# Tivo Premiere and Cablecard fios.



## major (Nov 22, 2010)

sorry if this is a newb question. I don't know anything about tivo. I currently have verizon fios installed with there hd set top box (not a dvr). i going to buy a tv that comes with a tivo premiere. so my question is since im technically buying the tivo box and i already have verizon fios and if they can provide me with a cablecard to install in tivo box is there a service charge/agreement from either verizon or tivo to use it or does installing the cablecard work as my verizon set top box?


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

major said:


> sorry if this is a newb question. I don't know anything about tivo. I currently have verizon fios installed with there hd set top box (not a dvr). i going to buy a tv that comes with a tivo premiere. so my question is since im technically buying the tivo box and i already have verizon fios and if they can provide me with a cablecard to install in tivo box is there a service charge/agreement from either verizon or tivo to use it or does installing the cablecard work as my verizon set top box?


There is a monthly fee for the Tivo service. The monthly fee is dependent on how much you paid for the box. Verizon also charges a monthly fee for the Cablecard. I currently have FIOS with a Premiere and cablecard.

Sadly, there no free way to get guide data. Even if you build your own HTPC, you need to pay someone for guide data.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

plazman30 said:


> Sadly, there no free way to get guide data. Even if you build your own HTPC, you need to pay someone for guide data.


Not quite accurate, MS handles the cost of the guide data for Windows Media Center, so while not truly "free" there is no cost to the end user for it.


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## Quake97 (Apr 24, 2006)

Verizon charges $3.99/month for a cablecard.

Joe


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## RepairDad (Jun 9, 2003)

TiVo Premiere and a cable card gives you *almost* the same thing as your FIOS STB. But you will lose the onDemand features. Premiere doesn't support bi-directional communication. 

I have a Premiere and CableCard with FIOS. It works great. I don't need onDemand on the TV I have hooked up to the Premiere. I have a basic STB on the other TV. 

~Rick


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## Playloud (Jan 6, 2008)

RepairDad said:


> TiVo Premiere and a cable card gives you *almost* the same thing as your FIOS STB. But you will lose the onDemand features. Premiere doesn't support bi-directional communication.
> 
> I have a Premiere and CableCard with FIOS. It works great. I don't need onDemand on the TV I have hooked up to the Premiere. I have a basic STB on the other TV.
> 
> ~Rick


On the other hand, the guide data on the Tivo is much better than the guide data on the FIOS DVR. Our FIOS DVR often has a generic show description on some of the syndicated stuff, while the Tivo has a full description, complete with episode title, episode number, stars, guest stars, director, producer, original air date, etc.


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## shamilian (Mar 27, 2003)

Quake97 said:


> Verizon charges $3.99/month for a cablecard.
> 
> Joe


FIOS installs cablecards for free. (no installation costs)


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## Jackamus (Sep 20, 2010)

I have the Cablecard from FiOS. I pay 3.99 a month and there was no install fee. I've got two cards for each of my TiVo Premieres.


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## Brighton Line (Mar 15, 2006)

Monthly Fee from Tivo and Monthly Fee for Cablecards from Verizon. Still should be cheaper then box rental/dvr fee from Verizon if you aren't on a package. I know for Cablevision only $2 for a card with tivo fee is cheaper then a cablebox fee and DVR fee leaving what you pay for programs out of the equation.


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## Ready4TiVo (Sep 16, 2004)

Maybe I missed it so I am asking anyway: got a Premiere HD box for $85 at Costco - they just appeared yesterday, stacked up near the HD TVs. I am replacing my Series3 HD box, the one with the program names backlit on the front panel. (Great box, three years old, who wants it?) This may be a silly question but I'd like to be certain of my options before calling Verizon: my current box has two cable cards. I need to get one double-stream cable card for the new box, or can I simply use one of the existing cards?


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## PapaArt (May 28, 2008)

Ready4TiVo said:


> Maybe I missed it so I am asking anyway: got a Premiere HD box for $85 at Costco - they just appeared yesterday, stacked up near the HD TVs. I am replacing my Series3 HD box, the one with the program names backlit on the front panel. (Great box, three years old, who wants it?) This may be a silly question but I'd like to be certain of my options before calling Verizon: my current box has two cable cards. I need to get one double-stream cable card for the new box, or can I simply use one of the existing cards?


If one of the two cards from the S3 is an M-Card, yes. However, if both cards S-Cards, no. The premiere only uses an M-Card.

PapaArt


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## Ready4TiVo (Sep 16, 2004)

Perfect. Thank you.


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## Supermike (Jan 18, 2006)

shamilian said:


> FIOS installs cablecards for free. (no installation costs)


I was told by the Verizon tech that any service call is a $75 charge. Already had FIOS internet, so when I added cable service, they gave me free installation and brought the cable card with them, I was told explicitly that if I called later to have a second cable card installed in an additional Tivo, that it would cost me $75.

So cable card installation is not strictly free.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Supermike said:


> I was told by the Verizon tech that any service call is a $75 charge. Already had FIOS internet, so when I added cable service, they gave me free installation and brought the cable card with them, I was told explicitly that if I called later to have a second cable card installed in an additional Tivo, that it would cost me $75.
> 
> So cable card installation is not strictly free.


Incorrect in almost any situation, FiOS is notorious for saying that it used to require a $70 truck roll fee, but in reality they would not charge for a truck roll that was just CableCARD related, there are years of TCF member experiences backing this up.

As of 08/01/2011 most Verizon FiOS regions are also allowing self-install of CableCARDs, I know I did one over Labor day weekend, it was insanely easy.


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## ducker (Feb 21, 2006)

dianebrat said:


> Incorrect in almost any situation, FiOS is notorious for saying that it used to require a $70 truck roll fee, but in reality they would not charge for a truck roll that was just CableCARD related, there are years of TCF member experiences backing this up.
> 
> As of 08/01/2011 most Verizon FiOS regions are also allowing self-install of CableCARDs, I know I did one over Labor day weekend, it was insanely easy.


Yep yep!! you can even order the card on their website now. Originally I was going to have to request it via phone later.


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## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

Ready4TiVo said:


> Maybe I missed it so I am asking anyway: got a Premiere HD box for $85 at Costco - they just appeared yesterday, stacked up near the HD TVs. I am replacing my Series3 HD box, the one with the program names backlit on the front panel. (Great box, three years old, who wants it?) This may be a silly question but I'd like to be certain of my options before calling Verizon: my current box has two cable cards. I need to get one double-stream cable card for the new box, or can I simply use one of the existing cards?


The Premiere uses just one MS card, being there's just the one slot on the back panel...

But will record fine without a card or tuner up to channel 100, um, that's with cable, sorry FIOS won't be strung in my area for another 5 yrs, yet my neightbor 4 blocks away has had it for 2 yrs now


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Make sure you don't have single stream cards with the S3 boxes. I used to have six single stream cards with my three S3 boxes. And if I had not called them to change out the cards to multistream, they would have let me continue using the single stream cards. Of course a Single Stream card will not even work in a Premiere.


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