# Edge w/Spectrum No Premium Channels, Multiple TA Swaps and Site Visits



## chrison600

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted or visited here. I'm a long term TiVo user, dating back to the early 2000's when DirecTV used TiVo equipment. I've since dropped DirecTV and have been on Time Warner > Spectrum for about the past 10 years, but have maintained a TiVo environment.

A couple of months ago I migrated from a Roamio Pro (upgraded by Weaknees) as my primary TiVo unit to an off the shelf Edge. I do not know when, but at some point the "premium" channels stopped working. I noticed about 6 weeks ago and since then have had a rotating support effort going with Spectrum. Multiple tuning adapter changes, multiple site visits, changed from a "grandfathered" Time Warner subscription to a current Spectrum bundle, etc. So far the premium channels have not been able to be restored.

I was just about to start looking into whether this Edge is faulty but after visiting TiVo Community again, I see I am not alone. I've read through a few of the posts regarding issues with Spectrum connections and would like to see if I can get some help here...

Basic environment:

* 1 x TiVo Edge, 1 x TiVo Lux, 2 x TiVo Minis (The Lux replaced a failing Mini)
* All networked via CAT6 across a Gigabit switch connected via Spectrum Internet on my own modem, download speeds of about 400 Mbps
* Main drop into the house is connected to an Antronix VRA901 amplified splitter
* The connection to the Edge/TA has been tried both through a passive two-way splitter and via both directly connected to the amp (Currently via the passive after a phone tech instructed the on-site tech to do so)

I've tried multiple different disconnect/reboot combinations. Cold boot/power disconnect both, various restarts and reconnects, etc. No improvement.

This is the third TA sent to the house and I currently have my 5th (?) site visit scheduled.

No tech can determine/locate a signal issue. I seem to be in a perpetual loop of the site tech determining a TA issue and the TA/phone tech determining a site visit is needed. Round and round and round again.

Right now the TA diagnostics say:

Tuner: -4
FDC: 4
RDC: 38

Is there anything else I can offer as far as information?

Can anyone help me?

Chris


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## chrison600

Update: Site visit #5 resulted in the tech suggesting another (4th) tuning adapter. I'm now scheduled for site visit #6 later today, supposedly with the tech team bringing another TA along with a cable card (which I had to remind the phone agent to have them bring). I do not have high hopes.

One additional piece of possible diagnostic information:

With the tuning adapter disabled, I can tune channel 511 (standard HBO). With the tuning adapter enabled, 511 will not tune. None of the other premium channels tune in either condition.


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## cannonz

Unfortunately I have no idea what it could be, but on more info your location might help (maybe someone on same system had or has same problem).


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## chrison600

Austin, Texas area.


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## cwoody222

The hardware is not broken.

Stop letting them get away with delaying by saying the TA is busted.

Demand a supervisor who knows what the heck he’s doing and don’t let them leave until it’s fixed.


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## cannonz

I assume they hooked up one of their boxes and it worked properly.


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## chrison600

cannonz said:


> I assume they hooked up one of their boxes and it worked properly.


Negative. But that's an interesting idea. We used to have a Spectrum DVR out here. Had it because I was researching playback quality issues between TiVo, Spectrum DVR, and Blu-Ray. Pretty bad pixelation on playback from TiVo. Spectrum DVR did not show any discernible difference. Blu-Ray was fine. Sent the DVR back a few months ago. I assume it's compression issues on the inbound from Spectrum.


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## chrison600

Tech visit #6 was rescheduled for today. According to the tech who was scheduled for yesterday's visit, the only way they can bring a new Cable Card/Tuning Adapter to a site is if they pick it up first thing in the morning, so the visit from yesterday was rescheduled for today (4pm local). The tech from today did not bring a CC or TA. According to that tech, techs are not allowed to carry CC/TA equipment because it is considered the property/possession of the subscriber. In other words, according to the tech today, the tech from yesterday was telling a fib.

That tech just left after determining that all signals and connections were ok.

I'm now to call to request a new CC and TA to be shipped to me...

The saga continues.


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## chrison600

One more interesting thing:

Sometime within the past +/- 24 hours, the TiVo channel selection popup and the TiVo error messages started including the Grande Communications logos, and the error messages now prompt the reader to contact Grande rather than the generic "service provider."

I have never spoken with anyone from Grande Communications and this home has never had any services or equipment provided by Grande.

Might this mean that the serial number of the Cable Card and/or Tuning Adapter that is/are currently active are somehow registered with a range used by Grande?


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## jmbach

What are the lights on the TA doing. 

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


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## mdavej

Everybody is seeing the Grande message now. It’s a bug and unrelated to your issue. 99.9% chance your card isn’t actually paired or TA is disable on cable company end.


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## chrison600

jmbach said:


> What are the lights on the TA doing.


Solid.


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## chrison600

Update:

The package from Spectrum containing the "new" Tuning Adapter along with the DVR and Cable Card arrived today. I spent about an hour on the phone with tech support regarding how they wanted me to implement/verify the new equipment. That tech told me (as others have also) that the Cable Card is irrelevant to the issue of not being able to tune "premium" channels. According to the tech if the Cable Card is bad or not properly paired, nothing will tune. Regardless, we verified the pairing of the current/existing Cable Card. It is correct.

We are now on Tuning Adapter #4. Let's call the TA's #1, #2, #3, and #4. The old TA #1 has been returned to Spectrum (weeks ago). We discovered that the serial number for TA #3 was not associated with my account. It was still showing the serial number for TA #2. We tried removing TA #3 and going back to TA #2. No joy. No change. We then tried changing to TA #4 (the unit that arrived today). No joy. No change. That TA is currently flashing a pattern 8.

We then confirmed that I was able to receive premium channels via the SpectrumTV app, which is loaded on an AppleTV connected to the same media hub/room as the TiVo Edge.

At that point, the phone tech punted back to scheduling an on site. I am now scheduled for on site visit #7, next Tuesday.

