# Upgrade to Tivo Bolt + Cablevision CableCard



## jmasone (Nov 18, 2006)

I am upgrading from an older Tivo Premier with two tuners (with M-Card cablecard from Cablevision) to a Tivo Bolt Vox with four tuners. 

1. Can I just swap cablecards from the old Tivo to the new one or do I need to get a new card? 

1a. If I can swap it, not sure if the card is currently "paired" to the Premier Tivo box and needs to be "unpaired", or if I just swap it and run setup on the new Bolt. Any guidance would be appreciated.

2. If I need a new Cablecard, what kind should I ask for?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

High probability: install card into Bolt and it will work. If you have premium channels a pairing will be needed at that time. M-Card is correct card. A pairing will be needed even if it works since the TiVo will detect the new hardware and the numbers will be different.

On your Premiere, go to the cable card pairing screen and write down the numbers. You will have something to compare with after the swap.

A Motorola cable card pairing screen:








Look at the System Information display on your Premiere. It has your Cable Provider shown. Pick the same one.


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## xberk (Dec 3, 2011)

jmasone said:


> I am upgrading from an older Tivo Premier with two tuners (with M-Card cablecard from Cablevision) to a Tivo Bolt Vox with four tuners.
> 
> 1. Can I just swap cablecards from the old Tivo to the new one or do I need to get a new card?
> 
> ...


I just did this. YES. At least with Spectrum you can swap cable cards. Then you must call your cable company and get them to "pair" the cable card to your new TIVO. My new BOLT brought up the correct system screen that has the cable card ID # and all the other info they need to do the "pairing" .. One phone call to Spectrum and I was up and running on the new BOLT (after doing the setup).

One time saver is to find out from your cable operator or from TIVO tech support WHICH choice you should make for your cable operator during setup. I chose the Spectrum cable that was closest to me but that only gave me SD channels. I had to redo the entire setup to pick the correct HD cable service from Spectrum which was located in a city far from me -- but it worked!!!

By the way, love my BOLT. Especially the VOX feature.


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## jmasone (Nov 18, 2006)

xberk said:


> I just did this. YES. At least with Spectrum you can swap cable cards. Then you must call your cable company and get them to "pair" the cable card to your new TIVO. My new BOLT brought up the correct system screen that has the cable card ID # and all the other info they need to do the "pairing" .. One phone call to Spectrum and I was up and running on the new BOLT (after doing the setup).
> 
> One time saver is to find out from your cable operator or from TIVO tech support WHICH choice you should make for your cable operator during setup. I chose the Spectrum cable that was closest to me but that only gave me SD channels. I had to redo the entire setup to pick the correct HD cable service from Spectrum which was located in a city far from me -- but it worked!!!
> 
> By the way, love my BOLT. Especially the VOX feature.


This is encouraging. Thanks. Did you also transfer all your recordings and OnePass settings to the Bolt? If so, what's the process and how smooth did it go?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

The best rate to read content from Premiere is about 60Mbps. Figure on 15 to 20 minutes per one hour of HD content. Copy protected programs will not transfer.


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## jmasone (Nov 18, 2006)

JoeKustra said:


> The best rate to read content from Premiere is about 60Mbps. Figure on 15 to 20 minutes per one hour of HD content. Copy protected programs will not transfer.


Good to know. Guess I'll try and binge watch what's left to avoid having to transfer ;-)


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jmasone said:


> Good to know. Guess I'll try and binge watch what's left to avoid having to transfer ;-)


Unless you are getting the new Bolt due to one of the sales, those programs will be available as long as it has service. I have a Premiere that I use to store some old programs. When I need access I just apply power.


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## elorimer (Jan 1, 2012)

Remember there is a problem transferring shows from the Premier to a Bolt with TE4.

With my Cablevision, I moved the card from one box to the other, but needed to re-pair.


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## xberk (Dec 3, 2011)

jmasone said:


> This is encouraging. Thanks. Did you also transfer all your recordings and OnePass settings to the Bolt? If so, what's the process and how smooth did it go?


I did not transfer anything. I did better than that. I kept the Roamio. Easy enough to hook up by splitting the coax, running an ethernet line into it, and running the HDMI cable to HDMI 2 on my tv. To access the old Roamio and all it's content, all I need to do it switch inputs on the tv and press the TIVO button on the old remote. OR -- I can see the Roamio on my MOCA network and access it that way.

I didn't have a ONE PASS problem. Sorry can't help with that.


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