# Comcast ripping me off? Cable card RENTAL



## arw01 (Feb 22, 2003)

as we know you have to get your cable card from Comcast. I have 3 Tivo's in the house so 3 cable cards.

How much should Comcast be screwing me for every month for the cable card rentals each?

Alan


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

arw01 said:


> as we know you have to get your cable card from Comcast. I have 3 Tivo's in the house so 3 cable cards.
> 
> How much should Comcast be screwing me for every month for the cable card rentals each?
> 
> Alan


Sorry I can not answer your question but I think you are now seeing why people want to move to a 4-6 tuner TiVo with Minis on the rest of their TVs. No extra cable card & outlet fees.


----------



## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

It varies by market. My mom's local Comcast gave her the CableCard for free.


----------



## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

I have three from Comcast

I'm charged $9.95 x 2

I'm credited $2.50 X 3


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I would expect you would be charged for 2 additional outlets, so 2 x whatever the additional outlet fee for your market is.


----------



## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

I have two CableCards from Comcast.

I'm charged $1.50/mo for each, but I get one $2.50/mo credit for "user owned equipment". I am not charged any "additional outlet" fees.


----------



## arw01 (Feb 22, 2003)

while working on getting my bill down today, the rep tells me they were errantly charging me for a cable box I returned (no offer to rebate me about 2 years of BS charges) and then proceeds to tell me that they are under billing me on the cable cards and that they now need to change me bill x 3 for 9.95 each a month..

I went nuts understandably..

Maybe I will have to turn it into the local news channel consumer help side to get a straight answer.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

According to my local Comcast Xfinity retail outlet, the first cable card is free (included with the service), and every other card after the first one is $1.50/mo.

Customer provided equipment is eligible for a $2.50 credit.

Since I only have one TiVo Roamio (and a TiVo Mini, which does not require a cable card), I am getting my cable card at no cost, and I am getting the $2.50 credit...


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

MikeekiM said:


> According to my local Comcast Xfinity retail outlet, the first cable card is free (included with the service), and every other card after the first one is $1.50/mo.
> 
> Customer provided equipment is eligible for a $2.50 credit.
> 
> Since I only have one TiVo Roamio (and a TiVo Mini, which does not require a cable card), I am getting my cable card at no cost, and I am getting the $2.50 credit...


That is almost the same as it is here, except it's only the second cable card in the same device that is that cheap ($1.00 here instead of $1.50). The first cable card is "free" per device, but after the first device it qualifies as an additional outlet, even if it's on the same TV.

That's why I guessed he would have to pay 2 x additional outlet fees. Before we got our Roamio and went to just getting the single included with the service card, we had two S3's, which cost $1.00 for the first one (for the second cable card) and $8.95 for the second one ($7.95 additional outlet fee and $1.00 for the second card). Both S3's were on our one and only TV, but it didn't matter and we still had to pay the additional outlet.


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

arw01 said:


> while working on getting my bill down today, the rep tells me they were errantly charging me for a cable box I returned (no offer to rebate me about 2 years of BS charges) and then proceeds to tell me that they are under billing me on the cable cards and that they now need to change me bill x 3 for 9.95 each a month..
> 
> I went nuts understandably..
> 
> Maybe I will have to turn it into the local news channel consumer help side to get a straight answer.


Hi,
From what I understand, in many of Comcast's areas they are switching to MPEG4 which is not compatible with any older Tivos. Only the Premieres, Roamios, and the Bolt are likely to work in the near future.
You are probably eligible for Tivos current promotion to upgrade to either the base (4 tuner) Roamio with LTS for $400 or the Roamio Pro (6 tuner) with LTS for $600. You would also need to invest in 2 minis which come with LTS for around $125 or less from a non-Tivo source, i.e., Amazon, Ebay, etc. 
You may likely be forced to make this choice eventually, so now might be the time to upgrade and start recouping some of those extra fees. You would only need to pay for one cable card then and will have a much improved setup.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

arw01 said:


> while working on getting my bill down today, the rep tells me they were errantly charging me for a cable box I returned (no offer to rebate me about 2 years of BS charges) and then proceeds to tell me that they are under billing me on the cable cards and that they now need to change me bill x 3 for 9.95 each a month..
> .


