# FIOS CableCard Won't Pair



## pbubel

Got my new Roamio and picked up a CableCard from the Verizon store today. Enter the Roamio's Host and Data ID into the online system and it activates without issue. Everything looks good expect none of the HBO and Cinemax channels work. Since they are the only copy protected channels in the lineup I call Verizon figuring the pairing process failed and they can fix it. 

Instead support tells me there is a known problem with pairing Tivo Roamio's and they are working on a fix but have no ETA. She promised to e-mail me some information on the problem but of course nothing has arrived yet.

Anybody else have this problem? I'm planning to give them a call back tomorrow during the day.


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## aaronwt

Mine was fine at first but then HBO and Cinemax went out some time later. Then the tech support person screwed me a bunch of ways. Now I can't get HBO and Cinemax on my ELite that was working and I can't get anything but the local channels on my Roamio. It's like the CC was removed from my account. The As*H*** reset my connection so the phone dropped out, without telling me he was going to do that. And then never called me back. And of course I couldn't get a hold of anyone on their supposedly 24/7 number after that. I have to deal with the idiots in the morning. I might have to stop by the FiOS store and exchange cards.
I do wish that guy would have never messed with anything since he apparently had no clue what he was doing or he just screwed me on purpose which could also be the case.


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## TiVoMargret

Take the FiOS CableCARD out of the Roamio, and look at the part number on the back, above the bar code.

If that number is either one of these:
514517-002-00 (MCPOD1)
514517-006-00 (MCPOD2)
we think you'll experience a problem.

We believe CableCARDs with this number:
514517-017-00 (MCPOD3)
will work correctly.

If you have an MCPOD1 or MCPOD2 card, call Verizon and ask them to swap your card for an MCPOD3 card.


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## pbubel

Hi TivoMargret, thanks for the info. I just checked and the card I picked up tonight for the Roamio is 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3). My Elite which I confirmed is still working uses an older 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2). 

I'm wondering if I'm just having a normal pairing issue and the rep found the knowledge article about Roamio's not pairing and stopped trying to troubleshoot it.

Anything else I can try before giving them a call back in the morning?


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## headless chicken

Besides the exorbitant prices, this is another reason why I will never be an early adopter


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## aaronwt

If I have to swap the card I hope they don't try and charge me $4.99 for the new one instead of the current $3.99 I'm paying.

I need to wait until I finish with chat tech support. I had taken the card out of my Roamio and put it back in my Elite so I could try and at least get my other channels back. I'm waiting on the tech to re-activate that card then he needs to repair both of my cards again to fix what the earlier tech screwed up.


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## aaronwt

I see I have 514517-002-00 for my newest card, the one that was in the Roamio, so I doubt my older card is the 514517-017-00 that I need. I'll need to try and exchange it in the morning.

Thanks for the info


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## pbubel

headless chicken said:


> Besides the exorbitant prices, this is another reason why I will never be an early adopter


Live a little my friend. I ended up getting my unit for 375 not 400 and it's the only way to get dynamic tuner allocation and the faster interface. Totally worth this minor issue. Not like I don't have HBO Go while we get this fixed.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


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## pbubel

aaronwt said:


> I see I have 514517-002-00 for my newest card, the one that was in the Roamio, so I doubt my older card is the 514517-017-00 that I need. I'll need to try and exchange it in the morning.
> 
> Thanks for the info


Long as the one in the Roamio is the newest model you should be fine.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


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## iadbound

pbubel said:


> Hi TivoMargret, thanks for the info. I just checked and the card I picked up tonight for the Roamio is 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3). My Elite which I confirmed is still working uses an older 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2).
> 
> I'm wondering if I'm just having a normal pairing issue and the rep found the knowledge article about Roamio's not pairing and stopped trying to troubleshoot it.
> 
> Anything else I can try before giving them a call back in the morning?


I had the exact same problem. I used the self-install process and it activated the card, but HBO/Cinemax didn't work at all (i.e., station not available message).

Called Verizon at that point. The first CSR completely messed it up causing all channels to be lost. The second CSR, who had never activated a cablecard before, got the card working again (i.e., reactivated). Then he performed a "Reinit", his words, which got the cablecard to successfully pair/validate. After that, HBO and Cinemax worked perfectly. I'll note that the "Val" value showed "V" after the process rather than "?", which was the initial value after activating the card.

Thus, I must have had the preferred series card, 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3), but it still comes down to the CSR's knowing had to properly pair the cards in the first place.

Plainly Verizon needs to fix its cablecard activation process so that the automated process actually pairs the cards. From what I have read on this forum, this has been issue ever since the copy protection for HBO/Cinemax changed last summer.


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## pbubel

iadbound said:


> I had the exact same problem. I used the self-install process and it activated the card, but HBO/Cinemax didn't work at all (i.e., station not available message).
> 
> Plainly Verizon needs to fix its cablecard activation process so that the automated process actually pairs the cards. From what I have read on this forum, this has been issue ever since the copy protection for HBO/Cinemax changed last summer.


I think you're right, same exact thing happened to me when I got my media center PC. Nothing but a nightmare, Verizon just doesn't care about training.

Better story was when I moved and the tech showed up and wanted to install two M cards in my old Tivo HD, he didn't realize the M card's support more than one turner. Said his entire shop tells people they need two M cards in a Tivo.


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## iadbound

pbubel said:


> I think you're right, same exact thing happened to me when I got my media center PC. Nothing but a nightmare, Verizon just doesn't care about training.


I agree on the training point, but I get the feeling the average CSR rarely gets a call about cablecards.

My thought is that Verizon needs to fix its automated activation so that it authorized _*and validates*_ rather than just authorizing. This would reduce its cablecard calls and save the consumer a lot of headaches.


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## pbubel

iadbound said:


> I agree on the training point, but I get the feeling the average CSR rarely gets a call about cablecards.
> 
> My thought is that Verizon needs to fix its automated activation so that it authorized _*and validates*_ rather than just authorizing. This would reduce its cablecard calls and save the consumer a lot of headaches.


YES! Completely agree with that. Why waste the money on paying somebody to take my call.


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## aaronwt

pbubel said:


> Long as the one in the Roamio is the newest model you should be fine.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


It's my newest card, which is the oldest on the list that TiVoMargaret had.

I went by the FiOS store this morning and exchanged my card for a 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3) card.
So hopefully this will work fine.

Now I just need to see if the network issues(It kept losing it's Internet connection) I had with my Pro last night were somehow related to the cable card. Since they did not start until the FiOS rep had screwed up my card in the Roamio Pro. I initiated a clear and delete early this morning and then just unplugged my Roamio Pro before I went to work.


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## aaronwt

iadbound said:


> I had the exact same problem. I used the self-install process and it activated the card, but HBO/Cinemax didn't work at all (i.e., station not available message).
> 
> Called Verizon at that point. The first CSR completely messed it up causing all channels to be lost. The second CSR, who had never activated a cablecard before, got the card working again (i.e., reactivated). Then he performed a "Reinit", his words, which got the cablecard to successfully pair/validate. After that, HBO and Cinemax worked perfectly. I'll note that the "Val" value showed "V" after the process rather than "?", which was the initial value after activating the card.
> 
> Thus, I must have had the preferred series card, 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3), but it still comes down to the CSR's knowing had to properly pair the cards in the first place.
> 
> Plainly Verizon needs to fix its cablecard activation process so that the automated process actually pairs the cards. From what I have read on this forum, this has been issue ever since the copy protection for HBO/Cinemax changed last summer.


The thing is with their automated process there should be no need to talk to a person. In the past this has worked well for me, but not this time. I plan to use the automated process tonight with the new card. I'll be able to do it online(instead of the phone automated service) this time though since I have an activation number for the new card.


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## NYHeel

aaronwt said:


> The thing is with their automated process there should be no need to talk to a person. In the past this has worked well for me, but not this time. I plan to use the automated process tonight with the new card. I'll be able to do it online(instead of the phone automated service) this time though since I have an activation number for the new card.


Let us know how it goes. This is one reason I'm considering getting a new card for my Roamio when it comes rather than deal with repairing one of the cards in my premieres.


