# Roamio Plus and Time Warner Cable



## i_luke (Sep 1, 2013)

Several days ago I bought a Roamio Plus. I upgraded from the Premier XL model. Once I got my new Roamio, I took the Cable Card out of Premier and used it. I had to call TWC and pair it. My HD channels, HBO, Cinemax, etc are working great. As for my basic cable and basic extended channels (channels 2-75), only one channel will show a picture. The rest say either "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more..." or "The TiVo box is unable to tune the channel.

I've called TiVo and TWC. During the first call, Tivo told me that it was because those were analog channels. TWC said that the signal is digital and not analog. They are sending a technician out mid-week. I've talked to TiVo and TWC several times today. TWC seems to not have a clue on what to do.

Do you guys have any suggestions as to what is going on?

Thanks


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## dana278 (Aug 31, 2013)

i_luke said:


> Several days ago I bought a Roamio Plus. I upgraded from the Premier XL model. Once I got my new Roamio, I took the Cable Card out of Premier and used it. I had to call TWC and pair it. My HD channels, HBO, Cinemax, etc are working great. As for my basic cable and basic extended channels (channels 2-75), only one channel will show a picture. The rest say either "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more..." or "The TiVo box is unable to tune the channel.
> 
> I've called TiVo and TWC. During the first call, Tivo told me that it was because those were analog channels. TWC said that the signal is digital and not analog. They are sending a technician out mid-week. I've talked to TiVo and TWC several times today. TWC seems to not have a clue on what to do.
> 
> ...


I made a post just like this earlier today. TiVo chat told me the same thing about the analog channels. Prior to buying the TiVo I knew it was "digital cable only" but I guess I just assumed that meant you had to have a cable card with digital service. I never really considered that it meant losing basic channels.

I just accepted TiVo's reason, and I assumed my channels are still analog because my cable company is small and probably behind the times. But if Time Warner is telling you all signals are digital and you still aren't getting them then I'd be interested in hearing how this turns out for you. My cable company really has no idea how TiVos work so I don't want to deal with the headache of calling them and trying to explain this if the units themselves are the problem.

Good luck!


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## dana278 (Aug 31, 2013)

Oh and just out of curiosity, what is the one channel you are able to receive?


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## i_luke (Sep 1, 2013)

dana278 said:


> Oh and just out of curiosity, what is the one channel you are able to receive?


Fox Sports Live is the only channel that will come in. I am curious to see what TWC says. In the past, I have found they know very little when dealing with TiVo. I usually get more useful info from TiVo. I guess I will find out Wednesday when they come to try and fix it.


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## bodosom (Apr 28, 2002)

i_luke said:


> As for my basic cable and basic extended channels (channels 2-75), only one channel will show a picture. The rest say either "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more..." or "The TiVo box is unable to tune the channel.


You could try removing the cablecard and attaching your cable directly to your TiVo. I can tune the clear qam signals like this. In my area it's about 20 channels, all below 70. If you can tune them without the card then you have a cablecard or tuning adapter issue.

Your channel lineup will also suggest if the "analog" channels are rebroadcast in "digital". You'll see the same station on multiple channels for the various plans.

It helps to specify the service area since Time Warner is a collection of acquired cable companies with legacy issues. The TW area at DSL/Broadband Reports is populated with some very experienced people.


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## dana278 (Aug 31, 2013)

i_luke said:


> Fox Sports Live is the only channel that will come in. I am curious to see what TWC says. In the past, I have found they know very little when dealing with TiVo. I usually get more useful info from TiVo. I guess I will find out Wednesday when they come to try and fix it.


Oh well I don't even get that channel at all so I can't test to see if I happen to get it as well. LOL


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## dana278 (Aug 31, 2013)

By the way, twice today my channels have all dropped out so I'll probably have to get someone out to bring me a new cable card soon anyways. I guess I'll try asking the tech about this problem when that happens!


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## jwbelcher (Nov 13, 2007)

dana278 said:


> By the way, twice today my channels have all dropped out so I'll probably have to get someone out to bring me a new cable card soon anyways. I guess I'll try asking the tech about this problem when that happens!


Are you using a Tuning Adapter?


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## dana278 (Aug 31, 2013)

Nope. (And it happened a third time overnight, so I'll definitely be calling on Tuesday.)

I've actually only had digital cable for a week, but in that week the cable cards worked perfectly fine in both of my units. I made the swap on Friday with the one into my Roamio and now they drop out. Twice I had to restart the unit and they came back, once they magically came back on their own a few minutes later.

When I called my cable company on Friday and told them I want to pair one guy made a very big deal about how it might not work because 1 out of 10 cable cards is bad so he'd rather send a tech out, but oh they can't do that until Tuesday. I told him I wanted to try anyways, because I really didn't want to be without channels until Tuesday, so we did and they worked and I was relieved. It was exactly 24 hours after that when I lost them the first time. 

Obviously I really hope the card went bad somehow and it's not the TiVo unit itself. I really don't want to have to reprogram this one with all of my shows!


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## Beaumont (Jul 8, 2006)

i_luke said:


> Several days ago I bought a Roamio Plus. I upgraded from the Premier XL model. Once I got my new Roamio, I took the Cable Card out of Premier and used it. I had to call TWC and pair it. My HD channels, HBO, Cinemax, etc are working great. As for my basic cable and basic extended channels (channels 2-75), only one channel will show a picture. The rest say either "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more..." or "The TiVo box is unable to tune the channel.
> 
> I've called TiVo and TWC. During the first call, Tivo told me that it was because those were analog channels. TWC said that the signal is digital and not analog. They are sending a technician out mid-week. I've talked to TiVo and TWC several times today. TWC seems to not have a clue on what to do.
> 
> ...


I moved the cable card and tuner adapter from a premiere and experienced the same type of problem. Only received about 15 channels. The tech came out today and paired the card. Still had the same problem. He replaced the tuner adapter with a new one and all the channels work now. Took all of twenty minutes, now I have more channels than I know what to do with them. All six tuners work. Very happy customer. Now to eBay two of five lifetime premieres and the stream.


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## i_luke (Sep 1, 2013)

Beaumont said:


> I moved the cable card and tuner adapter from a premiere and experienced the same type of problem. Only received about 15 channels. The tech came out today and paired the card. Still had the same problem. He replaced the tuner adapter with a new one and all the channels work now. Took all of twenty minutes, now I have more channels than I know what to do with them. All six tuners work. Very happy customer. Now to eBay two of five lifetime premieres and the stream.


Thanks for the info. I have asked tech support about a tuner adapter. I didn't use one on my premier. They said I didn't need one. If the repair man can't get it fixed on Wednesday, I am going to have him try it with one even though they say I don't need it. I've seen several people talk about needing one.

Thanks.


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## i_luke (Sep 1, 2013)

Tonight, I finally talked to someone at the Cable Card Hotline that knew what they were talking about. Everyone that I had talked to previously at TWC said that the basic and expanded basic were digital channels in my area. I doubted this, but they all kept saying it. 

Finally, tonight, the lady that I talked to confirmed that those stations in my area are not digital. That is why they aren't working on the Roamio. It does not support analog stations. Now, I have to go to the local office to see if they know when digital will be available in my area. If not soon, then I will have to send the Roamio back.


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