Press SELECT, the channel will tune, but pressing the TiVo button, I lose the buffer and the buffer will reset.

Disconnecting the TA's USB cable and reconnecting will usually solve it for a day or so, but the issue returns. I have never seen this issue on my Elite/XL4.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

The problem on my 4-tuner base Roamio has disappeared. I couldn't duplicate it yesterday. 

Is there an easy way to determine which channels are being sent as SDV on a cable network? I'm wondering if BHN changes their SDV configuration based on time-of-day.


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## OutGolfn (Oct 1, 2013)

I am getting the same thing on my base roamio 4 tuner on SDV channels. It's becoming more and more frequent. My cable card is cisco and tuning adapter is cisco with all the latest firmware. Either I get a completely black screen or the notice below:

"This channel is temporarily unavailable.
Press SELECT to try tuning to this channel again."

Channeling up or down sometimes fixes it, but not always. I hope the fall update fixes this issue.


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## ScaryMike (Aug 23, 2002)

I'm glad I found this thread, because I'm having the exact issues. 

Roamio Plus on Charter in Madison, WI (Motorolla TA and CC)

The mini always tunes to the channels perfectly, as OP stated. The Roamio fails on certain channels (not always the same channels, sometimes rebooting the TA fixes it, sometimes not). 

I hope they come up with a fix soon. I've already missed recordings because of this issue.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

sbiller said:


> The problem on my 4-tuner base Roamio has disappeared. I couldn't duplicate it yesterday.
> 
> Is there an easy way to determine which channels are being sent as SDV on a cable network? I'm wondering if BHN changes their SDV configuration based on time-of-day.


All I did was unhook the TA and then go thru the channels and mark which ones didn't tune.


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## ScaryMike (Aug 23, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> That's not it. I am working with the TiVo engineers and margret and they see strange issues in the logs I sent them regarding the "analog" anomaly. They are working on a solution.


Please keep us up to date. If they need others with this issue, I'm willing to help out via log submission, betas or whatever.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

ScaryMike said:


> Please keep us up to date. If they need others with this issue, I'm willing to help out via log submission, betas or whatever.


My advice would be to email Margret and ask about the beta programs.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> All I did was unhook the TA and then go thru the channels and mark which ones didn't tune.


Hah. Good idea. 

The problem started again this morning while attempting to tune CNBCHD (1219). I think I may have a workaround for the issue. If I go into the guide and select record on the problem SDV channel, the problem appears to go away. More experimentation is needed along with a phone call to open an issue with TiVo tech support.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

FYI, I've been messing with a Ceton InfiniTV6 and realized the same "record" workaround as well SBiller, with the exact same failure to tune issues as the Roamio. I could also just hit the stop button in wmc (which tivo doesn't have) then select the channel again in the guide and it would tune. I went back and forth with Ceton tech support, they gave me a new FW to try but kept blaming the cable co, but when I talk to Oceanic TWC , they kept saying everything was provisioned and setup properly on their end (which is usually BS). Ceton finally got to the point that they asked for my account info and would call on my behalf to clear up the cable co's ignorance and get this thing finally working properly. Well lo and behold, Ceton emailed me very shortly thereafter (apparently right after they spoke to Oceanic) with a new FW to try, which immediately cleared up the tuning issues!

I asked them what the issue was? Was it a Ceton issue or was the FW something to use as a workaround for a cable co issue? Her is their reply:

"Hi David,
It was determined that in a narrow set of cases, incorrect information would be sent to the CableCARD when requesting decryption of a channel. This resolves this issue.

-Ceton Support"

I would say this is most likely TiVo's issue as well, so anyone experiencing this should call TiVo tech support and pass it along.

HarperVision


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## ScaryMike (Aug 23, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> FYI, I've been messing with a Ceton InfiniTV6 and realized the same "record" workaround as well SBiller, with the exact same failure to tune issues as the Roamio. I could also just hit the stop button in wmc (which tivo doesn't have) then select the channel again in the guide and it would tune. I went back and forth with Ceton tech support, they gave me a new FW to try but kept blaming the cable co, but when I talk to Oceanic TWC , they kept saying everything was provisioned and setup properly on their end (which is usually BS). Ceton finally got to the point that they asked for my account info and would call on my behalf to clear up the cable co's ignorance and get this thing finally working properly. Well lo and behold, Ceton emailed me very shortly thereafter (apparently right after they spoke to Oceanic) with a new FW to try, which immediately cleared up the tuning issues!
> 
> I asked them what the issue was? Was it a Ceton issue or was the FW something to use as a workaround for a cable co issue? Her is their reply:
> 
> ...


Sorry for the ignorance, but was is "FW?"


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

ScaryMike said:


> Sorry for the ignorance, but was is "FW?"


FW = Firmware, which is basically the operating system for the hardware device.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

My Mini was acting up last evening attempting to tune to CNBCHD (1219) again. The video would play on the Mini for about 3 or 4 seconds and then the picture would freeze. I could tune to another (non-SDV) channel and the Mini would stream correctly. Every time I went back to 1219 it would exhibit the same freezing behavior. I then tuned to the non-SDV standard definition version of CNBC (42). When I tuned back to 1219 it worked correctly. I did check the DVR Diagnostics screen(s) on the paired Roamio and I think I'm seeing the similar analog tuning behavior. 

PS) I have provided my TSNs for my Roamio and attached Mini to TiVo for analysis.


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## peekb (Feb 12, 2005)

+1 to all of this. I'm on Time Warner Cable in upstate NY using Cisco cards and a Cisco STA1520 TA.

I had this issue with my 4 tuner Premiere XL4 which was just replaced with a 6 tuner Roamio Pro. Often times tuning a channel will just display a black screen without the "Press SELECT to tune again" message. And, of course, many failed recordings.

With the XL4 I found a "fix" which was to go up one channel, back down 3, then back up 2 to the original channel that wouldn't tune, and 9 times out of 10 it would properly tune. With the Pro, that doesn't seem to work (more tuners to "clear out"?), but backing down one channel, pressing Live TV to switch tuners, then typing the original channel number in will tune it 9 times out of 10.

My 2 tuner Premiere and 2 tuner Premiere XL both have never had an issue tuning a channel like this. It's only the 4 and 6 tuner setups that do here. This issue (for me at least) isn't tied to the Roamio only. 

If there's any other info I can provide, I'm happy to help.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

peekb said:


> +1 to all of this. I'm on Time Warner Cable in upstate NY using Cisco cards and a Cisco STA1520 TA.
> 
> I had this issue with my 4 tuner Premiere XL4 which was just replaced with a 6 tuner Roamio Pro. Often times tuning a channel will just display a black screen without the "Press SELECT to tune again" message. And, of course, many failed recordings.
> 
> ...


It would be great if you could try a Mini and confirm that it works perfectly with the DVR that fails by itself.

I've reported this issue to TiVo and am having a bit of difficulty making them see the light. I've received two separate emails from "Advanced Escalations" where they ask me to call in to the regular service line. The folks I've spoken with have all been very pleasant and knowledgeable but I've had to explain the issue each time completely from scratch. On the first callback they said that Escalations wanted some numbers from the DVR-Tuner diagnostic screens. I gave them the data, including one tuner that had Modulation=analog. The second call yesterday was a request to set up a three-way phone call with Cox. I wasn't at the unit and didn't want to waste everyone's time, so I started a chat and asked in essence, "WTFO"? The chat representative, when told yet again that the Mini worked, finally agreed that a call with Cox would probably be unneeded. He came to the conclusion that it's probably a defective Roamio and asked me to request a swap. I personally don't think it's a hardware issue, but what the heck, at least it will be another data point. Either it works (unlikely) or it doesn't, which will further prove it's a software issue.

Customer support was also interested in the fact that others have seen the issue as reported here. One thing that might help is if everyone who's experiencing the black channel issue report it to TiVo customer support and reference my ticket number.

Black Screen Ticket Number: 130928-007875

I'll report here how the new Roamio works, or doesn't.


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## peekb (Feb 12, 2005)

lew-wolfgang said:


> It would be great if you could try a Mini and confirm that it works perfectly with the DVR that fails by itself.


Unfortunately I don't have a Mini to test with here...


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

I've been having this issue since January with my Elite (and now Roamio). I opened about 6 tickets with TiVo over several months that basically went nowhere. Always thought it was a software issue and not hardware. I bought a Roamio and it worked perfect for the first 10 or so days. I began to think my Elite issues might be hardware-related. But then the Roamio started exhibiting the exact same behavior.

The "record from guide" workaround is hit or miss for me, as are the other various workarounds I've used all year. I don't have a Mini to test that workaround.

Due to the number of tickets I've opened this year (all of them are marked "solved" somehow) I emailed Margret directly about this on Sunday. Haven't heard much since then. I'll probably email her this thread link since there is some useful info in here.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

peekb said:


> +1 to all of this. I'm on Time Warner Cable in upstate NY using Cisco cards and a Cisco STA1520 TA.
> 
> I had this issue with my 4 tuner Premiere XL4 which was just replaced with a 6 tuner Roamio Pro. Often times tuning a channel will just display a black screen without the "Press SELECT to tune again" message. And, of course, many failed recordings.
> 
> ...


That is exactly right! I could not have written this better myself.

I have been dealing with this for a while. I started a thread a month ago which became very popular.

The short answer for this is: there is no solutions. Either live with it or drop TiVo. Unfortunately.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

lew-wolfgang said:


> It would be great if you could try a Mini and confirm that it works perfectly with the DVR that fails by itself.
> 
> I've reported this issue to TiVo and am having a bit of difficulty making them see the light. I've received two separate emails from "Advanced Escalations" where they ask me to call in to the regular service line. The folks I've spoken with have all been very pleasant and knowledgeable but I've had to explain the issue each time completely from scratch. On the first callback they said that Escalations wanted some numbers from the DVR-Tuner diagnostic screens. I gave them the data, including one tuner that had Modulation=analog. The second call yesterday was a request to set up a three-way phone call with Cox. I wasn't at the unit and didn't want to waste everyone's time, so I started a chat and asked in essence, "WTFO"? The chat representative, when told yet again that the Mini worked, finally agreed that a call with Cox would probably be unneeded. He came to the conclusion that it's probably a defective Roamio and asked me to request a swap. I personally don't think it's a hardware issue, but what the heck, at least it will be another data point. Either it works (unlikely) or it doesn't, which will further prove it's a software issue.
> 
> ...