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## Bwatford141

I don't have HBO or Cinimax anymore, but I didn't have to pair my cable card at all when I replaced my XL4 with the Roamio. All channels are working great. I thought for sure that I would be calling verizon...guess not.


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## aaronwt

Bwatford141 said:


> I don't have HBO or Cinimax anymore, but I didn't have to pair my cable card at all when I replaced my XL4 with the Roamio. All channels are working great. I thought for sure that I would be calling verizon...guess not.


All mine were working with just swapping the card except for HBO and cinemax which require pairing to work. If I had it over again I would have never called tech support. Since after he did some things the card would not receive any channels except the local ones.

It would have saved me a lot of frustration. Plus after the tech screwed things up I started losing my internet connection every few seconds on the Roamio.


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## uashruf

I also had this problem with my Roamio and Elite. The cable cards went in and HBO and Cinemax went out. I was sent a new cable card but the same problem happened.

However, I was lucky and got a CSR who really wanted to help. After about an hour and running up and downstairs between TiVos, everything is working. I spoke to his supervisor to compliment the CSR I was put in touch with (having worked with two others that were clueless) and the supervisor told me that they will make the fix known to all CSRs via an email.

SO, I believe if you call Verizon customer service again, they will be able to get it sorted out. I didnt know it was a common problem since the device is still so new. I didnt ask what was done, but the CSR said he deactivated all of the cable cards I had an reactivated them one at a time with new Host ID and Data IDs. 

Dont give up, as I think you can have it working perfectly like me. Just call again.

TiVo is really one of the best things ever.


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## shamilian

aaronwt said:


> If I have to swap the card I hope they don't try and charge me $4.99 for the new one instead of the current $3.99 I'm paying.


Don't worry as of Aug 1 Verizon raised all the cards to $4.99, just go my new bill.....


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## aaronwt

shamilian said:


> Don't worry as of Aug 1 Verizon raised all the cards to $4.99, just go my new bill.....


Mine are still $3.99 but the lady at the store said it will go up in Dec


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## sirkulation

aaronwt said:


> Mine are still $3.99 but the lady at the store said it will go up in Dec


aaronwt, please PM me about your tivo for sale. I just joined and the forum won't let me PM you (or anybody else) yet. Thx


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## jasbur

Got my new bill yesterday and cablecard is now $4.99.
Last month's bill they started adding $2.42 for "Regional Sports Network Fee"
I wonder what they're gonna try adding next month.
I always hated Comcast for "bill creep" and after several years with Verizon, they are starting to do the same thing.


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## aaronwt

I got the new card up and working. I did the online activation and it did activate the card but it did not pair the card even though the info was entered. This time I used chat tech support instead of the telephone. It took almost half an hour but at least the tech got everything working. And i don't seem to be having any network issues with the Roamio either. At least not yet. Now I just need to see if I can transfer my SPs online.


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## pbubel

Bwatford141 said:


> I don't have HBO or Cinimax anymore, but I didn't have to pair my cable card at all when I replaced my XL4 with the Roamio. All channels are working great. I thought for sure that I would be calling verizon...guess not.


You got lucky by not having HBO or Cinemax anymore, you only need to pair CC's if you have those channels.


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## pbubel

Quick update for anybody that cares. I called Verizon back yesterday afternoon and worked with a tech. Him and his surpervior attempted to pair the card with no luck. I was in a hurry to get to dinner so at the end of the call I didn't think to check my regular cable channels which no longer worked. My locals did so I got fooled. 

Ended up calling back after dinner and another tech and his supervisor (a different guy) worked on it again with no luck. They were able to restore my cable channels, just not get it paired so I could watch HBO or Cinemax. They are now sending a tech out on Sunday to fix it. Not sure what a tech can do but at least they are trying.

Anybody else have any luck? Any tips are welcomed. Thanks all happy long weekend to everybody!


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## iadbound

pbubel said:


> Quick update for anybody that cares. I called Verizon back yesterday afternoon and worked with a tech. Him and his surpervior attempted to pair the card with no luck. I was in a hurry to get to dinner so at the end of the call I didn't think to check my regular cable channels which no longer worked. My locals did so I got fooled.
> 
> Ended up calling back after dinner and another tech and his supervisor (a different guy) worked on it again with no luck. They were able to restore my cable channels, just not get it paired so I could watch HBO or Cinemax. They are now sending a tech out on Sunday to fix it. Not sure what a tech can do but at least they are trying.
> 
> Anybody else have any luck? Any tips are welcomed. Thanks all happy long weekend to everybody!


The CSR who got mine working said he performed a set top box refresh followed by a "reinit." After that the card was paired. I can't see any reason to roll a truck.

I would note that the first CSR messed it up completely, and just like you, nothing worked after he tried to pair it. Not satisfied with the result, I decided to call back. The second CSR got the reactivated the card. At that point, everything but HBO and Cinemax worked. He then did the refresh and reinit.

In any event, you might try calling back before the truck rolls.

BTW--I see we are neighbors.


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## innocentfreak

I did the chat tech support on their website which I believe is 24/7 and they were able to pair it in about 3 minutes. The wait to chat took longer. 

I simply told them my card activated fine, but the pairing didn't go through since I couldn't watch HBO and Cinemax. He knew what I was talking about and asked me which card. He hit it again and 3 minutes later it was working.


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## aaronwt

iadbound said:


> The CSR who got mine working said he performed a set top box refresh followed by a "reinit." After that the card was paired. I can't see any reason to roll a truck.
> 
> I would note that the first CSR messed it up completely, and just like you, nothing worked after he tried to pair it. Not satisfied with the result, I decided to call back. The second CSR got the reactivated the card. At that point, everything but HBO and Cinemax worked. He then did the refresh and reinit.
> 
> In any event, you might try calling back before the truck rolls.
> 
> BTW--I see we are neighbors.


The chat tech support person I was communicating with said he did a reload of the card. It took several minutes but once it was finished I had HBO and Cinemax coming in.

After this experience I won 't be using phone support as my first choice in the future. That tech screwed everything up for me. And the chat tech support, at 3Am, got most of it working again. I just need to remember in the future to use the FiOS in Home Agent to access the chat tech support.


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## Ferd57

Have now spent four hours with five different Fios representatives and they all now seem to say this is a Roamio issue not a Fios issue. Any updates out there?


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## aaronwt

Ferd57 said:


> Have now spent four hours with five different Fios representatives and they all now seem to say this is a Roamio issue not a Fios issue. Any updates out there?


 You do have the model card that TiVo Margaret says we need?

Part number 514517-017-00


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## innocentfreak

If you follow the instructions several people have posted, you will easily get it working. 

Is your CableCARD activated but not paired? First verify you have the correct CableCARD. The CableCARD needs to have the part number with -017-00. Any other numbers won't pair. 

Do you have 017 on the back of your CableCARD and it isn't paired? Go to verizon.com and sign in. Go to support - contact us and select TV - setup and equipment - and then select chat with us. You will get a popup chat window where you tell the agent your CableCARD is activated but not paired. They will ask for the serial number from the CableCARD. You can get this by going to HBO or Cinemax so that you get the grey CableCARD screen saying this screen is for your provider. After you have given him the serial number, you may want to write down the CableCARD ID, Host ID, and Data in case they need to verify it matches what they have. Then hit clear to exit.

They will then send the signal to pair the card which takes up to 5 minutes. Once the signal comes in you will see HBO or Cinemax come on. The grey screen won't clear if the signal comes in so unless you hit clear you won't know if it is working.


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## gsusser

My roamio will be delivered next week. I checked my Verizon cable card and it's 002. I called Verizon and asked for the new one. 017. As luck would have it, I happened to get a tech who just got the Roamio and his card hooked up ok. They're sending a new card. He offered some advice... tune to channel 131 after inserting the card. Apparently, that brings up the user info.


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## Ferd57

Yes, had the right card and had done all of the steps you mentioned. However, when I just chatted with my the most recent Fios person, they had me 
1) remove the cable card
2) unplug the tivo
3) reinsert the cable card
4) plug in tivo

This is the only time I was asked to do this by one of the fios tech support and it did the trick after he had reloaded the card. Thanks.


