I'm not sure exactly when it was added to AVS -- maybe last summer?

Most forums (including TCF) still haven't implemented that feature.The [table] tag was added at my request--I first used in this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14421798#post14421798) post, after finding it in a vBulletin forum and begging for it in the Forum Operations forum (David Bott saw my request and installed it less than an hour after I asked for it :)). Maybe someone else found macros for /[aname] and requested that they be added.

EDIT: I googled '"[jumpto] tag"' and found this (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224630&highlight=bbcode) in the vBulletin forums. [jumpto=] and are just extremely simple vBulletin macro wrappers around HTML <a href=></a> and <a name=></a> pairs and looks like it would take about 5 minutes to add to any vBulletin-based forum (the [table] tag set (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=107985) was much more involved). You might want to use that post to request the addition of the feature in other forums where you want it (like TCF :D).

EDIT EDIT: I posted an ask for [jumpto]/[aname] and [table] in the TCF Forum Operations forum, here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7187549#post7187549).

I seem to be having a HDMI-HDCP issue with the combo of my Tivo S3, Integra DHC-9.9 pre/pro, and Optoma H79 (DVI input) projector. The setup worked when I first hooked up the TIVO, but stopped when I tried it later. I've tried powering on/off all components to no avail.
My PS3 works fine. When I remove the pre/pro it also works fine

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jason

Does anyone have the hex codes for LIST on remote address 2?

Did the code I posted work??

Dave

It was suppose to start yesterday and I have tuner adapters on my TiVos. From what I read on the video and audio pids it says 0 on the tuner adapter diagnostics yet on my TiVo diagnostic screen it says Channels Received: Yes.

Can someone please help?

I have a confession. I watch pro wrestling. Not WWE, I watch TNA on Spike.

I've had a season pass for probably a year now. I noticed last Thursdays was not recorded. I thought probably a conflict, it will record it on Saturday.

So I took a look today and no recording. I check my To Do List and I see the "not recorded because of 28 day rule." Huh, that never happened. So I look at the SP and it says "No upcoming episodes."

Now I know this is wrong so I check the guide and sure enough there it is on Thursday at 9:00 pm. Even if it was a repeat, or had guide data saying it was a repeat it still should have shown me upcoming episodes.

I tell it to record this episode and go back to my SP. Still no recordings listed. I do a search by name and it finds it right away. I created a second SP and now it seems fine.

So, one of you guys that are tech geniuses tell me what happened here? Why would the SP just stop working? This is the crap I got from the SA 8300 and I've never seen this before with TiVo.

i had the same problem with Spike TNA last week but with my directv HR21. i had a SP for it but noticed it was not in the to do list, so i just hit the R button and got it recorded. This weeks show was in the to do list but last weeks was just skipped?? had to be a guide/program issue of some kind that Tribune got screwed up since it affected your Tivo hd and my directv hd dvr, tribune and the guide data is the common problem..

I have a confession. I watch pro wrestling. Not WWE, I watch TNA on Spike.

I've had a season pass for probably a year now. I noticed last Thursdays was not recorded. I thought probably a conflict, it will record it on Saturday.

So I took a look today and no recording. I check my To Do List and I see the "not recorded because of 28 day rule." Huh, that never happened. So I look at the SP and it says "No upcoming episodes."

Now I know this is wrong so I check the guide and sure enough there it is on Thursday at 9:00 pm. Even if it was a repeat, or had guide data saying it was a repeat it still should have shown me upcoming episodes.

I tell it to record this episode and go back to my SP. Still no recordings listed. I do a search by name and it finds it right away. I created a second SP and now it seems fine.

So, one of you guys that are tech geniuses tell me what happened here? Why would the SP just stop working? This is the crap I got from the SA 8300 and I've never seen this before with TiVo.
i had the same problem with Spike TNA last week but with my directv HR21. i had a SP for it but noticed it was not in the to do list, so i just hit the R button and got it recorded. This weeks show was in the to do list but last weeks was just skipped?? had to be a guide/program issue of some kind that Tribune got screwed up since it affected your Tivo hd and my directv hd dvr, tribune and the guide data is the common problem..
Hook -- I agree with dssturbo. It seems to me that the problem probably was with the guide data, not with your S3. In the two and a half years I have had my S3 I have never had a scheduling glitch that I could blame on an out and out TiVo malfunction. Sometimes it has happened because of TiVo's arcane rules having to do with establishing the priority to be given to two programs that want to be recorded at the same time, but never to a genuine failure of the box or its software to do what it had promised.

Hook -- I agree with dssturbo. It seems to me that the problem probably was with the guide data, not with your S3. In the two and a half years I have had my S3 I have never had a scheduling glitch that I could blame on an out and out TiVo malfunction. Sometimes it has happened because of TiVo's arcane rules having to do with establishing the priority to be given to two programs that want to be recorded at the same time, but never to a genuine failure of the box or its software to do what it had promised.

I agree too. I knew there had to be a logical explanation. :)

I've seen this 2 or 3 times so far on SPs, and it's really annoying. Something changes in the guide data to make Tivo think that the show is not there (program ID changes or something), so it won't record anything with that title and says that there are no eps upcoming. The easy fix is to delete and recreate the SP, but since you never know when it's going to happen you can randomly miss show recordings if you don't check the To Do list every week. And just happen to know when your show is coming back on (Mythbusters, I'm looking at you..). Which is kind of hard if you're always skipping commercials since you don't see the promos for new shows.

It's not a very friendly 'bug' - I think something's wrong in the periodic To Do list processing, because it should always try to match SP recordings by title/channel just as the user wants, not by some hidden program info. Even if the guide data has changed in some way, the Tivo should be smart enough to figure it out.

I've seen this 2 or 3 times so far on SPs, and it's really annoying. Something changes in the guide data to make Tivo think that the show is not there (program ID changes or something), so it won't record anything with that title and says that there are no eps upcoming. The easy fix is to delete and recreate the SP, but since you never know when it's going to happen you can randomly miss show recordings if you don't check the To Do list every week. And just happen to know when your show is coming back on (Mythbusters, I'm looking at you..). Which is kind of hard if you're always skipping commercials since you don't see the promos for new shows.

It's not a very friendly 'bug' - I think something's wrong in the periodic To Do list processing, because it should always try to match SP recordings by title/channel just as the user wants, not by some hidden program info. Even if the guide data has changed in some way, the Tivo should be smart enough to figure it out.
What scares me the most about missing a show without notice, despite its having been included on the Season Pass list, is that it happens behind our backs because the Tribune Media Services tech who encodes the guide data does something the TiVo software could not have anticipated. That's bad!

Does anyone have a strong feeling with regard to the "best" "Signal Strength" and/or "best" SNR for a TiVo S3 with Comcast digital cable service?

Over the past four weeks, we've had a bunch of partial recordings -- recordings seemingly a minute or two short, but in reality they're just missing a bunch of frames, resulting in corruption of the playback so bad that it made the program unwatcheable. We've had this problem before, and typically I've attributed it to TiVo's lack of robustness, especially with regard to having an eSATA drive connected. Back then, rebooting seemed to have resolved the problem for a while at least. Eventually, a software update seemed to eradicate the problem. However, now it is back.

It could be the recent software update that caused the problem to return. It could also be that something disturbed the eSATA connection. I've reseated it, firmly, now, but we haven't watched any recordings made since I did that, and even so, we have only been losing two or three recordings out of every thirty, so it would be too soon to tell anyway.

I also replaced a 1-to-3 splitter (splitting the cable between cable modem, TiVo and television) with a 1-to-2 (taking the television out of the system). That changed our Signal Strength and SNR significantly, from 86/34dB to 95/35dB. Have I done myself a favor here, or is our signal getting too hot?

Of course, I've violated Demings' principle that you shouldn't change two parameters at the same time . . .

Does anyone have a strong feeling with regard to the "best" "Signal Strength" and/or "best" SNR for a TiVo S3 with Comcast digital cable service?

Over the past four weeks, we've had a bunch of partial recordings -- recordings seemingly a minute or two short, but in reality they're just missing a bunch of frames, resulting in corruption of the playback so bad that it made the program unwatcheable. We've had this problem before, and typically I've attributed it to TiVo's lack of robustness, especially with regard to having an eSATA drive connected. Back then, rebooting seemed to have resolved the problem for a while at least. Eventually, a software update seemed to eradicate the problem. However, now it is back.

It could be the recent software update that caused the problem to return. It could also be that something disturbed the eSATA connection. I've reseated it, firmly, now, but we haven't watched any recordings made since I did that, and even so, we have only been losing two or three recordings out of every thirty, so it would be too soon to tell anyway.

I also replaced a 1-to-3 splitter (splitting the cable between cable modem, TiVo and television) with a 1-to-2 (taking the television out of the system). That changed our Signal Strength and SNR significantly, from 86/34dB to 95/35dB. Have I done myself a favor here, or is our signal getting too hot?

Of course, I've violated Demings' principle that you shouldn't change two parameters at the same time . . .

For the S3, I would expect to see a signal strength between 85 and 100 with a minimum SNR of 34db for best results. The S3 doesnt like too much signal. If its pegged at 100... you may have too much. I have a 6db attenuator on mine and am seeing between 90 and 100 with 34-35db SNR.

The THD seems to do much better with high signal levels. It also shows higher SNR levels.

Sounds like you are in great shape. Watch the RS Uncorrected number. That ultimately tells you how good your signal is. Ultimately, it should be zero. Note that every time the channel changes or a recording starts or stops, the counter resets to zero.

If my TivoHD works flawlessly on Time Warner Raleigh clear QAM HD channels, but breaks up (video and audio) fairly frequently when watching, for example Hockey on Versus HD, and also FoxSports, would that seem to point to a cable card issue?

I have a single Mcard. I also have a tuning adapter, but I'm not daisy chaining the TA and overdriving the signal. That's the first thing I thought of actually, but VersusHD signal seems steady at 85%, and 34db s/n ratio. Sometimes it will work perfectly for 30 mins at a stretch, them WHAM, just when the games gets really going, massive break-up.

It's killing me on the race for the Stanley Cup! Can anyone advise? Should I try to get TWC to give me a new Mcard?

If my TivoHD works flawlessly on Time Warner Raleigh clear QAM HD channels, but breaks up (video and audio) fairly frequently when watching, for example Hockey on Versus HD, and also FoxSports, would that seem to point to a cable card issue?

I have a single Mcard. I also have a tuning adapter, but I'm not daisy chaining the TA and overdriving the signal. That's the first thing I thought of actually, but VersusHD signal seems steady at 85%, and 34db s/n ratio. Sometimes it will work perfectly for 30 mins at a stretch, them WHAM, just when the games gets really going, massive break-up.

It's killing me on the race for the Stanley Cup! Can anyone advise? Should I try to get TWC to give me a new Mcard?

This sounds very similar to something that some guys in my area are experiencing. We are not certain but evidence seems to point at SDV as being the problem. Until they started SDV they had no problem.

I have seen a video of one guys problem and it sounds similar to yours. He does not have a TiVo. So far Time Warner is saying it's some sort of a line issue because the signal to his house seems to be fine but to the best of my knowledge they have not fixed the problem.

I don't think replacing your M card is going to make a difference. I would have them check your signal. What you see off of TiVo is not as accurate as what they can do. It may very well just be a signal problem.

Whatever, it's time for a truck roll. Have them come out and check it out.

I have a single Mcard. I also have a tuning adapter, but I'm not daisy chaining the TA and overdriving the signal.I have a TA and if I split the cable from the wall between TiVo and the TA, either using the TA's internal splitter or using an external splitter, the TA will interfere with reception of the QAM carrier at 525 MHz (which contains the rebroadcast of the local Fox affiliate's DTV channel--can't live without that). The only solution that I've come up with was to run a separate cable in from an outlet in an adjacent room, until I can go to the cable company's office and get a new TA to try.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the problem channels are SDV.

I do have a tangled mess on cable run:

100 feet from street
2 way split to TWC DVR in room over detached garage
100 feet to equipment closet
2 way split to roadrunner
4 way amplified split to various rooms
75 feet to theater room
2 way split to Tuning Adapter

Total splits: 4. Seems dicey, but clear QAM and analog cable is flawless. ESPN HD which is not SDV is also flawless, so the assertion that it's SDV seems to make sense.

The Tuning adapter feedback issue michaeltscott mentioned is very interesting as well, but I'd think it could only affect one slice of the bandwidth (i.e. one channel) as he mentioned. So many things talking and listening on that cable; I know they are different freqs, but what about DC offset or 60 hz noise? Can that sort of thing offset input signals above the limits, or does Tivo filter that low freq stuff pretty well?

As far as truck roll, I agree, but the amplified splitter was TWCs solution to get my tivo digital signals to work in the first place. Any tips as to what I should push for or ask them to do/measure, and at what points? Sometimes they play dumb.

As far as truck roll, I agree, but the amplified splitter was TWCs solution to get my tivo digital signals to work in the first place. Any tips as to what I should push for or ask them to do/measure, and at what points? Sometimes they play dumb.

My amplifier was installed before I ever got TiVo. There shouldn't be any reason you need an amplifier just because you have a TiVo. I think that's BS.

I really wish I could give you some more advice, other then to stick to your guns and if your not satisfied with the call, don't sign the sheet and ask for the managers number from the tech. If he doesn't give it to you I would try to find out who the head honcho is in your area. I have the President of TW North East Ohio's email, and while I haven't used it in over a year, I have used it. Usually it goes name.lastname@twcable.com

The Tuning adapter feedback issue michaeltscott mentioned is very interesting as well, but I'd think it could only affect one slice of the bandwidth (i.e. one channel) as he mentioned.I think that you may not understand digital cable. In the bandwidth consumed by a single analog channel, a 38.8 Mbps MPEG Transport Stream is transmitted which can contain 2 or 3 HD channels, up to 10 standard def channels, or some arbitrary combination of high- and standard-def. If reception of one is screwed up then all of them will be screwed up. In my case, the affected band contains two HD channels (Fox and PBS) and a standard-def VOD preview loop--I can't tune any of them through a cable split with the TA.

If you've got interference with reception of a band allocated to switched broadcasts, it could potentially block reception of any of the SDV channels. If you tune an SDV channel, one time it might fall in the affected stream and the next time you tune it the same channel might have been placed in another stream in a band free of interference.

I think that you may not understand digital cable.

If you've got interference with reception of a band allocated to switched broadcasts, it could potentially block reception of any of the SDV channels. If you tune an SDV channel, one time it might fall in the affected stream and the next time you tune it the same channel might have been placed in another stream in a band free of interference.


Heck no I don't understand it. :-)

So, could I tune a Versus HD Hockey game, let the TA do its thing, then disconnect the TA for the duration of the game and see if the breakup goes away?

Heck no I don't understand it. :-)

So, could I tune a Versus HD Hockey game, let the TA do its thing, then disconnect the TA for the duration of the game and see if the breakup goes away?No--it won't quite work that way. It's more like, if you come back in a day or two it might have moved. (Depends upon how popular the channel is in your network segment).

If the channel that you're watching is screwed up and its a popular one, it won't move to another band until no one in your network segment of 500-2000 people (most likely 500 or less) is watching it. Then, if no one is watching it, if the bandwidth is needed for another channel, it will be removed. When someone tunes it again, it will probably land in some other stream in some other chunk of bandwidth. (Some systems will remove it as soon as the use count drops to zero, but that's pretty inefficient).

You can check on what bands seem to be affected. If you see the problem, while you're still tuned to the channel, go to TiVo Central->Messages & Settings->Account & System Information->DVR Diagnostics. There will be two lines in there labelled "Channel". Beneath each of these is a line labelled "Frequency" (with a value something like "543000 KHz"). If one of the bands being used for switched broadcasts in your system is screwed up, everytime you check this with a screwed up SDV channel tuned, you should see the same frequency under that channel's number.

I think that you may not understand digital cable. In the bandwidth consumed by a single analog channel, a 38.8 Mbps MPEG Transport Stream is transmitted which can contain 2 or 3 HD channels, up to 10 standard def channels, or some arbitrary combination of high- and standard-def. If reception of one is screwed up then all of them will be screwed up. In my case, the affected band contains two HD channels (Fox and PBS) and a standard-def VOD preview loop--I can't tune any of them through a cable split with the TA.

If you've got interference with reception of a band allocated to switched broadcasts, it could potentially block reception of any of the SDV channels. If you tune an SDV channel, one time it might fall in the affected stream and the next time you tune it the same channel might have been placed in another stream in a band free of interference.
Holy cow! Do you want to talk about technology that's not ready for prime time? I had no idea there were so many problems. This makes me gladder than ever that for whatever reason, Cox OKC has so far opted not to implement SDV.

Holy cow! Do you want to talk about technology that's not ready for prime time? I had no idea there were so many problems. This makes me gladder than ever that for whatever reason, Cox OKC has so far opted not to implement SDV.

