Time Warner Cable Navigator - Page 579

Could just be your area because here in Kansas City unless you complain about the service they will only send contractors.

the problem lies in that there is no 2nd tier or higher support for the tv/dvr services, only the front line scripters
internet has multiple levels but if you have a problem with dvr like we're having, you're screwed because the 'techs' can't help, truck rolls are pointless, and there's no one else in the company to talk/complain to about the problems...

i dunno how many trouble tickets i've had created (which all seem to disappear from the system) or how many managers were supposed to call me back after the 'engineers watch my box thru the network for a while'

I know that is so stupid!

Well, years ago. I mean YEARS ago I called and asked for a supervisor for an unresolved cable problem and he called me back, came out to the house with several boxes. I remember the problem exactly, two old SA-2000 boxes that got their PPV pin numbers stuck in the right hand corner of the guide. We swapped it out and he gave me his direct line. That was so long ago. There has to be some kind of linkage for more experienced users to talk to the techs, to give feedback that doesn't go to some pom-pom marketing cheerleaders, but directly to the programers, the developers. We have very, very skilled computer and technology people on these forums and should not have to put up with same CSR script speak as the 80-year old grandmother who can't find the Power button.

That's the message that has to get through to TWC and Brighthouse Networks. Give more advanced users a place to communicate feedback, issues, and concerns to a designer and a developer who is actually working with the software, can give us feedback on what we would like it to do. Could come and read these forums, which would explain 100 times over why TWC's on-screen STB guide is the weakest link in an otherwise great technology company. We also have to find a way to get more of the general population to these boards so that TWC will get the message and start providing proper communications for advanced users.

Jack
Edited by Satch Man - 10/10/12 at 10:38am

That's a pretty radical set of ideas. I doubt the upper classes could understand such thing as they think anyone below them (95% of everyone else) isn't worth paying them any more than what they are paying now.

Of course we could just tax the rich at the 95% rate and just take care of everyone else with the residuals.

Can anyone tell me how to get to the log on a SA8300HD?

I also have many cases where the box just doesn't record scheduled series recordings and I would like to diagnose further. Rebooting the box seems to help. It almost seems like the box thinks that neither tuner is available. Perhaps there's some kind of bug whereby it sometimes decrements the number of tuners available counter while recording a show but for some reason never increments the counter. I also suspect I have a failing hard drive inside since a few times the majority of my recorded shows have just disappeared from the list.

if u mean diagnostics...on the remote you hold the select button down for about 15 seconds then imediately push the down arrow button

Kind of a funny story. Yesterday after some issues with a box(almost 3 year old Samsung Whole Home unit) we finally had it replaced along with the modem which had a bad port. After getting everything setup the "Signature Home" tech and his trainee(Regular Tech) where trying to figure out how to get to the Diagnostics menu. The "Signature Home" tech said to his trainee "since the update I can't find it. I think they disabled it". So I told them "You hold select until the mail icon flashes and then press down".

tl;dr I got to teach two techs how to get to the diagnostics menu.

the problem is you have to hold select a lot longer than you used to

Yeah, I had to show the guy who installed my second WHDVR how to get into diags too. Sad.

I have a series set to record all episodes of Holmes on Homes. I have it set to not delete any episodes if space is needed(I try to keep it below 30% at all times anyway). I've had it record the same episode, same title, same description in the guide 4 times now.

I thought it only recorded each episode once when you set it to record all(Old and New) episodes, is this not the case?

You're lucky Navigator is recording it at all! One would think the DVR is smart enough to know not to record duplicate episodes, but apparently this one is not.

I "think" it doesn't record a show a 2nd time only if you have watched the 1st. I've seen similar on my DVR.

Another missed recording last night, once again it was the only thing set to record at that time. Same thing as last time, black screen on the channel that's supposed to record. It's as if the box doesn't use the second tuner or something.

In the previous two years, before the latest upgrade, I had zero missed recordings. I've had two so far this week.

