# Confusion on Roamio / CableCARD requirement



## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

So,

I've searched the forums and can't seem to find any solid answers.

What I have at home is basic cable (Suddenlink -- they simulcast analog/digital down the line). No CableCARD, no set-top box required currently for me to view the digital channels. (And, if I read correctly, FCC only requires cable providers to provide CableCARDs if they require a cable box for their service? Correct me if I'm wrong)

The TiVo site, of course, says that CableCARDs are required for use with the Roamio series DVRs. But, elsewhere on the TiVo site, it also says that the CableCARDs are used for decrypting digital cable streams. My channels, which come in digitally, do not require decryption.

I also saw a thread on here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=508610&highlight=digital+simulcast) and it seemed like the OP was able to make it work by bypassing the CC setup screen, then rescanning manually later.

Does anyone have any ideas whether or not my setup will work? The Roamio is a neat addition to the lineup and I'd love to be able to get my hands on one.

Let me know if you need any more info. Slow day at work, so I should be able to answer quickly.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Are those digital channels mapped to proper channel numbers (very rare), or are they channels like 59-4 or 100-3?

Tivo won't have guide data for the latter. The second part of the cablecard's job is to map digital channel numbers like 100-3 to their "real" channel numbers that will have guide data.

Without guide data, you'd basically have a VCR that you would have to set manual recordings for, and wouldn't be able to make season passes or do what makes a Tivo a Tivo.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> So,
> 
> I've searched the forums and can't seem to find any solid answers.
> 
> Let me know if you need any more info. Slow day at work, so I should be able to answer quickly.


Here's an idea. Get one of those cheap clear QAM DVR, like iView that don't support cable cards. See if you like it. Or, get the TiVo cheap off of eBay (Premiere acts the same) and see if you like that without a cable card.

My answer: yes it will work. Will you like it: no.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Are those digital channels mapped to proper channel numbers (very rare), or are they channels like 59-4 or 100-3?


If I recall correctly, Channel 11 (CBS affiliate in the HOU area) for example comes in as 11 and 11.0. Can't remember which one was listed as the digital channel. I will double check this when I get home.

Not sure if this helps, but we have a Premiere box in our living room and a HD box in our front room, and when we don't deselect either the analog or digital channel on each channel, we have two listings of each channel come up in our guide with the correct information. For example, we'd see "37 DSC" twice for the Discovery channel, followed by identical guide information. I do realize that the Premiere and HD series boxes function quite differently from the Roamio. Didn't know if that would help determine if the channels map correctly.

EDIT: To be clear, what I believe happens is 11 and 11.0 appear when the TV scans the cable channels, not our existing TiVo boxes (Premiere and HD). They both appear as the integer number in TiVo setup.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> Here's an idea. Get one of those cheap clear QAM DVR, like iView that don't support cable cards. See if you like it. Or, get the TiVo cheap off of eBay (Premiere acts the same) and see if you like that without a cable card.
> 
> My answer: yes it will work. Will you like it: no.


Yeah, that'd be a solution, but we all know TiVo is the supreme DVR of the land.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

I would expect the Roamio to function basically identically to the premiere.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

h2oskierc said:


> I would expect the Roamio to function basically identically to the premiere.


Even though it's a 2-tuner Premiere? I know they changed a lot of stuff between those generations. Sorry, should have mentioned it was the 2-tuner and not the 4.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> Yeah, that'd be a solution, but we all know TiVo is the supreme DVR of the land.


That's true. A note: KHOU is Physical and Virtual 11. The cable feed usually doesn't change that unless it's needed. So your TV will show 11.1, and the cable feed may show it as 11. They are the same, but that's not a good example. From that it's not possible to tell if your feed passes or strips the PSIP data. Anyhow, TiVo doesn't use the PSIP data (I think). A better example would be KPRC since it transmits on 35 or KRIV which transmits on 26. With a cable card none of this matters. But you know that since you have a clear QAM tuner in your TV. It can be hard to adjust to the TiVo guide channels but it's worth it.

