# Why can't you cancel Emergency Warnings like you used to?



## Schumacher (Oct 28, 2015)

I am in Houston and we have gotten tons of flooding, but these messages are getting absurd. It drops me out of watching recorded shows and I have to watch these messages for a few minutes till they are gone. I know it is freaking flooding! You used to be able to cancel these and drop it out. What gives? I have seen about 20 messages today as I stayed home because it is flooding.


----------



## Schumacher (Oct 28, 2015)

And another one on my tv since this my first post.


----------



## RoamioJeff (May 9, 2014)

Schumacher said:


> I am in Houston and we have gotten tons of flooding, but these messages are getting absurd. It drops me out of watching recorded shows and I have to watch these messages for a few minutes till they are gone. I know it is freaking flooding! You used to be able to cancel these and drop it out. What gives? I have seen about 20 messages today as I stayed home because it is flooding.


If you're going to be watching recordings for a while, you could temporarily disconnect the cable coax (if you have no recordings scheduled while it's disconnected). Just remember to hook it back up 

Crude, I know. But it's the only way I know to stop those messages from locking up the TiVo.


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

You cannot cancel EAS warnings, but you can get around them. If you put the Tivo into Standby, it will still record but the EAS will not interrupt it.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

When? ever since cable card Tivos (Series 3), they've been forced.

Yes, as suggested, you can put your Tivo in standby as a poor workaround, since it'll still record the things you tell it to record.

I have a regular 'test' friday or saturday at 1AM (I do think it changes), and thus it ruins any recordings going on then.

I'm not sure if CableLabs or the FCC would need to get involved to allow this..
(I can cancel AMBER alerts on my phone, why shouldn't I be able to ignore these on my Tivo? _IF_ watching live TV, I could MAYBE see them being required.. IF watching a recording, then absolutely not...)


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

In Houston, on Comcast, while you can't stop the EAS from appearing, and from knocking you out of whatever recording you're watching, it does NOT stop the recording. I know from this forum that in most places, the EAS actually stops the recording process. Comcast Houston doesn't.

So while I commiserate with the OP, and yes, we've been getting a plague of these lately (along with rain ), at least it's only a temporary PITA, and not a recording-killing one.


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Schumacher said:


> I am in Houston and we have gotten tons of flooding, but these messages are getting absurd. It drops me out of watching recorded shows and I have to watch these messages for a few minutes till they are gone. I know it is freaking flooding! You used to be able to cancel these and drop it out. What gives? I have seen about 20 messages today as I stayed home because it is flooding.


Federal regulations force TiVo to implement EAS the way they have done. TiVo has no control over them being forced. I've never known TiVo to ever have the ability to cancel EAS warnings either.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

astrohip said:


> In Houston, on Comcast, while you can't stop the EAS from appearing, and from knocking you out of whatever recording you're watching, it does NOT stop the recording. I know from this forum that in most places, the EAS actually stops the recording process. Comcast Houston doesn't.


It doesn't *stop* the recording, but doesn't your recording now have minute(s) of EAS in the middle?

For me it definitely does, AND the EAS prevents FF from working properly.. It seems like once you get to within ~15 minutes (wild guess) of the EAS spot, if you're FFing, it jumps to the EAS section.. So I have to 30 second skip (e.g. through late night talk shows that have the EAS if I forget to put the Tivo in standby).


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

mattack said:


> It doesn't *stop* the recording, but doesn't your recording now have minute(s) of EAS in the middle?
> 
> For me it definitely does, AND the EAS prevents FF from working properly.. It seems like once you get to within ~15 minutes (wild guess) of the EAS spot, if you're FFing, it jumps to the EAS section.. So I have to 30 second skip (e.g. through late night talk shows that have the EAS if I forget to put the Tivo in standby).


I've never seen an EAS in a recorded show here with Comcast but I suppose we could just be lucky that one hasn't occurred during the shows we record.

