# Comcast Cable Card



## Frank_H (May 21, 2011)

I have a Tivo Premier that I plan to retire and replace with a Roamio. Can I just transfer the existing cable card to the Roamio or do I need to get it re-paired? Thanks.


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## chg (Jul 28, 2007)

Pretty sure you will have to get it re-paired.

Had to do that when I went from a HD to a Premiere.


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## bmel (Apr 19, 2003)

I just replaced a TiVo hd with a TiVo premier. Moved the old card. Took a couple of calls to ok cast before it repaired properly. 

Will the M card that gives me two channels on the premier Give me 4 channels on the roamio? Or is it a different type of m card?

I might return the premier and get the roamio


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## chg (Jul 28, 2007)

bmel said:


> I just replaced a TiVo hd with a TiVo premier. Moved the old card. Took a couple of calls to ok cast before it repaired properly.
> 
> Will the M card that gives me two channels on the premier Give me 4 channels on the roamio? Or is it a different type of m card?
> 
> I might return the premier and get the roamio


I believe the same M card should give you the 4 channels.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

m-cards support up to 6 simultaneous streams.


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

You have to repair it. Do yourself a favor and call their dedicated CableCARD line. Don't go through the national Comcast 800 number or you'll be on hold forever.

When I called to repair mine, the call was answered by a real person (not a telephone tree voice system).

877-405-2298


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## TrooperOrange (Apr 23, 2012)

geekmedic said:


> You have to repair it. Do yourself a favor and call their dedicated CableCARD line. Don't go through the national Comcast 800 number or you'll be on hold forever.
> 
> When I called to repair mine, the call was answered by a real person (not a telephone tree voice system).
> 
> 877-405-2298


That is what I did, setup tivo, threw in cable card from old tivo, called up the direct cable card line, they did their thing, 1/2 hour later everything worked fine, including VOD.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

lpwcomp said:


> m-cards support up to 6 simultaneous streams.


Actually the Cisco PKM 908 M card supports up to 8 simultaneous streams while the more common Cisco and Scientific Atlanta PKM 800 and 801 M cards only support up to 6 simultaneous streams.


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## gothaggis (Mar 3, 2010)

geekmedic said:


> You have to repair it. Do yourself a favor and call their dedicated CableCARD line. Don't go through the national Comcast 800 number or you'll be on hold forever.
> 
> When I called to repair mine, the call was answered by a real person (not a telephone tree voice system).
> 
> 877-405-2298


thanks! I called the main comcast line and they could not get it activated...(they had no idea what they were doing..only asked for the cable card s/n) - hung up frustrated, found this thread, called that number and they had it working in 5 minutes.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

chg said:


> I believe the same M card should give you the 4 channels.


No, you have to repair it. Comcast requires cards to be repaired when moved to a new unit. Or even if you change the hard drive (at least prior to Roamio; can't say for certain on the new units). And of course once you get it properly paired, it will authorize six streams instead of four.:up:


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## mpf541 (Nov 25, 2009)

I just got a new roamio and went down and picked up a new cable card.I wanted to keep the old one going for a while longer. Well when trying to activate it it did not work. I pulled it out of the other tivo and had comcast pair it to the new tivo. Still had some issues and a call to tivo got it all solved in a 3 way call. Seems the Comcast text did not un bind it from the original tivo. 

Don't count on comcast having any body that knows what they are doing but i ended up reusing a cable card I had and returning the one I just picked up.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

When I got my Premier Comcast insisted on a truck roll, and the tech couldn't get any of the cards he brought to pair because the equipment at the head end insisted they weren't valid Comcast cards (despite the fact he had just been given them at the warehouse that morning). He had to go and pick up some more before getting one that worked, so apparently Comcast tracks serial numbers or something in addition to wanting to pair with your specific device (and apparently they had very very poor inventory control .


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

mpf541 said:


> Seems the Comcast text did not un bind it from the original tivo.


I don't know what to believe. I had to replace a faulty CC on my Premier XL. All I did was insert the new CC, worked like a charm. I didn't have to repair it.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

brianric said:


> I don't know what to believe. I had to replace a faulty CC on my Premier XL. All I did was insert the new CC, worked like a charm. I didn't have to repair it.


Do you have any premium channels?


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

lpwcomp said:


> Do you have any premium channels?


No


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

brianric said:


> No


There's your answer. I too have no premium channels and have run w/o pairing a self-installed (I got the first two prior to August 2011 and a Comcast was still requiring tech installs) CableCARD. However, THere were occasions when a channel change would result in the appearance of the CableCARD info screen, so I eventually had it paired.


