I have Fios one...Multi-room DVR...4 set top boxes. I should be able to record up to 6 shows...or record 5 shows and watch live tv on the 6th receiver. I was watching something on the DVR...finished that..and went back to live TV. Channel I was on was tuned to CBS. I tried to change the channel, but got a message that there is a conflict....with a list of the 4 shows currently recording...on channels CBS, ABC, Oxygen and History. Message said I could either choose one of those 4 channels listed and watch that channel...or I could chose one of those 4 channels and cancel the recording to be able to change channels. At the bottom of the screen it said "press info to see what's on" so I hit that. 6 boxes came up and showed the channels that the 6 receivers were showing...the 4 channels I was recording to the DVR...as well as the Golf Channel and TBS. GOLF and TBS weren't recording to the DVR..the receivers were just tuned to that channel. So I chose TBS, thinking that once I was on that channel, I could change that receiver to another channel, but it still wouldn't let me change the channel... got the same conflict message with the list of the 4 shows recording... Neither TBS or GOLF came up on the conflict list so I couldn't choose to cancel one of them...I had to cancel one of the 4 shows actually recording to the DVR to actually change the channel. The system wouldn't recognize that only 4 shows were recording...not 6. I even tried to go to one of the other TVs (The TV with the 'main box'..not one with the small. boxes) and same thing happened. Any idea why I couldn't change channels or how to fix it?
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@CindyV wrote:I understand completely what you are saying. However, that was not the issue. Main box (in kitchen) recording 4 shows to DVR (CBS, ABC, OXYGEN and HISTORY). So then Tuner #5 (Tuned to TBS but not recording that show) & #6 (Tuned to GOLF but not recording that show) should be open to use by one of the other TVs... So TV in living room (only one being used..other 3 TVs were off)... We should have been able to change the channel from GOLF or TBS...not recoding those two channels...to something else but it wouldn't let us. I have been recording 5 shows and watching tv in the Bedroom (Tuner #6) and my husband can't change channels in the living room without canceling a recording...I get that. But only 4 shows recording, should have been no reason why we couldn't change channels on the only active TV. And if nothing else, it should have at least listed all 6 tuners to be able to pick from to choose a tuner to cancel, but it didn't...only the 4 shows recording were able to be cancelled.
Got you. So you were only using 5 of the 6 tuners allowed. Sounds like the VMS didn't allocate resources properly. You should unplug its power for at least 3 minutes and plug it back in and see if that helps. You could also try doing a reboot: Main Menu > Customer Support > Top Support Tools> Reboot set top Box. You could also look here: Main Menu > Customer Support > Top Support Tools > Connected Device Status and see what has been allocated to your devices. If you can't find a solution it is possible one of the tuners has gone bad in the VMS if it was able to do what you wanted before and it isn't now. The only other thing I can think of is this from the info page on DVR service:
With Enhanced Service, you can:
With Premium Service, you can:
So maybe the combination of watching and recording will only allow 5 tuners to be used simultaneously.
@CindyV wrote:I have Fios one...Multi-room DVR...4 set top boxes. I should be able to record up to 6 shows...or record 5 shows and watch live tv on the 6th receiver. I was watching something on the DVR...finished that..and went back to live TV. Channel I was on was tuned to CBS. I tried to change the channel, but got a message that there is a conflict....with a list of the 4 shows currently recording...on channels CBS, ABC, Oxygen and History. Message said I could either choose one of those 4 channels listed and watch that channel...or I could chose one of those 4 channels and cancel the recording to be able to change channels. At the bottom of the screen it said "press info to see what's on" so I hit that. 6 boxes came up and showed the channels that the 6 receivers were showing...the 4 channels I was recording to the DVR...as well as the Golf Channel and TBS. GOLF and TBS weren't recording to the DVR..the receivers were just tuned to that channel. So I chose TBS, thinking that once I was on that channel, I could change that receiver to another channel, but it still wouldn't let me change the channel... got the same conflict message with the list of the 4 shows recording... Neither TBS or GOLF came up on the conflict list so I couldn't choose to cancel one of them...I had to cancel one of the 4 shows actually recording to the DVR to actually change the channel. The system wouldn't recognize that only 4 shows were recording...not 6. I even tried to go to one of the other TVs (The TV with the 'main box'..not one with the small. boxes) and same thing happened. Any idea why I couldn't change channels or how to fix it?
The IPC boxes do not have their own tuners, so if you are watching TV on one, it uses a tuner from the VMS box. The VMS has a total of 6 tuners which get shared between watching programming on all the boxes and recording. Math is pretty simple: for every box that is active watching a show deduct 1 tuner. For every box that is recording, deduct 1 tuner. You can't go past 6 tuners total or you'll get the error message.
I understand completely what you are saying. However, that was not the issue. Main box (in kitchen) recording 4 shows to DVR (CBS, ABC, OXYGEN and HISTORY). So then Tuner #5 (Tuned to TBS but not recording that show) & #6 (Tuned to GOLF but not recording that show) should be open to use by one of the other TVs... So TV in living room (only one being used..other 3 TVs were off)... We should have been able to change the channel from GOLF or TBS...not recoding those two channels...to something else but it wouldn't let us. I have been recording 5 shows and watching tv in the Bedroom (Tuner #6) and my husband can't change channels in the living room without canceling a recording...I get that. But only 4 shows recording, should have been no reason why we couldn't change channels on the only active TV. And if nothing else, it should have at least listed all 6 tuners to be able to pick from to choose a tuner to cancel, but it didn't...only the 4 shows recording were able to be cancelled.
@CindyV wrote:I understand completely what you are saying. However, that was not the issue. Main box (in kitchen) recording 4 shows to DVR (CBS, ABC, OXYGEN and HISTORY). So then Tuner #5 (Tuned to TBS but not recording that show) & #6 (Tuned to GOLF but not recording that show) should be open to use by one of the other TVs... So TV in living room (only one being used..other 3 TVs were off)... We should have been able to change the channel from GOLF or TBS...not recoding those two channels...to something else but it wouldn't let us. I have been recording 5 shows and watching tv in the Bedroom (Tuner #6) and my husband can't change channels in the living room without canceling a recording...I get that. But only 4 shows recording, should have been no reason why we couldn't change channels on the only active TV. And if nothing else, it should have at least listed all 6 tuners to be able to pick from to choose a tuner to cancel, but it didn't...only the 4 shows recording were able to be cancelled.
Got you. So you were only using 5 of the 6 tuners allowed. Sounds like the VMS didn't allocate resources properly. You should unplug its power for at least 3 minutes and plug it back in and see if that helps. You could also try doing a reboot: Main Menu > Customer Support > Top Support Tools> Reboot set top Box. You could also look here: Main Menu > Customer Support > Top Support Tools > Connected Device Status and see what has been allocated to your devices. If you can't find a solution it is possible one of the tuners has gone bad in the VMS if it was able to do what you wanted before and it isn't now. The only other thing I can think of is this from the info page on DVR service:
With Enhanced Service, you can:
With Premium Service, you can:
So maybe the combination of watching and recording will only allow 5 tuners to be used simultaneously.
If any of the television sets are not in use during a time when 4 channels are being recorded, would disconnecting the coaxial cable from either the wall or from the back of the mini free up another tuner be worth trying for testing purposes? 🤔
Maybe reboot the VMS between the disconnection and beginning of the recording session.
One thing I've noticed with my setup (VMS, 2 remotes and no DVR) is that the tuner assignments never change. Tuner #1 is always the VMS. Tuner #3 is always my bedroom mini and tuner #4 is the other television. I don't know if that behavior factors into this. 🤔
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