# Roamio busted? Massive artifacting



## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

Good evening everyone.

I think I'm going to be sad, but I think my Roamio is a bust. I've had it 3 weeks now, and about once a week, maybe slightly more, it starts to artifact. At first it just has a few video blemishes, but then gets gradually worse over 30 minute period. At first it's just video, then audio starts to dip in and out.

Now, I've only left it for about 30 minutes to see if it would solve itself, but every time it happens, I restart the box and all is perfectly fine after the reboot. 

Anyone have any thoughts?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Punker1234 said:


> Good evening everyone.
> 
> I think I'm going to be sad, but I think my Roamio is a bust. I've had it 3 weeks now, and about once a week, maybe slightly more, it starts to artifact. At first it just has a few video blemishes, but then gets gradually worse over 30 minute period. At first it's just video, then audio starts to dip in and out.
> 
> ...


Check your cable signal, too hot or too low can give you problems.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

lessd said:


> Check your cable signal, too hot or too low can give you problems.


I checked my SNR and that is at 38 on all 6 tuners. I also has no RS errors although I'll continue to monitor that.

Lastly, I tried to check the signal but it said I had zero digital channels. Could that be because I have a tuning adapter?

However, on my cablecard it says my "OOB SNR" is 25.

Other than those 3 items, not sure what else to check.


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## ncfoster (Jan 22, 2011)

Has anyone come up with a recommended range for Signal Strength/SNR for Roamio? I've seen many suggest that it is different from the Premiere. I tend to be fine, but I will suffer occasional problems, and they do tend to crop up more on certain channels. I've just tolerated it (it is not any different from when I had my Premiere, as best I can tell), but would love to squash it. My Signal Strength reads 100%, and my SNR is 40%.


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## marklyn (Jan 21, 2002)

Punker1234 said:


> I checked my SNR and that is at 38 on all 6 tuners. I also has no RS errors although I'll continue to monitor that.
> 
> Lastly, I tried to check the signal but it said I had zero digital channels. Could that be because I have a tuning adapter?
> 
> ...


I wouldn't necessarily put full faith in those numbers. My biggest tell-tale was the signal dB shown in the tuning adapter. It consistently was around minus 10-11, even occasionally -12. Once I changed out the coax wiring to provide a direct path to my tuning adapter and then output from my TA to the Tivo the signal went up to a -6 or -7dB and I have not had any pixelation and/or audio 'burps' now since I made that change.

At the very least if you can test connecting your cable directly to your TA and get dB readings before/after. Also, any and all coax splitters should be suspect. Make sure they are over 1000Mhz and minimize use if possible. Each run through a splitter degrades loss.
By the way my SNR's were similar to yours when I was having this issue.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

ncfoster said:


> Has anyone come up with a recommended range for Signal Strength/SNR for Roamio? I've seen many suggest that it is different from the Premiere. I tend to be fine, but I will suffer occasional problems, and they do tend to crop up more on certain channels. I've just tolerated it (it is not any different from when I had my Premiere, as best I can tell), but would love to squash it. * My Signal Strength reads 100%*, and my SNR is 40%.


You could have too hot a signal. Because 100% is the max reading, your signal _could be_ hotter than that.
Use an attenuator (or splitter with unused ports capped off) to bring the signal down.
I would say try to get it in the low 90's at least (don't worry about SNR for this test) and see if it helps. 
If it doesn't work, you can remove the attenuator and be no worse off.


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## worachj (Oct 14, 2006)

ncfoster said:


> Has anyone come up with a recommended range for Signal Strength/SNR for Roamio? I've seen many suggest that it is different from the Premiere. I tend to be fine, but I will suffer occasional problems, and they do tend to crop up more on certain channels. I've just tolerated it (it is not any different from when I had my Premiere, as best I can tell), but would love to squash it. My Signal Strength reads 100%, and my SNR is 40%.


http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/150/kw/signal troubleshooting

6. The SNR reading must be within the following range to give good-quality video.

QAM 64 = 23 dB - 30dB

QAM 256 = 29 dB - 35dB

A higher SNR reading means that the video signal is stronger relative to the noise level on the line. If the SNR value is lower than the minimum, contact your cable provider, who can test and improve the signal on the cable line.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

So just try a splitter than to reduce the SNR? And is that SNR referring to the 6 individual tuners or the cablecard? I never had a problem with my Premiere unfortunately, so strange!



worachj said:


> http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/150/kw/signal troubleshooting
> 
> 6. The SNR reading must be within the following range to give good-quality video.
> 
> ...