It drives me crazy that when you call TiVo they always tell you that I am the first one to report this issue to them. Nuts!


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

I called TiVo 10/14 to "officially" open up an incident on my SDV tuning failure described in this thread and consistent with the Analog tune description. Incident number 131014012082 was opened however the CSR wouldn't escalate until I could duplicate on all 4-tuners. I've been trying to do that but I'm unable to duplicate on 4-tuners due to the intermittent nature of the problem. Under DVR Diagnostics, the CSR was recording: 

Tuner #, Modulation, Signal Strength, SNR, RS Uncorrected, RS Corrected, Resolution Time, and Resolution Status. 

FWIW, I don't think this problem is limited to the Roamio platform as my mom experiences similar issues on her Premiere XL4. The next time I'm over there I will verify its a similar "analog" tune attempt. 

I will probably call back TiVo later today when they are reopened to discuss the problem and hopefully get my incident escalated to the engineers. I'm not very optimistic at this point that a fix is in the works since this one is difficult for TiVo to duplicate in their Alviso labs. 

M cable operator, BHN, is heavily using SDV. I was shocked at the number of channels that weren't available after I disconnected the Cisco TA USB cord from the Roamio.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

Is anyone seeing a pattern in the tuner# that most often fails to tune?

For me it is almost always Tuner 3 (or the 4th tuner (0 1 2 *3* 4 5) )


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

sbiller said:


> I called TiVo 10/14 to "officially" open up an incident on my SDV tuning failure described in this thread and consistent with the Analog tune description. Incident number 131014012082 was opened however the CSR wouldn't escalate until I could duplicate on all 4-tuners. I've been trying to do that but I'm unable to duplicate on 4-tuners due to the intermittent nature of the problem. Under DVR Diagnostics, the CSR was recording:
> 
> Tuner #, Modulation, Signal Strength, SNR, RS Uncorrected, RS Corrected, Resolution Time, and Resolution Status.
> 
> ...


I was told by the engineers that it actually isn't trying to tune to the analog channel, it just says that by default after it fails to tune. To me and from my experiences, it seems like it "IS" trying to tune to analog and that's why it's failing.....who knows. :-/


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> I was told by the engineers that it actually isn't trying to tune to the analog channel, it just says that by default after it fails to tune. To me and from my experiences, it seems like it "IS" trying to tune to analog and that's why it's failing.....who knows. :-/


TiVo told me via email that my logs showed that "the Cisco TA occasionally fail to respond to our tuning requests. We are working with Cisco to resolve the problem." That doesn't explain why the Mini works every time. From a Cisco TA perspective, I think the failed SDV tuning issue is resident on both the Premiere and Roamio boxes.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

sbiller said:


> TiVo told me via email that my logs showed that "the Cisco TA occasionally fail to respond to our tuning requests. We are working with Cisco to resolve the problem." That doesn't explain why the Mini works every time. From a Cisco TA perspective, I think the failed SDV tuning issue is resident on both the Premiere and Roamio boxes.


Yep, that's the excuse they used on me too. You're correct though and it was mentioned elsewhere about mini working with same channel that Roamio fails on, proving without a doubt that it isn't the TA.

I also had a similar issue with the Ceton InfiniTV6 PCie tuner and they initially said the same thing, blaming the TA, but I read elsewhere on a forum that someone else saw the same thing on their ITV6 and Ceton provided them with a custom FW that fixed it immediately. I asked the ceton engineers to provide me the same FW too, which they did in less than ONE DAY and it rectified my issue! They said it was an issue with the tuning messages being sent from the cablecard/tuner to the TA, NOT the TA itself. They wrote in the message corrections into their fw so the TA would tune properly, and indeed now it does just that! Amazing Ceton can fix in one day yet its been so long and TiVo is still clueless.

I mentioned this in another thread as well as to TiVo and I guess they're just ignoring this fact. If they didn't then it'd be fixed by now. Come on TiVo, get in the game!


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## TiVoMargret (Feb 3, 2008)

Hi everyone,

If you are experiencing black screens and have a Cisco Tuning Adapter, we'd like your help. We have worked with Cisco and identified a bug in the firmware of the Tuning Adapter that causes it to occasionally fail to respond when we ask it to tune. In order to escalate the priority within Cisco, they need to receive (one or more) requests from Cable Companies to fix it. (Cable Companies are customers of Cisco, TiVo is not.) Once Cisco has updated firmware available, then it will be up to the cable companies to deploy the fix.

So, reporting this issue to your Cable Company will help. After you have called your Cable Company, I would appreciate an email ([email protected]) with the subject: "Cisco Tuning Adapter report" that includes the following information:
- your TiVo Service Number(s)
- your Cable Company
- your city/state/zip code
- the case/incident number you were given when you reported the issue to your cable company
- the name on your cable account
- the phone number associated with your cable account
- for bonus points (optional, not required): If you enter 777-CLEAR and 911-CLEAR when you have black screens, and then connect to the TiVo Service TWICE that will get us additional information about the issue and verify you are seeing the known problem. (Please also let me know the date/time and affected channel.)

This will allow us to track the incidents that have be reported, and encourage the cable companies to request priority attention from Cisco. This will also help us encourage the cable companies to rollout the firmware update when it becomes available.

Thanks!
--Margret


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

TiVoMargret said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> If you are experiencing black screens and have a Cisco Tuning Adapter, we'd like your help. We have worked with Cisco and identified a bug in the firmware of the Tuning Adapter that causes it to occasionally fail to respond when we ask it to tune. In order to escalate the priority within Cisco, they need to receive (one or more) requests from Cable Companies to fix it. (Cable Companies are customers of Cisco, TiVo is not.) Once Cisco has updated firmware available, then it will be up to the cable companies to deploy the fix.
> 
> ...


Thanks Margret, that's great that TiVo is being proactive with this issue. I'm sure it'll take awhile for this all to come to fruition, so aren't your engineers able to come up with a workaround in firmware the same way Ceton did for its InfiniTV6, at least in the interim? (As mentioned in my post above)


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

TiVoMargret said:


> So, reporting this issue to your Cable Company will help.
> --Margret


Great to hear that a problem has been identified and a fix is in the pipe.

Can someone explain why my Series 3 648250 rarely has the problem, when my XL4 has the problem continually?


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

It is great that TiVo is aware of this issue.

As others have suggested, it would be great if TiVo engineers can implement a fix for this without us being dependent upon the cable companies and Cisco. 

We have a report in this thread of Ceton coding around the Cisco issue (in about an hour) to resolve this. We also have 2 reports from TiVo users that the Mini is immune to this issue even when connected to a Roamio that has the issue. 

I'm a programmer between the hours of 8am and 5pm (though not with anything close to TiVo). Seems like this bug can be taken care of (or at least an attempt be made) by TiVo.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I have never seen this issue on my Elite/XL4, so I don't think it is directly related to SDV and Cisco Tuning Adapters.

Once a tuner starts failing to tune the failure can also happen on local channels, which are not SDV.

I have a bad feeling that once DTA is released to the Premieres, this issue/bug will be passed along also.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

CoxInPHX said:


> I have never seen this issue on my Elite/XL4, so I don't think it is directly related to SDV and Cisco Tuning Adapters.
> 
> Once a tuner starts failing to tune the failure can also happen on local channels, which are not SDV.
> 
> I have a bad feeling that once DTA is released to the Premieres, this issue/bug will be passed along also.


 But plenty of people did have the issue with Elite/XL4 units and continue to have them, and that's before DTA implementation. For me it's the opposite, I'd have the problem once in a while with my Elite, but have never seen the issue with Roamio Pro, and never had the issue with my 2 tuner Premiere either. It's probably some kind of software timing issue such that the bug could show up in either or neither.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

moyekj said:


> But plenty of people did have the issue with Elite/XL4 units and continue to have them, and that's before DTA implementation. For me it's the opposite, I'd have the problem once in a while with my Elite, but have never seen the issue with Roamio Pro, and never had the issue with my 2 tuner Premiere either. It's probably some kind of software timing issue such that the bug could show up in either or neither.


Completely agree. We don't know how many patches TiVo put in the Elite/XL4 to compensate for the "missed" TA responses. I was unable to duplicate the problem yesterday's on my XL4 while the problem is very repeatable on my 4-tuner Roamio.

I also reached out to my contact at BHN with Margret's message. He responded that BHN is aware of the Cisco TA issue and they are working with TiVo on a resolution. He didn't mention Cisco which was troubling and probably an oversight in his quick email response. I will follow-up with him today to see if I can get more info.

This morning ALL SDV channels were not working and I had to reboot the TA and my Roamio to get them working again.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

sbiller said:


> This morning ALL SDV channels were not working and I had to reboot the TA and my Roamio to get them working again.


I haven't had to resort to reboots yet. I found that tuning to what otherwise would be an analog channel without simulcasting, then back to the SDV channel will work. For example, if 1039 is black, tuning to 39 (or any channel below 100), then back to 1039, works most of the time.

BTW, the replacement Pro from TiVo arrived yesterday afternoon. I'll find the time to swap it out this weekend. I have very little confidence that a swap will fix the problem, but if that's what they want to try, fine with me.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

sbiller said:


> Completely agree. We don't know how many patches TiVo put in the Elite/XL4 to compensate for the "missed" TA responses. I was unable to duplicate the problem yesterday's on my XL4 while the problem is very repeatable on my 4-tuner Roamio.
> 
> I also reached out to my contact at BHN with Margret's message. He responded that BHN is aware of the Cisco TA issue and they are working with TiVo on a resolution. He didn't mention Cisco which was troubling and probably an oversight in his quick email response. I will follow-up with him today to see if I can get more info.
> 
> This morning ALL SDV channels were not working and I had to reboot the TA and my Roamio to get them working again.