As long as you don't have any other Comcast equipment (cable box or DVR), then the first one should be free and as others have mentioned, some Comcast franchises want to charge you $9.95 for the other 2 as additional outlets. You should also get 3 x $2.50 credits for customer owned equipment though.

In some areas though they are only charging the "second CableCard in same device" fee so for example I have 4 CableCards due to having 2 S3's originally which each needed 2 CableCards each and they are only charging me 3 x $1.00 (first one free) but I only get one $2.50 credit.

Scott


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

fcfc2 said:


> Hi,
> From what I understand, in many of Comcast's areas they are switching to MPEG4 which is not compatible with any older Tivos. Only the Premieres, Roamios, and the Bolt are likely to work in the near future.
> .


TiVo *might* be doing something about this for the HD models. No official announcement though so no promises but it sounded like they were looking for testers (see thread below).

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=535049

Scott


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

cherry ghost said:


> I have three from Comcast
> 
> I'm charged $9.95 x 2
> 
> I'm credited $2.50 X 3


This is the correct answer but note that it varies by area (first card is included with service, extras are $9.95 a month and every card gets a $2.50 credit). Card rental charges on Comcast are not uniform. OP please file an FCC complaint if Comcast does not charge you correctly, by the FCC card rules these charges must be uniformly done (and aren't on Comcast).

And if you get Minis they'll pay for themselves vs. renting extra cards.


----------



## bornleader (Jan 4, 2015)

These comments only confirm what I believe. Comcast is so screwed up they don't know what they are billing. When I had two DVRs the billing was very low for one and the other was part of the bundle. When I turned in one DVR after I got my TIVO box - they couldn't 'find' the second DVR in the system. So I had to fight to get my account billing straight. There are one or two billing reps who are very sharp and can get things to match up. Now, if I have trouble getting a billing rep to understand - I just thank them and hang up. I then call back and go through the same sequence with another billing rep. 

I noticed that since I have a Tivo box Comcast Retention reps (the ones who are going to save the account and can give the best prices / deals) are much more difficult to work with to get a reduced monthly price. YMMV. 

Dave


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

bornleader said:


> I noticed that since I have a Tivo box Comcast Retention reps (the ones who are going to save the account and can give the best prices / deals) are much more difficult to work with to get a reduced monthly price. YMMV.


Definitely YMMV, I haven't had a problem getting the new customer promo every time my current deal expires and I haven't had a Comcast box in many years.


----------



## arw01 (Feb 22, 2003)

Thank you all for the comments. Will take another run at them.

Is suspect that the $9.95 was originally my first cable card and the others were like $1.50 each with $2.50 credited. But definitely from this thread, inconsistent pricing!


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

MikeekiM said:


> According to my local Comcast Xfinity retail outlet, the first cable card is free (included with the service), and every other card after the first one is $1.50/mo.
> 
> Customer provided equipment is eligible for a $2.50 credit.
> 
> Since I only have one TiVo Roamio (and a TiVo Mini, which does not require a cable card), I am getting my cable card at no cost, and I am getting the $2.50 credit...


The $1.50/month rate, from my past reading, is applicable only to additional CableCARDs required for a CableCARD-capable device that requires multiple CableCARDs for tuning multiple streams (e.g. TiVo Series3 HD or S-card with TiVo HD or HD XL), not for CableCARDs installed in distinct devices. Standard pricing applies for the first CableCARD, either free (assuming included set-top in service package) or at the $9.95/month additional outlet rate -- with a $2.50/month "customer-owned-equipment" credit for each distinct device (not per CableCARD).

Whether Comcast is charging at the standard, published rates appears to be a crap-shoot.


----------



## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

arw01 said:


> Thank you all for the comments. Will take another run at them.
> 
> Is suspect that the $9.95 was originally my first cable card and the others were like $1.50 each with $2.50 credited. But definitely from this thread, inconsistent pricing!


Comcast will charge different rates in different markets as trial balloons to see what they can charge with what percent of pushback.