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## aaronwt

gsusser said:


> My roamio will be delivered next week. I checked my Verizon cable card and it's 002. I called Verizon and asked for the new one. 017. As luck would have it, I happened to get a tech who just got the Roamio and his card hooked up ok. They're sending a new card. He offered some advice... tune to channel 131 after inserting the card. Apparently, that brings up the user info.


131 is just a test channel that requires CC pairing to view it. Just like HBO and Cinemax does. Tuning to HBO and Cinemax without a paired card also brings up the info.


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## mbertrand

I received a replacement CableCard from FIOS; once it came I performed the on-line activation, and continued to have issues with HBO and Cinemax. Under conditional access in the CableCard menu, it showed:

Conn: Yes EBCP: Yes Val: V 0x00

My understanding is that Val: needs to be something other than 0x00 for HBO & Cinemax to work. Through Verizon's online chat, I asked a Verizon agent to send the "reload software" signal to the cable card. After a minute or two the Val: changed to 0x01 and I was able to tune to HBO. I encourage you to use the FiOS online chat option. So far HBO/Cinemax has worked with a -017 card; not with my -002 cards.


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## innocentfreak

Per TiVo only the -017 cards will work.


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## pbubel

iadbound said:


> The CSR who got mine working said he performed a set top box refresh followed by a "reinit." After that the card was paired. I can't see any reason to roll a truck.
> 
> I would note that the first CSR messed it up completely, and just like you, nothing worked after he tried to pair it. Not satisfied with the result, I decided to call back. The second CSR got the reactivated the card. At that point, everything but HBO and Cinemax worked. He then did the refresh and reinit.
> 
> In any event, you might try calling back before the truck rolls.
> 
> BTW--I see we are neighbors.


I'm going to give the the chat option a try. Seems worth it at least, can always CANCLE the truck roll. I have no clue why they think they need to send a tech out here anyway.

So I'm in Reston. You near by?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


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## iadbound

pbubel said:


> I'm going to give the the chat option a try. Seems worth it at least, can always CANCLE the truck roll. I have no clue why they think they need to send a tech out here anyway.
> 
> So I'm in Reston. You near by?
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free


Just over the Reston line on the Oak Hill/Herndon side. Good luck on the chat.


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## pbubel

iadbound said:


> Just over the Reston line on the Oak Hill/Herndon side. Good luck on the chat.


Oh yeah, you are really close then. I'm right near the North Point Giant which down Reston Parkway from Home Depot.

Fingers crossed, I'm starting the chat now.


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## pbubel

Well that didn't help at all. First chat session seemed to be going well, rep said he would init my card and asked me to hold on for a minute. Two minutes later the internet connection dropped(I have FIOS internet also) and didn't come back online for 10 minutes by then the chat session had closed.

So I started a chat and spent over and hour while the rep and her supervisor tried everything they know how to. Nothing. 

So now I wait for the tech. Oh Verizon, why must you make it so hard.


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## JGC650I

I've now been through the pairing nightmare with Verizon twice on two different Roamios over the past week. First on prior cards from Premieres (006 version), then again when upgrading to the 017 cards to fix the HBO/Cinemax pixelating problem. One thing I just learned on the second go round of pairing, my Verizon rep said the only way to make the pairing work is for the CSR to run the pairing program as a standalone program. He said they have a master program that logs all their activity, etc and the other apps they use (like the pairing app) run nested inside the master program. He said he found an internal Verizon post on the Roamio pairing problem and it directed him to run the pairing program independently outside of the master logging program. Once he did that, my cards paired up immediately including all the premium channels. For those still battling the pairing problem on FIOS, hope this helps!


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## pbubel

Supervisor just called me back with a new story. The cablecard order is still "pending" on my account with a scheduled completion date of 9/11. They have advised me it won't pair until after that date. Nobody can tell me why a card I picked up last week, needs another two weeks to process.

WHY VERIZON? WHY?

Anybody from Tivo out there have a line to somebody at Verizon that could help? This is clearly not TiVo's fault, but nobody at Verizon seems to care.


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## pbubel

JGC650I said:


> I've now been through the pairing nightmare with Verizon twice on two different Roamios over the past week. First on prior cards from Premieres (006 version), then again when upgrading to the 017 cards to fix the HBO/Cinemax pixelating problem. One thing I just learned on the second go round of pairing, my Verizon rep said the only way to make the pairing work is for the CSR to run the pairing program as a standalone program. He said they have a master program that logs all their activity, etc and the other apps they use (like the pairing app) run nested inside the master program. He said he found an internal Verizon post on the Roamio pairing problem and it directed him to run the pairing program independently outside of the master logging program. Once he did that, my cards paired up immediately including all the premium channels. For those still battling the pairing problem on FIOS, hope this helps!


That's very interesting. Lets see if I can get Verizon to try that. Thanks!


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## JGC650I

pbubel said:


> That's very interesting. Lets see if I can get Verizon to try that. Thanks!


You bet. Also monitor the Data ID as they work the pairing. Sometimes it changes and they have to re-pair again with new Data ID. On the 4 pairing sessions I've now been through with Verizon, the changing Data ID thing happened twice.


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## pbubel

pbubel said:


> That's very interesting. Lets see if I can get Verizon to try that. Thanks!


Nothing. I think he understood what I was asking, but kept saying since my order showed as pending there was nothing he could do.


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## pbubel

New information is because I placed my order over the web my cablecard had an activation date of weeks from the date the order was placed. This is done to give people time to get to the store before the billing kicks in. They claim they can't speed up the process at all and its completely normal. Why they don't just activate the card when you complete the online activation process is simply beyond my ability to comprehend but that's Verizon for you.

Even worse is I've talked with at least 6 different people on many different calls/chats and none of them knew anything about this. They even scheduled a truck roll to resolve the issue. Verizon need stops disappointing its customers.


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## pbubel

The tech showed up and fixed it in less than 10 minutes. He said he had to perform a manual validation, enter the Host and Data ID and then it showed up on my account and everything is working great. 

I have the tech's name, e-mail and number if anybody else is having similar problems.


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## iadbound

pbubel said:


> The tech showed up and fixed it in less than 10 minutes. He said he had to perform a manual validation, enter the Host and Data ID and then it showed up on my account and everything is working great.
> 
> I have the tech's name, e-mail and number if anybody else is having similar problems.


Great result. Still not sure why a tech had to come out, but one shouldn't look a gift horse . . . .


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## pbubel

iadbound said:


> Great result. Still not sure why a tech had to come out, but one shouldn't look a gift horse . . . .


Exactly. Makes no sense whatsoever, they kept giving me a different reason for the problem. Still waiting for the Verizon supervisor to return my call from earlier in the day. Said it would be 1-2 hours about 4 hours ago.


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## sting0r

Been in chat for over an hour and had him try this things post here, no luck so far. I have the 017 motorola m-card


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## aaronwt

The automated process was supposed to make things easier not more difficult. I don't know what they changed with it, but I used it multiple times when the pairing requirement was going to go into effect and it worked well. I don't know why now, they have to do something manually to pair the card. And it's not because of the Roamio. They had to do the same thing to re-pair a card to one of my Elites too.


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## ehagberg

aaronwt said:


> The automated process was supposed to make things easier not more difficult. I don't know what they changed with it, but I used it multiple times when the pairing requirement was going to go into effect and it worked well. I don't know why now, they have to do something manually to pair the card. And it's not because of the Roamio. They had to do the same thing to re-pair a card to one of my Elites too.


I had no problem with the automated process (this was just with a new card in my TivoHD so that when I get my Roamio it's the right model fios card)... except that it didn't fully pair the card and ended up needing manual steps to get HBO working. IIRC, that was something that wasn't needed (the true pairing for HBO) until last year around this time. Seems like the folks who set up the automated system got it working fine for the non-copy-protected content but you're stuck with manual processes if you need something like HBO.

On another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=496798) I read that calling the automated phone number and instead of telling it you want to activate, just tell it you have "no picture." might work... I'd think you'd need to go through the initial online automated (or phone) setup first.

I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I will later this week when my Roamio arrives.