Yep, they are starting to implement it in my area but so far I haven't been hit. The strange thing about it is their own DVR's are being affected, not just TiVo's.

I think I'll have to comment on this in the local thread.

Yep, they are starting to implement it in my area but so far I haven't been hit. The strange thing about it is their own DVR's are being affected, not just TiVo's.

I think I'll have to comment on this in the local thread.
Cox OKC has done a really good job of improving their infrastructure and bandwidth, in my area at least. I even benefited from a several months free trial of their extra high speed Internet service. I don't recall when it expires. Anyway, maybe, for the moment at least, they think that being able to unload all the analog channels is going to give them all the breathing room they need for further expansion. Better yet, (knock wood) my S3's CableCARDs have been totally stable for several months.

Cox OKC has done a really good job of improving their infrastructure and bandwidth, in my area at least. I even benefited from a several months free trial of their extra high speed Internet service. I don't recall when it expires. Anyway, maybe, for the moment at least, they think that being able to unload all the analog channels is going to give them all the breathing room they need for further expansion. Better yet, (knock wood) my S3's CableCARDs have been totally stable for several months.

I doubt seriously that they will stop analog just because the broadcasters arn't using it. Many people are still relying on cable instead of a converter for reception so if they are analog now they will remain analog.

Unless you know something in your area I don't. That's what they are doing in my area.

If my TivoHD works flawlessly on Time Warner Raleigh clear QAM HD channels, but breaks up (video and audio) fairly frequently when watching, for example Hockey on Versus HD, and also FoxSports, would that seem to point to a cable card issue?

I have a single Mcard. I also have a tuning adapter, but I'm not daisy chaining the TA and overdriving the signal. That's the first thing I thought of actually, but VersusHD signal seems steady at 85%, and 34db s/n ratio. Sometimes it will work perfectly for 30 mins at a stretch, them WHAM, just when the games gets really going, massive break-up.

It's killing me on the race for the Stanley Cup! Can anyone advise? Should I try to get TWC to give me a new Mcard?


Hello Tivo people!! I have a SA 4250HDC and SA8300HD (dodges flying objects and torches/pitchforks) with SDV and I'm seeing the exact same problem as you. Ever since they started converting channels to SDV, many of my HD channels, mostly in the HDTV Tier(which pisses me off since it costs $6 extra a month) have been breaking up. Then when new channels were added at the end of March, those SDV channels acted the same way.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zxdc34t5-4

_Zxdc34t5-4

Holy cow! Do you want to talk about technology that's not ready for prime time? I had no idea there were so many problems. This makes me gladder than ever that for whatever reason, Cox OKC has so far opted not to implement SDV.It's not as unreliable as I might have made it sound. I haven't noticed many problems SDV channels yet and I don't believe that I've seen any service denial messages. (If the switched broadcast that you want to watch isn't present on the wire when you tune it and there's no space to put it, you can get a message telling you to try again later. This is a catestrophic condition--in a properly "tuned" system this should never happen).

It's not as unreliable as I might have made it sound. I haven't noticed many problems SDV channels yet and I don't believe that I've seen any service denial messages. (If the switched broadcast that you want to watch isn't present on the wire when you tune it and there's no space to put it, you can get a message telling you to try again later. This is a catestrophic condition--in a properly "tuned" system this should never happen).

I get those messages. Either it is a black screen with garbled sound, broken up picture/sound or the Try Again screen. I pulled up the diagnostic screen and was able to find out this always happens on channels on 585.000MHz. 573.000 and 597.000 plus the other numbers I've seen work fine.

But where is this problem? In my line? Or the tap outside the house(which has four other houses connected to it) or is it somewhere else further up the system? I know I'm not alone because another commenter on the Cleveland-TWC thread on a different part of the system, on a different head end, different box software and different box model number has the same problem as I do, and I believe on the same frequency.

It's not as unreliable as I might have made it sound. I haven't noticed many problems SDV channels yet and I don't believe that I've seen any service denial messages. (If the switched broadcast that you want to watch isn't present on the wire when you tune it and there's no space to put it, you can get a message telling you to try again later. This is a catestrophic condition--in a properly "tuned" system this should never happen).
Michael -- I inferred from your earlier post that, in your area at least, SDV does not handle split signals well. That worries me because my cable signal is split 3 ways. One leg goes to my S3, another to the 8300HD DVR that I rent from Cox, and the third to my Pioneer Kuro 6020's built in tuner. As noted in an earlier post, my setup has been remarkably stable lately, so I would hate to see some change, such as SDV, introduce new problems.

I have a TA and if I split the cable from the wall between TiVo and the TA, either using the TA's internal splitter or using an external splitter, the TA will interfere with reception of the QAM carrier at 525 MHz (which contains the rebroadcast of the local Fox affiliate's DTV channel--can't live without that). The only solution that I've come up with was to run a separate cable in from an outlet in an adjacent room, until I can go to the cable company's office and get a new TA to try.

Interesting... When you say 'interfere', what exactly to you mean? You receive nothing? pixelation? something else? What does DVR Diags indicate for that tuner? Signal Lock? Program Lock?

But where is this problem? In my line? Or the tap outside the house(which has four other houses connected to it) or is it somewhere else further up the system? I know I'm not alone because another commenter on the Cleveland-TWC thread on a different part of the system, on a different head end, different box software and different box model number has the same problem as I do, and I believe on the same frequency.I'd have the cable provider come out and check signal levels, etc. Sounds like some centralized problem with some parts of their SDV bandwidth pool, though it could be a fault in your wiring somewhere (and that other poster has a similar wiring problem). Years ago, in another location, I was missing a couple of digital channels and had static on some of the analog ones. Turned out to be a corroded old splitter in the attic, installed by my landlord many years before.
Michael -- I inferred from your earlier post that, in your area at least, SDV does not handle split signals well.I don't think that it's an area-wide problem. I got this box back in mid-January as part of customer beta-test (I was supposedly their first customer install, by two engineers and a field tech; they left from here to do the second).

I've read in TCF where others have seen a similar problem, on different frequencies. I think that its just a physical bug with my unit, some fault in the shielding or some such. I intend to get another, but I share this home and am not the cable subscriber. I have to arrange it through my housemate, and I keep forgetting to do it :rolleyes:.
Interesting... When you say 'interfere', what exactly to you mean? You receive nothing? pixelation? something else? What does DVR Diags indicate for that tuner? Signal Lock? Program Lock?I meant in-band noise added on the line. I receive nothing on those channels (usually), or a sporadic, indecipherable mosaic of blocks with no sound. Seems clear that it only intermittently gets enough of the packets of the stream to do anything with, and never enough to provide a coherent picture or sound. I assume that if there were an analog channel on the band, it would have heavy static.

Procrastinated, and didn't do anything to my line setup:

100 feet from street
2 way split to TWC DVR in room over detached garage
100 feet to equipment closet
2 way split to roadrunner
4 way amplified split to various rooms
75 feet to theater room
2 way split to Tuning Adapter
Finally to TivoHD

Got through an ENTIRE versusHD hockey game, NO BREAKUP at all! It's bizarre. Another night it would go every two minutes for 10 or 15 mins, be perfect for 20 or 30, then start back up again.

I saw the video that nickdawg posted. Mine doesn't look like that at all. He's got almost horizontal comets shooting through (how do you stand it, Nick?), and mine is more like michaeltscott "sporadic, indecipherable mosaic of blocks with no sound".

In my perfect world, it would be all playoff hockey, Sean Avery would get flattened for the last time by some big defenseman, and I'd have crystal clarity through it all. :-)

[QUOTE=wcohoe;16326915
I saw the video that nickdawg posted. Mine doesn't look like that at all. He's got almost horizontal comets shooting through (how do you stand it, Nick?), and mine is more like michaeltscott "sporadic, indecipherable mosaic of blocks with no sound".
[/QUOTE]

He's convinced himself the the SA 8300 is a good DVR. I know him well from the Cleveland local thread. But it just couldn't be the SA 8300 with Navigator. Could it?:D;):p

He's convinced himself the the SA 8300 is a good DVR. I know him well from the Cleveland local thread. But it just couldn't be the SA 8300 with Navigator. Could it?:D;):p

The 83000 blows. The damn thing won't even boot now, so I have to take it back and I'm going to ask at the payment center "what's up". I've been using the 4250HDC on my main TV the past few days(as it is more reliable) and I noticed that on the "problem" SDV channels, the picture does not break up. There is just a black screen with garbled audio. It's a little better than what I posted in the video(that was from the 8300HD).

Who would have thought I'd be in the Tivo section! ;)

I'd have the cable provider come out and check signal levels, etc. Sounds like some centralized problem with some parts of their SDV bandwidth pool, though it could be a fault in your wiring somewhere (and that other poster has a similar wiring problem). Years ago, in another location, I was missing a couple of digital channels and had static on some of the analog ones. Turned out to be a corroded old splitter in the attic, installed by my landlord many years before.


Two people have already been out for this issue. One checked all the wiring and replaced the only splitter as well as all the "ends" of the coax cables. He told me the signal levels are fine. All other channels not on SDV work, as well as some SDV channels.

Another person came out, since the first guy said the line between the splitter and the drop needed to be replaced. The second guy ran a new line to my main TV as well as the line between the splitter. The new lines checked out as well. Signal fine, still the same problem on the SDV channels. A third person is supposed to come and check the tap. That hasn't happened, still the same problems.

And the signal is fine on the other channels. Right now on NBC through the 4250HDC, I have 36dB SNR and +2dBmV Power Level.

OK, I just looked at the SDV channels. STOHD and HDNET are the two currently acting up. The SNR is 35-36 and the Level is 2dBmV. Both numbers are acceptable, and the same as non-SDV channels that work perfectly. Also, the two channels in question are on 585.000MHz. Other SDV channels work fine, that are on different frequencies. That's why I was thinking this is a higher up problem, since the signal levels are fine and other SDV channels not on 585 work fine.

So maybe VersusHD was fine last night because it came in on a different bandwidth section due to being released and reallocated? I guess I should start looking at that. Put it on the channel, then check DVR diag? What should I write down?

So maybe VersusHD was fine last night because it came in on a different bandwidth section due to being released and reallocated? I guess I should start looking at that. Put it on the channel, then check DVR diag? What should I write down?

Look for the channels that are having problems. Find out what the frequency is for those channels. It's a number, usually XXX.000MHz. If it is an issue with SDV, all the problem channels should be on the same frequency.

I noticed a new feature on my TiVo.

When you pause the show, you get a button call "Get More Info About [PROGRAM TITLE]. It has some neat features and shortcuts. When did they add it? Has it been there and I just didn't notice it?

I noticed a new feature on my TiVo.

When you pause the show, you get a button call "Get More Info About [PROGRAM TITLE]. It has some neat features and shortcuts. When did they add it? Has it been there and I just didn't notice it?

lol, yes we've been talking about it. Go back about 2 or 3 pages and you can see discussion this "upgrade" is a bit controversial. There is also directions on how you can bypass it if you feel it's annoying.

You will notice that instead of "b" you now have a "c" after your platform number in messages and settings/ system information. I think it's 11.01.c now.

hook, it's 11.0c--the previous version was 11.0b.

I noticed a new feature on my TiVo.

When you pause the show, you get a button call "Get More Info About [PROGRAM TITLE]. It has some neat features and shortcuts. When did they add it? Has it been there and I just didn't notice it?Sounds as though you might be talking about what you get when you select the "More about ..." item. That feature has been around for a couple of years. When it first came out, they called it "Swivel Search"; now it's present on the recording description dialog as the "Explore this program" option. If you like it, you should try TiVo Central->Music, Photos, & Showcase->TiVo Search Beta.

The controversy over that popping up when you pause is not so much about that option, but about the fact that sometimes there will be a product advertisement in addition to the "More about ..." item. The same sort of thing pops up at the bottom of the Delete/Keep menu that appears when you play a recording to the end. Many people object to all of the advertising features and find this one particularly odious. I could care less--I modified the programming of my Harmony universal remote to send PAUSE+CLEAR when I press PAUSE, which make all of that go away immediately (I rarely if ever want to see the progress bar when I pause).

I have Charter as my Cable provider (Fort Worth, TX). I have one HD channel that has no Audio or Video. This channel is channel 760 which is CNNHD. The analog version (Ch 36) plays fine. I have two series3 TiVo's and this channel acts the same on both units and all 4 cable cards. After you select channel 760 and no audio or video is displayed I go into the cable card menu and select the SA Cable Card CP screen and the Power Key Status shows "Not Ready-Waiting for EUT". Sometimes this status may read "Not Ready-Waiting for Time". The cable card(s) will in a matter of minutes reset them selves and all is fine until I go back and select channel 760 again, and it again upsets the cable card. Also if I go to the Test Channel display, The display will say "No channels available". Again after a few minutes (usually less than 4-5 minutes) the card apparently resets its self and all is normal. One other data point - when the screen is black (no audio or video on channel 760) I can record the channel and it plays back with audio and Video like there was no problem. Also If I press pause and let the buffer fill for a few minutes, I then press Play and I again have Audio & Video until it catches up with the current playback time. I've talked to TiVo & Charter and no one has a clue as to the problem. My son has a Scienticic Atlanta 8300HD DVR and he has no problem with channel 760 (CNNHD). If there is anyone in the Fort Worth area with Charter as their provider I would appriciate if they would let me know if their TiVo is affected. I can't believe I have 4 bad Cable Cards or two bad TiVo series3 with 4 bad card slots. Again only channel 760 (CNNHD) is bad all other channels HD, Analog or Digital work fine.

I have Charter as my Cable provider (Fort Worth, TX). I have one HD channel that has no Audio or Video. This channel is channel 760 which is CNNHD. The analog version (Ch 36) plays fine. I have two series3 TiVo's and this channel acts the same on both units and all 4 cable cards. After you select channel 760 and no audio or video is displayed I go into the cable card menu and select the SA Cable Card CP screen and the Power Key Status shows "Not Ready-Waiting for EUT". Sometimes this status may read "Not Ready-Waiting for Time". The cable card(s) will in a matter of minutes reset them selves and all is fine until I go back and select channel 760 again, and it again upsets the cable card. Also if I go to the Test Channel display, The display will say "No channels available". Again after a few minutes (usually less than 4-5 minutes) the card apparently resets its self and all is normal. One other data point - when the screen is black (no audio or video on channel 760) I can record the channel and it plays back with audio and Video like there was no problem. Also If I press pause and let the buffer fill for a few minutes, I then press Play and I again have Audio & Video until it catches up with the current playback time. I've talked to TiVo & Charter and no one has a clue as to the problem. My son has a Scienticic Atlanta 8300HD DVR and he has no problem with channel 760 (CNNHD). If there is anyone in the Fort Worth area with Charter as their provider I would appriciate if they would let me know if their TiVo is affected. I can't believe I have 4 bad Cable Cards or two bad TiVo series3 with 4 bad card slots. Again only channel 760 (CNNHD) is bad all other channels HD, Analog or Digital work fine.

Hi Joe,

Since your question is area specific you may want to go to your local thread and post this. You may get better results.

Obviously this is a strange one, I've seen times when I have no sound but if I play back the buffer the sound is there.

Hang tight, one of our bright intelligent superstars will probably give you a decent answer. But I'd try local thread as well.

Hi Joe,

Since your question is area specific you may want to go to your local thread and post this. You may get better results.

Obviously this is a strange one, I've seen times when I have no sound but if I play back the buffer the sound is there.

Hang tight, one of our bright intelligent superstars will probably give you a decent answer. But I'd try local thread as well.
Thanks for your reply. One question...How do I get on my Local Thread. I didn't know they existed.

Thanks for your reply. One question...How do I get on my Local Thread. I didn't know they existed.

Click on the Forums tab and then go to Local HD, you'll see it towards the bottom. Find your city, or whatever city is nearby.

Click on the Forums tab and then go to Local HD, you'll see it towards the bottom. Find your city, or whatever city is nearby.

There you are... Any signs of SDV yet? Tonight is supposed to be the "big night" for TWC NEO. Maybe it will be an even bigger night for some without SDV? :cool:

Thanks for your reply. One question...How do I get on my Local Thread. I didn't know they existed.This link leads to an index of all such threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

This link leads to an index of all such threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241
Thank you very much Bicker1 for the URL. Also thanks to hookbill for his insight. You guys are great.....Thanks again

Thank you very much Bicker1 for the URL. Also thanks to hookbill for his insight. You guys are great.....Thanks again

Ain't this just the greatest place? :D

I just got an email from TiVo notifying me of the addition to the S3 and HD DVRs of the ability to rent HD movies from Amazon via download. I was VERY disappointed to learn, though, that the price to rent one of them will be the same rapacious $4.99 each for new releases that Apple charges to download one to an Apple TV. As long as prices are that high, I doubt that either Amazon or Apple will do much business this way. Subscription plans for BDs from either Blockbuster or Netflix make the ala carte renting of HD movies via download at five bucks a pop a remarkably poor value, it seems to me.