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

I had problems somewhat like this once, and eventually the cable company found that squirrels or something had been chewing on the cable. They put in a new drop from the pole and everything got better.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

tomhorsley said:


> I had problems somewhat like this once, and eventually the cable company found that squirrels or something had been chewing on the cable. They put in a new drop from the pole and everything got better.


I have a feeling the connections are fine, as a restart of the Tivo resolves the video immediately. There could be squirrel inside my Tivo though!


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

Check the firmware of the CableCARD. There has been reported issues with older firmware CableCARDs and the newer Roamios. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

jmbach said:


> Check the firmware of the CableCARD. There has been reported issues with older firmware CableCARDs and the newer Roamios.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


I'll probably just ask for a replacement just to be sure.


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## d_vail (Feb 14, 2014)

Mine did it a week or two ago, thought it was the cable company screwing with stuff.. Would have artifacts and a line or two across the screen. Then the sound would start to glitch, then an hour or so later, couldn't watch it at all. Left it for about 3 hours and it sorted itself out. Today, the same thing happened again! I thought to myself they can't be working on it again... Reboot the roamio and when it comes up all is fine. So now it know it's the roamio, or cable card, not the line. Although I do have a 100% signal and 42-45snr which some say is bad. Have a feeling this is going to be very hard to troubleshoot seeing as how it seems to only happen every 10 or more days.. Even if it were the signal being too hot, you would thing it would happen a lot more often. Just ordered an 8 port splitter to replace the 3-way currently on the line since I will eventually need all the connections. I will just put terminators on the unused ports and hopefully the -11db loss per port will attenuate the signal enough to lower the snr vs the splitter I have now with -5.5db loss. If that doesn't work, then I guess I'll have to replace the cable card. If that doesn't work, the roamio will be next, but I'm just going in order of what I'm sure tivo will have me do before they agree it's their problem.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

d_vail said:


> Mine did it a week or two ago, thought it was the cable company screwing with stuff.. Would have artifacts and a line or two across the screen. Then the sound would start to glitch, then an hour or so later, couldn't watch it at all. Left it for about 3 hours and it sorted itself out. Today, the same thing happened again! I thought to myself they can't be working on it again... Reboot the roamio and when it comes up all is fine. So now it know it's the roamio, or cable card, not the line. Although I do have a 100% signal and 42-45snr which some say is bad. Have a feeling this is going to be very hard to troubleshoot seeing as how it seems to only happen every 10 or more days.. Even if it were the signal being too hot, you would thing it would happen a lot more often. Just ordered an 8 port splitter to replace the 3-way currently on the line since I will eventually need all the connections. I will just put terminators on the unused ports and hopefully the -11db loss per port will attenuate the signal enough to lower the snr vs the splitter I have now with -5.5db loss. If that doesn't work, then I guess I'll have to replace the cable card. If that doesn't work, the roamio will be next, but I'm just going in order of what I'm sure tivo will have me do before they agree it's their problem.


Thanks Dval. Let me know how it goes because it seems like were having the EXACT same problem. My cablecard is going to be replaced, but if we're having the same problem, what are the chances it's that. Most likely hardware if our issues are the same.


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## TonyBlunt (Jan 28, 2014)

I had the same problem with a new Roamio, but it happened almost daily. Returned the unit, got a new one, ran fine for 10 days then started pixelating on playback, minor at first but got worse over about 30 minutes. Rebooted, works fine. Recordings are clean, the pixelation was during the playback. Counting down the next 10 days....


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## d_vail (Feb 14, 2014)

TonyBlunt said:


> I had the same problem with a new Roamio, but it happened almost daily. Returned the unit, got a new one, ran fine for 10 days then started pixelating on playback, minor at first but got worse over about 30 minutes. Rebooted, works fine. Recordings are clean, the pixelation was during the playback. Counting down the next 10 days....


Hmm, I wonder what the chances of it being a software bug are? Then again, if it were software it would probably be more widespread?

Out of curiosity, have any of you changed your resolution settings? I have mine set to 1080p and 1080p/24 passthrough only. All others are unchecked. I know most broadcast is 720 and 1080i and it seems this is the default setting the tivo comes set to(I may be wrong). But maybe it is a bug with the tivo outputting 1080p from 1080i ? That would explain why a lot of people don't have this problem? That's the only other thing I can think of, unless you guys have yours on the default settings and it's still happening..


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## ncfoster (Jan 22, 2011)

My settings are also 1080p and 1080p24 as well. Although I commented earlier on that I get some break-ups (and my SNR appears to be a bit too high), I think that my problems are pretty tolerable and uncommon.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

My video output was set at 1080i. Not too familiar with this to be honest, so I left it alone although I have a 1080p tv, but I don't think I have any 1080p sourced material.