Scott


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

mattack said:


> It doesn't *stop* the recording, but doesn't your recording now have minute(s) of EAS in the middle?
> 
> For me it definitely does, AND the EAS prevents FF from working properly.. It seems like once you get to within ~15 minutes (wild guess) of the EAS spot, if you're FFing, it jumps to the EAS section.. So I have to 30 second skip (e.g. through late night talk shows that have the EAS if I forget to put the Tivo in standby).


No. I remember hearing on this forum about what EAS did to our recordings a few years back, when it first became a big deal. And wondering why mine didn't do that. Then I came to realize, that for some (lucky) reason, Comcast Houston must implement it differently. And a few lucky others too.


----------



## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

mattack said:


> For me it definitely does, AND the EAS prevents FF from working properly.. It seems like once you get to within ~15 minutes (wild guess) of the EAS spot, if you're FFing, it jumps to the EAS section.. So I have to 30 second skip (e.g. through late night talk shows that have the EAS if I forget to put the Tivo in standby).


I can confirm this, but I've only seen it once or twice. Apparently, I don't record much during the typical EAS test windows for my area. I can remember one program that was recorded during an EAS test had this 5-10 minute section of the show that was there, but when watching it, it jumped over those 5-10 minutes, and then I had to do some awkward series of FF/REW to get to the portion where the EAS message interrupted.


----------



## FitzAusTex (May 7, 2014)

On Time Warner in Austin, the weekly/monthly "Tests" reduce a recording by the number of minutes of the test. So if a three minute test occurs during a one hour recording, the recording ends up being a 57 minute "partial". 

I frigging hate these.


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

As near as I can tell there are about 47,321 different EAS "standards", and which one any given TV station or cable company uses depends on how recently they updated their equipment. Thus the random reports of clobbering or not clobbering recordings, etc.

Also, while TiVo may be forced by regulations to jerk the screen over to the EAS broadcast when you are watching a recording, nothing forced TiVo to leave you sitting on that channel after the EAS message is over. They could send you back to the recording you were watching, so TiVo doesn't have to be as obnoxious as they are (and I've had it fail to remember how far I had gotten into the recording as well, so I had to manually fast forward).


----------



## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

I hate it when the EAS test overlaps your show scrolling along the top. Yes, OTA gets those dreaded tests as well.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

ThAbtO said:


> I hate it when the EAS test overlaps your show scrolling along the top. Yes, OTA gets those dreaded tests as well.


IMHO, those are slightly less bad than the other kind we're talking about.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

HerronScott said:


> I've never seen an EAS in a recorded show here with Comcast but I suppose we could just be lucky that one hasn't occurred during the shows we record.
> 
> Scott


EAS implementation on Comcast varies by area - some get the banner overlay, some get the force tune to a black screen with white letters that trashes recordings. My area is the latter, stuck in the 80s teletext days.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

tomhorsley said:


> Also, while TiVo may be forced by regulations to jerk the screen over to the EAS broadcast when you are watching a recording, nothing forced TiVo to leave you sitting on that channel after the EAS message is over. They could send you back to the recording you were watching, so TiVo doesn't have to be as obnoxious as they are (and I've had it fail to remember how far I had gotten into the recording as well, so I had to manually fast forward).


This happens on a number of screens, such as pulling up the guide and modifying a recording or recording a new show with options (all while watching a recording). You get thrown back to live when done instead of resuming your recording, so it's usually a bad idea to do anything from the guide while watching a recording.

One would think this is an obvious bug to fix, but it's been around forever.


----------



## tampa8 (Jan 26, 2016)

I know exactly how this will sound to many, but this is only the begining. I think this type of system - being able to control your receiver by the Government will only expand. At sometime in the near future it will include an important press conference or whatever. I don't even mean it in a conspiratol way, just that they will decide what is important at the moment for you to watch.... That is my objection to how this affects us now.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

tampa8 said:


> I know exactly how this will sound to many, but this is only the begining. I think this type of system - being able to control your receiver by the Government will only expand. At sometime in the near future it will include an important press conference or whatever. I don't even mean it in a conspiratol way, just that they will decide what is important at the moment for you to watch.... That is my objection to how this affects us now.


