Tivo Cable Adapter

[robsaw]

Hi,

Just got a Tivo from a friend and trying to get it working with my Virgin (Telewest) Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4200DVB Set Top Box.

No Luck so for - a few of the remote codes make the box react, but the numbers that the STB shows are not the same as the ones the Tivo thinks it is sending.

Will one of the Cable Adapters help?

Also, I don't have the IR leads - all has to be done through the front blaster - if I get a adapter do I also need to purchase the IR wands, or does this negate the need for them.

TIA
Rob

[healeydave]

Hi,
The cable adapter is genrally required for the Pace 1000 and 2000 series set-top-boxes to allow the channel changing to work properly.

The cable adapters work with the IR Wands, so if you don't have a set of IR Wands, you will need to purchase these as well.

If it helps, you should find all the set-top-box setup information here:

http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/stb.htm

Regs
Dave.

[robsaw]

OK, been reading up on this some more.

Apparently the Scientific Atlanta uses the same codes as the Pace 1000 and 2000 boxes- the problem being that the Telewest (and some NTL) remotes use a derivation of IRDA as used by PCs and telephones rather than the standard IR which most remotes use - apparently this is because the boxes are designed to allow the use of keyboards and stuff which is more easilly done using this....

http://www.letsautomate.com/11220.cfm

I feel a bit bad, having got the info from the Redeye website, I am now going to buy the cable adapter from Tivoland - partly because I also need to get the IR wands, but mainly because they want £35 for the Redeye and Tivoland only want £12 for the Tivo version. I post the link as some small reparation

[robsaw]

Order delivered - All working great!

Took a little bit of messing around, so I thought I would share what I have learned this morning in getting the system working correctly.

-The infra-red receiver is on the left hand side of the "window", above and slightly to the left of the standby light. You could tuck the wand below the receiver, but reception seems to be slightly better with it taped to the top (sticking out about 2cm as stated in the instructions)

-Sending "OK" after the channel number... Choose no - more on this later.

-I am using code 20004 fast - which is working great.

-First "problem" I think has only appeared since the Tivo system was updated with info about Virgin Meidia, rather than showing Telewest as before. (hence hopefully will be corrected shortly.
After the first call to Tivo, you get to review the channels you subscribe to. From what the woman on the helpline told me, you can basically pick any of these, they all select all the channels (you will need to go through later in order to de-select any channels which are not included in your package (Sports / movies etc...)
What I saw (three times I ran the guided setup) was that in the channel list you will see all of the adult channels listed at the beginning of the list with channel number 0. Deselect them (even if you do want them, they are listed again in their correct place in the channel line-up).
If you don't deselect them, when you try to test the channel changing it won't work. This is because the Tivo is sending a two digit channel number to the STB, where all of the channels on VM are three digits.

Once done you then wait for the Tivo to make the long call to get all of the programme data etc....

Then you do need to de-select any channels you don't subscribe to. The reason for this is simple - if Tivo trys to change to a channel you don't get, the STB will sit on a "You don't subscribe, press OK to continue" message. This can only be done using the STB remote, therefore even if the Tivo tries to change channel, it can't - so you might miss recordings. I couldn't find any better way of doing this than to go into the VM "Tv Guide" and note down the channel numbers in grey, I then went into the Tivo setup and removed them.

Next problem - Tivo can't change channel... It sends the numbers, the Virgin banner comes up showing you what would be on the channel you are trying to change to, but it needs you to use the STB remote OK button in order to actually change. You can set the Tivo to send OK, or not - it doesn't make any difference - It just won't change channel. Solution, go into the Virgin setup and switch off the channel banner (you do this by reducing the number of seconds it displays to 0). Now when you type in a number there is no need to send OK afterwards.

Hope the above is of use to somebody else!

Now i have to save up to buy a cachecard

Best,
Rob