# Cablevision Tuning Adapter available 4/7



## hurl03 (Nov 1, 2007)

this according to cable card support. spoke to them last week and was told they will be available for cable card customers as walk-in centers.


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## bfwk122 (Jul 2, 2006)

hurl03 said:


> this according to cable card support. spoke to them last week and was told they will be available for cable card customers as walk-in centers.


Do you know anyone who has tried to get one?..Thanks..Bob....


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## bradkw (Apr 22, 2007)

In Huntington NY these adapters will be available 4/8/09. I hope they are less plagued with problems than the cable cards.


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

This is good news!


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## ycrazyy (Dec 2, 2001)

Just got off the phone with CSR, they said it the TA will be available on 4/8 in their stores. Yay! This is for Westchester County.


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## SCSIRAID (Feb 2, 2003)

Motorola or Cisco system?


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

ycrazyy said:


> Just got off the phone with CSR, they said it the TA will be available on 4/8 in their stores. Yay! This is for Westchester County.


I was just given the same date (tomorrow) for central NJ


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## bohbot16 (Sep 22, 2008)

SCSIRAID said:


> Motorola or Cisco system?


Westchester is Cisco


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## sathead (Jan 12, 2008)

A couple of months ago, I would have been interested. But since VOOM shut down, there's nothing on Cablevision's SDV system that interests me. IIRC, the current SDV offerings are some foreign language stations and a few premium services.

Does anyone have a current Cablevision SDV channel list?


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

sathead said:


> A couple of months ago, I would have been interested. But since VOOM shut down, there's nothing on Cablevision's SDV system that interests me. IIRC, the current SDV offerings are some foreign language stations and a few premium services.
> 
> Does anyone have a current Cablevision SDV channel list?


In northern NJ, Cablevision added HBO, Starz, and Showtime HD channels using SDV. Since we get HBO and Starz, I'm looking forward to getting the tuning adapter.


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## Am_I_Evil (Apr 7, 2009)

was pissed today when i just noticed that i lost even more channels...comedy central hd and some others....called ready to yell and they told me the tuning adapter would be available starting tomorrow free of charge...just drive down and pick one up...no fee....

so i guess i can't complain because with it i'll get the channels i had back plus the ones i lost when i switched to TiVo a few months ago...


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## ycrazyy (Dec 2, 2001)

sathead said:


> Does anyone have a current Cablevision SDV channel list?


I sub to all of the premium channels which is why I am exited. There are a LOT of premium HD's that they put on SDV. Other than that, I think it's just a few random channels that I most likely don't watch. Either way, preps us for any and all future offerings so you can't really complain...


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## urwathrtz (Jan 18, 2008)

I'm stopping by Cablevision (Wappingers Falls, NY) tomorrow and see if I can get one.


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

Called support. The rep checked store inventory ... and found no TAs in any NJ stores.

I politely asked him to double check. 

He noticed that I was a customer since 1997 ... then asked me to hold on again.

Response: Their inventory system had not yet been updated, but he did confirm that all Optimum stores "should have the adapter as of yesterday" (7 April 2009).

I asked for the Piscataway Optimum Store number, so that I could call and make sure, but he didn't have it.

I looked here too: http://www.optimum.net/Support/PhoneList ... but those appear to dial back into the main support line.

Making the trip to Piscataway. Here's hoping ... !


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## ycrazyy (Dec 2, 2001)

The funny part is that they of course have not updated the web site to state that tuning adapters are available. I am going to check out the Mamaroneck, NY store this morning to see if they have any *fingers crossed*


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## lenrak (Nov 25, 2003)

Picked mine up from the Norwalk, CT store this morning. By 9:35 they only had two left (said each store only received 5). They had all sorts of problems figuring out which id numbers to enter at the store. When i got home, there was a message to please call them because they entered the wrong number and needed me to read them the correct number. I'm going to install it now.


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## ycrazyy (Dec 2, 2001)

Just got back from the Mamaroneck, NY store. Picked up 2 there, they only had 5 in stock as the poster above stated (now only 3 left). There was a little confusion at first as to how to enter everything into the system since they said they had only been trained on it yesterday. Won't be back at my place for a few days yet to try it out but will report back once I do...


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## jeep77 (Mar 9, 2008)

joedandrea said:


> Called support. The rep checked store inventory ... and found no TAs in any NJ stores.
> 
> I politely asked him to double check.
> 
> ...


Did you have any luck at the Piscataway store? The CSR I spoke with said they did not get the TA's and to check back next week. I am not so sure she knew what I was talking about and just gave me this line so I would go away.


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## lenrak (Nov 25, 2003)

Installed mine and it seems to work fine (once i realized that i hadn't plugged the usb connection all the way in.....).


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

Piscataway is supposed to have them today. Do we all live in Piscataway?


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

bradkw said:


> In Huntington NY these adapters will be available 4/8/09. I hope they are less plagued with problems than the cable cards.


I think most people in Austin and San Antonio, at least, woud say they were. Two big things really helped. One was a dedicated thread just for San Antonio TA issues, and a similar one for Austin. We were able to share our issues online almost instantly and isolate city-wide vs. individual issues. The second thing was Time Warner set up a hotline for the techs / installers to call with several knowledgable Tier II support people. That way all the issues were resolved in a matter of hours. Pointing the Tier II people to the suport thread in this forum helped considerably, as well. All in all, I think most of the people in San Antonio would describe the experience as not at all unpleasant or overly exasperating.

Since the upgrade, things have been pretty good. There have been a couple of events which required a reboot of the TA, the TiVo, or both, and one city-wide outage which required a trouble call, but otherwise they've been pretty reliable.


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## jmkirk (Jun 30, 2003)

Just picked up last one from Cablevision CT - Norwalk. They will get 4 more on Friday. If you stop in they will take your info and hold one for you


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## Smirks (Oct 7, 2002)

They do have them at the Piscataway, NJ location. I haven't installed it yet, though.


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## lampynj (Apr 8, 2009)

I am up and running on both Series3 and HD.

Installation sheet says to call support for authorization - they were fairly confused about what I wanted. In the end, it's quite possible you don't really need to call them as they add adapters to your account when you pick them up.


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## Blahman (Mar 4, 2002)

Picked up 2 at Freehold NJ store.

I didn't call for auth on both my TAs and they are up and running fine. That seems to confirm what lampynj said about them adding to the account when scanned out before giving them to you. Much like cable boxes generally don't need an auth call when they scan em out at the office. I can finally see the other HD channels that were unavailable before.

Shame that Voom is history though. ah well, more skinamax HD.