The idea of the EAS is to be helpful, but I would guess if water is coming into your home EAS serve no purpose, my question is who has ever gotten an EAS on their TiVo as they were watching a TiVo recording and found that EAS helpful ??? Anyone ??


----------



## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

lessd said:


> The idea of the EAS is to be helpful, but I would guess if water is coming into your home EAS serve no purpose, my question is who has ever gotten an EAS on their TiVo as they were watching a TiVo recording and found that EAS helpful ??? Anyone ??


Amber alerts with a license plate number! Yep, I'll keep one eye out the front window in case the car passes by my house. We get more weekly drills than real warnings. Our warnings are always about flash flooding which in our area would only affect a small number of people so it's frustrating particularly when they put the warning on multiple times over a few hours.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Ours are usually about flash floods too, which usually only effect the surrounding rural areas not the main cities.


----------



## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

You know you had an alert when you turn on the tv and all tuners are on the same channel.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

schatham said:


> You know you had an alert when you turn on the tv and all tuners are on the same channel.


That doesn't happen to me, but I guess it's done differently here. The tests are usually on weekday afternoons (when I watch a lot of TV from the night before), and it kicks me out of the recording into live TV, with the EAS on a banner overlay. I assume the same overlay is playing on all six tuners.

Then when it's over, TiVo doesn't "remember" where I was in the recording.

AFAIK, I've never had one of their tests happen while something was recording. If it did, then it had no effect, but as I say they seem to happen on weekday afternoons, when I'm never recording anything.


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

lessd said:


> The idea of the EAS is to be helpful, but I would guess if water is coming into your home EAS serve no purpose, my question is who has ever gotten an EAS on their TiVo as they were watching a TiVo recording and found that EAS helpful ??? Anyone ??


Nope. Every alert I've ever gotten has been for weather (or testing) while I was sitting indoors watching the alert tell me to stay indoors .


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

schatham said:


> You know you had an alert when you turn on the tv and all tuners are on the same channel.


Never seen that either. I get a weekly and monthly test. Your feed must hate you.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

UCLABB said:


> Amber alerts with a license plate number! Yep, I'll keep one eye out the front window in case the car passes by my house. We get more weekly drills than real warnings. Our warnings are always about flash flooding which in our area would only affect a small number of people so it's frustrating particularly when they put the warning on multiple times over a few hours.


A highway sign (or radio station) with an Amber alerts with a license plate number is sensible, in your home as your watching TV, not so much.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Could be they're just future-proofing it against the day we'll be watching TV in our self-driving Teslas while zipping down the highway...


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

lessd said:


> , not so much.


Unless it's your kid the alert is about and you want the whole damn world to know the license plate and make, model and color of the car the S.O.B. that took your son or daughter is driving.
Then Amber alerts and or EAS is a great thing. Wow some of you are shallow!!!

Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Joe01880 said:


> Unless it's your kid the alert is about and you want the whole damn world to know the license plate and make, model and color of the car the S.O.B. that took your son or daughter is driving.
> Then Amber alerts and or EAS is a great thing. Wow some of you are shallow!!!
> 
> Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


It's certainly a waste of time to show me the license plate a week later when I watch a recording. It's also a waste of time to show me the license plate in my living room where I see very few cars drive by. Nowadays we get so many amber alerts for custody disputes I'm sure most people are ignoring them anyway; I know I've turned them off on my phone and I wish I could turn them off on my TiVo. It's a system that sounded like a good idea, but implementation and overuse has turned in into so much background noise.


----------



## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

ej42137 said:


> It's certainly a waste of time to show me the license plate a week later when I watch a recording. It's also a waste of time to show me the license plate in my living room where I see very few cars drive by. Nowadays we get so many amber alerts for custody disputes I'm sure most people are ignoring them anyway; I know I've turned them off on my phone and I wish I could turn them off on my TiVo. It's a system that sounded like a good idea, but implementation and overuse has turned in into so much background noise.


