# New Bolt, Charter, and TA question



## Johnboat (May 24, 2016)

Hi guys, I just got a Tivo Bolt, Charter and Cablecard/Tuning Adapter. 

The Tuner Adapter brings up a warning that my Tivo has 4 tuners and after plugging the TA in I'll lose a tuner. 

Do I have to use the TA?

Thanks!


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

TA's have nothing to do with tuner usage. If you don't use it, you lose channels. Which ones you lose will depend on your local market.

I've used Charter TA's for many years. If you want all your subscribed channels, you have to use them. You won't lose any tuners.


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## Johnboat (May 24, 2016)

Ok Thanks. I wonder why my Tivo gave me that warning, thats strange!


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Very strange. If you update your UserCP with your location, someone might be near you on the same feed and can tell you which channels are SDV.

In a recent thread, someone posted their SDV channels. If I was on that feed, I wouldn't use the TA.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10890713#post10890713


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## 7thton (Mar 3, 2005)

I have your same set up (Bolt, TA, Charter Cable Card). I have a TA hooked up and don't have any issues.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Johnboat said:


> Hi guys, I just got a Tivo Bolt, Charter and Cablecard/Tuning Adapter.
> 
> The Tuner Adapter brings up a warning that my Tivo has 4 tuners and after plugging the TA in I'll lose a tuner.
> 
> ...


Please post the firmware version for your Cablecard and Tuning adapter (and what brand they are).


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## Johnboat (May 24, 2016)

This is all I could find on my Tivo. Where do I find the TA info?


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

That version is fine for 6 tuners. Does your TA look like a big cable box or a small modem? If the latter, it's a Motorola and should be fine. The TA doesn't determine tuner capacity anyway. The former will need periodic reboots to work properly.


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## Johnboat (May 24, 2016)

The TA is an Arris and it looks like a cable modem. I'll post a pic of it and the message my Tivo gets when I plug it in later.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

You should be good then, if it's F/W 1.40 or later. Arris is Motorola. Solid amber light means it's working properly.

Would still be interesting to see that message. Very puzzling.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Johnboat said:


> This is all I could find on my Tivo. Where do I find the TA info?


There is more TA information at the end of Account & System Info, TiVo box Diagnostics. Scroll down.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

I believe I read that the TA should be plugged in using the top USB slot on the Bolt, so make sure you do that as well.


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

John - I hope you've gotten it fixed.

I also have Charter, a new Bolt, and a TA. My hardest thing was finding somebody at Charter who could pair the device to the new Bolt (I had it on a Premiere before that).

But it never did that. You do need the TA if you have Premium channels, I believe. I can see some channels w/o the TA, but not all of them.


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## Johnboat (May 24, 2016)

Hey guys. I am plugging in the USB cable from the TA to the Tivo. This is the message I was talking about.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Johnboat said:


> Hey guys. I am plugging in the USB cable from the TA to the Tivo. This is the message I was talking about.


Speaking from logic, not experience. It could be a really old message that got triggered for the wrong reason. It could be true and the TA is messed up. You have a built-in tool: TiVo box Diagnostics. It shows each tuner and the channel on that tuner. It shows the cable card and TA status (Ignore the "Tuned:" field). This includes the signals. The TiVo guide doesn't care about a TA anymore than an OTA configuration cares about what channels you receive.

With and without the TA I would see what channels are active. See if you get all the channels you care about. I get 240 channels. I care about 20. You can, to test the missing tuner, restart the box. When it finished all tuners will be on the same channel. Check the signals. Hope this helps.


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## 7thton (Mar 3, 2005)

I think you can test to see if all your tuners are working by doing this:

Pause the channel you're watching. 
Press the "live TV" button. This should change the TiVo to the next tuner. 
Pause that channel. 
Press the live TV button again, switching to tuner #3. 
Repeat this until you have 4 channels all paused. 
If it is possible to pause 4 channels, then all 4 tuners are working.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Johnboat said:


> Hey guys. I am plugging in the USB cable from the TA to the Tivo. This is the message I was talking about.


To be on the safe side, I'd swap out that TA. I've had many Charter TA's and have never seen anything like that. If, on the other hand, you determine that all your tuners still work, just ignore it.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Johnboat said:


> Hey guys. I am plugging in the USB cable from the TA to the Tivo. This is the message I was talking about.





mdavej said:


> To be on the safe side, I'd swap out that TA. I've had many Charter TA's and have never seen anything like that. If, on the other hand, you determine that all your tuners still work, just ignore it.


I've seen the exact same message. IIRC, it was due to the TA not being provisioned on my account properly. I called in and talked to an agent who checked some settings in her system and said "oh I see what the issue is, hold on......how isn't now?" And then it rebooted and after coming back online all was well.

Is the light also blinking in the front? Certain blink patterns/codes have a meaning, pointing to the issue. There's a document somewhere here and on the Cisco site that tells what they are.


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