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## Smirks (Oct 7, 2002)

Smirks said:


> They do have them at the Piscataway, NJ location. I haven't installed it yet, though.


Finally hooked mine up. Worked w/o calling to authorize. Pretty easy setup, worked basically out of the box!


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## urwathrtz (Jan 18, 2008)

Smirks said:


> Finally hooked mine up. Worked w/o calling to authorize. Pretty easy setup, worked basically out of the box!


Same here, Picked it up and plugged it in, that was it. I went by to get it at 4:30 this afternoon. The lady told me I was the first customer to get one. hum.


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

jeep77 said:


> Did you have any luck at the Piscataway store? The CSR I spoke with said they did not get the TA's and to check back next week. I am not so sure she knew what I was talking about and just gave me this line so I would go away.


I did _not_ have luck at the Piscataway store.

Now for the long(er) version.

Arrived at 9am. It was just me ... and Pam.

(The following is a fairly close approximation, paraphrased in spots, in others verbatim. Have fun reading.)

"Pam, good morning! I spoke with Cablevision customer service this morning and" - this next part I spoke clearly and carefully - "they assure me that the Tuning Adapters for CableCARD customers are available at all Optimum Stores as of yesterday, the 7th. Can you please--"

"Wait. I've been here for twelve years, OK? I don't know WHAT you're talking about."

"OK, well, it's a new thing - they just came out --"

"No, you don't understand. You see how I'm looking at you right now?"

"Yes."

"Alright?"

"Yes, you're looking at me like I have two heads."

"I've been here TWELVE YEARS, OK? I don't know who you talked to but we don't have that."

"Got it. Well, let's see. They were pretty sure. Maybe it's still on the loading dock?"

"We don't have a loading dock."

"But, um, I passed the loading dock on the way around the back of the building when I got here. Shipping and receiving? Maybe it's on a palette?"

"No. We get everything here. I know everything that we have here. We don't have that."

<uneasy pause> ... "No way to check, perhaps?"

"There's nothing to check."

"Right. Well, maybe if I called customer support again? They might know?"

"You can do that, sure, just sit over there on the bench." (Motions toward the bench directly beneath two flat screens crankin' out Music Choice.)

I head to the bench (and all this time I am being _very_ polite and diplomatic), and call support again ... and this time I speak with Silver.

By the time I got to the "p" in "Tuning Adapter" she already knew what I was talking about because she came back with: "Yes! For the TiVos! Isn't that great? They're finally available!"

"Well, heh-heh. Yeah! Funny, that. See, I'm at the Piscataway Optimum Store and ... the rep, well, she looked at me like I had two heads."

"Two heads?"

"They say they don't have the TAs here. Any chance they might be in transit, or on the loading dock?"

"Oh no! That doesn't sound right. They're supposed to be there already. I do apologize for that sir. Let me see what I can do."

She checks my customer record and makes the requisite acknowledgement: "Wow! You've been a customer since 1997."

"Yes! Twelve years."

"We really do appreciate your business."

"Roger that."

"Yes, well, wow, let's see what I can do here. Would you mind holding while I check with a manager?"

"Not at all."

A moment later, she's back on. "Thank you for holding. Yes, I did get a confirmation, those tuning adapters _are_ supposed to be in the stores already."

"I heard from another rep that they're not showing up in store inventory, but that it's not updated just yet, and that they're really at the stores. So who knows."

"Still, the stores should know about it already, everyone should already be prepared for this. I'm very sorry. Could I speak with ... ?"

"Pam. Sure! Give her a moment though. She's with a customer."

"No problem. In the meantime, I'm going to have a manager contact you as soon as possible about this. We're going to get to the bottom of it and make sure this is taken care of. I really am sorry about this."

"Oh, no problem. I've got other business to attend to in Piscataway, so it's OK. I can stay here for a little bit while Pam finishes up."

Pam takes 15 minutes to process paperwork for what appears to be two SA set top boxen. No, I am not making this up. Slowly, I got the sense that she knew I was waiting for her.

By now there were two others on line. At that moment, two other Store reps appeared and helped them, and at that same moment the other customer left with his set top boxen ... leaving me and Pam.

"Pam! Hi. Good news, I have a rep from Cablevision on the line, and she wanted to bring you up to speed on what's happening with those Tuning Adapters."

Pam was nonplussed.

"I told you sir. I've been here twelve --"

"-- years, yes, I know. Get this. We have something in common! I've been a Cablevision customer for twelve years!"

I was trying to be diplomatic but, in hindsight, I suppose the thought of having anything in common with me was turning her stomach. I continued. "Her name is Silver. Would you please --?"

I offered Pam the phone. She backed away like it was a magnet repelling her. "I don't talk on customer cell phones."

I tried again. She refused.

"Oh. Um ..." I put the phone to my ear. Silver was hearing the whole thing. "Sir, that is unacceptable behavior. I'm sorry."

I put the phone down. "That's OK. Listen, it's not a problem. I understand. This has a speakerphone so we're set." (Button-press. BEEP.)

Pam paused, and stared down at the phone. "Go ahead."

Silver began: "Good morning Pam, this is Optimum support." (Actually, Silver used some other lingo that I think might be code to help identify them as legit employees or service reps when they talk with each other. It sure sounded official at the time.) "Would you pick up the phone please?"

"No."

"Pam, we're trying to help a very important customer here. I need you to pick up the phone and take it off speaker so I can explain to you what we're going to be doing."

"No, listen. I've been here TWELVE YEARS! OK? This customer keeps saying we have something here that I KNOW we don't have. OK? We don't have it! I checked."

"Yes, I know - but I want to explain to you what we're doing about that. Please pick up the phone?"

"No. I don't talk on customer phones. People come in here, and the phones have germs, folks are sick, and then you get sick after you touch the cell phones. I'm not picking up the phone."

"Ohhhh! I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable behavior Pam, and in front of a customer!" At that point, Silver more or less ordered her to take the phone off speaker. Pam asked me to do the honors, and she finally put the phone to her ear. Sort of.

I don't know what Silver told her, but Pam offered a few rejoinders. "Mm-hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Uh-huh. Right." Then she went right back into her spiel, ending with "OK. Bye." Pam handed the phone back to me. I thanked her and walked toward the bench again.

Silver was beside herself and very apologetic for her colleague's behavior. I cheered her up a bit though, because I told Silver I intended to give her super high marks on the optional post-call survey.

Alas, there's no survey when you exit the Optimum Store.

Meanwhile, I await the manager's call. We'll see ...


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

That sounds like something out of HitchHiker's Guide..


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

mattack said:


> That sounds like something out of HitchHiker's Guide..


Good call! Yes, I did feel a little Arthur Dent at the time. Hence the Zaphod nod.


