# OTA V53 issue & temp Solution



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I am posting this for general info and also posting it in the Roamio forum as it affects Roamios the same way.

General Info: I currently have one antenna feed split through a 4 way splitter to my Roamio, Premiere, TiVo HD, & HDHomeRun. This morning I found I was getting the V53 error message for Channel 31.1 (Fox Rochester NY). I rebooted the unit and also did another channel scan and found something fairly interesting 31.1 actually broadcasts on frequency 28 and the scan found a channel on 28.3 that is actually 31.1 So of course I had to see what was going on with all my devices and this is what I have found:


Roamio gets V53 error message and can not tune anything on 31.1 however no issue recieving 31.1 on 28.3 (of course no guide data)
Premiere also gets V53 error message in HDUI & SDUI and can also tune 31.1 on 28.3
TiVo HD works fine, tunes 31.1 on 31.1 and gets nothing when I manual tune to 28.3
HDHomeRun via Media center can not tune 31.1, scan did not find anything on 28.3 and I have not found a way to manually try tuning 28.3
HDHomeRun via HDHomeRun Quick TV software works fine, tunes 31.1 on 31.1 without any issues. 
Not sure what to assume from the above, but I am guessing Fox 31 is at least partially at fault (note channel just change ownership). So if people are getting V53 errors from OTA channels they should see if they can get the channel on the actually frequency it is broadcast on. Not sure how to get this fixed permanently, will just wait a few days and see what happens.

On a different note for those interesting in how well the tuners in my different devices compare, today I was getting great reception over all and found more channels when I did rescans and walked through all my channels on each device. Again the Roamio was the best with the TiVo HD coming in a close second, what was surprising is that the Premiere was closer to the Roamio & Tivo HD than normal and the HDHomeRun was actually worse than the Premiere (normally they are the same).


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Just a little update. Everything is still the same as in my first post. I have also tried 3 TV tuners, My 5.5 yr old Panasonic TV, a 7 year old Sony Tub TV (has built in digital tuner), and a 1 year old Samsung TV. All three TVs work fine and tune 31.1 on 31.1.

So it appears the software in the Roamio/Premiere TiVos and MS Media Center (running windows 8.1) have an issue with understanding what Rochester Fox 31 is sending out in their digital stream to remap the station to 31.1, I expect Fox 31 will have to change something to get this fixed, but who knows maybe TiVo can fix it as it works fine with other OTA tuners/software including my TiVo HD.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Have you reported the lineup change to TiVo?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

ggieseke said:


> Have you reported the lineup change to TiVo?


There is no real lineup change.

Many OTA channels don't use the same frequency to broadcast on that they use for their "official" channel number. Without going into a long explanation that includes several reasons for this, it is easier to just say it is a result of the OTA analog to digital conversion.

Fox 31 in Rochester NY uses 31.1 as it's official OTA channel but actually uses frequency 28 to broadcast on. When everything is working correctly there is data in the stream that tells the OTA tuner to show the channel as 31.1, right now something is not working correctly and TiVo Roamios & Premieres show a V53 error when you try and tune 31.1 & windows media center just shows no signal available. Many OTA tuners including the ones in my TiVo HD are still working correctly and can tune 31.1, so for some reason some tuners can interpret the data in the stream correctly and others can not.

Knowing what frequency 31.1 was actually broadcast on I found 31.1 on 28.3, if the tuner was reading the data correctly this should not be possible, but I have seen it before with other channels, in those case I received the station on the channel it was actually broadcast on and the correct channel, this is the first time I have seen this issue. At this point either Fox 31 has to change something in the data stream or TiVo and Media Center will have to alter their software to correct the problem. My guess is because most OTA tuners still seem to work ok that this problem will not get fixed anytime soon.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

It just sounded like a guide data issue to me, especially since MC won't recognize it but your HDHomeRun does. TiVo and MC both use Tribune Media Services, while the HomeRun software just scans for channels.

I still think it's worth reporting it as a lineup issue, but I've been wrong before.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

Nothing recorded last night!
Even on network channels that do not rely on a tuning adapter!

Today the same; no signal V53 code.

What the hell is going on?

Had to call time warner cable card help desk.
He had me:
1 pull the usb cable from the tuning adapter.
2 pull the power cord.
3 connect the power cord; wait for blinking indicator (green) to remain on solid.
4 connect usb cable.
Channels returned....
But why is this happening?


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## TVCricket (Mar 7, 2010)

Glad it got fixed for you. Problem for a lot of us is we're on OTA antenna, so there's no tuner adapter. I got a feeling that TiVo is going to take forever to fix this since it's only a small market and even fewer of us with this problem.


