# New to Tivo. One concern.



## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

Hey all. Got a Bolt and 4 minis set up today. Don't worry one of the minis is in a spare bedroom that isn't used so the tuner deficit is not my issue. My concern: Does it normally take 3-5 seconds for a channel to load? This is on all the boxes. The guide will change immediately when changing the channel but the screen will be black for 3-5 seconds. 

SnR: 35-36

Signal: 90-92%

Uncorrected: 84

Corrected: 0

Thanks in advance.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

My Minis take about 3 seconds to switch channels. They're connected via MoCA to Roamio Pro.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

Damn. The Bolt is doing the same. If this is the norm how is channel surfing reasonable for anyone on Tivo?


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## Robbo1 (Oct 31, 2015)

jimpc said:


> Damn. how is channel surfing reasonable for anyone on Tivo?


No need to surf-- just use the guide.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

Well guides are available from every provider. But it's more of if there are 2 football games on and I;m switching between channels back and forth it's just a bit of a nuisance to look at a blank screen for 5 seconds. I just wanted to confirm it was the norm.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

jimpc said:


> Well guides are available from every provider. But it's more of if there are 2 football games on and I;m switching between channels back and forth it's just a bit of a nuisance to look at a blank screen for 5 seconds. I just wanted to confirm it was the norm.


You can switch between tuners by hitting the enter key. But set both games to record first, with padding for an hour, otherwise when one game ends you might lose material.

If you've already set both games up to record in advance (e.g. the day before), you can still do that if they'r still recording, but if not it's not quite as fast to switch between games once they are done recording. The fastest way I've found to switch between recordings is to hit the Tivo button twice, and that will take you to my shows. You then select the other game.

You need to get past the idea of channel surfing and into the idea of watching recorded material. I don't watch any live TV and the only reason I go to the guide is to look for things to record in the future.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Don't do it that way. Switch tuners.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

jimpc said:


> Well guides are available from every provider. But it's more of if there are 2 football games on and I;m switching between channels back and forth it's just a bit of a nuisance to look at a blank screen for 5 seconds. I just wanted to confirm it was the norm.


Could it be your tv is swtiching modes? i.e. from 720p to 1080i and back? ABC, ESPN, and Fox are 720p, while CBS and NBC are 1080i. My tv takes forever to do this (5 seconds or so), so I have my TiVos hardcoded to only ouput my tv's native format. Eliminates the delay.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

One more benefit to hitting record even if you're watching live. Yesterday I realized that the wife had not recorded The Rose Bowl Parade, and being the great husband that I am and knowing that she wanted to do that I set it up for her. Because one of the tuners was already on that channel, when I hit record it recorded the buffer material from before the time I hit record. That allowed her to watch even more of the event.


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## shupp872 (Jan 1, 2014)

justen_m said:


> Could it be your tv is swtiching modes? i.e. from 720p to 1080i and back? ABC, ESPN, and Fox are 720p, while CBS and NBC are 1080i. My tv takes forever to do this (5 seconds or so), so I have my TiVos hardcoded to only ouput my tv's native format. Eliminates the delay.


This! I am guessing this is a large contributor to the OP's issue.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Like the above suggestions say, make sure you have the TiVo set to 1 output resolution and make sure you have tuners sitting on the channels you want to switch back and forth between and it will be much faster.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Use the buffers to watch multiple games. You can track up to four that way. Much faster than channel acquisition even with multiple resolutions set. Since they are in buffer, there is no channel acquisition time.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

shupp872 said:


> This! I am guessing this is a large contributor to the OP's issue.


I've set it to all resolutions, 1080i only, 720 only, 1080i-1080p pass through. Has zero effect on channel load times. Thanks for the advice though.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

TonyD79 said:


> Use the buffers to watch multiple games. You can track up to four that way. Much faster than channel acquisition even with multiple resolutions set. Since they are in buffer, there is no channel acquisition time.


I hear ya. It's not the end of the world I just wanted to make sure that the delay was normal. I've been successfully using your suggestion so far but it's impossible to hog all the tuners when 2 other rooms are trying to watch TV. I think it will be a non-issue once the "Bolt pro" comes out. Otherwise I;m happy and it's worth the $65 saving a month especially since I got the Bolt and 4 9300's for $580. It's going to pay for itself in 9 months.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

jimpc said:


> I hear ya. It's not the end of the world I just wanted to make sure that the delay was normal. I've been successfully using your suggestion so far but it's impossible to hog all the tuners when 2 other rooms are trying to watch TV. I think it will be a non-issue once the "Bolt pro" comes out. Otherwise I;m happy and it's worth the $65 saving a month especially since I got the Bolt and 4 9300's for $580. It's going to pay for itself in 9 months.


