# Tuning adapter problems



## redspecial (Dec 6, 2014)

After a few years with zero issues I started having problems about six week ago with my tuning adapter. Sometimes the SDV channels would not always work, then they all stopped working. The tuning adapter diagnosis looked fine. So I unplugged the TA and replugged in and restarted Tivo. After that my Tivo stated that there was no tuning adapter connected.

Today I went to Charter and got a different TA (but kept the same working cable card) My tivo did alert that the tuning adapter was connected but I still couldn't get the SDV channels. Then there was an error stating that the certificates did not match and to call my cable company regarding getting the firmware updated. I called Charter and they sent a signal and my tivo immediately said there was no tuning adapter connected. Charter rep really didn't know what he was doing so he scheduled a tech appointment for next week. Sometimes it says the TA is not connected, other times it says the error about firmware. 

Does anyone have any suggestions so I try and troubleshoot before the Charter tech comes to my house? I have a 3 year old Roamio Plus, moca hookup, Motorola Tuning adapter. I was one of the people affected by the Motorola TA update firmware fiasco when I first bought my tivo but after the updated firmware was released I never had a problem.


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

Have you gotten a new cable card also? Have you tried the second USB port?

You may want to visit dsl reports and post your question in the customer support forum there for your cable co. The folks who monitor it there for Charter should be able to validate the setup in their system. They helped me with initial setup for Brighthouse.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

My guess is that Charter has screwed something up on their end. And don't roll over and allow them to take a week to get to your house. That's ridiculous. 

What is the TA brand, Cisco or Motorola? I'm guessing Motorola if you went years with no issue. What is the software version? Maybe someone can chime in on the latest software version.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

A Moto TA will have a solid amber light when enabled and connected, and no red light. Mine says version 1.40, Sep 10 2014, Downstream status says Yes for Carrier lock and Data, SNR good, Hunt Mode None.

Charter has disabled my TA out of the blue a couple of times. So call and make sure a TA is still on your account and enabled on their end (flashing amber if not). POE filter should also be on the line to the TA.

I don't know anything about Cisco adapters.


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## JARON46 (Jun 8, 2011)

My TA acts up occasionally, I am with TW now Spectrum, there is not much you can do but wait for it to start working. When I first got Tivo and a TA I waited a month for it to start working, I called every week and finally the green light came on.

I don't think Tuning Adapters are a priority with cable companies.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

JARON46 said:


> My TA acts up occasionally, I am with TW now Spectrum, there is not much you can do but wait for it to start working. When I first got Tivo and a TA I waited a month for it to start working, I called every week and finally the green light came on.


The OP stated in the first post he has a Motorola tuning adapter and is not on Spectrum cable.

For those on Spectrum, you cannot say "there is not much you can do but wait" until you have tried their national CableCARD (and TA) help desk at 1-866-532-2598.



JARON46 said:


> I don't think Tuning Adapters are a priority with cable companies.


LOL. That could be the understatement of the year!


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## JARON46 (Jun 8, 2011)

dlfl said:


> For those on Spectrum, you cannot say "there is not much you can do but wait" until you have tried their national CableCARD (and TA) help desk at 1-866-532-2598.


That is the number I called every week for a month. They said they knew there is a problem and are working on it.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

dlfl said:


> The OP stated in the first post he has a Motorola tuning adapter and is not on Spectrum cable.
> 
> For those on Spectrum, you cannot say "there is not much you can do but wait" until you have tried their national CableCARD (and TA) help desk at 1-866-532-2598.


That may work for former TWC markets, but legacy Charter Spectrum markets have no cable card help desk number, never have.

Regardless, something is definitely wrong and it's going to take a phone call, at least, to fix. I agree that waiting it out is not a solution. Typically, my TA issues get fixed within about 10 minutes once I find the right person and kind of hold their hand, i.e., "could you check if my TA is enabled on my account", "can you send another hit", etc.


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## redspecial (Dec 6, 2014)

Thanks for the replies, yes it is Motorola, I believe it was version 1.40 but I can't get tivo to go into the TA diagnosis. I have a POE installed where the cable enters my home. So I should get another one right before the coaxial goes into the TA?

