# Tivo Premiere and Comcast Cable Card



## taba1347 (Oct 20, 2010)

Hi, 

I just recently purchased a Tivo premiere and have been trying to work with Comcast on getting a M-cable card installed into my Tivo. I live in Chicago and Comcast is saying that they do not have M-cable cards and will need to install 2 cable cards in my Tivo premiere. There is only one cable card slot, on the back of the Tivo premire. Does anyone else have Comcast in Chicago area and were you able to get your Tivo premiere working with an M-Card? If Comcast is not able to provide the M-cable card, i think i will have to return my Tivo.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. 

Thanks!


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## teewow (Oct 7, 2010)

I am in South Carolina. My Comcast DVR used M-Cards ... what kind of DVRs are installed in your area?


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## Shagger (Nov 2, 2007)

Make sure you run the first guided setup BEFORE the tech gets there, otherwise it will add HOURS to the instlal time.

You only need 1 M-card. But try and have the installer bring a few cards though, the first one might not work.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=454678&highlight=comcast

The key is having a good person at the head-end, they are the ones doing the real work. The associate your service with the card in the Premiere. Don't hesitate to call Tivo if it doesn't work. there are some menus they can use to help diagnose any issues.


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## jtreid (Jan 12, 2006)

taba1347 said:


> Comcast is saying that they do not have M-cable cards and will need to install 2 cable cards in my Tivo premiere.


Odds are the rep, like most Comcast reps, doesn't know what they are talking about. Just tell them to make sure the guy brings a few cards and I'll bet they are all M-cards. When I got my Premiere (Reading, PA), the guy told me they no longer have S-cards and were in the process of replacing any S-cards they came across.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

jtreid said:


> Odds are the rep, like most Comcast reps, doesn't know what they are talking about. Just tell them to make sure the guy brings a few cards and I'll bet they are all M-cards. When I got my Premiere (Reading, PA), the guy told me they no longer have S-cards and were in the process of replacing any S-cards they came across.


Comcast phone reps are really bad. For my install, I explained that I needed an M-Card for a Tivo premiere. His response:

"Oh, is that one of the new Tivo's with the DVR built in ?"

After we got past that bit, we had to figure out what an M-Card was. Their computer only had "single cable card" and "dual cable card". He concluded it must be the latter, although it's somewhat ambiguous. Fortunately, the installer showed up with 4 cards: two s-cards and two m-cards.

You'd think by now, enough cablecard installations would have percolated through the system that the phone operators would have some competency, but apparently not.


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## MJedi (Jun 17, 2002)

Yikes! I'm in Elgin, IL which is a suburb of Chicago. I'm having a tech come tomorrow to install a CableCARD in my Premiere. I ordered and scheduled all this through their support chat. The rep could not find any mention of an M-Card in their system. The only options were "regular" and "DVR card" so I was given the DVR card. I emphasized the need for the tech to bring several cards. We shall see what happens tomorrow.


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## Ed_Hunt (Jan 2, 2004)

I just installed a premier 2 weeks ago with Comcast. It went ok, it got done. The curious thing was I asked the installer how many cablecards he had installed recently and his answer was this was the first in about 6 months. That really surprised me, I thought it was more common than that.
Just a curiosity, thats all.
Ed


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## MJedi (Jun 17, 2002)

Just as I feared, the installer came and brought a single stream CableCARD. Even though I emphasized the need for a multistream CableCARD (which the rep said is not listed in their system when I placed the order) and to bring several cards, the installer only had ONE.

Comcast FAIL.

Fortunately, the installer called to re-order and made sure to give me an M-CARD. The install will happen on Sunday. We shall see if they do it right then.


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## travisd (Feb 1, 2004)

My Comcast tech (21157) last month said that my Premiere install was only about the 5th he's done in 3 years. (5th cablecard install that is...)


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## teewow (Oct 7, 2010)

Can any Tivo Premiere owner on Comcast confirm if rebooting the TivoPre with the M-card still in the slot should not pose a problem ?


I ask because I have noticed that rebooting my Tivo with the M-card still in the slot will cause erratic cablecard problems. I spent 1/2 hour eject and reinserting the M-card to make it function normally ... is that common ? BTW, the Tivo with the same M-card was working flawlessly ... until I rebooted it.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

teewow said:


> Can any Tivo Premiere owner on Comcast confirm if rebooting the TivoPre with the M-card still in the slot should not pose a problem ?


Power-cycled mine today with no issues. I think I've done it a couple of times. I'd guess maybe something flaky with your M-Card that's causing it to not start up properly.


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## cuyahoga (Nov 15, 2002)

smbaker said:


> Power-cycled mine today with no issues. I think I've done it a couple of times. I'd guess maybe something flaky with your M-Card that's causing it to not start up properly.


I've had about 4 visits from Comcast in Southeaster Pennsylvania and I they still can't get it right.

Rate codes wrong, no pairing. Tried different hardware, still doesn't work so I don't think its me.

Any magic words I can say so the right people get involved and get this done?


