Tivo and SkyPlus - no channel changes

[philguk]

Hopefully this is not too far off topic, but I know I'll get a good answer here

For YEARS I've been running my Tivo with a SKyPlus box (without a "plus" subscription so it behaves just like a Sky box of old) - Tivo changes channels using the RF connection thingy

Well, this morning the PSU on the Sky box died - it's as dead as a Dodo

Luckily I did buy a spare SkyBox some time ago, so I just spent an hour crawling behind the TV etc disconnecting and reconnecting the bundle of cables

Everything is now working again with ONE EXCEPTION - Tivo cannot/will not change the channel on the Sky box

My original Sky remote is still working so I'm hoping the IR codes are the same, but tbh I did forget to note down WHICH RF connector on the Sky box the channel changer should be connected to

It's currently in the BOTTOM one (RF Output2) - but which one should it be connected to??

Do I have to change anything on the Sky box to make it recognise channel changes over that cable????

Is there anything else that might be awry????

Thanks all and fingers crossed........

[philguk]

Yayyy!!!

Something was nibbling away at the back of my mind that there was SOMETHING I needed to change on the Sky box to "activate" the power supply on the RF output (which I guess is powering the channel changer thingy)

But having been through the setup menus multiple times I couldn't find it

Not that THAT stopped me ponedering, and ......

THANK YOU GOOGLE

There are HIDDEN setup menu items

Code: Select all

Press the SERVICES button
Press the NUMBER 4 button, then the NUMBER 0 then the NUMBER 1 button
Press SELECT button

THAT uncovered a whole host of new setup items - one of which was "RF Power Output" which defaults to "OFF"

Changing it to ON and the channel changing sprang into action

So I'm sorted, and I thought I'd update this in case anyone else fell into the same trap

Happy New Year to everyone in Series 1 Tivoland

[Pegasus]

Hi philguk. I'm glad you got everything working again. Do you have one of those "Magic Eye" thingies then for changing the Sky channels? I used to have one of them...I wonder what happened to it...time to go rummaging in the attic...


Happy 2023 to all Series 1 TiVo users

[philguk]

Hi philguk. I'm glad you got everything working again. Do you have one of those "Magic Eye" thingies then for changing the Sky channels? I used to have one of them...I wonder what happened to it...time to go rummaging in the attic...


Happy 2023 to all Series 1 TiVo users

No, not a Magic Eye (my boxes are all in sealed cabinets so IR repeating woule never workk)

RF2Link is a device that plugs into the IR socket on the Tivo and the RF2 socket (UHF) on the Sky box and electrically sends channel changes. Found it to me much more reliable that the IR wands etc etc

Just been looking on Google for a picture, but coming up blank! Maybe I need to keep an eye on eBay in case any spares ever come up for grabs!!

[philguk]

Well, there was still one more trap I fell into

With the "new" Sky box, Tivo was randomly rebooting every night

Looking tverr.log I found

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    Jan 4 05:23:49 (none) TmkAssertionFailure[165]: (ReWork, line 935 ())
    Jan 4 05:23:49 (none) Mediaswitch0[165]: Tmk Fatal Error: Thread Mediaswitch0 <165> died due to signal -2
    Jan 4 05:23:49 (none) Mediaswitch0[165]: Tmk Thread Backtrace: 1a344ec 1a32a44 1b6119c 1b627d8 1b61fe4 1c1cf84 1c1d1fc 1c23c84 1c23df4 1c27364 1c28374 1c28420 1c27504 1c1c4c4 1c10004 1c0fd2c 1c0e1a8 1c06ea0 1bf7094 1c239b0 1c2764c 1c28374 1c28420 1c27748 1c2379c 1c24388 1c2400c 1bf6b00 1c28af4 1800134 ipe
    Jan 4 05:23:49 (none) Mediaswitch0[165]: Tmk Fatal Error: Thread died due to signal -2
    Jan 4 05:23:49 (none) Mediaswitch0[165]: Invoking rule 834: rebooting system


Which seemed to be saying that the input signal had vanished causing the reboot

Turns out the Sky box has "auto standby" enabled by default so was switching off

Just changed that setting to disable the standby and I have my fingers crossed