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

Anyone know if any of the Westchester stores still have stock? I am going to call them to check inventory before I run out over lunch today, but it seems their inventory systems are a bit flaky (and did the Port Chester store disappear?)
Thanks,
-Shaown


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## ycrazyy (Dec 2, 2001)

Haha! That was one of the best recounts of a CSR experience I have ever read... You should be an author!

I guess I was fortunate that when I walked in at 9:15am yesterday, there was a manager with the rep who was helping me and they were very nice and pleasant. They wanted to know how I even heard that they had the TA's.

Hope you finally get your TA's in some reasonable amount of time. If I were you I would ask them to UPS them to you or something, not like you haven't been a customer long enough for that sort of treatment.


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## mack1951 (Dec 19, 2008)

Picked one up yesterday morning in Bayonne. They said I got the first one right off the truck. Went home and installed it following the instructions. Called support to activate, hit the button on the front but no green light. Troubleshooted with the tech in the cable card division, unplugged the unit, plugged it back in green light flashed for a few minutes then went out. Hit button on front and nothing. Tech arranged for service call for today figured it was a bad unit. Got up this morning and unplugged the unit plugged it back in after flashing green light went out hit the button and light flashed a few times and stayed lit. Works great now, all sdv channels with no problems. Must have been something on CV end that they fixed overnight.
Canceled tech call.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

Picked up two in Piscataway this morning with no problems.


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

ADG said:


> Picked up two in Piscataway this morning with no problems.


Fantastic!!


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

After installing both units I decided to call cc support and have them authorized (what's the downside???). Spoke with a lovely young man named Engelbert (his mother was a big fan  ) and he said yes, they do have to send an update to the units once they have finished downloading the programming data (about 15-20 min after hookup).


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## urwathrtz (Jan 18, 2008)

ADG said:


> After installing both units I decided to call cc support and have them authorized (what's the downside???). Spoke with a lovely young man named Engelbert (his mother was a big fan  ) and he said yes, they do have to send an update to the units once they have finished downloading the programming data (about 15-20 min after hookup).


Ohhhh, I will call them this evening.


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

So I got the last unit in the Mamaroneck store (2 folks got 2 each yesterday), and they told me you had to be IO Silver or higher to get em (i..e get some premiums, otherwise there was nothing for it to decode).

Harrison is all out (both stores said they might get more tomorrow) and Yonkers has 3 left (well 4, but they are holding one for me, cause I need a 2nd one).
-Shaown


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## wwsmith (Jun 9, 2008)

I picked one up this afternoon at about 2:30 PM in Oakland, NJ. They tried to talk me out of it because with the demise of VOOM there are no SDV channels except premiums. I said I did not want to make the trip again when they add some later, and they aquiesced, with the caveat that if I disconnect and don't return it there will be a $150 charge. I'll probably try to connect it tonight. I didn't ask them how many they had, but someone walked in after me and got one. He also didn't have an immediate need, but said he was planning to add an NFL channel that needs it.


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## loontoons (Feb 10, 2009)

Guys keep on the lookout. I am having freezing issues with mine. I wont say how long I have had my TA, just that I am getting many more video freezes on just about all chanels. SDV or not.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

loontoons said:


> *I wont say how long I have had my TA*, just that I am getting many more video freezes on just about all chanels. SDV or not.


What the hell does that mean?


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

Ok, so I called em, they seemed a little clueless, but downloaded updates, now both my units are blinking away ( been about 5 mins)
will post a report later.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

ADG said:


> What the hell does that mean?


Maybe they can not say that they have had a Cablevision tuning adapter from before they were official released this week. For example, if they were part of a beta test program, and are under non-disclosure. Read between the lines.


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## johnner1999 (Oct 26, 2002)

same here can't say how long mine has been in use.... But it works great! I hope CV adds more SDV channels now


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

So after blinking for an hour or so, I pulled the power on, and seemed to work, all steady now. Both Tivos are recieveing SDV channels, though neither have them in the guide. Rerunnign guided setup on one to see if that helps.

And oops, I just had to add them to channels I recieve. So far everythign is working great!


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Has anybody here tried one without CCs? I know, in another thread, someone *did* say they reran guided setup and showed that they would work without CCs (though I believe this is an unsupported configuration). I just wondered if any of us who want "QAM tuning", are trying to use the SDV adapter instead of CCs..


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## roylevitt (Feb 28, 2004)

...quite shocking, it works flawlessly!


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## hurl03 (Nov 1, 2007)

picked up two this afternoon - install was fairly smooth. however - every once in awhile the light will start to blink and the tivo settings screen for the tuning adapter appears. any recordings stop and when the light goes solid again - the recording don't start again. quite annoying. anyone else have similar or other issues?


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## Slider10 (Aug 5, 2003)

I had no issues getting my TA this evening in the Port Jefferson, NY location. The woman knew exactly what I was talking about and I was done in 5 minutes. 

The most annoying part of being at the store was waiting in line while another rep talked about dogs with her customer for 10 minutes, oblivious to my wife and I waiting for her to stop her chit-chat. She wasn't even doing something while talking to the customer.... just talking about dogs.

The hookup was quick and easy. I did call CS as instructed and they were fine as well. 10 min later and I was up and running. I'm really excited to get all my channels now, especially NHL Network in HD!!!!

joedandrea, did you end up getting the TA from the Optimum Store you were at?


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

Slider10 said:


> I had no issues getting my TA this evening in the Port Jefferson, NY location. The woman knew exactly what I was talking about and I was done in 5 minutes.


That's more like it!



> joedandrea, did you end up getting the TA from the Optimum Store you were at?


Not yet. Wednesday was my window of opportunity. I won't be able to head in that direction again until next week.


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## VinceA (May 13, 2002)

mack1951 said:


> Picked one up yesterday morning in Bayonne. They said I got the first one right off the truck. Went home and installed it following the instructions. Called support to activate, hit the button on the front but no green light. Troubleshooted with the tech in the cable card division, unplugged the unit, plugged it back in green light flashed for a few minutes then went out. Hit button on front and nothing. Tech arranged for service call for today figured it was a bad unit. Got up this morning and unplugged the unit plugged it back in after flashing green light went out hit the button and light flashed a few times and stayed lit. Works great now, all sdv channels with no problems. Must have been something on CV end that they fixed overnight.
> Canceled tech call.


.... and I got the second one from that office. I got to the office around 4PM and the women told me I was the second person to ask for one that day. I also had the exact same trouble you did. They offered to send someone out but I said I'd wait it out a day or so. Repowered the box yesterday morning, and left for work. Hit the power button when I got home and it worked as documented. So all is well...