The TIVO has no choice but to record them in areas that do like mediacom does. All EAS's are broadcasted on the weather channel. How do I know because after everyone of them that channel is on for a brief second until and know the channel doesn't change on the TIVO. So they are broadcasting this on one channel which overrides all others. There would be no way to keep recording your show. Do I hate it yes. Our viewing area is so big here that I get EAS warnings for things that would never impact me. But it is what it is.


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

joewom said:


> The TIVO has no choice but to record them in areas that do like mediacom does. All EAS's are broadcasted on the weather channel. How do I know because after everyone of them that channel is on for a brief second until and know the channel doesn't change on the TIVO. So they are broadcasting this on one channel which overrides all others. There would be no way to keep recording your show. Do I hate it yes. Our viewing area is so big here that I get EAS warnings for things that would never impact me. But it is what it is.


I'm confused. The Weather Channel? Verizon FiOS doesn't offer the Weather Channel nor have they for well over a year now so EAS isn't coming over the Weather Channel here??

Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


----------



## tampa8 (Jan 26, 2016)

Joe01880 said:


> I'm confused. The Weather Channel? Verizon FiOS doesn't offer the Weather Channel nor have they for well over a year now so EAS isn't coming over the Weather Channel here??
> 
> Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


Maybe if the weather channel is being carried it comes from it, but you are correct there is more than one provider that doesn't even carry it so it does not automatically come from it.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Joe01880 said:


> Unless it's your kid the alert is about and you want the whole damn world to know the license plate and make, model and color of the car the S.O.B. that took your son or daughter is driving.
> Then Amber alerts and or EAS is a great thing. Wow some of you are shallow!!!
> 
> Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


Aw come on, if it was my kid I would out there looking, not watching a recording on my TiVo, sending the alert on your car radio, or billboards on the road, *OK*, but I would guess nobody would remember license plate number that flashed on your TiVo at home, so that if you went out later you may spot that plate.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Joe01880 said:


> Unless it's your kid the alert is about and you want the whole damn world to know the license plate and make, model and color of the car the S.O.B. that took your son or daughter is driving.
> Then Amber alerts and or EAS is a great thing. Wow some of you are shallow!!!
> 
> Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


I think they are silly. They broadcast to everyone even hundreds of miles away. They have diminishing return and if they stick their nose into my TV then they are invasive rather than helpful.

And I can't remember that many found kids or old people that the news reported as "being found due to an amber alert." Just as many are found by tips from regular news sources. Big waste of money and infrastructure.


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

TonyD79 said:


> I think they are silly.


 Thanks for proving my expression of some of you being shallow



> And I can't remember that many found kids or old people .


If they find "ANY" they are worth the inconvenience of you or I missing a TV show that was set to record, one that we can catch again in most instances in any number of different ways.

They broadcast them hundreds of miles from an occurrence because after someone snatched a kid they rarely stay in the same location they took them from.
I'm not going to go further into the minutia of this argument but I pray it's never your family member an alert is broadcast for or an alert that a tornado has touched down a couple of hundred yards from your home.

I still think shallow covers it. Y'all go ahead and fuss about the EAS systems in our country..

Until you need it!!!

Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

joewom said:


> The TIVO has no choice but to record them in areas that do like mediacom does. All EAS's are broadcasted on the weather channel. How do I know because after everyone of them that channel is on for a brief second until and know the channel doesn't change on the TIVO. So they are broadcasting this on one channel which overrides all others. There would be no way to keep recording your show. Do I hate it yes. Our viewing area is so big here that I get EAS warnings for things that would never impact me. But it is what it is.


Right you are, I wasn't complaining about TiVo.

