# Poor signal using tivo OTA, antenna works fine on tv



## mbartlett44 (Jun 6, 2010)

I am using the Tivo Roamio OTA I purchased at best buy with a Sumsung LCD tv, using an indoor hdtv antenna

The signal strength meter shows max at 72 and can go as low as 60. I get a pixilated picture, especially during windy conditions when it drops below 70.

However, it I plug the sane antenna directly into the tv, the picture is stable, always.

My only guess after searching the forums is that because the Roamio has 4 tuners, it must be splitting the signal and losing quality.

I hear conflicting opinions on whether a inline amplifier would work. 

I checked tvfool.com and the stations should all be accessible using an indoor antenna. The stations transmitters are < 15 miles north of me within 20-30 degrees.

The antenna forums are way to technical for me to decipher.

I thought about trying the ClearStream Micron-XG antenna for sale, but don't want to spend $100 for an antenna that won't help.

I also ran across a comment that said the tivo has a built in antenna amplifier, but was not good at reducing noise.

I could really use some guidance from someone with some knowledge in this area.


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## HD_Dude (Sep 11, 2006)

mbartlett44 said:


> I am using the Tivo Roamio OTA I purchased at best buy with a Sumsung LCD tv, using an indoor hdtv antenna
> 
> The signal strength meter shows max at 72 and can go as low as 60. I get a pixilated picture, especially during windy conditions when it drops below 70.
> 
> ...


Hi...

Same here.

I bought an inexpensive inline signal amplifier. Solved my problem. Works perfectly now.

I would get the inline amp, and also, take notice of how many times your antenna signal is split. Every time you split the antenna's path you lose signal strength. So, try to minimize that...like, disconnect the antenna input to your TV...and just route it thru the TiVo. Might help.


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## cosmicvoid (Oct 13, 2013)

Just a suggestion, I'm in the rural Seattle area, and had some signal strength problems due to terrain. I've been using the Kitz KT-100VG preamp since 2009, and it really cures my problems. In the $50 ballpark, it also has adjustable gain so you can set the gain to avoid overloading the Tivo input.

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv-technical/820382-lna-antenna-preamp-kitztech.html


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

I am far from an expert...

72 is pretty much the max most see with a Roamio after letting the signal strength settle down for a minute or so. Even though the numbering scale of signal strength can be different most people find a TV gets the same results as a Roamio. Good stations are good, bad ones are bad. 

I think if you experiment using a splitter and send the antenna to the TV and the Roamio at the same time and use the TV's remote to quickly switch between the TV and the Roamio you will find they get the same reception. In my case, it turned out that it was Truck traffic that interfered with reception, took a long time to isolate that as the problem. Fortunately, during prime time, here, there is about no truck traffic, so its not really a problem. 

Also I ended up putting an large outdoor antenna indoors, in an inside hallway, it works much better than those small antennas. At least for me those small flat antennas weren't really any better than a set of rabbit ears, just a waste of money.


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## RockyBob (May 19, 2014)

I have the same problem of poor video quality (picture tears, freezes and breaks) with my Roamio. Before I knew it was the Roamio I upgraded to an expensive, high gain outdoor antenna with pre-amp. After the upgrade and after seeing no improvement in picture quality, I experimented by moving the antenna coax directly from the TiVo to the TV (two different Samsung LCD sets, actually). With either TV connected directly to the antenna coax the picture is rock solid, but seconds later with the TiVo in line the tears come back. Back and forth, seconds apart; TiVo/tears, no TiVo/ no tears. TiVo technical support is worse than useless; they seem to think (or at least they are told to say) that of course the TiVo must reduce signal strength by 75% because the signal is split into four tuners -- of course TiVo doesn't put a preamp in front of the four-way split. 

I contemplated switching to the new TiVo box (bolt?) and asked support about a preamp in that box. NOPE! No preamp there, either. Is TiVo conspiring with the cable/satellite companies to make OTA unworkable? Hmmm ?

I now have a second preamp in line but it doesn't seem to help.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

RockyBob said:


> ...the TiVo must reduce signal strength by 75% because the signal is split into four tuners..


