Some HD channels not working
dougp357
Newbie

I'm currently using a TiVO HD with 2 cable cards installed.  Since Monday 12/22, no channel above 588 has worked at all.  I have talked to the support folks several times, and they have done multiple resets of the cable cards, and verified the subscription information, but the problem still exists.  The channels show in the guide, but when I select one, or enter the number directly, one of 2 things happens.  Either I get a message saying that cablecards are required to view this channel, or I get a black screen.

If I'm tuned to one of these channels and pull up the DVR diagnostics, they show that the cable card for that tuner is unbound; all the information that is usually displayed for that receiver is blank.

I have tried going through the initial setups on the TiVO, I have power cycled the TiVO, I have power cycled the ONT, and I have removed/reseated the cable cards.

Does anybody have any other suggestions?  This is getting a little frustrating.  BTW, I am in Rowlett, in the North Texas area.

Thanks, 

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Re: Some HD channels not working
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

@dougp357 wrote:

I'm currently using a TiVO HD with 2 cable cards installed.  Since Monday 12/22, no channel above 588 has worked at all.  I have talked to the support folks several times, and they have done multiple resets of the cable cards, and verified the subscription information, but the problem still exists.  The channels show in the guide, but when I select one, or enter the number directly, one of 2 things happens.  Either I get a message saying that cablecards are required to view this channel, or I get a black screen.

If I'm tuned to one of these channels and pull up the DVR diagnostics, they show that the cable card for that tuner is unbound; all the information that is usually displayed for that receiver is blank.

I have tried going through the initial setups on the TiVO, I have power cycled the TiVO, I have power cycled the ONT, and I have removed/reseated the cable cards.

Does anybody have any other suggestions?  This is getting a little frustrating.  BTW, I am in Rowlett, in the North Texas area.

Thanks, 


On the TiVo, the CableCards are functionally normally if you can tune any channel >50.  This problem would be unrelated to the TiVo.

I'll assume you have the new HD Extreme package, because most of the channels above 588 aren't available to customers with the older FiOS TV Premiere package.  FiOS TV Premiere customers received a free preview of those channels; but those channels were recently disabled for Premiere customers.

Earlier, someone else had a similar problem.  It turns out that Verizon authorizes their channels in several tiers.  HD Extreme is sold as one package, but in Verizon's account authorization system, it actually consists of several packages, all of which must be enabled to receive the complete set of channels.

I don't suppose you get any premium movie channels, such as HBO or Cinemax?  Those are authorized separately from HD Extreme.   If you ordered and were able to receive those channels, that would confirm beyond any doubt that the problem was with the setup of HD Extreme on your account.

There is another possibility, if you recently switched cable providers.  When you call to cancel cable service, many providers will come out and screw something called a "trap" on your line.  Obviously, they are not supposed to do this if you've switched providers, but I've heard reports of this happening to a few customers.   This trap is designed to prevent basic cable subscribers (and non-cable subscribers) from receiving channels that they are not paying for.  If such a trap were installed on your FiOS coax, it would substantially reduce the number of channels you would be able to tun -- you'd lose access to all the HD channels on higher numbered QAM slots.

Message Edited by KenAF on 12-25-2008 07:56 PM
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Re: Some HD channels not working
dougp357
Newbie

You are correct, I do subscribe to ExtremeHD, and everything was working correctly until Monday.  I also get the sports package, and it appears to be working correctly.  I kinda thought it might be an autorization problem, but I haven't been able to get the VZ tech support folks to re-push the subscription data.

I will try again, thanks for your help.  I'll post the final resolution to this topic. 

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