What we get here are flash flood warnings that apply to the the other side of the state. It's a life or death matter to someone hiking in the desert, but I seriously doubt anyone has carried a TiVo to the campsite in their backpack.


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

ej42137 said:


> Right you are, I wasn't complaining about TiVo.
> 
> What we get here are flash flood warnings that apply to the the other side of the state. It's a life or death matter to someone hiking in the desert, but I seriously doubt anyone has carried a TiVo to the campsite in their backpack.


The person seeing the alert at home on the other side of the state could have their son, daughter, husband, brother. Wife or other loved one hiking the flash flood area; and because they saw the flash flood alert could call authorities letting them know someone they care about is in that area perhaps saving that person's life.
More shallow thinking!
The EAS is great resource, reducing it to it bothering someone's tv show just seems so petty and small minded to me.
I'm really glad I don't know y'all!!!

Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Joe01880 said:


> The person seeing the alert at home on the other side of the state could have their son, daughter, husband, brother. Wife or other loved one hiking the flash flood area; and because they saw the flash flood alert could call authorities letting them know someone they care about is in that area perhaps saving that person's life.


By that logic, there should be no limit to the reach of the EAS. It should be world-wide; after all, foreigners are especially prone to not understanding the dangers of hiking in desert canyons. And it should be mandatory that everyone be either watching TV or listening to the radio at all times, just in case.

There has got to be some limit of reasonableness in this matter.


----------



## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

ej42137 said:


> By that logic, there should be no limit to the reach of the EAS. It should be world-wide; after all, foreigners are especially prone to not understanding the dangers of hiking in desert canyons. And it should be mandatory that everyone be either watching TV or listening to the radio at all times, just in case.
> 
> There has got to be some limit of reasonableness in this matter.


No logic there, only common sense, something apparently your lacking, but you are correct your catching the 2am replay of an mma match is far more important then people being notified of a flood, snatched child or a tornado touching down in a town not yours, but perhaps your brothers.
I change my point, your absolutely right.

NOT!

Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Joe01880 said:


> The person seeing the alert at home on the other side of the state could have their son, daughter, husband, brother. Wife or other loved one hiking the flash flood area; and because they saw the flash flood alert could call authorities letting them know someone they care about is in that area perhaps saving that person's life.
> More shallow thinking!
> The EAS is great resource, reducing it to it bothering someone's tv show just seems so petty and small minded to me.
> I'm really glad I don't know y'all!!!
> ...


Did you personally have some problem that the EAS system helped with ???


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Joe01880 said:


> No logic there, only common sense, something apparently *you're* lacking, but you are correct your catching the 2am replay of an mma match is far more important *than* people being notified of a flood, snatched child or a tornado touching down in a town not yours, but perhaps your *brother's*.
> I change my point, *you're* absolutely right.
> 
> NOT!
> ...


fyp

I don't watch MMA, at 2AM there is nothing I can do about a snatched child, nor is there any point in immediately notifying me of a flood nor of a tornado in my brother's town. None of these things are profitable uses of the EAS.

Kudos, though for the dramatic twist at the end of your post. Although it was kind of ruined by your signature line. Are you not able to turn it off?


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Joe01880 said:


> Thanks for proving my expression of some of you being shallow If they find "ANY" they are worth the inconvenience of you or I missing a TV show that was set to record, one that we can catch again in most instances in any number of different ways. They broadcast them hundreds of miles from an occurrence because after someone snatched a kid they rarely stay in the same location they took them from. I'm not going to go further into the minutia of this argument but I pray it's never your family member an alert is broadcast for or an alert that a tornado has touched down a couple of hundred yards from your home. I still think shallow covers it. Y'all go ahead and fuss about the EAS systems in our country.. Until you need it!!! Sent from my LG G4 using Tapatalk.


Riiight.

I would never expect anything I am involved with to be an EAS alert. Things that are big enough will take over tv anyway. You know, like 9/11. Or an earthquake in my area. Or a hurricane.

The EAS is an alert in search of a problem. It is used far too trivially and not to mention the testing that's occurs that tests nothing.