My last tuning adapter constantly blinked amber for years and I still got all the channel I was suppose to. Charter would have came sooner but my work schedule prevented it. I am just trying to see if there is anything I can do on my end in case the tech doesn't know what to do. I just want it to go smoothly, would hate to waste a few hours and "its your tivo not us, we can hook up a charter DVR for another $15 a month" game.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

redspecial said:


> So I should get another one right before the coaxial goes into the TA?
> 
> My last tuning adapter constantly blinked amber for years and I still got all the channel I was suppose to.


A second POE helps if you use Moca. Not needed if you don't use Moca.

Your last TA never actually worked if it blinked constantly. You just got lucky in that none of the channels you watch were on SDV. In my market, only a few premiums and Spanish channels are on SDV. So I could live without a TA as well.

My money is still on it being "disabled", especially since you replaced it with a different one. They probably removed the old one from your account and never added back or re-enabled the new one..


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

redspecial said:


> Thanks for the replies, yes it is Motorola, I believe it was version 1.40 but I can't get tivo to go into the TA diagnosis. I have a POE installed where the cable enters my home. So I should get another one right before the coaxial goes into the TA?
> 
> My last tuning adapter constantly blinked amber for years and I still got all the channel I was suppose to. Charter would have came sooner but my work schedule prevented it. I am just trying to see if there is anything I can do on my end in case the tech doesn't know what to do. I just want it to go smoothly, would hate to waste a few hours and "its your tivo not us, we can hook up a charter DVR for another $15 a month" game.


You just have to hope the tech knows who to call for help. Probably a good chance he knows someone at the head end because that's where your problem needs to be fixed. In the mean time you can play csr roulette on the chance you can get someone to help. Odds are low though because csrs probably have no way to talk to your specific headend.


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## redspecial (Dec 6, 2014)

Update: After a lot of troubleshooting and phone call to various people, it seems like their is an unknown problem on Charter's end affecting Tuning adapters in my local area. Apparently a Charter tech took his working tivo and tuning adapter to a customers house with the same problem as me and could not get the TA working, says it needs a firmware update--but there is no new firmware to provide. I am suppose to get a call in the coming week from a supervisor to learn more. Thanks for the help but I am stuck for the time being.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

I still think Charter is clueless on this issue. The exercise of taking a working TA and plugging it in elsewhere is pointless because that TA is not enabled on any other account. There hasn't been a firmware update for their TAs for years, and there isn't a new one now. They simply don't know how to activate it on their end. Sadly, there isn't much else you can do but keep trying over the phone until you get a tech that knows what a TA is.

I've done at least a dozen self installs of cards and TAs over the years, far more than any Charter tech I've ever met or spoken with. Of all the Charter techs that have worked on my system, literally none of them had ever done a cable card / TA install before.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

mdavej said:


> I still think Charter is clueless on this issue. The exercise of taking a working TA and plugging it in elsewhere is pointless because that TA is not enabled on any other account. There hasn't been a firmware update for their TAs for years, and there isn't a new one now. They simply don't know how to activate it on their end. Sadly, there isn't much else you can do but keep trying over the phone until you get a tech that knows what a TA is.
> 
> I've done at least a dozen self installs of cards and TAs over the years, far more than any Charter tech I've ever met or spoken with. Of all the Charter techs that have worked on my system, literally none of them had ever done a cable card / TA install before.


I've always wondered whether TAs are paired like cable cards. My hunch is that they are simply enabled and once they are, will work anywhere. I could very well be wrong though.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

UCLABB said:


> I've always wondered whether TAs are paired like cable cards. My hunch is that they are simply enabled and once they are, will work anywhere. I could very well be wrong though.


Don't know if that may be true for Motorola TA's, but it's definitely not that simple for Cisco TA's, which must be pushed a subscription refresh signal from the head end about once per month. If the subscription expires, the TA goes inop and the light repeats 8-blinks-pause. The date the subscription ends can be found in TA diagnostics, as Sub Expires in the Powerkey Info section.

It's beyond me why TA's were designed to require a subscription. They are totally useless unless used in conjunction with a CableCARD, which requires pairing.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

dlfl said:


> Don't know if that may be true for Motorola TA's, but it's definitely not that simple for Cisco TA's, which must be pushed a subscription refresh signal from the head end about once per month. If the subscription expires, the TA goes inop and the light repeats 8-blinks-pause. The date the subscription ends can be found in TA diagnostics, as Sub Expires in the Powerkey Info section.
> 
> It's beyond me why TA's were designed to require a subscription. They are totally useless unless used in conjunction with a CableCARD, which requires pairing.