I now have three TA's in house, TA #4 is connected, flashing pattern 8. I also have a Spectrum DVR and Cable Card (both still in the package).

At this point, this is becoming a joke. I'm no longer frustrated really. Just laughing at it all. When the on site tech was here last Saturday (Mar 13) he phoned in specifically to verify that the serial number for TA #3 was associated with my account. Obviously that was not done, as the S/N for TA #2 was still on my account today.

TA #2 does not seem to connect/stabilize at all. It remains flashing even after being connected for days.
TA #3 would go to solid, but not change the tuning issues.
TA #4 will not go solid, but is currently flashing a pattern 8. No change to the tuning issues.

(Is it just me, or do other people hear Niska from Firefly saying "Not so solid" everytime you use the word "solid?")


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## jmbach

chrison600 said:


> Update:
> 
> The package from Spectrum containing the "new" Tuning Adapter along with the DVR and Cable Card arrived today. I spent about an hour on the phone with tech support regarding how they wanted me to implement/verify the new equipment. That tech told me (as others have also) that the Cable Card is irrelevant to the issue of not being able to tune "premium" channels. According to the tech if the Cable Card is bad or not properly paired, nothing will tune. Regardless, we verified the pairing of the current/existing Cable Card. It is correct.
> 
> We are now on Tuning Adapter #4. Let's call the TA's #1, #2, #3, and #4. The old TA #1 has been returned to Spectrum (weeks ago). We discovered that the serial number for TA #3 was not associated with my account. It was still showing the serial number for TA #2. We tried removing TA #3 and going back to TA #2. No joy. No change. We then tried changing to TA #4 (the unit that arrived today). No joy. No change. That TA is currently flashing a pattern 8.
> 
> We then confirmed that I was able to receive premium channels via the SpectrumTV app, which is loaded on an AppleTV connected to the same media hub/room as the TiVo Edge.
> 
> At that point, the phone tech punted back to scheduling an on site. I am now scheduled for on site visit #7, next Tuesday.
> 
> I now have three TA's in house, TA #4 is connected, flashing pattern 8. I also have a Spectrum DVR and Cable Card (both still in the package).
> 
> At this point, this is becoming a joke. I'm no longer frustrated really. Just laughing at it all. When the on site tech was here last Saturday (Mar 13) he phoned in specifically to verify that the serial number for TA #3 was associated with my account. Obviously that was not done, as the S/N for TA #2 was still on my account today.
> 
> TA #2 does not seem to connect/stabilize at all. It remains flashing even after being connected for days.
> TA #3 would go to solid, but not change the tuning issues.
> TA #4 will not go solid, but is currently flashing a pattern 8. No change to the tuning issues.
> 
> (Is it just me, or do other people hear Niska from Firefly saying "Not so solid" everytime you use the word "solid?")


Which cableCARD/TA combination do you have. Motorola or Cisco/Scientific Atlantic?

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


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## chrison600

jmbach said:


> Which cableCARD/TA combination do you have. Motorola or Cisco/Scientific Atlantic?


Cisco/SA


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## mdavej

8 blinks is "service disconnect" or "brick" mode. Steady is "ready".

I've had about a dozen TAs in my life, and every failure was due to a setting on the cable company's end. I've never had a bad one and doubt that any of yours are bad either. You just haven't found the right person on the other end of the phone who understands how cable cards and tuning adapters work.


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## mattyro7878

Honestly they are thinking "if we just keep lying to the guy he will rent our box and thats that." Also...you need to get angry. BBB, local state or federal representative, FCC, you name it. You have been patient and polite but this needs to be solved today. You know somebody eating a ham and cheese sandwich in some headend somewhere could fix this in under a minute. Good Luck!!


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## chrison600

Update:

Site visit #7 on Tuesday Mar 23 resulted in no change except for the tech was able to get TA #3 to lock. That did not change the channel availability. After about two hours I was told that another site visit would need to be scheduled, during which that on site tech would coordinate via phone with a remote tech who would work as a team to try to discover if there was something remote that needed to be changed. In order to facilitate that appointment, I was told that the on site needed to be scheduled to begin in the 2-3pm time slot because the remote tech came on shift at 2:30. That is a difficult time slot for me because I provide transportation at 3pm and 6pm for an office visit. Each trip is about one hour. We scheduled for Thursday Mar 25 in the 2-3 time slot, which I had to change to Friday Mar 26 - yesterday.

Site visit #8 (yesterday) resulted in no change. The tech was nice and courteous, and apparently from a higher tier level of support, but had no background on the situation other than there had been previous site visits. When I inquired as to whether there was to be any coordination with a remote tech, there was no awareness of that commitment.

This tech did some in house checks, then ran dedicated wiring from the tap to an in-truck tuner, then a dedicated wire run from the conection at the wall of the house to the same in-truck tuner and was able to tune premium channels that way. He then ran that dedicated wire from the outside of the house into the media room to the Edit: passive {amplified} splitter in order to bypass the interior wiring in the house. No change.

We then made the changes necessary to revert back to the old Roamio as the primary TiVo (switching coax connections, USB from TA, cable card re-pair). The Roamio also could not tune premium channels.

We reverted back to the new Edge and the site tech did some looking into TA diagnostics. He relayed to the phone tech that the TA was not getting an IP. The phone tech then advised to get yet another CC and TA. The site tech forcefully asked the phone tech if this was typical to cycle through so many TA's trying to get one to work and was told yes.

Last night I phoned in to order another CC and TA and was told by the phone tech that seeing as how I was looking at three TA's, one of which was active and locked, it was not the TA. We did the typical reboots, moving the USB cable to a different TiVo port, etc. No change. That same phone tech then placed an order for me for another CC and TA, but also advised me to seek technical support from TiVo. It was her opinion that there was a TiVo issue, not a Spectrum issue.

