# COMCAST says they don't support Premiere



## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

I received my Premiere XL about 2 weeks ago, had Comcast out to install a new cable card and together we got it working in about 2 hours. One week later I got a prompt that the cable card was undergoing a firmware update and would be unusable for a while. I came back the next day (> 12 hours later) and the prompt was still on screen. I had seen this problem before and knew it was bad news, the cable card was toast. I rebooted, but no joy.

I scheduled a tech to come out 2 days later, but I was out of town, so my wife worked with the tech. She is TiVO savvy as well, so she walked the tech through installing the card, but the tech could not get the card to work. He called his supervisor who called his supervisor and was told that the TiVO Series 4 (Premier) is not supported by Comcast yet. He then said that the S4 requires a Motorola Cable Card, not the Scientific Atlanta cards that my Comcast region stocks.

*My local Comcast group is now refusing to install a new cable card until they get the word that "the TiVO S4 is supported by Comcast".*

Does anyone have any information on whether for Comcast a) the S4 requires Motorola Cable Cards and b) the S4 is "supported" by Comcast?


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

glee_hokie said:


> I received my Premiere XL about 2 weeks ago, had Comcast out to install a new cable card and together we got it working in about 2 hours. One week later I got a prompt that the cable card was undergoing a firmware update and would be unusable for a while. I came back the next day (> 12 hours later) and the prompt was still on screen. I had seen this problem before and knew it was bad news, the cable card was toast. I rebooted, but no joy.
> 
> I scheduled a tech to come out 2 days later, but I was out of town, so my wife worked with the tech. She is TiVO savvy as well, so she walked the tech through installing the card, but the tech could not get the card to work. He called his supervisor who called his supervisor and was told that the TiVO Series 4 (Premier) is not supported by Comcast yet. He then said that the S4 requires a Motorola Cable Card, not the Scientific Atlanta cards that my Comcast region stocks.
> 
> ...


TiVo has a support line to resolve this. There's another thread somewhere where someone was told this and TiVo was able to get it resolved FOR them by dealing with Comcast or giving them a special number.


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## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

curiousgeorge said:


> TiVo has a support line to resolve this. There's another thread somewhere where someone was told this and TiVo was able to get it resolved FOR them by dealing with Comcast or giving them a special number.


Great, what's the number to either of these support lines? I've spent about 5 hours on the phone or chat with Comcast so far to no avail.


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## litkaj (Jun 5, 2007)

To my knowledge a Motorola CableCARD is not required, but an M-Card is. I believe they're less common in SA markets so that might be part of the issue. Did they bring out a single-stream or multiple-stream card?


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## lafos (Nov 8, 2004)

The M-cards TWC uses are SA. I have three of them in Premiere TiVos and all work fine. They even have the Cisco TA's.

Call TiVo's CSRs and ask them to link you to their card help people.


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## Mike-Mike (Mar 2, 2010)

Comcast sounds like some ******s, we don't have them here.... Comcast that is, we have plenty of ******s, just no comcast


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## smoknyreyz (Jan 5, 2005)

glee_hokie said:


> Great, what's the number to either of these support lines? I've spent about 5 hours on the phone or chat with Comcast so far to no avail.


Reach out to Comcast's head of Customer Service - Frank Eliason - I have reached out to him several times on twitter and he and his team have always been very responsive. He will reach out to your local Comcast team and make sure your issues get resolved.

You can reach him on twitter at http://twitter.com/comcastcares or by email at [email protected]

He is very aware of the problems Comcast has with the field not being TiVo / Cable Card savvy, and has always gone out of his way to make sure issues that I've had have been corrected.


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## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

litkaj said:


> Did they bring out a single-stream or multiple-stream card?


They brought Scientific Atlanta M-Cards. I have 2 TiVO HDs and one S3 running SA M-Cards, so I know the SA cards work in this area. Just trying to confirm that SA M-Cards work on the Premiere on Comcast. I suppose knowing that they work in my area (Blacksburg, VA) would be even better.