I can't remember the last time my Cisco TAs went to blink. However, they regularly stop working even though the light is solid. I try to remember to routinely reboot them, but often forget and then they crap out at an inopportune time. Hence I just ordered a couple of timers today.

In any event, even though they require a "subscription", doesn't mean that they need to be tied to a specific account or be paired, they may simply be activated by the subscription and can be used anywhere.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Once mine started blinking when it had been removed from my account. Another time it was blinking simply because it was disabled. I agree there is no strict pairing to a single host device like a card. But I'm doubtful you could use a working one on another customer's account if that account wasn't set up for it.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

mdavej said:


> Once mine started blinking when it had been removed from my account. Another time it was blinking simply because it was disabled. I agree there is no strict pairing to a single host device like a card. But I'm doubtful you could use a working one on another customer's account if that account wasn't set up for it.


Yes, I believe the subscription refresh signals are only pushed if the TA is provisioned on your account. So *maybe* you could use a subscribed TA with a different TiVo and CableCARD for up to a month before the subscription expired and was not refreshed -- not a long term benefit, however.

Again, I'm talking only about Cisco TA's -- don't know about Motorola behavior.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

mdavej said:


> I still think Charter is clueless on this issue. The exercise of taking a working TA and plugging it in elsewhere is pointless because that TA is not enabled on any other account.


He said he took his working TiVo and TA. I don't know about Charter but at least for Comcast in our town, the CableCard activation is by device on their "network" (ie off the headend here) and not by physical address.

Scott


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## wtkflhn (May 12, 2006)

UCLABB said:


> I've always wondered whether TAs are paired like cable cards. My hunch is that they are simply enabled and once they are, will work anywhere. I could very well be wrong though.


 I think they are and I'll tell you why. I have a long running feud with Cox because I had taken two of my older TIVO's off Cox and I'm just using them for storage and OTA. They have been still billing me for the cards I had turned in. In April, they were supposed to have fixed this, but the ordered never flowed properly and I'm still getting billed for them. I took the cable card info and TA info to the store and they gave me $41 credit. But the clerk who pushed the order thru mentioned that one of the TA's I had turned in was still working on my Roamio pro. Sure enough when, when I got home and checked my Roamio pro was down. I had to call the Cable Card desk and get the TA re-paired to that Cable Card.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

wtkflhn said:


> I think they are and I'll tell you why. I have a long running feud with Cox because I had taken two of my older TIVO's off Cox and I'm just using them for storage and OTA. They have been still billing me for the cards I had turned in. In April, they were supposed to have fixed this, but the ordered never flowed properly and I'm still getting billed for them. I took the cable card info and TA info to the store and they gave me $41 credit. But the clerk who pushed the order thru mentioned that one of the TA's I had turned in was still working on my Roamio pro. Sure enough when, when I got home and checked my Roamio pro was down. I had to call the Cable Card desk and get the TA re-paired to that Cable Card.


Yes, the company can see them and refresh them, but that doesn't mean they are paired with a specific box or cable card. I am almost sure when I bought a new TiVo I simply hooked the old TA up to it and it worked fine. I then moved my old TiVo to another location and replaced the TiVo that was there, again using the TA that was already sitting there.


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

Cox does pair the tuning adapter and cable card. I had trouble setting mine up with a Roamio about 18 months ago. Lead Tech finally came out after 3 days of problems and he thought a tuner was bad in the Roamio. I disagreed but I had another Roamio at my lake house, so I was gonna swap them to see if all 4 tuners worked on the other box with the cable card. The tech told me the card and adapter were paired so all I needed to do was swap them to the other Roamio to see all if 4 tuners worked and call him back if it didn't. Swapped the boxes the next day and all was good. Been working perfectly since then.


