# cablecard pairing on comcast for premium channels



## cgould (Dec 28, 2002)

New Roamio is working well, Comcast also gave me a nice retention discount and free HBO for a while, except- it's not working on my Roamio.
My Premiere is working fine on HBO, and the cablecard "Val" Conditional Access field is "V" (validated?)...
on the M card in the Roamio, Val is still "?", though w/ each hit the actual number increases eg 0x09,0x10,0x17, etc...
Conditional access is "Yes" etc, I get all the other channels, just not HBO and MGMHD .

I am on my third cablecard now, and comcast has tried re-pairing them multiple times, verified the numbers, etc. I've also tried activating online via comcast.com/activate (it lists either the cablecard or the Tivo hostID#), or not at all (on this 3rd card), ... no help.
I noticed that one of my two S cards on my S3 is also status "?", other is "V", and true enough sometimes I can watch HBO or not.

Any tips/tricks to get the pairing on Roamio to work properly for pay channels?
It's worked once for the premiere, so I can at least see & stream some shows, but..


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Have you called their Cablecard hotline to pair correctly or just the basic customer service number? Also look in your cablecard info screen and make sure your EMMs are at least at a value of 39 or more. 

I will GUARANTEE you it's a paring/provisioning/activation issue. DO NOT listen when they say "everything looks good on our end", because they're wrong if the information is as you say it is. Keep calling the CC hotline until you get someone who knows what they're doing with cablecards.


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## ncfoster (Jan 22, 2011)

I had a major production getting my Premiere's old CableCARD to pair with the Roamio. They tried to convince me that they couldn't do it without me going into the local office and swapping out the old card, because it was paired to the Premiere. It was complete nonsense, but they did not explain to me how they solved the problem after many many calls to different departments. They just "tried again", and it magically worked. I had to press through a rep who really didn't want me to try anything other than swapping out the card, and a supervisor who seemed like he had never heard the word CableCARD, but just keep pressing...


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

Pairing our Comcast cable card to our TiVo Roamio PRO has been nothing short of a *nightmare*. Yes, it's been that bad.

A tech came out to the house yesterday and finally fixed the problem (a coding issue which is what I kept telling all those customer service reps!)


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## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

When you call, make sure you use 877-405-2298 for the CableCard hotline. This is different than the 855-652-3446 number activation line that was at the bottom of my CC receipt.

When I called, I was up and running in less than 10 minutes. When I asked if I had the proper "Premier" billing code entered for VOD access, they said yes, I was good to go. They were really knowledgeable and friendly/helpful.

Good Luck!


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## wtherrell (Dec 23, 2004)

Ziggie said:


> Pairing our Comcast cable card to our TiVo Roamio PRO has been nothing short of a *nightmare*. Yes, it's been that bad.
> 
> A tech came out to the house yesterday and finally fixed the problem (a coding issue which is what I kept telling all those customer service reps!)


WOW, they have some nerve charging you $40 for something a competent tech can easily do over the phone. I'm on Time Warner and have now used their Cable Card Hotline to install 3 different CC's. Went smoothy each time. Still have to call them every few months /weeks to "rehit" the cards when I start getting a "This channel not authorized" flag on otherwise black screen when I tune to a channel.


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## gnetwerker (Sep 30, 2007)

After having installed the Roamio a couple of weeks ago, I wondered why my premium channels weren't recording after the Olympics break -- sure enough, all the premium channels were de-authorized. It took two calls to Comcrap and a hard reboot to re-authorize the box. I hate Comcast.


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## Ziggie (Jan 20, 2004)

wtherrell said:


> WOW, they have some nerve charging you $40 for something a competent tech can easily do over the phone. I'm on Time Warner and have now used their Cable Card Hotline to install 3 different CC's. Went smoothy each time. Still have to call them every few months /weeks to "rehit" the cards when I start getting a "This channel not authorized" flag on otherwise black screen when I tune to a channel.


They _were_ going to charge us the $40 until I started giving them the stink eye! I was like.. oh no you aren't! We have *NO LUCK WHATSOEVER* working with Comcast. We're like oil and water.



gnetwerker said:


> After having installed the Roamio a couple of weeks ago, I wondered why my premium channels weren't recording after the Olympics break -- sure enough, all the premium channels were de-authorized. It took two calls to Comcrap and a hard reboot to re-authorize the box. I hate Comcast.


We had to wait 4 days for a tech to come out. Comcast is my biggest nightmare.


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## takeshi (Jul 22, 2010)

cgould said:


> Any tips/tricks to get the pairing on Roamio to work properly for pay channels?


I haven't had problems with pay channels but I've always used the hotline.


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## williamtel (Oct 27, 2009)

I've had this same issue with Comcast for the last 4 weeks. Many phone calls, on my 3rd cable card but I finally broke down and had a tech come out to the house. He listened to what I have gone through and made one phone call. 5 minutes later all my channels were working. After making sure all the steps with billing codes and pairing codes were correct all that needed to be done was make sure that the Host ID and the Data ID were the same in their system, Host ID = Data ID. Not sure if making sure all the other items needed to be done but the sure thing was this last entry. If you are still having issues, just ask that the IDs be the same.


