# Can't Find Answers - Tivo Copy Protects EVERYTHING



## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

I've talked to both Tivo and Comcast customer service, and no solutions yet. I recently moved and have a new Comcast Digital box, its a small RNG110 unit. I have a Series2 Tivo. My setup is this - original cable into house goes to a 3 way splitter, 1 of those cables comes up thru the floor to my Tivo/Comcast/TV. That floor cable goes into another 2 way splitter, 1 cable off that into the Comcast box, the other cable into Tivo. Also coming out of the cable box to tivo is a set of RCA plugs (red/white/yellow), and then from tivo to TV is a last set of RCA plugs. Tivo and Comcast and the tv work well together, my issue is since I've moved Tivo is flagging everything as Copy Protected and won't let me transfer anything to my computer. Out of a few dozen shows, only a couple on the major networks (ABC and NBC) will transfer. Any ideas? I have a Comcast tech coming out on weds, but nobody I talked to on the phone could help.


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## msmart (Jan 3, 2007)

Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to say but you're out of luck with Comcast and your new digital box. Your S2 is simply honoring the flag it gets from Comcast.

Go to the Main TiVo Forums listing, click on the Search this Forum link and type "comcast copy" to find other threads on the subject.

I have DirecTV connected via S-video/RCA audio to my S2 and I can still move shows to my PC. Switching from Comcast may be in your future.


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## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

I did look around but couldn't find my type of problem listed anywhere. I'm going to try switching my new box with an older model comcast box, this newest one is apparently for HDTV users and none of my tv's are HD, and won't be for a long while yet. Don't really know why Comcast gave me this type. I'm also going to ask the Comcast technician to put in a line amp, that was the only suggestion Tivo's website gave me if things are flagged.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Since you're using a S2 with an external cable box you do have another option. There are devices called "Digital Video Stabilizers" which are designed to go between a DVD player and a recording device to remove the Macrovision protection which prevents duplication. TiVo uses the same Macrovision signal to determine if a program should be prevented from being transferred. So if you put one of these devices between the cable box and the TiVo it should make it so your TiVo never sees the protection flags and you'll be able to transfer everything.

It's been a long time since I've used one of these devices, so I don't have any recommendation on brand/model. But I'm sure if you Google it you'll find something.

Dan


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## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

That's something new I never knew about, it looks like those video stabilizers are anywhere from $20 to $90 and I'm assuming this is probably one of those "you get what you pay for" things. The weird thing though is that Comcast told me they don't have any type of copy protection on their standard channels, only their premiums (HBO, Cinemax, etc.). Before I buy anything I'm going to have the Comcast tech come out and check connection strength and whatever else they can look at, then maybe I'll try the stabilizer.


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## bedelman (Feb 26, 2001)

One thing you might want to try first is to reboot your cable box (remove the power cord from the wall, wait about 15 seconds, and plug it back in). I've seen situations in the past where doing this takes care of what you're seeing.

- Bob


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## a68oliver (Jul 15, 2000)

kingston73 said:


> I recently moved and have a new Comcast Digital box, its a small RNG110 unit. I have a Series2 Tivo.


Did you move far enough to be on a different Comcast headend? Despite what you were told, some Comcast headends still use copy protection. Only recently did Comcast remove copy protection from my extended basic digital cable channels.

YMMV


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## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

I only moved a couple towns over, about 30-40 miles. I'll try that reboot tonight before I go to bed.


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## fjbmiller (Mar 20, 2009)

Did you ever get this to work with the comcast rgn110 box. I'm having the same problem. We went from an old box that worked fine. Upgraded to this box and now everyting is copyright protected.


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## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

Nope, I gave up. Comcast swore up and down that it wasn't their fault, and Tivo support told me the same thing. They both blamed the other, but my bet's on Comcast. They told me they'd be able to switch to the older style box, but my local office wouldn't or couldn't do that, so I'm stuck with not being able to transfer anything off of tivo. Kind of makes the desktop software useless.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Did you ever look into one of the Macrovision blocker devices I mentioned above?

Dan


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## kingston73 (Oct 18, 2009)

No, I couldn't find any that were cheap enough for me to take a chance on. Maybe in a little bit I'll try that, I'm out of other options.


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## Pitcher23 (Sep 19, 2006)

I have Optimum cable and have two tivos. One is connected to a standard cable receiver, the other is connected to a HD receiver. The tivo on the standard one has never copy protected a program, while the one connected to the HD receiver will randomly put a copy protection warning on programs. All the ones recorded were recorded in standard definition on standard cable channels as well as ABC, CBS, NBC. I read on Tivo's support page, that if the signal is weak, that it could send a false positive for the channel to put up a copy protection flag. 

I have the cable from the HD box split to my cable modem. I have never noticed a problem with the picture, but the signal quality change may be so subtle that it occasionally causes the copy protection flag to activate.

Here is what I read on Tivo's support site:



"Analog signal issues that may cause the TiVo DVR to falsely indicate that a program is copy protected.

If an analog signal is weak or noisy, it may cause the TiVo DVR to incorrectly flag a program as copy protected. To determine whether a program is being flagged appropriately, remove any splitters or RF modulators (which weaken the signal strength) between the wall cable connection and the DVR.
If the program is still being flagged as copy protected, connect the cable directly from the wall cable connection to a VCR. If the program is still being copy protected, the broadcaster is marking the program as copy protected.
If the signal is too weak, placing a line amplifier between the wall cable outlet and the DVR may improve the signal enough to allow the DVR to accurately determine whether copy protection should be applied.
Finally, the signal can be over-amplified or too noisy. If you have one or more line amplifiers between the wall cable outlet and the DVR, you may want to remove one to see if the DVR stops flagging content as copy protected."

I'm not sure if this is your issue, but hopefully it helps some people with this problem.


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