Tivo Roamio and Tuning Adapter Incompatibility?

Hello TiVo Users,

I have a new TiVo Roamio Plus which I am trying to get on-line with Cox
Cable. I have successfully installed a Multistream CableCard as required,
but the the Roamio does not want to recognize the in-line Cox-supplied
Motorola Tuning Adapter. The Tuning Adapter is necessary for use with Cox's
Switched Digital (SDV) digital program distribution system.

Anyone else have this problem with the Roamio unable to recognize a Motorola
Tuning Adapter? I have tried 3 Tuning Adapters so-far without success.
Starting to think this is a problem of Roamio incompatibility with these
tuning adapters.

Bob K

Well, you might try calling TIVO's technical support.


"Robert King" wrote in message
web.com...
Hello TiVo Users,

I have a new TiVo Roamio Plus which I am trying to get on-line with Cox
Cable. I have successfully installed a Multistream CableCard as required,
but the the Roamio does not want to recognize the in-line Cox-supplied
Motorola Tuning Adapter. The Tuning Adapter is necessary for use with
Cox's Switched Digital (SDV) digital program distribution system.

Anyone else have this problem with the Roamio unable to recognize a
Motorola Tuning Adapter? I have tried 3 Tuning Adapters so-far without
success. Starting to think this is a problem of Roamio incompatibility
with these tuning adapters.

Bob K

Once upon a time, said:
Usually, at least with Comcast, you don't need any adapter when you
use a cable card. It replaces the adapter. Did you try connecting
without any adapter.

I don't think you understand what a "tuning adapter" is; what you say is
not true at all. A tuning adapter (where needed) is used in addition to
a cablecard. This is not an old-style cable box.

TAs are used with switched digital video cable systems. In a
traditional cable system, all the channels are on the wire all the time;
the cablecard is used to get the channel map and decrypt the streams.
In an SDV system, not all of the channels are continuously transmitted
to all locations. Usually, the most commonly watched channels are
always there, but the other channels are only transmitted from a given
headend when requested. That's where a TA comes into play.

A TA connects to the cable, and via USB to a TiVo. The channel map
received by the cablecard flags a channel as SDV, so when the TiVo wants
to tune that channel, it signals the TA to request it from the headend.
The headend picks a frequency/stream ID, sends that to the TA, and,
starts transmitting the channel. The TA then tells the TiVo where to
find the requested channel.

Since only a portion of the channels are transmitted from a headend at
any given time, there is more bandwidth available (for more channels,
old analog channels, Internet, etc.). Some cable companies have gone
with SDV to increase available bandwidth, as opposed to going all
digital (no analog channels), using higher frequencies, switching to
MPEG4 (higher compression ratios), etc.

TiVo and Comcast are reportedly working on a "next-generation" system
that would support SDV without a TA, by doing the signalling over the
Internet (like they do for OnDemand today).
--
Chris Adams

Since only a portion of the channels are transmitted from a headend at
any given time, there is more bandwidth available (for more channels,
old analog channels, Internet, etc.). Some cable companies have gone
with SDV to increase available bandwidth, as opposed to going all
digital (no analog channels), using higher frequencies, switching to
MPEG4 (higher compression ratios), etc.

So what happens when the couple of thousand people (of hundreds of
thousands of customers) who like watching unpopular channels (say,
the Temperature Channel, The Lions v. Christians Rerun Channel, The
Amoeba Racing Channel, The Watching Grass Grow Channel, The Watching
Paint Dry Channel, The Colonoscopy Channel, The Antarctica Elementary
School Dodgeball League Channel, etc.) all tune to their own favorite
channels (which no one else is watching) at the same time and there
isn't any more bandwidth? Do they get an error message? The wrong
channel? The channel they want with a refresh rate of one frame
per minute and a resolution of 4.8i? A refund?

In article
Gordon Burditt writes:
Since only a portion of the channels are transmitted from a headend at
any given time, there is more bandwidth available (for more channels,
old analog channels, Internet, etc.). Some cable companies have gone
with SDV to increase available bandwidth, as opposed to going all
digital (no analog channels), using higher frequencies, switching to
MPEG4 (higher compression ratios), etc.

So what happens when the couple of thousand people (of hundreds of
thousands of customers) who like watching unpopular channels (say,
the Temperature Channel, The Lions v. Christians Rerun Channel, The
Amoeba Racing Channel, The Watching Grass Grow Channel, The Watching
Paint Dry Channel, The Colonoscopy Channel, The Antarctica Elementary
School Dodgeball League Channel, etc.) all tune to their own favorite
channels (which no one else is watching) at the same time and there
isn't any more bandwidth?

The late comers lose.

I have had a couple occasions that may be explained by related
problems. I am not supposed to have problems, as I am still on
analog cable. However, I've had several times when I set TiVo to
record something on PBS and ended up with a home shoping channel.
(No, it wasn't just a pledge drive.)

The cable companies are supposed to size the head ends and down-stream
population to match, but there is some modeling and inexact stuff
in there.

Of course, DVRs with oodles of simultaneous tuners don't make this
easier for the cable companies.


Do they get an error message? The wrong
channel? The channel they want with a refresh rate of one frame
per minute and a resolution of 4.8i? A refund?

There is probably an error message available to the TiVo, but the
main thing is that the channel isn't there. The rest is screen
painting.


--
Drew Lawson | I told them we had learned to change
| our swordblades into plows.
| I told them they should learn from us
| what should I tell them now?

In article
(Gordon Burditt) writes:

Do they get an error message? The wrong
channel? The channel they want with a refresh rate of one frame
per minute and a resolution of 4.8i? A refund?

There is probably an error message available to the TiVo, but the
main thing is that the channel isn't there. The rest is screen
painting.

So it sounds like they get the wrong channel, from your PBS example.

My example was not using a tuning adaptor, so no information was
available to the TiVo.

I honestly don't know what TiVo does if the TA gets an error response.
But I know if it tries to record when I don't have signal, it just
drops the recording. The history listing says something about not
being able to tune.

I would suspect that TiVo does something similar with a TA error.

--
Drew Lawson | We were taking a vote when
| the ground came up and hit us.
| -- Cylon warrior