# Cable Card?



## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

I am getting ready to move my cable card from my Series 3 to my new Bolt and I was just wondering which way the card should go into the Bolt. Does one side face up and if so how do you tell. Thanks fo any advice.


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## netw0rks (Sep 18, 2013)

It will only slide all the way in one way. In my case, the "top" of the cable card (with the label) faces you as you put it in.


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## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

netw0rks said:


> It will only slide all the way in one way. In my case, the "top" of the cable card (with the label) faces you as you put it in.


Thanks for letting me know. I just got a Bolt and am planning to activate the card tomorrow and was not sure which way to put it in the slot.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

My company made me replace the Cable Card as they said it can not be transferred to another device.
But I will give their a shot when I get my BOLT PRO.



Gilgamesch said:


> Thanks for letting me know. I just got a Bolt and am planning to activate the card tomorrow and was not sure which way to put it in the slot.


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## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

zerdian1 said:


> My company made me replace the Cable Card as they said it can not be transferred to another device.
> But I will give their a shot when I get my BOLT PRO.


I actually called Time Warner and asked if the card could be transfered from my Series 3 to the Bolt and they said yes. Guess I will find out tomorrow.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

zerdian1 said:


> My company made me replace the Cable Card as they said it can not be transferred to another device.


They don't know what the [email protected]$ they're talking about.

That would imply that each new cable card is a ONE USE device.

You simply put it in the new Tivo, and then have to call up the cable company (hopefully some eon companies will have *web sites* where we can do this ourselves) and have them re-pair to your new Tivo.

You very well may get a significant portion of your channels even BEFORE re-pairing, but likely will not get anything premium (e.g. HBO).


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## mskate (Aug 31, 2008)

Related question please...how do I remove the cable card from the Bolt. There doesn't appear to be a quick release button to remove it.

I contacted Tivo support directly and the analyst didn't know.

Appreciate your response on how to remove it, thanks.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mskate said:


> Related question please...how do I remove the cable card from the Bolt. There doesn't appear to be a quick release button to remove it.
> 
> I contacted Tivo support directly and the analyst didn't know.
> 
> Appreciate your response on how to remove it, thanks.


There is a green lever you push. Well actually it is a green piece of plastic over a metal lever. Since one of my green pieces of plastic broke off on a Bolt.
The instruction manual also shows how to insert and remove a cable card in the Bolt. That is what I looked at before inserting my first cable card in a bolt.


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## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> There is a green lever you push. Well actually it is a green piece of plastic over a metal lever. Since one of my green pieces of plastic broke off on a Bolt.
> The instruction manual also shows how to insert and remove a cable card in the Bolt. That is what I looked at before inserting my first cable card in a bolt.


Where do I find the manual? I know the box only had a small pamphlet with no details about the Bolt. I assume the manual is available online.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Gilgamesch said:


> Where do I find the manual? I know the box only had a small pamphlet with no details about the Bolt. I assume the manual is available online.


Here is the manual Viewers Guide.
http://assets.tivo.com/assets/resources/HowTo/BOLT_VG_31AUG2015.pdf

But maybe it wasn't the manual Viewers Guide I used. I didn't see the CC info there.
I do see it on this page though.

https://www.tivo.com/quick-links/welcome-center-tivo-bolt/setup-and-connect

That could have been what I looked at. I must have used that after looking through the manual Viewers Guide.


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## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> Here is the manual Viewers Guide.
> http://assets.tivo.com/assets/resources/HowTo/BOLT_VG_31AUG2015.pdf
> 
> But maybe it wasn't the manual Viewers Guide I used. I didn't see the CC info there.
> ...


Thanks. I was wondering which way to insert the cable card and now I know. Plan to get that activated so I can start enjoying my Bolt today.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

zerdian1 said:


> My company made me replace the Cable Card as they said it can not be transferred to another device.


Sounds like a bid to get you to pay for a truck roll to deliver a new CableCARD. .