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## redspecial (Dec 6, 2014)

mdavej said:


> I still think Charter is clueless on this issue. The exercise of taking a working TA and plugging it in elsewhere is pointless because that TA is not enabled on any other account. There hasn't been a firmware update for their TAs for years, and there isn't a new one now. They simply don't know how to activate it on their end. Sadly, there isn't much else you can do but keep trying over the phone until you get a tech that knows what a TA is.
> 
> I've done at least a dozen self installs of cards and TAs over the years, far more than any Charter tech I've ever met or spoken with. Of all the Charter techs that have worked on my system, literally none of them had ever done a cable card / TA install before.


I was under the impression that the tech and customer service together paired the working TA to the customer's account/cable card and the working TA no longer was working due to the firmware error that is effecting my local area. Still haven't heard anything from Charter. Apparently the one channel I want---MTV Classic, is one of the least viewed stations in the United States.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

All I'm saying is I don't believe the firmware excuse they gave you. I still think it's just a simple account config error on their end and that it's worth playing dumb and making a few more calls rather than wait forever.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

mdavej said:


> All I'm saying is I don't believe the firmware excuse they gave you. I still think it's just a simple account config error on their end and that it's worth playing dumb and making a few more calls rather than wait forever.


+1

I would say complain to the FCC but frankly I doubt that would be worth your trouble. The FCC has known the CableCARD/TA system is a failure for years now and there isn't much they can/will do about it.


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## DawnW (Nov 28, 2008)

N/M: I think we fixed it.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

"not locked" isn't related to pairing. That has to do with just tuning in a channel and has never displayed correctly on my Tivo either. The important thing is Val:V being something besides 0x00. If it is, you're still paired.

First thing I would try is a new USB cable. Sometimes Spectrum disables my TA on their end out of the blue. But I don't get "No tuning adapter connected" when that happens. That's why I think it's a USB cable problem. Since you have 3 Tivos, just borrow a cable from one of those.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

Also, move the cable to the other USB port.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

I have had nothing but continuous problems with tuning adapters on Cox, since I first started using them years ago. I can tune SDV channels for a while, then I start getting various issues about not authorized or temporarily unavailable, whatever. Dozens of calls for many hours with Cox support. Many swaps. Calls to TiVo. Several hours visits. All kinds of cabling changes, attenuators, settings changes, reauths. Nothing ever makes any difference. Some times just power cycling the TA will give me the SDV channels back again... for a day or two, then it is back to the same thing.


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

I have to unplug the power from my TA at least once a month and let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Then it will work okay again for a few weeks. If I don't do this it causes all kinds of havoc. One thing I hate is that when I do unplug the power to the TA it pops up a screen letting me know it does not see the TA any longer and that stops the recordings. So then I get all the recordings going again and then when I plug the TA back it, it usually takes 15 minutes before it syncs back up and when it does it kills the recordings again and I have to go and start them again. Of course I can never seem to remember to reset it when I don't have any recordings going.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

I decided to recently try to "mend the cord" and add Cox cable to my Tivo Bolt that I have been using with an antenna for the last 2 years. My god what a comical joke. First I get this TA that's bigger than the Tivo itself and some old cable card. I try that and I keep getting a message that the Cable Card is not authorized. There was a phone number to call on the Cable Card Status screen for help and it turned out to be an "Adult Chat Hotline". 

I've made two calls to Cox and they finally sent someone out yesterday. He brought another Cable Card and TA and he checked the filters, attenuators, filters, splitters, etc and everything looked fine. After like 10 reboots and him calling to pair things up, still nothing. Today a higher tier guy is going to come out with 5 different Cable Cards to try. The TA menu on the Tivo has always said that there was "No Tuning Adapter" present, but when I uplug the TA, it pops up with a message that says "You've unplugged your tuning adapter" If they don't fix it today, I think my 3 day experiment in mending the cord will be over, and I will just get Sling TV or something.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

DeDondeEs said:


> I decided to recently try to "mend the cord" and add Cox cable to my Tivo Bolt that I have been using with an antenna for the last 2 years. My god what a comical joke. First I get this TA that's bigger than the Tivo itself and some old cable card. I try that and I keep getting a message that the Cable Card is not authorized. There was a phone number to call on the Cable Card Status screen for help and it turned out to be an "Adult Chat Hotline".
> 
> I've made two calls to Cox and they finally sent someone out yesterday. He brought another Cable Card and TA and he checked the filters, attenuators, filters, splitters, etc and everything looked fine. After like 10 reboots and him calling to pair things up, still nothing. Today a higher tier guy is going to come out with 5 different Cable Cards to try. The TA menu on the Tivo has always said that there was "No Tuning Adapter" present, but when I uplug the TA, it pops up with a message that says "You've unplugged your tuning adapter" If they don't fix it today, I think my 3 day experiment in mending the cord will be over, and I will just get Sling TV or something.


