Category: Troubleshooting Help

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Troubleshooting Help WeaKnees News

weaKnees TiVo Power Supply Inventory Grows

For years, we have had the largest inventory of replacement TiVo power supplies around. We can now add another notch to the bedpost (and believe me, we TiVo geeks do notch our bedposts over this stuff).

After years of searching, we finally have power supplies for the Toshiba SD-H400 TiVo DVR with DVD player. This short-lived TiVo seems to be prized among TiVo owners, since it has TiVo Basic service and consolidates a DVR and DVD player into a nice compact box. Although the cost of the power supply is unfortunately nothing to sneeze at ($149), they are brand new authorized parts.

With this addition, we now have replacement power supplies for every TiVo made, with the exception of the latest TiVoHD models. Those power supplies should be coming soon.

As TiVos age, repair has become increasingly important to TiVo owners. Whether it’s a TiVo hard drive, TiVo power supply or TiVo motherboard, we can repair most problems. TiVo repairs will preserve lifetime service and in many situations (failed power supplies, motherboards and some drive problems), we can also preserve recordings! As always, help is just an email away.

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Product Information TiVo News Troubleshooting Help WeaKnees News

SDV Tuning Adapters for Time Warner – Pre-order

If you’ve got an HD TiVo and you want to get all of the channels from your cable company, you’ll likely want a Switched Digital Video (SDV) Tuning Adapter. These items are just rolling out in from cable companies around the country.

Briefly, the idea is that this enables the TiVo to tell the cable company which video stream to send down to your unit. So more options are available, since not every stream has to be sent at once. The unit plugs into your TiVo’s USB port and then you plug the cable line into it, and the output from it goes to the TiVo. See more info on our earlier blog post about SDV and TiVos.

Now Time Warner seems to have a way to pre-order the unit for any eligible customer. See this page where you can enter you zip code and confirm eligibility, then sign up!

As far as we know, the adapters will be free for eligible customers.

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TiVo News Troubleshooting Help

TiVo’s CableCARD Hotline

We really believe that CableCARDs are a great new technology in that they allow DVRs to work with a wide variety of cable providers. But, sometimes, getting them configured is a bit of a hassle.

Early on in their history, CableCARDs caused a whole host of problems, largely just due to the lack of knowledge of cable installers. But since then, the problems have really almost totally disappeared, and their installation and use has become routine and reliable.

But if you do have a problem, you should try calling TiVo’s CableCARD hotline. These folks have pretty deep knowledge of CableCARD issues.

Phone number: 866-986-8486

Hours of operation:
Monday – Sunday
6:00 AM – 9:00 PM Pacific

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Customer Contacts Product Information Troubleshooting Help

Transfer TiVo Videos to iPod and iPhone

This is definitely a hot topic, and we get questions about how to make these transfers all the time. We also get tons of spammers clogging up our forums with their posts on how to do it – and where to purchase their software (and, yes, we delete those threads as fast as we can).

But, in the end, TiVo.com has the best tutorials on how to make these transfers, so we recommend that you just see their pages for the best information. Links are at the bottom.

Some notes about what’s required for this to work:

  • You do need to purchase software to make these conversions work. For the PC, you need TiVo Desktop Plus ($25) and for the Mac, you need Roxio Toast 9 Titanium ($75).
  • You need to have your TiVo and your computer on the same internal network. If you need hardware for that, see our TiVo networking parts area for anything you might need.

Then, you just follow the steps in TiVo’s tutorials:

TiVo to iPod/iPhone on a PC

TiVo to iPod/iPhone on a Mac

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TiVo News TiVo Upgrade Troubleshooting Help

TiVo Unveils Plans for Digital Transition, 2009

We have previously written about the transition from off-air analog signals to off-air digital signals, set to occur in February, 2009. Remember that this change really impacts those who get television signal from an off-air antenna (rabbit ears). If you subscribe to cable or satellite service, those providers are generally unaffected by the transition.

For those that DO rely on off-air antenna signals and have a Series 1 or Series 2 TiVo (basically any TiVo other than the TCD648250, TCD652160 and TiVos with DIRECTV built-in), the transition to all-digital signals will absolutely impact your TiVo and its ability to record.

Those in this situation have several choices:

IF YOU HAVE A SERIES 2 TiVo (TiVo-brand starting with TCD1XXXX, TCD2XXXXX and TCD540XXX, any Humax-branded TiVo, Sony SVR3000 or any Toshiba-branded TiVo):

1) Continue using the Series 2 Tivo and get a compatible converter box.

2) Get an HD TiVo that can handle and convert the digital broadcasts.

3) Get cable or satellite.

Option #1: TiVo has released a list of compatible converter boxes (see the “Converter Boxes” tab after clicking link, or see the list below). These boxes will take a digital signal from an off-air antenna and convert it into an analog signal. The converter box contains a tuner. It will map the digital signal into an analog station and sent it out to your TiVo in a format that the TiVo can read. In order to change channels, the TiVo will have to communicate and control the converter box using an IR Blaster Cable. To cut the cost of the converter box, you can apply for a $40 coupon (limited supplies) from the Federal Government to help pay for the cost of the box. Remember that as of this date, the converter boxes will not work with your TiVo–you will need to wait for a software update before the TiVo can control the converter box.

Compatible Converter Boxes

Option #2: Get a TivoHD. These boxes are truly outstanding, are fully ready for the digital world, and can output high definition. The HD part may not be important if you don’t have an HD television, but you’ll be ready if and when you do change out your TV. The catch is that if you have lifetime service on your old Series 1 or Series 2, TiVo is not currently offering any transfer options. You would have to get new service on the TiVoHD and then sell or give away the Series 1 or Series 2.

Option #3: If you decide to abandon your antenna and go with satellite or cable, your Series 1 or Series 2 TiVo will work with just about any cable box and satellite (from DIRECTV, DISH Network and providers in Canada) set top boxes.

*Here is a list of the supported boxes:

Supported Models

  • Insignia NS-DXA1
  • Venturer STB7766G
  • Magnavox TB100MW9
  • RCA DTA 800A
  • GE 22729
  • Zenith DTT900
  • Channel Master CM-7000
  • Lasonic LTA-260
  • Philco TB100HH9
  • Samsonic FT300A
  • Tivax STB-T9
  • Artec T3Apro
Not Supported

  • Digtial Stream DTX9000
IF YOU HAVE A SERIES 1 TiVo (HDR-series or SVR2000):
It’s a bit murkier for you, but as of now, TiVo is suggesting that it is not releasing a software version to make these units compatible with digital converter boxes. Series 1 owners using antenna signals are being told that Option 2 or Option 3 are the only options. For a limited time, Series1 owners (presumably, only those using antenna signals) can get a refurbished HD DVR for $100 and TiVo will move lifetime service for an additional $300. Not a bad deal at all.
Series1 Digital Transition