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## ChileHead (Feb 10, 2002)

TVCricket said:


> Glad it got fixed for you. Problem for a lot of us is we're on OTA antenna, so there's no tuner adapter. I got a feeling that TiVo is going to take forever to fix this since it's only a small market and even fewer of us with this problem.


I just noticed this problem tonight. I don't even understand what this 28-3 and 31-1 business is about, other than I can see the guide data on 31-1 but no picture, and the picture on 28-3 and no guide data.


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## TVCricket (Mar 7, 2010)

ChileHead said:


> I just noticed this problem tonight. I don't even understand what this 28-3 and 31-1 business is about, other than I can see the guide data on 31-1 but no picture, and the picture on 28-3 and no guide data.


28-3 is the physical channel for FOX Rochester, 31-3 is the display channel.


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## digitalgreg (Jan 3, 2014)

I just reported it as a lineup issue. If enough of us do the same, hopefully it will get fixed!


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

digitalgreg said:


> I just reported it as a lineup issue. If enough of us do the same, hopefully it will get fixed!


I agree everyone with the problem should contact TiVo and maybe Fox 31. I sent an email to Marget Schmidt last week detailing the problem and providing links to the 2 threads I started about it. So far no response.


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## ChileHead (Feb 10, 2002)

digitalgreg said:


> I just reported it as a lineup issue. If enough of us do the same, hopefully it will get fixed!


I reported it last night to TiVo. I posted on WUHF's facebook page as well, though I'll try to find their proper email/phone too.


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## ChileHead (Feb 10, 2002)

Anybody hear anything official on a fix? I got the standard 5-7 day response from TiVo, but was hoping to hear a "we know what the problem is" sort of note.


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## digitalgreg (Jan 3, 2014)

ChileHead said:


> Anybody hear anything official on a fix? I got the standard 5-7 day response from TiVo, but was hoping to hear a "we know what the problem is" sort of note.


I got the same response. But they do claim that "We have addressed your issue and believe that we have answered your question." I kinda disagree with that until 28.3 disappears and I can tune in 31.1!

The ticket status is "waiting for customer". I'm afraid if I don't respond right away they'll close the ticket due to me not responding. But I'd like to give them 7 days to try to fix it.


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## ChileHead (Feb 10, 2002)

digitalgreg said:


> I got the same response. But they do claim that "We have addressed your issue and believe that we have answered your question." I kinda disagree with that until 28.3 disappears and I can tune in 31.1!
> 
> The ticket status is "waiting for customer". I'm afraid if I don't respond right away they'll close the ticket due to me not responding. But I'd like to give them 7 days to try to fix it.


I saw the waiting for customer status too! They aren't waiting for me for anything!


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## ChileHead (Feb 10, 2002)

Seems to be fixed now! I heard elsewhere it was a station problem, not a TiVo problem.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Yes I just checked working on everything (Roamio, Premiere & MS Media Center)!!

As Media Center is working I would also assume it was a Fox 31 issue not a TiVo issue.


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## digitalgreg (Jan 3, 2014)

Working for me too! Although 28.3 still appears in the guide, there's nothing on that channel. I'll just manually remove it from my lineup. Have to say, I'm pretty impressed the issue was fixed as fast as it was!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

TVCricket said:


> 28-3 is the physical channel for FOX Rochester, 31-3 is the display channel.


Do they have a broadcast license from the FCC for both channels/frequencies?

Before digital, were they UHF channel 31?


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

unitron said:


> Do they have a broadcast license from the FCC for both channels/frequencies?
> 
> Before digital, were they UHF channel 31?


Rochester Fox 31 was broadcast on frequency 31 in the old analog days. During the analog to digital conversion the analog channel was continued to be broadcast on frequency 31 and the digital channel was broadcast on frequency 28. When the analog channel was finally turned off Fox 31 had the same choice to make as most channels they could move their digital channel to frequency 31 (their known channel number) or continue broadcasting it on frequency 28. They decided to continue broadcasting it on frequency 28 and continued to call it channel 31. So they have not been using frequency 31 since the shut down of their analog station.

For digital OTA broadcast what "channel" your tuner shows a station is does not have to have anything to do with what frequency that channel is actually broadcast on. In Rochester NY it breaks down as follows:


Channels 8.1 & 8.2 are broadcast on frequency 45
Channels 10.1,10.2, & 10.3 are broadcast on frequency 10
Channels 13.1 & 13.2 are broadcast on frequency 13
Channels 21.1, 21.2, & 21.3 are broadcast on frequency 16
Channel 31.1 is broadcast on frequency 28
Channels 42.1, 42.2, & 42.3 are broadcast on frequency 42
Channels 46.1, 46.2, 46.3, 46.4, 46.5, & 46.6 are broadcast on frequency 46
Channels 51.1, 51.2, 51.3, 51.4, 51.5, & 51.6 are broadcast on frequency 23


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