I just got an email from TiVo notifying me of the addition to the S3 and HD DVRs of the ability to rent HD movies from Amazon via download. I was VERY disappointed to learn, though, that the price to rent one of them will be the same rapacious $4.99 each for new releases that Apple charges to download one to an Apple TV. As long as prices are that high, I doubt that either Amazon or Apple will do much business this way. Subscription plans for BDs from either Blockbuster or Netflix make the ala carte renting of HD movies via download at five bucks a pop a remarkably poor value, it seems to me.

I'm so overloaded with programming now I have no need for renting anything. I have 60 shows on my HD TiVo, 83 on my S3, and another 45 in storage on my Mac. Add that on to the fact that I'm a baseball fan and have MLB Extra Innings is it any wonder why I never go out?

I just got an email from TiVo notifying me of the addition to the S3 and HD DVRs of the ability to rent HD movies from Amazon via download. I was VERY disappointed to learn, though, that the price to rent one of them will be the same rapacious $4.99 each for new releases that Apple charges to download one to an Apple TV. As long as prices are that high, I doubt that either Amazon or Apple will do much business this way. Subscription plans for BDs from either Blockbuster or Netflix make the ala carte renting of HD movies via download at five bucks a pop a remarkably poor value, it seems to me.I'd agree, but reception of the new HD content in the thread about it at TCF (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=424304) seems generally positive. The convenience is something that some people are willing to pay extra for. Probably some people haven't invested in a Blu-ray player, and some poeple have more dollars than sense :rolleyes:.

I just got an email from TiVo notifying me of the addition to the S3 and HD DVRs of the ability to rent HD movies from Amazon via download. I was VERY disappointed to learn, though, that the price to rent one of them will be the same rapacious $4.99 each for new releases that Apple charges to download one to an Apple TV. As long as prices are that high, I doubt that either Amazon or Apple will do much business this way. Subscription plans for BDs from either Blockbuster or Netflix make the ala carte renting of HD movies via download at five bucks a pop a remarkably poor value, it seems to me.
The killer for me is no closed captioning...on either rentals or purchases. Those of us who are hearing-impaired are left out in the cold. I downloaded (purchase) Caprica (HD), and, while the video and audio (DD5.1) quality are outstanding, no CC is a deal-breaker.

I'm so overloaded with programming now I have no need for renting anything....

I hear you, Hook. I used to purchase a new DVD movie a couple times a month. My library is now at 100+. but I can't remember the last time I watched one! I have too much HD content on my two TiVos... :D

I just got an email from TiVo notifying me of the addition to the S3 and HD DVRs of the ability to rent HD movies from Amazon via download. I was VERY disappointed to learn, though, that the price to rent one of them will be the same rapacious $4.99 each for new releases that Apple charges to download one to an Apple TV. As long as prices are that high, I doubt that either Amazon or Apple will do much business this way. Subscription plans for BDs from either Blockbuster or Netflix make the ala carte renting of HD movies via download at five bucks a pop a remarkably poor value, it seems to me.

Until they extend the time to watch once you begin, I won't be downloading anything. If I begin to watch and then fall asleep, I probably won't get to it within 24 hours. Thus, I would basically throw away the $5. If they gave you a week, that would be different.

... I used to purchase a new DVD movie a couple times a month. My library is now at 100+. but I can't remember the last time I watched one!

I've started thinking of NetFlix as just renting storage space for all the DVDs I would have bought otherwise. :o

Until they extend the time to watch once you begin, I won't be downloading anything. If I begin to watch and then fall asleep, I probably won't get to it within 24 hours. Thus, I would basically throw away the $5. If they gave you a week, that would be different.I think that's probably a condition from the movie studios that Amazon has no control over. It's the same for every movie rental download and video on demand service that I've heard about.

People who have kids or other things that they regularly have to attend to after work probably won't be able to start watching before a certain time in the evening. If they start watching on a weekday night and fall asleep or otherwise are forced to stop watching, they probably won't be able to get back to it before the same time the next night. They should allow a minimum of 30 hours or at least until midnight on the day after you stop watching, to give people two evenings to finish it.

I'd agree, but reception of the new HD content in the thread about it at TCF (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=424304) seems generally positive. The convenience is something that some people are willing to pay extra for. Probably some people haven't invested in a Blu-ray player, and some poeple have more dollars than sense :rolleyes:.
Nothing, I say again, nothing looks or sounds as good as a well transferred Blu-ray 1080p movie and its HD audio soundtrack. I bought a BD player last summer, a Sony PS3, and was simply blown away. Displayed on a high quality 1080p plasma, BD movies are in a class by themselves.

HD movies made available for download are 720p and do indeed look quite good. I rented several newly released HD movies from Apple when they were first made available and they looked fine. But the combination of their cost, 5 bucks each, and the requirement than I finish watching one within 24 hours of when I started it wasn't just too expensive, it was excessively so.

I have a Blockbuster subscription under the terms of which BB mails me 3 BDs at a time and allows me to exchange 5 of them in a local BB store, all for $19.99 a month. For that I get more than 15 BDs a month, not just 4. It didn't take long to decide which was the better deal, even without factoring in the vastly superior PQ and AQ of the BD technology.

This question is kind of directed to michealscott but if anybody else knows the answer please let me know.

Today we were suppose to get several new HD channels. Matter of fact Tribune Media has already added the channels to the line up (surprise!). However TW has not launched the channels. I'm wondering if anybody who has SDV knows if they have SARA running with it? Your tuning adapter should show you what type of software your cable company is running in the tuner adapter diagnostics.

My cable company launched SDV into all of it's areas using Navigator and it appears in one small sector of the area that has SARA. My understanding is that the SDV channels are not working correctly, even on SA STB's and DVR's in that SARA area. I'm thinking this problem is holding up the new channels and distribution of SDV.

Michael I know you have TW. Are you running SARA or Navigator?

My cable company launched SDV into all of it's areas using Navigator and it appears in one small sector of the area that has SARA. My understanding is that the SDV channels are not working correctly, even on SA STB's and DVR's in that SARA area. I'm thinking this problem is holding up the new channels and distribution of SDV.

Michael I know you have TW. Are you running SARA or Navigator?

It's not SARA's fault. It happens on Navigator too. It's most likely a signal problem or distribution problem. I'm still waiting on the TWC truck to fix the pole, the tech yesterday said the signal was 'weak', which might explain why the SDV channels were having problems. They're lighting up new frequencies and something's wrong. Remember Inundated had the problems on 585MHz, and so do I. Different areas, different head ends, different software, different boxes.

Also, can I please have your professional opinions. What time do you think TWC closes? How late do they do truck rolls? 6pm? 8pm? I'm very tired of hearing "the truck will come tomorrow" and it doesn't. Last time I waited TWO WEEKS and they still never came. I had to make another service call, where the guy told me they were coming today. So if they don't come by the end of business today, I'm getting on their ASS and calling them TONIGHT. Sound like a good idea?

Nothing, I say again, nothing looks or sounds as good as a well transferred Blu-ray 1080p movie and its HD audio soundtrack. I bought a BD player last summer, a Sony PS3, and was simply blown away. Displayed on a high quality 1080p plasma, BD movies are in a class by themselves.I would agree with you, but the quality of Blu-ray transfers is a very mixed bag. Some of them aren't much higher bit rate than some available downloads. Take a look at this (http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/TechStats.php?OrderBy=Bitrate) list of Blu-ray technical stats, ordered by bit rate. The lowest bit rate titles on it are in the 10-15 Mbps range. In VC-1 or AVC, that's not so bad, but some are encoded in MPEG-2 at that rate--about what you'd see on Showtime HD or HBO HD on cable. You can do a decent job in that kind of bandwidth with very carefully hand-tweaked, multi-pass encodings, but still. No doubt, some of those 35 Mbps+ AVC encodings are lackluster despite their high bit rates.

Some people think that Vudu's 10 Mbps "HDX" encodings compare well to Blu-ray. I haven't seen them, so I can't comment.

The fact remains that many people just aren't that picky, and HD downloads might be more than good enough to suit the masses :rolleyes:.

BTW, I too have a PS3 (one of the original 60GB ones, bought a few months after they hit the market). As it turns out, I've primarily used it to play video, both Blu-rays and files over my LAN, like saved HD TiVo recordings. (So far, not many PS3 exclusive games have had much appeal for me--I think that I own 3--and all things being equal, I purchase multi-system games for the Xbox, preferring its interface features). Fortunately, the PS3 is a great BD and video file player and well worth the purchase for that alone :).

I still would like an answer to my question regarding SARA. I'm not going to take that up with nickdawg in this thread, suffice to say I would like to hear from a TiVo owner with a tuner adapter running SARA.

Is anyone in Navigator area having trouble with SDV besides nickdawg? Vchat20, I think you said everything was working correctly did you not?

Michael I know you have TW. Are you running SARA or Navigator?TWC San Diego runs Navigator, and was previously running Passport. When they started buying the HDC boxes, they all came with Navigator installed, while all of the legacy boxes continued to run Passport; the legacy STBs received Navigator several months later. They deployed SDV at the end of July '08, and I haven't heard many people complain.

I still would like an answer to my question regarding SARA. I'm not going to take that up with nickdawg in this thread, suffice to say I would like to hear from a TiVo owner with a tuner adapter running SARA.

I guess it all depends. I've nothing but barrels of trouble with SDV, while Vchat has reported no problems, both on Navigator. For SARA, only Inundated has said anything about problems. Everybody else has been surprisingly quiet. I know there are a few other members on the Copley/Bath part of TWC who should have SDV now.

Since the tuning adapters are supposed to do what the TWC boxes do, I guess there will be some people on both SARA and Navigator who see problems and some who don't. I just wish this damn TWC tech would show up so I can find out more about what's happening outside. :mad:

I would agree with you, but the quality of Blu-ray transfers is a very mixed bag. Some of them aren't much higher bit rate than some available downloads..
I agree that the transfer quality of films to BD is a mixed bag. The issue is further complicated by the age of the film. For example, Criterion's BD edition of Last Emperor was awful. I Could not have been more disappointed. Still, I have seen many current films on cable HD that were SIGNIFICANTLY inferior to their BD versions. Also, it's important to keep in mind that pay cable channels, such as HBO and Showtime, transmit in 1080i, whereas streaming downloads from Apple and Amazon are only 720p.

When I saw Iron Man on HBO HD (I think) it often showed bad artifacts but the BD version was pristine, one of the very best transfers of a feature film I have seen. In fact, I own that BD. The bottom line, based on my personal experience, is that, across the board, BD versions of feature films have much better PQ than the versions shown anywhere on HDTV.

Wow this area has been quiet. Just wanted to follow up, I finally got SDV in my area and amazingly everything went pretty good. They missed hitting one of my TiVos cards with a signal, but once they did that tuner adapters handled the SDV without any incident.

Tribune Media had done a great job of keeping up with all the new channels added up until the last batch. So I got a ticket in, right now I have no guide data for Science Channel, FX, CNN, Fox News. All HD channels. I may have left one off in this post.

As much as I hate to do this I have to give TW credit for how they got the tuner adapters out to us before launching SDV. So many times they put the cart before the horse.

Good time for updates. I tried Netflix yesterday. Wall-E worked fine. No Closed Captions though, so we gave up after about two minutes.

Wow this area has been quiet. Just wanted to follow up, I finally got SDV in my area and amazingly everything went pretty good. They missed hitting one of my TiVos cards with a signal, but once they did that tuner adapters handled the SDV without any incident.
Hook -- That's reassuring. So far, though, there has been no indication that Cox OKC intends to start using SDV anytime soon.

I think one of the reasons the S3 thread is so quiet is that so many of us who have S3s also post to the TiVo HD thread, which is a lot more active. Following that thread made sense to me because the hardware is nearly identical and the software is the same. I can’t recall whether you have posted there. If not, try it. I have learned some useful stuff there.

Hook -- That's reassuring. So far, though, there has been no indication that Cox OKC intends to start using SDV anytime soon.

I think one of the reasons the S3 thread is so quiet is that so many of us who have S3s also post to the TiVo HD thread, which is a lot more active. Following that thread made sense to me because the hardware is nearly identical and the software is the same. I can’t recall whether you have posted there. If not, try it. I have learned some useful stuff there.

I couldn't find the thread. Can you provide a link?

I couldn't find the thread. Can you provide a link?It is linked in my signature. :D

It is linked in my signature. :D
Man, you are FAST.:) I copied the link to send to Hookbill when I saw the email notification of his post. When I came here with it, I saw that you had already provided the information over an hour ago.

It is linked in my signature. :D

Thanks, appreciate it.

It is linked in my signature. :D

Don't you mean this one? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469) The other is just a modified FAQ listing.

Don't you mean this one? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469) The other is just a modified FAQ listing.

The link I clicked on was the correct link, same as yours.:confused:

The link I clicked on was the correct link, same as yours.:confused:
Hook -- I think that bierboy had a point. While there is a link to the actual AVS Forum TiVo HD thread in bfdtv's link, the linked page itself included only his FAQ post. Fortunately, either link makes it easy for you to get to the thread. Enjoy!

I also posted this in the Tivo HD thread, applicable to all Hi-def Tivo OTA users (not relevant to you cable or satellite users)..

I'm freaking out a little that two of my existing local HD channels have changed frequency today with the digital transition and after rescanning channels for my Tivo tuner, then selecting the new version for each one from the revised channel list (same channels #'s are listed for each, but shown as two of the same #, one valid and the other not. example: channel 2.1 is listed twice in the updated channel list. I have to manually select one 2.1 and deselect the other 2.1).

Since the underlying frequency or location has changed, this apparently results in showing two of the same channel #'s in the Tivo channel list, and you have to determine which is the old digital version and which is the new digital version.

Now here's the rub: Neither of these two channels that have transitioned in my area, CBS-HD 2.1 and ABC-HD 7.1, are showing upcoming calender program data and I've still got programming set to record tonight on those stations/channels based upon the old scheduling information designated for their old digital frequency positions.

I've twice gone in to manually have the tivo look for new programming info, but nothing new comes up. yikes... I hope there is a new update reflective of the new channel programming data before tonight as I won't be around to do it manually.

I also posted this in the Tivo HD thread, applicable to all Hi-def Tivo OTA users (not relevant to you cable or satellite users)..

I'm freaking out a little that two of my existing local HD channels have changed frequency today with the digital transition and after rescanning channels for my Tivo tuner, then selecting the new version for each one from the revised channel list (same channels #'s are listed for each, but shown as two of the same #, one valid and the other not. example: channel 2.1 is listed twice in the updated channel list. I have to manually select one 2.1 and deselect the other 2.1).

Since the underlying frequency or location has changed, this apparently results in showing two of the same channel #'s in the Tivo channel list, and you have to determine which is the old digital version and which is the new digital version.

Now here's the rub: Neither of these two channels that have transitioned in my area, CBS-HD 2.1 and ABC-HD 7.1, are showing upcoming calender program data and I've still got programming set to record tonight on those stations/channels based upon the old scheduling information designated for their old digital frequency positions.

I've twice gone in to manually have the tivo look for new programming info, but nothing new comes up. yikes... I hope there is a new update reflective of the new channel programming data before tonight as I won't be around to do it manually.

I don't think we are going to have a good day. :( I've got to check my S3's to do list but I don't think anything is scheduled for tonight.

OK, I don't know much about OTA but first thing we do know is that guide data comes out of Tribune Media. They would have to make changes in that.

So does that mean you won't get your recordings? I don't think so, and here's why: A while back all of our HD channels on our cable went from 700's to the 400's. Now if I recall correctly the guide data did not immediately reflect those changes. But all programs were recorded correctly on the proper channels because TiVo knew to record to the show, not the channel.

After a week or less Tribune Media got it right and TiVo went a step further on its own and changed all my season passes to the correct channels.

Now this may be apples and oranges, I don't know but I would think the same logic would apply.

hope you're right!

I guess I'll find out soon enough.

hope you're right!

I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I lucked out for the next twelve days :) or however far out the guide data goes, but nothing scheduled on CBS or ABC during this period.

If I were you I would check your recordings and schedule them manually until the new guide is downloaded. They may very well download the new guide after midnight since they may not know the exact timing of the changes.

As a test i had set my Tivo S3 to record AMC on OTA ch 7.1 at 12:00 noon, and sure enough at the 12:06 pm mark the show and the recording simply and unceremoniously went black and the Tivo was now recording a black screen and searching for a signal. I stopped the recording and re-scanned at 12:30pm and it found the new 7.1 (which i had to activate in the Channel List) but there is no guide data yet - it just says "To Be Announced" for the next couple of weeks. I stopped the recording soon after but i wonder if how long it would have actually recorded that black screen without me manually stopping the recording and/or rescanning for the new channel. I presume the guide date for this channel will be updated the next time the connects to the Tivo service, or maybe it won't stop recording until Tribune Media updates it's data. Maybe it would have recorded until the hard drive was full. Dunno.