They do that with the Data Caps on the internet as well.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

krkaufman said:


> The $1.50/month rate, from my past reading, is applicable only to additional CableCARDs required for a CableCARD-capable device that requires multiple CableCARDs for tuning multiple streams (e.g. TiVo Series3 HD or S-card with TiVo HD or HD XL), not for CableCARDs installed in distinct devices. Standard pricing applies for the first CableCARD, either free (assuming included set-top in service package) or at the $9.95/month additional outlet rate -- with a $2.50/month "customer-owned-equipment" credit for each distinct device (not per CableCARD).
> 
> Whether Comcast is charging at the standard, published rates appears to be a crap-shoot.


Correct. Not that Comcast would really care, but I wonder if an MCE PC with multiple Ceton InfiniTV USBs or HDHomeRun Primes would count as one device?


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Bigg said:


> Correct. Not that Comcast would really care, but I wonder if an MCE PC with multiple Ceton InfiniTV USBs or HDHomeRun Primes would count as one device?


If you were only using a single MCE PC, with a mix of either tuner, I would think that the $1.50 per additional CableCARD fee *would* apply, rather than each card triggering a separate "additional outlet" fee; the MCE PC is a single outlet with a single screen. That was my planned argument, anyway, but is now just speculation, as we diverted from our 12-tuner (2xPrime, 3xHDHR3) WMC7 setup barely a month-in and switched over to a Roamio Pro with Minis.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Comcast just lowered my Cable Card bill to $0.80/per month each (first one free with a $2.50 cr.) *BUT* they just added a Broadcast TV Fee of $5.00. This is Comcast Hartford CT area.
Does everybody on Comcast get this Broadcast TV Fee ??


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

In the "Is Comcast ripping me off?" vein, I just noticed on our latest bill that the $9.95/mo HD Technology Fee service discount was just -$9.62. So 33c Comcast was trying to steal from us, there...

... and that's on top of a 54% increase in the Broadcast TV Fee ($3.25 to $5) and a 200% increase in the Regional Sports Fee ($1 to $3). They may provide locked rates with 2-year agreements, but they appear to try to claw back their profits by boosting their fees. 

(I suppose I shouldn't complain too much; I just saw my niece's first Comcast bill out in Colorado and her taxes & fees come to nearly $17!)

p.s. Also, more directly related to this thread... I added another Roamio Pro and Comcast correctly added a $9.95/mo "additional outlet" line item to our bill, but also automatically added the associated $2.50/mo Customer-owned equipment credit. That said, since we added the new CableCARD on Dec 1st, after our previous bill had been printed, Comcast accounted for the missed "add'l outlet" service payments via the "Partial Month Charges" section of the bill -- but failed to provide the associated partial-month Customer-owned equipment credit. (So another $2.33 Comcast was stealing from me.)


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

lessd said:


> Comcast just lowered my Cable Card bill to $0.80/per month each (first one free with a $2.50 cr.) *BUT* they just added a Broadcast TV Fee of $5.00. This is Comcast Hartford CT area.
> Does everybody on Comcast get this Broadcast TV Fee ??


That was added to our bill a while back (Broadcast TV Fee).

Scott


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

Our fees just went up with the last bill, as well. Internet (Blast) went up $4 and we also had those same increases for Broadcast and Regional Sports.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

laria said:


> Our fees just went up with the last bill, as well. Internet (Blast) went up $4 and we also had those same increases for Broadcast and Regional Sports.


What good is my two year fix price Comcast contract if Comcast can raise their fees anytime they want, I would understand if any gov. taxes went up, but just adding fees to a fixed price contract does not seem fair to me.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

I'm not on a contract so I pretty much figure I'm stuck with whatever they charge me.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

lessd said:


> What good is my two year fix price Comcast contract if Comcast can raise their fees anytime they want, I would understand if any gov. taxes went up, but just adding fees to a fixed price contract does not seem fair to me.


Old article on it. They claim it's to offset the increased retransmission costs to carry broadcast stations.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/comcast-introduce-150-broadcast-tv-fee/356875

Scott


----------



## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

HerronScott said:


> Old article on it. They claim it's to offset the increased retransmission costs to carry broadcast stations.
> 
> http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/comcast-introduce-150-broadcast-tv-fee/356875
> 
> Scott


IMHO they need to amend the copyright laws so that the locals cannot charge cable/sat companies to rebroadcast what would be free OTA, and more importantly, what the broadcasters want to be seen to get more advertising revenue. It's really double dipping.