Are you talking with Gary (BHNtechXpert)? I've reported the issue to him back in September, but it was dismissed as changing between SDV channels to quickly. Let me know if there a new thread that I can pile on to. I'd love to have an updated TA firmware.

Thanks,
James


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

jwbelcher said:


> Are you talking with Gary (BHNtechXpert)? I've reported the issue to him back in September, but it was dismissed as changing between SDV channels to quickly. Let me know if there a new thread that I can pile on to. I'd love to have an updated TA firmware.
> 
> Thanks,
> James


Hi James,

Yes. I've been in contact by email and telephone with Gary (BHNTechXpert) and Margret at TiVo.

The good news is that Cisco and TiVo are actively working the problem for BHN.

I've provided Gary with a link to this thread so I suspect he might chime in as well.

~Sam


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Hi Guys,

Just an update we are engaged with Tivo and Cisco on this issue as well and great progress has been made. To be clear this is a Cisco issue. An ETA for fix I do not have at the moment but will update when I can.

Thanks,

Gary


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Thanks Gary. Appreciate for the added insight. 

James


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

Seems to me that the black screen problem experienced by certain (most if not all) TiVo users has been identified as a problem with Cisco tuning adapters.

So why can't we get the firmware update direct from Cisco?
There should be more than one way to apply the patch, other than, wait for the cable companies to push it out. Cable companies could care less about TiVo users and probably wish we would all just go away...


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

Teeps said:


> Seems to me that the black screen problem experienced by certain (most if not all) TiVo users has been identified as a problem with Cisco tuning adapters.
> 
> So why can't we get the firmware update direct from Cisco?
> There should be more than one way to apply the patch, other than, wait for the cable companies to push it out. Cable companies could care less about TiVo users and probably wish we would all just go away...


TA is a leased piece of cable operator equipment so all updates are pushed from them.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Teeps said:


> Seems to me that the black screen problem experienced by certain (most if not all) TiVo users has been identified as a problem with Cisco tuning adapters.
> 
> So why can't we get the firmware update direct from Cisco?
> There should be more than one way to apply the patch, other than, wait for the cable companies to push it out. Cable companies could care less about TiVo users and probably wish we would all just go away...


First of all I resent that statement. You are also our customer and your experience matters greatly to us whether you use TiVo or Silcon Dust or our box. We're providing the content..we could care less how you choose to watch it and this myth that we will do anything to keep you in our box is dated and simply just not true. We help people all the time get into alternative viewing solutions.

As for the update from Cisco they are working on it now. These things don't happen overnight in fact...it takes quite some time for them to fix then test and then release to the MSO's and then we have to test it to make sure it doesn't break anything else before finally pushing out to the devices. It isn't as simple as clicking our fingers and poof there it is.

While your frustration is understandable also understand we did not create this issue and it is not ours to fix...this belongs to Cisco and we are doing everything we can to make that happen along reasonable timelines. Your patience is appreciated....


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

So how was Ceton so quick to fix this issue in their own firmware, yet everyone keeps implying its solely a Cisco TA issue? Sure, there may be a glitch with their TA, but as Ceton has proven already, there's more than one way to skin a cat and service their customers! They simply said its just the way the tuner/cablecard sends tuning messages to the TA and they have found a fix.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> So how was Ceton so quick to fix this issue in their own firmware, yet everyone keeps implying its solely a Cisco TA issue? Sure, there may be a glitch with their TA, but as Ceton has proven already, there's more than one way to skin a cat and service their customers! They simply said its just the way the tuner/cablecard sends tuning messages to the TA and they have found a fix.


Was it really fixed by the Ceton workaround? My Premiere XL4, for example, might have some TiVo workaround so installed as it was much more reliable than my Roamio on SDV channels. The 2-tuner Premiere's were even better.

I'm encouraged that Cisco has identified the problem and is working on a true fix that we should see on our TAs in the next few months.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

sbiller said:


> Was it really fixed by the Ceton workaround? My Premiere XL4, for example, might have some TiVo workaround so installed as it was much more reliable than my Roamio on SDV channels. The 2-tuner Premiere's were even better.
> 
> I'm encouraged that Cisco has identified the problem and is working on a true fix that we should see on our TAs in the next few months.


Couldn't say it better. Its possible that Ceton and SiliconDust just retry until they get a successful tune (brute force). There's more than one way to fix an issue, but its better for all the third-parties if Cisco fixes the bug rather than each vendor having to make the same workaround. With that said, its truly speculation since we don't have insight into the issues being fixed.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

HarperVision said:


> So how was Ceton so quick to fix this issue in their own firmware, yet everyone keeps implying its solely a Cisco TA issue? Sure, there may be a glitch with their TA, but as Ceton has proven already, there's more than one way to skin a cat and service their customers! They simply said its just the way the tuner/cablecard sends tuning messages to the TA and they have found a fix.


I have nothing to indicate that it was fixed and Ceton has had their fair share of issues that mimic this issue so my hunch is "the fix" you claim they made had nothing to do with this specific issue. Each device will behave differently so you cannot make the assumption that (1) they were impacted to begin with (2) they have fixed anything related to this specific issue.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

jwbelcher said:


> but its better for all the third-parties if Cisco fixes the bug rather than each vendor having to make the same workaround. With that said, its truly speculation since we don't have insight into the issues being fixed.


And, in the end if the cable companies would updated their infrastructure, so a tuning adapter was not needed; we wouldn't even be having this discussion.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Teeps said:


> And, in the end if the cable companies would updated their infrastructure, so a tuning adapter was not needed; we wouldn't even be having this discussion.


It has nothing to do with outdated infrastructure as your post implies...never did.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Teeps said:


> And, in the end if the cable companies would updated their infrastructure, so a tuning adapter was not needed; we wouldn't even be having this discussion.


As far as BHN, in my area they ARE upgrading their infrastructure by pushing out all digital. By eliminating analog it should free up loads of bandwidth. I'm hoping that means the a reduction (if not removal) of SDV and need for the TA. My fingers crossed of course


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> I have nothing to indicate that it was fixed and Ceton has had their fair share of issues that mimic this issue so my hunch is "the fix" you claim they made had nothing to do with this specific issue. Each device will behave differently so you cannot make the assumption that (1) they were impacted to begin with (2) they have fixed anything related to this specific issue.





sbiller said:


> Was it really fixed by the Ceton workaround? My Premiere XL4, for example, might have some TiVo workaround so installed as it was much more reliable than my Roamio on SDV channels. The 2-tuner Premiere's were even better.
> 
> I'm encouraged that Cisco has identified the problem and is working on a true fix that we should see on our TAs in the next few months.





jwbelcher said:


> Couldn't say it better. Its possible that Ceton and SiliconDust just retry until they get a successful tune (brute force). There's more than one way to fix an issue, but its better for all the third-parties if Cisco fixes the bug rather than each vendor having to make the same workaround. With that said, its truly speculation since we don't have insight into the issues being fixed.


Look, No one is saying that Cisco shouldn't fix "their issue". What I am saying is that at least Ceton was proactive enough to do something as a workaround to get it working for THEIR customers, so why can't TiVo at least do the same thing, in the interim??? Who cares if for NOW it's working by "brute force", as long as it is WORKING???

At least for me, the Ceton now tunes 100% of the time after THEIR fix, so gloss over the issue all you want, but at least they did something about it and it is working. Wish I could say the same thing for my TiVo gear!


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

BHNtechXpert said:


> It has nothing to do with outdated infrastructure as your post implies...never did.


If not, then why is there SDV?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Teeps said:


> If not, then why is there SDV?


 They don't necessarily go together. Cox here has very up to date infrastructure including an expansion to 1GHz a few years ago for all their nodes, and more recently broadcasting several channels in H.264 instead of mpeg2, and yet they still pretty aggressively employ SDV. Part of it likely is because they still are holding on to analog channels.


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## jstevenson (May 6, 2007)

I have the same issue with a Cisco TA in Los Angeles on Time Warner in the West SFV.

Really frustrating


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## peekb (Feb 12, 2005)

I'm sure this is coincidental and I'm sure the instant I press Post on this it'll stop but...has anyone had tuning issues after the 20.3.7.1a TiVo update last week? Since installing, I haven't had a single failure when tuning a channel over the course of 3 days. It almost seems like the TiVo is attempting to re-tune a failed channel at times though this is probably in my head.

I welcome the "You're insane" replies.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

I cannot seem to reproduce this issue either, although I have had two missed recordings due to no signal in the last couple of days.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

There does appear to be some sort of an update on the Roamio side to make this more reliable. My guess would be the same logic that's executing in the Premiere has been implemented. I know the Premiere still has the black screen issue and the occasional missed recording due to this so I'm still looking forward to the TA firmware fix that will hopefully eliminate this bug.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

HarperVision said:


> Wish I could say the same thing for my TiVo gear!


How about you?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

jwbelcher said:


> How about you?


I haven't had any time whatsoever to play the last week or so. All I know is that any recordings I've watched have worked (knock on wood) and I haven't heard from the war dept on how all theirs have gone, but no news is good news!


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

I received a new Roamio today (replaced original) and the new software update installed. Unfortunately for me the black screen issue immediately appeared while changing channels (up / down and selecting via guide). Time to upload logs...


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Just a reminder to Bright House Networks customers....feel free to contact me however there is no need to request to open a ticket. We are aware and have already engaged all relevant parties. At this point Cisco is driving this ship and we all wait for their fix to be released. Once released to each of the MSO's it will undergo additional testing (like any other product) and upon certification will be pushed to all of the impacted devices.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

How do you all check a missed recording? I record several programs that are re-runs and hard to tell if one failed. Do you know if failed recording get reported in the history list?


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## peekb (Feb 12, 2005)

jwbelcher said:


> How do you all check a missed recording? I record several programs that are re-runs and hard to tell if one failed. Do you know if failed recording get reported in the history list?


A failed recording in the History list usually shows as "Not recorded", and the detail on the right side of the screen will describe why (usually "No Signal").


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

I thought it might, but wasn't sure since my history is just starting over. 