I happen to think it lends to more hysteria than help. That is not shallow. Automatically thinking it is a good thing is shallow thinking. Not understanding that there are levels and wanting to blast everyone with every happening just because it "might" be helpful knowledge to one or two people is shallow thinking because it ignores nuance.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Kind of like airport Security Theater...


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

RoamioJeff said:


> On another note, I would gladly be interested in participating with others in $paying$ someone to develop a technical solution to disable them.


I always thought a separate box that goes between your equipment and the incoming cable would be good. It could display the alerts 24/7 and pass on the alert-free cable signal to your TV/DVR/etc. You'd justify this to the gummit by leaning on the 24/7 aspect, so it would work even if no one happened to have the TV on.

If homeowners just happened to bury the box under a pile of pillows, that wouldn't be your fault .


----------



## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

Moved from Houston to Sacramento, CA area about 9months ago, and I've yet to have an EAS message here. When I lived in Houston, just about every F'ng T-storm, Flood Warning, Tropical Storm, Hurricane, ... would give them. 

I think Houston Comcast just does this overkill. That and overcharging are the only two things they did overkill ;-)


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

RoamioJeff said:


> Judging from most people's experience here, it seems that the main problem with these EAS alerts is that they tend to be like 'the boy who cried wolf'. As such, if they continue to be poorly delivered they will likely be more and more ignored.


It's not the frequency here, it's the extremely archaic force-tune implementation that trashes recordings.

But yeah, it is really sad that they can't be disabled just like Android and IOS lets you do. The only one I ever want to get is the presidential emergency (aka nuclear attack) one, and that's just so I can say goodbye.


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> It's not the frequency here, it's the extremely archaic force-tune implementation that trashes recordings.


This is a big part of it. (The inane tests that don't test anything also drive me nuts.)

Why would it have to trash a recording that you watch hours, days or even weeks later. It is so good to have an "emergency" notification show up a month later. Very useful.


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

TonyD79 said:


> It is so good to have an "emergency" notification show up a month later. Very useful.


In fact, I suspect this could be harmful. I know I've gotten warnings that were recorded, and I had no idea if it was a current warning that interrupted my recording, or if it was an old warning I'm watching a recording of. It took quite a while to figure out it was on the recording, and not a current warning. Time that could have been better spent preparing for the hypothetical disaster .


----------



## RoamioJeff (May 9, 2014)

TiVo just needs to put an option in the settings for owners of their own equipment to select how this "feature" acts.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

RoamioJeff said:


> TiVo just needs to put an option in the settings for owners of their own equipment to select how this "feature" acts.


Me think there are regulations about this that TiVo can't ignore.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

RoamioJeff said:


> TiVo just needs to put an option in the settings for owners of their own equipment to select how this "feature" acts.


I have no personal knowledge of this, but based on previous discussions, this is required by Cable Labs.. you know, so that they can use cable cards and actually record all of your channels...

and, again just something I read here years ago, supposedly it was Tivo that convinced them they could ignore EASes in standby.

So presumably this has no government regulation.. someone correct me on anything wrong here..


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

mattack said:


> I have no personal knowledge of this, but based on previous discussions, this is required by Cable Labs.. you know, so that they can use cable cards and actually record all of your channels...
> 
> and, again just something I read here years ago, supposedly it was Tivo that convinced them they could ignore EASes in standby.
> 
> So presumably this has no government regulation.. someone correct me on anything wrong here..


May be only a state regulation for some states, I don't know.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

There is actually a new system deployed in a few areas that allows TiVo to intercept the EAS text/audio via an OOB frequency and overlay it on live TV rather then being force to tune to a specific channel. These types of alerts don't get burned in to recordings. 