Seeing as how we have an Edge and a Roamio that will not tune premium channels, I find that difficult to believe, but here I am anyway, looking for support from the TiVo community...

Ideas?


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## jmbach

chrison600 said:


> ...This tech did some in house checks, then ran dedicated wiring from the tap to an in-truck tuner, then a dedicated wire run from the conection at the wall of the house to the same in-truck tuner and was able to tune premium channels that way. He then ran that dedicated wire from the outside of the house into the media room to the amplified splitter in order to bypass the interior wiring in the house. No change....


Does this mean that it worked or did not work. If it did not work, could it be your amplified splitter causing the problem.


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## chrison600

jmbach said:


> Does this mean that it worked or did not work. If it did not work, could it be your amplified splitter causing the problem.


My apologies. The bypass wire was run to the passive 2-way, not the amplifier. I have corrected the post.


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## jmbach

chrison600 said:


> My apologies. The bypass wire was run to the passive 2-way, not the amplifier. I have corrected the post.


Not a problem. When you say "No change" are you saying that it does not work with a dedicated wire from the tap to the splitter to the TA/TiVo?


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## chrison600

jmbach said:


> Not a problem. When you say "No change" are you saying that it does not work with a dedicated wire from the tap to the splitter to the TA/TiVo?


That is correct. The tech had a DVR in his truck and was able to tune premium channels when connected to the dedicated wire, but when he disconnected that wire from his in-truck DVR and connected it to the passive splitter inside the house, there were no premium channels tuning.

(Apologies for the delay in response. I did not notice that we had added Page 2.)

I had another lengthy call with a good tech agent yesterday and we discovered that the Edge behaves erratically when disconnected then reconnected to the TA. If you disconnect the USB cable such that the Edge communicates that the TA is not connected, it will tune HBO1 (Spectrum channel 511). If you reconnect the USB cable and wait for the Edge to recognize the TA, 511 will disappear - also - the Edge throws a message saying that although the Edge is equipped with 6 tuners, the TA does not support that many so tuning will be affected. After that, as you toggle channels up and down, inside the guide or not, the Edge will produce/transmit the TiVo remote button press sound, but nothing happens immediately on screen (the channels do not toggle nor does the highlight move in the guide). After a few moments the guide may change, or the channel will change 1 or more channels up or down. It's almost like the Edge is struggling to process how to interact with the TA/tuner combination and is having difficulty reflecting user commands through to the channel selections/screen.

Eventually all of this behavior calms down and you get an immediate GUI reaction to a remote control input, but still no premium channels will tune.

The phone tech suspected that maybe there is a firmware/software issue between the Edge and TA.

My next step is to call TiVo Support again.


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## jmbach

Maybe try another passive splitter?

I assume that one leg of the passive splitter goes to the Edge and the other to the TA. Is that correct?

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


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## chrison600

jmbach said:


> Maybe try another passive splitter?
> 
> I assume that one leg of the passive splitter goes to the Edge and the other to the TA. Is that correct?


The passive has been changed twice. And you are correct. One leg to the Edge and the other to the TA. The cables have also been changed twice.


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## jmbach

chrison600 said:


> The passive has been changed twice. And you are correct. One leg to the Edge and the other to the TA. The cables have also been changed twice.


I have seen the issue of number of tuners supported with Motorola T/As and cableCARDs that if you do not power down the whole system (TiVo and T/A) and start the TiVo first followed by the T/A. (You don't have to wait for the TiVo to boot up prior to powering on the T/A)

If you are not using MoCa with the Edge, try connecting cable to T/A and T/A to edge.

Although it should not matter, connect the USB from the T/A to the top USB port on the Edge.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


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## chrison600

Update:

Last night two technicians were dispatched to the house, basically two supervisors, one who had gone back out into the field and one who is a current acting super. They spent about 4 hours out here doing a range of tests and interacting with a remote support agent/engineer to help with TA issues, CC assignment, etc. They did discover that a part of the TA (DOCSIS) was not properly activated and corrected that, however, nothing changed in the behavior of the Edge. We did the guided setup again after the TA change was made and it did not affect the tuning behavior of the Edge.

During the Spectrum visit, I phoned in to TiVo support and basically was walked through the standard support script: "Have you tried three Cable Cards?"; "Well, we need to get you a replacement Edge."; Etc. When I explained that I had a replacement Edge already in-house, and I had two techicians, and we collectively had 5 Cable Cards in the house, as well as an on-phone engineer able to interactively swap HOST ID's, the TiVo support recommendation was to swap into the new Edge - but - they did not want to stay on the call during the swap because it was 6pm Pacific.

We tried swapping over to that *new* unit, swapping the currently in use CC from the *old* Edge to the *new* Edge, and having the on-call remote engineer update the HOST ID interactively.

No change. Same error codes, same non-tuning of premium channels.

At that point, the on-site techs decided (and I agreed) that this was not a Spectrum issue, at least as what would be considered a standard or normal support issue. The equipment was ok. The signals were ok (actually superior according to their assessment). The remote office engineer was engaged and had exhausted the depth of his capabilities.

We believe this is likely an issue with something that the Edge "expects" to encounter in the signal from Spectrum that is not there or has been removed. The on site supervisor last night shared a story regarding the release of the Bolt that resulted in a shower of support calls to Spectrum after migrating to the Bolt. After much effort, Spectrum (and TiVo?) engineers discovered that a "TiVo boot signal" had been removed from the Spectrum feed, which meant the TiVo Bolt never received a trigger it expected in order to work properly. This signal was returned to the feed and the Bolts began to work.

We think this is possibly/probably a similar situation.

As such, can anyone provide contact information for a TiVo engineer so I can relay this situation? I have two contacts within Spectrum I can supply in order to make a multi-party connection. Maybe there is a solution in here somewhere...