Btw, I set a recording on a channel that I got a black screen tuning today. The next show was about 15 mins later so I thought it might be interested to see if it would fail to record the show. At the scheduled time, Tivo re-tuned the channel and is currently recording the episode. 

Maybe they did add some additional logic on scheduled recordings for this issue?


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

I haven't read anyone mention this in this thread, but I occasionally get "channel not available" when changing channels. Although I get video for about 2 secs before this alert shows up and screen goes black. If I press select, similar to when a SDV channel goes idle, it will re-tune in the channel successfully. Also, in the DVR diagnostics it shows the TA returned this "unavailable" status. 

Does anyone else occasionally get this with a Cisco Tuning Adapter attached?


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

lew-wolfgang said:


> I haven't had to resort to reboots yet. I found that tuning to what otherwise would be an analog channel without simulcasting, then back to the SDV channel will work. For example, if 1039 is black, tuning to 39 (or any channel below 100), then back to 1039, works most of the time.
> 
> BTW, the replacement Pro from TiVo arrived yesterday afternoon. I'll find the time to swap it out this weekend. I have very little confidence that a swap will fix the problem, but if that's what they want to try, fine with me.


*Still Bad*

I finally had enough available time to swap out my original Pro with the replacement on Saturday afternoon (Oct 26). As expected, the new Pro exhibits the same intermittent black-screen tuner failure as the old one.

I do notice some differences, however. The CableCard report screen doesn't show "Analog" for failed channels now. Some of the other fields are also blank too. Here's a short list of the values on a failed tune:

Freq -
Modulation -
Program Number -
Signal Strength -
Signal Lock No
CableCard Association None
ProgramLock No
Search Complete No
Decrypt Record Channels 5 (12345) 
(notice that the failing tuner is listed now, it was before IIRC)

(Signal to noise ratio was 36-dB)

I also noticed that it won't let me manually record a black channel.

The Mini wouldn't associate until another call to TiVo this morning, but now that it's working, as before, it tunes perfectly. Further, I added a second Mini and it too tunes perfectly.

So while it looks like there have been some minor "changes", the basic failure to tune problem is still there.

Looking back at recent thread postings here, it seems that the thought is the Cisco TA is at fault. While there may very well be a problem with the TA, it is still unexplained to me why the slave Mini(s) work while the master Roamio doesn't. It uses the same TA after all.

Someone with access to the source code just needs to look and find the differences in how the Mini requests channel changes from the Roamio.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> .... Looking back at recent thread postings here, it seems that the thought is the Cisco TA is at fault. While there may very well be a problem with the TA, it is still unexplained to me why the slave Mini(s) work while the master Roamio doesn't. It uses the same TA after all. Someone with access to the source code just needs to look and find the differences in how the Mini requests channel changes from the Roamio.


 Egg-Zackly! ;-)


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

I dont believe it always works for mini. I did a test and hung my mini up. I selected 5 SDV channels on Roamio and recorded whatever was showing. I then brought up live TV on the mini, tuned HBO / Showtime premiums (SDV). It worked few a bit, but after a dozen or so channel changes voila, hung. Got a black screen and the waiting graphic. Waited all night, it never came back. I think this myth is busted.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

jwbelcher said:


> I dont believe it always works for mini. I did a test and hung my mini up. I selected 5 SDV channels on Roamio and recorded whatever was showing. I then brought up live TV on the mini, tuned HBO / Showtime premiums (SDV). It worked few a bit, but after a dozen or so channel changes voila, hung. Got a black screen and the waiting graphic. Waited all night, it never came back. I think this myth is busted.


I'm the OP for this thread and I just finished replicating your scenario (again) and selected channels continuously for 30-minutes without error. How long would you suggest that I select channels perfectly before you might concede that in "my" case I'm not propagating a myth? I'll say it again: I have never encountered a failed tune from "my" mini since I purchased it, and the Roameo Pro, in early September of 2013.

Could it be, jwbelcher, that you are seeing a different problem than the one I've documented? Do you use a Cisco CableCard and Tuning Adapter? If yes, than this is an interesting data point that adds another variable to the mix. Maybe we should compare firmware version numbers?

BTW, why would you think I'm propagating a "myth"? What motivation would I have? I'm not a plant by TiVo's competition, as is evidenced by my praising TiVo in a number of posts here. Indeed, I just purchased a second Mini and will likely purchase two more in the not too distant future.

I promise, if I ever see a failed tune on a Mini I'll report it here ASAP.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Ha, wow, sorry that the term myth upset you. I'm glad its working for you, but it is not as 100% reliable for me. 

Cisco firmware versions: 
Cablecard : PKEY1.5.3_F.p.0601
Tuning Adapter: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1601


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

jwbelcher said:


> Ha, wow, sorry that the term myth upset you. I'm glad its working for you, but it is not as 100% reliable for me.
> 
> Cisco firmware versions:
> Cablecard : PKEY1.5.3_F.p.0601
> Tuning Adapter: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1601


That's interesting, I have exactly the same versions.

Who is your provider? Mine is Cox Cable South San Diego. If we have identical hardware, then the difference must be the cable provider somehow? Could varying loads on the cable system (time of day?) be the variable that gives the intermittent tuning behavior? In my case, how does the Mini request channel changes, through the Roamio, that is different than how the Roamio does it itself? Someone will have to go to the "source".


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> That's interesting, I have exactly the same versions.
> 
> Who is your provider? Mine is Cox Cable South San Diego. If we have identical hardware, then the difference must be the cable provider somehow? Could varying loads on the cable system (time of day?) be the variable that gives the intermittent tuning behavior? In my case, how does the Mini request channel changes, through the Roamio, that is different than how the Roamio does it itself? Someone will have to go to the "source".


Brighthouse Networks Orlando. Its really hard to say why its different though. I used to think the Mini / dynamic tuning allocations were handled differently too, but after two black screens, I was no longer sure.

Its difficult to understand why if Roamio has the issue, why the Mini would not (being tuned via Roamio). Especially since we hear that Cisco is providing a fix for that issue. I'd expect Tivo is handling tuner allocations from Roamio and Mini through the same "tuner pool" mgmt. Once the Mini is allocated a tuner, Roamio still has to perform the calls to the TA as the UDCP client. It would seem bad coding practices if that was different code talking to the TA for the Mini. However, maybe there is some additional fault tolerance since Mini is remote??

BHN in Orlando has approx 458 SDV channels on the TA and I can barely change channels w/o getting a black screen. Maybe my setup just triggers the issue more frequently. What's interesting, I've not missed a pre-scheduled recording due to signal loss. However, I was able to trip it by recording an in-progress show that had already lost signal. That's my only missed recording due to signal loss in the recording history.

My current theory is that anything past two tuners runs has risk of failing. Largely b/c my series 3 runs all day w/o any issues. My guess is that you could get black screens on 4 tuners but be unable to produce the issue on the final two. If your mini gets one of these two "good" tuners, maybe it always works.

Most of this is all conjecture though without us having any real quantitative analysis to go on.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

jwbelcher said:


> What's interesting, I've not missed a pre-scheduled recording due to signal loss. However, I was able to trip it by recording an in-progress show that had already lost signal. That's my only missed recording due to signal loss in the recording history.


I have the same experience. No missing scheduled recordings, which implies that this process tunes the same way the Mini does (in my case).



jwbelcher said:


> Most of this is all conjecture though without us having any real quantitative analysis to go on.


Exactly. My hope is that TiVo is watching all this and is using it as valuable feedback from the field. I wonder who did the programming/integration for the Roamio operating system and drivers? I hope it's in-house at TiVo! Working with software engineers in Taiwan would certainly present challenges. My second Roamio says it was made in Mexico on Sept 4 2013.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> ...My second Roamio says it was made in Mexico on Sept 4 2013.


Well there's the problem. The poor lil' TiVo guy drank the water there and has had tuner diarrhea ever since! 

Edit: hey why don't we have a TiVo guy emoticon???


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Indeed, I just purchased a second Mini and will likely purchase two more in the not too distant future.


I'd consider putting one of the minis on the family room TV until the TA fix is rolled out to avoid black screens. Now that you can manage the season passes, it would be pretty comparable.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Is this "black screen" problem the same thing that has been known for years as the "SDV Tuning Failure" ?

To clarify, when SDV tuning failure occurs the screen is indeed black. But the defining characteristic is that the frequencies shown for the channel you attempted to tune are different in DVR Diagnostics and Tuning Adapter Diagnostics ... SDV SESSION INFO. And you can almost always tune the channel by a re-tune, e.g., chan up/chan down. After a successful re-tune the two frequencies now are the same as the one previously listed in TA Diagnostics.

I've always had this problem on my Tivo HD (Model 652160).

Assuming this is the same TA problem that is the topic of this thread, I cringe at the thought of trying to get some meaningful interaction in reporting it to my cable operator (TWC). They haven't even updated the TA software to the latest build and the last time they pushed an update it disabled all TA's on the system for a day. They are generally clueless, and I suspect uncaring, about TA issues.

Obviously if it isn't the same problem addressed by this thread, I sure don't want to start beating my head against the TWC wall.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

dlfl said:


> Is this "black screen" problem the same thing that has been known for years as the "SDV Tuning Failure" ?
> 
> To clarify, when SDV tuning failure occurs the screen is indeed black. But the defining characteristic is that the frequencies shown for the channel you attempted to tune are different in DVR Diagnostics and Tuning Adapter Diagnostics ... SDV SESSION INFO. And you can almost always tune the channel by a re-tune, e.g., chan up/chan down. After a successful re-tune the two frequencies now are the same as the one previously listed in TA Diagnostics.
> 
> ...


The primary issue is where the status in the Tivo DVR diagnostics show "Response Pending" when requesting the TA to tune a channel. There are no frequencies shown in either the Tivo or the TA diagnostics.

If your seeing different frequencies reported between the two, that likely is something different. I have a TivoHD and this "Pending Response" issue never occurs with it.