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## HobokenSkier (Oct 14, 2015)

Gilgamesch said:


> I actually called Time Warner and asked if the card could be transfered from my Series 3 to the Bolt and they said yes. Guess I will find out tomorrow.


TWC definitely can move a cable card.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

These little bs things from tw should all go to the fcc. They don't know what happens out in the TiVo trenches, and without data from us users, how could they?


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

They said at Comcast their policy is to give you a newly programmed cablecard with each new device to minimize problems.
even when a tech has a half dozen cable cards that he tries in your device, all the used ones go back to be refurbished/reprogrammed.
It is not impossible that it might work, but chances are you will have to replace it anyway.
I have tried it with a cable card moving from my Roamio Basic to my Roamio Pro.
It did not authorize on my new device.
I had to get two new cablecards.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Only today did I remove the CableCARD from my TiVo Premiere (which I am not using), install it in my new Bolt and called up Cox technical support to pair it. I did the same thing going from Premiere to Roamio and from Series3 (original model) to Premiere.


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## rochambeaux (Nov 3, 2015)

TWC (Austin, TX) had to install a huge, ugly black "tuning" box to get the cablecard to work in my new Bolt. 

When I removed the cablecard today from the Bolt it was extremely hot - not sure how that slot is cooled but it seems like the cablecard is acting as heat sink for the rest of hte unit.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

rochambeaux said:


> TWC (Austin, TX) had to install a huge, ugly black "tuning" box to get the cablecard to work in my new Bolt.


Some channels will work without the tuning adapter.



rochambeaux said:


> When I removed the cablecard today from the Bolt it was extremely hot - not sure how that slot is cooled but it seems like the cablecard is acting as heat sink for the rest of hte unit.


I think the CableCard itself produces heat.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

rochambeaux said:


> TWC (Austin, TX) had to install a huge, ugly black "tuning" box to get the cablecard to work in my new Bolt.


I have the as well on Cox San Diego. I believe that most cable systems use Switched Digital Video these days, requiring the Tuning Adapter on CableCARD devices. SDV requires the tuner to send a message telling it that it wants a particular channel. If the channel is already on the wire in your neighborhood, it sends back information as to where it is (frequency, program number); if it's not there already, it allocates space for it and makes the channel available in your neighborhood (network segment typically being 500-2000 homes, I believe) and send information to the tuner. When no one has been using a switched channel for a while the system takes it down. This allows cable systems to offer an essentially unbounded number of channels.

CableCARDs are unidirectional; unlike leased cable boxes they can't send messages back to the cable system. The Tuning Adapter takes requests from TiVo over USB and relays them to the cable system using whatever proprietary SDV system the cable provider is using, then passes the response back to TiVo. It's not a very complicated or compute intensive process. Given this, you'd think that they could be smaller .


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Comcast is the largest US cable company, and they do not use SDV. Instead they are increasing capacity by implement mpeg4.

I'm sure you have Cisco tuning adapters; they are monstrous! Here in LA TWC is using Motorola boxes, about the size of a full-size disk drive.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

ej42137 said:


> Comcast is the largest US cable company, and they do not use SDV. Instead they are increasing capacity by implement mpeg4.
> 
> I'm sure you have Cisco tuning adapters; they are monstrous! Here in LA TWC is using Motorola boxes, about the size of a full-size disk drive.


Funny thing, TWC in my neck of the woods won't let a cable card out the door without sending a TA with it (although fortunately it's not necessary for the channels for which we pay, so they're still in their shrink wrap gathering dust), but basically you're getting a cable card to avoid a big old cable box and then still getting handed a box that's just as big, if not bigger.

On the other hand, for my S2s, I get Cisco 170s from them, which only have RF and HDMI out, and they're about the size you indicate the Motorolas are.


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## Gilgamesch (Dec 6, 2003)

Well much to my surprise I moved the CC and tuning adapter over to my new Bolt and called TWC and was up and running in 5 minutes. Sure is nice when things go smoothly.


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