On the Premier. It's not quite as fast as the Roamio. But from TiVo, it comes with a 30 day return policy. Other sources, like Amazon, also have return policies. I would go that route. That's easiest unless your cable company really hates cable cards. I was able to drive to my local office and install it myself. All cable is local, so check first.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

You should just buy a CableCard off ebay to do the channel mapping of the clear-QAM channels so that the guide data lines up correctly. That's the simplest solution.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

mr_wow said:


> Even though it's a 2-tuner Premiere? I know they changed a lot of stuff between those generations. Sorry, should have mentioned it was the 2-tuner and not the 4.


Yes. I went from the 2 Tuner Premiere to the Roamio Plus and they function almost identically.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You should just buy a CableCard off ebay to do the channel mapping of the clear-QAM channels so that the guide data lines up correctly. That's the simplest solution.


I have a Cablecard I purchased off EBay a while back and never used it...

Just collecting dust!


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

Well, I decided on the way home from work that I'd pick up a Roamio basic, just to try it. Got it at Best Buy for 144.xx on an Amazon price match. I figured, worst case scenario, I have to return it to the store tomorrow. 

It works! I had to end up doing what someone on another thread did and clear the channel scan, then rescan it. Works like a charm. Program info picks up and it looks like channels are mapped correctly. And like in that link I posted, I had to tell it that I was going to add a Cable Card later, even though it screamed at me and said I can't watch or record video without one. But I can. And since there's no analog tuner, I know it's not just picking up the old analog signal, if it's still there. I'm pretty stoked.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

I forgot to add, thanks for all you guys' help! Sorry I didn't reply as soon as I'd have liked to. Busy afternoon after leaving work.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> I forgot to add, thanks for all you guys' help! Sorry I didn't reply as soon as I'd have liked to. Busy afternoon after leaving work.


That's great. May I ask on what channel you receive KPRC?


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> That's great. May I ask on what channel you receive KPRC?


It came in on 2 and not some weird channel number. I actually went through all my ~65 channels or so and each channel number seems to be mapped correctly. But nothing came in until I erased the scanned channels and re-scanned through the Settings menu.



jcthorne said:


> Advising a user to purchase stolen goods on the internet is not a wise recommendation.
> 
> He needs to obtain a cable card from the cable operator of the system he subscribes to.


Yeah, that might help, but as I understand, the FCC mandate only applies if you're forced to use a cable box in order to have the service in the first place, right? We were given Digital Transport Adapters because Suddenlink was planning on phasing out the Analog side of things, but the channels work just fine without any Suddenlink equipment on devices with digital tuners.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

mr_wow said:


> It came in on 2 and not some weird channel number. I actually went through all my ~65 channels or so and each channel number seems to be mapped correctly. But nothing came in until I erased the scanned channels and re-scanned through the Settings menu.
> 
> Yeah, that might help, but as I understand, the FCC mandate only applies if you're forced to use a cable box in order to have the service in the first place, right? We were given Digital Transport Adapters because Suddenlink was planning on phasing out the Analog side of things, but the channels work just fine without any Suddenlink equipment on devices with digital tuners.


If they are doing the same thing Mediacom has done here then soon you won't be able to receive them without a DTA or cable box or cable card. Mediacom has encrypted all channels when they turned off analog. Hey it took there cable theft to zero overnight.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You should just buy a CableCard off ebay to do the channel mapping of the clear-QAM channels so that the guide data lines up correctly. That's the simplest solution.


Has anybody gotten this to work ? Unless the cable card was activated on the same system you are on I don't this this cable card E-Bay thing works, I have a Mono card that comes from an another cable co other than my Comcast system, it sure does not work for anything for me.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

lessd said:


> Has anybody gotten this to work ? Unless the cable card was activated on the same system you are on I don't this this cable card E-Bay thing works, I have a Mono card that comes from an another cable co other than my Comcast system, it sure does not work for anything for me.


It must be the same brand your cable company uses for it to work.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

lessd said:


> Has anybody gotten this to work ? Unless the cable card was activated on the same system you are on I don't this this cable card E-Bay thing works, I have a Mono card that comes from an another cable co other than my Comcast system, it sure does not work for anything for me.


I'm waiting for a cheap Moto M-card to come. I thought I would try it just for fun.