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## ldobson (Jan 18, 2004)

Yeah, I wouldnt pay any attention to what Comcast says, they aren't going to recongise the Series 4 or any other CE device, all you need to tell them is that you need an M card, they will have the correct brand which is compatible with the local head end. Comcast are clueless for the most part, dont pay any attention to what they tell you as 9 times out of 10 they will be wrong.


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## ldobson (Jan 18, 2004)

glee_hokie said:


> They brought Scientific Atlanta M-Cards. I have 2 TiVO HDs and one S3 running SA M-Cards, so I know the SA cards work in this area. Just trying to confirm that SA M-Cards work on the Premiere on Comcast. I suppose knowing that they work in my area (Blacksburg, VA) would be even better.


Yes, each areas system, uses a specific brand of cablecard which is compatible with the local head end system, in my area its SA (cisco), if you have other equipment using SA, your Premiere is going to be the same.


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## c_tripps_2k (Sep 12, 2005)

I am on Comcrap and I just purchased a premier to replace my 3yo Series 3. The tech came out with an SA M-Card and within 30 minutes I had my programming. The only problems I am having now are with the incomplete premier.


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## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

I thought I'd submit an update on this issue. Sending an email to [email protected] actually helped a lot. I received a response within a few hours and they straightened their internal issue out within 2 days.

It turns out a memo had been circulated within Comcast saying the S4 is not supported. The We_Can_Help people fixed that.

I still don't have a working S4, the Comcast system got scrambled up trying to get the last one working and the host ID for that unit is now not being accepted by the Comcast provisioning system. It says the host ID is associated with another account. TiVo stepped in at this point and graciously replaced my S4 ... kinda the big hammer approach, but I like the "whatever it takes" attitude on TiVo's part.

The techs are coming back out next week to install a cable card in the new S4, I'll let you know what happens then.


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## DonB. (Apr 4, 2010)

Keep us posted as most of us Comcast users will have to be using M Cards by the first of the year, you can also have them give you a HD box and use that, that should work till they resolve the M Card issue



glee_hokie said:


> The techs are coming back out next week to install a cable card in the new S4, I'll let you know what happens then.


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## cranbers (Apr 2, 2010)

Well I have a tivo premiere and comcast in frederick, md. You just have to have a multistream card, it works the same as series 3. I had no issues, granted the tech didn't know what he was doing at first since he never messed with a tivo s4 or s3 for that matter, and neither did the lady on the phone who was his contact at his contractor's hq that has a tie into comcast's system, you know provision cable boxes, digital cards etc.

However if it works isn't exactly the same as if a comcast customer service person will help you or touch it.

Wasn't it a legal issue though that they have to support these devices, at least via cable card?

Couldn't you just say its a series 3? I mean the cable card shouldn't say to comcast's system what model the tivo is right? they just tell a cable card what channels are available?


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## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

DonB. said:


> Keep us posted as most of us Comcast users will have to be using M Cards by the first of the year, you can also have them give you a HD box and use that, that should work till they resolve the M Card issue


AFAIK there is no M-card issue. I have been running M-cards in an S3 and two TiVoHDs for over 2 years.

My local Comcast people thought there was an issue with supporting the S4 on their cable network, but this appears to have been misinformation and the We_Can_Help people corrected this misinformation.

The install for my S4 cable card is scheduled for Tuesday next week.


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## DonB. (Apr 4, 2010)

Yes I know, but I am talking about the S4 unit, till they resolve it on Tuesday, if they do not get the Mcard to work in your S4 box then you can hook up a Comcast HD box till they solve the issue, is what I was trying to say



glee_hokie said:


> AFAIK there is no M-card issue. I have been running M-cards in an S3 and two TiVoHDs for over 2 years.
> 
> My local Comcast people thought there was an issue with supporting the S4 on their cable network, but this appears to have been misinformation and the We_Can_Help people corrected this misinformation.
> 
> The install for my S4 cable card is scheduled for Tuesday next week.


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## ghuido (May 9, 2007)

I have Comcast, 2 Tivo HD's using M-Cards and once installation was completed have never had any issues with them once installed. i will say it took a couple of trips from the Tech to get them installed. Brought S-Card instead of M-cards.