I am pretty sure that is just a myth. I can't find it but a while back someone who works in broadcast tv said not with todays electronics.

It could be a defective Roamio, if it is a recent purchase, BestBuy should replace it.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

RockyBob said:


> I contemplated switching to the new TiVo box (bolt?) and asked support about a preamp in that box. NOPE! No preamp there, either. Is TiVo conspiring with the cable/satellite companies to make OTA unworkable? Hmmm ?
> 
> I now have a second preamp in line but it doesn't seem to help.


There are two locations to check the signal level you are receiving. First is what, for OTA, is usually 72. That's the one shown with Account & System Info, TiVo box Diagnostics. This gives you the signal after it has been adjusted by the AGC circuit for each tuner. It's usually pretty steady and includes the "SNR".

The other location is in Settings, Channels, Signal Strength. This will be more real time and can vary quite a bit. You can change the frequency (channel) there also. The signal on your TV is normally shown after its AGC circuit has adjusted it. Sometimes it's even labeled AGC %.


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## RockyBob (May 19, 2014)

jth tv said:


> I am pretty sure that is just a myth. I can't find it but a while back someone who works in broadcast tv said not with todays electronics.
> 
> It could be a defective Roamio, if it is a recent purchase, BestBuy should replace it.


It isn't a myth. The total energy output of an antenna is extremely limited, unlike, for example, the power in house wiring. That is why any two-way splitter will indicate that the signal strength is down by 3 db. 3 db is essentially halving the power. A four-way splitter will attenuate by 6 db. TiVo support fully agrees with this, as do RF engineers. The trick is to boost the signal before splitting, something that would cost TiVo pennies per unit if they were so inclined.


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## RockyBob (May 19, 2014)

RockyBob said:


> It isn't a myth. The total energy output of an antenna is extremely limited, unlike, for example, the power in house wiring. That is why any two-way splitter will indicate that the signal strength is down by 3 db. 3 db is essentially halving the power. A four-way splitter will attenuate by 6 db. TiVo support fully agrees with this, as do RF engineers. The trick is to boost the signal before splitting, something that would cost TiVo pennies per unit if they were so inclined.


From channel master website:
Channel Master TV splitters are designed to equally divide the signals on the input port of the splitter to each of the output ports. Graphically, it looks like Figure 1. As this shows, 100% of the signal level is put into the input port, and 50% of the signal is on each of the output ports. This is typically measured in dB. A splitter will have approximately 3.5 dB of loss on each port.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

jth tv said:


> In my case, it turned out that it was Truck traffic that interfered with reception, took a long time to isolate that as the problem. Fortunately, during prime time, here, there is about no truck traffic, so its not really a problem.


Also not an expert, but that sounds more like multipath interference. An attenuator might help more than an amplifier.


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## mbartlett44 (Jun 6, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I think I will try the KT-100VG amp.

I may also try returning it for a replacement, but since it's the day after Christmas, I will wait, don't want to deal with the long lines. Should have dealt with this sooner.

I was not using a splitter, but regards to the truck, I do live in some woods so I may be experiencing the same effect. However, it doesn't bother the signal if antenna is just plugged into the tv.

I will also test the other location for checking the signal strength, see if that gives me any insight. 

I don't think my tv has a setting on it that shows me the channel strength, and I also read it wasn't fair to compare the tivo vs tv's numbers anyway.


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## mbartlett44 (Jun 6, 2010)

GoodSpike said:


> Also not an expert, but that sounds more like multipath interference. An attenuator might help more than an amplifier.


What is the difference in an apmplifier and attenuator. Since I live in the woods, do you think I might also need an attenuator? Do you have any suggestions on which to get?


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## RockyBob (May 19, 2014)

This is weird. I have a Winegard powered preamp at the outdoor antenna (with the preamp power supply providing power at the TV end of the coax.) I have a Trisonic 36 db preamp at the TV location. When no preamps are used the TiVo says "32% Signal strength". When I insert either preamp into the line the TiVo remains unchanged; with both inline it reports 35% signal strength. I'm guessing that preamps may be output limited; regardless of input strength they may be designed to only put out a limited amount.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

mbartlett44 said:


> What is the difference in an apmplifier and attenuator. Since I live in the woods, do you think I might also need an attenuator? Do you have any suggestions on which to get?