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## PaulCNY (Apr 10, 2009)

Slider10 said:


> The most annoying part of being at the store was waiting in line while another rep talked about dogs with her customer for 10 minutes, oblivious to my wife and I waiting for her to stop her chit-chat. She wasn't even doing something while talking to the customer.... just talking about dogs.


Slider10, I had a similar experience at the Port Jefferson store (or rather my wife did). She went in to pick up a tuning adapter Wednesday and one of the ladies there said they did not have them, but she took my wife's name and number and called back the next day that they were in stock.

Yesterday, my wife goes in to pick it up (very thankful she did, as I work in Yonkers and never make it back in time to pick it up) and the other lady she dealt with was a nut. She kept muttering things under her breath like "This had better be worth it" and "Why someone wouldn't want our DVR is beyond me". She was aggravated that she had to learn something new. Maybe it was this same dog lady you dealt with.



hurl03 said:


> picked up two this afternoon - install was fairly smooth. however - every once in awhile the light will start to blink and the tivo settings screen for the tuning adapter appears. any recordings stop and when the light goes solid again - the recording don't start again. quite annoying. anyone else have similar or other issues?


hurl03, I had the same problem. While I was on the phone getting the adapter authorized, I had to unplug the adapter at one point. Unplugging it caused my TIVO recording to stop (I missed the last 5 minutes of the Office, DOH!). Plugging it back in caused the TIVO tuning adapter confirmation screen to pop up again. It's been working fine ever since.

I'm kind of surprised (aside from the store experience) that the process has been relatively smooth. I was worried that when I called support they would have no idea what I was talking about. Well, the first rep had no idea. He wasn't exactly listening to what I was saying because he thought first that I needed a cable box authorized, then he thought I wanted to authorize more channels before the light bulb went on and he transferred me to the right department.


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## JoN8282 (Feb 27, 2005)

just got off the phone with the Oakland office customer service, they said none of my local optimimum stores will have them, however they are available free but with a truck roll ($35 charge)

i would rather get my 3 adapters and have someone standing there to make sure i have no issues getting everything to talk together anyway... $35 is worth it for me to get 3 installed. Offered next day install too... I am not available till Tuesday however... will update after they arrive.


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## CRelleno (Jan 30, 2005)

I got my tuning adapters yesterday at the West Nyack, NY office. When I said I needed two boxes, the customer service rep told me that only 5 had come in the day before and there was only one left. However, she went to the back room and returned with two boxes and said she found two adapters. I complimented her for knowing what a tuning adapter was and being able to help me so well and she replied that if I had come 24 hours earlier she would have been clueless. She found out about them after a previous customer asked for one.

I have set up both of the boxes, one for an S3 and one for a TiVo HD, per the written instructions. Both were activated flawlessly and are working fine.


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## yftman (Feb 15, 2009)

Picked up 2 at the walk-in center in Hewitt, NJ around noon today. Friendly rep said I was the first tuning adapter customer.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

pdonoghu said:


> Maybe they can not say that they have had a Cablevision tuning adapter from before they were official released this week. For example, if they were part of a beta test program, and are under non-disclosure. Read between the lines.


I'm not an idiot and I thought of that possibility - but then any normal person would say "I was a beta tester". There is no NDA that prohibits that.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

ADG said:


> I'm not an idiot and I thought of that possibility - but then any normal person would say "I was a beta tester". There is no NDA that prohibits that.


I didn't say you are an idiot. Don't know what beta's you have been in, but almost all the ones I've been in require that participation in the program not be disclosed, even after it ends. Tivo's beta agreement has those terms.


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## yftman (Feb 15, 2009)

My tuning adapters are installed and working. Had a minor issue at first. I called CV for authoriztion and they set up an appointment for tomorrow to get them working. After I hung up, I power-cycled the TA, clicked 'continue' on the Tivo screen when it recognized the TA. I waited for the blinking green light to stop. I pressed the 'on' button on the front of the TA and when the green light stayed lit, I started receiving SV channels. So if anyone has a little trouble, simply repower the TA. when the green light stops blinking and stays lit, you should be good to go.


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## jeep77 (Mar 9, 2008)

The Piscataway store had 4 left as of around noon today if anyone is looking for some.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

pdonoghu said:


> I didn't say you are an idiot. Don't know what beta's you have been in, but almost all the ones I've been in require that participation in the program not be disclosed, even after it ends. Tivo's beta agreement has those terms.


Sorry for my sensitivity - no excuse for it. I am (and have been) a beta tester for many computer hw & sw providers for a long time. While any information relating to the beta test are confidential, the fact that one IS a beta tester is not. Regardless - certainly not worth arguing about.


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## Royster (May 24, 2002)

I picked up a TA today, but I don't think it's doing anything for me. I'm supposed to get extra channels, like the Voom channels that went away and extra HBO HD channels. But after authorizing it, I get "No channels available" when I do the diagnostics on CC1 and CC2. That doesn't sound right.

Give me a channel I'm supposed to be getting.


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

Could some of you be so kind as to check the Tuning Adapter firmware version that you are on?

To get your TA Firmware version... Select Tuning Adapter Diagnostics... When the diags come up.. select Versions and Macs and hit select. The third line should say FLASH: STA.............F.0XXX. Let me know the value of XXX.

Thanks!


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## Royster (May 24, 2002)

F.0702 but don't go by me. It appears that mine isn't doing anything.


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## Slider10 (Aug 5, 2003)

Royster, if you subscribe to it, you should be getting 791, NHL Network HD. If you see that channel, you got SV working.


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## Royster (May 24, 2002)

OK, I didn't have it powered on. 

Now I get the additional HBO channels: 775-779


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

NFL HD, that doesn't come with IO silver right? Seperate package or something?


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## dturturro (Feb 1, 2002)

Ok, I picked up my TA from the Hicksville store today. I hooked it up and left it alone for 30 minutes or so based on some of the comments others have made. The TA wasn't working yet so I called CS. After getting escalated and sending sveral hits and a few power cord resets I finally got a solid green light. All SDV channels are coming in except NHLHD. I'll give it some time before calling again just in case it's still doing something I don't know about.


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## TishTash (Jan 24, 2008)

shaown said:


> NFL HD, that doesn't come with IO silver right? Seperate package or something?


NFL Network (famously) is not carried at all on Cablevision (and won't be unless CV relents and allows it on Basic). If you mean N*H*L HD, I think you have to subscribe to the Hockey package.


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## TishTash (Jan 24, 2008)

I don't think any stores got more than 5 for their initial shipment. I went to the Freeport store: no luck. Then I went to the Lynbrook store a couple towns west, and they had just _one_. They usually don't do this, but I beseeched the rep to try a couple other Optimum Stores, since I needed three.