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## QuickBiscuit (Nov 3, 2013)

I purchased a Roamio 3 weeks ago and have spent hours on the phone with TiVo support concerning the black screen issue. Do they not know about this bug? They had me jumping through hoops including countless calls to Charter support, three charter support visits to my house (fourth scheduled tomorrow) and a TiVo box swap. Finding that this is a known issue is incredibly disappointing and infuriating. The TiVo support team should have told me about this software bug in their box and instead, has wasted my time. They are no better than the crooks as Charter. Boxing my TiVo boxes up and sending them back... What a waste of my time.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

QuickBiscuit said:


> I purchased a Roamio 3 weeks ago and have spent hours on the phone with TiVo support concerning the black screen issue. Do they not know about this bug? They had me jumping through hoops including countless calls to Charter support, three charter support visits to my house (fourth scheduled tomorrow) and a TiVo box swap. Finding that this is a known issue is incredibly disappointing and infuriating. The TiVo support team should have told me about this software bug in their box and instead, has wasted my time. They are no better than the crooks as Charter. Boxing my TiVo boxes up and sending them back... What a waste of my time.


Thanks for sharing.
Good bye.


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

jwbelcher said:


> I'd consider putting one of the minis on the family room TV until the TA fix is rolled out to avoid black screens. Now that you can manage the season passes, it would be pretty comparable.


Mini Update:

I've been using both of my Mini's since I swapped out the Pro Roamio last week. Both Mini's worked perfectly until yesterday when the newer one finally had a tune failure.

It happened right after I turned on the TV and woke up the Mini. It was on channel 1037 and when I hit the up-channel button one of those blue "waiting" circles appeared. All buttons on the remote were dead at this point, so I power-cycled the Mini after a few minutes. The reboot failed at a black screen before it got to the welcome video, so I repeated. This time it came up okay and was still tuned to 1037. When I clicked the up-channel button it presented with a black-screen tune failure similar to what I see on the Roamio. A click to 1039 worked, as did a down-click to 1038. Everything was then fine. This is the first time I've observed this behavior on either of my Minis.

I also saw a non-repeatable behavior yesterday. The Roamio failed to tune 1037 and was sitting there with a black screen. I left it alone and went to one of the Mini's and successfully tuned to 1037. When I went back to the Roamio the black screen was gone and 1037 was being correctly displayed. This is the first time I've seen a recovery from black-screen, but I couldn't repeat the behavior.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Mini Update:
> 
> I also saw a non-repeatable behavior yesterday. The Roamio failed to tune 1037 and was sitting there with a black screen. I left it alone and went to one of the Mini's and successfully tuned to 1037. When I went back to the Roamio the black screen was gone and 1037 was being correctly displayed. This is the first time I've seen a recovery from black-screen, but I couldn't repeat the behavior.


Thanks for updating us. This is very similar to my Mini experience / black screen with waiting graphic. The non-repeatable is similar to an situation where Roamio had a blackscreen and I subsequently tuned the channel with my TivoHD. It didn't immediately make it available on Roamio, but about 5 mins later I got picture (odd i know) . I think there must be some type of retry (but not full re-tune) either in the Tivo or TA after a failure occurs. I'm going to retry this the next time it happens just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.


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## jormerod (Nov 5, 2013)

TiVoMargret said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> If you are experiencing black screens and have a Cisco Tuning Adapter, we'd like your help. We have worked with Cisco and identified a bug in the firmware of the Tuning Adapter that causes it to occasionally fail to respond when we ask it to tune. In order to escalate the priority within Cisco, they need to receive (one or more) requests from Cable Companies to fix it. (Cable Companies are customers of Cisco, TiVo is not.) Once Cisco has updated firmware available, then it will be up to the cable companies to deploy the fix.
> 
> ...


Hi,

I just set up a Roamio plus and mini this weekend. I'm with TWC MIlwaukee and experiencing the black screen when attempting to tune certain channels e.g. AMCHD. Any news on the Cisco TA firmware fix? Any other suggestions that may resolve the issue?

Regrads,

John


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

jormerod said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just set up a Roamio plus and mini this weekend. I'm with TWC MIlwaukee and experiencing the black screen when attempting to tune certain channels e.g. AMCHD. Any news on the Cisco TA firmware fix? Any other suggestions that may resolve the issue?


Hi John,

Do you see the tuning failure on your Mini? In my case I've had a Mini fail to tune only once since early September, and I've got two of them now. All recorded shows have tuned correctly too.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

lew-wolfgang said:


> Hi John,
> 
> Do you see the tuning failure on your Mini? In my case I've had a Mini fail to tune only once since early September, and I've got two of them now. All recorded shows have tuned correctly too.


I must be getting the raw end of this deal. I just had my first recording get missed last night (HIMYM) - history showed No Signal. Had to switch back to my TivoHD. Here's the crap IMHO - the tuning adapter can fail on a non-SDV?!?!?! Ridiculous. But the DVR / TA diagnostics confirmed it - no Freq on either. Tuning Adapter response pending...

I would not have 1 problem with SDV if it didn't cause these types of issues. Its like circa 2008 when I first received my TA. Missed Dexter a few times and put it on a timer to restart daily. Too bad something like that doesn't help out these days....

What can I say; I must be a sucker. I'm all in and just waiting for a fix.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

TiVoMargret said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> If you are experiencing black screens and have a Cisco Tuning Adapter, we'd like your help. We have worked with Cisco and identified a bug in the firmware of the Tuning Adapter that causes it to occasionally fail to respond when we ask it to tune. In order to escalate the priority within Cisco, they need to receive (one or more) requests from Cable Companies to fix it. (Cable Companies are customers of Cisco, TiVo is not.) Once Cisco has updated firmware available, then it will be up to the cable companies to deploy the fix.
> 
> ...


Has anyone seen or been testing a newer Cisco TA Firmware than the following version:

FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.*1601* - Jan 31, 2012


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

CoxInPHX said:


> Has anyone seen or been testing a newer Cisco TA Firmware than the following version:
> 
> FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.*1601* - Jan 31, 2012


I've been told that a newer version was released from Cisco to BHN earlier this month. I'm hoping they'll release it to customers in the near future.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

I was starting to wonder how things were going with it. Let's hope it straightens out all these little issues. You'd think with the BHN technology relationship with TWC, they may find this coming their way not long after. Thanks for the update


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> I was starting to wonder how things were going with it. Let's hope it straightens out all these little issues. You'd think with the BHN technology relationship with TWC, they may find this coming their way not long after. Thanks for the update


If Tivo had sent us the new units AND firmware *prior* to release this could have been avoided. And to be clear this was not impactful until the latest release of Tivo firmware and Roamio models. There were no changes to the Tuning Adapter firmware whatsoever that caused this. The minute it was clear something was not right we engaged Tivo and Cisco so while I understand your frustration lets be clear where it should be directed.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

TiVoMargret said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> If you are experiencing black screens and have a Cisco Tuning Adapter, we'd like your help. We have worked with Cisco and identified a bug in the firmware of the Tuning Adapter that causes it to occasionally fail to respond when we ask it to tune. In order to escalate the priority within Cisco, they need to receive (one or more) requests from Cable Companies to fix it. (Cable Companies are customers of Cisco, TiVo is not.) Once Cisco has updated firmware available, then it will be up to the cable companies to deploy the fix.
> 
> ...


Margret,

Kudos to you for your efforts. If you ever manage to get my provider, TWC Southwest Ohio, to do anything along the lines of updating firmware on either CableCARD's or TA's, it will be a minor miracle. To my knowledge they simply never do such updates. The last one I know of was a TA firmware update three years ago -- and they botched that so badly it shut down all the TA's on their system for a day.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> If Tivo had sent us the new units AND firmware *prior* to release this could have been avoided. And to be clear this was not impactful until the latest release of Tivo firmware and Roamio models. There were no changes to the Tuning Adapter firmware whatsoever that caused this. The minute it was clear something was not right we engaged Tivo and Cisco so while I understand your frustration lets be clear where it should be directed.


For me, its not directed at BHN at all. I've been amazed on how BHN and yourself have supported this after the fact. It was an oversight not to send these units out to the Cable Cos, but to be fair, its hard to say that all of them would be as responsive as you guys. Overall, with this and all the CableCard / TA support at dslreports, its shown at least BHN isn't trying to lock folks into their STB.

While I'm happy to be receiving the firmware update soon, my comment about the TWC / BHN relationship was hoping that the folks with TWC in the forum may also receive this update in the near future. Has BHN been engaged with TWC to be able to comment on that?


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

CoxInPHX said:


> Has anyone seen or been testing a newer Cisco TA Firmware than the following version:
> 
> FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.*1601* - Jan 31, 2012


The ver above is what is on the cisco ta that I have.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> For me, its not directed at BHN at all. I've been amazed on how BHN and yourself have supported this after the fact. It was an oversight not to send these units out to the Cable Cos, but to be fair, its hard to say that all of them would be as responsive as you guys. Overall, with this and all the CableCard / TA support at dslreports, its shown at least BHN isn't trying to lock folks into their STB.
> 
> While I'm happy to be receiving the firmware update soon, my comment about the TWC / BHN relationship was hoping that the folks with TWC in the forum may also receive this update in the near future. Has BHN been engaged with TWC to be able to comment on that?


You made several assumptions that just aren't correct. First of all the issue has to be identified then validated with the impacted vendor(s). Remember this isn't impacting other 3rd party vendors just Tivo. Once an issue has been validated with xyz product MSO's are totally reliant on the MFR to fix their product (which in this case was Cisco). Cisco then fixes whatever the issue may be and releases the fix to the impacted MSO's.

From there the fix has to be validated in our labs to make sure that (1) it actually solves the problem (2) won't introduce new possibly worse issues (3) won't negatively impact our systems, operations and other customers. TWC like us has a process by which we follow for this and there's reason why things take as long as they do. Lots of things need to be tested and this isn't the only thing we're working on right now..lots of fish to fry.

For what its worth this issue was fasttracked but there is a limit to which no MSO will cross when it comes to validations. We and I'm sure TWC will not release something until we're comfortable that this is going to be a minimal impact upgrade.

The better solution to this is the next time Tivo identifies a problem they come to me to directly (not through their customers) and I will engage all necesary parties so that we're all on the same page and working together without a delay.