In the Tivo channel list settings menu, the old DTV channel was listed as 7.1 KABCDT and after the re-scan, the new 7.1 channel is listed as 7.1 KABC-DT on the next line so it looks like they're adding the dash to differentiate between the old and new versions. That will make it easier to delete the old digital channels from the list tomorrow after i do a full re-scan. I'm pretty sure that i'll also have to create all new Season Passes for the OTA channels to replace my old ones since the old channels will no longer be available and it will record a black screen.

I'm pretty sure that i'll also have to create all new Season Passes for the OTA channels to replace my old ones since the old channels will no longer be available and it will record a black screen.You do not have to touch your season passes. The existing channels will update with the correct frequencies. You may be able to force a connection now under Phone & Network to update that information. If not, the updated information should be delivered with the connection tomorrow.

The channel callsigns are different because you're comparing the Tribune names and the PSIP name from a channel scan. The Tribune name will be updated to reflect the new frequency assignment.

hope you're right!

I guess I'll find out soon enough.

At 5PM I forced a connection and 20 mins later a new guide was loaded with the correct channel maping - WBBM 2.1 at 12 and WLS 7.1 at 7. Tivo did good.:)

You do not have to touch your season passes. The existing channels will update with the correct frequencies. You may be able to force a connection now under Phone & Network to update that information. If not, the updated information should be delivered with the connection tomorrow.

The channel callsigns are different because you're comparing the Tribune names and the PSIP name from a channel scan. The Tribune name will be updated to reflect the new frequency assignment.

I totally agree. I didn't have to change any of my Season Passes when the cable company changed channels, why should you? Try having the TiVo update now and see if you don't get new guide data.

At 5PM I forced a connection and 20 mins later a new guide was loaded with the correct channel maping - WBBM 2.1 at 12 and WLS 7.1 at 7. Tivo did good.:)It's worth noting that the guide will not update instantly after the service connection completes. The TiVo still has to index those changes, which can take anywhere from 15-40 minutes. Once that is complete, the guide will reflect the updated frequency assignments.

You do not have to touch your season passes. The existing channels will update with the correct frequencies. You may be able to force a connection now under Phone & Network to update that information. If not, the updated information should be delivered with the connection tomorrow.

The channel callsigns are different because you're comparing the Tribune names and the PSIP name from a channel scan. The Tribune name will be updated to reflect the new frequency assignment.Thank you. I was going to wait and see how a few of my Season Passes acted before doing anything but it's good to know that i won't have to cancel the old ones and create new ones (i have several of em set up for various news programs every day). I was only home for about a half hour today during my lunch hour so i haven't had a chance to play with all this so i'll just leave the Season Passes alone and let the Tivo do it's thing :)

Thanks again . . .

The other night I noticed my s3 was recording something called Teleworld Paid Programming on it's own, and not for the first time.

Does anyone know why the system is recording informercials on their own,
and more importantly, how to prevent it?

thanks,

FCD

"search this thread" is your friend. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14642342#post14642342) Found it in 2 seconds typing in the "teleworld".

For whatever it's worth, I too have noticed my S3 recording the same from time to time, whenever I'm up at some ungodly hour.

The other night I noticed my s3 was recording something called Teleworld Paid Programming on it's own, and not for the first time.

Does anyone know why the system is recording informercials on their own,
and more importantly, how to prevent it?

thanks,

FCD

Happens all the time. It's those commercials TiVo has. They get erased and replaced automatically; you can just ignore them.

my bedroom Tivo hasn't made a VCN connection since May 27th, and so I can't see any current To Do list or Recordings online on tivo.com

what gives?

my bedroom Tivo hasn't made a VCM connection since May 27th, and so I can't see any current To Do list or Recordings online on tivo.com

what gives?
Have you tried rebooting?

going to reboot as soon as a recording is finished. i'll report back.

rebooted, works now. weird.

Getting lots of audio dropouts on my Series 3 on many channels. Started recently. Time Warner, West Valley of L.A. Anyone know why or how to correct it?

Thanks, CB

Getting lots of audio dropouts on my Series 3 on many channels. Started recently. Time Warner, West Valley of L.A. Anyone know why or how to correct it?

Thanks, CB

To the best of my knowledge TiVos don't "develop" sound drop offs. The way I would check is back up to just prior to the problem on a recording. If you still hear a drop off it's probably not your TiVo. So what is it? Since you said it was on many channels have TW come out and check your signal. Don't rely on what your TiVo shows you. Their equipment can find out if you're having an issue. Make sure they check all your connections inside and outside.

.... Something that's been bugging me for the last year or so.

There are times when I can't make out the dialogue on screen so I'll turn the CC on in order to read what was said and then turn it back off again, toggling the CC on/off this way as needed.

For the first year or so of my Tivo S3 usage, whenever I would turn the CC off, the last line of CC would disappear automatically, as it should. But then at some point, the last line of text began to remain on the screen and it would stay there forever if I didn't bring up any other kind of onscreen display to replace it, or, to hit the clear button each time. The CC has been behaving consistently this way for quite some time. Not the worst problem in the world, but it's annoying and it's clearly a malfunction of some kind.

Since it's been doing this for well over a year, through multiple Tivo software upgrades and a few reboot/restart cycles, none of those things will alleviate the problem.

Has anyone else encountered this? Even if it cannot be resolved I would be curious to know what the origin of the problem might be.

For the first year or so of my Tivo S3 usage, whenever I would turn the CC off, the last line of CC would disappear automatically, as it should. But then at some point, the last line of text began to remain on the screen and it would stay there forever if I didn't bring up any other kind of onscreen display to replace it, or, to hit the clear button each time.
[...]
Has anyone else encountered this? Even if it cannot be resolved I would be curious to know what the origin of the problem might be.

Yes, I've noticed that too. If I don't play with the remote to make it leave, it will stay there until the next commercial break.

Interesting. I never noticed about it disappearing at the commercial break. I guess I've never been patient enough to wait that long.

Glad to know I'm not the only one, at least.

It's a known bug that's been around for a while. Though you shouldn't have to do it, pressing CLEAR isn't terribly painful.

Thank God for the CLEAR button.:) The inability of the S3 to clear the last line of dialog shown on the screen after closed captioning had been turned off has been around for awhile but it's easily rectified by simply pressing CLEAR.

Thank God for the CLEAR button.:) The inability of the S3 to clear the last line of dialog shown on the screen after closed captioning had been turned off has been around for awhile but it's easily rectified by simply pressing CLEAR.

...or press PLAY....that's what I do. But it is certainly irritating.

yes, no big deal to hit clear or play but it DOES become terribly painful for me as I ride the CC on/off train a lot. Partly because I'm obsessive about needing to understand every word spoken and the fact that I tend to keep the sound volume down as much of my viewing is done later on at night.

yes, no big deal to hit clear or play but it DOES become terribly painful for me as I ride the CC on/off train a lot. Partly because I'm obsessive about needing to understand every word spoken and the fact that I tend to keep the sound volume down as much of my viewing is done later on at night.

I've seen this too. I have macros set up to turn it on and off, and when the last line stays on-screen (it usually does) I just hit the 7-second replay button, and it goes away...lets me see what was on screen during the info screen anyway...

...or press PLAY....that's what I do. But it is certainly irritating.
I don't like using the PLAY button because, although it does remove the unwanted closed caption, it also brings up the green time ruler. If you press CLEAR you end up with a clear screen.

The Tivo HD has the same bug, I just push play myself. I agree it's a little bit irritating but overall less irritating than the damn ads that appear when pausing programs:D

I might be switching to Directv,
but I'm hesitant to give my my Tivo Interface.

Does anyone know how the direct HD DVR interace compares with
Tivo?

thanks,

FCD

The "new" one (in the the HR-2x units) isn't as good, in the estimation of most folks I've chatted with it about. They are working with TiVo on a new DirecTiVo, but no recent word on that.

I just got an email from TiVo letting me know that I could download Watchmen in HD from Amazon's video on demand service on my S3 for "only" $4.99. Lots of luck with that. I have a 3 at a time mail order and 5 in store exchanges subscription from Blockbuster that costs only $19.99 a month. I receive about 20 movies a month that way. It seems to me that as long as Amazon, iTunes, and others, continue to charge such extortionate prices for HD movie rentals, they are NEVER going to make significant inroads into the HD movie rental market. For the time being it appears that Blockbuster and Netflix remain the only games in town, at least the only ones that make economic sense.

They're charging you a premium for the convenience. You don't have to go anywhere to get it, you don't have to remember to return anything and you can start a movie or two downloading from your desk at work. The convenience might not be worth it to you, but it is for some, at least ocassionally. ("I really want to see a movie and I'm too lazy right now/don't have the time to go to Blockbuster. Damn! I watched all of my Netflix rentals and forgot to put them in the mail! Guess I'll download or stream something").

At this point I really don't think that the content providers want online rentals to affect disc purchases and rentals much.

I just got an email from TiVo letting me know that I could download Watchmen in HD from Amazon's video on demand service on my S3 for "only" $4.99. Lots of luck with that. I have a 3 at a time mail order and 5 in store exchanges subscription from Blockbuster that costs only $19.99 a month. I receive about 20 movies a month that way. It seems to me that as long as Amazon, iTunes, and others, continue to charge such extortionate prices for HD movie rentals, they are NEVER going to make significant inroads into the HD movie rental market. For the time being it appears that Blockbuster and Netflix remain the only games in town, at least the only ones that make economic sense.

Well counselor if I didn't have so much on my TiVo and actually wanted a movie I would pay that extra money just for convenience. And also because it's cooler. :)

I just got an email from TiVo letting me know that I could download Watchmen in HD from Amazon's video on demand service on my S3 for "only" $4.99. Lots of luck with that. I have a 3 at a time mail order and 5 in store exchanges subscription from Blockbuster that costs only $19.99 a month. I receive about 20 movies a month that way. It seems to me that as long as Amazon, iTunes, and others, continue to charge such extortionate prices for HD movie rentals, they are NEVER going to make significant inroads into the HD movie rental market. For the time being it appears that Blockbuster and Netflix remain the only games in town, at least the only ones that make economic sense.

Now if it was Watchmen Directors Cut in HD with the 28 missing minutes that would make it worth it.
;)

Well counselor if I didn't have so much on my TiVo and actually wanted a movie I would pay that extra money just for convenience. And also because it's cooler. :)
Hook -- I hear you. In fact, I bought an Apple TV shortly after Apple started making HD movie downloads available on iTunes. At the time, you could only get HD movies via an Apple TV and nobody else yet had them to stream to any device. Although my Apple TV has been good for a lot of other stuff, I soon tired of paying $4.99 for an HD movie, which I had to watch within 24 hours of starting it or having it deleted from my hard drive. I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night.:)

As per my (and others) problem with the closed captioning text not clearing itself away on it's own, a new development ...

Within the last week or so, I've noticed the text going away on it's own! Yay me, and my over-worked fingers! Not 100%, I don't think, but much better than it had been. I wonder if there was an update within the last several days which addressed this problem?

Anyone else notice this correction??

As per my (and others) problem with the closed captioning text not clearing itself away on it's own, a new development ...

Within the last week or so, I've noticed the text going away on it's own! Yay me, and my over-worked fingers! Not 100%, I don't think, but much better than it had been. I wonder if there was an update within the last several days which addressed this problem?

Anyone else notice this correction??

I thought something may have happened because my tuner adapters needed to have the USB pulled to reconnect. This seems like longer then a few weeks though.

The Tivo HD has the same bug, I just push play myself. I agree it's a little bit irritating but overall less irritating than the damn ads that appear when pausing programs:D

There is a remedy for this, btw. A series of keystrokes on the remote which will serve to reduce the time that the pause bar remains on screen with a side benefit of the accompanying ads quickly disappearing along with the pause bar.

I think the command goes something like this...

select - pause - select - play - select

(or perhaps reversing the order of the play & pause keystrokes)

I think this has to be done from within a recorded program, but I'm not sure. Whichever the case, this will subsequently work for both live and recorded programs.

There is a remedy for this, btw. A series of keystrokes on the remote which will serve to reduce the time that the pause bar remains on screen with a side benefit of the accompanying ads quickly disappearing along with the pause bar.

I think the command goes something like this...

select - pause - select - play - select

(or perhaps reversing the order of the play & pause keystrokes)

I think this has to be done from within a recorded program, but I'm not sure. Whichever the case, this will subsequently work for both live and recorded programs.

You got it right. You do have to hit the down arrow key before hitting select play again.

I thought something may have happened because my tuner adapters needed to have the USB pulled to reconnect. This seems like longer then a few weeks though.

I suppose this correction could have started sooner and I didn't notice til later, but over three weeks seems a bit of a stretch. If it was as a result of an update, maybe the update was staggered across a few weeks for different users ..

You got it right. You do have to hit the down arrow key before hitting select play again.

so you mean it's...


"select - pause - down arrow - select - play - select"?

so you mean it's...


"select - pause - down arrow - select - play - select"?

Yep. You have to take it out of that stupid "addional info" mode, because if you hit select again that's where it will take you.

Thanks CruelInventions and Hook, one question though. Does this trick also work for the Tivo HD and is it reversible(maybe by the same keystrokes)? Of course I don't like the pause ads and wouldn't mind them disappearing quickly but I do like to see the time bar for at least a second or two.
BTW just last night I had the CC text linger, in fact it never went away on it's own, I just pushed PLAY once and all was well. Sometimes it has went away by itself.

Thanks CruelInventions and Hook, one question though. Does this trick work for the Tivo HD too and is it reversible(maybe by the same keystrokes)? Of course I don't like the pause ads and wouldn't mind them disappearing quickly but I do like to see the time bar for at least a second or two.

Yep, works for TiVo HD. It's really the same platform, no different. And you need to do that if you ever have a reboot again.

It does work for the Tivo HD. In fact, that is where I read about it.. in the dedicated thread for that model on this forum. They get all the good info over there. We're considered has-beens over on this side. :( :D

Not sure about the rest of your questions.

I'll give it a shot tonight, thanks guys:)
Sounds like if I don't like it I can just reboot to go back to the old way.

but I do like to see the time bar for at least a second or two.


To get the time bar simply push play while the tv or pre recorded program is running.

It does work for the Tivo HD. In fact, that is where I read about it.. in the dedicated thread for that model on this forum. They get all the good info over there. We're considered has-beens over on this side. :( :D

Not sure about the rest of your questions.

Actually that command came by way of this forum. When we were something. :)

Be aware that you'll lose the progress bar on FF and REW if you enable the code. Entering the code a second time will disable it.

If you have a universal remote like a Harmony (or any other remote that allows macros), you can set your pause button to perform pause-clear. That eliminates the ad and progress bar on pause without affecting the progress bar on other functions.

Be aware that you'll lose the progress bar on FF and REW if you enable the code. Entering the code a second time will disable it.

If you have a universal remote like a Harmony (or any other remote that allows macros), you can set your pause button to perform pause-clear. That eliminates the ad and progress bar on pause without affecting the progress bar on other functions.

He already mentioned that and I told him what to do to clean that up, however I didn't know you could use the Harmony to do it too.

... oh ok, hookbill. Since bfdtv mostly posts over there these days, I guess I just assumed that this good tip must've come from over there.

excuse me while I go find a mirror to recite a Stuart Smalley affirmation.

To get the time bar simply push play while the tv or pre recorded program is running.

Be aware that you'll lose the progress bar on FF and REW if you enable the code. Entering the code a second time will disable it.

If you have a universal remote like a Harmony (or any other remote that allows macros), you can set your pause button to perform pause-clear. That eliminates the ad and progress bar on pause without affecting the progress bar on other functions.

No Harmony and I do like the progress bar during FF or REW and I would think pushing PLAY may bring it up but probably stop the searching. I think I'll just live with it as-is.
I didn't think I had seen the command in the HD thread but then bfdtv s always expanding it so I thought maybe it was added since I last reviewed it.
I guess the Series 3 people get the last word at Tivocommunity since AFAIK they don't have a dedicated Tivo HD forum over there.

I'm having an issue with my last two Amazon downloads of "Mad Men" (HD) and I'm trying to diagnose whether it's an Amazon problem or a Tivo problem. I have two S3s, and the show downloads to the one in my HT. The past two weeks, there's a playback issue where the video completely freezes as the audio continues to play- FF reveals that the video is definitely all there, but it just won't play back in real time. Other recordings (not downloads) seem to be working fine.

With both problem episodes, I then had a copy downloaded (successfully) to the other S3. I haven't used the Amazon TV downloads enough to know whether they are just prone to these issues, or whether I should be concerned that the one S3 is starting to fail somehow. :( I sure hope that's not the case.

TIA for any insight.