An attenuator reduces the signal, so it's just the opposite of an amplifier. I actually thought about trees before posting, and don't have an opinion on that, but I think the devices are fairly cheap so it might be worth a try. Trucks seemingly would be clearly multipath, while trees could be just signal degradation/blockage.

FM car radios from the 70s had a switch for FM reception, and I forget how they were labeled, but they were basically reduced the signal to reduce the impact of multipath. The idea is to reduce the reflected signal to the point where it doesn't affect the tuner.

At my old house I had a Radio Shack "RF Signal Attenuator" 15-678, which could vary the level of attenuation. They don't seem to sell that any longer, but if you buy one I would try to find one that you can adjust.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

We need better tools for antennas, I wish Tivo would have a timestamped signal strength log so we can watch the effect of tweaks over time.

I have 4 ways of tuning TV, a Tivo, a portable TV, a large TV and a Homeworx HW-150PVR. They all get the same results, good stations are good, bad are bad. The antenna is about 6 feet away. I currently use No amps, no splitters, didn't see any difference using them or not, well within the margin of error.

I found the discussion I was thinking about (the myth):
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=531291

Message 22 onward


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## dstrong (Oct 22, 2015)

My own experience after buying an OTA a few months ago...I'm only 8 miles from the cluster of antennas where I get all my stations. I figured an Weingard indoor flat antenna would do the trick but I couldn't get it to pick up Fox AND PBS at the same time. So I returned the flat antenna and bought the Weingard "FreeTV" antenna and put it in the attic. I mounted it on a loose 6' 2x4 so I could change positions by resting it between the rafters...I could change the location and the direction easily to get the best reception. I was still having a little difficulty and on a whim, rotated the antenna about 45-degrees, so instead of the crossbars (whatever they're called) running vertically and horizontally, everything is at 45-degree angles...cleared everything up.


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## IrishOyes (Jun 18, 2016)

Same issue for me: I have a powerful HD antenna that was installed on the outside of my house up at the attic level (3rd story). Certain channels (especially the one VHF transmission still used by ABC) come in perfect when I connect the antenna cable directly to my HD TV. But upon connecting the antenna cable to the Tivo Roamio OTA, the VHF degrades and sometimes is completely unwatchable.

Don't know what to do as there are several ABC shows I want to record and the signal is pixelated and jumpy.

Any ideas?


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

Where are you located ? Both my Roamio Basic and my TV started having problems here in Los Angeles with ABC7 (VHF RF7) after it working pretty close to perfectly for 2 years. It was the strongest signal, but now at certain times the signal strength per Roamio is 50% or lower and becomes unwatchable. Almost all the time I check it, it is fine but 3 recent recordings of the 6:30 Evening news where unwatchable and there were periods of unwatchable during Saturdays college football recordings. At this point I am thinking local interference but it could be the station itself or anything. 

I pulled out an old Homeworx DVR (USB) and rabbit ears and set it up as a backup to the Roamio for ABC7. The rabbit ears can be set for good ABC7 during the interference but few other stations come in. When Roamio gets bad ABC7, Homeworx with rabbit ears says signal strength is 80%. When the Roamio gets good ABC7, Homeworx says 98%, so they are both seeing the interference, its the placement of the rabbit ears which makes the difference. The old Homeworx has worst remote but hopefully the problem is only temporary. If not I'll have to get more USB space. Or try something else.

I need better tools.

Update 2016-09-28:

My window fan is the problem. Fan On, bad reception ABC7, fan Off, good reception ABC7. I am using a outdoor antenna indoors in an inside hallway semi-pointed at the fan and the exterior walls are stucco.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

I have reception problems with my Roamio OTA Tivo 1TB. Old Tivo HD perfect reception with same antenna. Also Samsung UHD TV perfect reception. I connected antenna to both the Tivo Roamio OTA and Samsung TV with a splitter to compare. Samsung perfect, Tivo Roamio problematic. By the way the Roamio is my second one since first one replaced under warranty (bad hard drive). Both had same reception problems. Clearly a reduction in tuner quality I assume to save a few pennies in production. By the way Tivo essentially admitted as much when I questioned the tuner quality. Tivo tech's response was that the signal goes to 4 tuners hence more problematic.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

I think it is fair to say that, for most people, including me, reception for a Roamio is the same as for their TV. Good stations are good, bad ones are bad.