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## chrison600

Update:

I *finally* got through to a supposed supervisor at TiVo Support who told me that the reason the Edge will not tune premium channels is because the channels are being sent via IPTV protocol rather than QAM. My understanding as a layman is that if a content provider changes from QAM to IPTV, that IPTV content is not able to be tuned by an Edge. My takeaway is that as providers are migrating to IPTV it effectively ends the utility of a third party set-top device (unless that device can decode IPTV content). According to the contact at TiVo, the Edge is not capable of tuning/working with IPTV content. He said there might or might not be a fix in the queue, he did not know.

Can anyone confirm that the change from QAM to IPTV is (can be) the issue?

[I am very close to saying farewell to TiVo. It's been a 20 year journey but if it takes this much work to stay with a TiVo infrastructure, it's not worth it. It should not be this difficult to remain loyal to a hardware brand.]


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## krkaufman

Have you tried some other CableCARD-capable device other than an EDGE? (Other TiVo DVR? SiliconDust Prime?)


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## chrison600

krkaufman said:


> Have you tried some other CableCARD-capable device other than an EDGE? (Other TiVo DVR? SiliconDust Prime?)


During one of the previous on-site visits, we reverted back to the Roamio. No change. And I know the Roamio was previously able to tune these premium channels. We used it for years, no issues.


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## krkaufman

chrison600 said:


> During one of the previous on-site visits, we reverted back to the Roamio. No change. And I know the Roamio was previously able to tune these premium channels. We used it for years, no issues.


Ok, right, so it's not an "EDGE" issue ... even if it's not a Spectrum issue (which I suspect it is).


chrison600 said:


> At that point, the on-site techs decided (and I agreed) that this was not a Spectrum issue, at least as what would be considered a standard or normal support issue. The equipment was ok. The signals were ok (actually superior according to their assessment). ...
> 
> We believe this is likely an issue with something that the Edge "expects" to encounter in the signal from Spectrum that is not there or has been removed.


What TiVo OS versions have you tried? All TE4 (the only OS supported by the EDGE models) or also TE3? TE3's been pretty stable (stagnant) for a while now.


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## krkaufman

chrison600 said:


> Can anyone confirm that the change from QAM to IPTV is (can be) the issue?


It *is* the issue in many cases for Comcast customers as some channels are being shifted to IP delivery, but I'd think that your Spectrum folk would be aware of how their channels are being delivered.


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## chrison600

krkaufman said:


> What TiVo OS versions have you tried? All TE4 (the only OS supported by the EDGE models) or also TE3? TE3's been pretty stable (stagnant) for a while now.


I'm not familiar with the terms TE3 and TE4, but I'll assume that TE3 was what the Roamio shipped with and TE4 is what the Edge ships with. If so, the Roamio is still on TE3 and the Edge is on TE4.


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## krkaufman

chrison600 said:


> I'm not familiar with the terms TE3 and TE4, but I'll assume that TE3 was what the Roamio shipped with and TE4 is what the Edge ships with. If so, the Roamio is still on TE3 and the Edge is on TE4.


You assume correctly. They're just nicknames for the software versions:

TE3 = 20.*
TE4 = 21.*

So, there's more than just a hardware difference between a box that works and the one that doesn't. Unfortunately, there's no way to test TE3 on an EDGE, and there's too many negatives* to updating the Roamio to TE4 to see if that replicates the EDGE's symptoms.

* Reverting to TE3 erases all content and settings, making testing TE4 on the Roamio prohibitive for most. It's possible you could swap drives in the Roamio and *then* upgrade to TE4, to test the functionality, and then swap back to the original drive after downgrading back to TE3. I'd confirm this capability with the experts before commiting to the path. (The same is definitely not possible for a BOLT.)


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## chrison600

Do you think I'm ok to return the second Edge? I have all of the return documentation. I'm just slightly hesitant in case it could be needed again for diagnostics, but I don't really know what further diagnostics could be done. I've basically received the answer that Spectrum is migrating content to IPTV and TiVo is not compatible with that protocol.


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## krkaufman

chrison600 said:


> I've basically received the answer that Spectrum is migrating content to IPTV and TiVo is not compatible with that protocol.


But didn't you receive that *assertion* from TiVo, not Spectrum?


chrison600 said:


> I *finally* got through to a supposed supervisor at TiVo Support who told me that the reason the Edge will not tune premium channels is because the channels are being sent via IPTV protocol rather than QAM.


Has anyone at Spectrum confirmed this statement? (Because TiVo Support struggles getting their own technology straight, so I'd put even less weight behind a TiVo assertion Re: another provider/service.)


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## krkaufman

FYI... V53 new TiVo Edge


Rose4uKY said:


> I know this is an old thread but here lately we keep getting error V53 on different channels. We had Spectrum come out cause the last guy changed the way our tuning adapter was hooked up and took some Mocha think we had hooked up in our utility room where our router and modem is. This was a over a year ago or longer when we upgraded from our Roamio Plus to the Bolt. We complained to Spectrum and they never did anything about it. A few weeks ago the guy redid our tuning adapter and we needed a new router due to another problem out cell phones kept saying connected but no internet on wifi. Things were good for a week and now every so often channels will say error 53 randomly and I think it's different ones. Spectrum said he was going to do something and shoot some signals to the cable cards and reset the network I think. He said to reboot the Tivo Box and Tuning Adapter and let him know if it still happens and he will send someone out again. It's really irritating my husband and I am just curious if people ever got this fixed.


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## mdavej

chrison600 said:


> Do you think I'm ok to return the second Edge? I have all of the return documentation. I'm just slightly hesitant in case it could be needed again for diagnostics, but I don't really know what further diagnostics could be done. I've basically received the answer that Spectrum is migrating content to IPTV and TiVo is not compatible with that protocol.





krkaufman said:


> But didn't you receive that *assertion* from TiVo, not Spectrum?
> ​Has anyone at Spectrum confirmed this statement? (Because TiVo Support struggles getting their own technology straight, so I'd put even less weight behind a TiVo assertion Re: another provider/service.)


