# Tivo Roamio Pro channel missing, not recording, acting really strange



## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

I have a new Roamio Pro and I am getting very close to calling and asking for an RMA.

I spent two weeks trying to get Charter to properly activate the CC. They finally did that last Thursday. I was able to see and record 6 channels and was very happy...until the next morning when a couple of shows had not recorded and the History screen said it was due to "No Signal".

That started me on this week long quest to try and understand what is wrong and how to fix it.

In the process I have had various missed recordings.

I have also seen several cases where I use the Live TV button to scroll through the tuners and have one or two that are black with a "This channel is temporarily unavailable" message. This is most interesting since I can hit the Tivo button and the channel that is not available will show up in the Zoom window. If i scroll through with the Live TV button that same channel will go back to the unavailable message. I have video of this if anyone is interested.

I called Tivo support and got the wonderful advice that the Tivo and the Cable Card needed a few days to "settle out and get happy with each other." I was so frustrated I almost boxed it up then.

Here are the specifics on my setup:

Charter Spectrum Digital service.
It is SDV so I do have a Tuning Adapter. It is a Cisco 1520 running STA.1.0.0_1520_LR_F.1601 software. I have tried to get Charter to upgrade the TA to 1901 or higher code but they are "waiting for permission from corporate".

I have a Cisco PowerKEY 803 CC running PKEY1.5.3_F.p.1101 software.

The Roamio has the 20.4.5c software.

Signal strength on all channels is above 95%. 
I do not use MoCa so I have cable out of wall into TA then out of TA into Tivo. I tried the splitter approach but it made no difference.

I tried limiting the number of tuners to 5 and 4 but that has not helped.

I still have a few days left in my 30 day money back window. If I do not get this resolved by the weekend I will be forced to send it back.

I am a 10+ year user of Tivo and I do not want to stop.

Does anyone have any other suggestions

Can anyone help me?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Settle out & get happy? Score one for TiVo support being stupid. But under SNR there are two RS numbers. They should be zero or at least small and not moving on the bad tuners. You can see the channels used by the tuners by hitting right then down when viewing live TV. If you have any SD channels they may come through better, but not so good. I'm speaking from my first experience with a Roamio that had two bad tuners and I had to return. I have a basic Roamio and no TA is needed for my feed.


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

All 6 tuners show 40 db SNR and both RS numbers 0. Should the RS numbers be non 0?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

au_en_bear said:


> All 6 tuners show 40 db SNR and both RS numbers 0. Should the RS numbers be non 0?


RS numbers are error counters. It's nice when they are zero, but not a major problem. Pull your coax and you may get a few from the noise. If you're bored: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed–Solomon_error_correction


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

I would think RS codes being 0 is the desired state. That either means that there are no errors or the RS coding scheme is lot working at all. Do you agree?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

au_en_bear said:


> I would think RS codes being 0 is the desired state. That either means that there are no errors or the RS coding scheme is lot working at all. Do you agree?


Perfection is nice. Having uncorrected errors is bad. Having corrected errors is not as bad. A bad cable or splitter can be the issue. I usually watch my 5 analog test channels on my TV when I play with the cables. Digital doesn't show "maybe" only yes or no. I sometimes get noise on my feed that is not saved in the buffer. A bad HDMI cable/connection can cause that. But I always have a signal of 90 and SNR or 36 with no errors. That may be because all my cables from the drop outside are under two years old and I use active splitters when needed. Should I decide to move or add equipment, I can get errors. If you can see the errors increment there is a problem which should also be shown on the screen. I never heard of the error counters not working. When I had two bad tuners my RS numbers were in the millions which is impossible. So I got a new box and things have been good ever since then. If you power the box off then on, all four tuners should be on the same channel. That is a good way to test each tuner with the Live TV button. Verify with the right/down on the remote. There is no manual method to set all tuners to the same channel. Good luck.


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## tatergator1 (Mar 27, 2008)

Both TA and CC firmware, while not the most current, are generally good. 
Personally, I've not missed any scheduled recordings in a long time, but I can confirm at least some of the weirdness you see with black screens, but video reappearing in the preview window, etc. My most common case of this is when first turning the TV on in the morning. An SDV channel will be black with something like "Channel Unavailable, Press Select to retry" Pressing select will bring it back. The message above is not always displayed on the black screen. If it is and I press Select, the video will come back. However, switching tuners away from and then back will "reset" the channel and reset the recording buffer. Hitting the Tivo button will also reset the recording buffer and the preview window will be blank for a few seconds. The channel is there, but it's not. In some cases, I've had a second tuner on the same channel. It is fine, 30 minute buffer intact, not weirdness when going back and forth to the preview window, etc. It's clear this is a Tivo software quirk, not an issue with the SDV frequency timing out overnight.