Yeah. I'm not super happy that the bolt only has 4 tuners when the roamio plus and pro have 6.


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## Aero 1 (Aug 8, 2007)

jimpc said:


> Hey all. Got a Bolt and 4 minis set up today. Don't worry one of the minis is in a spare bedroom that isn't used so the tuner deficit is not my issue. My concern: Does it normally take 3-5 seconds for a channel to load? This is on all the boxes. The guide will change immediately when changing the channel but the screen will be black for 3-5 seconds.
> 
> SnR: 35-36
> 
> ...


What do you believe is a reasonable amount of time for a 1-17 Mbps (depending on the channel) mpeg2 QAM (or the rare mpeg4 QAM) or ASTC channel, guide data, metadata, etc to be sent from the host tivo through your internal network to the tivo mini and start its buffering? 3-5 seconds is pretty good to me.

as for why its quicker through the guide, i cant say for sure because i have no idea how it works, but since the mini gets everything from the host tivo including the guide, i assume when the guide is up on the mini, all the other stuff is quickly cached and the stream is whats left to get streamed.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

So you're not interested in instant results by switching tuners or locking the resolution? Suit yourself.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

mdavej said:


> So you're not interested in instant results by switching tuners or locking the resolution? Suit yourself.


What? i explained I locked the resolution and tried every setting in between. It changed nothing with regard to time it took to change the channels. I tried 480 only, 720 only, 1080 only, and having them all selected. No change. I stated that I have been following recommendations to have the shows I want to switch between being recorded but that it's not always feasible if people are watching in other rooms. Reading comprehension.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

Aero 1 said:


> What do you believe is a reasonable amount of time for a 1-17 Mbps (depending on the channel) mpeg2 QAM (or the rare mpeg4 QAM) or ASTC channel, guide data, metadata, etc to be sent from the host tivo through your internal network to the tivo mini and start its buffering? 3-5 seconds is pretty good to me.
> 
> as for why its quicker through the guide, i cant say for sure because i have no idea how it works, but since the mini gets everything from the host tivo including the guide, i assume when the guide is up on the mini, all the other stuff is quickly cached and the stream is whats left to get streamed.


It's not quicker through the guide. I think the suggestion was to not channel surf and just flip through the info on the guide and then pick the channel based on that. I don't know. had both FiOS, which uses a main box that sends out to the rest of the boxes over Moca just like the Tivo can, and Cablevision multiroom setup. Channel changing was near instantaneous with both. Furthermore I;d say the bolt is sending out the info near instantaneously as the Bolt has the same delay as the minis with regard to channel changing. I don't want to start a fight. ALL I wanted to do was make sure it was normal.


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## Aero 1 (Aug 8, 2007)

jimpc said:


> It's not quicker through the guide. I think the suggestion was to not channel surf and just flip through the info on the guide and then pick the channel based on that. I don't know. had both FiOS, which uses a main box that sends out to the rest of the boxes over Moca just like the Tivo can, and Cablevision multiroom setup. Channel changing was near instantaneous with both. Furthermore I;d say the bolt is sending out the info near instantaneously as the Bolt has the same delay as the minis with regard to channel changing. I don't want to start a fight. ALL I wanted to do was make sure it was normal.


i can comment on fios or cablevision since i am OTA only but i can tell you that over the holiday i re did my network and I eliminated moca to my 3 minis and ran ethernet and i do see a slight speed improvement.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

Aero 1 said:


> i can comment on fios or cablevision since i am OTA only but i can tell you that over the holiday i re did my network and I eliminated moca to my 3 minis and ran ethernet and i do see a slight speed improvement.