I don't feel it's theft. I can buy my own modem or buy the providers. They activate the modem. I would NOT ask them to activate the cable card.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> It came in on 2 and not some weird channel number. I actually went through all my ~65 channels or so and each channel number seems to be mapped correctly. But nothing came in until I erased the scanned channels and re-scanned through the Settings menu.


That means your feed passes the PSIP. I don't think that will help you with a TiVo. I don't get the PSIP, so I have no first hand experience. Someone with a Roamio basic and OTA could answer that.

That assumes you meant 2.1, not 2 the whole number. If it's a whole number and digital that would be weird but not impossible.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

jcthorne said:


> Advising a user to purchase stolen goods on the internet is not a wise recommendation. He needs to obtain a cable card from the cable operator of the system he subscribes to.


Its not always stolen property or theft. There are cable co's that sell cablecards rather than rent them, there are cable co's that junk their old EOL boxes with cablecards in them that are bought/picked up/salvaged by electronic salvage and disposal companies (how I got my lot of 10 SA Cablecards LEGALLY!!) and there are customers that never return theirs, get charged for the cost of the card, so then own said card and are free to do with it as they wish.

It's not the owning and the selling of the cards that's illegal. It's if you hack the card to steal services that is, which from what I've heard no one has been able to do as of yet, so I don't think the MSOs are worried about a few cablecards on eBay that allow a customer of theirs to map the clear QAM channels to their proper places for a TiVo user.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> That's great. May I ask on what channel you receive KPRC?





jcthorne said:


> Advising a user to purchase stolen goods on the internet is not a wise recommendation.
> 
> He needs to obtain a cable card from the cable operator of the system he subscribes to.





joewom said:


> If they are doing the same thing Mediacom has done here then soon you won't be able to receive them without a DTA or cable box or cable card. Mediacom has encrypted all channels when they turned off analog. Hey it took there cable theft to zero overnight.


In that case, I will look for a CableCard from the company at that time. They only gave out the DTAs if you had an analog-only TV. I imagine I will have time to prepare for it since they only gave out the DTAs for each analog TV and they'd have to accommodate those other customers or their TVs.


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## A.VOID (Sep 10, 2005)

Who's your provider?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

jcthorne said:


> Advising a user to purchase stolen goods on the internet is not a wise recommendation.
> 
> He needs to obtain a cable card from the cable operator of the system he subscribes to.


Stop, just stop. This has been discussed numerous times, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a CableCard off ebay to map clear-QAM channels that you are paying the cable company for. It isn't theft of service and the CableCards aren't stolen. They are pulled out of old cable boxes that the cable companies sell off as scrap.



lessd said:


> Has anybody gotten this to work ? Unless the cable card was activated on the same system you are on I don't this this cable card E-Bay thing works, I have a Mono card that comes from an another cable co other than my Comcast system, it sure does not work for anything for me.


Yes, it will work to map the channels as long it is the right brand (either Motorola/Arris or Cisco/Scientific Atlanta). A CableCard doesn't have to be activated or paired to map channels. It just has to be the same brand as the headend equipment that the cable company uses in your particular area. If you don't know what brand to get, you can just get one of each and try it.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

A.VOID said:


> Who's your provider?


Suddenlink. Their basic package. Not sure what exactly the package is called.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> Suddenlink. Their basic package. Not sure what exactly the package is called.


I guess this is confusing things too:
http://www.suddenlink.com/tivo


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Stop, just stop. This has been discussed numerous times, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a CableCard off ebay to map clear-QAM channels that you are paying the cable company for. It isn't theft of service and the CableCards aren't stolen. They are pulled out of old cable boxes that the cable companies sell off as scrap. Yes, it will work to map the channels as long it is the right brand (either Motorola/Arris or Cisco/Scientific Atlanta). A CableCard doesn't have to be activated or paired to map channels. It just has to be the same brand as the headend equipment that the cable company uses in your particular area. If you don't know what brand to get, you can just get one of each and try it.


Yeah, it didn't even have to be activated on their system to do a firmware upgrade on the card either. I plugged some in and they immediately started downloading Oceanic Time Warner's latest FW for them.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> I guess this is confusing things too:
> http://www.suddenlink.com/tivo


Yeah true. It looks like a 2-tuner Premiere, which is one of the boxes we already have. But it's talking about Suddenlink HD, which we don't have. We just get the SD channels in a digital format. Not sure if they require an HD package to lease out/sell one of those boxes.