We have the code from Cisco and are working as fast as possible to get it out to you guys. In the meantime I encourage you to reach out to me in our direct forums at DSLR and I will gather your info and keep you updated along the way.

But to be clear neither ourselves or TWC are dragging our feet on this...it isn't as if we weren't already involved in other things that have equal or higher priority because of impact. This was preventable from the start with a little bit of communication from Tivo.

If I sound a bit irritated it's because I am. We have worked extremely hard to ensure a seamless experience for our Tivo customers and this should have been addressed company to company and not through our mutual customers. We know how to communicate with each other and what needs to be done to investigate these types of things. Customers should not be asked to call their providers and insist on tickets being submitted especially when they have my contact information already and have for quite some time.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> You made several assumptions that just aren't correct. First of all the issue has to be identified then validated with the impacted vendor(s). Remember this isn't impacting other 3rd party vendors just Tivo. Once an issue has been validated with xyz product MSO's are totally reliant on the MFR to fix their product (which in this case was Cisco). Cisco then fixes whatever the issue may be and releases the fix to the impacted MSO's.
> 
> From there the fix has to be validated in our labs to make sure that (1) it actually solves the problem (2) won't introduce new possibly worse issues (3) won't negatively impact our systems, operations and other customers. TWC like us has a process by which we follow for this and there's reason why things take as long as they do. Lots of things need to be tested and this isn't the only thing we're working on right now..lots of fish to fry.
> 
> ...


Wow, Gary, just don't shoot the mutual customers in the process. I get your irritated, but we're on the side-line here with at best conjecture to talk about. But don't make your own assumptions about what I'm saying or my opinions. I've not once suggested it was your guys fault or that your dragging your feet. On the contrary, it was an attempt to show YOU and BHN some appreciation. Please don't assume customers are not on your side.. this is disappointing. :down:


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> Wow, Gary, just don't shoot the mutual customers in the process. I get your irritated, but we're on the side-line here with at best conjecture to talk about. But don't make your own assumptions about what I'm saying or my opinions. I've not once suggested it was your guys fault or that your dragging your feet. On the contrary, it was attempt to show some YOU and BHN some appreciation. Please don't assume customers are not on your side.. this is disappointing. :down:


You are taking it personally and it's not intended that way...honest. I am however taking this opportunity to clear the record because I have been on the recpient end of what Tivo is telling their customers not to mention the request that was posted in the forums here. I also took this opportunity to explain the process to you so that you know these things just can't happen overnight and that every effort is ongoing to get this remedied as quickly as possible. Nobody wants this to happen faster than I do...especially with Christmas hot on our heals. I think we both know that these devices are going to be under a lot of trees 

My frustration is not at you guys  Not at all.... But at least you guys know there is an active and open conduit of communication available, people just need to use it. So the next time this happens the first question you guys should ask of TivoMargaret is "Have you reached out to Gary yet"? If the answer is no...then you know what you need to do


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

No hard feelings Gary, but now Sam on the other hand  just kidding!


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> No hard feelings Gary, but now Sam on the other hand  just kidding!


Oh good we can bash Sam together then  Oh wait he has all my contact info including home phone and cell....can I take that back lol 

Actually lives very close to me and knows I'm here for you guys anytime, anywhere. I have worked with Sam for YEARS!


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Hmm. After having absolutely no problems since getting the Roamio, I've suddenly started having the black screen issue tuner failure repeatedly in the last 3-4 days or so. I wish I knew if someone pushed an update out to tell if that was the culprit or not.


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

LoadStar said:


> Hmm. After having absolutely no problems since getting the Roamio, I've suddenly started having the black screen issue tuner failure repeatedly in the last 3-4 days or so. I wish I knew if someone pushed an update out to tell if that was the culprit or not.


IIRC, when I reported this issue to the TWC Nat'l Cable Card support people a few weeks ago they said someone in your market had also reported this issue. I doubt TWC would have been able to verify the Cisco firmware update on their network already, but who knows. If you post your Tuning Adapter firmware version I'm sure someone can chime in if it looks "new".


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

LoadStar said:


> Hmm. After having absolutely no problems since getting the Roamio, I've suddenly started having the black screen issue tuner failure repeatedly in the last 3-4 days or so. I wish I knew if someone pushed an update out to tell if that was the culprit or not.


I can answer that question...nope. The fix was just sent from Cisco within the recent past so it will be a bit. The issue however is random. Sometimes you have the problem sometimes you don't. One minute you can tune to specifc channel then tune off and return 5 minutes later and pffft it's gone so it doesn't surprise me in the least that you had no problems up until now. Flip side of that is there are some where it's constant no matter what you do...this is the odd thing about this whole mess.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Oh good we can bash Sam together then  Oh wait he has all my contact info including home phone and cell....can I take that back lol
> 
> Actually lives very close to me and knows I'm here for you guys anytime, anywhere. I have worked with Sam for YEARS!


Hi Gary,

As always, I appreciate the candor!  I continue to have infrequent issues with the latest Roamio update but they are not nearly as problematic as they were before TiVo updated the Roamio software to address the TA instability -- probably added the fixes that were already present in the Premiere software baseline.

~Sam


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

BHNtechXpert said:


> You made several assumptions that just aren't correct. First of all the issue has to be identified then validated with the impacted vendor(s). Remember this isn't impacting other 3rd party vendors just Tivo. Once an issue has been validated with xyz product MSO's are totally reliant on the MFR to fix their product (which in this case was Cisco). Cisco then fixes whatever the issue may be and releases the fix to the impacted MSO's.
> 
> From there the fix has to be validated in our labs to make sure that (1) it actually solves the problem (2) won't introduce new possibly worse issues (3) won't negatively impact our systems, operations and other customers. TWC like us has a process by which we follow for this and there's reason why things take as long as they do. Lots of things need to be tested and this isn't the only thing we're working on right now..lots of fish to fry.
> 
> ...


You are correct "this was preventable", had the cable companies chose to NOT use SDV.
Never had these problems before SDV was foisted upon us.

As far as "other impacts" I do understand about the dealing with the biggest fire first. But in this case, IMO, there should have never been the ignition point caused by SDV.

Finally this is not personal BHNtechXpert, I (we) do appreciate your involvement here and the work you are doing. I fully recognize that "IT'S" not YOUR fault.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS TIVO CUSTOMERS - who currently have 4 or 6 tuner units including Roamio units. I need you to contact me https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/bhousedirect as we are getting close and I will need several volunteers. When you post there use the subject heading "Tivo Issue" and be sure to include your modem MAC address so I can pull your account information. When I'm ready to proceed I will respond to your post.

Thank you,

Gary


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Teeps said:


> You are correct "this was preventable", had the cable companies chose to NOT use SDV.
> Never had these problems before SDV was foisted upon us.
> 
> As far as "other impacts" I do understand about the dealing with the biggest fire first. But in this case, IMO, there should have never been the ignition point caused by SDV.
> ...


It isn't OUR fault period meaning this issue, this has been well established already. We however are doing what we need to do to help bring resolution to it. As for the SDV comment....SDV was brought to be to effectively manage the ever increasing customer desire for more and more content. It is no mistake that we have the largest HD offering in the industry....hands down and SDV has played a significant role in making that possible. While it does complicate things a bit technically we have worked around most of those issues so that generally speaking the experience is seamless for everyone. Is everyone happy with the solutions...nope...we can't please everyone, everytime all we can do is our best effort.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

I just went through my entire lineup on my Roamio after realizing that oceanic TWC just started doing the auto tune of the HD channel when you select the SD digital version. It was then that I really realized the extent of the tuning and black screen errors of this thing. I can't believe how much this thing fails to tune channels, and I don't even mean only SDV ones! It did it with many normal channels like CNN. I immediately thought of this thread so I went to my living room where a mini is installed and I went through the lineup one channel at a time again and it tuned every channel!

I'm so sick and tired of TiVo blaming the tuning adapter, Cablecard, signal, etc! This once again proves it is TIVO at fault here, plain and simple, case closed. 

If the new software update doesn't happen by Friday and fix this after months of BS, then I'm out for good.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

Bright House Florida customers heads up: We will be updating your Tuning Adapters after midnight tonight. During the update expect the usual Tivo messages and inability to tune channels. Post update if you have any questions or problems reach out to me here or here https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/bhousedirect

Once again I encourage Tivo to reach out to us directly next time they encounter issues that may be mutually impacting instead of asking their customers to contact us on their own. Working together we can investigate and resolve these things far more efficiently and avoid situations where our mutual customers are caught in the middle.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

HarperVision said:


> I just went through my entire lineup on my Roamio after realizing that oceanic TWC just started doing the auto tune of the HD channel when you select the SD digital version. It was then that I really realized the extent of the tuning and black screen errors of this thing. I can't believe how much this thing fails to tune channels, and I don't even mean only SDV ones! It did it with many normal channels like CNN. I immediately thought of this thread so I went to my living room where a mini is installed and I went through the lineup one channel at a time again and it tuned every channel!
> 
> I'm so sick and tired of TiVo blaming the tuning adapter, Cablecard, signal, etc! This once again proves it is TIVO at fault here, plain and simple, case closed.
> 
> If the new software update doesn't happen by Friday and fix this after months of BS, then I'm out for good.


You probably shouldn't expect a magic bullet from Friday's release. Its seems like they're letting Cisco own this issue. Hopefully the firmware fix BHN pushes tonight will resolve the tuning issue here; I also get failures on non-SDV too.

Btw, have you tried contacting TWC @ https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/timewarnerdirect

Based on BHNtechXpert's comments, I'd assume TWC engineering is also in the mix. Maybe their forum guys will have a target date for you.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> You probably shouldn't expect a magic bullet from Friday's release. Its seems like they're letting Cisco own this issue. Hopefully the firmware fix BHN pushes tonight will resolve the tuning issue here; I also get failures on non-SDV too.
> 
> Btw, have you tried contacting TWC @ https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/timewarnerdirect
> 
> Based on BHNtechXpert's comments, I'd assume TWC engineering is also in the mix. Maybe their forum guys will have a target date for you.