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## aaronwt

ehagberg said:


> I had no problem with the automated process (this was just with a new card in my TivoHD so that when I get my Roamio it's the right model fios card)... except that it didn't fully pair the card and ended up needing manual steps to get HBO working. IIRC, that was something that wasn't needed (the true pairing for HBO) until last year around this time. Seems like the folks who set up the automated system got it working fine for the non-copy-protected content but you're stuck with manual processes if you need something like HBO.
> 
> On another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=496798) I read that calling the automated phone number and instead of telling it you want to activate, just tell it you have "no picture." might work... I'd think you'd need to go through the initial online automated (or phone) setup first.
> 
> I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I will later this week when my Roamio arrives.


If it wasn't working with HBO then it wasn't paired. The card only needs to be activated to get the channels. But channels like HBO and Cinemax require pairing to work. If I didn't receive HBO and Cinemax I would not even have bothered with pairing.


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## sting0r

I finally got it to work. I tried automated phone line and that didn't work. Did chat again and told them to refresh and reint and it worked. Same thing I said the first time around. Oh well. Persistence pays.


----------



## gsusser

I'll be receiving an updated cable card from Verizon today, Part number 514517-017-00. I won;t be receiving my Roamio until Friday. Can I swap cards in my Premier to make sure it works, or will that cause problems?


----------



## vurbano

TiVoMargret said:


> Take the FiOS CableCARD out of the Roamio, and look at the part number on the back, above the bar code.
> 
> If that number is either one of these:
> 514517-002-00 (MCPOD1)
> 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2)
> we think you'll experience a problem.
> 
> We believe CableCARDs with this number:
> 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3)
> will work correctly.
> 
> If you have an MCPOD1 or MCPOD2 card, call Verizon and ask them to swap your card for an MCPOD3 card.


yup. I set mine up last night, eventhough everything paired correctly I had macroblocking on HBO and cinemax. The CSR is sending out a new card that should arrive friday. All 3 of my cards were 002 cards. But all tuners recorded 6 at a time. not being able to transfer 100 season passes is a kick in the pants though.


----------



## pbubel

vurbano said:


> yup. I set mine up last night, eventhough everything paired correctly I had macroblocking on HBO and cinemax. The CSR is sending out a new card that should arrive friday. All 3 of my cards were 002 cards. But all tuners recorded 6 at a time. not being able to transfer 100 season passes is a kick in the pants though.


Why can't you transfer your seasons passes? I was able to move mine via the website, just don't move any from HBO yet.


----------



## pbubel

gsusser said:


> I'll be receiving an updated cable card from Verizon today, Part number 514517-017-00. I won;t be receiving my Roamio until Friday. Can I swap cards in my Premier to make sure it works, or will that cause problems?


You don't want to pair the card with your premier or you'll just have to do it again once you get the new TiVo. You should be okay to test out the new card however, just activate it and don't pair (ie don't enter the Data ID or Host ID of the old TiVo).


----------



## ibsparky

Can I just take the cable card out of my Tivo HD and put it in my new Roamio and it will just work?


----------



## aaronwt

ibsparky said:


> Can I just take the cable card out of my Tivo HD and put it in my new Roamio and it will just work?


Yes it shoudl work. It did with mine. I just couldn't view HBO and Cinemax until it was paired.


----------



## pbubel

ibsparky said:


> Can I just take the cable card out of my Tivo HD and put it in my new Roamio and it will just work?


Yes you can. You won't be able to get HBO and Cinemax until you pair it however. All of the other channels should work just fine.


----------



## vurbano

pbubel said:


> Why can't you transfer your seasons passes? I was able to move mine via the website, just don't move any from HBO yet.


it wouldnt work yesterday. But I tried today and it did.


----------



## pbubel

vurbano said:


> it wouldnt work yesterday. But I tried today and it did.


Run into the same problem. TiVo's website is always slow and sometimes just won't work. I was hoping when they relaunched it when the Roamio's launched it would improve, but doesn't look like it did.


----------



## andrews777

A possibly helpful note for people working through problems:

I just spent an hour on the phone with a helpful Fios rep and only figured out right at the end that I had not hooked the coax up. Stupid user error, but everything showed "fine" on his end, which shows that they can't tell if you are really connected.

I then ran guided setup again and I think reset the box. I called them and worked through the automated system to pair the cable card. That got my channels up (finally), but now I am not authorized to see any of them, even though the list of channels seems to indicate the ones you would expect (and is missing channels like HBO that I don't pay for).

I will try to update this when I get done, but I would encourage everyone to double check connections, especially if your media area is as crowded as mine is and you are trying to keep an existing unit running while you setup the Roamio.

EDIT: I called back in and somehow the card showed up as disabled in the view of another CSR. She ultimately went through the whole pairing and initialization process again and everything seems to be working. I still have a few channels that tell me "not authorized" like MGMHD, but that may be on a pay tier I didn't realize.

I did notice that the CableCard Conditional screen (I think) showed 0 2 3 4 5. Does that mean that I only have 5 tuners working?


----------



## cheeser

I may have missed it but what is the process to swap cards from a Premiere to the Roamio with fios? I am guessing I need to call tech support since the card needs to be paired with the roamio but it should not need to be reactivated. Any thoughts?


----------



## WRX09MD

pbubel said:


> Why can't you transfer your seasons passes? I was able to move mine via the website, just don't move any from HBO yet.


Was that free to transfer season passes or did you purchase the software?


----------



## BruceShultes

Late this afternoon, I received my Pro and started to connect it.

It took close to an hour and a half before It had downloaded and installed all updates and I got it activated.

Then I inserted the cable card.

First I tried to activate it through the website. Although both the website and the Pro said the card was activated, I was receiving nothing other than local channels.

I called verizon support and they got it working in about 20 minutes. From what I was told they had to de-activate the card and then activate it again.


----------



## jdmass

Thanks to this site, I able to avoid most of the hassles with activating my Roamio Pro with FIOS. I was upgrading from my Tivo Premiere, and it turned out that I had an 006 Mcard. So I brought to the Verizon store and swapped it for an 017. I installed the Roamio and deferred the cable card installation until all updates were installed. I tuned to 131, inserted the card and did the online activation. It activated everything except Channel 131 and the HBO channels. I opened a chat in the Verizon In-home Agent, and the agent asked me for all my activation info (cable ID, host ID, data ID). He did a manual reset (his words) -- I was tuned to 131 -- and as soon as he was said it was done, the channel came in. Checked HBO, as well as some other channels and everything was fine. About 15 minutes total time in chat.

One thing to note. Somewhere in this thread, there was mention of some values in the Condition Access menu in the Cablecard Menu. Specifically, the values:

Conn: Yes EBCP: Yes Val: V 0x00 - the comment was that for HBO to work, V should be non-zero. This is NOT true in my case. All of my channels are functioning and the value on my Tivo is still 0.


----------



## NYHeel

How long does the cablecard activation process take online with Fios? I'm currently doing it and it's taking a while. Probably been at least 20 minutes so far. I just decided to move on and complete the rest of guided setup. I probably should have done that first anyway.


----------



## DCIFRTHS

mbertrand said:


> I received a replacement CableCard from FIOS; once it came I performed the on-line activation, and continued to have issues with HBO and Cinemax. Under conditional access in the CableCard menu, it showed:
> 
> Conn: Yes EBCP: Yes Val: V 0x00
> 
> My understanding is that Val: needs to be something other than 0x00 for HBO & Cinemax to work. Through Verizon's online chat, I asked a Verizon agent to send the "reload software" signal to the cable card. After a minute or two the Val: changed to 0x01 and I was able to tune to HBO. I encourage you to use the FiOS online chat option. So far HBO/Cinemax has worked with a -017 card; not with my -002 cards.





jdmass said:


> ...One thing to note. Somewhere in this thread, there was mention of some values in the Condition Access menu in the Cablecard Menu. Specifically, the values:
> 
> Conn: Yes EBCP: Yes Val: V 0x00 - the comment was that for HBO to work, V should be non-zero. This is NOT true in my case. All of my channels are functioning and the value on my Tivo is still 0.


