Forum Discussion

otterbay's avatar
otterbay
Contributor
7 years ago

Picture Time-out

How long does a channel have to be dormant, i.e. without a channel change, before Cox throws up the automated "this channel is now blank due to inactivity" screen, 4 hours - 6 hours, 8 hours - what is the current time interval?

  • Didn’t older, analog, uncompressed qam cable eat more bandwidth?  Some of us use NON-COX dvr systems (not based on cable card), and our recordings often are ruined because of this.  It’s really too bad we can’t do as we wish with the feeds, bandwidth and channels which we, your customers, PAY FOR.  Still having a hard time buying the concept that one, heavily compressed digital channel eats enough bandwidth to make this necessary.   

  • Mary_Anne's avatar
    Mary_Anne
    New Contributor

    Is there some way I can turn off this feature?  I frequently leave my tv on a single channel in the background and really do not like having to retune it when the music comes on.

    • BrianM's avatar
      BrianM
      Moderator
      No, this is part of switched digital technology. If there is no response within the time period, the channel automatically stops playing in order to conserve bandwidth.

      Brian
      Cox Support Forum Moderator
      • otterbay's avatar
        otterbay
        Contributor

        Didn’t older, analog, uncompressed qam cable eat more bandwidth?  Some of us use NON-COX dvr systems (not based on cable card), and our recordings often are ruined because of this.  It’s really too bad we can’t do as we wish with the feeds, bandwidth and channels which we, your customers, PAY FOR.  Still having a hard time buying the concept that one, heavily compressed digital channel eats enough bandwidth to make this necessary.   

  • For this, it is 6 hours. There is also a power save option that is on a 4-hour timer. Thanks, Lisa - Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • otterbay's avatar
      otterbay
      Contributor

      How is it woken up to remain on the same channel?

      thanks

      • LisaH's avatar
        LisaH
        Moderator
        You would need to use the remote control within the 6-hour timeframe and press info to keep the channel awake. Thanks, Lisa - Cox Support Forums Moderator