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## glee_hokie (Sep 28, 2005)

A final update on this thread, Comcast installed last Thursday and everything went smoothly. Thanks to Tivo for stepping up and sending a new unit since this was the simplest route even though the problem was probably in Comcast's system.


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## Jonathan316 (Jan 4, 2004)

First call to Comcast for an M-card for my Tivo they said "we do not have M-cards". Second call got "we cannot do cablecards for Tivo". So I went to their chat system and asked the same question - their chat answer was "may we come tomorrow to install the M-card?"

I would not trust a word Comcast says on the phone. But their chat staff seems much more 'clued in' to reality and know what they are doing.

Oh yes - it also helps to never mention Tivo. Just say you 'need an m-card for your TV". They will not ask 'what TV?' or anything else - they will simply schedule the install.


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## c.hack (Sep 8, 2004)

My experience with Comcast - 
- When ordering a cable card, most reps do not know what it is or what a TiVo is. The one tech that knew of cable cards said they only have s-cards and that Comcast does not use m-cards. That was a few weeks after their installer put an m-card in another TiVo. Conclusion - Comcast sales is totally ignorant
- Every installer that has shown up to install a cable card has never done so before (my 3 installations) and needed my help. They are typically contractors who know nothing of TiVo, cable cards or technology in general. All they provide is quick access to get the cards provisioned.
- I have found that Comcast in general is a very backward lo-tech company still living in the 80s


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

c.hack said:


> ...
> - I have found that Comcast in general is a very backward lo-tech company still living in the 80s


But Comcast has the 2010 pricing, which is far beyond what they dreamed about in the 1980s!

Now Xfinty, THERE"S a company of the new millennium!


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

So much for my idea that Comcast ONLY had M-cards!

My buddy who bought a new Premiere:



> Comcast came by to put in the cable card this morning.
> 
> Guess what?
> 
> ...


I just checked my new Series 3. My Comcast tech put in *two M*-cards. So I have 4 M-cards between my two S3s. Go figure.

And of course, the first time the guy showed up with one card and getting the second card took all day.

Remember Comcast's CEO swore they would not be Worst Company in America again.


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## SNJpage1 (May 25, 2006)

When I bought my TivoHD and had comcast come out the Tech said they have had nothing but problems with M cards and said they preferred to use the single cards.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

netringer said:


> So much for my idea that Comcast ONLY had M-cards!
> 
> My buddy who bought a new Premiere:


Update:



> Comcast just called and said they don't have any of the Tivo cards that you need in their warehouse. He doesn't know when they will have one but you will be notified when they do. I asked him if there was anything you could do other than just wait. He said you could try calling comcast and ask to speak to a supervisor and see if they would escalate your request. Basically, he has no power at Comcast to help you - this was the same guy that came to the house yesterday that called.


This is ATLANTA. Comcast can't install a TiVo in all of Atlanta?


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## BaltFrank (May 11, 2010)

I am going through similar maginations. 1st try tech called no card, 2nd try tech came but Comcast's system would not recognize the serial number of the M-Card and the one he had was the only one available. I now realize that they have no way of ordering cards so I just schedule another appointment for a few days later and hope they have cards.

Third try was today, guy brought a card and I thought it worked, but I was wrong. The tech is suppose to come back because although it does get some channels it does not get any high def channels. On some like Fox News it says not authorized and other like HGTV it says it "Problem with the signal". Spent time with tech support but no joy. 

I have had the new box for over a month trying to get it set up. I am thinking I made a mistake. I will keep you posted

Frank


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## b_scott (Nov 27, 2006)

BS. Premiere is the same as the HD and S3. It just takes someone who wants to help you on the phone. I was on the phone for an hour last night while the guy learned how to put in the Host ID and Data IDs, and hit the card. But finally it worked.


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## Twoflower (Jan 2, 2003)

I'm upgrading from S3 HD to a Premiere soon.

Fortunately, the two cards they installed in my S3 were BOTH Motorola M-Cards. Does that means I can just pick one and pop it into the Premiere and off I go? No need for a truck roll or dealing with incompetent phone support?