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## TimA (Feb 9, 2013)

I get artifacting infrequently, but I'm amazed I get any signal from Comcast (TV and Internet). 

While driving in my neighborhood and out on the local roads I see cable distribution boxes missing covers, larger cable distribution cabinets with doors open, some that look like they were run over by a truck, and orange cable strewn all over the place. I wish Comcast would take better care of their infrastructure and perhaps many of these random issues would go away and we wouldn't have to blame the shiny new boxes in our homes.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

TimA said:


> I get artifacting infrequently, but I'm amazed I get any signal from Comcast (TV and Internet).
> 
> While driving in my neighborhood and out on the local roads I see cable distribution boxes missing covers, larger cable distribution cabinets with doors open, some that look like they were run over by a truck, and orange cable strewn all over the place. I wish Comcast would take better care of their infrastructure and perhaps many of these random issues would go away and we wouldn't have to blame the shiny new boxes in our homes.


I live in a relatively new area, so I'm sure my cable providers infrastructure is just fine. To boot, I've owned 2 other boxes previously to this and never had a problem. And others are experiencing what I have, only on the Roamio. Makes me wonder.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Are you running a upgraded drive? I'm seeing the same as described with my Roamio from time to time and I'm concerned since I put a 3tb drive in mine and never had a problem when I had a Premiere on the same cable line and it had no issues with picture quality. If mine gets worse I may put the orginal drive back in and if it improves, I'm not a stickler for the occasional pixualation unless it gets worse.


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## d_vail (Feb 14, 2014)

eboydog said:


> Are you running a upgraded drive? I'm seeing the same as described with my Roamio from time to time and I'm concerned since I put a 3tb drive in mine and never had a problem when I had a Premiere on the same cable line and it had no issues with picture quality. If mine gets worse I may put the orginal drive back in and if it improves, I'm not a stickler for the occasional pixualation unless it gets worse.


 Nope, running stock roamio pro. Have put an 8 way splitter with -11db loss on each port. Signal was still 100% and snr around 42-45. Added a 6db attenuator. Signal is now between 92 and 96 and snr is about 36-38. Between the main splitter coming into the house and a few other connectors, I'm at about 21db of attenuation. Last time the tech came out his meter showed +17db into the house at Poe. That puts me at around -4db to be where tivo wants us to be signal strength wise. Snr is still a tad bit high, but oh well... that's supposed to be a good thing, unless you talk to tivo.

I'm hoping it was just the tuners being over-driven. So far after lowering the signal it hasn't happened, but that doesn't mean anything yet since it happens so rarely. Now I have RS corrected on some channels, but so far no uncorrected, so that's good I guess.


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## simon7 (Mar 26, 2008)

I've been having these problems for three months with the Roamio as well as v53 errors. Been through multiple Roamios, numerous cable cards, attenuation, tech visits, etc. 

I've been a Tivo user for a decade and have had lots of boxes: S2, HD, Premiere, etc. No problem getting or maintaining a signal until I plugged in the Roamio. I think Tivo botched this hardware. I recommend returning within 30 days. Maybe if they issue a fix and an apology, then it will be time to buy.


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Hmm, I just considered the pixualation I was seeing on my Roamio was due to the hard drive but seeing others with stock drive having it, it make me wonder too. I had no problem with my Premiere or HD on the same cable run. 

I noticed in the Mediacom cable support forum, subscribers using the Mediacom branded TiVo's are being told that a soon to be released update is scheduled to correct their pixualation problems however these are on Premiere based units not Roamio so not sure if or why there might be a common bug issue fixed in the retail tivo premiere but brought back into Roamio? Wouldn't be the first time a company forgot to fix a bug in their newest product that was fixed in a older models but that's just speculation on my part. 

From what I have seen, the Mediacom TiVo Premiere software is based on a older standard Premiere software. 

I will call Tivo next week and see what I can find out as I have another problem with my premier that I'm trying to get taken care of so I might as well complicate matters and combine the two. My fear is they will want to send me a replacement/refurbished Roamio and I will lose my recordings.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

Just a quick update from OP:

I haven't had a single issue with it yet. Not really sure whats going on, but it could simply be a software glitch if we're multiple individuals are experiencing it. My HDD is completely stock, haven't touched by Tivo at all.

Lets keep this thread going to offer others with updates and progress.


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## oosik77 (Nov 22, 1999)

I had a similar problem and swapping out my cable card fixed it completely.


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## Punker1234 (Aug 28, 2009)

oosik77 said:


> I had a similar problem and swapping out my cable card fixed it completely.


I'll try that, still haven't gone to get a new one. I'm still experiencing the issue very rarely.


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