No TWC is not involved. We are two entirely different companies and march entirely to different drummers. We however are updating the Tuning Adapters tonight. As for TWC no clue.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> No TWC is not involved. We are two entirely different companies and march entirely to different drummers. We however are updating the Tuning Adapters tonight. As for TWC no clue.


Okay. Didn't know from a "technology" perspective or if Cisco may have alerted them. Guess I'm done making assumptions. Thanks for chiming in.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> Okay. Didn't know from a "technology" perspective or if Cisco may have alerted them. Guess I'm done making assumptions. Thanks for chiming in.


The mistake is common....just because we partner for programming and SOME technology the relationship ends there. We do our thing...they do theirs and from time to time our paths do cross but no assumptions should be made there. TWC is a public company we are private.

The assumption is that Cisco shared the fix with all providers who use SDV technology. What they do with it beyond that is their business. I can speak only of what we're doing tonight.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

I can confirm folks are receiving the update as I type this  Looking forward to your feedback.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

jwbelcher said:


> You probably shouldn't expect a magic bullet from Friday's release. Its seems like they're letting Cisco own this issue. Hopefully the firmware fix BHN pushes tonight will resolve the tuning issue here; I also get failures on non-SDV too. Btw, have you tried contacting TWC @ https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/timewarnerdirect Based on BHNtechXpert's comments, I'd assume TWC engineering is also in the mix. Maybe their forum guys will have a target date for you.


 I was told by Margret to have patience and that this update contains fixes for the tuning issues similar to how Ceton does it with their six tuner devices (by sending multiple tune requests).

My patience is EXTREMELY thin after tonight missing The Big Bang Theory due to "No Signal". Needless to say with the family sitting there with their pizza plates full of slices ready to watch our Thursday ritual show, TiVo disappoints and pisses off again. Luckily CBS on PlayOn saved the day. We may as well cut the cord and save money if this is how its going to be. I have a Simple.TV sitting right here. Just pickup a couple of Rokus and I'm all set.

We NEVER once experienced this with DirecTV, even during tropical storms that caused a couple tsunamis!!!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> .......As for TWC no clue.


Oh, so just like Time Warner and TiVo then, huh?


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Bright House Florida customers heads up: We will be updating your Tuning Adapters after midnight tonight. During the update expect the usual Tivo messages and inability to tune channels. Post update if you have any questions or problems reach out to me here or here https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/bhousedirect
> 
> Once again I encourage Tivo to reach out to us directly next time they encounter issues that may be mutually impacting instead of asking their customers to contact us on their own. Working together we can investigate and resolve these things far more efficiently and avoid situations where our mutual customers are caught in the middle.


Can you tell us the new Cisco TA firmware version# so that the rest of us can bug our providers.

FWIW: I received SW update 20.3.8 on my Roamio Pro tonight and was immediately presented with this issue, again, so the TiVo update alone is not enough, rebooting the TA every few days seems to help quite a bit.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

CoxInPHX said:


> Can you tell us the new Cisco TA firmware version# so that the rest of us can bug our providers.


+1 :up: That information would be very helpful, so we know what to ask our providers for. Thanks in advance, BHNtechXpert!


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

jwbelcher said:


> My BHN Tampa TA was updated during the night. I woke up to the TA Attached screen on my Roamio Pro.
> 
> Cisco firmware versions:
> Cablecard : PKEY1.5.3_F.p.0601
> Tuning Adapter: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1601


*Software Versions*
PTV OS: Explorer1kg6 NGP OS
Tuning Adapter: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1901
App(s): SARA v1.61.41.a203

I'm watching an SDV channel as I type.


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

nooneuknow said:


> +1 :up: That information would be very helpful, so we know what to ask our providers for. Thanks in advance, BHNtechXpert!


Cox Cisco customers post your request here:

Request for New Cisco SDV Tuning Adapter Firmware:
http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/tv_forum/f/4/t/3280.aspx

And Here:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r28882767-CATV-Request-for-New-Cisco-SDV-Tuning-Adapter-Firmware


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

CoxInPHX said:


> Cox Cisco customers post your request here:
> 
> Request for New Cisco SDV Tuning Adapter Firmware:
> http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/tv_forum/f/4/t/3280.aspx
> ...


I'd recommend giving the BHN customers a few days to report their experience after the FW update. I had some weird behavior on my TivoHD right after it was pushed out (2 am). Its settled down this morning, so maybe there was other stuff going on last night. Needless to say, I got nervous about compatibility in the HD. I was planning to talk to my buddy over in Melbourne that runs WMC w/ Ceton and see how he's doing today.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

jwbelcher said:


> I'd recommend giving the BHN customers a few days to report their experience after the FW update. I had some weird behavior on my TivoHD right after it was pushed out (2 am). Its settled down this morning, so maybe there was other stuff going on last night. Needless to say, I got nervous about compatibility in the HD. I was planning to talk to my buddy over in Melbourne that runs WMC w/ Ceton and see how he's doing today.


Ah, yes, the old "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it", and "Be careful what you ask for, you may regret it" conundrum...

A very good point, indeed. I'd rather let some other people test it before I start pestering Cox about it...

The most recent updates for Roamios & Premieres are supposed to have a workaround, that will try multiple re-tunes, from what I've heard around here.

I'd want to see how that workaround works, doesn't work, or both, and get a feel for things before & after whatever TiVo has done to deal with the known issues, before I change another variable factor.


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## ToddD (Jul 9, 2001)

jwbelcher said:


> I'd recommend giving the BHN customers a few days to report their experience after the FW update. I had some weird behavior on my TivoHD right after it was pushed out (2 am). Its settled down this morning, so maybe there was other stuff going on last night. Needless to say, I got nervous about compatibility in the HD. I was planning to talk to my buddy over in Melbourne that runs WMC w/ Ceton and see how he's doing today.


I'm not the buddy in question, but I do live in Melbourne and run WMC w/ Ceton! My TA locked up Sunday night and killed all of my recordings for Monday daytime and I was forced to reboot everything, so as to not miss Monday nights recordings. Today, I saw a post over on AVS that linked here about BH pushing a new FW to the TA. So I went to my TA screen in the Ceton Manager and found that my TA was locked up again. Another full Reboot.Good News- I have the new FW. Bad news- the TA is the source of trouble *just as always*. Unlike TiVo users we (MCE) have 3 things to reboot....I have to agree with HarperVision, I NEVER had any problems with my DirecTV. They are offering major discounts to come back. I'm thinking very hard on it. So that's how we are doing over in Melbourne....


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

ToddD said:


> I'm not the buddy in question, but I do live in Melbourne and run WMC w/ Ceton! My TA locked up Sunday night and killed all of my recordings for Monday daytime and I was forced to reboot everything, so as to not miss Monday nights recordings. Today, I saw a post over on AVS that linked here about BH pushing a new FW to the TA. So I went to my TA screen in the Ceton Manager and found that my TA was locked up again. Another full Reboot.Good News- I have the new FW. Bad news- the TA is the source of trouble *just as always*. Unlike TiVo users we (MCE) have 3 things to reboot....I have to agree with HarperVision, I NEVER had any problems with my DirecTV. They are offering major discounts to come back. I'm thinking very hard on it. So that's how we are doing over in Melbourne....


Your TA locking up has nothing to do with this issue. If it is truly locking up as you state this is either a defective TA or a signal issue where we have lost two both fixable. As for your DirecTV statement you are comparing Apples to Artichokes...with DirecTV you have one tuner and that is it. With cable and cable card you have many tuners up to the limit of your specific Tivo or Ceton device. I get it you don't like tuning adapters...nearly as much as I don't like misinformation


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

HarperVision said:


> Oh, so just like Time Warner and TiVo then, huh?


Ouch.... in fairness I think every company regardless of who they are have opportunities for improvement. What sets one company apart from another is their willingness to embrace those opportunities as they uncovered.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Your TA locking up has nothing to do with this issue. If it is truly locking up as you state this is either a defective TA or a signal issue where we have lost two both fixable. As for your DirecTV statement you are comparing Apples to Artichokes...with DirecTV you have one tuner and that is it. With cable and cable card you have many tuners up to the limit of your specific Tivo or Ceton device. I get it you don't like tuning adapters...nearly as much as I don't like misinformation


You mean the same misinformation you just posted about directv? To clarify, their Genie DVR (both versions) has 5 tuners and in a normal residential home you can usually have up to 16 tuners going at any one time (SWM16 system with the possibility of even more with dual SWM16) PLUS have numerous genie clients that don't add to the tuner count with the ability to have 3 active at a time. They borrow a tuner from the genie, same as a TiVo mini does with a premiere4/Roamio.

And yes, sometimes flashing new firmware and/or software onto existing hardware CAN make it lock up, glitch, break, etc. It happens all the time, so I can't see as that is "misinformation" at all.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Ouch.... in fairness I think every company regardless of who they are have opportunities for improvement. What sets one company apart from another is their willingness to embrace those opportunities as they uncovered.


Agreed, but that's exactly what I'm taking about. They're not willing to open up and see the big picture and always seem to treat the end user like they're idiots with a condescending tone and manner, always blaming them, the other company's hardware or software, etc.

I will guarantee you I know more about cablecards and TAs (and that's not saying much really) than every person I have spoken to in my local Oceanic TWC system, including the supervisors and lead tech that came to my house to prove ME wrong, but in fact the opposite happened.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

HarperVision said:


> You mean the same misinformation you just posted about directv? To clarify, their Genie DVR (both versions) has 5 tuners and in a normal residential home you can usually have up to 16 tuners going at any one time (SWM16 system with the possibility of even more with dual SWM16) PLUS have numerous genie clients that don't add to the tuner count with the ability to have 3 active at a time. They borrow a tuner from the genie, same as a TiVo mini does with a premiere4/Roamio.
> 
> And yes, sometimes flashing new firmware and/or software onto existing hardware CAN make it lock up, glitch, break, etc. It happens all the time, so I can't see as that is "misinformation" at all.


We aren't talking about the Genie DVR ....you were talking about Tivo and Ceton...NOT Genie. I'm fully aware of what the Genie can do and of the available hardware,. If however you want to connect a Tivo or Ceton it will be one tuner period.