Exactly. There's no evidence ANYWHERE that Spectrum has switched anything from QAM to IPTV. This is simply more stories made up by Tivo to get you off their back.


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## krkaufman

krkaufman said:


> So, there's more than just a hardware difference between a box that works and the one that doesn't.


Rewinding a bit, I see that my understanding was wrong and neither your TE3/20.* Roamio or TE4/21.* EDGE are working. Correct?


chrison600 said:


> During one of the previous on-site visits, we reverted back to the Roamio. No change.


Not sure how my epiphany changes anything, of course.


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## krkaufman

From a /r/TiVo thread on Spectrum...


> They killed all CC's in our area a while back accidently when they were trying to disable their older cable boxes that also used a CC. When they turned them back on, the tuning adapters wouldn't sync back up so it killed all the SDV channels. It took them 3 months to get it back working.




__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tivo/comments/mvx6dk/comment/gvfl1rz
​Also...


> Do not let your Charter Spectrum subscription lapse.
> Due to changes to US FCC regulations upending the requirement to provide a CableCard, anyone that has a CableCard for their TiVo is considered grandfathered in. If you cancel or suspend your service, you will not get your CableCard reactivated, as they are no longer required to provide a CableCard by law.




__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tivo/comments/mvx6dk
​


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## chrison600

krkaufman said:


> Rewinding a bit, I see that my understanding was wrong and neither your TE3/20.* Roamio or TE4/21.* EDGE are working. Correct?


Correct. Reverting back to the known good Roamio did not recover the lost channels.


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## chrison600

krkaufman said:


> From a /r/TiVo thread on Spectrum...
> 
> 
> 
> __
> https://www.reddit.com/r/Tivo/comments/mvx6dk/comment/gvfl1rz
> ​Also...
> 
> 
> 
> __
> https://www.reddit.com/r/Tivo/comments/mvx6dk
> ​


I may join in on that conversation on Reddit.

As for the second quote regarding the provision of CC's, I'll have to disagree with it. Although it is my understanding that Charter/Spectrum are no longer required to provide CC's or TA's, they still will, even if you migrate to a current (non-grandfathered) subscription. The change that has happened as far as I've experienced is that Charter/Spectrum provisions CC's and TA's as customer devices, not company devices. As such, it is my responsibility to obtain and manage them (and pay for them). I have had no difficulty getting Spectrum to support them as far as assignment, activation, exchanges, etc.


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## mattyro7878

It cant be this difficult to determine which Spectrum channels are IP and which are not. Those two supervisors should have known. Shame! (ding!)


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## mdavej

mattyro7878 said:


> It cant be this difficult to determine which Spectrum channels are IP and which are not. Those two supervisors should have known. Shame! (ding!)


Here's the complete list of Spectrum IPTV channels:

.


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## chrison600

mdavej said:


> Here's the complete list of Spectrum IPTV channels:


So the TiVo "supervisor" I spoke with was full of it?


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## krkaufman

chrison600 said:


> So the TiVo "supervisor" I spoke with was full of it?


Answered.


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## bodosom

chrison600 said:


> I may join in on that conversation on Reddit.
> 
> The change that has happened as far as I've experienced is that Charter/Spectrum provisions CC's and TA's as customer devices, not company devices.


If my TAs are "mine" then the $130 charge per unit if I fail to return them to Spectrum seems outrageous.

In any case I've had a couple of bizarre issues:
1) One TiVo would tune HBO the other wouldn't. Three calls to CableCard support fixed that.
2) One Tivo would get HD on channel N the other wouldn't. This was after a Spectrum channel clean-up. Initially neither would tune HD but they fixed one. Sadly they gave up on the other and insisted that the problem was in my house and required a truck-roll. Since it wasn't an internal wiring issue I declined. About a week later I thought to try the explicit HD version of the channel (120N) and that worked.

If they had come to my house they might have spent weeks trying to fix a problem that was ultimately due to their error. Since the issue was resolved I took satisfaction in that and moved on.

Configuring a CableCard seems wildly fiddly and you're completely dependent on the skill of person at the other end of the line and once CC support decides the problem is at your end that's it, you're doomed (unless there really is a problem at your end).


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## chrison600

Update:

On a *whim* yesterday I decided to get back into this project and approached it in two stages. Stage 1 was to call Spectrum to get an inventory of what they showed here in the house and determine what they showed as activated. Stage 2 was to implement the new Edge and call Spectrum to get the CC and TA re-paired with that new Edge.

The Stage 1 call was a bit contentious because the phone agent wanted me to tell her the Host ID or serial number of the TiVo so she could tell me what was paired. I explicitly told her that was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to not provide that information in order to discover what Spectrum showed on my account in my possession and further what of that was paired. After a bit of maneuvering, I was able to get her to disclose that information. Ultimately, everything I have here at the house was confirmed as shown on my account with Spectrum and the CC and TA that were paired were the two I expected to be paired.

My total Spectrum inventory here at the house is 3 Cable Cards, 4 Tuning Adapters, 1 Spectrum DVR.

My total TiVo inventory here at the house is 2 Edge, 1 Roamio, 1 Mini Lux, 2 Mini.

After the phone call for Stage 1 I did a full factory reset of Edge 1 (the original Edge I purchased) just to see if anything would change, which it did not. I then pulled Edge 1 and implemented Edge 2 without a CC or TA attached. I then called Spectrum so they could walk along with me regarding the CC and TA.

Interestingly, the phone agent at Spectrum wanted me to connect the TA in series with the Edge, not via a passive 2-way, so I rewired the Edge as such (Spectrum amp > TA > Edge). We went through the process of installing the CC, retrieving the Host ID, pairing the CC, pairing the TA, etc. Ultimately, nothing changed. Standard channels would tune, premium channels would not. So she scheduled a truck roll. To Spectrum's credit, the truck actually showed up before the phone call was closed. Apparently there was a tech in the area and he just happened to be able to be assigned. Very cool.

