Troubleshooting digital cable signals on TiVo Series3 and Premiere series DVRs

If you have a CableCARD installed in your TiVo box, you can view digital cable channels. Digital cable gives you a clearer, more detailed picture than analog cable, but when your digital cable signal is too low, or there is a lot of interference ("noise") on the cable line, the result can be much worse than the "snow" you see on analog stations.

If you are experiencing picture quality issues such as blocks of color instead of a smooth image ("macroblocking" or "pixelation"), or you cannot see video at all on one or more of your digital channels, use the troubleshooting procedures below to determine what is causing the problem.

IMPORTANT: If you just installed a CableCARD, and you cannot see video after the cable provider sent an activation signal, go to Troubleshooting CableCARD activation and channel issues to make sure the cable system is communicating with the CableCARD and that the CableCARD activation was successful. (A failed activation is the most common reason why channels are not visible after CableCARDs are installed.)

Checking cable connections and input settings

If you are not seeing video or the picture seems to be cutting in and out, you’ll need to perform some troubleshooting to see if the problem is a loose cable connection or if a box setting is preventing your TV from displaying the signal from your TiVo box.

Press the TiVo button on the remote:

If you can’t see TiVo Central, you need to troubleshoot the connection between your TiVo box and the TV.

Show the steps

1. Make sure there is power to the TV and that the TV is turned on.

2. Check the TV’s input setting to make sure it matches the physical connection (HDMI or component, for example) between the box and your TV:

• If you already programmed the TiVo remote to control the video input function on your TV, press the INPUT button repeatedly to cycle through the settings until you see the TiVo Central screen.
• If you have not yet set up the TiVo remote to control your TV, press the INPUT or AUX button on the TV’s remote control to cycle through the settings until you see TiVo Central. If the TV remote does not have one of these buttons, refer to the TV’s manual for instructions on how to change the input setting.

3. If you still do not see TiVo Central, check the cable connections between the box and the TV. Make sure you are going from an OUT connector on the TiVo box to an IN connector on the TV, and that all the connections are secure.

4. If you still do not see video, press the FORMAT button on the front of the box to cycle through the settings (e.g., 1080i, 720p). Check your TV’s manual to make sure the format setting on the box is compatible with a video input setting on your TV.

5. Restart the TiVo.

6. If you still do not see video, try a different cable connection from the box to your TV (component instead of HDMI, or composite instead of component, depending on which cables came with your TiVo box.) Press the INPUT button on the TV’s remote until the setting matches the new cable connection.

NOTE: A component cable (red, blue, and green connector) does NOT carry audio. If you use this cable to carry video, you will not hear audio until you connect the red and white leads on the composite cable that came with your box. If your TV supports higher-quality digital audio, you can connect an optical cable (sold separately) between the Digital Audio connector on the box and the digital audio connector on your TV or A/V system.

7. If you see video, you can either keep this new cable configuration or troubleshoot the old one. For example, if your original connection was HDMI, you can try a different HDMI cable and/or try connecting the box to a different HDMI port on your TV.

8. If you do not see video after you have tried two different cable connections between your TV and your TiVo box, and you have an HDTV or a digital standard-definition TV, try connecting your TV directly to your cable source. If you do not see video, contact the manufacturer of your TV.

IMPORTANT: If you have an analog TV, this is not a valid test: you will not see video when you connect digital cable to your TV.

9. Carefully reconnect your TV to the TiVo box. If you do not see video when the TiVo box is connected, but you did see video when the television was directly connected to your TV, contact TiVo Customer Support.

If you can see TiVo Central, but not Live TV, you have a good connection between your box and TV. You need to troubleshoot the connection between the cable source and your TiVo box.

Show the steps

1. Make sure the power indicators are showing on the front of the box: a TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL box will show a green indicator light, a Series3 HD box has a clock display. If the indicator is not on, make sure the box is plugged in, that the power strip (if present) is turned on, and that a lamp or other device turns on when plugged into the power outlet.