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## cmaquilino16 (Jul 7, 2009)

I am having the same problem getting Roamio pro and CC not getting HBO, they tell me it looks good on there in, well I got it on the TIVo HD. So I am going to call the hotline number hope it works.


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## cmaquilino16 (Jul 7, 2009)

Well thanks I called that number 5minutes on the line and it is all paired and working. thanks


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## Jay2tak (Jun 10, 2009)

I've been trying to unpair/pair a card that I moved from my HD to a Roamio Pro. No luck called the Comcast CC # 6 times and got the same answer that they could not unpair the HD card. Only the Comcast service center could do it. So tomorrow I go and get a new card.


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## cmaquilino16 (Jul 7, 2009)

I got problem with my TIVO HD losing channels the CC guy told me to get a new card. My TiVo HD CC is 7 years old. If your TiVo HD is a life time get a new card for that and your Roamio.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Jay2tak said:


> I've been trying to unpair/pair a card that I moved from my HD to a Roamio Pro. No luck called the Comcast CC # 6 times and got the same answer that they could not unpair the HD card. Only the Comcast service center could do it. So tomorrow I go and get a new card.


Had same issue when moving card from Premiere to Roamio, Comcast ended up rolling a tech who called the right person in local dispatch that fixed it in 5 mins.

This is not unusual for them, have them roll a tech. It's most likely not the card, more likely people that don't know how to pair cards properly and/or don't have access to the local system where it's done.


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## Jay2tak (Jun 10, 2009)

slowbiscuit said:


> Had same issue when moving card from Premiere to Roamio, Comcast ended up rolling a tech who called the right person in local dispatch that fixed it in 5 mins.
> 
> This is not unusual for them, have them roll a tech. It's most likely not the card, more likely people that don't know how to pair cards properly and/or don't have access to the local system where it's done.


I agree 100%, the last time I did this (Move card) ended up getting a truck roll. However tech ended up calling me and fixed it over the phone


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Jay2tak said:


> I've been trying to unpair/pair a card that I moved from my HD to a Roamio Pro. No luck called the Comcast CC # 6 times and got the same answer that they could not unpair the HD card. Only the Comcast service center could do it. So tomorrow I go and get a new card.


I just moved a CableCard from an S3 to our new Roamio Pro and it went well for me. Which number did you call?

Scott


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## Jay2tak (Jun 10, 2009)

HerronScott said:


> I just moved a CableCard from an S3 to our new Roamio Pro and it went well for me. Which number did you call?
> 
> Scott


877-405-2298. I picked up another card this morning, called the number and the tech still could not pair the card. Said that the S/N shows up as a cable box and system wont allow her to write to it. She then offered to roll a truck at no charge.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Jay2tak said:


> 877-405-2298. I picked up another card this morning, called the number and the tech still could not pair the card. Said that the S/N shows up as a cable box and system wont allow her to write to it. She then offered to roll a truck at no charge.


That's suppose to be the Comcast CableCard Activation number (and the one that I called). I do recall other posts that mentioned CableCards being associated with their STB's and not being able to use them with TiVos.

Hopefully the truck roll can bring you one that will work.

Scott


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

HerronScott said:


> That's suppose to be the Comcast CableCard Activation number (and the one that I called). I do recall other posts that mentioned CableCards being associated with their STB's and not being able to use them with TiVos.
> 
> Hopefully the truck roll can bring you one that will work.
> 
> Scott


In the last year or so I have had to activate 3 TiVo Roamios.
the first took 2 Comcast Cable Cards and about a week to get it activated.
The second took 5 weeks and over 13 Comcast CableCards. Remember the Second one is on Comcast CableCard OUTLET 2. Denver Comcast CableCard Level 2's and 3's had to make some SW corrections to their Outlet 2 SW to make it the same as Outlet 1.
The third Comcast CableCard Activation was for my WeaKnees 12TB Roamio Pro and I told the CableCard team it was for Outlet 3. They activated it on the first shot in only a few moments. The fastest and smoothest CableCard Activation so far.


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## Jay2tak (Jun 10, 2009)

HerronScott said:


> That's suppose to be the Comcast CableCard Activation number (and the one that I called). I do recall other posts that mentioned CableCards being associated with their STB's and not being able to use them with TiVos.
> 
> Hopefully the truck roll can bring you one that will work.
> 
> Scott


Another case of you have find the right guy. The tech arrived, called his dispatcher who has extensive knowledge of Tivo's, gave him the host ID, CC ID & S/N, and in 5 minutes everything was working.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Like I said...


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## Drpato (Apr 12, 2017)

cgould said:


> New Roamio is working well, Comcast also gave me a nice retention discount and free HBO for a while, except- it's not working on my Roamio.
> My Premiere is working fine on HBO, and the cablecard "Val" Conditional Access field is "V" (validated?)...
> on the M card in the Roamio, Val is still "?", though w/ each hit the actual number increases eg 0x09,0x10,0x17, etc...
> Conditional access is "Yes" etc, I get all the other channels, just not HBO and MGMHD .
> ...


SOLVED

Cablecard head end is wrong. Downstream destination code needs to be changed. I had to escalate to Level 4 tech support for them to figure this out. Looked at my neighbors signals, saw different town. Changed head end. Sent new signals and I got Premium channels.


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