The tech was understanding and went through the process of coming inside even though neither of us thought anything in the house was at issue. On a whim he rewired the TA and Edge such that currently both are connected directly to the Spectrum amp. Since there was still no change to the tuning, he ran some diagnostics outside at the pole where the tap is. He told me he discovered some signal issues and phoned in for maintenance.

Maintenance showed up last night around 10pm. They worked out at the street for a bit, then walked up onto the lot. I told them they were welcome to bring the truck on to the lot, which they did. They worked up on the pole here on the lot for a bit, then left. After they left, I checked the behavior of the Edge and it did not change. Standard channels will tune. Premiums will not.

I phoned Support this morning and scheduled another site visit, requesting the same tech as was here yesterday. I should have asked him directly for his phone number but I'm not sure that would have made any difference.

What I'm trying to do now is see if the signal issues have been resolved or not. There is no certainty that those signal issues would have impacted the premium channels, but at least I can find out if they were indeed resolved.

That visit is currently scheduled for next Thursday.


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## Ocresident

You certainly have a lot of patience to do this troubleshooting. I was thinking about picking up another Edge during the sale but after reading through your thread I think I’m going to hold off. I have FIOS so I haven’t had the problems you are experiencing but I’ve had similar issues with cable card pairing and lack of expertise on the cable company side. I’ve also replaced my Edge three times now due to hardware failure.


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## chrison600

Ocresident said:


> I've also replaced my Edge three times now due to hardware failure.


What was your symptom regarding the Edge replacements?


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## jmbach

chrison600 said:


> ....I had another lengthy call with a good tech agent yesterday and we discovered that the Edge behaves erratically when disconnected then reconnected to the TA. If you disconnect the USB cable such that the Edge communicates that the TA is not connected, it will tune HBO1 (Spectrum channel 511). If you reconnect the USB cable and wait for the Edge to recognize the TA, 511 will disappear - also - the Edge throws a message saying that although the Edge is equipped with 6 tuners, the TA does not support that many so tuning will be affected. After that, as you toggle channels up and down, inside the guide or not, the Edge will produce/transmit the TiVo remote button press sound, but nothing happens immediately on screen (the channels do not toggle nor does the highlight move in the guide). After a few moments the guide may change, or the channel will change 1 or more channels up or down. It's almost like the Edge is struggling to process how to interact with the TA/tuner combination and is having difficulty reflecting user commands through to the channel selections/screen.
> 
> Eventually all of this behavior calms down and you get an immediate GUI reaction to a remote control input, but still no premium channels will tune....


I wonder if they are sending you a bad channel map to the TA. If it connects to HBO without the TA connected but with it connected it does not, the TA may be mapping HBO to a nonexistent channel.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


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## chrison600

Update: RESOLVED

Before I detail the resolution I would like to express my appreciation for the support team from Spectrum. Sure they have their hiccups, but my support experience overall has been excellent. Yes, it took a while to figure this out, but with the understanding that TiVo is a minor percentage of Spectrum's user base, the effort leveraged into solving this issue was substantial, perhaps bordering on extraordinary. The technician from yesterday (Enrique) and his supervisor were superb.

Now for the resolution...

If you recall, last week following a lengthy phone call during which I was implementing a new Edge and having Spectrum pair the CC and TA, a truck arrived for an on site. That technician was also good and courteous and discovered some possible issues with the signal diagnosed at the tap. A maintenance visit was requested and maintenance showed that night. I scheduled a follow up visit on site primarily to check to see if that maintenance visit had resolved whatever issue the tech had found.

Two people showed yesterday morning, a tech and a super. The super had apparently looked over the support records and had an awareness of how much effort had been expended here. We spent a few minutes sharing thoughts and stories and they began outside diagnostics. They found some noise issues with another Spectrum subscriber in my neighborhood but that was not presumed to be the issue for me, so we came inside. As had been the case, the inside checked out ok with the exception of some signal level issues, which were addressed, but again were not presumed to be the cause of my issues. After consulting with a remote tech, they determined that the CC and TA were provisioned correctly, but upon looking at the TA diagnostics available on the Edge, they found that no IP was being assigned. (This had been previously discovered Mar 26 but the resolution was to replace the TA). Since I had four TA's total here on site, they tried several and found that none were being assigned an IP.

The super wanted to take one of my TA's to a different service node to see if it would be assigned an IP, but he needed a GUI to be able to see the diagnostics screen. I volunteered my Edge as a test unit to be taken out with the TA. Across lunch, they took my equipment (Edge, TA, CC, wiring, power supplies, etc) to an adjacent service node. Upon connection to that node, the TA received an IP and the tuners worked correctly. At that point it was apparent that there was an infrastructure issue on my node.

The tech returned, reinstalled all of my equipment and the super worked to call maintenance to locate and repair the issue on the node.

This morning I received a call from an area manager asking me to reboot my TA and Edge and to check behavior. I did so, and found that premium channels tuned fine and found that the TA was being assigned an IP address. Whatever maintenance did repaired the node and resolved the tuning issues with my equipment.

Currently all is well.

My opinion from a TiVo user perspective is if you have tuning issues or missing channel issues, go to TA diagnostics and check for an IP assignment. If none, relay that specifically to Spectrum and suggest that the TA is most likely fine, but there is likely an issue on the node. Of course I arrive at that opinion only after having gone through all of this diagnostic effort. Maybe my experience will help others.