No Harmony and I do like the progress bar during FF or REW and I would think pushing PLAY may bring it up but probably stop the searching. I think I'll just live with it as-is.
I didn't think I had seen the command in the HD thread but then bfdtv s always expanding it so I thought maybe it was added since I last reviewed it.
I guess the Series 3 people get the last word at Tivocommunity since AFAIK they don't have a dedicated Tivo HD forum over there.

No need for one. The TiVoHD and original S3 models have some minor differences but they are bascially the same.

I have three original S3 units and six TiVoHD units. As far as functionality, I don't see a difference between them.

I have three original S3 units and six TiVoHD units. As far as functionality, I don't see a difference between them.

Aaron,

One might think you have a TV addiction problem by reading this response ;)

Aaron,

One might think you have a TV addiction problem by reading this response ;)

I love it, I thought I was bad with just two. ;)

yeah I had two S2-DT's, and replaced them with TivoHDs..... two is enough ;)

I have three original S3 units and six TiVoHD units. As far as functionality, I don't see a difference between them.

Aaron,

One might think you have a TV addiction problem by reading this response ;)

Or a lot of kids who love time shifting. :)

I'm having an issue with my last two Amazon downloads of "Mad Men" (HD) and I'm trying to diagnose whether it's an Amazon problem or a Tivo problem. I have two S3s, and the show downloads to the one in my HT. The past two weeks, there's a playback issue where the video completely freezes as the audio continues to play- FF reveals that the video is definitely all there, but it just won't play back in real time. Other recordings (not downloads) seem to be working fine.

With both problem episodes, I then had a copy downloaded (successfully) to the other S3. I haven't used the Amazon TV downloads enough to know whether they are just prone to these issues, or whether I should be concerned that the one S3 is starting to fail somehow. :( I sure hope that's not the case.

TIA for any insight.

Okay....I assume not too many people use the Amazon VOD service.

How about this: is recording known to start exhibiting errors/problems as the hard drive reaches its capacity? I have a lot of HD shows on there right now, so it's probably getting close; I'm wondering if that might be the problem.... (the other S3 that's not having issues has much more space available).

If so, any recommendations on hard drive upgrades?

Okay....I assume not too many people use the Amazon VOD service.

How about this: is recording known to start exhibiting errors/problems as the hard drive reaches its capacity? I have a lot of HD shows on there right now, so it's probably getting close; I'm wondering if that might be the problem.... (the other S3 that's not having issues has much more space available).

If so, any recommendations on hard drive upgrades?

I kind of doubt it. I've had my disk filled up with 90% and higher and not had problems with recordings.

If you're streaming you might get a bad stream here and there. Hey it's great technology but it's not perfect.

Let me ask you a question though. If you are concerned about the amount of shows on your disk, why don't you move some of them to the computer? Are they all copy protected?

I kind of doubt it. I've had my disk filled up with 90% and higher and not had problems with recordings.

If you're streaming you might get a bad stream here and there. Hey it's great technology but it's not perfect.

Let me ask you a question though. If you are concerned about the amount of shows on your disk, why don't you move some of them to the computer? Are they all copy protected?
Thanks for your reply. I did just go through and delete some; the downloaded shows can't be moved. I guess we're just used to recording TV shows and keeping them 'til the DVD/BD comes out. But now that most content is in HD, I suppose even 2-3 TV series can start to fill the standard drive pretty quickly. :(

What made me wonder about the capacity issue is that I had tried to re-download this latest problem episode, and nothing happened. (Usually you see the blue light come on within a couple minutes.) But then I deleted some programs and it started immediately. I've never come close to filling the drive in the past, so I just don't what kind of behavior to expect. Do you actually get messages that there's not enough space available? Or maybe it's not too elegant and just starts freezing up?

Has anyone heard any updates on the new Tivo/DirecTV box?

thanks,

FCD

Thanks for your reply. I did just go through and delete some; the downloaded shows can't be moved. I guess we're just used to recording TV shows and keeping them 'til the DVD/BD comes out. But now that most content is in HD, I suppose even 2-3 TV series can start to fill the standard drive pretty quickly. :(

What made me wonder about the capacity issue is that I had tried to re-download this latest problem episode, and nothing happened. (Usually you see the blue light come on within a couple minutes.) But then I deleted some programs and it started immediately. I've never come close to filling the drive in the past, so I just don't what kind of behavior to expect. Do you actually get messages that there's not enough space available? Or maybe it's not too elegant and just starts freezing up?

You know what you need? You need TiVo Playlist. This is a cool little program that will actually show you how much of your disk is being used on your PC. It has a graph display as well as a listing of your recorded shows.

http://tivoplaylist.dyndns.org/

You can do other things with it as well. I'm assuming you have a wireless network, you would need that.

You know what you need? You need TiVo Playlist. This is a cool little program that will actually show you how much of your disk is being used on your PC. It has a graph display as well as a listing of your recorded shows.

http://tivoplaylist.dyndns.org/

You can do other things with it as well. I'm assuming you have a wireless network, you would need that.
I do have a wireless network...thanks for the recommendation! I'll certainly check that out. :)

What about those hard drive upgrades? What's the consensus on those? I'd love to have more capacity and not deal with this again, but not if I risk screwing up my subscriptions or inviting new issues.

Are you talking about eSATA? There is only one that will work, to the best of my knowledge and it's by Western Digital. It's made specially for the TiVo.

I do have a wireless network...thanks for the recommendation! I'll certainly check that out. :)

What about those hard drive upgrades? What's the consensus on those? I'd love to have more capacity and not deal with this again, but not if I risk screwing up my subscriptions or inviting new issues.

Changing the harddrive is very easy using winmfs. Ive upgraded both my TiVo's with 1TB drives. I also use Tivoplaylist and find it very useful.

Are you talking about eSATA? There is only one that will work, to the best of my knowledge and it's by Western Digital. It's made specially for the TiVo.
I was actually thinking of those drive replacements you see advertised- I've seen ones up to 1.5Tb. They claim that they won't affect your subscription, are already loaded with the latest TiVo software, and even provide utilities for copying over your existing recordings.


Here's an example (http://cgi.ebay.com/New-TiVo-HD-Series-3-1TB-Upgrade-3-Yr-Drive-Warranty_W0QQitemZ190298141346QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultD omain_0?hash=item2c4ea732a2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14) from eBay.

Changing the harddrive is very easy using winmfs. Ive upgraded both my TiVo's with 1TB drives. I also use Tivoplaylist and find it very useful.

Any issues at all? I have lifetime subscriptions and I'd hate to void those or my access to TiVo support and updates.

Any issues at all? I have lifetime subscriptions and I'd hate to void those or my access to TiVo support and updates.Drive upgrades do not affect your subscription or updates.

For TiVo drive upgrade FAQs, see this link (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#S5). Or jump directly to the drive recommendations (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#drives) or upgrade instructions (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#instructions).

Drive upgrades do not affect your subscription or updates.

For TiVo drive upgrade FAQs, see this link (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#S5). Or jump directly to the drive recommendations (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#drives) or upgrade instructions (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#instructions).
Perfect! Thank you. :D

The first thing it says is that TiVo does not support upgraded units. So do we just take it on faith that the TiVo software will continue to work and be updated?

Added Comment: Really thorough thread over there! I've got some reading to do, but just wanted say thanks for the obvious effort you've put into it. :)

Are you talking about eSATA? There is only one that will work, to the best of my knowledge and it's by Western Digital. It's made specially for the TiVo.

Actually there are two external drives, a 1TB (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Expander-External-WDG1S10000VN/dp/B001UHOR88/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252472509&sr=8-1) and a 500GB (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Expander-External-WDG1S5000VN/dp/B0018O77Q2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252472509&sr=8-2), but they are both WD drives. I should also point out that the drives work for some Scientific Atlanta boxes, too.

I'm having an issue with my last two Amazon downloads of "Mad Men" (HD) and I'm trying to diagnose whether it's an Amazon problem or a Tivo problem. I have two S3s, and the show downloads to the one in my HT. The past two weeks, there's a playback issue where the video completely freezes as the audio continues to play- FF reveals that the video is definitely all there, but it just won't play back in real time. Other recordings (not downloads) seem to be working fine.

With both problem episodes, I then had a copy downloaded (successfully) to the other S3. I haven't used the Amazon TV downloads enough to know whether they are just prone to these issues, or whether I should be concerned that the one S3 is starting to fail somehow. :( I sure hope that's not the case.

TIA for any insight.
Okay....I assume not too many people use the Amazon VOD service.
progprog -- If you are using Amazon VOD very much at all, I suggest that you investigate Netflix. They have a one disc at a time plan for $8.99 a month, which includes unlimited streaming to your TiVo. NF now has quite a bit of content available for streaming, including a lot of movies and TV shows in 720p HD. I shifted from Blockbuster to Netflix in large part because of NF's unlimited streaming. It works well and I have been getting a lot of good out of it.

progprog -- If you are using Amazon VOD very much at all, I suggest that you investigate Netflix. They have a one disc at a time plan for $8.99 a month, which includes unlimited streaming to your TiVo. NF now has quite a bit of content available for streaming, including a lot of movies and TV shows in 720p HD. I shifted from Blockbuster to Netflix in large part because of NF's unlimited streaming. It works well and I have been getting a lot of good out of it.


Thanks for the suggestion. We really don't rent much at all, so it might be a wash financially. The only reason I buy "Mad Men" from Amazon is because we don't get AMC in hi-def. After watching the first two seasons on blu-ray, it was excruciating to see how awful this season's opener looked on regular TV. :eek:

The quality of the Amazon downloads (when they work :rolleyes:) is excellent.... 1080i and DD5.1, and I like that I own them.

BTW, the two recent episodes downloaded perfectly yesterday after I cleared a bunch of space on the hard drive. I'm still reading bfdtv's TiVo post about hard drive upgrades, but I've decided that's probably what I need.

Thanks for the suggestion. We really don't rent much at all, so it might be a wash financially. The only reason I buy "Mad Men" from Amazon is because we don't get AMC in hi-def. After watching the first two seasons on blu-ray, it was excruciating to see how awful this season's opener looked on regular TV. :eek:

The quality of the Amazon downloads (when they work :rolleyes:) is excellent.... 1080i and DD5.1, and I like that I own them.

BTW, the two recent episodes downloaded perfectly yesterday after I cleared a bunch of space on the hard drive. I'm still reading bfdtv's TiVo post about hard drive upgrades, but I've decided that's probably what I need.
progprog -- I've been using video streaming ever since Apple added HD content for iTunes for download to the Apple TV not quite 2 years ago. The resolution of downloads from both Apple and Netflix is 720p and I believe that it is 720p from Amazon, too. That's what this review of the Amazon service said (http://www.obsessable.com/news/2009/04/22/amazon-video-on-demand-officially-goes-hd/). Here is the money quote: "The videos are in 720p, and they look about as good as you'd expect from HD video downloads."

I have found that 720p downloads can look great. Also, I understand why Web providers don't stream at 1080i because the bandwidth requirements would be very high. Anyway I agree that almost everything looks awful in SD and that these 720p HD streaming services are a godsend. The downside to Web based services like Amazon and Netflix is, as you have noted, that network problems inevitably raise their ugly heads from time to time.

I use my S3 as a time shifting device almost exclusively. As a consequence, I don't keep much stuff archived on my hard drive and decided some time ago that I would not bother to upgrade its 250 gig drive. Besides, aren't we getting close to an S4 being rolled out? I hope so.

progprog -- I've been using video streaming ever since Apple added HD content for iTunes for download to the Apple TV not quite 2 years ago. The resolution of downloads from both Apple and Netflix is 720p and I believe that it is 720p from Amazon, too. That's what this review of the Amazon service said (http://www.obsessable.com/news/2009/04/22/amazon-video-on-demand-officially-goes-hd/). Here is the money quote: "The videos are in 720p, and they look about as good as you'd expect from HD video downloads."
Maybe they've changed it since that info was published. Here is what Amazon currently posts in the FAQs for VOD on TiVos:

Downloading HD Videos to Your TiVo DVR

You are able to purchase and download HD movie rentals and HD TV shows directly from your compatible TiVo DVR. Your HD video will be delivered in 1080i resolution and with 5.1 audio when available. You're also able to purchase HD TV shows on Amazon.com. HD files are large and download times will vary based on your Internet connection.
I have found that 720p downloads can look great. Also, I understand why Web providers don't stream at 1080i because the bandwidth requirements would be very high. Anyway I agree that almost everything looks awful in SD and that these 720p HD streaming services are a godsend. The downside to Web based services like Amazon and Netflix is, as you have noted, that network problems inevitably raise their ugly heads from time to time.

I use my S3 as a time shifting device almost exclusively. As a consequence, I don't keep much stuff archived on my hard drive and decided some time ago that I would not bother to upgrade its 250 gig drive. Besides, aren't we getting close to an S4 being rolled out? I hope so.An S4.....that'd be nice! Where do we submit our feature requests? ;) (Let's see.....serial control, more signal-specific VP options, dual HDMI outs, massive storage.....hmmm :))

While we're on the topic of 720p, I noticed something funky for the first time recently. I've always set my TiVos to output 1080i fixed, since they upscale as well as my TVs and channel/resolution changes are much smoother that way. But I recently came across Mr. & Mrs. Smith being broadcast in 720p, and it looked horrible. Any fairly quick movement resulted in this weird "venetian blind" effect. I switched the TiVo to Native output and let the TV do the work; the venetian blind effect went away. I suspect it had something to do with the TiVo first "interlacing" the 720p signal and the Kuro then de-interlacing it. Too much processing.

I'm guessing I never noticed it before because I probably hardly ever see any 720p content; I just don't watch all that much TV. Have you ever noticed this when you have the TiVo upscale 720p?

One reason why I don't let the TiVo do it. I leave mine on Native mode and let my video processor do the scaling.

One reason why I don't let the TiVo do it. I leave mine on Native mode and let my video processor do the scaling.

Which VP do you use?

Maybe they've changed it since that info was published. Here is what Amazon currently posts in the FAQs for VOD on TiVos [saying that HD video download resolution is 1080i and audio is 5.1 when available]:
That's interesting. One of these days I will rent an HD movie or TV show from Amazon and try to confirm that it really is 1080i. My Yamaha RX-V3900 AV receiver will let me check this easily. Further, Netflix pumps only 2 channel audio, even on HD shows. It's just fine but I would prefer actual 5.1, of course.

While we're on the topic of 720p, I noticed something funky for the first time recently. I've always set my TiVos to output 1080i fixed, since they upscale as well as my TVs and channel/resolution changes are much smoother that way. But I recently came across Mr. & Mrs. Smith being broadcast in 720p, and it looked horrible. Any fairly quick movement resulted in this weird "venetian blind" effect. I switched the TiVo to Native output and let the TV do the work; the venetian blind effect went away. I suspect it had something to do with the TiVo first "interlacing" the 720p signal and the Kuro then de-interlacing it. Too much processing.

I'm guessing I never noticed it before because I probably hardly ever see any 720p content; I just don't watch all that much TV. Have you ever noticed this when you have the TiVo upscale 720p?
I have always kept my S3 video resolution set on Native because my 3900, which uses the outstanding Anchor Bay video processor, does such a great job of upconverting video, far better than the S3 did when I used 1080i Fixed. Unfortunately, the 3900 caused the S3 to revert to 1080i Fixed every time I turned on the system until I disconnected the HDMI cable and replaced it with component for video and optical for audio. Ever since, the S3 has held its Native setting without complaint and the substitution caused absolutely no degradation in either picture or sound quality.

That's interesting. One of these days I will rent an HD movie or TV show from Amazon and try to confirm that it really is 1080i. My Yamaha RX-V3900 AV receiver will let me check this easily. Further, Netflix pumps only 2 channel audio, even on HD shows. It's just fine but I would prefer actual 5.1, of course.


I can confirm that it's definitely 1080i and DD5.1. My processor lets me check it too (as does my TV, for video signal), and they both confirm those specs.

I can confirm that it's definitely 1080i and DD5.1. My processor lets me check it too (as does my TV, for video signal), and they both confirm those specs.
Although all of these ala carte video download services give me sticker shock, I will definitely check out an Amazon HD offering. Can you recommend one that you think has particularly good PQ?

Although all of these ala carte video download services give me sticker shock, I will definitely check out an Amazon HD offering. Can you recommend one that you think has particularly good PQ?
The only one I've used is "Mad Men," and it looks excellent.

I just received the Tivo newsletter e-mail, and saw a link to the Guru Guides for new and returning shows. I figured I would check them out, so I clicked on the link, signed in, and followed the directions...I unchecked the shows I have no interest in (probably the majority of them), then clicked on the 'update these recommendations' button. I waited a little bit and checked my ToDo List...everything I had unchecked showed up to be recorded. UGH! So I deleted almost everything it had set up for me, and I guess I'll keep an eye to see what the heck else pops up. So just beware that this doesn't appear to be working as designed...unless I missed something on the website.

Randy

Yesterday I noticed the my S3 wasn't viewing my TiVo HD. TiVo HD was not seeing my S3 either. I rebooted my S3 and all was fine.