Luckily there were two more in Manhassett, but they initially wouldn't hold it for me. (Given the other posts here, I find that hard to believe too.) After some assurances I would be there in less than 20 min, they agreed to hold it temporarily.

When I got there, apparently they had three, which had I known would've saved me a trip to Lynbrook. Whereas Lynbrook took about five minutes to enter the TA into the "system," Manhassett took about half-an-hour; as others have noted, they just couldn't exactly figure out how to enter such a new thing.

Now to see if the darned things work....


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## adiamas (Apr 13, 2009)

Mine is coming in as STA1.0.0_1520_BDSG.I.R_F.0702

Mine also keeps freezing up or rebooting. I'll go from solid green to blinking green, then the "Tuning Adapter Configuration" menu pops up. Any ideas why?



Lrscpa said:


> Could some of you be so kind as to check the Tuning Adapter firmware version that you are on?
> 
> To get your TA Firmware version... Select Tuning Adapter Diagnostics... When the diags come up.. select Versions and Macs and hit select. The third line should say FLASH: STA.............F.0XXX. Let me know the value of XXX.
> 
> Thanks!


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

adiamas said:


> Mine is coming in as STA1.0.0_1520_BDSG.I.R_F.0702
> 
> Mine also keeps freezing up or rebooting. I'll go from solid green to blinking green, then the "Tuning Adapter Configuration" menu pops up. Any ideas why?


adiamas--- You and I seem to be a the same boat. Please check the the TA's FDC and RDC values. This is in the second page of status summary and _you can only do so when the TA starts to reboot_. Otherwise, these values show as N/A.

Also has anyone's "TiVo Suggestions" stopped?


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## rcamille (Dec 24, 2002)

Picked two tuning adapters up on Saturday at the Lindenhurst, NY location. Intallation was uneventful. When I called to authorize, the first CSR had no clue (imagine that), but on the second call, I got someone who at least acted like he knew what to do.

Since Saturday, both TiVos have had the Tuning Adapter menu pop up for no apparent reason. The worst part is when this happens the TiVo stops recording whatever it was that it was recording. This has happened multiple times on each TiVo. For the moment, I have disconnected one of the unit's (so that 24 records properly tonight). 

Any idea how to troubleshoot? I know calling CV will be a waste of time.


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## joedandrea (Aug 18, 2008)

Picked up mine on Saturday - at last! This time, I got it from the Randolph, NJ office. Took a few tries to get the channel list downloaded, and the blinkenlight kept blinken for about six hours despite a few reboots requested by support. Eventually, however, we were victorious, and the TiVo Status showed a happy TA.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

The only downside I've seen is that it takes a little longer to change channels. Other than that, no issues.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

I have come upon an annoying behavior. When my TiVo reboots (happened yesterday), the tuning adapter doesn't reset correctly. I just get a blinking light and I have to power cycle the TA to get it back and working. ALSO, I've noticed that the TA caused enough of a drop in signal strength where I occasionally lose channels I used to have. Yesterday I couldn't tune in 702 (CBS HD), which is not SDV. And the signal strength causes the SDV channels to work randomly. At first i couldn't get 775 and 777, then I lost 774 and 773. Checking the signal strength when I get them shows numbers in the low 40s.

I called CV and they are sending someone out tomorrow. NOTE: On my other S3 I am not having any problems and the TA works flawlessly. The signal strength in that room is much better.


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

dbenrosen said:


> I have come upon an annoying behavior. When my TiVo reboots (happened yesterday), the tuning adapter doesn't reset correctly. I just get a blinking light and I have to power cycle the TA to get it back and working. ALSO, I've noticed that the TA caused enough of a drop in signal strength where I occasionally lose channels I used to have. Yesterday I couldn't tune in 702 (CBS HD), which is not SDV. And the signal strength causes the SDV channels to work randomly. At first i couldn't get 775 and 777, then I lost 774 and 773. Checking the signal strength when I get them shows numbers in the low 40s.
> 
> I called CV and they are sending someone out tomorrow. NOTE: On my other S3 I am not having any problems and the TA works flawlessly. The signal strength in that room is much better.


I too have certain channels in the low 40s (702-705), and others in the high 60s (SDV channels).

Please check the the TA's FDC and RDC values. This is in the second page of status summary _and you can only do so when the TA starts to reboot_. Otherwise, these values show as N/A.


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## loontoons (Feb 10, 2009)

HAHA, that means I was part of the Beta


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

adiamas said:


> I'll go from solid green to blinking green, then the "Tuning Adapter Configuration" menu pops up. Any ideas why?


Same thing here. I lose the buffer, recordings in progress stop (and don't resume), and both tuners end up on the same channel. It's happening on 2 different adapters on 2 different Tivo's. Otherwise it's fine, but this is unacceptable.

Any suggestions?


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

hiwatt said:


> Same thing here. I lose the buffer, recordings in progress stop (and don't resume), and both tuners end up on the same channel. It's happening on 2 different adapters on 2 different Tivo's. Otherwise it's fine, but this is unacceptable.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Also, check to see if your TiVo suggestions, if normally set to "on" have stopped.


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

Nothing gets recorded automatically so I think that means they're off, but I'll double check when I get home.

Confirmed...it's set to Off.


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## jon01 (Jan 4, 2005)

At cv right now in Huntington, ny. They have to fix something in their system but everything seems fine. It's a cisco ta.


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## JoN8282 (Feb 27, 2005)

JoN8282 said:


> just got off the phone with the Oakland office customer service, they said none of my local optimimum stores will have them, however they are available free but with a truck roll ($35 charge)
> 
> i would rather get my 3 adapters and have someone standing there to make sure i have no issues getting everything to talk together anyway... $35 is worth it for me to get 3 installed. Offered next day install too... I am not available till Tuesday however... will update after they arrive.


got a call this morning that they have to reschedule because the warehouse has no adapters.... so I swung by the Fair Lawn NJ optimimum store and was given 1 adapter... said there was one per household limit, but truck roll not required... so obviously no one knows crap... took my one for now.... anyone else surprised how huge this thing is?

was very easy to setup - instructions indicated you should call to authorize the adapter... i called, they didn't know what it was... spoke to several people, eventually gave up since it was working without that... we'll see if it lasts...

will save the calling to get more adapters for another day... im tired of cablevision.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

mattack said:


> Has anybody here tried one without CCs? I know, in another thread, someone *did* say they reran guided setup and showed that they would work without CCs (though I believe this is an unsupported configuration). I just wondered if any of us who want "QAM tuning", are trying to use the SDV adapter instead of CCs..