No missed recordings here, but last night it recorded a completely extraneous one hour slice of the baseball game on TBS between 10p and 11p. I have no TBS shows or series scheduled at all (actually, I don't think I have ever recorded anything on TBS), so it's not a case where it was scheduled to record something else that was preempted by the game.

WOW!!!

How could that happen? You had no shows or series recording, and all of a sudden get an hour of a baseball game! LOL! Navigator must be helping you "Enjoy Better" with the new "Show Predictor Features." It just "knows" what you like and don't like and will decide for YOU when to record, when not to record, and even what to record. "Enjoy Better1"

Jack

The "New Only" vs "New and Old" setting has no bearing whatsoever on whether it records the same episode multiple times, nor does whether you have watched the episode or not. When an episode gets recorded, its supposed to get an entry in the recording log that stays there for ~10 days. During that 10 day period, the box should not record that episode again. Once the log entry expires, it will record the episode again if it reappears on the schedule. The comparison of scheduled vs. recorded episodes is based on metadata tags that we cannot see, not the text description we do see, so the episodes could look identical to us in the guide listings but look different to the box if the episode metadata does not match.

When multiple recordings of the same episode occur, it's either bad guide episode metadata, or there are problems with the recording log or lookup/comparison logic on the box. Guide data errors are not Navigator bugs and the box cannot do anything about them... recording log issues would definitely be a bug. If the problem is transient and limited to just that show, then the most likely cause is guide data error.

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Edited by jcalabria - 10/11/12 at 7:54am

If it is trying to do predictive recording, it's doing a LOUSY job because I have not the slightest interest in baseball, LOL.

I have no idea how/why it did that, and it really caused no harm... but its bizarreness prompted me to post it here. The other tuner did successfully record Chicago Fire in the same time slot, which is scheduled as a series.

___
Edited by jcalabria - 10/11/12 at 7:54am

Just watched a recorded show, when it kicked back to live TV the channel was black. I started switching channels and eventually something came in. I'm getting irritated by this sudden flakiness.

I had something very similar happen last night, except it was an hour of a baseball game from midnight to 1AM on TNT. I do record a series on TNT, which makes it a bit different from your situation.

I have seen this happen a few times. When the guide data is initially downloaded, the DVR sets its recordings. If the guide data changes later, the previously scheduled items don't get properly updated. This happens a lot during baseball/basketball elimination series. I also see it happen quite a bit on holidays, when regularly scheduled daily programming (5x/week) doesn't happen on certain channels and guide data is updated later.

I agree with your analysis of why it would/could normally happen and have seen that happen on numerous occasions before. It seemed to have happened a lot last season with NBC programming where The Voice had been substituted for previously scheduled programs (particularly, The Firm, which was juggled around on the schedule many times). It is obviously is unavoidable for true last minute preemptions that never make it into the guide (like the space skydive event I scheduled to record several times this week but was canceled each time at the last minute), but once the guide data has been updated, as it was with The Voice/The Firm swaps and likely was with your TNT/MLB problem, if the box doesn't do anything with that updated data then it's a glaring shortcoming in the scheduling logic of the box.

Still doesn't explain my random TBS recording, since I didn't have anything else scheduled for TBS for it to get confused with. It makes me wonder a little if there isn't some (supposed to be) dormant code in the guide to support scheduling series across multiple channels as some other guides do.
Edited by jcalabria - 10/11/12 at 1:10pm

Any one besides me with Time-Warner Cable in the Erie, Northeast Ohio area having the following issue. A number of channels, such as Lifetime HD, We HD, E! HD, and others are not available. When I tune to one of these channels I get a screen with the channel logo and a notice that says "LIFETIME HD is currently unavailable, please try again later.", or substitute other channel names and logos. I've talked to TWC tech support and they've eliminated signal problems on my end, or problems with my digital boxes, and have escalated the problem to engineering. This has been going on for two days now. (I'm sorry if this post isn't appropriate for this thread, but I'm just grasping for some feedback with this problem, and I know many posters here are very knowledgeable with TWC systems...thanks.)

