S2 with Dead Tuner?

Yup, the composite inputs work.

What is the deal on private ownership of cable boxes? Even a vanilla
analog box would get me back where I was, but the evil cable company
did convert a handful of stations to digital so if I can get a digital
box I can probably get those back, but I'm guessing the cable company
will be uncooperative. Can someone provide good link on what can be
purchased privaely (and legally) for cable use?

As for having a home network....I'm looking to add my 5th switch!

On Nov 6, 1:13*pm, "Peter Pan"
wrote:
First, i would suggest you find out if your video/composite input even
works, we can't offer you reasonable alternative suggstions until you can
tell us if that works or not, but until we know if that works or not, can't
suggest much.....

wrote:
Yup, the composite inputs work.

What is the deal on private ownership of cable boxes? Even a vanilla
analog box would get me back where I was, but the evil cable company
did convert a handful of stations to digital so if I can get a digital
box I can probably get those back, but I'm guessing the cable company
will be uncooperative. Can someone provide good link on what can be
purchased privaely (and legally) for cable use?

As for having a home network....I'm looking to add my 5th switch!

On Nov 6, 1:13 pm, "Peter Pan"
wrote:
First, i would suggest you find out if your video/composite input
even works, we can't offer you reasonable alternative suggstions
until you can tell us if that works or not, but until we know if
that works or not, can't suggest much.....

Private boxes can be had, but they may/may not work with your current cable
co....

Just an aside, weren't you thinking about sat? (I forget, but a sat box and
video inputs usually work too)

did the cable co go to all digital? the older s1 and some s2's only had ntsc
tuners and won't work if the cable co went to all digital? (some cable co's
changed before the feb 2009, can old tv's still work? If not they may have
switched already, and that would make it look like your tivo tuner died...

Again, glad to hear your video inputs work, at least that means your tivo is
mostly still working....

So you have a wired network rather than wireless network? (means you can
probably xfer faster)... got your tivo on the network? you may want to give
this a try (heck it's free, and lets you see if your unit is http
compatible, and can do file transfers free)......
Hacking the XML in Your TiVo (do the test to see if your tivo is compatible
part)
http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/1644

Private boxes can be had, but they may/may not work with your current cable
co....

Based on the lack of information and disclaimer on the digital boxes,
it looks like the cable company needs to be involved with the digital
boxes, so private ownership will not happen. I think a run of the
mill old fashioned analog box with composite outputs (and ideally the
serial interface) is what I want. Surprisingly, the one tuner on the
other tivo is working out pretty well to service this box, nobody is
complaining their shown did not get recorded, It just requires
discipline to xfer over shows before you want to watch them. One of
the Tivos is connected wireless, slower then heck. As I am sure you
know, even the wired connection transfer speeds are pathetic, probably
somewhere around 5Mbps.


Just an aside, weren't you thinking about sat? (I forget, but a sat box and
video inputs usually work too)

Yes, but I'm going to wait to see if Tivo and DTV actually kiss and
make up. I'll probably pull the RG6 in the spring. I am not looking
forward to it, but I have seen what 'free installation' looks like
from the sat companies and I won't let that happen to my house.

did the cable co go to all digital? the older s1 and some s2's only had ntsc
tuners and won't work if the cable co went to all digital? (some cable co's
changed before the feb 2009, can old tv's still work? If not they may have
switched already, and that would make it look like your tivo tuner died...

No, only a channel or two have moved over. I think the cable company
is just trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of folks to get the
digital box rental fee, but who knows maybe they'll do a quick and
major migration. I'll drop them for sure if that happens.

So you have a wired network rather than wireless network? (means you can
probably xfer faster)... got your tivo on the network? you may want to give
this a try (heck it's free, and lets you see if your unit is http
compatible, and can do file transfers free)......
Hacking the XML in Your TiVo (do the test to see if your tivo is compatible
part)http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/1644- Hide quoted text -


Is this XML stuff supposed to have relavency to lack of a tuner? I
use MRV to move programming between boxes. I have used http to pull
programs off one of my Tivos, but not the second, I guess nnot all
have the http server? Tivo desktop does work on both, but it is
probably the most bloated piece of software I know of.

wrote:


Is this XML stuff supposed to have relavency to lack of a tuner? I
use MRV to move programming between boxes. I have used http to pull
programs off one of my Tivos, but not the second, I guess nnot all
have the http server? Tivo desktop does work on both, but it is
probably the most bloated piece of software I know of.

Not exactly for that, but didn't you mention something about recording on
another unit and transferring?

I used to use tivo desktop, but that only seemed to work on tivos I was
paying the monthly fee for.. Got a couple of basic/lifetime/s2'2/3 day guide
ones, so I could record on them/xfer them to my computer/play em on that or
xfer em to a tivo i'm paying a fee for...

At any rate, I had sat (Directv, then dish, and now cable/using a box) So
i've never even used a tuner (always a comp cable), but it seems to me that
when OTA/some cable systems, go digital only, there may be some good deals
on tuner not working anymore tivos, so ways of using them and xferring stuff
without a tuner seems useful to waste time thinking about... I'm still open
for donations if anyone lurking out there wants to donate it to a good home

Peter Pan wrote:
wrote:


Is this XML stuff supposed to have relavency to lack of a tuner? I
use MRV to move programming between boxes. I have used http to pull
programs off one of my Tivos, but not the second, I guess nnot all
have the http server? Tivo desktop does work on both, but it is
probably the most bloated piece of software I know of.


