# Does TiVo Premier have 2 cable card tuners or not??



## rodneyremington (Dec 20, 2003)

I've searched through all the discussion today about the newly announced TiVo Premier but I must be missing the boat because nobody seems to be discussing the critical issue...that is according to the specs I've seen, it only has ONE cable card. What the heck. Does that mean we are back to only being able to record one thing at a time?? Or do we have to have a dual cable card. 

Will I be able to take the 2 cable cards from my current TiVo HD and swap them into the Premier, or do I have to go through the whole song and dance with comcast coming to my home to program a new dual cable card for the Premier. Because that was hell and would probably be a deal breaker for me.

Anybody know??


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

It would have one M-card slot. You won't need 2 cards.



rodneyremington said:


> I've searched through all the discussion today about the newly announced TiVo Premier but I must be missing the boat because nobody seems to be discussing the critical issue...that is according to the specs I've seen, it only has ONE cable card. What the heck. Does that mean we are back to only being able to record one thing at a time?? Or do we have to have a dual cable card.
> 
> Will I be able to take the 2 cable cards from my current TiVo HD and swap them into the Premier, or do I have to go through the whole song and dance with comcast coming to my home to program a new dual cable card for the Premier. Because that was hell and would probably be a deal breaker for me.
> 
> Anybody know??


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## maharg18 (Dec 4, 2002)

It will require an M card for dual tuner functionality.

edit: beat by a millisecond!


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

And I bet it will be easier this time around.


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## 30340guy (Apr 24, 2006)

magnus said:


> It would have one M-card slot. You won't need 2 cards.


Do you think the reason they aren't letting you record via more tuners is so that you'll go out and buy two new boxes instead of just the one?


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## rodneyremington (Dec 20, 2003)

So just to confirm, the fact that my current TiVo HD has 2 Comcast cable cards in it means that neither one is an M-card and I will have to have a Comcast installer come out to my home and install a new card into a Premier box.

Correct?

If so, crap. here we go again with the know-nothing Comcast installer who will be there sometime between 8 AM and 5 PM.


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## t1voproof (Feb 6, 2010)

Anyone know if the tuners still do analog?


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

t1voproof said:


> Anyone know if the tuners still do analog?


cablecard approvale requires analog support if i recall


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

rodneyremington said:


> So just to confirm, the fact that my current TiVo HD has 2 Comcast cable cards in it means that neither one is an M-card and I will have to have a Comcast installer come out to my home and install a new card into a Premier box.
> 
> Correct?
> 
> If so, crap. here we go again with the know-nothing Comcast installer who will be there sometime between 8 AM and 5 PM.


not for sure- but i think if the first card is an S than the second could be s or m.

even if it is an M- you probably cant just unplug the card and stick it in the tivo- it has to get paired or somesuch and then the pairing number entered in the comcast system. (not all systems are locked down like that)


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## Sapphire (Sep 10, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> cablecard approvale requires analog support if i recall


No they don't.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

Raj said:


> No they don't.


I'm fairly certain- I think that's why the moxi has the analog dongle thingie availible.


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## Sapphire (Sep 10, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> I'm fairly certain- I think that's why the moxi has the analog dongle thingie availible.


I'm fairly certain they don't because the Ceton MOCUR doesn't have analog support.


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## djjuice (Mar 29, 2008)

rodneyremington said:


> I've searched through all the discussion today about the newly announced TiVo Premier but I must be missing the boat because nobody seems to be discussing the critical issue...that is according to the specs I've seen, it only has ONE cable card. What the heck. Does that mean we are back to only being able to record one thing at a time?? Or do we have to have a dual cable card.
> 
> Will I be able to take the 2 cable cards from my current TiVo HD and swap them into the Premier, or do I have to go through the whole song and dance with comcast coming to my home to program a new dual cable card for the Premier. Because that was hell and would probably be a deal breaker for me.
> 
> Anybody know??


if you have a TivoHD you only need 1 M-Card, if you have a Series 3 you need to S-Cards or 2 M-Cards. Comcast only has M-Cards I believe. You can go to your local comcast store and they will give them to you. first card is no charge 2nd is like an extra dollar a month. This box will require just 1 M-card.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> I'm fairly certain- I think that's why the moxi has the analog dongle thingie availible.


_OpenCable Specifications
OpenCable Host Device 2.1 Core
Functional Requirements_
can be found here:
http://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/OC-SP-HOST2.1-CFR-I10-091211.pdf



> The OCHD2.1 will be introduced into an environment containing many existing analog set-top devices. The
> OCHD2.1 will be able to receive analog services that are unscrambled. Analog video


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

Raj said:


> I'm fairly certain they don't because the Ceton MOCUR doesn't have analog support and it's (going to be) Cablelabs certified when it's released.


interesting


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## Sapphire (Sep 10, 2002)

I was surprised too because like yourself I was under the impression that analog was required for cablelabs certification. But apparently it's not, and they've even loosened up the certification guidelines to include network tuners like jafa's hdhomerun cablecard tuner.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

djjuice said:


> if you have a Series 3 you need to [sic] S-Cards or 2 M-Cards. Comcast only has M-Cards I believe.


Pedantic nitpicks (redundant?): or 1 S-card and 1 M-card.

Also I presume you might mean that Comcast only now gives out M-cards, but when I got cablecards for one of my Tivos, within the last year, whenever they switched extended basic to digital, I got 2 S cards. (My TivoHD was more convenient at the time to put the cablecards in, so it has 2 S cards even though that's unnecessary.. Probably this weekend I'll finally get an M card, and use the S cards for my currently analog-only S3.)