I think the problem is, they wont give you a TA unless you subscribe to IO silver or gold.

So why would you subscribe to IO silver, but not rent cablecards (and therefore NOT get the io silver channels you are subscribing to)?

That aside, I picked up two TA from Randolph NJ and will install them after work today.

Hope my install goes smoothly.

But this part BOTHERED me a lot.

The lady said they were free of charge, but they MIGHT charge a monthly fee for them in the future. I asked for that statement in writing, she said they didn't have it in writing but had to tell people that.


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## rivilis (Oct 19, 2007)

Went to the Parlin, NJ store today. They were very helpfull, and knew exactly what I was talking about. I picked up 3 TAs. The only holdup was that the employees were not familiar with the procedures and it took them about a 1/2 hour to figure out what the instruction manual was telling them to enter in to their computer.

Will hook them up tonight, and update on my susses / failure tomorrow.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

Came home today from work and noticed that the "You have a tuning adapter connected" menu was on the screen. It didn't see to impact the recording of programs, but I was surprised to see the message. It happened on BOTH of my TiVos (an S3 and an HD). There was also a new message about a lineup change. I wonder if this was somehow related. Anyone else see this today?


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

dbenrosen said:


> Came home today from work and noticed that the "You have a tuning adapter connected" menu was on the screen. It didn't see to impact the recording of programs, but I was surprised to see the message. It happened on BOTH of my TiVos (an S3 and an HD). There was also a new message about a lineup change. I wonder if this was somehow related. Anyone else see this today?


This means that the Tuning Adapter restarted. Could have been from a brief power or cable signal interruption. Note if it happens with any regularity. When the Tuning Adapter restarts, any TiVo recordings in process are stopped.


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## mangocat1 (Mar 1, 2009)

blacknoi said:


> The lady said they were free of charge, but they MIGHT charge a monthly fee for them in the future. I asked for that statement in writing, she said they didn't have it in writing but had to tell people that.


I'm not sure how they could get away charging for this device. As I see it, anything that is required to receive programming in my package BEYOND the CableCARD now and in the future needs to be on them. The other option is to not use SDV.


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## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

dbenrosen said:


> Came home today from work and noticed that the "You have a tuning adapter connected" menu was on the screen. It didn't see to impact the recording of programs, but I was surprised to see the message. It happened on BOTH of my TiVos (an S3 and an HD). There was also a new message about a lineup change. I wonder if this was somehow related. Anyone else see this today?


Happened on one series 3 yesterday, but not the other


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## rivilis (Oct 19, 2007)

Got my 3 TAs hooked up, but no SDV Channels  

Green light on all the boxes, TIVO is happy, and sees them just fine, but when I go to any SDV Channels, I get an error: "Unable to tune the channel at this time".

Called CV, and spent over an hour on the phone with them, but they could not figure out what the problem is, so they are sending out a tech. 

Stay tuned...


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

Update: Hooked up one of my two TAs last night.

Didn't have to call to authorize. Followed the instructions word for word (except the calling cablevision part).

Got all my SDV channels, except I have 20% to 100% signal loss across ALL CHANNELS.

My HD CBS channel (702 on my map) has zero signal now when I'm going through the TA.

Take the tuning adapter out of the mix and I get 58 to 62 quality on that channel (yea I know not the best but at least it still works). Put the tuning adapter in-line and my signal goes to zero on that channel.

Other channels like HD NBC is at quality of 92 without the TA, with the TA its at 73.

Its interesting to note that the pass-through short co-axial cable that came with it is RG-59, not RG-6. I put my own RG-6 in there and still the same level of signal loss.

I thought these things were supposed to amplify the signal, not have a drop.

How's everyone else's signal quality when running through the TA? Better? Worse? The same?

EDIT: Found this post and think it will solve my problem:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7158049#post7158049



mikeyts said:


> The TA needs to be connected to the coax from the wall, but TiVo doesn't need to be connected to the coax output on the TA. It can be connected to any other cable or an external split of the cable fed into the TA.


Based on that, I'll keep my tivo plugged into the cable straight from the wall, and just give the TA its own Coax run... as apparently you are NOT required to use the coax out for the TA to function for the tivo, just the USB port.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

blacknoi said:


> Update: Hooked up one of my two TAs last night.
> 
> My HD CBS channel (702 on my map) has zero signal now when I'm going through the TA.
> 
> How's everyone else's signal quality when running through the TA? Better? Worse? The same?


I had EXACTLY the same problem, including losing CBS HD. The tech came out and reworked my splits to give better signal to my HD TiVo, while lowering the one to my S3. Definitely saw a LARGE signal strength drop through the TA.

I also got the problem claiming channel was unable to come in at the time. Not the "Searching for signal" I got when the signal strength was too low.


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

rivilis said:


> Got my 3 TAs hooked up, but no SDV Channels
> 
> Green light on all the boxes, TIVO is happy, and sees them just fine, but when I go to any SDV Channels, I get an error: "Unable to tune the channel at this time".
> 
> ...


After a week, my tuning adapter started rebooting 10+ a day. When the TA reboots, any recording in process or in the TiVo's buffer is stopped, which obviously is a showstopper.

I replaced the TA yesterday, and while I haven't had any spontaneous reboots, I too got the above referenced, "Unable to tune the channel at this time" on certain, but not all SDV channels.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

Lrscpa said:


> After a week, my tuning adapter started rebooting 10+ a day. When the TA reboots, any recording in process or in the TiVo's buffer is stopped, which obviously is a showstopper.
> 
> I replaced the TA yesterday, and while I haven't had any spontaneous reboots, I too got the above referenced, "Unable to tune the channel at this time" on certain, but not all SDV channels.


Cablevision's Scientific Atlanta boxes display the error "Channel Not Available - Try Again Later" when there are NOT enough SDV slots to send your channel.

This is cablevision's problem in that more *unique* SDV based channels are being requested simultaneously, than slots that cablevision made available for SDV.

I have a feeling that "Unable to tune the channel at this time" means the same thing, but the error has different wording due to a different device.

Either way, this is CABLEVISIONS fault of infrastructure, not necessairily a sign of a bad Tuning Adapter.


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## rivilis (Oct 19, 2007)

Lrscpa said:


> After a week, my tuning adapter started rebooting 10+ a day. When the TA reboots, any recording in process or in the TiVo's buffer is stopped, which obviously is a showstopper.
> 
> I replaced the TA yesterday, and while I haven't had any spontaneous reboots, I too got the above referenced, "Unable to tune the channel at this time" on certain, but not all SDV channels.