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## shiffrin (Aug 23, 2000)

cuyahoga said:


> I've had about 4 visits from Comcast in Southeaster Pennsylvania and I they still can't get it right.
> 
> Rate codes wrong, no pairing. Tried different hardware, still doesn't work so I don't think its me.
> 
> Any magic words I can say so the right people get involved and get this done?


One thing that you can do is to call the Comcast Cares hotline which should be somewhere on their web pages. There is usually just one person at each Comcast office who knows the secret incantations to get cable cards to work properly. Most head end technicians know nothing about it. In my case, it took 3 visits - the first 2 were with people who knew nothing. The last took only 5 minutes once the right person was located at the head end. It had something to do with getting the 'outlets' listed in the right order. These are not physical outlets,but the way things are listed on your account.

I asked Comcast Cares why the one person who knows how to do this doesn't document it for everyone else. I got an answer that they would look into this.

Good luck.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I had a problem with this just yesterday. The tech was clueless as to the problem, as were the back office personnel trying to pair the card (problem with the tivo was mentioned, but not believed).

Later in the evening I complained to their normal phone line and immediately asked for a cablecard tech. She had to call me back and it turned out that the cablecard tech on the phone could not help me directly. But, she contacted some internal IT folks and they were able to tweak something "behind the scenes" to enable the card to be paired.

So, in short, ask for a tech on the phone- make sure they ask about the cablecard diagnostic screens, and have them contact internal IT support if it is not working.


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## pjw73nh (Sep 24, 2010)

Shagger said:


> The key is having a good person at the head-end, they are the ones doing the real work. The associate your service with the card in the Premiere.


Shagger is right on the money here. We are at the mercy of the people on the other end that are clueless as to how their product works. They have a set of "flippy" charts and if the issue doesn't fall into that realm, they send a tech out. AND they add the little threat at the end that says "If the tech finds that it isn't a Comcast issue, you will be billed for the service call".

I bought a new Premiere Saturday. Monday a Comcast tech came out (I wasn't home) put the card in and left. I lost all channels from 24-71, and only gained about 10 HD channels in the 800-810 range. I've been around the block long enough to KNOW this is a pairing/provisioning issue. I tried calling Comcast twice, and about all they can do is send a reset signal and "hope". I pleaded with them to put me in touch with someone that had experience with pairing and provisioning M-cards. The reply was that "we are all experienced". They're sending a guy out tonight. We'll see.

FYI, I bought a premiere in August (for the downstairs tv), and it was set up fine the first time and we have had no issues since. Not one.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

+1.

But, as I found out last night, sometimes the CableCard Specialist at the head-end does not have access to the tools to make it right. They may need to talk with _their _support tech to reset flags and such to provision the card.


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## sharkitus (Nov 17, 2010)

I also had a bit of an issue with Comcast, First they told me to go into there office to pickup the cable card or they could mail it to me at a cost with a 9.95 shipping charge. So I went into there office to pick it up nad avoid the 9.95 shipping but when I get there the counter person tells me they don't hand out cable cards and a tech has to come out and install it. I'm pissed but I make the appointment, earliest appointment one week later (grrr).

The tech shows up at my house and states that i'm luck he has a card on his truck as he usually doesnt carry them at all. Even though the appointment was for installing a cable card. He had to call multiple techs and home to figure out how to get the cable card working, but finally got it working with no major issues.


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## cuyahoga (Nov 15, 2002)

shiffrin said:


> One thing that you can do is to call the Comcast Cares hotline which should be somewhere on their web pages. There is usually just one person at each Comcast office who knows the secret incantations to get cable cards to work properly. Most head end technicians know nothing about it. In my case, it took 3 visits - the first 2 were with people who knew nothing. The last took only 5 minutes once the right person was located at the head end. It had something to do with getting the 'outlets' listed in the right order. These are not physical outlets,but the way things are listed on your account.
> 
> I asked Comcast Cares why the one person who knows how to do this doesn't document it for everyone else. I got an answer that they would look into this.
> 
> Good luck.


Thanks everyone!

I've been working with Escalation Support at Comcast for the last 5 or so visits. Clearly no technical knowledge there, but trying to help. The latest report from them is that all the m-cards coming out of the new warehouse in Voorhees, NJ are not programmed/flashed/etc. correctly. Apparently, there is a difference between how a cable card for a Comcast box is set up and a cable card for a TiVo (and a WMC PC and Moxi, I would assume) is initialized.

A new card is coming friday night. Lets hope.


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## Tonyeo (Jan 28, 2007)

I called for a cablecard install on Tuesday as my tivo premiere was coming on Thursday and got a tech scheduled for between 10 and 12 on Friday, the tech arrived at 11:30 with a nice new M card in hand, I had already done the first setup and update, he tested the strength of my signals coming into the house and they were good, he popped the M card in and called in, a few minutes later it was paired up and he run the channel line up, made sure the hd and regular channels came in, took my old hd box with him and left, overall a very nice clean quick install well done Comcast and the tech.


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