I am in the same position as jdmass. My TiVo (premiere) shows the same value:* Val: V 0x00 *, and none of my channels are pixelated - including HBO, Cinemax, Showtime etc.

Does anyone know what the 0x00 or 0x01 values mean? Are there other possible numbers that could appear in this field?


----------



## pbubel

WRX09MD said:


> Was that free to transfer season passes or did you purchase the software?


I just used TiVo.com which is free.


----------



## pbubel

NYHeel said:


> How long does the cablecard activation process take online with Fios? I'm currently doing it and it's taking a while. Probably been at least 20 minutes so far. I just decided to move on and complete the rest of guided setup. I probably should have done that first anyway.


The pairing process if done correctly takes a minute or two. You on the phone with verizon or trying the web based system?


----------



## NYHeel

pbubel said:


> The pairing process if done correctly takes a minute or two. You on the phone with verizon or trying the web based system?


I tried the web which didn't work. After about 90 minutes I called the automated phone system and that worked right away. Of course that was activating only and not pairing. I later tried the online chat and the technician seemed to know what he/she was doing but alas after they tried the card still wasn't paired. They fed me that BS about having a pending order on my account until Monday and that I should try again then.

I want to see if I can find that letter they sent me about a year or two ago when they first started copy protecting HBO and Cinemax and cable cards had to be paired. It worked then when I used that automated phone system. Does anyone have a PDF of those instructions?


----------



## aaronwt

NYHeel said:


> I tried the web which didn't work. After about 90 minutes I called the automated phone system and that worked right away. Of course that was activating only and not pairing. I later tried the online chat and the technician seemed to know what he/she was doing but alas after they tried the card still wasn't paired. They fed me that BS about having a pending order on my account until Monday and that I should try again then.
> 
> I want to see if I can find that letter they sent me about a year or two ago when they first started copy protecting HBO and Cinemax and cable cards had to be paired. It worked then when I used that automated phone system. Does anyone have a PDF of those instructions?


Yes it worked initially(I used it several times) but I used the same process with my Roamio and pairing did not work this time.

Here is a link to the FiOS pdf for the cable card installation flyer they sent out.

http://www.verizon.com/cs/groups/public/documents/onecmsresource/11047_ccf_crm_cable_d97e.pdf


----------



## ciucca

I've had the same pixelation issue on my Roamio Pro. I had to get the new cable card XXX-017-000. It took 4 calls to FIOS tech support to first pair the XXXX-006 card to the Roamio box, total about 3.5 hours. Once the last tech got it paired. He said, you know this cable card is not compatible with HBO on the TIVO Roamio. Why didn't they tell me that right away. He then said I would be shipped the right version card in 2 days. 4 days go by no card, I call back, no one knows anything about shipping a new M card to me. WTF?? I am then told to go to the FIOS store near my house and exchange the card. I go there and the dolts know nothing about new version of MCARDS. I argued with him and his imbecile lying manager for an hour that the cards are different , if they have different part number. I even showed him the number on my card and the one the store had was different, but he insisted there was no difference. Finally he agrees to call some number they have to FIOS support and he argues with the person on the phone for a half hour. Finally someone must have told him to shut up and humor the idiot customer and give me the card. All told I was there an hour and a half. I'm now down 4 1/2 hours just to get my new Roamio Pro to work with Verizon. 

Now I'm reading this thread and the pairing is not going to work through the net or on the automated phone system? My head is going to explode. I swear I think Verizon purposely hires morons to work in customer support. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but I have to believe Verizon purposely makes activating cable cards on TIVOs frustrating on purpose , so the average non-geek will just give up and rent on of their POS overpriced DVR boxes.


----------



## aaronwt

All I did was go to the FiOS store and say I wanted to get a cable card with the specific part number. The lady went into the back and came out in a couple of minutes with a cable card that matched the part number I wrote down for her.


----------



## ciucca

aaronwt said:


> All I did was go to the FiOS store and say I wanted to get a cable card with the specific part number. The lady went into the back and came out in a couple of minutes with a cable card that matched the part number I wrote down for her.


It is very possible the state you live in is not full of morons! 

Anyway I just got home, activated online, pairing of course did not work. Tried live chat and the tech got it paired in 5 minutes. I am convinced the telephone tech support has a requirement that they hire only people with double digit IQs, if you know what I mean


----------



## rsnaider

Has it been confirmed that only 017 cards work and not the 006 cards at this time? I will eventually get one but only have 006 cards right now.


----------



## aaronwt

rsnaider said:


> Has it been confirmed that only 017 cards work and not the 006 cards at this time? I will eventually get one but only have 006 cards right now.


My 002 cable cards couldn't be paired. Well at least the tech that dealt with it couldn't get them paired.


----------



## JGC650I

rsnaider said:


> Has it been confirmed that only 017 cards work and not the 006 cards at this time? I will eventually get one but only have 006 cards right now.


I had 006 cards and they paired ok (after a bit of back and forth with Verizon), but then had the pixelating issue with HBO/Cinemax and had to swap out for 017 cards to correct. If you don't have HBO/Cinemax, should be ok with 006 cards.


----------



## rsnaider

Thanks for the quick replies as I have both HBO and Cinimax I will plan to swap out one of the cards then.


----------



## NYHeel

So I just got my cable card paired by online chat support. It took 2 tries as the first person couldn't do it Saturday night. I tried again today and it worked perfectly. Took about 15-20 minutes on chat tonight.

By the way, when I went to the store to pick up my new card (the 2 that I currently have are the 002 ones) the lady had no idea about different kinds of cable cards but just pulled one out of the box and it was the 017 one. Those must be the newest ones.


----------



## NYHeel

ciucca said:


> I've had the same pixelation issue on my Roamio Pro. I had to get the new cable card XXX-017-000. It took 4 calls to FIOS tech support to first pair the XXXX-006 card to the Roamio box, total about 3.5 hours. Once the last tech got it paired. He said, you know this cable card is not compatible with HBO on the TIVO Roamio. Why didn't they tell me that right away. He then said I would be shipped the right version card in 2 days. 4 days go by no card, I call back, no one knows anything about shipping a new M card to me. WTF?? I am then told to go to the FIOS store near my house and exchange the card. I go there and the dolts know nothing about new version of MCARDS. I argued with him and his imbecile lying manager for an hour that the cards are different , if they have different part number. I even showed him the number on my card and the one the store had was different, but he insisted there was no difference. Finally he agrees to call some number they have to FIOS support and he argues with the person on the phone for a half hour. Finally someone must have told him to shut up and humor the idiot customer and give me the card. All told I was there an hour and a half. I'm now down 4 1/2 hours just to get my new Roamio Pro to work with Verizon.
> 
> Now I'm reading this thread and the pairing is not going to work through the net or on the automated phone system? My head is going to explode. I swear I think Verizon purposely hires morons to work in customer support. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but I have to believe Verizon purposely makes activating cable cards on TIVOs frustrating on purpose , so the average non-geek will just give up and rent on of their POS overpriced DVR boxes.


Why not just tell the store person that the card you have is defective and you need a new one? Why even bother getting into a whole song and dance with the guy. I usually find the minimum information necessary is most effective in these cases.


----------



## aaronwt

What a PITA. I got a replacement ROamio PRo today and have been in chat with a CSR for one hour and fifteen minutes. He still can't get the card paired. What a royal PITA.

I t should not be this difficult to get the cable card paired.

With my other Romaio, once I got the 017 card, it got paired rather quickly. Unless there is something wrong with the card. But it was working fine in the old box.
And I get the other channels properly so it is activated.


----------



## gsusser

Verizon's answer to TiVo problems is to send new cable cards. They avoid sending a tech out at any cost. That was my experience as documented in another thread. They ended up sending me 5 cards! It turned out the problem was that I wasn't getting enough signal strength. Perhaps it is the wiring in your house. The Roamio has greater power needs than its predecessors.


----------



## aaronwt

My signal strength is between 88 and 95 on the channels I checked. The feed from the ONT goes to an 8 way splitter and then the coax goes 50 feet to the Roamio PRo.


They had me give them the ID info again. I typed in the same thing as before but now it magically worked. I'll bet they typed it in wrong before.