The CableCARD spec essentially forces TiVo to adhere to whatever system is used in your area. In most areas the cable company sends a message to the TiVo via OOB and forces it to tune to a specific channel (it's CSPAN here) which is then overridden by the cable company to show the EAS message. Because it has to physically tune this channel the EAS message gets recorded as if it's part of the show. The only time they're allowed to ignore EAS messages is when the TiVo is in standby. 

What's funny is that for a while here we still had a bunch of analog stations and when an EAS came on it would force my Premiere 4 to tune to the analog version of CSPAN. But since the Premiere 4 didn't support analog I'd just get a blank screen until the EAS was over and the tuner was released. What a colossal waste that was.


----------



## BrettStah (Nov 12, 2000)

Dan203 said:


> There is actually a new system deployed in a few areas that allows TiVo to intercept the EAS text/audio via an OOB frequency and overlay it on live TV rather then being force to tune to a specific channel. These types of alerts don't get burned in to recordings.


That is similar in nature to what I've thought is an obvious improvement to the system. Any and all emergency alerts should ideally only show up on live TV or overlayed live on top of whatever is being played, without negatively impacting recordings. What I would love would be for the OOB signal to be able to send text for a scrolling overlay, and then the TiVo or other DVR software could give anyone sitting in front of the TV at that exact time a quick option to change channels to get more information.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

The problem here is that Tivo's hands were tied by the FCC, CableLabs and crappy cable implementations. We all agree that there are much better ways to do EAS.


----------



## BrettStah (Nov 12, 2000)

slowbiscuit said:


> The problem here is that Tivo's hands were tied by the FCC, CableLabs and crappy cable implementations. We all agree that there are much better ways to do EAS.


So the TiVo software has to do what it currently does? I am honestly asking here by the way. I don't have an active TiVo at the moment but this sort of thing makes me hesitant to switch back. If there is a free tuner could the software be changed to tune just that tuner to the EAS alert channel and leave all other tuners alone? If there isn't a free tuner then could it only use whichever tuner is recording the lowest priority show? Or is that already what happens? I got the impression that all tuners were forced to the EAS alert channel and all recordings were interrupted unless the TiVo was in standby mode, art least in some cable markets.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> There is actually a new system deployed in a few areas that allows TiVo to intercept the EAS text/audio via an OOB frequency and overlay it on live TV rather then being force to tune to a specific channel. These types of alerts don't get burned in to recordings.


We must have this system in place here with Comcast as we had the weekly test late last night and it did not change the channel and it wasn't in the buffer when I rewound after it was over.

Scott


----------



## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

Dan203 said:


> There is actually a new system deployed in a few areas that allows TiVo to intercept the EAS text/audio via an OOB frequency and overlay it on live TV rather then being force to tune to a specific channel. These types of alerts don't get burned in to recordings.
> 
> The CableCARD spec essentially forces TiVo to adhere to whatever system is used in your area. In most areas the cable company sends a message to the TiVo via OOB and forces it to tune to a specific channel (it's CSPAN here) which is then overridden by the cable company to show the EAS message. Because it has to physically tune this channel the EAS message gets recorded as if it's part of the show. The only time they're allowed to ignore EAS messages is when the TiVo is in standby.
> 
> What's funny is that for a while here we still had a bunch of analog stations and when an EAS came on it would force my Premiere 4 to tune to the analog version of CSPAN. But since the Premiere 4 didn't support analog I'd just get a blank screen until the EAS was over and the tuner was released. What a colossal waste that was.


That's the way it is for Charter in my area. Been that way for years. Still annoying as you have to wait for the full message and then some before you can go back to watching a recording. But, a lot better than having one's recordings fouled up.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

BrettStah said:


> I got the impression that all tuners were forced to the EAS alert channel and all recordings were interrupted unless the TiVo was in standby mode, art least in some cable markets.