A good illustration of how the transition to digital cable has prevented TiVo from being the huge success it might have been.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

DeDondeEs said:


> I decided to recently try to "mend the cord" and add Cox cable to my Tivo Bolt that I have been using with an antenna for the last 2 years. My god what a comical joke. First I get this TA that's bigger than the Tivo itself and some old cable card. I try that and I keep getting a message that the Cable Card is not authorized. There was a phone number to call on the Cable Card Status screen for help and it turned out to be an "Adult Chat Hotline".
> 
> I've made two calls to Cox and they finally sent someone out yesterday. He brought another Cable Card and TA and he checked the filters, attenuators, filters, splitters, etc and everything looked fine. After like 10 reboots and him calling to pair things up, still nothing. Today a higher tier guy is going to come out with 5 different Cable Cards to try. The TA menu on the Tivo has always said that there was "No Tuning Adapter" present, but when I uplug the TA, it pops up with a message that says "You've unplugged your tuning adapter" If they don't fix it today, I think my 3 day experiment in mending the cord will be over, and I will just get Sling TV or something.


While some people have no problems at all getting cable setup on a Tivo more than a few have your experience.

Bottom line is that cable cards and tuning adapters are the reason third party STBs & DVRs are not acceptable to the masses and why many of us will not and have not recommend TiVos for years.

There should have been a pure software replacement by now but the cable companies have successfully killed it and for all practical purposes killed using third party STBs/DVRs except for those few fringe uses willing to deal with all the hassles.


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

I usually tell them to send a hit for everything when I've helped friends with cable cards. I had the same problem when I first installed mine, although the filter block on the line outside didn't help either. 

I thought the TA used in Las Vegas was normal size when I had Cox installed in our Condo 2 years ago, until I then had Cox installed in my home in Oklahoma. The motorola TA used by Cox Oklahoma is a quarter the size of the ones used in Las Vegas. The one in Las Vegas is still humming along today. It locked up once this past spring while no one was there and we had to reboot it via remote from Wemo app, but otherwise it has worked just fine.


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## DougJohnson (Dec 12, 2006)

gespears said:


> I have to unplug the power from my TA at least once a month and let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Then it will work okay again for a few weeks. If I don't do this it causes all kinds of havoc. One thing I hate is that when I do unplug the power to the TA it pops up a screen letting me know it does not see the TA any longer and that stops the recordings. So then I get all the recordings going again and then when I plug the TA back it, it usually takes 15 minutes before it syncs back up and when it does it kills the recordings again and I have to go and start them again. Of course I can never seem to remember to reset it when I don't have any recordings going.


I have mine on a simple light timer to power cycle the TA every day at a time I don't have any recordings scheduled, about 3 in the afternoon for me. I still get the silly screen, but recording after the power cycle work just fine. -- Doug


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

osu1991 said:


> I usually tell them to send a hit for everything when I've helped friends with cable cards. I had the same problem when I first installed mine, although the filter block on the line outside didn't help either.
> 
> I thought the TA used in Las Vegas was normal size when I had Cox installed in our Condo 2 years ago, until I then had Cox installed in my home in Oklahoma. The motorola TA used by Cox Oklahoma is a quarter the size of the ones used in Las Vegas. The one in Las Vegas is still humming along today. It locked up once this past spring while no one was there and we had to reboot it via remote from Wemo app, but otherwise it has worked just fine.


So another cable company tech showed up and tried three more cable cards and third tuner and still nothing. So of course they said the problem is the Tivo. I called Tivo support and they claimed that Multi-Room-Viewing needed to be activated in order for the Cable Card to work so he turned that on remotely. Of course that isn't true, so it still doesn't work*

*I wrote this in an arrogant self-assured manner so it will start working and I will be proven wrong...

So yeah it looks like the choice is between DirecTV Now and SlingTV.


