# Low signal strength



## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

I have a Tivo Bolt. My signal strength is 67, causing pixilation on a number of stations. What should I try in order to improve/fix this? Do I start with replacing the splitter? Thank you!


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## aspexil (Oct 16, 2015)

Are you on OTA or cable card?


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## JOSHSKORN (Aug 27, 2015)

Have you always had this problem? More info would be helpful. 

-Your cable service 
-Your connection (MoCa, Cable and Ethernet or Cable and Wi-Fi)

Did you ever have a DVR from your cable company to compare it (signal strenth) to?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

wille said:


> I have a Tivo Bolt. My signal strength is 67, causing pixilation on a number of stations. What should I try in order to improve/fix this? Do I start with replacing the splitter? Thank you!


67 is NOT low signal; anything over 42 is usually just fine for perfect picture on a Bolt, PROVIDED, however, that there are no other problems with the signal, such as high noise or multipath issues. If you are having problems at 67%, you need to fix the other issues in your signal, not the strength.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

I hooked the Bolt up 4 years ago, so I don't recall all the details requested above. It is Cable hookup. It does have a Cable Card. I have not compared it to other DVRs, as this is the only one that I have used. I have Frontier Communications service. Everything worked well until a week ago and several channels started pixelating. The other 90% of the channels are fine. I also have a Mini and have the same pixelation with it.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

Frontier checked it and said the router is bad and they are sending a new one. Thanks for the above help.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

I replaced the router with a new one that they sent. I get no pixillation during the day and then get a lot at night and only on a few channels. Any idea why?


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

wille said:


> I replaced the router with a new one that they sent. I get no pixillation during the day and then get a lot at night and only on a few channels. Any idea why?


That signal strength you originally had with cable is too low. Frankly, I don't know how a new router would increase the signal strength. Are you sure you didn't get a new modem rather than a new router? Check your signal strength again and report back here.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

V7Goose said:


> 67 is NOT low signal; anything over 42 is usually just fine for perfect picture on a Bolt, PROVIDED, however, that there are no other problems with the signal, such as high noise or multipath issues. If you are having problems at 67%, you need to fix the other issues in your signal, not the strength.


He has cable, 67 is too low.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

I just checked and the "Digital Signal Strength" is 67. Can you tell me what that means if it's too low? What are my next steps? Is this a problem with a connector or wire, with the Frontier signal, or with the Bolt?


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

wille said:


> I just checked and the "Digital Signal Strength" is 67. Can you tell me what that means if it's too low? What are my next steps? Is this a problem with a connector or wire, with the Frontier signal, or with the Bolt?


I don't know where you are seeing that term. To find signal strength: TiVo, Settings and messages, Help, Account &System info, Diagnostics. You can then scroll through and see the signal strength for each tuner. This instruction may be different for TE4 software, but should be similar.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

wille said:


> Is this a problem with a connector or wire, with the Frontier signal, or with the Bolt?


Good question.

Is your Internet connection between the ONT and your router via Ethernet or MoCA/coax? If you're using an Ethernet WAN, you might consider temporarily reconnecting your coax to have a direct connection between the ONT and your DVR, and see what signal level you're getting with absolute minimum signal loss b/w the ONT and DVR.

If you have a coax/MoCA WAN connection, then maybe try just a 2-way splitter to have only the router and DVR connected to the ONT.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

UCLABB said:


> I don't know where you are seeing that term. To find signal strength: TiVo, Settings and messages, Help, Account &System info, Diagnostics. You can then scroll through and see the signal strength for each tuner. This instruction may be different for TE4 software, but should be similar.


I followed your instructions and see Signal Strength 65%.


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## SteveD (Oct 22, 2002)

wille said:


> I followed your instructions and see Signal Strength 65%.


Sounds like your ONT may be going bad. If you can, try the same test with a direct connection to the ONT COAX output, bypassing all splitters, amps, etc.
If you see the same results, you should contact Frontier to test and/or replace your ONT.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

**** Red said:


> Sounds like your ONT may be going bad. If you can, try the same test with a direct connection to the ONT COAX output, bypassing all splitters, amps, etc.
> 
> If you see the same results, you should contact Frontier to test and/or replace your ONT.


^^good advice, imo^^



krkaufman said:


> Is your Internet connection between the ONT and your router via Ethernet or MoCA/coax? If you're using an Ethernet WAN, you might consider temporarily reconnecting your coax to have a direct connection between the ONT and your DVR, and see what signal level you're getting with absolute minimum signal loss b/w the ONT and DVR.
> 
> If you have a coax/MoCA WAN connection, then maybe try just a 2-way splitter to have only the router and DVR connected to the ONT.


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## wille (Sep 18, 2005)

Team TiVO - Thank you for your help! After multiple phone calls, and insisting that it wasn't the card or the ONT, Frontier sent a tech out yesterday. As he got out of his truck, the tech asked if the local channels were bad. I said no. He asked "just the 600 channels?" I said yes. He said that it's likely the ONT. He said I'll switch it out. That was the problem. All fixed now.


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