# CableCARD Compatibility



## beerguy045 (May 1, 2010)

Hey guys,

Just got a Premiere XL and had an appointment setup today for the CableCARD install. Rep called me 40 mins after he was supposed to be here saying that someone should have called me to reschedule as the cards were back ordered and he had no idea when they'd be in.

Long story short, I noticed my current Comcast box (RNG110) has a removable CableCARD. Comcast says it isn't compatible and I still have to wait for the back order to come in.

My question: is Comcast bs'ing me? I think the card is a Motorola Media Cipher M-Card. I'm curious because of the "Media Cipher".

Thanks


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## vansmack (Dec 1, 2003)

I voted no because in SF you can pick them up at the customer service center. 

Getting them properly paired, however? Well that was a 2 week project.


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## caddyroger (Mar 15, 2005)

I vote no we are able to pick up the cards our self.
Even if the cards was the same you can not tamper with the Comcast box. They would know that it was in another Comcast box by the serial number.


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## Archipelagos (Mar 26, 2010)

Another no vote from me. Walked into the local office, and called the 800#. Took about 20 minutes.


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## beerguy045 (May 1, 2010)

caddyroger said:


> I vote no we are able to pick up the cards our self.
> Even if the cards was the same you can not tamper with the Comcast box. They would know that it was in another Comcast box by the serial number.


I don't want to tamper with my current box. The box has a removable card that my Tivo can use also and it's nicer so I'd rather use it. If I'm paying for it, why can't I use it in any device?

Comcast is insisting on a tech visit which I don't even mind paying for.. everything would be done correctly by the tech (hopefully), the unpairing and pairing that is.

The FCC requires them to offer the cards which they aren't even realistically doing. Why is there no alternative solution?
It's just "here, we'll make you an appointment but we're not going to guarantee an install, it could still be back ordered, good luck."


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## beerguy045 (May 1, 2010)

Archipelagos said:


> Another no vote from me. Walked into the local office, and called the 800#. Took about 20 minutes.


Haha, you guys are lucky. This is killing the Tivo experience for me.


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## DaveWhittle (Jul 25, 2002)

Have you seen this page on the TiVo site?


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## beerguy045 (May 1, 2010)

DaveWhittle said:


> Have you seen this page on the TiVo site?


That's the long story short part. Had Tivo do a 3-way yesterday with Comcast and the rep we got wouldn't give any estimated date, wouldn't acknowledge that they're required to give them out by the FCC, and he wouldn't even get me a supervisor to talk to.

When I asked him why I had received 2 confirmation calls for my appointment prior to the field tech canceling at the last minute, he said that they have no way of confirming the CableCARD inventories.

I worked at a crappy mom & pop retail store and even we had inventory counts.. you mean to tell me this giant monopoly of a cable company doesn't have this basic technology?

This wasn't an acceptable response at all.
I'm pretty sure the Tivo rep was even angrier than I was.

I've been told that this matter has been escalated to Tivo's corporate legal team so I can't wait to see what happens next.


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## yunlin12 (Mar 15, 2003)

Have you looked at any competition you can go to? Maybe Verizon FiOS which deploys cable cards, or maybe RCN, which is rolling out Tivo Premiere-based boxes of their own


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

beerguy045 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> Long story short, I noticed my current Comcast box (RNG110) has a removable CableCARD. Comcast says it isn't compatible and I still have to wait for the back order to come in.
> 
> My question: is Comcast bs'ing me? I think the card is a Motorola Media Cipher M-Card. I'm curious because of the "Media Cipher".


Yes, they are BS'ing you. If they wanted to, they could take the card pre-installed in the cable box and pair it with your Tivo.


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

When I switched from S2 SD units HD XLs in March because of the Comcast move to digital, the service tech spent over two hours setting up my system. Ten minutes of that was installing the M-cards. He had S-cards with him, but wouldn't use them. The rest of the time was spent rebuilding my entire, 15 year old, seven drop system. New drop from the cable head, new grounds, new amplifier and broadband splitter, and he wouldn't quit until the signal and everything was perfect. All on a $16.50 cable card install service call. Also gave me his cell number and told me to call if I had any problems. Can't beat that kind of service with stick as far as I'm concerned.

Then, when one of the HD XL units he set up had an infant mortality failure and I replaced it with a PXL, I tried a plug and play with the existing M-card and it worked fine except getting funky with a couple of channels....and then that cleared up, too.

Swapping over to the HD units has been somewhat painful, and expensive, because of multiple equipment failures and the initial bugginess of the PXL.....Comcast however, has been nothing but helpful and great.


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## littletoolshed (May 2, 2010)

I just walked into the Comcast office and picked one up today. Called the 800# to activate it, and am now waiting for the pairing and whatnot to complete. No trouble so far.


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## beerguy045 (May 1, 2010)

Called Tivo this morning and got the same rep again, haha. He was again awesome. I explained I had an M cablecard from the current HD box but was having trouble getting Comcast to swap it to the Tivo. He did another 3-way with Comcast and they actually paired it this time. I really think this depends on the rep that you get.

It took awhile to download the channels and when that finished, all of them still said searching for signal.

