# Tuning Adapter?



## Geezer64 (Jul 16, 2014)

Roamio Basic

I have Starter TV with TWC. (Channels 2-22) Have a CC & TA installed also. Do I really need a TA with this channel lineup? I have no need for their Guide and of course it won't do On-Demand.

Also, is there a way to mark a channel as a "favorite" while viewing that channel? Still learning the TiVo.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

You don't need the tuning adapter. All it is doing is sitting there costing you money in electricity to run it. Just disconnect it and throw it in a closet. If you ever decide to get a higher package, pull it out and hook it up.

Edit: I have read that if the tuning adapter is disconnected for more than a certain period of time (30 days maybe?) that it will be deactivated by Time Warner. So if you take my advice and shove it in a closet and you ever do want to use it for higher tier channels in the future, then you may have to take it back down to the TWC office and exchange it for another one.


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## pppingme (Apr 21, 2012)

Its very unlikely any of those channels are SDV, unless you have some local government channel or something along those lines that no one watches.

Just unplug it for a week and see how well things work.


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## mrizzo80 (Apr 17, 2012)

Geezer64 said:


> Roamio Basic
> 
> I have Starter TV with TWC. (Channels 2-22) Have a CC & TA installed also. Do I really need a TA with this channel lineup? I have no need for their Guide and of course it won't do On-Demand.
> 
> Also, *is there a way to mark a channel as a "favorite" while viewing that channel? * Still learning the TiVo.


Use the Guide to do this. Highlight the channel and hit the green Thumbs Up button on your remote.


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## Geezer64 (Jul 16, 2014)

Thanks for your replies  I guess to keep from having a possible hassle later on, i'll just keep the TA in place.

Mrizzo80, thanks for the tip on marking "favorite channels"


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Geezer64 said:


> Thanks for your replies  I guess to keep from having a possible hassle later on, i'll just keep the TA in place.
> 
> Mrizzo80, thanks for the tip on marking "favorite channels"


If you do leave it connected to the power and coax to keep it active on your account, I would still suggest you disconnect the USB cable so that the CableCard takes over the channel mapping.


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## pppingme (Apr 21, 2012)

tarheelblue32 said:


> If you do leave it connected to the power and coax to keep it active on your account, I would still suggest you disconnect the USB cable so that the CableCard takes over the channel mapping.


The Cablecard always controls channel mapping.

The only thing the TA does is send signals back to the cable company when a SDV channel is requested, then tell the tivo where the SDV channel is going to show up.

Unless its connected to a tivo with an active cable card, I'm not sure it even communicates at all beyond getting an IP address.

(All a TA really does can be boiled down to something similar to a cable modem, with the specific purpose of communicating with the cable head end, it doesn't actually "tune" anything, only tells the head end when you want a channel, and then tells the tivo where to look for that channel, this is why they don't have to be "inline" to work, it does this via ip over the coax between cable company and TA, and via the usb cable between the TA and tivo, the coax output of the TA is nothing more than a split/tapped signal from the input, there is no communication between the tivo and TA over coax)


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## Geezer64 (Jul 16, 2014)

pppingme said:


> The Cablecard always controls channel mapping.
> 
> The only thing the TA does is send signals back to the cable company when a SDV channel is requested, then tell the tivo where the SDV channel is going to show up.
> 
> ...


Am I understanding this correctly............the TA doesn't need to be in-line with the coax in order to do it's job? All that needs to be hooked up is the usb cable? Does this still keep it active on my account with TWC?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

pppingme said:


> The Cablecard always controls channel mapping.


I don't think that is correct. When the tuning adapter is attached with the USB cord to the TiVo, it takes over the job of channel mapping.



Geezer64 said:


> Am I understanding this correctly............the TA doesn't need to be in-line with the coax in order to do it's job? All that needs to be hooked up is the usb cable? Does this still keep it active on my account with TWC?


It doesn't need to be in-line, meaning you don't have to use the coax out port on the tuning adapter to connect it to the TiVo, but the tuting adapter still has to be connected to the coax in some way. Most people recommend using a 2-way splitter and connecting one end to the TiVo and the other to the tuning adapter.

To remain active on your account, the tuning adapter has to be connected to a coax outlet somewhere in your house so it can send and receive signals to TWC's headend equipment, but it does not need to be connected to the TiVo if all you want to do is keep it active on your account. So for example, you could hook up the tuning adapter to an unused coax outlet somewhere in your house just to keep it active.

The reason I wouldn't connect the tuning adapter to the TiVo with the USB cable if you don't need the tuning adapter is that tuning adapters are notorious for causing periodic tuning failures that require them to be restarted. I generally have to restart my tuning adapter every 3 or 4 weeks, or I start to have problems. But if you never connect the USB cable, then you won't have to worry that the tuning adapter could cause unwanted problems for your TiVo. It is just one less headache you have to worry about.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> I don't think that is correct. When the tuning adapter is attached with the USB cord to the TiVo, it takes over the job of channel mapping. ........


tarheelblue32 is correct. An easy way to see this is go to the "Test Channels" option in the menu. When you try to use the Cablecard version of this test with a TA attached, it won't work. You have to use the Tuning Adapter test channels option in this case.


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## Geezer64 (Jul 16, 2014)

Thanks again guys


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## pppingme (Apr 21, 2012)

No, the TA *only* relays info between the Tivo and the cable company, its not involved directly in mapping, it just helps facilitate the exchange of information. It really is no more than a cable modem.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

pppingme said:


> No, the TA *only* relays info between the Tivo and the cable company, its not involved directly in mapping, it just helps facilitate the exchange of information. It really is no more than a cable modem.


If this is so then why have a separate channel test under the TA settings that disables the Cablecard's test? Why wouldn't they just continue using that one?

Can you point to some documentation that supports what it does?

*Note, I'm not being argumentative, just curious.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

pppingme said:


> No, the TA *only* relays info between the Tivo and the cable company, its not involved directly in mapping, it just helps facilitate the exchange of information. It really is no more than a cable modem.


At a minimum, the tuning adapter would have to do the channel mapping for all SDV channels, but I'm pretty sure the tuning adapter takes over all channel mapping when it is attached to the TiVo.


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## tim1724 (Jul 3, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> At a minimum, the tuning adapter would have to do the channel mapping for all SDV channels, but I'm pretty sure the tuning adapter takes over all channel mapping when it is attached to the TiVo.


Yep, the tuning adapter provides a complete channel map. The TiVo ignores the channel map supplied by the CableCard whenever a tuning adapter is in use.


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