It probably has nothing to do with there being 4 tuners. See message 22 and replies
Roamio OTA tuners not good?

For me reception problems have to do with truck traffic, which is, fortunately, practically non-existent during prime time. Took a while to figure that out. Also, turns out my window fan makes channel 7 unwatchable, so I turn the fan off if there is something to watch/record. I use a outdoor antenna indoors.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

To clarrify: I am using an indoor antenna in Manhattan surrounded by other structures. Nevertheless I had perfect reception on all channels with my old Tivo HD (Series 3) and continue to have perfect reception with My Samsung UHD TV. Both Tivo Roamios couldn't/cannot receive all the channels without problems using same antenna. I think that if I lived in a more open area using an outdoor antenna reception would be fine with the Roamios. By the way, I had the same reception problems when I tried competitor DVR's, Tablo & Channel Master+. So I think across the board DVR makers are using lower quality tuners as far as signal processing goes.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

MikeBr said:


> To clarrify: I am using an indoor antenna in Manhattan surrounded by other structures. Nevertheless I had perfect reception on all channels with my old Tivo HD (Series 3) and continue to have perfect reception with My Samsung UHD TV. Both Tivo Roamios couldn't/cannot receive all the channels without problems using same antenna. I think that if I lived in a more open area using an outdoor antenna reception would be fine with the Roamios. By the way, I had the same reception problems when I tried competitor DVR's, Tablo & Channel Master+. So I think across the board DVR makers are using lower quality tuners as far as signal processing goes.


Not exactly. A TV has just 1 tuner and would get excellent 100% signal and picture. The Series 3 Tivo has 2 tuners and you may get 90% (estimated)
Roamio has 4 tuners so you may get 70% and less on weaker stations.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

Yes but both the Tablo DVR and the Channel Master DVR+ had 2 tuners like my old Tivo HD. Only the Tivo HD (2 tuners) received signals without problems. While I agree that 4 tuners may be a valid reason for reception problems it seems to me that an OTA only DVR should have an excellent tuner capable of dealing with weaker signal. Actually using the Roamio's signal strength meter shows signal solidly in green at over 60%. I suspect the tuner cannot handle "multipath" interference that would be commonplace when surrounded by tall buildings as I am in NYC as well as the old Tivo did.


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## 19972000muskrat (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi all. Just bought a Tivo Roamio 1G OTA during Amazons sale still waiting for it to arrive. You guys are scaring me with your reception issues. I went through a lot of issues when I just moved into a new house I have been using a Windows Media Center on Windows 7 as my OTA recorder for sometime but also had a series 2 Directivo for 17 years that finally went out. Any how here is my thread on The GreenButton View topic - Tuners show full strength on all channels but still stutter long story short metal duct work was causing most of my issue best I could tell.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

19972000muskrat said:


> Hi all. Just bought a Tivo Roamio 1G OTA during Amazons sale still waiting for it to arrive. You guys are scaring me with your reception issues. I went through a lot of issues when I just moved into a new house I have been using a Windows Media Center on Windows 7 as my OTA recorder for sometime but also had a series 2 Directivo for 17 years that finally went out. Any how here is my thread on The GreenButton View topic - Tuners show full strength on all channels but still stutter long story short metal duct work was causing most of my issue best I could tell.


If you live in a city apartment building using an indoor antenna surrounded by tall buildings as I do you may well have reception problems with the Roamio OTA only DVR. But if you live in a house and can install an outdoor antenna and aren't surrounded by tall buildings I suspect it should be okay.


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## BOSTON-HD (Feb 8, 2017)

I owned an Antenna's Direct DB4 for the last 6+ years. Moved over to a Channel Master 4228HD. Problem solved. I'm 33 miles away from the main towers & I'm not in a good spot.