I called Tivo back again and got a different rep. He informed me the last step was to pair the cable card to the correct headend office, something that regular Comcast reps can't do. He said a local dispatcher needed contacted with all my information to set this up. During this step, I was asked for more information than before in the previous pairing call. Tivo could not contact the dispatchers directly, Comcast has a separate department that communicates with them. For anyone doing this process, their number was 1-800-310-1675.

About 2 hours later, the Tivo was up and I have the channels now.

Thanks again for all the help Tivo customer service!


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## Fist of Death (Jan 4, 2002)

Archipelagos said:


> Another no vote from me. Walked into the local office, and called the 800#. Took about 20 minutes.


Exactly my experience. I'm going to give the Comcast office in Redmond, WA a thumb's up. :up:


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## Bettyboop72 (Apr 13, 2011)

So it looks like a year after this initial thread began Comcast is still up to their same games. We recently switched from DirecTv to Comcast and the main reason for the switch was to use the TiVo Premier XL. We went to the local Comcast location tom pick up a card...after an hour wait, we were told that they no longer issue cable cards from the locations and a tech would need to come out and install. So, the earliest appointment was 5 days later (8-11am). Took the morning off of work, and received a call @ 10:30 am to be told, "sorry, no cable cards in stock!". They rescheduled the appointment for two days later (8-11am)....surprise, surprise...received a call at 9:45am, the day of the appointment..."sorry,no cable cards in stock!". Five more days have gone by, I called Comcast again since no one has called me and now I have been told that they have no idea when they will be in stock. We love our TiVo but truly think that Comcast is making it difficult to obtain a cable card because they want us to pay the monthly fee for one of their boxes!


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## JimboG (May 27, 2007)

Bettyboop72 said:


> We went to the local Comcast location


Where exactly is "local" for you? Cablecard availability depends greatly on the kind of shenanigans that your specific Comcast franchise perpetrates.

I would recommend filing a complaint with the FCC and another complaint with the local cable franchising authority (probably your city or county government). The squeaky wheel gets the grease (or perhaps "working Cablecard".)


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## mblloyd (Feb 11, 2007)

Fist of Death said:


> Exactly my experience. I'm going to give the Comcast office in Redmond, WA a thumb's up. :up:


There are those of us who choose to live where there is excellent Comcast service (Redmond area) even if it means forty days and nights of rain.


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## CanCanCase (Apr 7, 2011)

Charter is the only cable provider in this area. Similar horror story though.
Ordered M-Card, waited for install appointment, tech refused to install card - said it wouldn't work in my TV and I should get a DVR box from the company because it was "just like TiVo" (of course, we all know better!) 

When I called to have the incomplete install completed, I mentioned to send me a different tech. Waited for the new appointment. Guy came, got flustered, and claimed "it's all good" while the TiVo was downloading its guide listings. Of course, it wasn't paired/activated. 12 calls and 6-hours of my life wasted on the phone with these monkeys, and they finally decided I needed a "tuning adapter" but the earliest available to fix it was in 2 weeks.

Funny, about 5 minutes after I asked for the order to be cancelled and refund my first week's billing, a tech showed up at the house, spent 20 minutes on the phone and made it work. 

Now for the question: Are the VOD channels that Comquest, Charter, et al list in the guide supposed to be active and work with a cable carded TiVo? Does any cable-company "on demand" type programming work with my favorite box, or do I need to keep a crummy Motorola box in the rack to see any VOD and PPV?

-Case


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## caddyroger (Mar 15, 2005)

CanCanCase said:


> Charter is the only cable provider in this area. Similar horror story though.
> Ordered M-Card, waited for install appointment, tech refused to install card - said it wouldn't work in my TV and I should get a DVR box from the company because it was "just like TiVo" (of course, we all know better!)
> 
> When I called to have the incomplete install completed, I mentioned to send me a different tech. Waited for the new appointment. Guy came, got flustered, and claimed "it's all good" while the TiVo was downloading its guide listings. Of course, it wasn't paired/activated. 12 calls and 6-hours of my life wasted on the phone with these monkeys, and they finally decided I needed a "tuning adapter" but the earliest available to fix it was in 2 weeks.
> ...


No VOD will not work with a tivo. Per per view has to called in to work. You need to use a Motorola box for VOD


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## rija17876 (Oct 27, 2009)

If this is not the place to ask this question, I apologise in advance, and will gladly post in another more apporpriate thread.

I currently have Fios with a DVR. I just purchased a TIVO Premiere and is looking forward to maximize the Tivo. I already know that I need a M-Card from Fios. However, recently I saw a TIVO Premiere on sale on Ebay that said it comes with a Motorola MediaCypher cable card, that you won't need to pay the monthly M-Card fee from Fios.

Does anyone know if you can own a MediaCyper card outright and that will work inplace of the M-Card from FIOS. I do see MediaCypher cards on sale on Ebay. Obviously, why pay fixed monthly fees to Fios when you can own the equipment/card outright. Would apprecaiate if anyone has any insights.

Thanks.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

It wasn't like pulling teeth, but I am a DIYer and I had to have a truck roll. 

Also, have lost programming for some channels twice. Have to call in and have the box hit again. PITA, but not horrible.


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