I presume you tried rebooting your box. That's cleared it up for me when I've had the same issue in the past.

A cold reboot of the box should solve this issue. If you are still having problems:

Turn the box off
Unplug the box for 30 seconds
Plug back in
Wait for the time to show in the display and stay shown for about 10 seconds
Turn the cable box on.

Jack

Thanks for the reply Satch Man. I've already tried that. The tech also rebooted both my boxes from his end. No luck. I'm thinking this problem originates at the head end.

It is probably an SDV issue and they are performing maintenance on it. Keep track of your number of days you have problems and make sure you call to get a service credit on your account. Are you out of service completely or just a specific tier of channels? I am sure their Voicemail system knows all about it. Make sure you get a credit everyone. See if you can get something like a free PPV movie coupon for your troubles. Two days is a long time.

Jack

This is the classic SDV(Switched Digital Video) problem. That is why it is being escalated to engineering.

Basically TW has divided up their system into several (many)neighborhood nodes, Typically each node covers 200-500 homes. Each node is allocated a number of SDV channels and a given channel (such as Lifetime) is not assigned a channel until a customer "requests" one by actually tuning to that channel on their cable box. There are only so many available channels in that pool, and once all of them are being used the "Channel Not Available" message is sent out. The recent implementation of "Auto HD" has exacerbated the problem by "tuning" to more HD channels than was previously the case. Also, just an increase in HD sets increases demand. Typically, when this situation occurs, they "split" the node and thus have fewer homes served by that node. To do this, some physical changes have to take place, so it may take some time for TW to resolve the problem.

About all you can do is to complain bitterly and insist that they give your bill a substantial credit until they are able to reliably deliver ALL channels that they claim that you can receive.

Yes,

A new software update for the Navigator Guide is being rolled out called "Auto HD" which customers can turn on or off. When activated, the box will automatically tune to and record the HD channel if available, even when a customer selects the SD channel. The problem as stated above is that the system nodes are not capable of pulling through 100-200 some HD channels on the system at once. The old bandwidth connections and wiring in some divisions can't handle it. Some divisions, like some areas of New York, are only allowing a small number of HD channels to go through, like 10-15. This number will gradually increase as head-ends get updated and TWC eventually moves more analog channels off the system to open up more bandwidth.

Don't hold your breath waiting for analog duplicate stations to disappear and bandwidth to increase overnight to allow the Auto HD channels to all be activated at once. It will take about three to five years to get all states and division nodes up to an all-Digital no, SDV IP cloud-based system.

This could also be a prep for a new software update as well. I would hope that you will be back up and running with all channels by tomorrow afternoon.

Jack
Edited by Satch Man - 10/14/12 at 4:41pm

To be more precise: it is NOT the dumping of SD channels that opens up bandwidth - but, rather, the dumping of ANALOG channels that opens up the bandwidth. A single ANALOG channel takes 6MHz. They can put 12-15 DIGITAL SD channels in that space (or 2-3 HD channels).

Yes,

Thanks Dave. It's moving analog stations off the system that will help.

Jack

Actually the SDV is based upon tuner counts and to not exceed 500 total tuners for a service group, A DVR counts as 2 tuners of course. Auto HD issue's are software related with going from the SD channel to the HD the coding and mapping in the set top locks up ( Not enough memory was the biggest issue) Depending on the system and hub and or head-end the channel not available issue has been flag settings in the carousel switching on and off because of interaction between different devices and tuner over load. Cisco recommends 300 tuners per service group as a max setting. Penny Pincher Accounts push the envelope of course.

Keep in mind also the there is a direct correlation with SDV to Docsis with Utillization issue's, everyone in the field figured it out by using the graphs and numbers, but management has not as of yet.