# Losing signal occasionally



## jbriley3 (Feb 10, 2002)

My Premioer loses signal occasionally. Seems to happen around 10:00pm when I'm trying to record BREAKING BAD! You can tell that this is a serious matter. 

The loss is temporary and I see no further trouble for many days. I keep a Sci. Atlanta connected to backup the TIVO which fails much more than the Sci. Atlanta. It records the show lost to the TIVO, so the problem is surely related to TIVO losing signal.


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## rogmatic (Sep 17, 2009)

My elite loses signal about once a week. It is fine after a reboot. No clue what is causing it, but I have tried everything to fix it - calling TiVo, adding a signal booster, adding an attenuator, etc. My regular premiere and HD work perfectly on the same signal.


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## lujan (May 24, 2010)

rogmatic said:


> My elite loses signal about once a week. It is fine after a reboot. No clue what is causing it, but I have tried everything to fix it - calling TiVo, adding a signal booster, adding an attenuator, etc. My regular premiere and HD work perfectly on the same signal.


Mine does too but I'm using an outdoor antenna and no cable. Are your signal loses also on a antenna?


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## rogmatic (Sep 17, 2009)

I have cable. TiVo says it is a signal problem but my signal is strong. It seems to happen when I use appletv or Netflix but I am not sure.


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## cmaasfamily (Jan 26, 2006)

Yep, seen it three times now - no discernible pattern. S3 and HD continue fine at the same time. Reboot clears it but will not be a happy camper if it continues.

Tivo support - who are monitoring threads now, right? - please take note.


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## rogmatic (Sep 17, 2009)

It seems to be happening more regularly for me. I think the odds are increased when I switch inputs or watch Netflix. That makes me think it might be connection to a change in resolution or image format. Unfortunately, Tivo was no help last time I called and they are normally closed by the time I get home from work.


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## Meerkat (Aug 28, 2012)

I've been experiencing pixelating, freezes and lost signals on both my Premiere & Premiere XL off and on for over a year now. My cable company says they have done all they can do (they've replaced lines, fittings, added an amplifier, etc.) but the problem persists. I am extremely frustrated because I keep losing shows when the Tivo(s) freezes up. Happened again tonight on both while I was out. Lost 3 recordings. Someone needs to figure out how to fix this without having to spend a lot of money.

This has nothing to do with Netflix or any other outside source because I don't use them. It just happens on any old channel usually in the afternoon or evening.


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## rogmatic (Sep 17, 2009)

After dealing with this issue for months and trying numerous fixes (signal booster, new cable card, new tuning adapter, attenuator, new cabling) I finally convince TiVo to send me a replacement unit. The replacement didn't even make it a full day without losing signal. Upon reboot, all is well. So frustrating. I am having twc out to see if they can fix, but I am not confident. My regular premiere works flawlessly.


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## tivosupport_taylor (Jun 19, 2012)

TiVo Support is aware that some users are having an issue where channels appear to stop tuning properly at random and where video is restored via a reboot or reseating of the CableCARD. TiVo would like to resolve this issue for our customers and, if you are experiencing this problem, we could use your help.

If you are experiencing issues related to tuning on your Premiere 4 or XL4 that is temporarily resolved after a reboot, we would like your help in capturing some information and diagnostic logs from your DVR.

Please PRIVATE-MESSAGE one of the following TiVo Support Employees.

 tivosupport_jessica
 tivosupport_spencer
 tivosupport_taylor
 tivosupport_eric

Please let them know your

 TSN or TiVo Serial Number
 How often the issue occurs
 Which channels drop
 Any other details you wish to share

Please do not publicly post your account information. We would like to protect the privacy of your account. 

Thank you.


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## shaunrose (Sep 13, 2001)

I am having this problem on my Series 3 HD. About twice a week, one of the tuners loses signal. A reboot clears up the issue until it happens again. It does not seem like a cable issue (Comcast cable cards) because it only happens on one tuner while the other works fine and the signals come through fine on the feed that goes direct from my cable box to my tv. I guess it could be a problem with one of the Cable Cards, but if others are having the same issues, it would seem to be an issue with the TiVo.


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## ffitzgerald39 (Apr 17, 2011)

I have a Premier XL which did not record a program at 1:07 AM last night with the explanation of "no signal". This was a program on ABC channal 7 Chicago which I receive via antenna. I have a consistent signal strength of 85 - 90. I don't think ABC went off the air last night. This was not the time of my daily update.


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## dacbeerpig (Oct 20, 2013)

This happened for awhile with my Premiere XL (which has been functioning fine for many months now) and is happening now with my new Roamio. The problem is more persistent with the Roamio. 

With the Roamio, it happens every few days. Without any apparent cause, the Roamio stops recording shows because, according to the history, there is no signal. Rarely, the signal is restored when I notice the problem, but usually all my channels are still out when I get to the machine. Cycling the power on and off of the tuning adapter makes everything come back. This is obviously a problem when I'm away. If I recall correctly, back when my Premiere XL gave me the same error messages, cycling the TiVo did the trick, too.

I suspect the problem is with my cable provider's equipment or signal, but I think some ability to recognize the issue and reset things from the TiVo side would solve it. Both TiVo's have a cable card and tuning adapter attached. Charter techs were here during some setup issues (bad cable card or tuning adapter or both, which were replaced). They said the signal quality was very good.