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## osu1991 (Mar 6, 2015)

DeDondeEs said:


> So another cable company tech showed up and tried three more cable cards and third tuner and still nothing. So of course they said the problem is the Tivo. I called Tivo support and they claimed that Multi-Room-Viewing needed to be activated in order for the Cable Card to work so he turned that on remotely. Of course that isn't true, so it still doesn't work*
> 
> *I wrote this in an arrogant self-assured manner so it will start working and I will be proven wrong...
> 
> So yeah it looks like the choice is between DirecTV Now and SlingTV.


Sorry it didn't work out. Mine has been working great for going on 2 years now. I just have locals from Cox out there and use slingbox or roku apps for everything else from my Oklahoma account.

My stepsister left Tulsa today moving to Las Vegas. She accepted a teaching position there. They've decided to go with PSVue Friday or Saturday once they've settled in. Cox should be up running tomorrow for their internet. I did offer my extra Roamio but they would rather just stream and not deal with cable boxes.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

osu1991 said:


> Sorry it didn't work out. Mine has been working great for going on 2 years now. I just have locals from Cox out there and use slingbox or roku apps for everything else from my Oklahoma account.
> 
> My stepsister left Tulsa today moving to Las Vegas. She accepted a teaching position there. They've decided to go with PSVue Friday or Saturday once they've settled in. Cox should be up running tomorrow for their internet. I did offer my extra Roamio but they would rather just stream and not deal with cable boxes.


Yeah Cox internet is probably the best you can get in Las Vegas. I am very happy with my internet service. I hope they are just buying their modem and router and not dealing with having to rent Cox equipment. When I was at the Cox store on Saturday, there were people waiting 40 minutes just to get a receipt proving that they returned their equipment, this was after cancelling the account over the phone already.

To get my cable card and tuning adapter I put my name on the list, then ran over to Costco to do my monthly shopping there, and then when I was done and returned to the Cox store, I still had to wait 10 minutes before they called me.

Congrats on your step-sister's new teaching position BTW!


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

Just as an update. After a week of 3 techs coming out each with different cable cards, 5 calls to Cox support, 3 calls to Tivo support, this morning I got some tech on the line and he tried re-pairing the Cable Card, but then he also sent a "re-auth" signal and bingo, that worked!


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

I suspect cable operators find it cheaper and easier to just keep throwing clueless support resources at TiVo issues rather than actually training their staff to handle them efficiently. Fortunately they rake in such big profits that they can absorb that inefficiency.


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## Acerxz (Mar 6, 2002)

My tuner adapter recently started acting up. I completely removed the tuning adapter and I still receive all my channels. I know in the past I would lose a lot of channels without it. Cablevision must have made changes in my area. I subscribe to all channels and have had no issues. It's been about 3 months since I removed the adapter.


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## DaveB673 (Jan 1, 2020)

I feel your pain. I realize this thread has laid idle for a while, but I am seeing all these issues.



crxssi said:


> I have had nothing but continuous problems with tuning adapters on Cox, since I first started using them years ago. I can tune SDV channels for a while, then I start getting various issues about not authorized or temporarily unavailable, whatever. Dozens of calls for many hours with Cox support. Many swaps. Calls to TiVo. Several hours visits. All kinds of cabling changes, attenuators, settings changes, reauths. Nothing ever makes any difference. Some times just power cycling the TA will give me the SDV channels back again... for a day or two, then it is back to the same thing.





DeDondeEs said:


> I decided to recently try to "mend the cord" and add Cox cable to my Tivo Bolt that I have been using with an antenna for the last 2 years. My god what a comical joke. First I get this TA that's bigger than the Tivo itself and some old cable card. I try that and I keep getting a message that the Cable Card is not authorized. There was a phone number to call on the Cable Card Status screen for help and it turned out to be an "Adult Chat Hotline".
> 
> I've made two calls to Cox and they finally sent someone out yesterday. He brought another Cable Card and TA and he checked the filters, attenuators, filters, splitters, etc and everything looked fine. After like 10 reboots and him calling to pair things up, still nothing. Today a higher tier guy is going to come out with 5 different Cable Cards to try. The TA menu on the Tivo has always said that there was "No Tuning Adapter" present, but when I uplug the TA, it pops up with a message that says "You've unplugged your tuning adapter" If they don't fix it today, I think my 3 day experiment in mending the cord will be over, and I will just get Sling TV or something.