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## Davelnlr_ (Jan 13, 2011)

Comcast had to roll a truck for my XL4 as well. Turns out the cablecard they gave me at the office was in their system as being installed in one of their own boxes, and if their computer shows its been paired to a comcast box, it wont work in a Tivo, until they clear the cablecard out of their system, and re-enter it. Very frustrating...but at least they were on time (on a Sunday no less), and didnt charge for the truck roll since it was their issue.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

Davelnlr_ said:


> Comcast had to roll a truck for my XL4 as well. Turns out the cablecard they gave me at the office was in their system as being installed in one of their own boxes, and if their computer shows its been paired to a comcast box, it wont work in a Tivo, until they clear the cablecard out of their system, and re-enter it. Very frustrating...but at least they were on time (on a Sunday no less), and didnt charge for the truck roll since it was their issue.


I've had that happen and it's frustrating to say the least. In my case they claimed they didn't have the ability to remove it and re add it to the system which I'm skeptical about.


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## chg (Jul 28, 2007)

astrohip said:


> No, you have to repair it. Comcast requires cards to be repaired when moved to a new unit. Or even if you change the hard drive (at least prior to Roamio; can't say for certain on the new units). And of course once you get it properly paired, it will authorize six streams instead of four.:up:


Yup. Told him he had to re-pair it in the post before (which he did). He was then asking if the same cable card could do more than two streams.


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## randy3y (Oct 6, 2006)

tomhorsley said:


> When I got my Premier Comcast insisted on a truck roll, and the tech couldn't get any of the cards he brought to pair because the equipment at the head end insisted they weren't valid Comcast cards (despite the fact he had just been given them at the warehouse that morning). He had to go and pick up some more before getting one that worked, so apparently Comcast tracks serial numbers or something in addition to wanting to pair with your specific device (and apparently they had very very poor inventory control .


I had that exact same experience and then once I did finally get a card to connect it failed in about a month. I had to make two trips to TWC store to finally get a well working M card.

- next time I will tell them to bring at least a dozen cards.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

TrooperOrange said:


> That is what I did, setup tivo, threw in cable card from old tivo, called up the direct cable card line, they did their thing, 1/2 hour later everything worked fine, including VOD.


I got a new CC for my Roamio, with Comcast, and it worked after calling the right phone number to get it paired. But VOD is NOT working! I guess i need to make another phone call.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

javabird said:


> I got a new CC for my Roamio, with Comcast, and it worked after calling the right phone number to get it paired. But VOD is NOT working! I guess i need to make another phone call.


VOD does not work through a CableCard. It's available in some (but not all) Comcast markets through an app.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

tarheelblue32 said:


> VOD does not work through a CableCard. It's available in some (but not all) Comcast markets through an app.


But it's supposed to work through the XFINITY App, right? It's not working for me, when I try to play Streampix it freezes.


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## CraigK (Jun 9, 2006)

javabird said:


> But it's supposed to work through the XFINITY App, right? It's not working for me, when I try to play Streampix it freezes.


There is a thread about Comcast VOD freezing HERE.

I posted near the end of the thread (post #96). I had to call Comcast back after the card was paired at the tech support number (800-934-6489) rather than the cablecard number for help.

Basically I had to ask the tech if the "premier billing code" was on my account. When he put it on my account then VOD started working correctly. He may assume you have a Series 4 TiVo (Premier), but I told him I had a Series 5 which was newer.

I'm in Lake Forest Park.


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## javabird (Oct 13, 2006)

CraigK said:


> There is a thread about Comcast VOD freezing HERE.
> 
> I posted near the end of the thread (post #96). I had to call Comcast back after the card was paired at the tech support number (800-934-6489) rather than the cablecard number for help.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the information. I will call when I get home from work tonight.


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## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

Before you call I would suggest checking your equipment list on comcast.com. After signing in and selecting "My Services" on the horizontal menu on top, this is what I get (I have a Roamio Pro with Motorola CC and VOD is working fine for me right now and I have only one TV set up with Comcast):

In the equipment box on the right it lists my Voice/Data modem and some remote control info below. At the bottom is a "View More" button .. when I click on this it displays my "Cable Box" info which is actually my CC info since I don't have a box anymore:
Make & Model: MOTOROLA TIVOPMHST (plus s/n and mac info)

I think the TIVOPMHST may be the elusive "premier billing code" that is set even though I have it installed on a Roamio.

If you don't have that code, that could be the starting point with the CSR. If you do have the code, there may be more serious problems.

Hope this helps!


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