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## deepthinker

chrison600 said:


> Update: RESOLVED
> 
> Before I detail the resolution I would like to express my appreciation for the support team from Spectrum. Sure they have their hiccups, but my support experience overall has been excellent. Yes, it took a while to figure this out, but with the understanding that TiVo is a minor percentage of Spectrum's user base, the effort leveraged into solving this issue was substantial, perhaps bordering on extraordinary. The technician from yesterday (Enrique) and his supervisor were superb.
> 
> Now for the resolution...
> 
> If you recall, last week following a lengthy phone call during which I was implementing a new Edge and having Spectrum pair the CC and TA, a truck arrived for an on site. That technician was also good and courteous and discovered some possible issues with the signal diagnosed at the tap. A maintenance visit was requested and maintenance showed that night. I scheduled a follow up visit on site primarily to check to see if that maintenance visit had resolved whatever issue the tech had found.
> 
> Two people showed yesterday morning, a tech and a super. The super had apparently looked over the support records and had an awareness of how much effort had been expended here. We spent a few minutes sharing thoughts and stories and they began outside diagnostics. They found some noise issues with another Spectrum subscriber in my neighborhood but that was not presumed to be the issue for me, so we came inside. As had been the case, the inside checked out ok with the exception of some signal level issues, which were addressed, but again were not presumed to be the cause of my issues. After consulting with a remote tech, they determined that the CC and TA were provisioned correctly, but upon looking at the TA diagnostics available on the Edge, they found that no IP was being assigned. (This had been previously discovered Mar 26 but the resolution was to replace the TA). Since I had four TA's total here on site, they tried several and found that none were being assigned an IP.
> 
> The super wanted to take one of my TA's to a different service node to see if it would be assigned an IP, but he needed a GUI to be able to see the diagnostics screen. I volunteered my Edge as a test unit to be taken out with the TA. Across lunch, they took my equipment (Edge, TA, CC, wiring, power supplies, etc) to an adjacent service node. Upon connection to that node, the TA received an IP and the tuners worked correctly. At that point it was apparent that there was an infrastructure issue on my node.
> 
> The tech returned, reinstalled all of my equipment and the super worked to call maintenance to locate and repair the issue on the node.
> 
> This morning I received a call from an area manager asking me to reboot my TA and Edge and to check behavior. I did so, and found that premium channels tuned fine and found that the TA was being assigned an IP address. Whatever maintenance did repaired the node and resolved the tuning issues with my equipment.
> 
> Currently all is well.
> 
> My opinion from a TiVo user perspective is if you have tuning issues or missing channel issues, go to TA diagnostics and check for an IP assignment. If none, relay that specifically to Spectrum and suggest that the TA is most likely fine, but there is likely an issue on the node. Of course I arrive at that opinion only after having gone through all of this diagnostic effort. Maybe my experience will help others.


Thanks for sharing your entire experience. I've been contemplating switching to Spectrum here in DFW from Frontier FiOS (formerly Verizon FiOS, now newly branded Frontier FiberOptic) for TV ever since they dropped the Fox Sports Regionals (now Bally Sports) channels and Frontier appears to have all but given up on TV service. My Dallas Stars didn't make the playoffs, but I'm thinking of next season, and the only option to get my regional sports channel this fall to see those games is either Spectrum or streaming only AT&T TV service for the moment. The latter is way too pricey for TV alone "streaming only" with limited/very conditional storage space cloud DVR, just to get Bally Sports Southwest back and I'd still have to pay even more to them or someone else for Internet and lose the loss of our TiVo's.

I know TiVo is dying on the vine, but I and more so the wife, don't want to give up our hard drive upgraded Roamio and Cable Only Edge units, latter bought in the last year, until absolutely necessary. Your first post and those until this last scared the crap out of me and made me think for sure our TiVo's were doomed and Charter Spectrum wouldn't even be an option for keeping our TiVo's. So, I'm really glad to hear this has worked out for you and the Edge is working for all premiums using a CableCard. Thanks for sticking with it!!!!! Guess my best bet before calling Charter Spectrum would be to find/call a local office and see if they even have any CableCards and TA's on hand, if needed, before calling a clueless phone rep for the initial ordering/install. I just hope I don't have to go through everything you did to get everything working properly.


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## chrison600

deepthinker said:


> Guess my best bet before calling Charter Spectrum would be to find/call a local office and see if they even have any CableCards and TA's on hand, if needed, before calling a clueless phone rep for the initial ordering/install.


I believe all of my CC's and TA's were shipped from a regional depot, possibly in the DFW area. I believe you *can* pick them up from a local office, but my recommendation would be to call Spectrum and have them ship you a CC and TA self installation kit. Of course, I'm sure they won't do that until you are a subscriber, but the call to subscribe could be the same call during which you request the self install kit.


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## BrooklynGirl

I had problems with the premium channels not working. Roobting didn’t fix it. Then randomly started working and now not working again. I haven’t even bothered with spectrum(it such a headache dealing with them) and I just use the apps to watch the HBO/STARZ/showtime.


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## deepthinker

chrison600 said:


> Update: RESOLVED
> 
> Before I detail the resolution I would like to express my appreciation for the support team from Spectrum. Sure they have their hiccups, but my support experience overall has been excellent. Yes, it took a while to figure this out, but with the understanding that TiVo is a minor percentage of Spectrum's user base, the effort leveraged into solving this issue was substantial, perhaps bordering on extraordinary. The technician from yesterday (Enrique) and his supervisor were superb.
> 
> Now for the resolution...
> 
> If you recall, last week following a lengthy phone call during which I was implementing a new Edge and having Spectrum pair the CC and TA, a truck arrived for an on site. That technician was also good and courteous and discovered some possible issues with the signal diagnosed at the tap. A maintenance visit was requested and maintenance showed that night. I scheduled a follow up visit on site primarily to check to see if that maintenance visit had resolved whatever issue the tech had found.
> 
> Two people showed yesterday morning, a tech and a super. The super had apparently looked over the support records and had an awareness of how much effort had been expended here. We spent a few minutes sharing thoughts and stories and they began outside diagnostics. They found some noise issues with another Spectrum subscriber in my neighborhood but that was not presumed to be the issue for me, so we came inside. As had been the case, the inside checked out ok with the exception of some signal level issues, which were addressed, but again were not presumed to be the cause of my issues. After consulting with a remote tech, they determined that the CC and TA were provisioned correctly, but upon looking at the TA diagnostics available on the Edge, they found that no IP was being assigned. (This had been previously discovered Mar 26 but the resolution was to replace the TA). Since I had four TA's total here on site, they tried several and found that none were being assigned an IP.
> 
> The super wanted to take one of my TA's to a different service node to see if it would be assigned an IP, but he needed a GUI to be able to see the diagnostics screen. I volunteered my Edge as a test unit to be taken out with the TA. Across lunch, they took my equipment (Edge, TA, CC, wiring, power supplies, etc) to an adjacent service node. Upon connection to that node, the TA received an IP and the tuners worked correctly. At that point it was apparent that there was an infrastructure issue on my node.
> 
> The tech returned, reinstalled all of my equipment and the super worked to call maintenance to locate and repair the issue on the node.
> 
> This morning I received a call from an area manager asking me to reboot my TA and Edge and to check behavior. I did so, and found that premium channels tuned fine and found that the TA was being assigned an IP address. Whatever maintenance did repaired the node and resolved the tuning issues with my equipment.
> 
> Currently all is well.
> 
> My opinion from a TiVo user perspective is if you have tuning issues or missing channel issues, go to TA diagnostics and check for an IP assignment. If none, relay that specifically to Spectrum and suggest that the TA is most likely fine, but there is likely an issue on the node. Of course I arrive at that opinion only after having gone through all of this diagnostic effort. Maybe my experience will help others.


Is it the RF NETWORK I.P. address you look for in the TA diagnostics? Blank Ethernet one doesn't matter? Got my self install kit, everything supposedly activated. My Edge is tuning to a ton of channels except HBO/premiums and then my Roamio is only tuning to one freaking channel, ESPN, and that's it. Spent time on the phone with two different techs and they finally just said they were out of ideas are are rolling a truck Monday. my wife is pretty pissed. I also find it odd that when I pull up the My Spectrum app it shows my Cable Modem and says connected, but the TV section has a plus sign and an option to sign up for Spectrum TV? WTF? Is your My Spectrum app like that?

Oh and I've also tried them wired two separate ways. One through the Cisco TA and then out to TiVo and then the other with the splitter doing separate feeds to TiVo's and TA's with just the USB between them. This is frustrating as hell.


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## deepthinker

UPDATE: Tech came out Wednesday, checked signal levels which seemed fine, but still went ahead and installed a powered amp, and chucked the crappy splitter (his words not mine) from the self-install kit. Ended up running 5 new cables from the amp, one to the modem, one to each TiVo, and one to each of the two tuning adapters. Tried guided setup with him and their “techs” on the phone and tried re-pairing CableCards and making sure tuning adapters were activated with multiple power cycles of all equipment and trying to boot TiVo without TA USB attached and waiting until fully booted to connect the two. Still issues. They did see weird issues in their system of where my CC’s and TA’s were in the billing system, but for someone reason, although supposedly activated, they were not in the provisioning system it seemed. That being said, they still had his supervisor come over with a couple of new CC’s and another TA, which we swapped to no effect. I did however during this process start getting everything but premiums on that second TiVo Roamio that was only getting ESPN, but in the end the tech ended up leaving with my problem still unresolved and was told by his supervisor that he’d need to send the ticket to their CableCard Escalations team and someone would contact me Thursday.

FYI, the diag screens did all look good for TA, it had an I.P., but the both Cisco CC’s, although saying ready, on the Cisco CableCard CP Info section of the diagnostics it was saying “No CP Auth Received”. I was quite sure having searched this forum that was most likely the issue. Although they had paired and “hit” the CC’s and TA’s multiple times and the CC’s said ready, that No CP Auth had to be the reason the premiums wouldn’t tune.

Well anyway, no one tech nor supervisor ever called me on Thursday and I wasn’t having a lot of hope. Still no call on Friday, but I get up and check the diag screens and what do you know “CP Auth Received” and now ALL my channels were tuning!!!!!! So someone did something on the backend in their systems to fix the issue. Lesson from this is yes, at least in DFW, you can get TiVo, CableCards, and TA’s to work, but as I’ve seen in so many other places on this site it’s going to take luck, the right techs, and I guess the stars finally aligning, but if yours doesn’t work don’t let them try and tell you it is your TiVo. Keep pushing!!


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## austinsho

deepthinker said:


> UP
> 
> Well anyway, no one tech nor supervisor ever called me on Thursday and I wasn't having a lot of hope. Still no call on Friday, but I get up and check the diag screens and what do you know "CP Auth Received" and now ALL my channels were tuning!!!!!! So someone did something on the backend in their systems to fix the issue. Lesson from this is yes, at least in DFW, you can get TiVo, CableCards, and TA's to work, but as I've seen in so many other places on this site it's going to take luck, the right techs, and I guess the stars finally aligning, but if yours doesn't work don't let them try and tell you it is your TiVo. Keep pushing!!


That is the exact same experience I had here in Austin. I had to have a tech out multiple times for signal level problems. And of course, each of them claimed that TiVo required "too much signal". Yea, right, whatever. One lesson I have learned is that once the TiVo/TA combo is up and running *do not mess with it!* I dread each time I may need to boot it as there's about a 50/50 chance it will not work on the first try.


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## tommiet

The way to get Spectrum to respond is to file a BBB complaint. I just did that about 2 weeks ago and got instant response. My issue (local channels going out) was resolved. Local service manager gave me his business card and told me to text him if I had any more issues. He also was experienced in cable cards and came with a couple extra. But they were not needed. They replaced the splitter @ the maintenance box and that alone seemed to fix my issues. Manager has texted me twice to check in.

Also, he told me he expected cable cards to be around in my area for years as they are still using that POS 2 tuner dvr that needs the same cable card. He thinks that they are not developing any new DVR's as their cloud product will probably take over.

AND.... Spectrum gave me a $30.00 credit on my bill. BBB did help.


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