Today I attempted to move 2 shows. The first transfer was successful but the second one hung after 1 minute. I noticed I couldn't see TiVo HD again on the S3 however TiVo HD could see the S3. I double checked my wireless network, moved my wireless router to the only other place I could move it and then found an update for the router. I unplugged the S3's TiVo wireless adapter as well. I got My TiVo HD back up. I then started transferring the second show.

Well 15 minutes into it I brought up the now playing list and not TiVo HD. But this time TiVo HD COULD see the S3. Not only that but the S3 continues to transfer my show (I can tell because it's getting longer in time).

OK you TiVo braniacs, specially bfdtv you guys got any ideas on what could be causing this and how I can fix it?

Although all of these ala carte video download services give me sticker shock, I will definitely check out an Amazon HD offering. Can you recommend one that you think has particularly good PQ?
Since posting the foregoing I was able to download some of Amazon's HD programming to my S3 for free, thanks to an Amazon-TiVo fall show promotion. It looked and sounded good, with 5.1 sound and 1080i video. Although I have been satisfied with Netflix's 2.0 audio and 720p video, Amazon's stuff is clearly superior in every way but price. Despite it's high quality I would NEVER pay $4.99 for a movie or $2.99 for an episode of a TV show. I just wish that Amazon would wise up and offer a monthly subscription plan. I fear, alas, that we won't see it very soon.

Since posting the foregoing I was able to download some of Amazon's HD programming to my S3 for free, thanks to an Amazon-TiVo fall show promotion. It looked and sounded good, with 5.1 sound and 1080i video. Although I have been satisfied with Netflix's 2.0 audio and 720p video, Amazon's stuff is clearly superior in every way but price. Despite it's high quality I would NEVER pay $4.99 for a movie or $2.99 for an episode of a TV show. I just wish that Amazon would wise up and offer a monthly subscription plan. I fear, alas, that we won't see it very soon.

Maybe not soon, but eventually, at least if they want to compete. Netflix is having success with its "all-you-can-stream" model. And you are correct, higher quality is better, but there is a price, as you state so well. For me, that price needs to be all-you-can-eat, or I would only occasionally download an HD movie, but only at about $2 to $3 max. Particularly considering some Redbox and DVDNow kiosks now have BD available, and still for $1.

......(kind of like buying a season of an HD series at Amazon VOD, which typically reduces the per-episode cost from $2.99 to $2.10).

Hmmm. I have a season pass for "Mad Men," and I almost find it insulting that it only reduces the cost from $2.99 to $2.84 per episode. (Total cost, with tax, comes to $3.11.) Fifteen whole cents will add up to a season savings of....$1.80! :( Like I said...kind of insulting. No way I'd use this as a regular way to buy shows I like unless they restructure the cost, but it's the only way we can get "Mad Men" in HD pretty close to air time.

I just wish that Amazon would wise up and offer a monthly subscription plan. I fear, alas, that we won't see it very soon.I don't see that happening any time soon either. The dynamics are somewhat different from a Netflix "unlimited" disc plan, which is throttled by the number of discs you pay to have out at once and the speed of snail mail. I could see maybe some sort of discount package--buy 20 HD movie rentals for for $70, reducing the price to $3.50 each (kind of like buying a season of an HD series at Amazon VOD, which typically reduces the per-episode cost from $2.99 to $2.10).
Maybe not soon, but eventually, at least if they want to compete. Netflix is having success with its "all-you-can-stream" model.Netflix's "all-you-can-stream" doesn't include any recent popular major theatrical releases and I doubt that it ever will without them changing the business model.

To this point, Netflix's purpose for their streaming service has been to drum up new customers for their disc rental service. It'll be interesting to see whether they'll offer the streaming as a separate option that you can have without disc rental, something I think that many if not most of the reportedly 500,000+ post-streaming-to-embedded-devices subscribers really want.

I don't see that happening any time soon either. The dynamics are somewhat different from a Netflix "unlimited" disc plan, which is throttled by the number of discs you pay to have out at once and the speed of snail mail. I could see maybe some sort of discount package--buy 20 HD movie rentals for for $70, reducing the price to $3.50 each (kind of like buying a season of an HD series at Amazon VOD, which typically reduces the per-episode cost from $2.99 to $2.10).
Netflix's "all-you-can-stream" doesn't include any recent popular major theatrical releases and I doubt that it ever will without them changing the business model.

To this point, Netflix's purpose for their streaming service has been to drum up new customers for their disc rental service. It'll be interesting to see whether they'll offer the streaming as a separate option that you can have without disc rental, something I think that many if not most of the reportedly 500,000+ post-streaming-to-embedded-devices subscribers really want.

In that regard, this (http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/subscription-services-like-netflix-watchnow-generates-20x-the-re/) is worth a read. While the results may be somewhat questionable, I believe them to have some validity.

In that regard, this (http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/subscription-services-like-netflix-watchnow-generates-20x-the-re/) is worth a read. While the results may be somewhat questionable, I believe them to have some validity.Interesting, but it's not so much a "result" as it is a poorly defined and unsubstantiated claim, made by an obscure non-market-research company :). I'd like to know exactly what services they're talking about and how they evaluated profitability.

Interesting, but it's not so much a "result" as it is a poorly defined and unsubstantiated claim, made by an obscure non-market-research company :). I'd like to know exactly what services they're talking about and how they evaluated profitability.

Agreed, hence my comment about "some validity." In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I guess I remain *hopeful* that it is valid. ;)

Hi guys,

I'm hoping I can get some help here. I have a Tivo HD with a m-stream cable card. I'm in TWC San Diego in 92128. I came from Cox where the cablecard and no need for a Tuning Adapter. Now that I'm on TWC, I'm running into some problems. With the cablecard installed, I get the basic cable channels but nothing in the upper tier, like 200+. The only things I get are the the regular ABC/NBC HD channels in the 700.

So the TWC guy installs the TA and now I don't even get the lower basic channels like 57. But I still get the ABC channels. When I disconnect the USB, it tells me the TA is disconnected and then the video shows up. Tivo support thinks that the TA is busted because the cable card CA diagnostic says the card is "not staged". TWC guy agrees so someone will be back today with a new TA. But when I connect the coax directly to the Tivo, the card is still "not staged". I see that the card has received the CP authorization and locked.

Any thoughts? Would appreciate your help. Thanks.

Oh and there is plenty of signal strength, he put in a signal booster in the line.

I have to admit I've never seen this particular problem with a TA. When the TA gets the channel list it should be ready to go.

When the tech comes out go through all your channels. Start with the problem ones and then make sure the channels that are on SDV are coming through.

On the TiVo Diagnostic Screen It should read at the very bottom

Tuner Adapter: Operational
Last Status: Ready
Channel List: Received.

The light at the front of the tuner adapter should be a solid green. If it's blinking there means there is a problem. If you see 8 blinks and a pause that means the TA is bricked but that still can be fix with the proper hit.

I've experienced numerous problems with my tuner adapters. If your green light is flashing and it's not the 8 flashes and a pause, then try these simple things. First unplug the USB from the back of either the TA or TiVo, it doesn't make a difference. Plug it back in. If that doesn't work unplug it from the wall and wait at least a minute then plug it in. Still flashing? Reboot TiVo.


Good luck, and welcome to the wonderful world of Switched Digital Video.

Thanks, I will look for the Tivo Diag screen.

The light on the TA is solid green and then we plug in the USB and I see that the Tivo recognize the TA. Then it will get the new channel info for a while. But the lower channel shows still don't get video.

I'm hoping that it was a bad TA and not some type of incompatibility. Tivo has said that they have issues with the Cisco/SA TAs but not other brands. Lucky for me, TWC only has the Cisco/SA TAs.

Crossing my fingers.

My TA only worked when the USB was plugged into the bottom USB port on the TIVO

Thanks, I will look for the Tivo Diag screen.

The light on the TA is solid green and then we plug in the USB and I see that the Tivo recognize the TA. Then it will get the new channel info for a while. But the lower channel shows still don't get video.

I'm hoping that it was a bad TA and not some type of incompatibility. Tivo has said that they have issues with the Cisco/SA TAs but not other brands. Lucky for me, TWC only has the Cisco/SA TAs.

Crossing my fingers.

heh heh, well, I wouldn't put a lot of faith in what a TiVo CSR says. First, they don't really work for TiVo so all they know is what they have in front of them on their computers and whatever they've heard. They are outsourced.

I really don't know why Cisco would be inferior to one made by Motorola. It doesn't make sense. I know that it appears from my experience on this thread that most people are quite happy with SDV and the TA, including TW customers. My area has some problems with them but for the most part they work well.

I think the CSR was just giving you a line to pass it off on the cable company, and in this case rightfully so. It is the cable companies problem to make sure that TA works correctly. Maybe you do just have a bad one.

Like I said just make sure they go through the all the channels. Do it twice if you want to, make sure they give you good customer service Do not let them shrug their shoulders and walk away, don't sign the work order and escalate it to the techs manager if necessary. That steady green light is a good sign. And it could be you are getting too strong of a signal so make sure they go through your signals at all connections.

My TA only worked when the USB was plugged into the bottom USB port on the TIVO

That shouldn't make any difference, I've tried it on both USB ports and it works fine on mine.

Is anyone else upset that the guide data on www.zap2it.com has got the schedule for the playoffs correct but the guide they send us is screwed up? Why is this? Come on Tribune, send us the correct data. TW cable is going to have it before you do.

Is anyone else upset that the guide data on www.zap2it.com has got the schedule for the playoffs correct but the guide they send us is screwed up? Why is this? Come on Tribune, send us the correct data. TW cable is going to have it before you do.TiVo should have whatever is on Tribune (Zap2it), with the following caveat: TiVo only updates its guide data once per day at 1pm EST or PST (from what I recall). If Tribune makes a change to the guide data after that time, TiVo won't have it until the following day.

You would get this information with the next service connection made after that time. Once your TiVo downloads the updated guide data, it won't appear in the EPG instantly. It can take 30-45 minutes.

That's what I thought too but I noticed they had the data correct yesterday and my TiVo's have both phoned in. Neither one of them has the same data that shows on www.zap2it.com.

I'd like to record one of the games without setting up a manual record. And we do pay for the service, which is why I'm a bit upset.

I'm going to check my TW box and another TiVo to see if anything has changed. If it has I'll stand corrected.

That's what I thought too but I noticed they had the data correct yesterday and my TiVo's have both phoned in. Neither one of them has the same data that shows on www.zap2it.com.But when did you check Zap2it? If the change was made after 1pm EST (or is it PST?) yesterday, then the TiVo would not have that guide information until you connect to download guide data today.

But when did you check Zap2it? If the change was made after 1pm EST (or is it PST?) yesterday, then the TiVo would not have that guide information until you connect to download guide data today.

I checked yesterday around 3:00 in the afternoon or so. They had the data correct on zap2it but not on TiVo. I forced a call and it did not push the new guide data to the TiVo.

Now it seems TiVo has called in on it's own at least on my HD TiVo and it does have corrected guide data for TBS. I'm forcing a call on my S3 now. Don't know why but it didn't make it's scheduled call in, didn't even attempt it.

I checked yesterday around 3:00 in the afternoon or so. They had the data correct on zap2it but not on TiVo. I forced a call and it did not push the new guide data to the TiVo.

Now it seems TiVo has called in on it's own at least on my HD TiVo and it does have corrected guide data for TBS. I'm forcing a call on my S3 now. Don't know why but it didn't make it's scheduled call in, didn't even attempt it.The Phone & Network screen will always tell you the date/time of the last connection and the date/time of the next connection. If you force a connection manually, TiVo will schedule its next connection 20-28 hours later.

Is anyone else upset that the guide data on www.zap2it.com has got the schedule for the playoffs correct but the guide they send us is screwed up? Why is this? Come on Tribune, send us the correct data. TW cable is going to have it before you do.
I agree that it's been pretty bad. Finally, this afternoon, I saw that my S3's guide correctly recognized that TBS would be carrying the MLB Division Series games. As late as last night, it was still showing a bunch of sitcoms in the time slots in which the baseball game was really being shown. To make the thing even more frustrating, the guide data on the SA box that I rent from Cox OKC had it right.

I have suffered from another, similar situation with respect to ESPNU HD, which Cox OKC picked up last week. It's guide data should be the same as ESPNU's SD feed, of course. Nevertheless, the S3's guide still hasn't figured it out, although Cox's own guide has been correct since the get go.

Hi there,

A few quick questions if y'all don't mind.

Can this TiVo HD box do anything at all without any subscription fees? or is it totally useless without a subscription?
Can you remove the HDD that comes with it and put it in your PC? or is it some kind of proprietary drive that won't work outside a TiVo.
I assume the model that does 20 hrs of HD and 180 hrs of SD is probably like a 160 GB HDD. I would assume that it's a SATA drive.
Has anyone modified one of these units and gotten it to do any tricks without a subscription service?

Thanks!

Hi there,

A few quick questions if y'all don't mind.

Can this TiVo HD box do anything at all without any subscription fees? or is it totally useless without a subscription?
Can you remove the HDD that comes with it and put it in your PC? or is it some kind of proprietary drive that won't work outside a TiVo.
I assume the model that does 20 hrs of HD and 180 hrs of SD is probably like a 160 GB HDD. I would assume that it's a SATA drive.
Has anyone modified one of these units and gotten it to do any tricks without a subscription service?

Thanks!

Pretty much useless without paying a subscription. You can put the hard drive in a PC but all you could do is format the hard drive. And no, eSata is 500 gb.

I swear I read that as eSata. Sorry about that. Didn't do a lengthy explanation because I am on my blackberry.

And no, eSata is 500 gb.He said:
I assume the model that does 20 hrs of HD and 180 hrs of SD is probably like a 160 GB HDD. I would assume that it's a SATA drive.I believe that he was talking about the internal drive, still thinking about possibly removing it and hooking it to a PC. I don't think that it's SATA--there's no need for the potential speed increase and you can probably still get PATA drives for less, especially in OEM quantities.

There's very, very little if anything that you can do with the box without a service subscription. Even setting its clock properly requires a connection to their service . If you're not interested in paying for that, you should probably remove it from consideration.

From the "Monthly and Prepaid Service Plan Pricing (https://www3.tivo.com/store/plans.do)" page at TiVo's site:
A subscription to the TiVo service is required and the TiVo DVR will not work without a paid subscription to the TiVo service. If you cancel the TiVo service you are purchasing today, the DVR will no longer function.

He said:
I believe that he was talking about the internal drive, still thinking about possibly removing it and hooking it to a PC. I don't think that it's SATA--there's no need for the potential speed increase and you can probably still get PATA drives for less, especially in OEM quantities.

There's very, very little if anything that you can do with the box without a service subscription. Even setting its clock properly requires a connection to their service . If you're not interested in paying for that, you should probably remove it from consideration.

From the "Monthly and Prepaid Service Plan Pricing (https://www3.tivo.com/store/plans.do)" page at TiVo's site:

The internal drive for TiVo HD is a 160GB SATA. The S3 is a 250 SATA.

Thanks for all the help. I saw a TiVo HD for $25 and I wondered if it was worth picking up. I thought perhaps there was a remote chance that without a subscription you could still use it as a tuner or something but just could not record anything. I cohnsidered it a long shot, but wanted to check just to make sure. I don't think a 160GB drive is worth $25.

Thanks for all the help. I saw a TiVo HD for $25 and I wondered if it was worth picking up. I thought perhaps there was a remote chance that without a subscription you could still use it as a tuner or something but just could not record anything. I cohnsidered it a long shot, but wanted to check just to make sure. I don't think a 160GB drive is worth $25.

Wow, you don't think it's worth spending 25.00 to get a TiVo? If it's a new one I wouldn't pass that up and I have two already.

Maybe you ought to look into what TiVo can do before you reject that offer.

Thanks for all the help. I saw a TiVo HD for $25 and I wondered if it was worth picking up. I thought perhaps there was a remote chance that without a subscription you could still use it as a tuner or something but just could not record anything. I cohnsidered it a long shot, but wanted to check just to make sure. I don't think a 160GB drive is worth $25.This thread is devoted to the discontinued TiVo Series3 model. See the TivoHD FAQ thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11126048&postcount=2) for more information on the current model, including screenshots and video demos.

TiVo allows users to eliminate all future fees with a lifetime subscription. This costs $399 at Tivo.com or $330 on ebay. A lifetime TivoHD for $355 is an absolute steal, imo. Note you can upgrade the internal drive; you can also connect select external drives.

Hello All:

How is everyone doing today???? Fine I hope????

Okay..... here's my situation.....

I have recently purchased and installed a TiVo HD-DVR into my home theater system (which is in transition, and in the process of being upgraded), and after downloading (and reading) the TiVo information guide (which is located elsewhere on this thread), I seem to be having an issue with my TiVo that is not listed or addressed in the "Known Issues" section of the information guide.

