# Decent into Charter / SDV / Tuning adapter hell ...



## lasitter (Oct 27, 2010)

I knew I had it good with FIOS, but the point was really slammed home after moving from Rhode Island to Massachusetts.

It's been most of a week and the tech boobs still haven't figured out how to make the cablecard / tuning adapter work.

I finally realized that all the broadcast data has to pass over a USB port from the tuning adapter to my XL4, and I can't imagine that link supporting the data of recording four high def shows simultaneously.

Is there something I'm missing here?


----------



## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

The usb link just tells the tuning adapter to signal upstream to the local hub that someone on your hub needs X block of channels transmitted. 

The actual broadcast comes over the coax. 

Good luck finding a tech that knows their stuff, I went through two before I convinced them that it had to be paired.


----------



## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

The function of the TA is being the intermediary between the Tivo and the equipment at the Charter head end. When the Tivo attempts to tune a channel being delivered via SDV, the Tivo communicates with the TA over the USB connection, relaying what channel it wants to tune. The TA then sends that request to the head end equipment. The head end responds back to the TA, telling it the frequency that the channel is available on. The TA then relays the frequency to the TiVo. The Tivo then associates the requested channel with the given frequency, and then tunes to that frequency. Video is handled entirely by the tuners in the TiVo and the coax connection. The USB handles only basic information exchange.

Also, is the TA made by Motorola? If so, there is a known issue with the TA firmware rendering it unusable until the firmware is updated by Charter.


----------



## lasitter (Oct 27, 2010)

Tobashadow said:


> Good luck finding a tech that knows their stuff, I went through two before I convinced them that it had to be paired.


Well, I'm very confused. The tech left without any coax connecting the tuning adapter to the TIVO.

The way they had it set up, the coax went to the tuning adapter, and then a USB cable went to the TIVO. Didn't make the least bit of sense to me.

I think the only thing that makes sense is to have the coax out from the tuning adapter (unconnected on mine) go to the coax in on the Tivo.

Or maybe the coax goes from the wall to the Tivo, and then the Tivo communicates via USB to the tuning adapter?

Neither thing was right.


----------



## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

Tivo has diagrams and directions for this.
http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/133


----------



## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

lasitter said:


> Well, I'm very confused. The tech left without any coax connecting the tuning adapter to the TIVO.
> 
> The way they had it set up, the coax went to the tuning adapter, and then a USB cable went to the TIVO. Didn't make the least bit of sense to me.
> 
> ...


Is any coax connected to the Tivo? It is not necessary to connect the Coax Out on the TA to the Coax port of the Tivo, but you must have a coax connection to both the Tivo and the Tuning Adapter at the same time. This is best done with a 2-way splitter. From the wall, connect to the two-way splitter. Then run coax to the "In" on the Tuning Adapter from one port of the splitter and run coax to the "In" of the Tivo off the other port of the splitter.


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lasitter said:


> Well, I'm very confused. The tech left without any coax connecting the tuning adapter to the TIVO.
> 
> The way they had it set up, the coax went to the tuning adapter, and then a USB cable went to the TIVO. Didn't make the least bit of sense to me.
> 
> ...


The TA and the TiVo communicate with each other via the USB connection.

The TA communicates with the cable company head end over the co-ax.

You don't need co-ax between the TA and TiVo if you use a splitter.


----------



## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

unitron said:


> The TA and the TiVo communicate with each other via the USB connection.
> 
> The TA communicates with the cable company head end over the co-ax.
> 
> You don't need co-ax between the TA and TiVo if you use a splitter.


To add on to this to dispel any confusion.

You MUST have a coax to the tuner on the tivo regardless if it's from the TA output or from a splitter.

You must have a usb to TA from the tivo.

And you must have a coax feed to the TA.


----------