HBO and CInemax is coming in now. Now I need to get 591, 596, and 597 working since they screwed up the sports channels. I really don't need them but since it's supposed to be part of the Ultimate package I expect to get them. But I'll probably let it slide for now if they don't get it in a couple of minutes because I need to get to bed soon.


----------



## Tivogre

After a 2+ hour ordeal last night with no success pairing my CC to my new Roamio Pro, I cane here to search.

I found this thread, leading me to go pick up the correct 017 model card from the Verizon store in Woodbridge, VA.

After another hour on the phone (something about having to wait until my order fully processed - they can push it through - ...), they finally got the new card paired. 

I was able to verify all channels EXCEPT HBO.

They updated the card to reflect that I was an HBO subscriber, and "re-hit" the card.

Finally up and working.

This shouldn't be this hard after YEARS of Cable Card support.

It's clear that there is NO INTEREST in making the process easier.


----------



## bradleys

That is exactly why you will never see Apple touch cable cards.


----------



## sac84371

I have the 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2) cable card and a Roamio Plus on its way. I don't subscribe to any premium channels so do I still need the 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3) Verizon cable card?


----------



## aaronwt

Tivogre said:


> After a 2+ hour ordeal last night with no success pairing my CC to my new Roamio Pro, I cane here to search.
> 
> I found this thread, leading me to go pick up the correct 017 model card from the Verizon store in Woodbridge, VA.
> 
> After another hour on the phone (something about having to wait until my order fully processed - they can push it through - ...), they finally got the new card paired.
> 
> I was able to verify all channels EXCEPT HBO.
> 
> They updated the card to reflect that I was an HBO subscriber, and "re-hit" the card.
> 
> Finally up and working.
> 
> This shouldn't be this hard after YEARS of Cable Card support.
> 
> It's clear that there is NO INTEREST in making the process easier.


Your experience sounds a little better than mine. When I went to pair my card to my replacement Roamio Pro, I was on chat for over 90 minutes. Although I guess 90 minutes on chat is better than a hour on the phone. I try to avoid dealing with them on the phone.

But chat seems to be the best thing anyway. You can get in contact with a tech in the middle of the night. While phone support ends early.


----------



## aaronwt

sac84371 said:


> I have the 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2) cable card and a Roamio Plus on its way. I don't subscribe to any premium channels so do I still need the 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3) Verizon cable card?


I had the MCPOD1 card and I had no problems with it viewing the channels that did not need the card paired. I only got the MCPOD3 card because I have HBO and Cinemax which needs a paired cable card to view.


----------



## sac84371

aaronwt said:


> I had the MCPOD1 card and I had no problems with it viewing the channels that did not need the card paired. I only got the MCPOD3 card because I have HBO and Cinemax which needs a paired cable card to view.


Great, thank you. I pretty much stick to Netflix for the premium services and avoid HBO and the like. Even though I do miss out some of the original content on HBO and Showtime.


----------



## sac84371

Also I wonder if a firmware upgrade will ever fix this issue?


----------



## Tivogre

aaronwt said:


> I had the MCPOD1 card and I had no problems with it viewing the channels that did not need the card paired. I only got the MCPOD3 card because I have HBO and Cinemax which needs a paired cable card to view.


Hmmm....

I guess my definition of premium is different (or my experience was).

With an unpaired card, I couldn't watch anything but local networks. No ESPN, no HGTV, no HBO(expected), no Center Ice (expected).

You may get lucky and have all the channels you want / need without pairing.... you may not.


----------



## sac84371

Tivogre said:


> Hmmm....
> 
> I guess my definition of premium is different (or my experience was).
> 
> With an unpaired card, I couldn't watch anything but local networks. No ESPN, no HGTV, no HBO(expected), no Center Ice (expected).
> 
> You may get lucky and have all the channels you want / need without pairing.... you may not.


And there is the caveat. Hmm only time will tell. Currently my Premier XL gets all of those channels and the card is not paired.


----------



## aaronwt

Tivogre said:


> Hmmm....
> 
> I guess my definition of premium is different (or my experience was).
> 
> With an unpaired card, I couldn't watch anything but local networks. No ESPN, no HGTV, no HBO(expected), no Center Ice (expected).
> 
> You may get lucky and have all the channels you want / need without pairing.... you may not.


With an unactivated card, all I could view was the local channels. Once the card was activated I could view all the other channels except HBO, Cinemax and the test channels. And once the card was paired I could view those.

With my first Roamio Pro I had a tech screw up my card activation. So when he deactivated my card, I could only receive the local channels. I was pretty pissed when that happened. That was the last time I talked to a tech on the phone. The idiot knew I was calling him on my FiOS landline and still reset my ONT trying to fix it(which made no sense but he wouldn't listen), which of course dropped the call and then never contacted me again. Of course when I tried to call back, the tech support on the phone line was closed. I ended up contacting support by chat at 3Am that night. So once I realized that chat support is open so late, that is now my first choice when I need tech support.


----------



## BigJimOutlaw

The Roamio update released tonight fixed the macroblocking issue. I have an MCPOD1 card and the macroblocking I was getting on channel 131 is now gone. So presumably we don't have to worry about the specific card anymore.

But proper pairing of any cards might be Verizon's issue. If the automated phone system's pairing doesn't work, an online chat, phone call, or message to @verizonsupport on twitter to "reint" the card is necessary until they get that fixed (if ever).

The keyword to support is to "reint" the card.

(BTW, the @verizonsupport folks are superheroes compared to phone support. Follow them on twitter and if you send them a message they will follow you and get you squared away through Direct Messages.)


----------



## sac84371

Great news. Thanks for the info.



BigJimOutlaw said:


> The Roamio update released tonight fixed the macroblocking issue. I have an MCPOD1 card and the macroblocking I was getting on channel 131 is now gone. So presumably we don't have to worry about the specific card anymore.
> 
> But proper pairing of any cards might be Verizon's issue. If the automated pairing doesn't work, an online chat, phone call, or message to @verizonsupport on twitter to "reint" the card is necessary until they get that fixed (if ever).
> 
> The keyword to support is to "reint" the card.
> 
> (BTW, the @verizonsupport folks are superheroes compared to phone support. Follow them on twitter and if you send them a message they will follow you and get you squared away through Direct Messages.)


----------



## jaylaw64

Ok. 4 hours with FIOS phone support today.

Rep must do "manual validation" to get copy written content. 

Another key ingredient is that the "data id" of the card may change. Mt rep got HBO working and then went to fix another issue. He could no longer hit the card and I lost HBO. I looked at settings, and the data id had changed. He redid "manual validation" withe new data I'd, and HBO returned.


----------



## DCIFRTHS

jaylaw64 said:


> Ok. 4 hours with FIOS phone support today.
> 
> Rep must do "manual validation" to get copy written content.


Did you mean copy *protected* content? If not, what did you mean?



jaylaw64 said:


> Another key ingredient is that the "data id" of the card may change. Mt rep got HBO working and then went to fix another issue. He could no longer hit the card and I lost HBO. I looked at settings, and the data id had changed. He redid "manual validation" withe new data I'd, and HBO returned.


The Data ID changing can be easily overlooked during the paring process, and something that everyone should be on the lookout for.


----------



## wmhyland

Got a Roamio basic delivered a few days ago, after 30 minutes with Verizon support got all channels including HBO to work. I decided to return the basic, upgrade to the Roamio +, received today, Verizon phone support got all channels except HBO to work. After an hour of phone support Verizon gave up, said they'd send me a new cable card to arrive next Tuesday. I've had the same Motorola M card for the past 3 or 4 years.

Thought I'd give the In-Home Agent support a try -- I passed along a few of the suggestions from this forum, they had it fixed in 5 minutes. *Solution was a manual validation.* Same old card, works fine, all six tuners. Be prepared with the CableCard ID, Host ID, Data, and Card S/N from channel 131 or any non-working HBO channel.


----------



## GTXgp

Manual validation did the trick for me too, to get HBO & Cinemax working after the online activation missed em.


----------



## headless chicken

What do you mean by manual validation? Calling in and speaking to tech support?