This particular problem seems to be associated with EAS (Emergency Alert System) tests done by TWC in the middle of the night. When I have these issues, I also find that my Mini has also acquired a tuner, even though it's been off for 24 hrs sometimes. During EAS tests, Mini's are programmed to grab a tuner and display the message, even if the connect TV is off. Something about the EAS interaction messes up the display of the active tuner. 

Do your missed recordings occur overnight only? Any discernible pattern to channel/time? One thought would be to put your Tivo into Standby overnight and see what happens. This mode allows it to ignore the EAS messages.


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

I guess EAS could be involved but since I first posted this I have seen a case where I was watching live TV on an SDV channel and a scheduled recording on a non SDV channel failed. The red record light came on but when I switched over to pick up the recorded show in progress there was a black screen with the channel unavailable message. The status bar showed no green but the red recording circle was there. Tivo button press and the show started playing in the Zoom window. Live TV button and the channel was still visible. Live TV button around to the same tuner and back to black screen and unavailable message. 
I finally had to stop the recording and make that tuner change channels away and then back to the show to actually gain control and have the buffer start working. Lots of really strange wierdness going on. I am frustrated, disappointed and confused. I actually thought about Direct TV but really do not want to go there.


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

After more research I am convinced that the Cisco Tuning Adapter 1601 code is the problem. I filed an FCC complaint to try and pressure Charter to provide the newer 1901 code yesterday. I will provide a further update when I have new info. Has anyone, anywhere been successful in getting Charter to provide the 1901 Tuning Adapter code? If you have I would really appreciate knowing it so I could add that to my complaint.


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

I am soooo frustrated. After another round of changing out my Cable Card and Tuning Adapter the problem still exists. Charter called me today and basically told me that they do not support anything above 1601 on the Tuning Adapter and don't know if they ever will. I updated my FCC complaint but I am just about to the point of boxing everything up and sending it back. If anyone has any other suggestions I am all ears.

I must say that I am also shocked that Tivo has been basically useless in this process. I have made multiple calls to them and sent numerous private messages to folks that supposedly work for Tivo and I have not gotten any help at all.

Anyone from Tivo want to try and give any reason to keep pushing on this?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

What could tivo possibly do?

Don't let the cable company win. If you do, their feedback is that being dumb works.

Keep with the formal complaint. Escalate within Charter, call and get to the executive complaint area, every company has one. Send an email to the CEO, FCC area, communications. Get their attention.


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## au_en_bear (Nov 11, 2003)

I have begged for someone at Tivo to provide me with any documented case where 1901 code has been provided. The only answer I get is to just keep asking. I would think Tivo would be anxious to provide any help possible.


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## Kungfubarbie (Dec 8, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> Perfection is nice. Having uncorrected errors is bad. Having corrected errors is not as bad. A bad cable or splitter can be the issue. I usually watch my 5 analog test channels on my TV when I play with the cables. Digital doesn't show "maybe" only yes or no. I sometimes get noise on my feed that is not saved in the buffer. A bad HDMI cable/connection can cause that. But I always have a signal of 90 and SNR or 36 with no errors. That may be because all my cables from the drop outside are under two years old and I use active splitters when needed. Should I decide to move or add equipment, I can get errors. If you can see the errors increment there is a problem which should also be shown on the screen. I never heard of the error counters not working. When I had two bad tuners my RS numbers were in the millions which is impossible. So I got a new box and things have been good ever since then. If you power the box off then on, all four tuners should be on the same channel. That is a good way to test each tuner with the Live TV button. Verify with the right/down on the remote. There is no manual method to set all tuners to the same channel. Good luck.


My signals are similar but I almost always get both sets of errors. I'm going to try replacing cables, etc. Thanks for the tip. I haven't had any issues until recently when NBC has been randomly throwing up v52s.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Kungfubarbie said:


> My signals are similar but I almost always get both sets of errors. I'm going to try replacing cables, etc. Thanks for the tip. I haven't had any issues until recently when NBC has been randomly throwing up v52s.


Don't assume it's you. Read the post from jtrtoo. Call your cable company tech support and ask them to check that channel. I had a similar problem last year and they were happy to fix it. Of course, not all cable feeds are the same, so don't be surprised if you don't get satisfaction.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

Kungfubarbie said:


> My signals are similar but I almost always get both sets of errors. I'm going to try replacing cables, etc. Thanks for the tip. I haven't had any issues until recently when NBC has been randomly throwing up v52s.


I thought I read on Tivo that analog channels don't have error correction on digital ones.

Edit:
Found this but not sure if its digital cable with analog channels or analog cable period which I doubt any company still does.

RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected

For ideal reception on Live TV and good recordings, RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected should have a value of 0. RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected readings indicate a problem on your cable line.

NOTE: If you are using analog cable instead of digital, the value for both will read N/A.


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