Just saw your next question, while the http server thing is only in about
1/2 the tivos, only takes a few secs to check, it's free, so what the heck,
worth a try, i am sort of trying to narrow down what exactly works/doesn't
work.. From your initial post hard to tell if the tuner itself was dead, or
the record/write to hard disk was bad... while you already tried the comp
plugs, and those worked fine, the next thing to try and if the units http
server works you can actually xfer stuff TO the unit,, and try playing that
so at least we could verify the tivo itself plays recorded/xferred stuff

ps, did you upgrade to the new server software yet? So far i've noticed it
seems to start/boot a bit quicker, and lets you put shortcuts in my
videos/pictures/Music/etc pointing to subdirectories on an external hard
disk (got a few 1TB usb drives real cheap, and now it lets me store
stuff/display off those, and just put shortcuts on the puter itself)

On Nov 9, 6:58*pm, "Peter Pan"
wrote:

work.. From your initial post hard to tell if the tuner itself was dead, or
the record/write to hard disk was bad... while you already tried the comp
plugs, and those worked fine, the next thing to try and if the units http
server works you can actually xfer stuff TO the unit,, and try playing that
so at least we could verify the tivo itself plays recorded/xferred stuff


No need to use http, I just fire up the box with the dead tuner and
use MRV (i.e. browse and xfer shows from the one with the good tuner
under 'Now playing' of the bad tuner box). No, the disk is fine, the
xferred shows view fine, and I'm guessing it would be pretty rare a
disk problem would show up primarily as a message that the cable
signal has been lost. I have left the composits input to the tivo
plugged into the tivo, so I can record off one channel (and have done
so successfully). I'm convinced the IR blaster will never work on the
VCR.


ps, did you upgrade to the new server software yet? So far i've noticed it
seems to start/boot a bit quicker, and lets you put shortcuts in my
videos/pictures/Music/etc pointing to subdirectories on an external hard
disk (got a few 1TB usb drives real cheap, and now it lets me store
stuff/display off those, and just put shortcuts on the puter itself)

I installed a version back in Jan, when I got a vista PC. That one is
my daughters,I don't really use it much, but I recall it to still be
bloated well beyond what I consider reasonable. When it comes right
down to it, there is no need for this to be a fancy application. If
there were an FTP server on the TIVO side, THAT would be the ticket.
This was one of the very few things I liked about Myth. Once you
wanted a show off the box, getting it off was done with simple FTP;
and at full bandwidth, not to mention you don't have to rip out the
encryption if you want it on your ipod or other media.

On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 18:58:58 -0500, Peter Pan wrote:
Peter Pan wrote:
wrote:


Is this XML stuff supposed to have relavency to lack of a tuner? I
use MRV to move programming between boxes. I have used http to pull
programs off one of my Tivos, but not the second, I guess nnot all
have the http server? Tivo desktop does work on both, but it is
probably the most bloated piece of software I know of.


Just saw your next question, while the http server thing is only in about
1/2 the tivos, only takes a few secs to check, it's free, so what the heck,
worth a try, i am sort of trying to narrow down what exactly works/doesn't
work.. From your initial post hard to tell if the tuner itself was dead, or
the record/write to hard disk was bad... while you already tried the comp
plugs, and those worked fine, the next thing to try and if the units http
server works you can actually xfer stuff TO the unit,, and try playing that
so at least we could verify the tivo itself plays recorded/xferred stuff

No need for that; if the drive heads were an issue, the composite
recording wouldn't work either. (I'd imagine there would be substantial
other failures of the system as well, were the writing not functional.
Complaints about failure of daily connections, stale guide data, no
programs would be able to be deleted, etc, etc.)

--
86. I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly
grounded.
--Peter Anspach's list of things to do as an Evil Overlord

Peter H. Coffin wrote:


No need for that; if the drive heads were an issue, the composite
recording wouldn't work either. (I'd imagine there would be
substantial other failures of the system as well, were the writing
not functional. Complaints about failure of daily connections, stale
guide data, no programs would be able to be deleted, etc, etc.)

No biggie, sometimes people think they have a bad tuner, but in some cases
it's actually a bad hard disk.... Just asked for few simple free tests to
make sure... When I debug stuff I try to never assume what is wrong, I tend
to test and narrow things down to be sure

while this is mostly about pixelation it says (in most cases, not all), it
can apply to other problems too...
http://www.wkblog.com/tivo/2008/04/diagnosing-pixelization-hard-drive-or-tuner/
Diagnosing Pixelization - Hard Drive or Tuner?


now the bad news, while you could get a new tuner, it would be costly, but
you verified that the video part works, and now it's just an ir code thing,
so the blaster can change channels on your vcr...

you may want to look at this support article, it tells how to change ir
codes if not on the list during guided setup....

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/issueswithmydvr/Advanced_Troubleshooting_for_Channel_Changing_with _IR_Control.html

Ha! The joke is on me for missing the most basic debugging step.
Turns out the bad tuner was just a little rearranging of the channels
by my evil cable company. The tuner is fine and life is good again;
if you discount 'a couple bucks' lost on wall street.

wrote:

Ha! The joke is on me for missing the most basic debugging step.
Turns out the bad tuner was just a little rearranging of the channels
by my evil cable company. The tuner is fine and life is good again;
if you discount 'a couple bucks' lost on wall street.

Been there done that. About 2 months ago Time Warner did "a little
rearranging" and when none of our TV sets got any of the digital
channels any more, and TW's help line was clueless about it, I ended
up contacting the FCC to complain that TW had dropped the federally
mandated 'in-the-clear' transmission of local and basic cable channels
over the cable without a box. (These sets have no cable box, no Tivo,
no nothing). It was only then that TW contacted me to say that all
*I* had to do was have the TV rescan - which worked fine.

- Ch.