# Does my tivo bolt vox have OTA?



## Doh (May 18, 2001)

I feel a little silly but I've had a bolt Vox 1 TB for couple of years but just recently gotten around to cutting out cable and now I am wondering if the problems I have getting live tv on the Tivo are because the OTA tuners aren't very good or because I don't have any OTA tuners.

As best I can tell there are two models of the Tivo bolt Vox 1 TB-- one with 4 tuners and OTA and one with 6 tuners and no OTA, but I can't figure out an easy way to tell which I have. 

I found some model number charts but they have the model number for the 6 tuner version as TCD849300V1 and the model number for the 4 tuner version as TCD849000V. Meanwhile, my serial number starts 849-2 (and my model is just listed as "TiVo BOLT VOX 1TB").

I am sure this seems like a dumb question, so hoping someone can help me out.

thanks


----------



## pfiagra (Oct 13, 2014)

Doh said:


> I feel a little silly but I've had a bolt Vox 1 TB for couple of years but just recently gotten around to cutting out cable and now I am wondering if the problems I have getting live tv on the Tivo are because the OTA tuners aren't very good or because I don't have any OTA tuners.
> 
> As best I can tell there are two models of the Tivo bolt Vox 1 TB-- one with 4 tuners and OTA and one with 6 tuners and no OTA, but I can't figure out an easy way to tell which I have.
> 
> ...


https://support.tivo.com/articles/FAQ/TiVo-Service-Number-and-Model-Number-Table


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Just look at how many channels it's buffering, with TE4 I think it's a right arrow and then up and down, with TE3 it's the info button.


----------



## Doh (May 18, 2001)

pfiagra said:


> https://support.tivo.com/articles/FAQ/TiVo-Service-Number-and-Model-Number-Table


Thanks that's the model number chart I mentioned and my serial number doesn't look anything like those model numbers, but I realized I could just look on the bottom of the Tivo for an answer (told you it was a dumb question)



dianebrat said:


> Just look at how many channels it's buffering, with TE4 I think it's a right arrow and then up and down, with TE3 it's the info button.


You would think this would be easy, but with none of the tuners working it wasn't (for me at least, see previous inability to read the bottom of the box).

Now it turns out it does have tuners, but is not finding a signal, even though the tv is getting a signal so I need to figure out next steps.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Rerun guided setup, you'll get prompted for Antenna or Cable if the unit is a 4-tuner
You will not be asked for Antenna in a cable only unit if I remember correctly.


----------



## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

Doh said:


> You would think this would be easy, but with none of the tuners working it wasn't (for me at least, see previous inability to read the bottom of the box).


Actually, it is still quite easy. Just go into Account and System Info under the Help menu, then go down the menu list to "Diagnostics". On the Diagnostics screen, the first thing you will see is tuner info - it starts with Tuner: 0, and as you page down, you will see the same info for Tuner: 1, 2, etc.

If the last tuner you see is Tuner: 3, then your box DOES have OTA tuners. If it goes up to Tuner: 5, it does not.

And if you are running TE3, there is an even easier way to get that information with just one button push of the remote: Info.


----------



## Doh (May 18, 2001)

dianebrat said:


> Rerun guided setup, you'll get prompted for Antenna or Cable if the unit is a 4-tuner
> You will not be asked for Antenna in a cable only unit if I remember correctly.


Yes-- I was able to select for antenna but at the time I wasn't sure if that meant anything.



V7Goose said:


> Actually, it is still quite easy. Just go into Account and System Info under the Help menu, then go down the menu list to "Diagnostics". On the Diagnostics screen, the first thing you will see is tuner info - it starts with Tuner: 0, and as you page down, you will see the same info for Tuner: 1, 2, etc.
> 
> If the last tuner you see is Tuner: 3, then your box DOES have OTA tuners. If it goes up to Tuner: 5, it does not.
> 
> And if you are running TE3, there is an even easier way to get that information with just one button push of the remote: Info.


I did find this on my own eventually-- once I decided I definitely had tuners and then researched how to check signal strength. 

End of the story is I got it working, for at least a few channels. Thanks all!


----------