The issue I am having with MY TiVo is that from time-to-time, if it's either in the middle of channel surfing, or looking at a program either on Live TV, or looking at a program that I have recorded, my TiVo just shuts itself off, and then reboot itself right after that. The reboot sometimes takes 10-to-15 minutes. And then things go on operating as normal. This seems to be happening time and time again and again. And what I want to know is "is" this a known issue that is not listed in the guide??? Or, is this even a normal occurance with all TiVo DVRs??? Or is my unit is just defective???

I called TiVo about the issue last night, and they suggested that I take the M-Card out of the slot and use the TiVo without the M-Card being in place. Then they also suggested that I do not use my TiVo with a surge protector. I have been using various electronics with surge protectors for years (including PC's), and none of my other products shut off or do anything (and that has included up until recently...... a Toshiba HD-DVR...... which is basically, the same thing as the TiVo DVR, but is more of a self-contained unit where it doesn't have to be connected to a network in order to operate correctly). And during channel surfing last night, the same problem occured again.

Basically, what I want to know is that is there anyone else who is experiencing the same problem as I am experiencing??? Or is my TiVo basically defective??? Because if the latter turns out to be the case, my TiVo is covered for one year. So, if that turns out to be the case, I can mail my unit back and have TiVo send me out another unit.

Any response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks In Advance.....

--Charles--

Hello All:

How is everyone doing today???? Fine I hope????

Okay..... here's my situation.....

I have recently purchased and installed a TiVo HD-DVR into my home theater system (which is in transition, and in the process of being upgraded), and after downloading (and reading) the TiVo information guide (which is located elsewhere on this thread), I seem to be having an issue with my TiVo that is not listed or addressed in the "Known Issues" section of the information guide.

The issue I am having with MY TiVo is that from time-to-time, if it's either in the middle of channel surfing, or looking at a program either on Live TV, or looking at a program that I have recorded, my TiVo just shuts itself off, and then reboot itself right after that. The reboot sometimes takes 10-to-15 minutes. And then things go on operating as normal. This seems to be happening time and time again and again. And what I want to know is "is" this a known issue that is not listed in the guide??? Or, is this even a normal occurance with all TiVo DVRs??? Or is my unit is just defective???

I called TiVo about the issue last night, and they suggested that I take the M-Card out of the slot and use the TiVo without the M-Card being in place. Then they also suggested that I do not use my TiVo with a surge protector. I have been using various electronics with surge protectors for years (including PC's), and none of my other products shut off or do anything (and that has included up until recently...... a Toshiba HD-DVR...... which is basically, the same thing as the TiVo DVR, but is more of a self-contained unit where it doesn't have to be connected to a network in order to operate correctly). And during channel surfing last night, the same problem occured again.

Basically, what I want to know is that is there anyone else who is experiencing the same problem as I am experiencing??? Or is my TiVo basically defective??? Because if the latter turns out to be the case, my TiVo is covered for one year. So, if that turns out to be the case, I can mail my unit back and have TiVo send me out another unit.

Any response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks In Advance.....

--Charles--

Tell them you want a replacement. The surge protection thing is absolute garbage. Those "technical support" people are out sourced and reading off a computer script. And removing the M card is absurd. I've never heard such bad advice.

Tell them you want a replacement. The surge protection thing is absolute garbage. Those "technical support" people are out sourced and reading off a computer script. And removing the M card is absurd. I've never heard such bad advice.
+1. Your TiVo is sick, sick, sick and needs to be replaced under warranty. I should add that the normal reboot time for a TiVo is only about 4 minutes, not 15. Something is seriously amiss.

Hello All:

How is everyone doing today???? Fine I hope????

Okay..... here's my situation.....

I have recently purchased and installed a TiVo HD-DVR into my home theater system (which is in transition, and in the process of being upgraded), and after downloading (and reading) the TiVo information guide (which is located elsewhere on this thread), I seem to be having an issue with my TiVo that is not listed or addressed in the "Known Issues" section of the information guide.

The issue I am having with MY TiVo is that from time-to-time, if it's either in the middle of channel surfing, or looking at a program either on Live TV, or looking at a program that I have recorded, my TiVo just shuts itself off, and then reboot itself right after that. The reboot sometimes takes 10-to-15 minutes. And then things go on operating as normal. This seems to be happening time and time again and again. And what I want to know is "is" this a known issue that is not listed in the guide??? Or, is this even a normal occurance with all TiVo DVRs??? Or is my unit is just defective???

I called TiVo about the issue last night, and they suggested that I take the M-Card out of the slot and use the TiVo without the M-Card being in place. Then they also suggested that I do not use my TiVo with a surge protector. I have been using various electronics with surge protectors for years (including PC's), and none of my other products shut off or do anything (and that has included up until recently...... a Toshiba HD-DVR...... which is basically, the same thing as the TiVo DVR, but is more of a self-contained unit where it doesn't have to be connected to a network in order to operate correctly). And during channel surfing last night, the same problem occured again.

Basically, what I want to know is that is there anyone else who is experiencing the same problem as I am experiencing??? Or is my TiVo basically defective??? Because if the latter turns out to be the case, my TiVo is covered for one year. So, if that turns out to be the case, I can mail my unit back and have TiVo send me out another unit.

Any response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks In Advance.....

--Charles--

The TiVo will reboot anytime is senses an error, usually disk error. Since this is a new box, make TiVo replace it. It is sick and will only get worse. I've had the same issue with Cust Service trying to blame it on anything other than what it is.

Some time ago there was a discussion here about the distressing tendency of the inability of S3s to retain Native video resolution when connected to to an AV receiver. Instead, the S3 would spontaneously change its video resolution to 1080i Fixed every time it made an HDMI connection to the receiver, in my case a Yamaha RX-V3900. Others suggested and I confirmed that the only way to solve this glitch is to substitute component audio and optical video connections for the HDMI connection.

I changed my connection from my S3 to the 3900 from HDMI to Component and optical. It worked in that when I set the S3's video resolution to Native it would, indeed, retain its video setting and pass on the resolution of the channel being received to the receiver. Unfortunately, in exchange for a marginal improvement of the PQ of 720p transmissions when the S3 changed resolutions, picture and sound would be lost for a few seconds. I finally got so tired of this that I changed the connection between the S3 and the 3900 back to HDMI and simply decided to live with 1080i Fixed.

I am glad that I made the change because the loss of the marginal improvement of PQ I had gained from letting the 3900 do all video upconversion was more than overcome by the inconvenience of losing picture and sound whenever the resolution of the incoming signal changed.

I've never had a problem with my S3s losing the Native setting connected to the receiver or to a TV. My original S3 units will be three years old next month.,

I frequently get a loss of audio either when I first turn on my television or even in the middle of the broadcast. However this has never happened during a recording. I don't know what causes it.

I have HDMI and digital from the TiVo S3 to my receiver. The way I recover is hit the replay button and just leave it there. The sound is there it just sometimes doesn't seem to process fast enough for live television.

If that makes any sense.

I've never had a problem with my S3s losing the Native setting connected to the receiver or to a TV. My original S3 units will be three years old next month.,
Aaron -- That's not surprising. The S3s seem to play more nicely with some AV receivers than they do with others. Unfortunately, many of us who have both a Yamaha RX-V3900 and an S3 have suffered from the problem. As noted in my earlier post, I got so tired of momentarily losing video every time the TiVo switched resolutions, I gladly went back to 1080i Fixed.

Quick question:

Some of you might recall my writing about issues downloading video (from Amazon) a couple months ago. I finally concluded it's related to the hard drive getting too full, so I've decided to do an upgrade to a bigger hard drive. I am reading up on it, but I just want to check with owners here....does anybody know any reasons this would be a bad idea? I love my S3s (which have lifetime service subscriptions) and I'd really hate to screw 'em up. :(

Quick question:

Some of you might recall my writing about issues downloading video (from Amazon) a couple months ago. I finally concluded it's related to the hard drive getting too full, so I've decided to do an upgrade to a bigger hard drive. I am reading up on it, but I just want to check with owners here....does anybody know any reasons this would be a bad idea? I love my S3s (which have lifetime service subscriptions) and I'd really hate to screw 'em up. :(Though people do it, cracking the case and installing a new drive would void your warranty. You can always attach an external drive and TiVo will support it if it's one of the Western Digital My DVR Expander models (available in 500GB and 1TB sizes). Also, you should look at the "Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784)" thread at TiVo Community Forums.

I frequently get a loss of audio either when I first turn on my television or even in the middle of the broadcast. However this has never happened during a recording. I don't know what causes it.

I have HDMI and digital from the TiVo S3 to my receiver. The way I recover is hit the replay button and just leave it there. The sound is there it just sometimes doesn't seem to process fast enough for live television.

If that makes any sense.

Makes sense to me since I've also been getting the loss of audio problem. Only when watching "live" TV. Happens on both my S3's occasionally. Trick play buttons restore it immediately. The problem never shows up in the recordings.

Thanks All:

I have called TiVo earlier today, and they are going to send me a replacement unit. I am going to send my existing unit back to TiVo no later than Wednesday of THIS week.

Now..... what I should've stated before hand that this was a "refurbished" unit that I have bought from them.

But even still, it shouldn't matter anyway, because the damn things are supposed to work straight out of the box, right (and it shouldn't matter whether the unit is brand new or refurbished)???

Again...... thanks all......

I hope I have MUCH better luck with my next unit.

Regards To All......

--Charles--

It is interesting to see other people have been having thie audio issue. I usually just change channels and it clears up...but it has been known to resurface. It seems like it only started a fairly short while back...was it after the latest update?

Randy

It is interesting to see other people have been having thie audio issue. I usually just change channels and it clears up...but it has been known to resurface. It seems like it only started a fairly short while back...was it after the latest update?

Randy

When was the last update? This has been happening for me for about 6 or 7 mos that I can recall. It always cleared up after changing channels so I've never really worried about it. It is interesting to see it's a lot more common than I thought it was though.

Have you ever had a frozen image when you switched to the TiVo source/input? I get that as well, but there never seems to be anything wrong, a channel change fixes that as well.

When was the last update? This has been happening for me for about 6 or 7 mos that I can recall. It always cleared up after changing channels so I've never really worried about it. It is interesting to see it's a lot more common than I thought it was though.

Have you ever had a frozen image when you switched to the TiVo source/input? I get that as well, but there never seems to be anything wrong, a channel change fixes that as well.

I believe (in other words, I am definitely not sure) that there was one within the last month or two. At least I thought I read something about one going out. I'm sure others on here will know for sure...

I have not experienced the frame freeze that I can think of. Well, I might be be speaking too quickly there...I did experience this some hiccups Sunday while watching football, but I thought the trouble lied with the source. It wasn't just on channel or input changes...it happened while just watching live. I'll keep an eye out to see if it pops up again....thanks for mentioning that...

Randy

Though people do it, cracking the case and installing a new drive would void your warranty. You can always attach an external drive and TiVo will support it if it's one of the Western Digital My DVR Expander models (available in 500GB and 1TB sizes). Also, you should look at the "Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784)" thread at TiVo Community Forums.

I was initially concerned about that....but aren't all our warranties expired anyway? Most of us have had our S3s for several years now and they're not even made anymore. I'd think the bigger concerns would be about negatively impacting functionality or the lifetime subscription. :confused:

I have had my S3 since they first came out. In the past 6 months I started getting reboots every other week or so, frequent audio drop outs and occasional freeze frames. The later 2 are cured with a channel change.

Is this getting ready to $hit the bed?

I have had my S3 since they first came out. In the past 6 months I started getting reboots every other week or so, frequent audio drop outs and occasional freeze frames. The later 2 are cured with a channel change.

Is this getting ready to $hit the bed?It's time to replace the hard drive. Most TiVos will last 10+ years if you replace the drive every 3-4 years.

Drive upgrade/replacement instructions are here (TCF) (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#instructions) and here (AVS) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469#upgrade). These drives will work fine in the Series3:

Seagate ST31000322CS @ Provantage.com (http://www.provantage.com/seagate-st31000322cs~7SEGS1XR.htm)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ TheNerds.net (http://www.thenerds.net/SEAGATE.Seagate_Pipeline_HD_ST31000322CS_Hard_Drive.ST310003 22CS.html)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ PC Connection (http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=9688307)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Pipeline-HD-ST31000322CS-internal/dp/B0027QP1YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255213188&sr=8-2)

Western Digital WD10EVDS @ Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-AV-GP-Drive-WD10EVDS/dp/B002P3KO74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255842388&sr=8-1)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-av-gp-wd10evds-hard-drive-1tb-7200rpm-internal/q/loc/101/210673282.html)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ TheNerds.net (http://www.thenerds.net/WESTERN_DIGITAL.Western_Digital_AV_GP_WD10EVDS_Hard_Drive.WD 10EVDS.html)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ CDW (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?edc=1782214)

The WD10EVDS produces a bit less noise, but it also costs $10 more.

[QUOTE=keenan;17463017
Have you ever had a frozen image when you switched to the TiVo source/input? I get that as well, but there never seems to be anything wrong, a channel change fixes that as well.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but that only happens on channels that are SDV. I believe that might be SDV giving you the boot because you didn't respond to their "Are you still watching."

I want to add I rarely see this but I do from time to time.

If my S3 corks off I've already used my 3 years and I'm on the yearly plan. I'm going to stick a 1tb hard drive in that puppy and just pull the eSATA which is about 2 and a half years old.

It's time to replace the hard drive. Most TiVos will last 10+ years if you replace the drive every 3-4 years.

Thanks so much for the list of drives and all the info you've assembled; it's incredibly helpful. Is there any particular drive you recommend out of all the available options? (Large capacity and quiet performance would take priority over cost for me.) Also, assuming you keep feeding it new hard drives, what component(s) would you expect to finally fail at 10+ yrs?

Yes, but that only happens on channels that are SDV. I believe that might be SDV giving you the boot because you didn't respond to their "Are you still watching."

I want to add I rarely see this but I do from time to time.

We don't have SDV here in the SF bay area, linear channels only, and of course On Demand but that doesn't relate to the TiVo.

I'm not sure about the others that have posted, primarily in the HD thread, since they didn't mention it I'm assuming they don't have SDV either, or at least it's not happening on those channels if they do have it.

We don't have SDV here in the SF bay area, linear channels only, and of course On Demand but that doesn't relate to the TiVo.

I'm not sure about the others that have posted, primarily in the HD thread, since they didn't mention it I'm assuming they don't have SDV either, or at least it's not happening on those channels if they do have it.

No SDV here either...yet.

Randy

Thanks so much for the list of drives and all the info you've assembled; it's incredibly helpful. Is there any particular drive you recommend out of all the available options? (Large capacity and quiet performance would take priority over cost for me.) Also, assuming you keep feeding it new hard drives, what component(s) would you expect to finally fail at 10+ yrs?A 1.5TB drive would be ideal, as the TiVo Series3 can use up to 1.36TB (212 HD hours) internal. I don't know of any compatible 1.5TB drives aside from the Seagate ST31500541AS, and that may produce more noise than you want.

The 1.5TB WD15EVDS used to be compatible with the Series3, but the newly manufactured units are equipped with a firmware that is no longer fully compatible. Those drives now exhibit the "soft reboot" issue with the TiVo Series3.

Of the 1TB drives, the WD10EVDS offers the best acoustics (i.e. it's silent). It's fully compatible with the TiVo Series3.

Also, assuming you keep feeding it new hard drives, what component(s) would you expect to finally fail at 10+ yrs?The power supply is typically the next component to fail.

Of the 1TB drives, the WD10EVDS offers the best acoustics (i.e. it's silent). It's fully compatible with the TiVo Series3.
Perfect. I'm off to order two of them....one for each of my S3s. :D Thanks again.

Bftdv thanks for the info.

If I am going to replace the HD does it make since to replace the power supply at the same time?

It's time to replace the hard drive. Most TiVos will last 10+ years if you replace the drive every 3-4 years.

Drive upgrade/replacement instructions are here (TCF) (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784#instructions) and here (AVS) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469#upgrade). These drives will work fine in the Series3:

Seagate ST31000322CS @ Provantage.com (http://www.provantage.com/seagate-st31000322cs~7SEGS1XR.htm)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ TheNerds.net (http://www.thenerds.net/SEAGATE.Seagate_Pipeline_HD_ST31000322CS_Hard_Drive.ST310003 22CS.html)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ PC Connection (http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=9688307)
Seagate ST31000322CS @ Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Pipeline-HD-ST31000322CS-internal/dp/B0027QP1YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255213188&sr=8-2)

Western Digital WD10EVDS @ Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-AV-GP-Drive-WD10EVDS/dp/B002P3KO74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1255842388&sr=8-1)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-av-gp-wd10evds-hard-drive-1tb-7200rpm-internal/q/loc/101/210673282.html)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ TheNerds.net (http://www.thenerds.net/WESTERN_DIGITAL.Western_Digital_AV_GP_WD10EVDS_Hard_Drive.WD 10EVDS.html)
Western Digital WD10EVDS @ CDW (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?edc=1782214)

The WD10EVDS produces a bit less noise, but it also costs $10 more.