And no the firmware update didn't lock up your TA. First of all it didn't happen on Sunday it happened last night for Bright House customers (have no clue when or if TWC plans to release it) and the only reason your TA locked last night is probably the same reason it locked on Sunday totally unrelated to any update. What you need to do is call your local office and have them look at historical data for that device and two way connectivity and see if there was and detected loss of said connectivity on our around the time the device is alleged to have locked up. They have access to the same or similar tools I do and this is a no brainer. They should be able to tell you within about a 5 day history window perhaps longer. They can also put you on constant monitoring which is sure to catch it provided the disconnect duration is greater than about 3 minutes.


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

HarperVision said:


> Agreed, but that's exactly what I'm taking about. They're not willing to open up and see the big picture and always seem to treat the end user like they're idiots with a condescending tone and manner, always blaming them, the other company's hardware or software, etc.
> 
> I will guarantee you I know more about cablecards and TAs (and that's not saying much really) than every person I have spoken to in my local Oceanic TWC system, including the supervisors and lead tech that came to my house to prove ME wrong, but in fact the opposite happened.


Okay so you are TWC's customer...we are not TWC and I promise you I know more about this equipment than you do. You sit there and say they treat you like you're an idiot....my hunch is just in two encounters with you that you treated them the same way...you made assumptions that every rep is an idiot and has no clue and you didn't let them do their job opting instead to argue with them and give them a hard time. Humans tend to react negatively to that kind of treatment even those tasked with tolerating it and acting above it the best they can which is what a rep does. Next time you work with them give them a break and let them do their job. You might be surprised at the extent they will go to help you....verses the other approach which is just to get you off the phone as quickly as they can. They are after all humans and have already dealt with 80 others just like you. My best advice.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> We aren't talking about the Genie DVR ....you were talking about Tivo and Ceton...NOT Genie. I'm fully aware of what the Genie can do and of the available hardware,. If however you want to connect a Tivo or Ceton it will be one tuner period. And no the firmware update didn't lock up your TA. First of all it didn't happen on Sunday it happened last night for Bright House customers (have no clue when or if TWC plans to release it) and the only reason your TA locked last night is probably the same reason it locked on Sunday totally unrelated to any update. What you need to do is call your local office and have them look at historical data for that device and two way connectivity and see if there was and detected loss of said connectivity on our around the time the device is alleged to have locked up. They have access to the same or similar tools I do and this is a no brainer. They should be able to tell you within about a 5 day history window perhaps longer. They can also put you on constant monitoring which is sure to catch it provided the disconnect duration is greater than about 3 minutes.


Who said ToddD and I weren't talking about the DirecTV Genie DVR??? I know I was and then he agreed with me that we never had issues with it. We were comparing DirecTV's DVR service with the TiVo and Ceton cable DVR solutions. You're the one who isn't following along here and stated that DirecTV only has one tuner.

I never even mentioned anything about my TA locking up either, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from too?


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## BHNtechXpert (Nov 8, 2011)

HarperVision said:


> Who said ToddD and I weren't talking about the DirecTV Genie DVR??? I know I was and then he agreed with me that we never had issues with it. We were comparing DirecTV's DVR service with the TiVo and Ceton cable DVR solutions. You're the one who isn't following along here and stated that DirecTV only has one tuner.
> 
> I never even mentioned anything about my TA locking up either, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from too?


Todd Did....

Originally Posted by ToddD 
I'm not the buddy in question, but I do live in Melbourne and run WMC w/ Ceton! My TA locked up Sunday night and killed all of my recordings for Monday daytime and I was forced to reboot everything, so as to not miss Monday nights recordings. Today, I saw a post over on AVS that linked here about BH pushing a new FW to the TA. So I went to my TA screen in the Ceton Manager and found that my TA was locked up again. Another full Reboot.Good News- I have the new FW. Bad news- the TA is the source of trouble just as always. Unlike TiVo users we (MCE) have 3 things to reboot....I have to agree with HarperVision, I NEVER had any problems with my DirecTV. They are offering major discounts to come back. I'm thinking very hard on it. So that's how we are doing over in Melbourne....

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


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Todd Did.... Originally Posted by ToddD I'm not the buddy in question, but I do live in Melbourne and run WMC w/ Ceton! My TA locked up Sunday night and killed all of my recordings for Monday daytime and I was forced to reboot everything, so as to not miss Monday nights recordings. Today, I saw a post over on AVS that linked here about BH pushing a new FW to the TA. So I went to my TA screen in the Ceton Manager and found that my TA was locked up again. Another full Reboot.Good News- I have the new FW. Bad news- the TA is the source of trouble just as always. Unlike TiVo users we (MCE) have 3 things to reboot....I have to agree with HarperVision, I NEVER had any problems with my DirecTV. They are offering major discounts to come back. I'm thinking very hard on it. So that's how we are doing over in Melbourne.... -------------


Yeah, but you quoted and replied to me.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Okay so you are TWC's customer...we are not TWC and I promise you I know more about this equipment than you do. You sit there and say they treat you like you're an idiot....my hunch is just in two encounters with you that you treated them the same way...you made assumptions that every rep is an idiot and has no clue and you didn't let them do their job opting instead to argue with them and give them a hard time. Humans tend to react negatively to that kind of treatment even those tasked with tolerating it and acting above it the best they can which is what a rep does. Next time you work with them give them a break and let them do their job. You might be surprised at the extent they will go to help you....verses the other approach which is just to get you off the phone as quickly as they can. They are after all humans and have already dealt with 80 others just like you. My best advice.


 I know you're not TWC and I never said I knew more than you, I said I knew more than the people that I talked to at my local oceanic system and even said "that's not saying much". Your "hunch" is completely wrong btw. I treat them and everyone with the utmost of respect initially and talk very humbly and nicely until it's not returned. I am VERY well liked there and compliment them a lot on their patience and understanding with clients. They help me A LOT as a matter of fact. It is some of THEM, as I said in my post, that treat US like we are idiots and like no one else knows anything about their technology. You need to start reading and comprehending what I "am" writing and not what you "perceive" I write or who I am.


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## ToddD (Jul 9, 2001)

BHNtechXpert said:


> Your TA locking up has nothing to do with this issue. If it is truly locking up as you state this is either a defective TA or a signal issue where we have lost two both fixable. As for your DirecTV statement you are comparing Apples to Artichokes...with DirecTV you have one tuner and that is it. With cable and cable card you have many tuners up to the limit of your specific Tivo or Ceton device. I get it you don't like tuning adapters...nearly as much as I don't like misinformation


I'm confused. Is it your job to help Brighthouse customers on internet forums or is it to show up and bash them? Are you to provide a positive image of Brighthouse on the net or a condescending smart ass one?

Why do you always feel the need to bash all of your competitors? And now your customers. I really do not get what your intentions are.

As has already been pointed out, It is you that are misinforming. I'm not going to waste any of my time by trying to educate you, but all you posted above is crap and wrong. For the record I was not saying that the FW caused my TA lockups...In fact the opposite, Problems before upgrade -Problems after.

All of this is off topic and not on your forum. So please let it end here.


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## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

On a more positive note, the new Cisco TA firmware BHN pushed appears to be working flawlessly in conjunction with the latest Roamio SW build.


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

I have the latest Roamio software but not the Cisco T/A firmware (I'm on TWC). It's definitely too early to say for sure, but it looks like a major improvement on the black screen issues I've been experiencing since January 2013. :up::up::up:


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

HarperVision said:


> I was told by Margret to have patience and that this update contains fixes for the tuning issues similar to how Ceton does it with their six tuner devices (by sending multiple tune requests).





sbiller said:


> On a more positive note, the new Cisco TA firmware BHN pushed appears to be working flawlessly in conjunction with the latest Roamio SW build.


I have a bit of positive news too, with Margret's help in the 11th hour, I stayed on 20.3.7 to test TA firmware update alone. I've tested having 5 tuners on SDV premiums and going through the full channel line up a few times on the 6th tuner. So far so good. Plan to do a bit more tomorrow once the kids are out of the house.

I did check with my buddy in Melbourne and his WMC w/ Ceton froze up after the FW upgrade Thursday night too. I've never had the that with either of my Tivo boxes. He also mentioned its something he experiences periodically. Maybe its something specific to WMC or Ceton implementations.

Anyway, plan to report back next week. All the bashing aside, thanks to TivoMargret, BHNtechXpert, and the folks at Cisco for their quick responses.

James


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

jwbelcher said:


> I have a bit of positive news too, with Margret's help in the 11th hour, I stayed on 20.3.7 to test TA firmware update alone. I've tested having 5 tuners on SDV premiums and going through the full channel line up a few times on the 6th tuner. So far so good. Plan to do a bit more tomorrow once the kids are out of the house. I did check with my buddy in Melbourne and his WMC w/ Ceton froze up after the FW upgrade Thursday night too. I've never had the that with either of my Tivo boxes. He also mentioned its something he experiences periodically. Maybe its something specific to WMC or Ceton implementations. Anyway, plan to report back next week. All the bashing aside, thanks to TivoMargret, BHNtechXpert, and the folks at Cisco for their quick responses. James


That's great to hear! I agree Margret has been awesome and regardless of the conflict BHNtechXpert created with me for some unknown reason, he has been a Godsend for Brighthouse customers with his knowledge and assistance! I hope they don't let anything (including me) keep them from coming here and assisting with issues we may have. Their assistance is invaluable!


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## lew-wolfgang (Sep 24, 2013)

Well, the recently deployed 20.3.8 release seems to have fixed my original black-screen problem. I've tried to replicate the issue since the update, but every tune has worked flawlessly. Case closed, at least for me.


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

Tuning has been very consistent with 20.3.7 + STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1901. However, last night after having a channel tuned for most of the day, I got a v58 unauthorized. Its been very rare to get the v58 error, maybe the second time since I hooked up the Roamio. Overall, doesn't seem related to the TA since tuning was fine during the issue. My Cablecard is Cisco w/ 1.5.3.0601 running on it.


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