----------



## rsnaider

headless chicken said:


> What do you mean by manual validation? Calling in and speaking to tech support?


Yes, you need to talk to someone who can run the process to Manually Validate Set Top Box.

That is the term I used to pair my card on 3 different Roamio's over the past month.


----------



## headless chicken

rsnaider said:


> Yes, you need to talk to someone who can run the process to Manually Validate Set Top Box.


Gotcha. That's what I thought but I wasn't certain.


----------



## sangs

Hit a couple of speed bumps along the way to getting HBO & Cinemax to work on my new Roamio today, but as suggested above, I used the online chat option and they got it working within 20 minutes or so. Thanks for tips.


----------



## deaddeeds

+1 for Solution was a manual validation.


----------



## NobleHeretic

I went round and round with Verizon FIOs and TiVo Tech Support on Authorizing AND Pairing a MCard in a new Roamio Plus. At first I could get everything EXCEPT HBO and Cinemax. It would have all the values correct except the VAL: was a ? not a V when looking at Settings & Messages/Settings/Remote, CableCARD, & Devices/CableCARD Decoder/CableCARD options (for Installers)/CableCARD Menu/Conditional Access.

I contacted Verzion FIOs through the Live Chat Tech Support and told them this:

I need you to "Manually Validate Set Top Box" for an M Stream Cablecard in a TiVO Roamio Plus device that is not tuning/decoding the copy protected HBO and Cinemax channels but is working for all other channels. The card seems to be authorized but not properly paired. The proper Cable Card Info is: CableCARD ID: XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-X, HOST ID: XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-X, Data: XXX-XXX-XXX-XX, Card S/N: MTXXXXTMAXXX

The X's above are all the proper numbers found in the "CableCARD(tm) Pairing" screen on your TiVo.

He did as I asked and also indicated that there may have been an error in the Data: #.

Not sure if it made a difference, but the Motorola CableCARD part number is: 514517-017-00.

All is good now and I have ALL my Premium Channels.


----------



## sangs

So I think FiOS must have changed something with their cable card pairing/activation process. This week I activated two cable cards and neither had to be manually validated to receive HBO and Cinemax. I simply activated them online following the instructions and all channels were available from the get-go. (Unlike previous attempts, when manual validation was a necessity in order to receive HBO and Cinemax.)


----------



## rlcarr

If they changed anything they changed it REALLY recently. I activated a card a week-and-a-half ago and it did not get paired from the get-go.


----------



## sangs

rlcarr said:


> If they changed anything they changed it REALLY recently. I activated a card a week-and-a-half ago and it did not get paired from the get-go.


Maybe. I activated one last Thursday and again yesterday. Could also be area-specific too I guess. I was all prepared for the manual validation dance and was pleasantly surprised it wasn't necessary in either case.


----------



## wkearney99

Be forewarned if you call Verizon for support they're likely to reset your actiontec modem settings, even when it's entirely unrelated to the router. Idiots have reset mine twice; once during cablecard pairing (for a new Roamio Pro) and another during a voice line problem. 

So I'm about to replace the modem with one they can't access remotely. Likely a new Asus.


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## sangs

wkearney99 said:


> Be forewarned if you call Verizon for support they're likely to reset your actiontec modem settings, even when it's entirely unrelated to the router. Idiots have reset mine twice; once during cablecard pairing (for a new Roamio Pro) and another during a voice line problem.
> 
> So I'm about to replace the modem with one they can't access remotely. Likely a new Asus.


That's never happened to me. No reason for the router to have anything to do with the cablecard. Be forewarned though, you get rid of the Actiontec and they won't be able to troubleshoot, if the need occurs.


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## mae

sangs said:


> That's never happened to me. No reason for the router to have anything to do with the cablecard. Be forewarned though, you get rid of the Actiontec and they won't be able to troubleshoot, if the need occurs.


I called in to have my card re validated the other day when I replaced my Premier with a Roamio. First words out of the CSR were, you must be having internet problems, I'll reset your router.

I said no, the card receives signals on the OOB channel, not TCP/IP, PLEASE do not touch my router. She argued a little, put me on hold (probably checking with someone) and came back and told me I was right. She then re paired the card.

As is said here constantly, it is the luck of the draw who you get on the phone, online chat or Twitter. At least this one listened, admitted I knew something and didn't pull the trigger on the router reset (although I did have the config backed up).


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## JZ1276

This is an absolute nightmare. I actually just upgraded to the Roamio because my TivoHD stopped receiving Fios's MPEG4 channels (MGMHD, SonyHD, etc). Now, after getting the Roamio connected all HBO's and Cinemax channels arent coming in. I called Verizon to order the correct model M card and he said I had to go to the Verizon store to get one. I actually get less channels now than I did with my TivoHD!

So basically, bottom line is...
I have to get the correct M card and then call Verizon and hope I get someone on the phone the knows how to pair it correctly??

By the way, I think it's pretty fkin sad that both problems I've had so far with the MPEG4 channels with TivoHD and the HBO/Cinemax channels with the Roamio I had to find answers to the problems on this forum because Verizon is totally clueless.

UPDATE: I actually disconnected the Roamio and checked the card and had the correct one in there already. Guess I'll try the online support.

UPDATE: OK just called them and asked them to manually validate the M card. Took a minute, HBO and Cinemax are now working.


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## HarperVision

Yeah I heard with Comcast and Verizon that when you put the card in you'll get most of your channels except premiums until you actually pair the card with the DVR. Glad you got it all working!


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## caughey

JZ1276 said:


> asked them to manually validate the M card.


These seem to be the magic words. Also, TiVo made an update some months ago, so there shouldn't be a special version of card required for FiOS anymore.


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## GmanTiVo

as I mentioned in another thread, my interaction with FIOS was minimal and smooth last Saturday (3/22). 

I did not have to call in this time around (new Roamio Pro), the new *Mcard* from the VZ store (with the correct manufacturing *part number: 514517-017-00* from post above). 
As soon as I activated the Mcard online my Roamio Pro received HBO fine.

I can confirm that in the past, whe i had to, calling FIOS works.

Call FIOS CableCard activation phone # and skip through all the requests and just say "agent/representative. When you speak to the tech rep ask them Kindly to do a Manual Validation.... even if they see ithe Mcard properly paired. Go to channel 901 (HBO) while on the phone and read off the various #s the Tech person asks (Host ID, Card ID, Card SN & Data ID).

HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Ch 131, etc will come alive as soon as the tech person says "done".

Keep in mind that I was told and can confirm that occasionally there is a total signal loss from the ONT and the Mcards re-set themselves (or better deactivate/un-pair). No channel Signal.... all channels are black.... FIOS will give you the whole shpiel about COAX connection, Cards Unseated, blah blah, just read them the data from ther CC info screen and have them do a manual validation... all goes back to normal.


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## HarperVision

GmanTiVo said:


> as I mentioned in another thread, my interaction with FIOS was minimal and smooth last Saturday (3/22).  I did not have to call in this time around (new Roamio Pro), the new Mcard from the VZ store (with the correct manufacturing part number: 514517-017-00 from post above). As soon as I activated the Mcard online my Roamio Pro received HBO fine. I can confirm that in the past, whe i had to, calling FIOS works. Call FIOS CableCard activation phone # and skip through all the requests and just say "agent/representative. When you speak to the tech rep ask them Kindly to do a Manual Validation.... even if they see ithe Mcard properly paired. Go to channel 901 (HBO) while on the phone and read off the various #s the Tech person asks (Host ID, Card ID, Card SN & Data ID). HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Ch 131, etc will come alive as soon as the tech person says "done". Keep in mind that I was told and can confirm that occasionally there is a total signal loss from the ONT and the Mcards re-set themselves (or better deactivate/un-pair). No channel Signal.... all channels are black.... FIOS will give you the whole shpiel about COAX connection, Cards Unseated, blah blah, just read them the data from ther CC info screen and have them do a manual validation... all goes back to normal.


I'm so happy everything worked out for you!


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## GmanTiVo

HarperVision said:


> I'm so happy everything worked out for you!


