TiVo Blog Mailbag

Here’s a roundup of some of the emails I received via this site’s contact form…..

Jeremy Wrote:

Have some questions as I am a fellow CNY out of Utica. I just got a TiVo HD and had TWC over yesterday to install the CC’s. Unfortunately they only brought 2 and only 1 worked. They are coming back to finish today. My problem is aside from local HD stations, only YES, ESPN and TNT came in (and they were inconsistent, meaning they didn’t always work when I selected them. Sometimes it was just a black screen.) Will the second CC help add channels or did TWC not turn them on? I have a tuning adapter coming tomorrow and I know that will help with some of the other stations. Do you know what current TWC CNY HD stations are on via SDV? Thanks for any help you can provide.

My Response:

Jeremy, congratulations on your recent purchase.  I hope that TWC resolved the issues you were having with your DVR.  Let us know if you are still having problems even after the tech came back to your house.

TWC in our area has a lot of channels that use SDV.  When you’re up in the 800’s you’ll notice that there are a number of channels that you are not able to tune without an adapter.  I don’t remember all of the channels that are SDV however, I’ll try to list a couple here:  ESPN2HD, HGTVHD & National Geographic

One other thing I wanted to point out was that you could have gone with one multi-stream CableCARD (MCard) instead of two single stream CableCARDS (SCard).  Checkout this Wikipedia article if you want more info.

Mark Wrote:

I have 2 Tivos and transfer recordings between them. All I want to do with Tivo #2 is watch shows recorded on Tivo #1. Will I lose that ability if I cancel the 9.95/mo charge for Tivo #2. Will the second Tivo be disabled somehow?

My Response:
Unfortunately, you will not be able to do what you want to do if you cancel the subscription on your second TiVo.  Reference this comment by MegaZone for a more detailed response.

Brook Wrote:

Hi, Time Warner San Diego has their tuning adapter web page up.
http://www.timewarnercable.com/SanDiego/learn/cable/dvrhddvr/dta.html

My Response:

Brook, thanks for passing this along.  Hopefully this will help some people in the San Diego area.

Fei Wrote:

Has anybody heard any news of upcoming rebates? I am interested in a series 3 or HD but they’re still pricy and a rebate would  really in this economy.

My Response:
It has been a long time since TiVo has had a rebate available for any of their DVRs. I wish I had some inside information for you however, I don’t. If I hear about a new rebate I’ll be sure to post it on this site. In the meantime, you might want to keep an eye out for a refurbished TiVo HD. Up until recently, TiVo was offering refurbished HDs for only $199!

Martin Wrote:

Any news on the SDV Dongle that Tivo was coming out with. I’m a Cablevison subscriber with an HD Tivo and cannot view new HD channels using cable cards.

My Response:
Based on this TCO thread, it appears as though Cablevision is going to rollout SDV adapters just like TWC  did in my area. Hopefully this means you’ll hear something in the near future. Have you tried to call Cablevision?

Luke Wrote:

Are you experiencing any digital “glitching” on SDV channels? It seemed really bad the first day and not as bad lately but I have not noticed any problems on non SDV channels. I’ve been watching a lot of Discovery and it just occasionally blocks up and drops audio. Haven’t seen it happen on non SDV channels but we just moved a couple weeks ago. Thanks!

My Response:
I have had a couple issues with my SDV adapter however, for the most part it has worked out great. In the past when I had a problem all I had to do was power cycle the adapter.