I also put an email query out to we_can_help, in hopes of contacting someone who knows what they speak of. I've had good experiences with Comcast support in the past, but only through the web, never the phone.

Here's a photo of the cards in question, if it helps.
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8751/mcard.jpg


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Typically, with Comcast, the card is married to the box. So you can't just remove it and put it in another box. At least that was certainly the case in my area with Comcast.


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## Twoflower (Jan 2, 2003)

So the cards are one-use items? Or can Comcast re-assign the card to the new box, if I call them up and ask for it? (Mostly I just want to avoid having to schedule a visit. I'd like this thing up and running for June and they've got a history of taking 2-3 weeks to get around to dropping in, then they don't have the right parts when they arrive, then another 2-3 weeks, then... etc.)


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## DaveWhittle (Jul 25, 2002)

Twoflower said:


> So the cards are one-use items? Or can Comcast re-assign the card to the new box, if I call them up and ask for it?


My installer didn't have luck with the first card he tried, but got instant success with the second. FWIW, he explained that the reason they have to try multiple cablecards is sometimes the cards aren't properly "cleared" (I forget the term he used) so they won't pair with a different box. The installers need to try different cards to find one that is unused or properly cleared.

I assumed this meant "blanking" or "initializing"? Of course this could be total BS.


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## cr33p (Jan 2, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> Typically, with Comcast, the card is married to the box. So you can't just remove it and put it in another box. At least that was certainly the case in my area with Comcast.


I was able to swap my card the other day from one tivo hd to another, im crossing my fingers it will work for my new premiere I got today


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## turbobozz (Sep 21, 2006)

cr33p said:


> I was able to swap my card the other day from one tivo hd to another, im crossing my fingers it will work for my new premiere I got today


Back when the S3 first came out...
I was on Comcast w/ Moto cards and was able to move the cards from S3 to my TV w/o reauth.
(I didn't have any premium channels, if that matters.)

With FiOS Moto cards I could do the same.

Now I'm back on Comcast, but with SciAtl cards... and I had to call them up to get them to work after moving from TV to TiVo or from TiVo to TiVo.
(Not that I do it often.)
Every time I've had to have then re-pair a card they somehow seem to knock out all the cable cards on my acct while trying to get the one working properly again.

I think it's mostly an experience problem on the Customer Service agent's part, but calling them up is all you should have to do to re-pair the cards.


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## ldobson (Jan 18, 2004)

Cable cards can be moved from device to device however they msut first be "Staged" before they can be used. Sometimes cable cards come from the warehouse pre-staged, sometimes not. The card then needs to be paired which means comcast must have the correct cablecard # and hostid in their system. Additionally the correct billing codes must be applied to your account for both the cable cards and your package. If any of these steps are missed, it simply wont work, and most installers will give up.

Often when the card has been paired the head-end will need to send a staged hit, perhaps multiple staged hits to activate service.


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## abooch (Apr 21, 2010)

What do you mean by this?
*"Additionally the correct billing codes must be applied to your account for both the cable cards and your package. If any of these steps are missed, it simply wont work, and most installers will give up."*


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

abooch said:


> What do you mean by this?
> *"Additionally the correct billing codes must be applied to your account for both the cable cards and your package. If any of these steps are missed, it simply wont work, and most installers will give up."*


the billing system ties into the cable card authorization system. Certain codes are needed to tell the cable card system that you should see say STARZ or CinemaxHD etc... they might have the system 'billing' you for these but they might not have the correct codes also entered in to tell the cable card system to 'unscramble' them.
It has been noted as a fairly common reason why you see some of the premium stuff but not all of it.


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## HunkaBurninLove (Jan 29, 2007)

Agreed with what Idobson and ZeoTiVo said.

Had the same experience with Comcast and my Premiere.

My M-card wasn't paired with my account (they didn't have my correct cablecard # and hostid in their system). Then I had to tell them to get the correct billing code in my account (the rep had no idea what that meant so I had to tell him a couple of times). Then I told them to send a couple of hits to my card before I finally got my tiered HD channels to work.


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