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## 19972000muskrat (Jan 2, 2008)

Found this site when I was having issues. http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/siting.html some reason seems to be offline the last couple days so try this wayback link Siting the antenna . It has the best explanation for how signals travel that I have run across.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

19972000muskrat said:


> Found this site when I was having issues. http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/siting.html some reason seems to be offline the last couple days so try this wayback link Siting the antenna . It has the best explanation for how signals travel that I have run across.


Links do not work. I do not have line-of-sight to transmitter. I'm fairly certain that my reception environment is not ideal as I have to depend on an indoor antenna in an apartment building surrounded by other buildings. Nevertheless my reception is excellent with antenna plugged directly into the TV or was also excellent plugged into my old Tivo HD (Series 3). Unfortunately not good when plugged into Tivo Roamio OTA DVR. Also, antenna placement is very critical in my apartment. A few inches away from present placement can cause loss of signal.


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## Saturn_V (Jun 2, 2007)

I resurrected a TiVo HD recently for use in my bedroom, and I needed to put an Antenna Amplifiier in between the antenna and the splitter to make it work. 

It was on a splitter in its previous location, and didn't need an amp. (direct LOS with towers, <10 miles) Moving the DVR to the opposite side of the house with several walls in between apparently blew the reception. I had a spare amp from an older antenna and it worked just fine. 

It may help you, since amps are designed to overcome signal loss due to long cable runs and splitters. But I wouldn't spend more than $20 on an amp.


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## MikeBr (Mar 5, 2017)

Saturn_V said:


> I resurrected a TiVo HD recently for use in my bedroom, and I needed to put an Antenna Amplifiier in between the antenna and the splitter to make it work.
> 
> It was on a splitter in its previous location, and didn't need an amp. (direct LOS with towers, <10 miles) Moving the DVR to the opposite side of the house with several walls in between apparently blew the reception. I had a spare amp from an older antenna and it worked just fine.
> 
> It may help you, since amps are designed to overcome signal loss due to long cable runs and splitters. But I wouldn't spend more than $20 on an amp.


I did use an amp but made no difference. The signal is strong in my apartment and my old Tivo HD worked with perfect reception with & without the amp as does my new Samsung UHD TV. Unfortunately the Tivo Roamio does not receive as well as the old Tivo HD. Also this is the second Roamio OTA that replaced one with a bad hard drive. Both had the same reception problems however so that tells me that the tuner is lower quality.


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## OldRadioGuy (Nov 15, 2018)

I have the same problem as described in the title of this thread. Two different antennas -- one, a directional designed for medium distance in the attic, the other a directional, flat device attached to the back of a cabinet that's pointed at the local antenna farm about 8 miles away. When either is connected directly to the antenna input on my Roku TV receiver, the HD signal is good on all of the channels I receive. When either is connected directly to the TiVo device, the ABC, CBS and NBC channels suffer from signal disruption -- picture and audio loss -- whenever the wind is blowing. A couple of the channels have some signal degradation and breakup at other times.

The problem is twofold: 1) the growth of trees and leaves in the signal path between source and antenna, and 2) the signal loss within the TiVo device itself. Line amplifiers don't help. It's obvious the circuit design in the TiVo box does not compensate for distribution loss among multiple tuners, recorders, etc.

This will eventually force me to return to conventional cable or Google Fiber, if we ever get it was promised!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

I also have the weak signals whenever its overcast or foggy, because the line-of-sight is less favorable.


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## mkaye (Jan 11, 2016)

i have a TiVo Roamio OTA, it was working perfectly since 2015 - Premier before that (Kitz amp & DB8e)
earlier this year the fan stopped and it got quite warm until i discovered it, replaced with better fan, not just barely warm
not absolutely sure, but around the same time i started having audio issues, some video but mostly audio i.e. breakup, missing words 
i thought that the heat may have damaged something
downloaded videos play perfectly

called TiVo and did some troubleshooting
strength is OK, but SNR is 27-29 on the 4 tuners, RS uncorrected is a large # when SNR < 29

i removed the splitter (to Samsung which works perfectly) and the SNR got worse - the opposite of what i expected
this makes me believe that the signal is too strong?

i have to see if i can dig up another splitter to reduce the signal a bit more
am i on the right track?
could the Roamio be defective?

mark


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

mkaye said:


> i have a TiVo Roamio OTA, it was working perfectly since 2015 - Premier before that (Kitz amp & DB8e)
> earlier this year the fan stopped and it got quite warm until i discovered it, replaced with better fan, not just barely warm
> not absolutely sure, but around the same time i started having audio issues, some video but mostly audio i.e. breakup, missing words
> i thought that the heat may have damaged something
> ...