2. Make sure the RF cable is plugged securely into the CABLE connector (not the ANTENNA connector) on the back of the box. Make sure all the connections on the cables between the box and the TV are secure. Press the LIVE TV button and check for video. If you do not see video, press the TiVo button and continue.

3. Restart the box. After the box restarts, press the LIVE TV button. If you still do not see video, go to Checking signal lock and signal strength.

Checking signal lock and signal strength

When a signal is too weak, you may see picture quality issues (pixelation or macroblocking) or you may not be able to see video at all.

If you cannot see video, or you are seeing a poor-quality picture on some or all of your channels, you can use the Signal Strength Meter on your TiVo box to determine if the box is receiving a signal and if the signal has sufficient strength for a good picture.

Show the steps

1. From TiVo Central, select Settings & Messages (or Messages & Settings) > Settings > Channels > Signal Strength - Cable.

2. Press SELECT to display the Signal Strength Meter. A warning screen appears, telling you that using the Signal Strength Meter will stop all recordings.

3. Highlight OK, access this setting and press SELECT. The signals strength meter appears.

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4. Press CHAN UP/CHAN DOWN to check the signal on each of your digital cable channels. You can also enter channel numbers using the buttons on your remote. Signal strength of 80-100 is ideal, but the signal strength can be lower and still give a good picture, depending on your box model and the type of modulation used on the channel.

Press CLEAR to exit the Signal Strength Meter screen when you have finished testing.

To troubleshoot further, you must look at the DVR Diagnostics screen when the box is tuned to a problem channel.

You can use the DVR Diagnostics screen to find more detailed information about the signal on a specific channel.

Show the steps

1. Tune to a channel that is having a problem.

2. Write down the channel number and then press RECORD to lock the tuner to the channel (If two CableCARDs are installed, this also locks the tuner to the CableCARD.)

3. Press the TiVo button and select Settings & Messages (or Messages & Settings > Account & System Information > DVR Diagnostics. The first page of the screen shows the diagnostics information for tuner 0. If the Channel listed below it is not the problem channel, press CHAN DOWN until you see the information for Tuner 1.

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4. Check the Signal Lock setting for the problem channel.

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• If you see Signal Lock: No, Test Channels could not display any video on the CableCARD, and you already checked your cable connections, contact your cable provider so they can troubleshoot why you are not receiving digital cable channels.
• If you see Signal Lock: No, and Test Channels showed that video was missing on only one or a few channels, these channels may not be in your lineup. Go to My CableCARD channels and Guide data do not match to troubleshoot.
• If you see Signal Lock: Yes, the box is detecting a signal for the channel. Go to the next step to continue troubleshooting.

5. Check the Modulation type and Signal Strength reading.

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6. The following table shows the minimum signal strength that the DVR Diagnostics screen must display before you can see video when CableCARDs are installed. Signal strength numbers of 80 to 99 are ideal.

	Premiere series box		TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL		Series3 HD
Modulation:	QAM 256	QAM 64	QAM 256	QAM 64	QAM 256	QAM 64
Minimum signal strength:	50	53	50	65	70	75
Recommended signal strength:	80-99	80-99	80-99	80-99	80-99	80-99

7. If the signal strength is in the recommended range and you see poor-quality video: go to Checking the signal quality.

8. If the signal strength is in the recommended range and you see no video, contact TiVo Customer Support

9. If the signal strength is below the recommended range, and you see poor-quality video or no video at all:

• Remove any splitters in the cable line. If the signal strength does not improve, or if there were no splitters in the cable line, contact your cable provider to have your cable line tested.
• It is best to have your cable provider run diagnostics and correct the conditions that are causing the poor signal. If you choose to add an amplifier, make sure you check the signal quality first, to ensure that you won’t be amplifying a poor-quality signal.

