This has been happening every Sunday since Super Bowl Sunday, Feb 1st 2015.. I am in Newport, RI. The Channel guide is extremely slow to navigate. Changing channels is extremely slow and the picture freezes and becomes pixilated . I can no longer watch TV on Sundays. Reset of the cable box does nothing. What else can I do?
Every other day of the week is fine. Then Sunday comes and I can't watch TV.
Here is my ongoing problem with Cox that spans YEARS now, and frankly, we're getting very tired of it. It's mostly when you power on the unit, whereupon a blue box slides out from the right side of the screen that says: "Sorry, there is currently no TV signal detected for this channel. The channel may be temporarily off air. Please try again later. If the problem continues, please contact Cox Customer Servie at (866)961-1207. Reference 3.1.3.0 when calling. Alternatively, you can press the GUIDE button on your remote control to watch programs on other channels." The error message number varies from 3.1.3.0, 3.1.1.2, 3.1.4.2, 3.1.1.1, but these error message numbers apparently don't really mean anything because no tech I've spoken with has any idea what they mean.
We are on the Contour 6 box with a Samsung SmartTV and a Denon receiver.
The problem is sporadic, but happens regulary. And I mean regularly, as in OFTEN, sometimes more than once a day.
You can pull up the guide, pick another channel, which will come on, and then go back to your other channel, and everything works. Until you power it down and back up, and then...
I should state that calling for a technician to come out is pretty futile because they send out tier 1 mostly contracted technicians who only know how to do three things: 1) swap out your cable box; 2) replace your outside lines, and 3) suggest you pay someone to replace your inside lines. We have done all three of these, the latter of which cost us nearly $400 out of pocket, and we still have the same problem, which is quite obviously a Cox issue, but Cox isn't very interested at all in fixing it.
We have had our audio guys come out here on two occasions to verify there is no problems with our TV equipment and to perform a factory reset on the receiver.
We have also completely swapped out and bought a new TV set AND our receiver since this problem started, and we have the same problem.
We have had multiple cable boxes and versions of cable boxes, same problem.
Our signal strength has been reported as strong.
Most of the technicians I have spoken to on the phone have all been very apologetic and reiterate how we have been valued Cox customers for years, they have sent out people who have spent quite a bit of time here trying everything they can think of, and one left his personal phone number and his managers phone number, saying they would respond if we needed them again. However, disappointingly, the manager never responded to a voicemail I left, and the technician was supposed to call me on Monday, and there was no return phone call, abandoning us to live with this issue.
I have seen one other thread from 2014 that reiterates my exact same problem, but I did not see a resolution. Does anyone else want to weigh in on this issue, and please, if you ever found something that solved it, we would be very interested in knowing how you solved it, short of DIRECTV, which would appear at this point to be our only sure-fire option to be rid of this issue.
I get this same dialog box (no signal detected) over 50% of the time when i turn on my tv and dvr (contour record 6). Unplugging the dvr does not fix the problem.
I just hit "Channel Down" and that channel appears immediately. I can then flip back to the original channel and it works perfectly. I am going to post a new thread with other quirks that i am experiencing.
Mine comes on the first time after 15-20 minutes. When i interrupt it to switch Pandora stations, it does come back on after 10 minutes. I wish it didn't.
Most tv's manufactured in the last 6-8 years are fairly immune to "burn in". You don't have to worry about it.
How do i make the screensaver activate when listening to Pandora? First time i turned it on, the Cox Contour screensaver came on after about 10 minutes. But after interrupting it, it no longer comes on. I am concerned that this will burn in my screen.
50% of the time, i can set up a manual recording (the process is very easy). When i hit the Blue "Record" button on the remote, i get the screen that says "Edit record options". Which tells me that the operation was a success.
Half of the time, i finish setting up the manual recording and i get the screen which says "Record" as the top option and "Set a Manual Recording" as the 3rd option. Which warns me that the manual recording was not set. If it fails the first attempt, it won't work no matter how many times i try again.
I have unplugged the dvr many times but this problem never goes away. I only have one tv and dvr in my house.
I am happy with my Record 6 dvr. But it would be interesting to see if someone has found a workaround for some of its quirks.
does not work well. If i try to search by the title of show, it works less than 25% of the time. It keeps loading but no results ever appear. So i have to search by Keywords, which means that the "results" list is much longer than i want or need. But even searching by Keywords will only work 50-75% of the time. I can see that the show exists because i can find it on the Guide if i want to take the time to scroll thru several days of shows. But on the Search page, the loading takes forever and no results appear at least 25% of the time.
I have one tv and dvr. I have unplugged the dvr many times to reset it. That doesn't help. I always make sure that i am typing the correct name of the show.
I was thinking about posting a "quirks" thread but Cox can do that for us. Right now, i just want to know if anyone has found a way (workaround) to make the Search work better. I have read the instructions. I know how easy it is to use the Search feature. I enjoy the Record 6. I am willing to live with the quirks in order to get the benefits.
I just turned on the HD Weather Channel to check. Now that the WC offers so many shows like "Why Planes Crash" and "The Prospectors" you can't flip on the WC and check the weather. You have to wait for "Weather on the 8's".
Today, my local weather is appearing constantly at the bottom of the screen while the show about plane-crashes is on. That is a nice change. I don't have to wait for the 8's. Previously, i would change channels to the SD (non HD) channels for Phoenix weather (channels 83 and 85). See if your city has channels like that.
When the show is from the WC studio, i also get the whole country during the 8's. They divide the country into 6 portions and spend 15 seconds on each one. I get the local info at the bottom of the screen.
Thanks for adding in, Yak. I was pretty certain I'm not the only one with this issue.
We are very weary of this and want it fixed.