Cablevision at its best :

Tech shows up at my house, looks at me at says:

Tech: What is that CISCO thing that is hooked up to your cable? We don't support that.

Me: It's the SDV TA for getting the SDV Channels with my TIVO

Tech: Switch Digital?

Me: Yeah, I want to be able to watch my Russian Channels on my TIVO

Tech: We don't support that.

Me: With the TA you do.

Tech: We don't support this TA thing, where did you buy it?

Me: I got it at the Cablevision walk-in center.

Tech: Oh, what does it do exactly?

Me: Well, you are here to get it to work, so I guess if you dont know what it does....

Tech: I need to find someone who knows what this thing is, I will call you later. Where did you get this CISCO thing?

Stay Tuned....


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

Just wanted to confirm for everyone ..as previously posted, if you have a signal problem using the coax passthrough, just put a splitter on the line, one split goes to the TA, one to the tivo.

The splitter seems to have less attenuation than the TA introduces.

I hooked up both my TAs/tivos this way and i'm good to go.

I never even bothered trying to hook the 2nd one up through the pass-through because I had a spare coax port on my existing 4way splitter.


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## JZ1276 (Aug 21, 2008)

This is the exact reason I switched to FIOS. I switched over about 2 months ago before the tuning adapters were available and I'm glad I did seeing how some people are having problems with them. Cablevisions techs have no knowledge whatsoever. I recommend everyone dump Cablevision and switch over also.


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## Royster (May 24, 2002)

Why trade one abusive company for another? 

Actually, you're hearing from the people with problems. The people for whom it is working perfectly. like me, don't tend to post.


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

rivilis said:


> ... Me: Yeah, I want to be able to watch my Russian Channels on my TIVO
> 
> Tech: We don't support that.
> 
> Me: With the TA you do. ...


For some reason, I seem to recall reading that not all the programming packages were supported on Cablevision with the TA. I'll see if I can find the information - or come back and correct myself if I am mistaken - if someone doesn't correct me first


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## DCIFRTHS (Jan 6, 2000)

Royster said:


> Why trade one abusive company for another?
> 
> Actually, you're hearing from the people with problems. The people for whom it is working perfectly. like me, don't tend to post.


I have decided to drop Cablevision because I don't want three additional (full sized) boxes in my setup. If there is ever a Series 4 that can natively tune in SDV channels, I may switch back.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

rivilis said:


> Cablevision at its best :
> 
> Tech shows up at my house, looks at me at says:
> 
> Tech: What is that CISCO thing that is hooked up to your cable? We don't support that.....


The tech who came to my house knew about the TA. He was more upset that they didn't train them on what to do in the case where it isn't working correctly, other than to show them how to hook them up.


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

rivilis said:


> Cablevision at its best :
> 
> Tech shows up at my house, looks at me at says:
> 
> ...


Same thing happened to me yesterday, he had no idea what it was, even though the tuning adapter was the reason for the service call. He replaced some splitters, replaced some cables, but I still get intermittent restarts of the adapter. It happened again last night while Tivo was recording, but somehow the recording survived.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

hiwatt said:


> Same thing happened to me yesterday, he had no idea what it was, even though the tuning adapter was the reason for the service call. He replaced some splitters, replaced some cables, but* I still get intermittent restarts of the adapter. It happened again last night while Tivo was recording, but somehow the recording survived.*


I noticed when the adapter restarts, if I'm watching a show, it interrupts me, brings up the TA screen, and when I go back in to watch the show, it forgets where I was in the recording and starts it from the beginning


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## rivilis (Oct 19, 2007)

rivilis said:


> Cablevision at its best :
> 
> Tech shows up at my house, looks at me at says:
> 
> ...


The tech came back later on in the day with another tech. The new guy came over to the tv, pressed a few buttons, muttered something under his breath, and asked me if the TAs were called in to Cablevision.

I told him that when I called in to Cablevision, I was told that the TAs are allready on my account, and that I did not have to call them in. The tech smiled, picked up his phone, got someone on the other end, and told them that he needed to activate 3 TAs. He gave them the serial numbers, and told me that the people that I called have no clue on what's going on, and were to lazy to actually look it up.

5 minutes later everything was working fine, including my Russian channels. I can finally record them!!!

Let's see what can go wrong next


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

blacknoi said:


> I noticed when the adapter restarts, if I'm watching a show, it interrupts me, brings up the TA screen, and when I go back in to watch the show, it forgets where I was in the recording and starts it from the beginning


Usually that's what happens to me too, except last night at least 1 recording survived (I didn't check the other one). I lose the 30 minute buffer on both tuners, and both tuners end up on the same channel somehow.

I was watching a recording when it happened so I didn't get the TA screen this time. And since I had an unsuccessful service call yesterday, I'm not sure what to do next.


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## wireman121 (Nov 8, 2008)

Picked mine up a few days ago. I seem to be getting the random Tuning Adapter attached message from time to time. I've also had to restart the adapter from time to time (and the tivo too) to get the SDV channels to start working, otherwise I get a black screen.

I went to Piscataway to pick mine up, and I'm pretty sure I dealt with Pam too. She seemed pretty pissed I was there for a tuning adapter and couldnt understand why I drove from north jersey to get it.....I told her it doesnt matter since it clearly states on the website (which I brought a print-out of) that I can go to any Optimum Store to pick one up. After some bickering she finally gave it to me....

Anyway..I'm going to give it a few more days to see if it clears itself up, then I'll call CV and compliain it keeps rebooting.

Tivo should release firmware that will prevent the recording from stopping if a tuning adapter is found - since these things are probably gonna have a ton of problems and CV clearly wants nothing to do with them.

I found it odd that she repeated to me a few times that there is CURRENTLY no charge for the adapter...I guess they want to get them all out and then just start charging for them without notice?


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## Royster (May 24, 2002)

I'm really not having any issues with my TA.


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## johnner1999 (Oct 26, 2002)

one of mine two TA's started rebooting it seems as well. And I have it attached to the tivo with coax and mu sig is 95-100 on most channels - so I dont think that is my issue. 

I have noticed a bunch of heavy microblocking as well on the SDV channels which when I first got the TA was pretty good near DirecTV PQ. Maybe all of those new 30 HD channels are being tested and well even SDV line up is being doubled like the normal stuff :-( 


Might switch back to DirecTV - I just hate not having a TiVo


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## wireman121 (Nov 8, 2008)

I am noticing the microblocking a LOT on SDV channels too. Forgot to mention that. Seriously considering switching to fios.