NOTE: If your signal strength is at 100 and the video looks fine - this is not an error. The signal strength meter sets 100 at a safe threshold. If the signal is at this threshold or a bit beyond, your picture quality should be excellent. If the signal strength is well beyond the threshold, it will still register as "100", but you may experience poor picture quality as some box components cycle in and out of "protect" mode to prevent damage.

Checking the signal quality

If you have confirmed that your box is receiving a strong signal, but you are seeing pixelation or macroblocking, you can use the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), RS Uncorrected and RS Corrected readings to determine if the issues are due to poor signal quality.

Show the steps

1. Tune to a channel that is having a problem.

2. Write down the channel number and then press RECORD to lock the tuner to the channel. (If two CableCARDs are installed, this also locks the tuner to the CableCARD.)

3. Press the TIVO button and select Settings & Messages (or Messages & Settings) > Account & System Information > DVR Diagnostics.

4. Under Tuner 0, look at the channel number. If this is not the number of your problem channel, press CHAN DOWN until you see the information for Tuner 1. Your channel number should appear right under the Tuner number.

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5. Check the Modulation type for the channel and then check the SNR value.

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6. The SNR reading must be between the following values to give good-quality video on all HD box models.

Modulation type:	QAM 64	QAM 256
Minimum SNR	23 dB	29 dB
Maximum SNR	30 dB	35 dB

A higher SNR reading means that the video signal is stronger relative to the noise level on the line. If the SNR value is lower than the minimum, contact your cable provider, who can test and improve the signal on the cable line.

RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected

For ideal reception on Live TV and good recordings, RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected should have a value of 0. RS Corrected and RS Uncorrected readings indicate a problem on your cable line.

NOTE: If you are using analog cable instead of digital, the value for both will read N/A.

1. Tune to a channel that is having a problem.

2. Write down the channel number and then press RECORD to lock the tuner to the channel. (If two CableCARDs are installed, this also locks the tuner to the CableCARD.)

3. Press the TIVO button and select Settings & Messages (or Messages & Settings) > Account & System Information > DVR Diagnostics.

4. Under Tuner 0, look at the channel number. If this is not the number of your problem channel, press CHAN DOWN until you see the information for Tuner 1. Your channel number should appear under the tuner number.

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NOTE: Prior to checking your RS values, always change your channel after each step.

Errors in RS Corrected

• Errors in this field mean that while the signal may be poor, it is good enough that the TiVo box can correct the issue. Most of the time you will not see any problems while watching LiveTV.
• If you see a number for RS Corrected (indicating errors) but not on RS Uncorrected, the SNR is good, and the signal meter indicates a constant 100, you should try new cabling.

Errors in RS Uncorrected

• Errors in this field can present image and/or audio distortion. The RS Uncorrected reading will increase while these events are happening and will hold steady during periods when the cable signal is sending good video data.
• If the audio data alone is responsible for the RS Uncorrected errors, you will hear clicking, popping or other audio distortion. If you hear audio errors only, you will likely see a slow but consistent rise in RS Uncorrected errors.
• If the DVR Diagnostics screen shows RS Uncorrected errors, but the value doesn’t increase, it indicates that there was a problem with the cable signal in the past. Live TV is likely to work without problems during this, but you may see issues when playing recordings.

If you are experiencing distortion or macroblocking with your recordings or LiveTV, follow these steps:

After each of the steps below, tune to another channel, then change back to the channel experiencing quality issues before checking the RS Uncorrected value for improvement. This will reset the RS value to reflect the change you made.

1. If there are no or few RS Corrected or RS Uncorrected errors, and the value is constant, you should troubleshoot to determine whether the issue is due to your TiVo box, your TV, A/V equipment, or cabling between the TiVo box and the TV.

2. Try replacing the coaxial cable with a new one.

3. Remove the coaxial cable from your TiVo box and connect it directly from the wall to your TV.

No improvement: There may be a problem with your cable signal. Please contact your cable provider for assistance.
Issue is resolved: Please contact TiVo Customer Support for further assistance.

4. If these steps do not resolve your RS Uncorrected issue, contact your cable provider to have the signal tested.