# Is the "Channels You Receive" list hackable?



## Jim Mack (Jul 31, 2002)

TMS, or whoever provides the cable lineups, used to list HBO-East on analog channel 5 in my area, even though Comcast dropped that service some time ago. Now, the lineup has finally been updated. Boo.

For reasons that are complicated and irrelevant, I'd like that back. I know no one is going to modify the listings to suit me, so I wondered if there was a way to fool the system somehow into giving me back HBO listings on Channel 5.

Notice I'm not asking for HBO signals, just guide data. I already pay for HBO service and can record it manually, but it's a PITA.

Grasping at straws, thanks for any insights.


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## gastrof (Oct 31, 2003)

TiVo needs to be told they've left out one possible lineup in your area.

Go to this webpage and tell them-
http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html

The correction should be made within a few days.

Odd they'd stop listing a channel that you can get, tho'.


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## Jim Mack (Jul 31, 2002)

gastrof said:


> TiVo needs to be told they've left out one possible lineup in your area.
> 
> Go to this webpage and tell them-
> http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html
> ...


Thanks, I'll give that a desperate try.

But the point is that the lineup doesn't exist, except in my head. It used to be a legitimate lineup, but Comcast long ago dropped any analog feeds of premium channels. The lineup I use still showed that one channel, even though it was a phantom, and I've been relying on it for guide data.

Now the lineup has been 'corrected' to reflect the greater reality. I'll ask, but it seems unlikely they'd add a special, non-existent lineup just for me... doesn't it? That's why I was looking for a hack.

Off to Tivo support now...


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

The question is - if you don't receive HBO-East on channel 5 because Comcast doesn't air it anymore, then it's unlikely you'll get guide listings for that channel. However, if Comcast is still showing that channel somewhere else, then that channel will have your guide listing. (Doesn't make sense to have guide data for a channel that's not being "aired" anymore).

Any particular reason for having it like this?


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Please do NOT use the lineup form to report lineups that exist only in your head. We have enough trouble getting TiVo to acknowledge the ones that exist in reality.

Surely your provider has simply moved HBO to another channel? Or is this an East/West thing, and they've dropped the East? I think you'll have to explain your complicated and irrelevant reasons if you want meaningful help. Otherwise, I can only point out that custom lineups = non-TiVo-provided-guide-data = banned topic.


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## Jim Mack (Jul 31, 2002)

Worf said:


> Any particular reason for having it like this?


The digital lineup for Comcast in this area has HBO-East on channel 301. I pay for and receive digital service, plus HBO, and I can see the program data on the set-top box using Comcast's own guide channel. I use this info now to set up manual recordings, but it's a PITA.

I record the analog service because I've had way too many episodes of Tivo and the STB not cooperating -- missed shows because the STB didn't respond correctly to a command from Tivo to change channels. Believe me, I've tried everything I know about: new STB, direct serial, dual IR emitters, different codes/speeds -- but nothing works even most of the time.

Analog has everything I watch, except HBO. So I leave the STB tuned to HBO, and remodulate it on Ch5, where it used to be in this area, and where the guide data still had it until recently.

That's the complicated and (I thought) irrelevant story behind it. What I'm asking is to 'shift' the guide data from a channel I pay for, to one I can reliably record.

If there's another way around this, I'm all ears.



wmcbrine said:


> Please do NOT use the lineup form to report lineups that exist only in your head. We have enough trouble getting TiVo to acknowledge the ones that exist in reality.


How does my reporting / requesting something directly to Tivo affect you negatively? Do you believe that if I ask for a change it will stop them from making a change you ask for?

What I'm asking for breaks no laws, steals no service, and doesn't conflict with any agreements or TOS terms between me and Comcast or Tivo. So I'm at a loss to see why it should raise concern from you.

Anyway, it looks like there's no hack on the local Tivo end for this, so my only recourse is to try to get the guide updated by Tivo. Sorry if you don't like that or if it violates a local policy here. If you have the desire and the power to remove this post, I guess you will.


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## David_NC (May 1, 2008)

Can you set up the Tivo to use cable on RF input, and cable box on A/V input, at the same time? Then remove all channels from the cable box lineup except HBO, set the STB to HBO manually (leave the serial cable/IR Blaster disconnected), and the Tivo will automatically switch to the A/V input when it wants to record HBO.


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## Jim Mack (Jul 31, 2002)

David_NC said:


> Can you set up the Tivo to use cable on RF input, and cable box on A/V input, at the same time? Then remove all channels from the cable box lineup except HBO, set the STB to HBO manually (leave the serial cable/IR Blaster disconnected), and the Tivo will automatically switch to the A/V input when it wants to record HBO.


Thanks, that sounds interesting, but I'm unclear on the mechanics of it.

Are you suggesting I can convince the Tivo that I use two separate lineups? If so that might be an answer... but how, exactly? It seems as if the choice of STB/AV or RF is an either/or thing.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

You can set TiVo for analog cable+satellite, and set the satellite lineup for just the HBO channel you want.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Jim Mack said:


> How does my reporting / requesting something directly to Tivo affect you negatively? Do you believe that if I ask for a change it will stop them from making a change you ask for?


Well, it would be a request, but the form is indeed for reports, and they're not the same. The lineup should reflect the channels that are actually on. It doesn't affect _me_, but it negatively affects every other subscriber that has the same lineup as you if TiVo accepts your bogus request. Please have some consideration for others.



> _If you have the desire and the power to remove this post, I guess you will._


 I'm not a moderator. When I say this is a banned topic, I'm just explaining why we can't answer your question here. Which is not the same as saying that there's no answer.



> _If there's another way around this, I'm all ears._


If you can't get your TiVo and your STB to cooperate, a TiVo HD would eliminate the need for an STB.


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## Jim Mack (Jul 31, 2002)

classicsat said:


> You can set TiVo for analog cable+satellite, and set the satellite lineup for just the HBO channel you want.


Now there's an option I never knew existed, or rather, I knew but didn't think it applied.

Done and done. Works exactly as it used to, just on a different channel.

Thanks for thinking me out of the box I was in!


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