Apparently not as many people as I thought have the cable setup that we do, namely, digital signal coming straight out of our backyard, into the house, into the splitter, to the wall jacks, and into the TV with no equipment required in the middle.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mr_wow said:


> Yeah true. It looks like a 2-tuner Premiere, which is one of the boxes we already have. But it's talking about Suddenlink HD, which we don't have. We just get the SD channels in a digital format. Not sure if they require an HD package to lease out/sell one of those boxes.
> 
> Apparently not as many people as I thought have the cable setup that we do, namely, digital signal coming straight out of our backyard, into the house, into the splitter, to the wall jacks, and into the TV with no equipment required in the middle.


First, the Tivo does work with SD. And until two years ago I was exactly where you described. I had DSL and just clear QAM channels feeding two TV sets. I was fortunate to have TV sets (Sony) that had the ability to label channels and, while no guide, I did have a "favorites only" channel display like a TiVo. Since my CBS channel was 103.3501, this helped.

If your circumstances are such that HD service is not worth it, I can understand. I had my mother drop her service to the $20/mo since all she watched was her "stories" and at 87 she wouldn't know HD from a cow. But I enjoy TV and A/V is my only hobby now. After many years with computers and networks, TV has always had a sweet spot in my life. I only have myself to please also. So I hope you find a solution to your situation. Just be aware, things change pretty quick in this world, so what works today may not work tomorrow.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Yes, it will work to map the channels as long it is the right brand (either Motorola/Arris or Cisco/Scientific Atlanta). A CableCard doesn't have to be activated or paired to map channels. It just has to be the same brand as the headend equipment that the cable company uses in your particular area. If you don't know what brand to get, you can just get one of each and try it.


I have a Moto cable card (that came from out of my area), the same as used by Comcast in my area, and when I put it into a Roamio it gets to 72% then stops, I left it for two days no deal it would not map anything, or should I leave in the Roamio it for a few weeks ?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lessd said:


> I have a Mono cable card (that came from out of my area), the same as used by Comcast in my area, and when I put it into a Roamio it gets to 72% then stops, I left it for two days no deal it would not map anything, or should I leave in the Roamio it for a few weeks ?


What "gets to 72%"? A channel scan? You're supposed to do that BEFORE you put the cable card in. At least I did. What I did was do guided setup, say you'll get a cablecard later, when done go into menu and do a manual channel scan, then pull plug on TiVo, insert cablecard and plug back in. Once it comes up it'll say it detects a cablecard and to do guided setup again, but just ignore it.

You should then be able to see all the clear QAM channels mapped to their proper cable channel numbers.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

lessd said:


> I have a Mono cable card


What is a Mono cable card?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Arcady said:


> What is a Mono cable card?


One that got kissed by an infected TiVo and is now really sick and lethargic and won't tune all your channels in a timely manner!


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

HarperVision said:


> One that got kissed by an infected TiVo and is now really sick and lethargic and won't tune all your channels in a timely manner!


LOL. Does (s)he mean a single-stream card perhaps?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> What "gets to 72%"? A channel scan? You're supposed to do that BEFORE you put the cable card in. At least I did. What I did was do guided setup, say you'll get a cablecard later, when done go into menu and do a manual channel scan, then pull plug on TiVo, insert cablecard and plug back in. Once it comes up it'll say it detects a cablecard and to do guided setup again, but just ignore it.
> 
> You should then be able to see all the clear QAM channels mapped to their proper cable channel numbers.


The 72% on the Moto card was what I saw when going to any channel, a bar going across the screen filled to the 72% point. I had done what you said then put in the cable card and got what I just said, note: all my stations from Comcast are encrypted, nothing in the clear anymore.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lessd said:


> The 72% on the Moto card was what I saw when going to any channel, a bar going across the screen filled to the 72% point. I had done what you said then put in the cable card and got what I just said, note: *all my stations from Comcast are encrypted, nothing in the clear anymore.*


Ahhhhhh, that explains it! Not even your local networks are clear?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

HarperVision said:


> Ahhhhhh, that explains it! Not even your local networks are clear?