Either that, or let them charge, but the cable companies then should be allowed to strip out all the local commercials.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

GoodSpike said:


> Either that, or let them charge, but the cable companies then should be allowed to strip out all the local commercials.


Love that idea  But when you sign a fixed price contract the only thing that should change your monthly cost is any gov. increases in taxes (and any other extra VOD you may purchase)


----------



## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

And it's not just the local broadcasters wanting that re-transmission fee, they have to kick back some of it to the network with which they are affiliated.


----------



## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

GoodSpike said:


> IMHO they need to amend the copyright laws so that the locals cannot charge cable/sat companies to rebroadcast what would be free OTA, and more importantly, what the broadcasters want to be seen to get more advertising revenue. It's really double dipping.
> 
> Either that, or let them charge, but the cable companies then should be allowed to strip out all the local commercials.


If that becomes the case, then nothing will be on Broadcast TV that you want to see. And considering that 35% of the stuff viewed on MVPD is Broadcast TV, without Broadcast TV, cable is history. I would also point out that if Broadcast TV only cost $5 and accounts for 35% of Comcast's viewing, perhaps Comcast is gouging you on the Cable Channels?

I can put buckets outside and get all the rain water I want, but if I want it on demand, then I pay through the nose to my local city water supply for fresh water on tap.

And considering Cable Channels have MORE commercials than Broadcast TV and ALSO charge a fee, why should cable companies be able to strip out Broadcast TV's commercials - and not those of the other channels?



unitron said:


> And it's not just the local broadcasters wanting that re-transmission fee, they have to kick back some of it to the network with which they are affiliated.


Correct, the Networks are taking roughly 50% of the retransmission fees - and in some cases, they are making local stations pay for 100% of the TV Households in a market, regardless of if they are on an MVPD or using OTA to receive the broadcast.


----------



## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

SomeRandomIdiot said:


> If that becomes the case, then nothing will be on Broadcast TV that you want to see..


So the broadcast model worked back when virtually everyone was OTA, but then you suck some of those viewers switch to cable, not affecting the broadcaster's advertising revenue a dime, then the model no longer works? That doesn't make sense.

I'm sure the broadcasters and networks appreciated the additional revenue, but that doesn't mean it's necessary for their survival.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> Old article on it. They claim it's to offset the increased retransmission costs to carry broadcast stations.
> 
> http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/comcast-introduce-150-broadcast-tv-fee/356875


Thanks for the article. Sadly, it doesn't provide any ray of hope relative to anyone fighting back against the charges.

As an aside, I found the references to TiVo customers in this footer-linked article interesting...

*GCI To Drop AMC, Univision*
...

GCI is encouraging customers to access AMC programming like The Walking Dead through the VUDU app on its TiVo boxes, as well as through a growing list of online services. ...

To encourage existing customers to explore new content available through apps such as VUDU and Netflix, GCI is offering its TiVo customers a $50 Visa gift card. Customers can request the gift card by calling 844-754-3711.​


----------



## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

GoodSpike said:


> So the broadcast model worked back when virtually everyone was OTA, but then you suck some of those viewers switch to cable, not affecting the broadcaster's advertising revenue a dime, then the model no longer works? That doesn't make sense.
> 
> I'm sure the broadcasters and networks appreciated the additional revenue, but that doesn't mean it's necessary for their survival.


Some of those viewers?

Mr. Belvedere Finale had more viewers than the final of Lost, 24 and Heroes.....combined.

The big issue is sports. Paying ESPN $6.55 last year for the main channel and roughly $9.00 for all channels has allowed them to pickup all the Sports Programming. Notice only 1 or 2 of close to 40 Bowl games were not on ESPN.

Bottom line, with less than 10 million viewers watching most OTA Programming and Cable Channels being subsidized, there is no way for OTA to afford Programming through advertising alone.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

SomeRandomIdiot said:


> Bottom line, with less than 10 million viewers watching most OTA Programming and Cable Channels being subsidized, there is no way for OTA to afford Programming through advertising alone.