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## Sapphire (Sep 10, 2002)

MichaelK said:


> _OpenCable Specifications
> OpenCable Host Device 2.1 Core
> Functional Requirements_
> can be found here:
> http://www.cablelabs.com/specifications/OC-SP-HOST2.1-CFR-I10-091211.pdf


You could be right. I was going by what Ceton Corp was saying about their product in that they only support digital cable. Then again the requirements for OCURs for PCs may be different than for host devices such as TiVo.

But then again the spec never says that it was mandatory, and it lists OCAP in the same context as analog, and as we know TiVo or any third party host device doesn't have OCAP yet.

Meanwhile there are at least two devices (SD CableCard tuner and Ceton quad tuner MOCUR) that don't have analog support at all. The SD CC tuner has already undergone its first round of testing at CableLabs and the Ceton MOCUR is going to be released at the end of the month from all indications.


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## t1voproof (Feb 6, 2010)

So you guys think the new Tivo will work with analog cable perhaps with a dongle needed?


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

t1voproof said:


> So you guys think the new Tivo will work with analog cable perhaps with a dongle needed?


Why would it not work with analog cable out of the box?


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Yes it still supports analog, no you won't need a dongle. TiVoStephen confirmed analog in another thread.


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## MrMike1876 (Dec 13, 2002)

so this M cable card - do cable companies already have this available? so does that mean you only have to pay for one card?

can this technology be done with existing series 3...

just asking.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

MrMike1876 said:


> so this M cable card - do cable companies already have this available? so does that mean you only have to pay for one card?


The old S-CARDs haven't been manufactured in nearly two years. All new CableCards are M-CARDs, and that's all most cable companies have now.



MrMike1876 said:


> can this technology be done with existing series 3...


The older Series3 does not support M-CARDs (they work, but it treats them as S-CARDs). That will not change.

The TiVo HD and the TiVo Premiere are the only TiVo DVRs to support multiple tuners with a single M-CARD.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

MrMike, most cable companies now carry what are called multi-stream cablecards, or "M-cards".

But the Series 3 still unfortunately requires 2 cards to get dual tuner support.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

MrMike1876 said:


> so this M cable card - do cable companies already have this available? so does that mean you only have to pay for one card?
> 
> can this technology be done with existing series 3...
> 
> just asking.


Yes, the M-cards should be fairly readily available. S-cards haven't even been manufactured for quite some time. Any S-cards still floating about are existing inventory. Good luck in trying to request an M-Card though; you'll be dealing with under-trained customer service reps who barely know what a cablecard is, let alone an M-card.

As for Series 3, those boxes are currently incompatible with M-cards. Whether this is a hardware or software issue, I'm not completely clear on, but in either case, it doesn't appear remotely likely that the S3 will ever support M-cards. The TiVo HD supports M-cards, as will the TiVo Premiere.


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## dolcevita (Jan 1, 2004)

djjuice said:


> Comcast only has M-Cards I believe. You can go to your local comcast store and they will give them to you. first card is no charge 2nd is like an extra dollar a month. This box will require just 1 M-card.


In my area, Comcast insists they do not have M-cards, only S-cards.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

They can insist it, it doesn't necessarily make it true.


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## minkeygirl (Nov 13, 2010)

I just ordered the premiere but need some information re: the cards since I don't trust Time Warner to help me. I am not hi tech at all, don't have HD. I got this to avoid paying for digital box to the tune of $8/mo. Could I use a basic cable card for the digital tuner and then nothing on the basic cable tuner? (My goal is to pay TWC as little as possible).

Please dumb down the answer for me please. Thanks


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## tattube (Oct 24, 2010)

The PXL will process non HD signals (I don't think analog exists anymore) without a cable card. 
If you want to receive HD you will need a M (for multi-stream) card.

I have comcast in northern california and they allowed me to install the M-card myself, though I did have to call comcast partway through the installation to have the card 'paired' to the tivo box. 
This pairing is routine to the installation, and will go smoothly if you get the right comcast rep on the phone. Good luck with that.

_*Will I be able to take the 2 cable cards from my current TiVo HD and swap them into the Premier, or do I have to go through the whole song and dance with comcast coming to my home to program a new dual cable card for the Premier.*_

My understanding is that comcast has been using m-cards in the HD tivo for the past couple of years...so try to confirm this this, and you probably can use one card from the tivo HD in your new Premiere.
You will still need to 'pair' it with the new box.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

rodneyremington said:


> So just to confirm, the fact that my current TiVo HD has 2 Comcast cable cards in it means that neither one is an M-card and I will have to have a Comcast installer come out to my home and install a new card into a Premier box.
> 
> Correct?
> 
> If so, crap. here we go again with the know-nothing Comcast installer who will be there sometime between 8 AM and 5 PM.


They might be M-Cards. Depends on how old they are.

Andy


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## ryguyMN (Nov 11, 2010)

tattube said:


> _*Will I be able to take the 2 cable cards from my current TiVo HD and swap them into the Premier, or do I have to go through the whole song and dance with comcast coming to my home to program a new dual cable card for the Premier.*_
> 
> My understanding is that comcast has been using m-cards in the HD tivo for the past couple of years...so try to confirm this this, and you probably can use one card from the tivo HD in your new Premiere.
> You will still need to 'pair' it with the new box.


Since there are two cards in the Tivo HD, I'm guessing they are the old S-Cards. These will need to be swapped for a M-Card. Comcast, from my understanding, has been using the M-Card for a couple years now in their set-top boxes as well as deployment in Tivos and tuners that accept cablecards. Make sure you request a M-Card, although I'm sure that is what you will get by default.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

minkeygirl said:


> Could I use a basic cable card for the digital tuner and then nothing on the basic cable tuner?


The Premiere only takes one card, which covers both tuners. It has to be a multi-stream card. But that's the normal type of card offered now, since single-stream cards are no longer made.


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