I have a Roamio Base model (4 tuner) running in OTA mode, which should be electrically equivalent to the Roamio OTA, I believe. My experience indicates SNR of 27-29 should be plenty good and lead to very small or zero RS uncorrected counts. What values are your signal strengths? Very doubtful the problem is too strong a signal. My strengths range from 50 to 85 with great video quality at all levels.

Unfortunately, SNR and strength don't tell the whole story. One of my stations pixellates if the antenna isn't aimed just right and its strength falls below 60. Another station is perfect with a signal strength of 48.

And it could be your tuners were damaged by overheating.


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## mkaye (Jan 11, 2016)

checked right now
ch tuner signal snr unc cor status
11 0 67 27 0 0 ok
4 1 67 27 0 0 ok
65 2 72 29 0 0 ok
4 3 67 27 957M 0 ok

no dropouts at the moment

so i see ch 4 on tuner 1 & 3 - tuner 1 seems OK, but tuner 3 has an uncorrected value of 957000000+
does that mean a damaged tuner?

mark

another 3.5dB splitter did not help


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

The tuner 3 signal strength and SNR numbers would normally yield good reception. Juggle your channel tuning around until Ch 4 is on other tuners. Do the problems follow Ch 4 or is it always tuner 3?


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## uneekarts (Aug 21, 2016)

Same problem here. Ant cable to TV good reception, to Tivo bad. This problem has been around for 5 years and Tivo should fix it.


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## mkaye (Jan 11, 2016)

last night

ch 6 tuner 1
signal=57% snr=24 uncor=400M+ cor=0 pixellation and audio issues
i had uncorrected of 300M & 400M on 2 other stations on 2 other tuners, but picture was OK


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Switch to channel 4 in Live TV, then reboot. When it comes back up all four tuners should be on that channel. Let it run for a few minutes and go back into diagnostics. If one tuner shows radically different signal strength or RS numbers, it's probably bad. I would also repeat that test on one of the good channels.

Do you have multiple selections for channel 4-1 in your channel list? One of them might be for a repeater or even another market. In Houston I show 2 or 3 choices for every antenna channel.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Comparing a TV, which has just 1 tuner, with a Tivo (4-6) tuners is like splitting the coax 4-6 times before inputting it into the TV. The signal strength would be a bit lower with each split.


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## 53richart (Feb 26, 2019)

Once upon a time someone told me that over the air Tivos amplified the incoming signal before splitting it. I can't verify if that is true or not. Does anyone know for sure?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

One cable from the pole. Splits to feed TV and modem. Viewing room has one Premiere, one TV, a TE3 Roamio and a TE4 Roamio. All get fed from one old Radio Shack one to four powered splitter. I get about 200 channels. Signal levels:
2-Tuner Premiere 80% to 85%
TV 75% to 80%
Both Roamio 87% to 90% and 35dB to 36dB respectively. 90% of the channels are 90%.

TE3 Roamio on different line from the box is 87% to 90%, 35db to 36db.

Those are my numbers. Been the same for the last 3 years when my cable company rebuilt all the infrastructure. BTW, cable modem (SB8200) has 24 downstream channels with all channels about 2-3dBmV and 41dB SNR. Zero errors on all equipment except one cable channel. That might be LTE and it gets about 100 per month.
Into the weeds:


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

53richart said:


> Once upon a time someone told me that over the air Tivos amplified the incoming signal before splitting it. I can't verify if that is true or not. Does anyone know for sure?


Whether true or not, what really counts is what the _overall_ sensitivity of each tuner channel is. A design without amplication could still outperform one with amplification if the tuner sensitivity is more than 4X better.


