# My experience with Tivo Bolt VOX 3GB - Charter Spectrum - Bad Tuners



## zfwjs (Jan 6, 2018)

First, I'd like to thank everyone on this forum who continues to help and respond to the questions posted. It was searching through this forum (and Google) that helped me narrow down and ultimately resolve the issues I was having.

I'm documenting my experience here just in case it helps the next person.

*TL;DR* - Tuners 1,2,3 were bad, Tuners 0,4,5 were good. I was "randomly" ending up on bad tuners which made it appear as if I had intermittent signal issues. It was random, I'd take some action like change the channel while it was recording which would kick me to the next available tuner.

Not happy with existing DVRs. I used to have Tivo, so let's give it a try. Amazon has a deal on the Bolt Vox 3GB 6 tuner, so I bite and also pick up a Mini Vox. I need two more Mini's, but want to start with just 1. Next day shipping, so this was happening fast.

I went to the Spectrum store to get a cable card. Asked if I needed a tuning adapter, store clerk said no. So off I went to setup my Bolt. I figured I'd start there and add the mini after everything was working (2 says later). I'd just run fresh cat6 to my living room so I was ready. Install the cable card, connect the Tivo. Get the Host ID, so I call Charter. Short wait time, they activate and pair the card. Channels!! Man, this is going great! Start setting it up, flipping through channels, recording stuff. BAM! v53 error. What the hell is this? It was just working. Try another channel, no signal. Check the forum, what's the signal strength? Check it, it's a strong signal! The pictures back. Great, everything's working again. I'm even getting my HBO/Showtime/etc, so maybe I don't need a tuning adapter. BAM! V52 error. What's this? It was just working!! Back to the forums.

Maybe I need the tuning adapter, I'll call Charter. First, let me say that everyone I spoke to at Charter Spectrum was extremely helpful, at least average knowledge level (some higher), and all of them willing to help for as long as it took. The patience of these people as I worked through the Tivo's menu's (that they also new about), waiting while it loaded as we went through the guided setup time and again. It would work, I'd hang up. It would stop working, I'd call back. I asked them what is a switched digital channel? Do I need a tuning adapter? Could that be what's causing some channels to work, and some not? Sure! Go get a tuning adapter. So off to the Charter Spectrum store again. Got a tuning adapter.

Thanks to you fine folks I knew not to follow the directions on the Cisco STA1520 (do not connect to the Tivo via the cable out on the tuning adapter, instead split the signal and only connect via USB). Turn it on, blinking LED. Connect the USB, nothing. Tivo will not see the tuning adapter. I'll save you the gory details here, but after hours on the phone with Charter, finding out it needed to be activated (store didn't do that), it was faulty. Got a new one from the store. Called to activate (lesson learned), fired right up. Tivo recognized it! Same problems.... Why oh why can I not get a consistent signal. Charter schedules a tech visit 2 days away. Can't wait for him, so back to forums I come.

Disconnect the tuning adapter because it didn't help and I was getting every subscribed channel I went to without out it (some of the time).

The main symptom I'm seeing at this point is it would work great, then after a random amount of time, no signal. Reboot the Tivo, most of the time it came back up, then after a random amount of time, nothing.

While I'm waiting for the Charter guy, I decided to go ahead and install the Mini VOX. I didn't have cat6 run to that room yet, but let's try the MoCA connection. No existing MoCA network so this shouldn't be too hard. Install the POE filter, no change to the main Tivo, so that's a good thing. Connect the Mini VOX, fail. Geez. Spent 20 minutes trying to get it to work before I realized the error I was seeing indicated that I hadn't activated the Mini VOX yet, so that's why it wouldn't connect to the Bolt. Time for bed.

Activated the Bolt, called Tivo, ran the Tivo connect thing several times on each box, then it connected. Got a channel too! Then I didn't. Check the Bolt, channels good. Check the Mini, no signal. Well I'm getting HBO on the Bolt, let's tune to the same channel on the Mini and see if I get it (since I know the channel is good). Lo and behold, I do! That's weird. Let's change the Bolt to another channel I wasn't getting on the Mini, then check the Mini again. It worked. What the hell?!

Called Tivo. They had me check the signal strength and SNR. 98-100 signal strenght and SNR of 38-40. Said it was too high and advised to wait for the Charter guy the next day. Can't do that, so back to forums.

Hey! Did you know you can cycle through each tuner 1-by-1? Cause I didn't... Start cycling through the tuners pressing the live TV button. Works, doesn't work, doesn't work, doesn't work, works, works. Pattern repeats. Search forum "where can I see signal strength for each tuner". DVR Diagnostics screen. Hey there it is:
Tuner 0 - Channel 780 - Signal Strength 99 - SNR 40dB
Tuner 1 - Channel 781 - Signal Strength 77 - SNR 28dB
Tuner 2 - Channel 782 - Signal Strength -- - SNR 128dB
Tuner 3 - Channel 783 - Signal Strength -- - SNR 28dB
Tuner 4 - Channel 784 - Signal Strength 99 - SNR 40dB
Tuner 5 - Channel 785 - Signal Strength 99 - SNR 40dB

So let's check the tuners.
Tuner 0 - Channel good
Tuner 1 - No Channel - V52 or V53 error
Tuner 2 - No Channel - V52 or V53 error
Tuner 3 - No Channel - V52 or V53 error
Tuner 4 - Channel good
Tuner 5 - Channel good

Huh, that's interesting. Let's go to the Mini Vox and grab tuner 4 or 5 by tuning to that specific channel (Bolt was on tuner 0). Got all the channels. Change to a channel on a bad tuner. Got no channels.

Charter came later that day. Checked all of the signals, everything checked out, except of course it was still "hot" per Tivo's standards. Except that on tuners 0,4, and 5 the SNR was 38-40 and the picture was always perfect. Charter guy agreed with me that based on the symptoms the Tivo had three bad tuners. Hey Amazon, exchange please. Thank you next day delivery!

Called Tivo to switch my service from the old, shipped back to Amazon box, to the new Bolt. No issues, activated and service switched over. Connected it to the internet and ran the update cycle several times. Popped in the cable card. Called Charter Spectrum to re-pair the card. Ran the guided setup, and I had channels. Let's test the tuners! Record, change the channel. Record, change the channel. Record, change the channel. Record, change the channel. Record, change the channel. Record, change the channel. Got a perfect signal on all five tuners! Check the DVR statistics, signal strengths between 97-100 on all tuners, SNR between 36-40dB on all tuners. Reconnect the Mini VOX. Works perfectly.

Wife is now happy.

The end.

P.S. This is my first post, and it was really to say thanks. It's a testament to you folks that I didn't need to post to get the help I needed.


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

zfwjs said:


> First, I'd like to thank everyone on this forum who continues to help and respond to the questions posted. It was searching through this forum (and Google) that helped me narrow down and ultimately resolve the issues I was having.
> 
> I'm documenting my experience here just in case it helps the next person.
> 
> ...


That's a lot to put up with and I admire your tenacity.


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