Nope, thank you Dave !! :up:


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## miketx

Quick note for Fios customers: Verizon has closed all their "Fios enabled" stores in the Dallas area, and maybe the nation. You can no longer go pickup a cablecard at the store....you have to order it online and pay $19 (shipping/handling). I just found this out this morning.


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## JacksTiVo

miketx said:


> Quick note for Fios customers: Verizon has closed all their "Fios enabled" stores in the Dallas area, and maybe the nation. You can no longer go pickup a cablecard at the store....you have to order it online and pay $19 (shipping/handling). I just found this out this morning.


The store in my location in central NJ is still open based on the FiOS Web site listing and a quick telephone call to the store. I would suggest calling the nearest store to you prior to making a trip to it.


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## GmanTiVo

miketx said:


> Quick note for Fios customers: Verizon has closed all their "Fios enabled" stores in the Dallas area, and maybe the nation. You can no longer go pickup a cablecard at the store....you have to order it online and pay $19 (shipping/handling). I just found this out this morning.


Part of VZ's upcoming move to merge all FIOS stores with the Wireless stores after having sold the FIOS biz division and purchasing Vodafone's stake in VZW ...... which will really suck cuz the VZW stores up by me in north NJ are always packed with long wait times. :down:


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## ducker

Is this still a problem? Or has this been resolved via software updates? I just upgraded my premier box to a Roamio and I don't want to go through the hassle of pairing my 006 card only to find out I don't get HBO in.

Thank you!!!


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## BigJimOutlaw

ducker said:


> Is this still a problem? Or has this been resolved via software updates? I just upgraded my premier box to a Roamio and I don't want to go through the hassle of pairing my 006 card only to find out I don't get HBO in.
> 
> Thank you!!!


Any card can pair, but pairing still doesn't always work through the automated methods.

Easiest thing to do is follow @VerizonSupport on twitter, ask them to follow you back, then Direct Message them the card's serial number, CC ID, Host ID and Data ID and request a manual validation on your cablecard.


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## matk123

Im new to TIVO and setup two new Roamio DVRs on FIOS yesterday. I installed the CableCards and called the FIOS automated CableCard activation line. I had to type in the CC Id, Host Id, and Data Id of each card before the automated operator said activation was successful.

Of course, after about two hours, I still had no TV and both boxes were stuck at 72% updating. I went to the FIOS website and the support page suggested I start an online chat with an agent. This was at 12:45am EST, so I figured Id be waiting until the next day. To my surprise, they were still "open" and a very helpful online agent named "Baghleendgha" helped me out.

She asked for the S/N, CC Id, Host Id, and Data Id of each card and shortly thereafter, my TIVOs sprang to life! Before leaving the chat, she wanted me to ensure all my channels were there and patiently waited while I checked.

I have Ultimate and HBO and noticed a bunch of the premiums were missing. However, it turned out to be a TIVO issue. They were ommited in the TIVO channel list during the initial scan it seemed. I quickly added them back and everything works -- so far.


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## ducker

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Any card can pair, but pairing still doesn't always work through the automated methods.
> 
> Easiest thing to do is follow @VerizonSupport on twitter, ask them to follow you back, then Direct Message them the card's serial number, CC ID, Host ID and Data ID and request a manual validation on your cablecard.


But can ANY card provide premium stations - even going through non-automated methods?

Or are there 2 older versions of the M-cards that do not work with the Roamio for premium stations with Verizon.


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## ducker

Want to supply this data point. my cable card:
514517-006-00 (MCPOD2)

Successfully paired and I can view all my HBO channels.

Woo! Don't have to do a card swap!


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## aaronwt

ducker said:


> But can ANY card provide premium stations - even going through non-automated methods?
> 
> Or are there 2 older versions of the M-cards that do not work with the Roamio for premium stations with Verizon.


The only premium channels you need a paired cable card for on Verizon FiOS are HBO and Cinemax. Showtime, Starz, Epix, and The Movie Channel don't need a paired cable card to be able to view them.


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## lew

aaronwt said:


> The only premium channels you need a paired cable card for on Verizon FiOS are HBO and Cinemax. Showtime, Starz, Epix, and The Movie Channel don't need a paired cable card to be able to view them.


I think you need a paired card to view the fox channels. I wouldn't call them premium channels.


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## rtoledo

TiVoMargret said:


> Take the FiOS CableCARD out of the Roamio, and look at the part number on the back, above the bar code.
> 
> If that number is either one of these:
> 514517-002-00 (MCPOD1)
> 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2)
> we think you'll experience a problem.
> 
> We believe CableCARDs with this number:
> 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3)
> will work correctly.
> 
> If you have an MCPOD1 or MCPOD2 card, call Verizon and ask them to swap your card for an MCPOD3 card.


I see this is a 3 + year old post , but going through Hell , with Frontier , and my new Tivo Bolts, the old cards I had in the Homerun PRIME , are now in the Bolt's and all I get are some of the package, I do not HBO , but some HD channels do not come it. anyways the sent me new cards and after 3 hours on the phone last night and a massive headache, the new cards are even worse than the old ones

one of the old cards is a Motorola brand from Verizon Fios

514517-006-00 these used to work without problems until 8 months ago when the premiums would not come in , but i never did anything about it. am I sorry

one of the new cards still not in my second Bolt is

Arris brand

514517-019-00 would either of these cards have a problem in a Tivo Bolt ?

*************************************************************
EDIT: after reading ALL the posts , it seems I can retract my question as my old and new cards are NOT 017-00

just for kicks I'm going cut and paste some of the informational post here and send them to the VP , that called me this afternoon and let her know, maybe , she can disiminate this info in Frontier and help her customer Support improvement numbers.
**************************************************************

I keep telling them it has to be a authorization problem at the headend / CO but I just got off the phone with a VP , and she told me she's sending a " super tech " in the morning.

he better walk on water if this does not get corrected tomorrow, as I just spent a month arguing with them , that Verizon sent me the last pair of card via UPS , I plugged them in and then called them and voila.

well in their world the answer was NO. until last week I got lucky with a retention dept, person that actually sent me the cards.

wish me well, my Xanas is running out. as is my patience


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## rtoledo

TiVoMargret said:


> Take the FiOS CableCARD out of the Roamio, and look at the part number on the back, above the bar code.
> 
> If that number is either one of these:
> 514517-002-00 (MCPOD1)
> 514517-006-00 (MCPOD2)
> we think you'll experience a problem.
> 
> We believe CableCARDs with this number:
> 514517-017-00 (MCPOD3)
> will work correctly.
> 
> If you have an MCPOD1 or MCPOD2 card, call Verizon and ask them to swap your card for an MCPOD3 card.


you are a GOD send. success Frontier tech showed up with a new set of the 017 cards , my new BOLT's are back in Action I LOVE these boxes , will be buying a third one soon . plust more external AV drives as big as I can find them .


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## baldonetoo

rtoledo said:


> you are a GOD send. success Frontier tech showed up with a new set of the 017 cards , my new BOLT's are back in Action I LOVE these boxes , will be buying a third one soon . plust more external AV drives as big as I can find them .


rtoledo. I just wanted to confirm that even though your Arris card is newer, you still needed to swap it out for the 017 cards? I'm having a tough time with my Arris 019 to authorize basic cable channels.


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## BigJimOutlaw

This was a temporary issue that only mattered for the first 2-3 months of the Roamio's life in 2013.

Replace/swap the card if you need to, but don't worry about the part #.


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## rtoledo

BigJimOutlaw said:


> This was a temporary issue that only mattered for the first 2-3 months of the Roamio's life in 2013.
> 
> Replace/swap the card if you need to, but don't worry about the part #.


the tech came out with the 017-00 cards, and they worked 100%. so there's still something about that version 03 that seems to do the trick.

now all I have to do is fix a signal issue to the Bolt in my bedroom , but I think it's a cable issue, just replaced the coaxial splitter with a new Verizon 2gig splitter , adn that helped a lot.

weird thing last night the BOLT in my room was 100% clear and this morning ALL channels where 100% pixelated I took a video with my phone showing the channel strength which read good. so I'm at a loss could this Tivo be defective ??? had it 3 weeks now


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