Can you do this on a TiVo HD?

If I am going to replace the HD does it make since to replace the power supply at the same time?
No.

Can you do this on a TiVo HD?Yes. The same drives and instructions work for the TivoHD.

If I am going to replace the HD does it make since to replace the power supply at the same time?Absolutely not, but you should make sure your TiVo is plugged into a functioning surge protector. The type of surge protector most commonly sold at retail has a limited lifespan.

Many TiVo owners recommend UPS devices to avoid potential "wear" on the power supply caused by brown outs, blown fuses, etc. If you see these things with any frequency, then a UPS is probably a good idea.

You know the power supply is bad when your TiVo (a) won't start, or (b) appears to start with power LEDs, but displays no "Powering up..." screen. If you see the "Powering up..." screen, then you know the TiVo and its PS is fine; that screen is loaded from a ROM chip on the logic board, and you'll see it even if the hard drive is completely dead.

If I am going to replace the HD does it make since to replace the power supply at the same time?I've owned at least twenty TiVos since 2001. And I currently have three S3 units and six tiVoHD units.
I've never had a power supply fail.

I've also always had my TiVos on a UPS, so they rarely ever power down, except for me to upgrade the hard drive. I have a 1TB drive in all my current boxes and since I'm on FIOS don't really need more. Since I'm able to transfer any recording I make on FIOS to another TiVo or my PC running TiVo desktop where I have access to around Twenty Five terabytes of storage.

I have an S3 and I got a letter from TW saying it is implementing SDV on Nov. 12. I got a Cisco TA from TW and am planning to install it.

Any advice that would make the install easier would be appreciated.

Thanks, CB

I have an S3 and I got a letter from TW saying it is implementing SDV on Nov. 12. I got a Cisco TA from TW and am planning to install it.

Any advice that would make the install easier would be appreciated.

Thanks, CB

You should have got instructions with your TA. If you have problems try unplugging and plugging the USB.

Its really plug and play. If you don't get a steady light you may have to have them send you a hit

Of the 1TB drives, the WD10EVDS offers the best acoustics (i.e. it's silent). It's fully compatible with the TiVo Series3.
Sorry I missed this if it's in the FAQs, but is AAM in this particular drive already set to 128, or do I need to use Hddscan to change it?

Sorry I missed this if it's in the FAQs, but is AAM in this particular drive already set to 128, or do I need to use Hddscan to change it?It's already set to 128.

................
Of the 1TB drives, the WD10EVDS offers the best acoustics (i.e. it's silent). It's fully compatible with the TiVo Series3.

..

None of the drives are silent. they all make noise. Those drives just make less. With my hearing I can still hear them easily from over 10 feet away, but they are quieter than other drives available.

I can also easily hear the fan in a TiVo from 20 feet away.

All this talk of upgrades has got me a little itchy...so would you say that a drive replacement is generally considered more reliable than adding the external drive, or is it more or less a toss-up? I think I understand the pros and cons of each set up beyond the reliability question...I'm just wondering what the general consensus is around that.

Thanks,
Randy

Internal upgrade is more reliable than adding external, by all accounts that I've seen. Plus, it's one less device to power, one less point of failure, and it's a cheaper solution.

But some folks just don't want to fool with opening the case and messing with WinMFS, don't have a PC with enough SATA or USB ports to do the transfer, and/or are overly concerned about the warranty. There have been a few reports that Tivo would not replace a failed box under warranty if the drive was upgraded, but since the full warranty is only 90 days it's not a big deal to wait if that's a concern to you.

I upgraded my TivoHD immediately after I activated it, and it's been running fine for over a year now. YMMV.

Internal upgrade is more reliable than adding external, by all accounts that I've seen. Plus, it's one less device to power, one less point of failure, and it's a cheaper solution.
I agree that internal drives appear to have far fewer problems with TiVos than do external drives. I have had a TiVo S3 for nearly 3 years so it is long out of warranty but has a Lifetime subscription. I don't plan to add a larger hard drive until the 250 gig drive that came with the S3 gives up the ghost but plan to replace the old internal drive with a new larger one when the time comes.

I upgraded my S3 boxes righat way in 2006 to 500GB, then to 750GB and then to 1TB.
In a way I'm glad that the original S3 and the TiVoHD can't take full advantage of a 1.5TB drive. Otherwise I would probably go from the current 1TB drives I'm using to 1.5TB or 2TB drives in all my TiVos. And I really don't need to.

None of the drives are silent. they all make noise. Those drives just make less. With my hearing I can still hear them easily from over 10 feet away, but they are quieter than other drives available.

I can also easily hear the fan in a TiVo from 20 feet away.

It sounds like you been through a lot of drives, so you may not even remember the original ones very well. ;) But how do you think the newer replacement drives compare (noise-wise) to those?

Internal upgrade is more reliable than adding external, by all accounts that I've seen. Plus, it's one less device to power, one less point of failure, and it's a cheaper solution.Yeah, but it's much more involved, requiring a special tool to crack the box and a PC, and is not supported. (Will support even try to help you when they ping you box and see a non-standard drive installed? I wouldn't--tech support is difficult enough without having to deal with random pieces of equipment). The external drive solution is plug-and-play. As a firmware engineer who's spent uncounted hours mucking with hardware, I prefer the external drive. But that's just me. If you're a computer hobbiest who enjoys that kind of thing, go for it :).

Yeah, but it's much more involved, requiring a special tool to crack the box and a PC, and is not supported. (Will support even try to help you when they ping you box and see a non-standard drive installed? I wouldn't--tech support is difficult enough without having to deal with random pieces of equipment). The external drive solution is plug-and-play. As a firmware engineer who's spent uncounted hours mucking with hardware, I prefer the external drive. But that's just me. If you're a computer hobbiest who enjoys that kind of thing, go for it :).
I agree that replacing an internal drive in a TiVo is a hassle, especially compared to the ease of adding an external drive. That's why I have decided not to get a new drive for my S3 until the 250 gig drive that came with it fails. Then I'll replace it with a 1 Tb internal drive, which is a hassle I would have to face anyway.

Yeah, but it's much more involved, requiring a special tool to crack the box and a PC, and is not supported. (Will support even try to help you when they ping you box and see a non-standard drive installed? I wouldn't--tech support is difficult enough without having to deal with random pieces of equipment). The external drive solution is plug-and-play. As a firmware engineer who's spent uncounted hours mucking with hardware, I prefer the external drive. But that's just me. If you're a computer hobbiest who enjoys that kind of thing, go for it :).

By "special tool" you mean the hex key/Allen wrench that is needed?

there is nothing special about it. I have a dozen at home that fit the TiVos. And they sell hex keys/Allen wrenches at the hardware store.

I agree that replacing an internal drive in a TiVo is a hassle, especially compared to the ease of adding an external drive. That's why I have decided not to get a new drive for my S3 until the 250 gig drive that came with it fails. Then I'll replace it with a 1 Tb internal drive, which is a hassle I would have to face anyway.

Exactly my thinking counselor. Same thing 1Tb. But I hope that day doesn't come until at least next Summer. :)

By "special tool" you mean the hex key/Allen wrench that is needed?

there is nothing special about it. I have a dozen at home that fit the TiVos. And they sell hex keys/Allen wrenches at the hardware store.

+1

Nothing special about it, but I believe it's actually a Torx driver, not Hex. I've a got a whole set of them.....

+1

Nothing special about it, but I believe it's actually a Torx driver, not Hex. I've a got a whole set of them.....

It is a torx driver, I got one too.

I do not now nor have I ever owned a torx screwdriver, which may be why I think of it as "special". I have a toolbox full of sundry other things for light home repair, but then I only work on electronics when I'm paid to, so maybe that's it :).

TiVo released TiVo Desktop 2.8 (free) (http://www.tivo.com/buytivo/tivogear/software/index.html). Aside from Windows 7 Compatibility, the changes include:

The folders on the PC can now display when viewed from your TiVo DVR.

You can choose the discovery protocol TiVo Desktop & DVRs use to locate each other on your home network.

Changes to TiVo Desktop Plus (the pay version, but free upgrade):

Transferring home movies recorded with a Flip camcorder to the DVR is now supported.

Transferring web videos in the MPEG-4 format to the TiVo HD or Series3 DVR is significantly faster.

Transferring web videos in the MKV format to the DVR is now supported. (DTS audio within this format is not supported.)

The video quality for PlayStation Portables has been improved.

TiVo Desktop Plus can create videos for playback on additional popular portable media players, such as the Apple iPhone, Apple iPod Touch, the Palm Pre and several models of Blackberry phones.

The user can now choose to auto-transfer all the contents of a folder

TiVo released TiVo Desktop 2.8 (free) (http://www.tivo.com/buytivo/tivogear/software/index.html). Aside from Windows 7 Compatibility, the changes include:



Changes to TiVo Desktop Plus (the pay version, but free upgrade):

Py TiVo Rocks.

Did TiVo ever release an update for Snow Leopard or are they still dragging their butts on that. They moved quick for Windows.

I do not now nor have I ever owned a torx screwdriver, which may be why I think of it as "special". I have a toolbox full of sundry other things for light home repair, but then I only work on electronics when I'm paid to, so maybe that's it :).
I have a variety of torx screwdrivers. That, however, is a function of my age, not sophistication. I had two Compaq computers, which I bought in the company's early days, the mid '80s. For reasons known only to Compaq and God, their machines' cases were secured with torx screws. In those years, of course, if you weren't a nerd and willing to get under the hood, you had no business with a computer. Thus, I thought nothing about acquiring the tools needed to crack Compaq cases.

I have a variety of torx screwdrivers. That, however, is a function of my age, not sophistication. I had two Compaq computers, which I bought in the company's early days, the mid '80s. For reasons known only to Compaq and God, their machines' cases were secured with torx screws. In those years, of course, if you weren't a nerd and willing to get under the hood, you had no business with a computer. Thus, I thought nothing about acquiring the tools needed to crack Compaq cases.

LOL! :D:D You and me both!

I agree that replacing an internal drive in a TiVo is a hassle, especially compared to the ease of adding an external drive. That's why I have decided not to get a new drive for my S3 until the 250 gig drive that came with it fails. Then I'll replace it with a 1 Tb internal drive, which is a hassle I would have to face anyway.

Am I missing something? Isn't it too late once the original drive fails? After all, you can't make a copy of a drive that no longer works. Don't you at least have to make the copy while the drive is still heathy?

Am I missing something? Isn't it too late once the original drive fails? After all, you can't make a copy of a drive that no longer works. Don't you at least have to make the copy while the drive is still heathy?
I understand that there is a disc available that you can use to format a new drive for a TiVo on a PC. Once this is done, you can substitute the formatted drive for the old, dead one and go from there. CAVEAT: I haven't done this myself but believe that the instructions are here somewhere, either in this thread or one of the other TiVo threads.

After I posted the foregoing I did a little quick research and saw that the name of the disc you need to format a new drive to replace a dead internal TiVo drive is InstantCake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm). The link I have provided should give you a feel for what is involved. As noted earlier, I have not used InstantCake so can't express an opinion one way or the other about how it works.

Am I missing something? Isn't it too late once the original drive fails? After all, you can't make a copy of a drive that no longer works. Don't you at least have to make the copy while the drive is still heathy?DVRUpgrade sells a boot CD called InstantCake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm) ($20). This CD will restore a fresh copy of the TiVo software to any drive up to 1TB in size.

If you don't have a backup image from your TiVo, then that's what you use. With this method, you lose all of your existing season passes, wishlists, recordings, as well as your CableCard pairing information (so your cable provider must re-pair your CableCards to the TiVo). Your subscription information, including lifetime, is not impacted, because that is tied to a ROM chip on the logic board.

Edit: I see gwsat already responded.

DVRUpgrade sells a boot CD called InstantCake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm) ($20). This CD will restore a fresh copy of the TiVo software to any drive up to 1TB in size.

If you don't have a backup image from your TiVo, then that's what you use. With this method, you lose all of your existing season passes, wishlists, recordings, as well as your CableCard pairing information (so your cable provider must re-pair your CableCards to the TiVo). Your subscription information, including lifetime, is not impacted, because that is tied to a ROM chip on the logic board.

Edit: I see gwsat already responded.
bfdtv -- What is involved in making a backup image of a TiVo internal drive that is working? I infer from your post that with such an image, it would be possible to configure a replacement drive with Season Passes, etc., even after the first drive failed. Is this the case? As Hook said, I don't want to replace my existing drive very soon but it never hurts to be prepared. Any input concerning how to make the image and where to copy it would be very much appreciated.

TiVo released TiVo Desktop 2.8 (free) (http://www.tivo.com/buytivo/tivogear/software/index.html). Aside from Windows 7 Compatibility, the changes include:



Changes to TiVo Desktop Plus (the pay version, but free upgrade):

Will 2.8 transfer shows concurrently from multiple TiVos like 2.6 did? 2.7 would only transfer consecutively when I tried it.

bfdtv -- What is involved in making a backup image of a TiVo internal drive that is working? I infer from your post that with such an image, it would be possible to configure a replacement drive with Season Passes, etc., even after the first drive failed. Is this the case? As Hook said, I don't want to replace my existing drive very soon but it never hurts to be prepared. Any input concerning how to make the image and where to copy it would be very much appreciated.


For a backup of a working drive I use WinMFS which backs up the season passes. if no image is available instantcake works great. But for me I have six tiVoHD boxes and three Series 3 boxes so I have plenty of drives to draw an image from if I ever lose my backups that are located on in multiple locations with redundant drives.

I infer from your post that with such an image, it would be possible to configure a replacement drive with Season Passes, etc., even after the first drive failed. Is this the caseYes. You preserve your season passes, wishlists, and CableCard pairing information with a backup image.

What is involved in making a backup image of a TiVo internal drive that is working?Just follow steps 1-13 of the Drive Upgrade Instructions (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469#upgrade) (FAQ #211 A).

Note you can't make a backup image while the TiVo is "married" to an external drive.

Will 2.8 transfer shows concurrently from multiple TiVos like 2.6 did? 2.7 would only transfer consecutively when I tried it.You tell me. :) I haven't tried it yet.

I'll try it tonight if I get a chance. Definitely by the weekend.

Some good comments from morac on the new version of TiVo Desktop:

Basically TiVo removed all the extra codecs it used to install automatically (such as Haali) and the requirement that certain programs being installed (ie: Apple Quicktime). So if all you have if TD 2.8 installed, it is limited to transferring MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 in addition to TiVo files.

What TiVo did that's smart is make it such that if Windows can play it, TiVo can transcode it (assuming the appropriate filter is installed). So for example if you want to be able to transcode MKV files, simply install the Haali Media Splitter (http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/) codec yourself and you're good to go. Same thing with .mov (quicktime) files and Apple Quicktime.

A nice thing about TD 2.8 is that it no longer takes over codecs already installed on your machine. With TD 2.7, if you had a mp4 or mpg or mp2 codec installed and then upgraded to TD Plus, all your files would play with the MainConcept codecs which in many cases were inferior. With 2.8, only .tivo files use the MainConcept codecs. The MainConcept codecs aren't even registered with Windows. I think this was done since Windows 7 has most codecs built in already and don't really allow 3rd party software to override them.

I haven't seen if you can pull mp4 files without transcoding (pushing doesn't require transcoding), but my guess is that that hasn't changed since 2.7. Maybe someone can try that out.

The changes make TD 2.8 a definite improvement over 2.7, though it still suffers from slow load times when the cache folder fills up with files.

I couldn't stand how TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6/2.7 set its own codecs as the defaults for all sorts of files, so I'm glad TiVo got rid of that in 2.8.

Some good comments from morac on the new version of TiVo Desktop:



I couldn't stand how TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6/2.7 set its own codecs as the defaults for all sorts of files, so I'm glad TiVo got rid of that in 2.8.
That used to drive me nuts as well, spent a lot of time tracking it down to resolve problems with other apps.

2.6 worked great for me. I never had any problems. 2.7 was bad though since it would take days to download shows from several of my TiVos since it wouldn't do them concurrently.

I loaded TiVo Desktop 2.8 last night. The install when smoothly on Windows 7.

And I was able to download shows concurrently like with 2.6
I was downloading from five boxes concurrently with no problems.

I also noticed that when viewing the TiVo Desktop PC from a TiVo, that it now groups things into folders, so it makes it much easier to find and keep track of shows. Especially when I'm wading through several Terabytes of shows, it makes it so much easier to find something.

On the rare occasion I had a problem with the cache folder in the past, which would happen on occasion. I would just delete all the files in it and any problems would be gone.
I will do the same thing with 2.8 if I have aproblem with the cache, but it rarely happened with 2.6 so hopefully 2.8 has problems just as infrequently.