some major HD channels dont work. Anyone else experience this?

[dtrachtman]

A number of HD channels such as History Channel, TLC, Bravo, and AMC just give me a message on my screen that says "This   channel is currently unavailable. Please change the channel or dial ... and enter code...".  Most of my other HD channels work fine though.

I chatted with tech support and the guy was clueless and wants to send a tech to my house. Any thoughts?

thanks

[CCandBW]

We have had similar problems since we signed up for FIOS two years ago.  It seems to be fine for a good while (months at a time) and then we have a week or two of this same error on random HD channels.  We switch and watch the show on the non-HD channel (if it is available).  It is extremely annoying, but we don't bother calling tech support because it usually clears up later in the day or the next day.  It would be nice to know what is causing this problem.  We have a QIP7100 (non-DVR HD STB) although I'm not sure the STB would be the problem.

[Hubrisnxs]

believe it or not, that problem is typically cabling at the house.    The Cable boxes have an internal diagnostic screen, where you can kinda take a look at things.

with the fios turned on,   you hit power > select > select.   that takes you to an on screen diagnostic menu.   go down to inband status, and look at the DB SNR.      check the rating and see if it says good poor fair etc.  and post it here.

a good first step though, would be two things, power cycle your cable box (remove the electricity from the box and then count to ten before plugging it back in)

and reseat the coax cable, that comes from the wall.   so the wall to the cable box, it's called an rf in,  unplug/unscrew it.   and then screw it back in nice and snug, and then try the stations again.   if they don't come back a tech may be needed, unless you feel comfortable messing with the coax wire and the in home splitter etc...   if you do, it's reasonably easy to do so.

[CCandBW]

Thanks for the assistance.  I checked the internal diagnostics SNR said the signal was "good" (range about 35.5 dB, give or take).  I switched to an "offending" channel and the signal said "fair" (30.5 dB, give or take).  I reset the STB and reseated the coax and the STB didn't come back up.  This is not uncommon -- I find resetting the STB alone leaves the STB in some sort of limbo.  I reset the router and the STB again and it came back up.  It takes the a good 5 minutes for the STB to come back (a whole separate issue).  That was at around 10:30 a.m. and the HD channels that were a problem were now good.  I turned off the TV & STB and came back at about 1:30 p.m. and, sadly, the same HD channels (USA, Bravo, AMC, at least) were again giving the unavailability message.  Checking the SNR, it was the same as before (good on the good channels and fair on the failed channels).

On a similar front, the STB sometimes self-resets when I'm selecting a VOD show and didn't come back.  I only mention this because the solution seems to be the same (reseat the coax -- which for me is a router reboot, STB reset, too).

Two questions:

1.  Is the dB on the good channels good enough or is it borderline and causing things to go in and out?

2.  Why is reseating the coax the solution?  How often should I be doing this?  Twice/day is excessive.  I wouldn't think this should need to be done very often (maybe once per month)?  Is that a bad assumption with this technology?  Why does it sometimes self-correct after a period of time?

[Keyboards]

---

@CCandBW wrote:

Two questions:

1.  Is the dB on the good channels good enough or is it borderline and causing things to go in and out?

2.  Why is reseating the coax the solution?  How often should I be doing this?  Twice/day is excessive.  I wouldn't think this should need to be done very often (maybe once per month)?  Is that a bad assumption with this technology?  Why does it sometimes self-correct after a period of time?

---

1 - The SNR (dB) listed for the "good" channels sounds fine.

2 - Reseating the coax should not have to be done at all.  To me that indicates a bad crimp / compression fitting on the coax that under stress (hanging from the box connector) is causing some issues at specific frequencies - hence the reason the same channels always seem to be affected.

If you have the tools I would replace the connector on the cable with a new compression fitting (DO NOT USE CRIMP CONNECTORS) - making sure that there are no braid "whiskers" inadvertantly hitting the center conductor.  If you don't have the tools, I would replace the cable from the wall to the box.