Here's what too much free time gets you: I did a big reset on my Premiere. After the long wait I started with the country, went forward, skipping the cable card, and finishing. Then I did a channel scan. This gave me all 483 channels. I have, according to my TV, etc., 5 analog and 46 clear QAM channels. So it found all my scrambled channels. Then I found that I could not use the ch up/down since it wanted to select only the whole number analog/virtual channels. The 5 analog I do have are test patterns. I could not record the clear digital since a manual recording only allows whole numbers. I could enter the channel number, like 17.2, and get the channel. So. Then I added a cable card I bought from eBay for $6. The Premiere found the card. I played with the network, which showed content on my Roamio. After 20 minutes it stopped on 89%, showing this on the previously described progress bar. I waited a while then did a power cycle. This time it stopped at 72% like previously posted. I forgot to mention that a manual recording with the red button was a no go also, since it filled in a whole number, not the channel being viewed.

So I duplicated the 72% issue. The Premiere is back in its box resting. And just like it says, you need a paired cable card. Moving a paired card between units is ok if there are no premium channels in your lineup. I did that last year when I bought the Roamio.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> Ahhhhhh, that explains it! Not even your local networks are clear?


Nothing is in the clear, when this went into effect Comcast gave out up to 2 decoder boxes that went up to ch 100, no HD, these boxes were free for two years, then Comcast started to charge $2.99 + tax per month for each box.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lessd said:


> The 72% on the Moto card was what I saw when going to any channel, a bar going across the screen filled to the 72% point. I had done what you said then put in the cable card and got what I just said, note: all my stations from Comcast are encrypted, nothing in the clear anymore.





JoeKustra said:


> Here's what too much free time gets you: I did a big reset on my Premiere. After the long wait I started with the country, went forward, skipping the cable card, and finishing. Then I did a channel scan. This gave me all 483 channels. I have, according to my TV, etc., 5 analog and 46 clear QAM channels. So it found all my scrambled channels. Then I found that I could not use the ch up/down since it wanted to select only the whole number analog/virtual channels. The 5 analog I do have are test patterns. I could not record the clear digital since a manual recording only allows whole numbers. I could enter the channel number, like 17.2, and get the channel. So. Then I added a cable card I bought from eBay for $6. The Premiere found the card. I played with the network, which showed content on my Roamio. After 20 minutes it stopped on 89%, showing this on the previously described progress bar. I waited a while then did a power cycle. This time it stopped at 72% like previously posted. I forgot to mention that a manual recording with the red button was a no go also, since it filled in a whole number, not the channel being viewed. So I duplicated the 72% issue. The Premiere is back in its box resting. And just like it says, you need a paired cable card. Moving a paired card between units is ok if there are no premium channels in your lineup. I did that last year when I bought the Roamio.


Very strange. I get no progress bar like this using Cisco/SA cablecards. I wonder if it's a Motorola/Arris thing? What is it actually downloading or doing that its counting up or down and stops at 72 or 89%? Anyone know?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I've never seen it before this either. It may only happen during a failure of the card to tune. Probably, if the directions are followed, this happens too fast and is never seen.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> Very strange. I get no progress bar like this using Cisco/SA cablecards. I wonder if it's a Motorola/Arris thing? What is it actually downloading or doing that its counting up or down and stops at 72 or 89%? Anyone know?


I would say every cable system is different, I know that if I take a paired cable card and put it into a new TiVo I will get only basic cable, network stations and a few shopping ch, both in SD and HD. I think that if I were to cancel the cable service and not return the cable card Comcast would brick the card in a few days and I would get no channels. I don't think a cable card that not in my Comcast system will ever work, as Comcast would never address the card to allow channel mapping. Other cable systems may be more lenient with cable card use.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

Okay, so like in my previous posts on this thread I attempted to go at it without a cable card. About a week ago, the channels became scrambled and I couldn't pick up several of them. Re-scanned... no luck. So, I did like some of you suggested and bought a cable card off ebay. It got here on Friday, and it's not really helping much. The TiVo sees the card, but it gets stuck at 89% on the Acquiring Channel Information screen. I tried like some have on this thread and redid guided setup, skipping the cable card section, to insert the card later. 