Yak, thanks so much for veryfying this! YOUR weather channel is doing what it is supposed to, i.e., displaying your LOCAL weather information at the bottom of the screen; this happens no matter what programming is on TWC at any given time.
In MY situation, however, I am getting national weather instead of my LOCAL weather. I have TWC in HD and in a non-high definition channel. If I turn on the non-high definition channel, it is displaying correctly, but the HD channel is NOT.
Now, if Cox is listening--and I don't think they are because I called last week to the helpdesk on this issue, AND I sent an email on Friday, which was also ignored. We had this exact same problem last November. I contacted TWC directly, who told me that Cox needed to reboot its WeatherStar server/box, which is the utility that TWC and Cox use that is configured to deliver our local weather to these local users in this vicinity. Whenever that coding information is interrupted for whatever reason, TWC is programmed to deliver national weather to the set, not local.
Cox, can you please try rebooting the WeatherStar box????? If that does not work, please get with TWC and figure this out. I do not need to reboot MY cable box because, yes, I've already tried that, and also some strange upgrade happened last week whereupon our cable box simultaneously rebooted for an hour and 15 minutes, so yes, my box has definitely been rebooted multiple times since this issue began on March 6.
yakThere are no "specifics" to add. My search feature works less than 50% of the time. Domino, i am relying on you to come up with a "fix" for this problem. I am willing to pay you overtime for working on the weekend.
I can't come up with a "fix" for a problem that I can't duplicate. That's why I asked for specifics. Next time this "50% of the time" problem arises, post what search you were trying that gave you the problem. For example, if searching for "The Hairless Gnu" episodes is fruitless, specify that.
What is your state/city/zip code? Ion TV is still on the air. Is it a sub-channel of an OTA station in your area?
yak@Domino, sorry for the confusion. There is a yellow triangle, a blue square, and a red circle on the remote (next to each other). On the Record 6, i have to hit the blue square to complete the recording process. The DVR will not set up the recording unless i hit the blue square.
I just checked. When i elect to record a show from the Guide, i get a "Record" screen with 2 choices at the bottom of the screen. There is the blue square with the word RECORD next to it (which is why i referred to it as the blue Record button). There is a red circle with CANCEL next to it. I always hit the blue button on the remote to set the recording.
Oh, you mean the square, blue, "B" button. [In other menus, this is other functions - like OK, etc.]
Now, what was your problem?
WOW. There are dozens, possibly hundreds of shows from many networks that have missing episodes. That's ALOT of "damaged" shows. If Cox's claim that all these networks are providing "damaged" episodes is true, one would think these networks would be replacing the "damaged" episode as soon as possible and not allowing the problem to persist for over a year. Or maybe, the networks simply don't like Cox, like most of us. This problem seems too big for Cox to handle!DinaMyopic1 & Non demand in AZ,
We try to load the episodes as soon as they are received from the networks to ensure they are available to you as quickly as possible. At times we can receive an episode that is damaged & if we find this is the case, we will pull it from the queue & order a new copy to load. We are investigating the issues with these episodes and appreciate your reporting this as it happens.
The steps should be: RECORD -> SET MANUAL RECORDING -> ONE TIME ONLY (etc.) -> BLUE, SQUARE "B"
I can only duplicate your "50%" problem if I accidentally press the RED, CIRCULAR "C" button instead of the BLUE, SQUARE "B" button in the last step.
Try substituting the "SELECT" button instead of the BLUE, SQUARE "B" button in the last step. So, use:
RECORD -> SET MANUAL RECORDING -> ONE TIME ONLY (etc.) -> "SELECT"
Problem solved: Cox sent a tech out (Richard) who tested the signal: All good. He hooked up his own TV and it scanned and found the over-the-air channels and you could view them...my 2 Vizio's continued to find them but still no picture. Having determined that the signal was good, the question was whether or not it was possible for the QAM receivers to go bad on 2 TVs at the same time..unlikely. Perplexed, Richard made a call and determined that my somewhat old TVs have a 64 byte processor, while newer TVs have gone to 256 bytes. As over-the-air channels get ready for all-digital, they have shifted to a different signal that can't be processed without on older models of TVs. Seems to make sense. Nothing wrong with the signal or my TV, just older TVs that have fallen behind the technology. While I'm thankful to Richard for solving the mystery, I'm a bit surprised that the phone representative who "assisted" me was unaware of this change. Would have saved Richard the trip, and precluded my rant on this site. In future, similar inquiries should first be addressed with "Check you TV model to determine the QAM processor rate." My faith in Cox is restored as this doesn't appear like anything untoward. Sorry for the unjustified accusation, Cox. Perhaps we've all learned something from this.
It's a feature, not a problem. Read Bryan's post again.
How can turning on a TV in the morning to a "no signal" error be a "feature"?!!
We have had many phone calls and home visits from technicians who do this for a living and not one of them attempted to pass this off as a "feature".
From Bryan's post-
"Switched Digital Video (SDV) channels are broadcast similar to OnDemand and when they are not being actively watched, then the frequency is released and the channel becomes "Temporarily Unavailable" until it is actively re-tuned, The time-out period for inactivity is usually a few hours, and if you are actively watching the channel it will prompt you to Press any button on the remote to keep watching the channel, If there is no response from the user the channel is tuned off. This is to save bandwidth and is used on almost all channels above the Essential TV Pak, however their are several channels in the Essential Pak that are also SDV, MSNBCHD is usually one of them, In some markets so is CNNHD."
The alert occurs for me for MSNBC if that is the last channel I watched before the cable box was turned off because my Power On Channel setting is Last Channel. It's a minor action to toggle the channel when you get the alert (which probably should prompt you with a nicer warning like Toggle the Channel). Perhaps if you set your Power On Channel setting to a non-SDV channel, you won't see the alert.
There are other problems with Contour but this is scraping the barrel.