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## terrywatto (Oct 26, 2013)

I have the same reboot problem but it happens almost every day particularly between 8pm and 9pm. Signal is strong and no issue. Ensuring the unit is turned off every night seems to reduce but not eliminate the problem. This roamio is close to useless as I cannot rely on it to record anything without rebooting and cancelling the recoding.

Is TiVo addressing this common issue with their roamios?


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## timstack8969 (May 14, 2004)

I have TiVo Xl premiere and for the last year I have been having problems with the following:

When tuning to another channel I receive message "channel not available" with any channels even locals.

Also screen would "Black out" for a second or two.

I'm on the comcast of Garden State, NJ system with Cisco cable card.

Just an update it hasn't happened for the last week (20-26 OCT, 13).

I don't know if tivo sent out a small patch or it was comcast problem all along.


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## TooMuchTime (Jun 29, 2008)

I too am having signal problems though it seems to be limited. The problem is that NFLRedZoneHD skips and glitches exactly every 60 seconds. I've timed it. The skip lasts for about a second. Sometimes it is just a skip or glitch and sometimes it is accompanied by massive pixelation making the problem much worse. This does NOT happen on the RedZone SD channel. I have a Comcast DVR and I connected it to the same TV as my Premier and no glitches, skips, or pixelation occurred on RedZoneHD. This happens whether I am recording something on the other tuner or not.

The glitch is happening all the time, even if I'm not viewing RedZone. That is, if I change to RedZone from some other channel, I could be at the beginning, in the middle, or near the end of the time for the glitch to happen. So the glitch could happen within 10 seconds of me changing to RedZone or 30 seconds or the full minute. But it will always take 60 seconds from one glitch to another regardless of whether or not the channel is being viewed.

When I recorded some of RedZone to send into TiVo as proof, I copied it to my computer and viewed it using Windows Media Player. No pixelation was evident even though it was quite noticeable during live viewing. The only thing that WMP showed was a very small skip and the video continued.

I think it is obvious this is a problem with the TiVo Premier. Since the glitch happens exactly every 60 seconds, it almost sounds as if a buffer is filling up and then being emptied. But with the glitch happening whether I am viewing the channel or not, that doesn't make any sense. However, this does NOT happen on any other channel except RedZoneHD. Well, it MAY happen on other channels, but it does not happen on any other channels _I view._

I've noticed this since RedZone started in September. But since RedZone only runs from September to December, this could have started anytime from January to August and I would not have known.

I have restarted the TiVo multiple times and even reseated the CableCard. Nothing fixes it. My version is 20.3.1-01-2-746. I'm hoping 20.3.7.1 will fix this.


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## ScubaCat (Jun 26, 2003)

timstack8969 said:


> I have TiVo Xl premiere and for the last year I have been having problems with the following:
> 
> When tuning to another channel I receive message "channel not available" with any channels even locals.
> 
> Also screen would "Black out" for a second or two.


 I just started having this same problem last night. Once it begins I cannot switch between tuners. The TiVo behaves like I only have one tuner for a while. Any recording is immediately stopped. If I happen to be watching I can restart the recording. I had to restart recording four times during an hour long program yesterday. This is not fun.

I see a lot of these posts are not new. Did anyone find a solution? Is my TiVo dying?


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## TooMuchTime (Jun 29, 2008)

I am also experiencing a lot of pixelation on other channels as well. I have noticed this condition before, usually just before a new update is rolled out. We'll see tomorrow as my update is scheduled for 2am.


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## TooMuchTime (Jun 29, 2008)

I received the Fall Update and it did not help the problem. I still get pixelation on channels and NFL RedZone is still glitching every 60 seconds. Now I'll try a new CableCard.


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## TooMuchTime (Jun 29, 2008)

A new CableCard and a full guided setup did not help. I'm now focusing on the previous TiVo updates.


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## ScubaCat (Jun 26, 2003)

ScubaCat said:


> I just started having this same problem last night. Once it begins I cannot switch between tuners. The TiVo behaves like I only have one tuner for a while. Any recording is immediately stopped. If I happen to be watching I can restart the recording. I had to restart recording four times during an hour long program yesterday. This is not fun.
> 
> I see a lot of these posts are not new. Did anyone find a solution? Is my TiVo dying?


Update to my lost channels issue: I bought a new Roamio TiVo in part to see if it solved the channel issue. It did not. After more testing and a truck roll from my cable company it was determined that my tuning adapter was slowly going bad. It finally died completely after the cable company sent multiple "hits" to it. A new tuning adapter has solved my lost channels issue. YMMV.

Although the new Roamio was unnecessary, I am enjoying it.


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## timstack8969 (May 14, 2004)

Just when I start it was safe, I got the dreaded "Channel Not Available" message when switching between NFL football games on Comcast of Garden State, NJ. going from ch. 805 (FOX) to ch. 861 (NFL Redzone) today 11/17/2013


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## earlywagon (Apr 17, 2010)

I have the same problem with one TiVo only. Loose all the channels on the 4tuner premier, not the one 2 tuner sitting next to it, using the same coax. Signal is good same on both. Happened twice in two weeks.


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