DVR diagnostics shows these items (among others):
(Tuners)
Current Tuning Status: Not Tuned: Wrong Card State
(CableCARD)
Module State: Operating Normally
Module Mode: M-Mode
Decrypt RecordChannels: None
Channel List Received: No
OOB Signal Lock: Yes
OOB Frequency: 75250 KHz

So, is it possible that my headend doesn't send the channel information down? It turns out that I actually am getting the unmapped channels (coming in as 12-1xx for example). The channels are scrambling some today, but for the most part they're behaving correctly.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

mr_wow said:


> Okay, so like in my previous posts on this thread I attempted to go at it without a cable card. About a week ago, the channels became scrambled and I couldn't pick up several of them. Re-scanned... no luck. So, I did like some of you suggested and bought a cable card off ebay. It got here on Friday, and it's not really helping much. The TiVo sees the card, but it gets stuck at 89% on the Acquiring Channel Information screen. I tried like some have on this thread and redid guided setup, skipping the cable card section, to insert the card later. DVR diagnostics shows these items (among others): (Tuners) Current Tuning Status: Not Tuned: Wrong Card State (CableCARD) Module State: Operating Normally Module Mode: M-Mode Decrypt RecordChannels: None Channel List Received: No OOB Signal Lock: Yes OOB Frequency: 75250 KHz So, is it possible that my headend doesn't send the channel information down? It turns out that I actually am getting the unmapped channels (coming in as 12-1xx for example). The channels are scrambling some today, but for the most part they're behaving correctly.


First off, did you make sure it's the correct card brand for your headend system (Motorola/Arris, Cisco/Scientific Atlanta, NDS)?

Secondly, what do you mean by "scrambled"? That's an old analog term. In the digital age it's "encrypted", and if your channels are encrypted then even with an eBay cablecard you won't get those unless it's paired properly with your MSO. The only channels you can get with an unpaired cablecard are the clear QAM ones.


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## mr_wow (Feb 24, 2015)

HarperVision said:


> First off, did you make sure it's the correct card brand for your headend system (Motorola/Arris, Cisco/Scientific Atlanta, NDS)?
> 
> Secondly, what do you mean by "scrambled"? That's an old analog term. In the digital age it's "encrypted", and if your channels are encrypted then even with an eBay cablecard you won't get those unless it's paired properly with your MSO. The only channels you can get with an unpaired cablecard are the clear QAM ones.


Yeah, SuddenLink uses the Motorola card around here and that's what I picked up off eBay.

And by scrambled, I mean that the picture intermittently comes up blocky and the audio will cut out, although the signals being sent down the line aren't encrypted as our cable service does not require a cable box or cable card.

I may just have to cut my losses on this one. I'm still in TiVo's 30-day period as well as Best Buy's return period.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

mr_wow said:


> Yeah, SuddenLink uses the Motorola card around here and that's what I picked up off eBay. And by scrambled, I mean that the picture intermittently comes up blocky and the audio will cut out, although the signals being sent down the line aren't encrypted as our cable service does not require a cable box or cable card. I may just have to cut my losses on this one. I'm still in TiVo's 30-day period as well as Best Buy's return period.


Coming up blocky tells me that it's a signal issue, either too hot or too low. I'd have a cable tech come out and measure your signals or try checking all your connections and make sure you're using all RG6 coax as well. What is your SNR in your TiVo DVR diagnostics page?


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## Colbyt (Jul 6, 2006)

It's been a year and my memory might be wrong but it seems like I recall being able to get non-scrambled cable channels without a card. I have one now because all the HD channels are encrypted (even the locals) on my cable service and there isn't much point in having an HD box and only getting SD.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Colbyt said:


> It's been a year and my memory might be wrong but it seems like I recall being able to get non-scrambled cable channels without a card. I have one now because all the HD channels are encrypted (even the locals) on my cable service and there isn't much point in having an HD box and only getting SD.


Yes that's true, but what we are talking about is mapping those channels to the correct guide lineup so the TiVo can work the way it's supposed to. If you don't the channels are listed as primary + subchannels (101.2, 49.675, etc) and the TiVo doesn't know which channels are which to schedule recordings, show the guide properly, etc.


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