That's the next project. Going to get my hands on an Asus RT-AC88U as soon as it drops to $250 or lower and a couple of gigabit switches around the house. Can't wait.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

jimpc said:


> It's not quicker through the guide. I think the suggestion was to not channel surf and just flip through the info on the guide and then pick the channel based on that. I don't know. had both FiOS, which uses a main box that sends out to the rest of the boxes over Moca just like the Tivo can, and Cablevision multiroom setup. Channel changing was near instantaneous with both. Furthermore I;d say the bolt is sending out the info near instantaneously as the Bolt has the same delay as the minis with regard to channel changing. I don't want to start a fight. ALL I wanted to do was make sure it was normal.


I have fios and am running a quantum box side by side with my bolt. Channel changes are faster on the bolt. Quantum used to be fast but not lately.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

TonyD79 said:


> I have fios and am running a quantum box side by side with my bolt. Channel changes are faster on the bolt. Quantum used to be fast but not lately.


Well I've heard there's quite a pendulum with service for FiOS. Mine has always been great. It isn't worth $65 a month though. I can get into the habit of programming the tuners.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

jimpc said:


> What? i explained I locked the resolution and tried every setting in between. It changed nothing with regard to time it took to change the channels. I tried 480 only, 720 only, 1080 only, and having them all selected. No change. I stated that I have been following recommendations to have the shows I want to switch between being recorded but that it's not always feasible if people are watching in other rooms. Reading comprehension.


Leave just 1080i and 1080p/pass-thru selected. It will make a difference. Don't tune every time, just switch tuners with LiveTV button to tune in both channels, use LiveTV again to switch at least once, then use Last. Takes 1.5 seconds on my SDV Roamio. Should be even quicker on Bolt.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

mdavej said:


> Leave just 1080i and 1080p/pass-thru selected. It will make a difference. Don't tune every time, just switch tuners with LiveTV button to tune in both channels, use LiveTV again to switch at least once, then use Last. Takes 1.5 seconds on my SDV Roamio. Should be even quicker on Bolt.


Are you assuming the TiVo does a better upscale than your tv? Some of us like to not condition our signal. I missed native when I used fios quantum.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

OP wants speed. That's one way to get it. The few 720 channels I watch look the same regardless. Native was PITA when I had DirecTV and still is with TiVo.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

mdavej said:


> OP wants speed. That's one way to get it. The few 720 channels I watch look the same regardless. Native was PITA when I had DirecTV and still is with TiVo.


 True. But we don't know what else he wants. The trade off needs to be mentioned.

Native is quite quick for me and I do see a difference in some of the lesser quality ESPN broadcasts.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

I still think TiVo ought to use spare tuners for "predictive" channel surfing. I like surfing much more than the guide, because the guide doesn't tell you if a commercial is on this instant or not .


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

tomhorsley said:


> I still think TiVo ought to use spare tuners for "predictive" channel surfing. I like surfing much more than the guide, because the guide doesn't tell you if a commercial is on this instant or not .


Neither does surfing. In both cases you have to tune to the channel.


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## jimpc (Jan 2, 2016)

TonyD79 said:


> True. But we don't know what else he wants. The trade off needs to be mentioned.
> 
> Native is quite quick for me and I do see a difference in some of the lesser quality ESPN broadcasts.


I'm thinking maybe the Cablecard isn't the best or I may have a flakey Bolt. I enjoy native too. The difference in picture quality when setting the Tivo to upscale everything that isn;t 1080 and leaving it at native is noticeable. I have high quality TVs. A 60" and 51" F8500 Samsung's, the last of the great plasmas. The best 37" on the market in one room. The best 32" on the market in another and the best 24" on the market in the spare room. The reason why I say I may have a flakey bolt is because when set to out put at all qualities the TVs are all faster at changing the resolution than the Bolt can display picture for the channel. The delay is that long. I'm assuming that's also why there is no change in channel changing speed if I have it to 1080i/passthrough or have all resolutions checked. I'm with you. I like the native resolution to be displayed and I hate overscanning (screen fitting). I have all my TVs set to 1:1 scanning which just displays the signal in the aspect ratio it was intended and I have my Tivos all set to panel so it doesn't alter the original aspect ratio. If people on previous models are getting 1.5 second channel changes than something must be wrong with my setup.

Tivo said that my SNR should be between 29-35. I got an attenuator and it got my down to 33 and still no change. However, after doing some reading on the forum it looks like 35-36 is considered the sweet spot which is what I'm at with no attenuation. If my channel changes were 1.5 seconds I wouldn't be that far off from a provider set top box speed and this would be a non-issue.


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