Re: EAS and TiVo

[Bao H. Lammy]

"dave" > wrote
> Today, an EAS (Emergency Alert System) activation came across my cable
> system (Comcast in Marlborough, MA) for what looked like a weather-related
> alert. The TV I was watching was the one with TiVo Series2. I was watching
> live TV. When the EAS sounded, the TiVo immediately put up the 'Unable to
> display Live TV' screen, no matter which channel I tried and despite turning
> the cable box (digital) off and on. The only way i know there was an EAS is
> because I quickly turned on the other TV (without TiVo) and caught the end
> of it. When the EAS ended, the TiVo television went back to normal and
> displayed live TV fine.
> My questions are, why did this happen?

According to my cable company, it's required by law and occurs
every day at different times. They also told me they couldn't tell
me when it would happen, to my frustration. I've had several
recordings ruined by this warning system. (I archive and when
this interrupts a recording, it's unsuitable for archiving.)


> Why was TiVo unable to show what was
> being broadcasted on the EAS? Has anyone else seen this
> behavior? What are
> we to do when an EAS sounds for (hopefully) important information?

My digital cable shows it fine on TiVo. Don't know why yours
doesn't work that way.

[Jim Ellwanger]

In article >, Bao H. Lammy
> wrote:

> "dave" > wrote
> > Today, an EAS (Emergency Alert System) activation came across my cable
> > system (Comcast in Marlborough, MA) for what looked like a weather-related
> > alert.
>
> According to my cable company, it's required by law and occurs
> every day at different times.

Interesting that they would tell you they have to do it every day,
because the test is called the "required weekly test."

For a long time, my cable company was doing the test every Thursday
night/Friday morning at 1:33 A.M., which neatly fell during the last
commercial break of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." They've since
started moving it around the schedule.

--
Jim Ellwanger >
<http://trainman1.home.mindspring.com> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."

[Dr. Personality]

In article >, Jim Ellwanger
> wrote:

> In article >, Bao H. Lammy
> > wrote:
>
> > "dave" > wrote
> > > Today, an EAS (Emergency Alert System) activation came across my cable
> > > system (Comcast in Marlborough, MA) for what looked like a weather-related
> > > alert.
> >
> > According to my cable company, it's required by law and occurs
> > every day at different times.
>
> Interesting that they would tell you they have to do it every day,
> because the test is called the "required weekly test."
>
> For a long time, my cable company was doing the test every Thursday
> night/Friday morning at 1:33 A.M., which neatly fell during the last
> commercial break of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." They've since
> started moving it around the schedule.

My cable company started issuing these test alerts about three minutes
before the end of a program, anywhere from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., and they
lasted for quite a while -- five or six minutes, maybe. I called to
complain, and they said they had to do the alerts because of new
government regulations, etc. I said that the alerts were supposed to
be internal and not be put onto the system, so (again) why are you
doing this? Oh, they said, we don't have the equipment yet to do it
any other way.

That was back in 2000 and they still don't have the equipment yet,
according to my friends around here who are still on cable. We got
DirecTV not too long after all this started.

[Bao H. Lammy]

"Jim Ellwanger" > wrote
> > > Today, an EAS (Emergency Alert System) activation came across my cable
> > > system (Comcast in Marlborough, MA) for what looked like a weather-related
> > > alert.
> > According to my cable company, it's required by law and occurs
> > every day at different times.
> Interesting that they would tell you they have to do it every day,
> because the test is called the "required weekly test."

Agreed!


> For a long time, my cable company was doing the test every Thursday
> night/Friday morning at 1:33 A.M., which neatly fell during the last
> commercial break of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." They've since
> started moving it around the schedule.