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## Sheffield Steve (Jun 11, 2010)

It has been my experience that the Roamio will fail in this way when the signal is too STRONG. (And the TV will accept the stronger signal OK).

I had the same experience, tried an amp., etc., all to no avail. (72% is the max you will ever see regardless of the actual signal)

In the end what fixed it for me was 9db's worth of signal attenuators.


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## vaquero (Jan 14, 2020)

I have a Roamio OTA with four tuners. How do I determine which tuner I'm using while watching TV, doing a signal strength test, etc.?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

There is no method that will show you which tuner is the one used by TV *directly*. You can look at Diagnostics and see which of the four tuners is on that channel. Diagnostics look like this:







That's my channel 502. Scroll down for more tuners and information.

Note that my Signal Strength of 90% is normal for cable. The OTA normal is 72%.


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## vaquero (Jan 14, 2020)

My Roamio is showing 72% on all channels, even those which I can't pick up. I'm assuming the signal strength meter isn't working. Any ideas?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

vaquero said:


> My Roamio is showing 72% on all channels, even those which I can't pick up. I'm assuming the signal strength meter isn't working. Any ideas?


I never use it, especially since it locks up the device if you change channels. Last I looked, it worked. But since it sets all tuners to the channel you are testing, I'll pass on checking it now. The numbers in Diagnostics are dynamic. They will change if the signal changes.

If you show 72% on a channel, you are receiving it. It may not have any content. What are its call letters and frequency?


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## vaquero (Jan 14, 2020)

JoeKustra said:


> I never use it, especially since it locks up the device if you change channels. Last I looked, it worked. But since it sets all tuners to the channel you are testing, I'll pass on checking it now. The numbers in Diagnostics are dynamic. They will change if the signal changes.
> 
> If you show 72% on a channel, you are receiving it. It may not have any content. What are its call letters and frequency?


I did a search and found this to be a common known problem from last year. Not a big deal, but it seems like they could fix it with an update.

Thanks for responding.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> If you show 72% on a channel, you are receiving it. It may not have any content.


Not so. If he is looking a the signal strength meter, it has had several KNOWN problems and has not worked correctly for over a year

One specific problem that I verified on my TE4 Bolt last year was that the signal strength screen would show the signal strength for the FIRST channel in the channel list, and would continue showing that same signal strength for ANY channel selected. For me, that first channel was 2.1, and a valid channel with a signal, so all channels showed the same signal strength (even the BOGUS channels that I could not receive). For others, that first channel was sometimes a BOGUS channel that they could not receive, so NO channels would show any signal strength at all.

Since there have been numerous software updates release since these bugs were first reported, Bad_Rovi has proven that they have NO INTEREST AT ALL in fixing the signal strength meter - they are way too busy trying to find new ways to force unwanted commercials on us than fixing their broken software.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

V7Goose said:


> Not so. If he is looking a the signal strength meter, it has had several KNOWN problems and has not worked correctly for over a year


I'm sure your are right. I never use that function. I asked the poster to use Diagnostics.


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## Sptrader (Oct 7, 2017)

I thought I'd describe my OTA setup, since it works well with my OTA Roamio. I'm about 15-20 miles from the TV stations, so I expected pretty good reception. I didn't want an outdoor antenna, so I did the next best thing and I use an antenna in the attic. I tried a large CM antenna and a 1 foot square flat panel type, surprisingly, they both gave the same signal strength. Since the flat panel is easier to maneuver, I use that one with a CM 4 output amplified splitter(also in the attic). Amplifiers and splitters need to be as close to the antenna as possible. To accurately adjust the antenna direction, I put a small cheap security camera in front of my main TV, set the Tivo to "Channel signal strength" on my weakest TV channel and watched the signal strength on my phone in the attic. That way the signal is adjusted, allowing for the coax cable length and I know EXACTLY what to expect on the TV, when the antenna is adjusted. Just moving the antenna a few feet in all directions made a huge difference. Sorry for the long winded explanation but it works great for me. All channels are 67-72 and steady.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Try that with 2 antennas combined together after optimizing each one separately.

Probably fix you right up.

-KP


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