I should probably have Cox on speed dial. I call or chat with them online every 4-7 days...for the past 3 months. Save a two week span where a tech came out, changed a couple things in the outside cable box, we had a CableCard expert via phone unpair and repair the CableCards, sent reboot signals to the tuning adapters...and that worked for two weeks. Until we had a power failure. Then it was worse than "normal" where the channels may only last two days before the magic 8 channels dropped off again. 
So, we had a power failure this weekend, and I called in again on Monday. This technician informed me the plan was originally to pull these tuning adapters from service. mine are 614s, apparently. That may be close to the year they were produced... Anyway, she suggested that we could use a Contour 1 box in lieu of a tuning adapter, and it would perform the same function. So, I went to the Cox store today (Wed) because we had another power failure (sigh), and the living room TA went back to blinking. The office is still working good...because I have it on a UPS. 
So, I plugged in the Contour 1 box after I got home, just like the tuning adapter was. Except, I needed a rectangle to rectangle USB cord. Found one in a drawer and finished the connection. Called the number in the "quick start instructions" to get the box activated. Not sure if that worked yet or not, but it did knock our internet out. So, had to call again and talk to a tech, who sent a reboot signal to the box. What was odd was that rebooted both the TiVo and the Contour box. With tuning adapters I have to unplug. So, before and after the magic 8 channels are showing a V52 error - searching for a signal. I think that's what I see every time I reboot the tuning adapters. So, I hope within four hours we see the magic 8 channels reappear. I will post an update either way.


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## ramzeva (Nov 3, 2017)

After going through 4 TA replacements I got one that Tivo Edge recognized "TA Connected", I called and had them pair cable card again and look over everything. The TA just blanks yellow, does not look like any patterns, under diagnostics for the TA it shows signal locked however there is no IP address or configuration file so the TA does not know what to do with itself, no channel list and its only programmed to allow 1 tuner at its current state. Under TIVO Diagnostics the state is DISABLED. The firmware is 1.40. Does the TA get the channel list and configuration from the cable card, tivo, or service provider?


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

If "Blanks Yellow" means solid amber, then that's good. But "Disabled" means the cable company has disabled it on their end. They need to enable it. Normally, you wouldn't get a solid amber light in that case, so I'm not sure what to make of that. What brand TA do you have - Cisco or Motorola?

If you use Moca, you need to put a POE filter on the input of the TA, or it probably won't work.

All the config comes from the service provider. The TA doesn't need a channel list and doesn't have anything to do with tuner count. It's only job is to ask the cable company to put the selected channel in the stream and take it back out.


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## ramzeva (Nov 3, 2017)

mdavej said:


> If "Blanks Yellow" means solid amber, then that's good. But "Disabled" means the cable company has disabled it on their end. They need to enable it. Normally, you wouldn't get a solid amber light in that case, so I'm not sure what to make of that. What brand TA do you have - Cisco or Motorola?
> 
> If you use Moca, you need to put a POE filter on the input of the TA, or it probably won't work.
> 
> All the config comes from the service provider. The TA doesn't need a channel list and doesn't have anything to do with tuner count. It's only job is to ask the cable company to put the selected channel in the stream and take it back out.


I apologize for my typos. I meant it simply blinks amber in a steady pattern. The TAs are motorola, I have it setup exactly as the picture shows that was included, with a splitter and filter. I have had 2 cable cards and 2 TA's for a long time and as of this past month it has been nothing but problems, I started the switchout routine for TA's and finally got one that the Tivo can recognize. Cox Cable has replaced the drop line and provided 1 unbalanced splitter that leads to 1) Cable modem 2) TA/Tivo 3) TA/Tivo. I was on the phone earlier with the Cox rep earlier and I kept saying it says Connection State: disabled. The TIVO keeps popping up a messaging saying the TA is not configured for use with 6 tuners and only 1 tuner will be used.


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## DaveB673 (Jan 1, 2020)

Okay, I forgot to post an update. Sorry about that. I have learned that if I power up the Contour 1 box every day or two, that is enough it seems to keep the signal alive or awake or something so that the tuning adapters do not lose those 8 channels. It's currently on the same splitter as one of the tuning adapters, so the next test is to connect it in another room to see if the same process still works.


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