Not if everyone thinks everyone in the entertainment/sports industry needs to be multi millionaires. We had just as good actors, actresses, & sports players back in the 60s & 8 minutes of advertising/hr. paid for everything. The only difference is know these people think they need 100+ times more money to produce the same stuff. When they started paying people $1,000,000 per episode for 30 min sitcoms I stopped worrying about what they could "afford". There is no end to how much money this industry thinks it needs, and I call Bull Sh** on it all. Perhaps they should go try living on what average working class people have to. Heck if they worked for only 5X what average people do they could provide all OTA/Basic cable channels via a cable/satellite system for free and still have money left over from the advertising $$s alone.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

krkaufman said:


> If you were only using a single MCE PC, with a mix of either tuner, I would think that the $1.50 per additional CableCARD fee *would* apply, rather than each card triggering a separate "additional outlet" fee; the MCE PC is a single outlet with a single screen. That was my planned argument, anyway, but is now just speculation, as we diverted from our 12-tuner (2xPrime, 3xHDHR3) WMC7 setup barely a month-in and switched over to a Roamio Pro with Minis.


Yeah, I did the same thing, just with 4 tuners to 4 tuners. I had the Ceton InfiniTV 4 USB and then I got the Premiere XL4. I love tinkering with computers, but I realized that MCE's interface is awful and illogical, and that I don't want to tinker when I just want to flop and watch TV. The TiVo has gotten better and better with the Minis and software updates.


----------



## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

atmuscarella said:


> Not if everyone thinks everyone in the entertainment/sports industry needs to be multi millionaires. We had just as good actors, actresses, & sports players back in the 60s & 8 minutes of advertising/hr. paid for everything. The only difference is know these people think they need 100+ times more money to produce the same stuff. When they started paying people $1,000,000 per episode for 30 min sitcoms I stopped worrying about what they could "afford". There is no end to how much money this industry thinks it needs, and I call Bull Sh** on it all. Perhaps they should go try living on what average working class people have to. Heck if they worked for only 5X what average people do they could provide all OTA/Basic cable channels via a cable/satellite system for free and still have money left over from the advertising $$s alone.


There was essentially no runaway inflation in the economy until the 60s either - nor did you get a DVR or more than 12 channels (at the most - with 1 being a camera on paper News Teletype and 1 being a camera panning weather gauges) on a cable system either.


----------



## agredon (Jul 26, 2011)

I think they were charging us $1.50 even though the first was supposed to be free. But, no sense in complaining as they were also giving a $2.50 Customer Owned Equipment credit, which brought the cost down to *-*$1.00. We were never charged an Additional Outlet fee.

Brighthouse (a local offshoot of Time Warner who has a virtual monopoly on the Orlando area) on the other hand charges $2.95 for each cable card. One Tuning Adapter is free with each Cable Card (TAs weren't required on Comcast). Their modem is cheaper than Comcast though. They are a decent company, but they did piss me off when they used the Analog to Digital switchover as an excuse to drop ClearQAM entirely.


----------



## agredon (Jul 26, 2011)

SomeRandomIdiot said:


> I would also point out that if Broadcast TV only cost $5 and accounts for 35% of Comcast's viewing, perhaps Comcast is gouging you on the Cable Channels?


BHN charges $2 for locals, which I understand as the Broadcast TV networks are charging them. I just wish they would either incorporate it into the package price or allow us to do without locals like Dish Network used to (and may still). Their VIP 722K DVR had an ATSC tuner so you could pick up the locals OTA for free after a one-time charge to enable the tuner.

Same goes for the Regional Sports Networks (another separate fee). If they are billed separately, we should have the option of dropping them. I have no use for the Sports Channels anyways.


----------



## lhntx (Sep 11, 2007)

As of January 2016, Comcast has raised the monthly rental fee for secondary cable cards from $2.99 a month to $11.45 a month! Yet they still only give a credit for customer owned equipment of $2.50 for the first cable card used.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Complain to the FCC.


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

HerronScott said:


> TiVo *might* be doing something about this for the HD models. No official announcement though so no promises but it sounded like they were looking for testers (see thread below).
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=535049
> 
> Scott


TiVo is pushing out an update for the TiVo HD (not the original S3, sadly) so it can record mpeg4. I have the update, and we're now past Comcast's "do something or else" date for this area, but I haven't tested making an HD recording with the TiVo HD yet -- since the hard drive on the TiVo HD is small, I had already set up to record the HD channels on the Roamio.