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## dbenrosen (Sep 20, 2003)

I finally had enough Friday night/Saturday morning when one of the TAs wasn't working at all, even after turning it on and off and the other one was causing drops in quality on the S3 when watching Transformers (the movie). I ordered FiOS. Best of all, I can install Cablecards by myself.


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## JacksTiVo (Jan 7, 2006)

After reading some of the recent posts, I am even more convinced that my decision last May not to wait for the TA and to change from Cablevision to FiOS was the correct. They designed it to be as reliable as the plain old telephone service we expected from the "telephone company". All three services, telephone, Internet and TV are trouble free. I even have two free digital tuners one of which I use on my S2 to receive premium channels.

My only issue is that in Northern NJ FiOS TV does not carry MSNBC due to an exclusivity agreement with CV.


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## johnner1999 (Oct 26, 2002)

any one in the non Bronx area that just got the 8 new hd channels are they sdv? And how has quaility been, much microblocking? 

And has the tuning adapters been rebooting less? 

And does TiVo update 11c help?

Thanks for all of the questions


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## dturturro (Feb 1, 2002)

The channels appear in my guide but when I try tuning them it says that the Tuning Adapter doesn't receive them, call your cable co.


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## nicky612000 (May 16, 2008)

Just called customer service. They are in stock in Lynbrook and Freeport, none in Lindenhurst.


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## rcamille (Dec 24, 2002)

I am on Cablevision of Long Island.

Anyone find a permanent solution to the "Tuning Adapter Menu" popping up or the "unable to tune this channel at this time" error. 

Although it used to work, lately I have been unable to tune into any of the HBO's (except 750) and Starz channels (except for 740).

Anyone successfuly resolve both of these issues.


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

rcamille said:


> I am on Cablevision of Long Island.
> 
> Anyone find a permanent solution to the "Tuning Adapter Menu" popping up or the "unable to tune this channel at this time" error.
> 
> ...


rcamille:

The Tuning Adapter menu popping up is most likely the result of the TA rebooting or losing connectivity. The first TA I had did this several times a day, the worst part being that anything being recorded at the time was stopped. I swapped it out 10 days ago without issue since.

As for the "unable to tune this channel at this time" issue, it's been written that this is a network bandwidth problem - i.e not enough SDV slots for users requesting this, but has not been confirmed.


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## Dr_Zoidberg (Jan 4, 2004)

I got mine from the Piscataway office, on the 23rd. I have no idea if I dealt with Pam or not, but I was given the schpiel about how Cablevision may charge for the TAs in the future. Mine worked almost immediately, and I groused yet again about how they still don't have BBC America (the tech on the phone said he thinks they have an exclusive deal with Dish Network, which is BS, since I know people who have it and not Dish).

I have noticed more pixellation than usual, so I will probably try using a splitter. The first day or two the TA was blinking - I haven't noticed it, so maybe it's stopped. I also did have a feline-induced TiVo outage yesterday (one of 'em flipped the off switch of the power strip), so maybe it finished what it had to do, and it's done. I'll recheck it tonight.


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

rcamille said:


> I am on Cablevision of Long Island.
> 
> Anyone find a permanent solution to the "Tuning Adapter Menu" popping up or the "unable to tune this channel at this time" error.


My 'solution' to the menu popping up is that I keep the USB unplugged whenever I have recordings scheduled on a non-SDV channel, which essentially means its always unplugged and therefore the adapter is mostly useless.

I'm going to call Cablevision yet again on this issue but I'm not really expecting much.


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## Lrscpa (Apr 20, 2003)

hiwatt said:


> My 'solution' to the menu popping up is that I keep the USB unplugged whenever I have recordings scheduled on a non-SDV channel, which essentially means its always unplugged and therefore the adapter is mostly useless.
> 
> I'm going to call Cablevision yet again on this issue but I'm not really expecting much.


I had the same issue, and after trying a whole host of things, I finally swapped the Tuning Adapter. That was almost two weeks ago, and the new one has worked fine ever since.

What I've gathered from reading this and other TA threads is that the TA seems to attenuate the signal to the Tivo. I tried something posted elsewhere and while not sanctioned by Cablevision, it does seem to be working.

The normal hookup is cable from wall to TA, then TA to TiVo. Instead, I split the wall signal, with one cable to the TA, and the other to the TiVo. The USB between the TA and the TiVo needs to be connected. The attenuation from the splitter appears to be less than the TA, as the signal levels on the TiVo ran from 39-65 going through the TA, as opposed to 48-100 when splitting the signal.


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## hiwatt (Feb 6, 2005)

Lrscpa said:


> I had the same issue, and after trying a whole host of things, I finally swapped the Tuning Adapter. That was almost two weeks ago, and the new one has worked fine ever since.


I guess I'll give exchanging it a try. but since have 2 of them, and both have the same problem regardless of which Tivo they're on, I don't know how likely it is that both tuning adapters are bad. Still, it's worth a shot.


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## danschn (Apr 22, 2004)

I'm in Westchester County, NY and I've had a single Tuning Adaptor attached for about 2 weeks. After a slow worrisome installation it has worked fine. Initially I was getting some of the SDV channels to report "Channel Unavailable" but that has gone away.

The significant lasting problem though is a general loss of signal quality. I rely on TiVo to report that, although I've seldom checked. WHen I had the cable directly into the TiVo, I was consistently in the low 80s to low 90s. Now with the Tuning Adaptor wired in serial, most stations are in the low 60s to the low 80s. Several channels take an extra pause or two before tuning in, and they can be as low as the low 40s! And during each weekend, I've checked out CBS HD (702) for golf, and it would never tune in during the day, and 707 (ABC HD) shows all kinds of pixelation. Thankfully, this condition doesn't persist, but it does seem that the tuning adaptor is not faithfully passing through the signal strength it receives.


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## urwathrtz (Jan 18, 2008)

OK so I got mine back on 4/8 and, it looks like it pooped the bed. I was getting the set up your tuner adapter screen quite regularly and now it won't even act as a pass thru. Ehh, I'll take it back next time I'm in the area. It's disconnected now.


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## Dr_Zoidberg (Jan 4, 2004)

Interesting development - the TA seemed to have died. The light was blinking, and the diagnostics showed it wasn't connected, even though it was. I called up Cablevision, and they had me run through diagnostics, and even had me swap USB ports. I unplugged the TiVo network adapter, and moved the TA's connection to that port. It still didn't work, so they scheduled a service call. After I hung up, I rebooted the TiVo, and the system recognized the TA. 

Then, I tried to reconnect the network adapter in the original USB port, but it didn't power on. Looks like the USB port the TA was plugged in to seems to have died - the network adapter works if I plug it into my other TiVo. I guess I'll try power cycling the TiVo next. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to call TiVo.


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