Some cable markets is the point I have learned in this thread. I don't think it's all tuners, but I will check next time. I get a weekly county test and a monthly state test. My feed switches to its Information channel, then switches back. If I'm watching a recording I'm kicked out.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

BrettStah said:


> So the TiVo software has to do what it currently does? I am honestly asking here by the way. *I don't have an active TiVo at the moment *but this sort of thing makes me hesitant to switch back. If there is a free tuner could the software be changed to tune just that tuner to the EAS alert channel and leave all other tuners alone? If there isn't a free tuner then could it only use whichever tuner is recording the lowest priority show? Or is that already what happens? I got the impression that all tuners were forced to the EAS alert channel and all recordings were interrupted unless the TiVo was in standby mode, art least in some cable markets.


Wow, almost 20K posts and you don't have an active tivo?!


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

HarperVision said:


> Wow, almost 20K posts and you don't have an active tivo?!


It's more common than you would think. Whenever I see a high post count with a really basic question, I check their postings. The TCF is really great in its diversity and broad range. It does tend to attract a lot of interesting people.


----------



## BrettStah (Nov 12, 2000)

HarperVision said:


> Wow, almost 20K posts and you don't have an active tivo?!


Follow the progression of my DVRs :

Purchased the 1st generation standalone single tuner TiVo. Liked it so much I bought a second one. Upgraded the hard drives in them too!

Then Circuit City had a deal on DirecTV TiVos (aka DirecTiVos). Hardware had two tuners but the software only supported one of them for awhile. So I sold my standalone ones, bought two DirecTiVos, and had a whopping 4 tuners once the software update came! I think I updated their hard drives too.

Then my TV died, and I bought an HDTV. I eventually gave into picture quality and switched to the DirecTV DVRs, selling my DirecTiVos. At one point I was up to 9 tuners, but I now have just have their 5-tuner DVR.

And I've been TiVo-less ever since. But I'm thinking of switching to OTA sometime this fall, so I'm looking at my options.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

BrettStah said:


> So the TiVo software has to do what it currently does? I am honestly asking here by the way.


As far as we know, YES. To be able to use Cable Cards, which obviously makes Tivos _usable_ on cable systems (esp since they're now allowed to even encrypt the OTA channels), they have to follow the rules set out for use for cable cards.... again, as far as we know on the outside.


----------



## SnakeEyes (Dec 26, 2000)

My problem is when I'm watching the local news during an EAS event, to get the quickest and most up to date information, but my TiVo keeps interrupting that and switching my box to another channel to tell me a warning is in effect.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Complain to the FCC.


----------



## JackStraw (Oct 22, 2002)

The tests can be scheduled at random and done whenever the Government and States see fit. I would love to see them happen in the middle of Sunday Night Football in New York or California. Do one when the Giants are playing. Then the citizens will contact the lawmakers and say enough is enough. There is no reason why they can't be conducted at 4am. It's ridiculous, they think it's the 1960's and we are in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can understand if you live in Oklahoma where you can have a tornado outbreak and public has to be warned. Tornados can form in minutes and people have to get to shelter. The only weather threat in NY or NJ are hurricanes and it takes days before they make landfall. Is there a nuclear threat today. Maybe ISIS setting off a "Dirty Bomb" in a small geographical area. EAS is antiquated and is a product of the Cold War era. It's ridiculous to run weekly tests.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

JackStraw said:


> The tests can be scheduled at random and done whenever the Government and States see fit. I would love to see them happen in the middle of Sunday Night Football in New York or California. Do one when the Giants are playing. Then the citizens will contact the lawmakers and say enough is enough. There is no reason why they can't be conducted at 4am. It's ridiculous, they think it's the 1960's and we are in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can understand if you live in Oklahoma where you can have a tornado outbreak and public has to be warned. Tornados can form in minutes and people have to get to shelter. The only weather threat in NY or NJ are hurricanes and it takes days before they make landfall. Is there a nuclear threat today. Maybe ISIS setting off a "Dirty Bomb" in a small geographical area. EAS is antiquated and is a product of the Cold War era. It's ridiculous to run weekly tests.


And how many people read them anyways, unless your in tornado country or if put on a recording you see it a week later, after the tornado!


----------