P.S. we're getting the 1st cable card for free, the 2nd for 1.50. One customer equipment credit, and



> Starting Mar 3, we will increase the Regional Sports Fee from $1.00 to $3.00/mo and the Broadcast TV fee from $3.25 to $5.00/mo. These fees help to offset the rising costs of regional sports programming and retransmitting broadcast television signals.


But then they say they aren't going to put those new rates on the bill until our first bill after July 1. 

For the "additional outlet fee", I think one of the factors might be how many actual screens you are using. We have both TiVos attached to the same TV so even though we have six tuners, we can only watch one thing at a time. If we had a TV in the living room and a TV in the bedroom, they would probably ding us for the extra outlet.

Meanwhile the rep reminded us when we got our 2nd cablecard that we could stream stuff to watch on our computer and phones whenever we wanted. Go figure.


----------



## laria (Sep 7, 2000)

murgatroyd said:


> For the "additional outlet fee", I think one of the factors might be how many actual screens you are using. We have both TiVos attached to the same TV so even though we have six tuners, we can only watch one thing at a time. If we had a TV in the living room and a TV in the bedroom, they would probably ding us for the extra outlet.


I think you just got lucky if they are not charging you extra outlets for those.  Before our Roamio, we had 2 S3's, and even though we only have 1 TV, they insisted we had to pay the additional outlet for the second one.


----------



## keenanSR (Oct 13, 2004)

murgatroyd said:


> TiVo is pushing out an update for the TiVo HD (not the original S3, sadly) so it can record mpeg4. I have the update, and we're now past Comcast's "do something or else" date for this area, but I haven't tested making an HD recording with the TiVo HD yet -- since the hard drive on the TiVo HD is small, I had already set up to record the HD channels on the Roamio.
> 
> P.S. we're getting the 1st cable card for free, the 2nd for 1.50. One customer equipment credit, and
> 
> ...


Same up here, 2 TV's with a TiVo on each plus an HDHomeRun network tuner. I'm being charged for 2 of the 3 CableCARDS I use at $1.50 per card with a $2.50 credit. No additional outlet fees. I pay $0.50 for the 3 cards and that's it, no other charges.

Try recording something on the Own Network(820) as it's been confirmed as already being MPEG4. Apparently beIN-HD(677) is also MPEG4 now as well.


----------



## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

keenanSR said:


> Try recording something on the Own Network(820) as it's been confirmed as already being MPEG4. Apparently beIN-HD(677) is also MPEG4 now as well.


I don't have beIN-HD in my service tier, but I can confirm OWN is mpeg4. I recorded a snippet of a show and attempted to transfer it with kmttg. Got an error message that there was no video present. But the recording plays back fine, both on the TiVoHD and after being transferred to the Roamio.



laria said:


> I think you just got lucky if they are not charging you extra outlets for those.  Before our Roamio, we had 2 S3's, and even though we only have 1 TV, they insisted we had to pay the additional outlet for the second one.


Oh, I agree. The billing is inconsistent. You only have to read the comments on TCF to see that.


----------



## keenanSR (Oct 13, 2004)

murgatroyd said:


> I don't have beIN-HD in my service tier, but I can confirm OWN is mpeg4. I recorded a snippet of a show and attempted to transfer it with kmttg. Got an error message that there was no video present. But the recording plays back fine, both on the TiVoHD and after being transferred to the Roamio.


I believe you have to have the "Download TiVo files in the Transport Stream format" box checked in the kmttg Configure>Program Options screen for MPEG4 files to be downloaded from the TiVo.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

keenanSR said:


> I believe you have to have the "Download TiVo files in the Transport Stream format" box checked in the kmttg Configure>Program Options screen for MPEG4 files to be downloaded from the TiVo.


Note that the MPEG4 update (11.0n) for the HD did not add the ability to download in TS format. The only way to get an MPEG4 show off of an HD is to transfer it to a Premiere, Roamio or Bolt and then download it.

Scott


----------

