# New Fios HBO cablecard issues



## MrMac1958

Came back from vacation to find HBO no longer was working on my 4 Tivo's. Apparently Fios had to honor a new HBO encryption protocol that went into effect August 1st that will make it difficult to move their content between devices. Called customer support and all they could re-authorize was my Premiere Elite and ordered me new cable cards for the rest. Today new cards came and still could not authorize HBO on my Premiere XL, TiVo HD and Series 3 units. Btw all other pay services like Showtime avtivated just fine. After almost 3 hours on the phone with the CSR trying to activate them in their "normal" way he was told to try an activate them in a "card swap" activation mode. This worked for the XL and the TiVo HD but not the Series 3. He was trying to tell me it was incompatible with the new encryption, exhausted I gave the fight up on the Series 3 for now since my 3 main tv's were now working. Was hoping this may save some others some grief. Funny thing is they are saying I am the only one they have seen with this problem......isn't this what they always tell their customers.


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## spinhar1

Haven't called yet. But its only happening to one of my TiVos, the others are fine.


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## Gregor

Your Series 3 is probably using single stream cards.

Should not make a difference - both my S3s are working fine - checked to see if they were working OK before the switch.


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## wht67

I have Fios and I have lost HBO on my XL4 but not my HD TiVo. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with support trying multiple restarts, deactivating then reactivating the Mcard, pulling and reseating the Mcard. He said there have been several other calls on the same issue but the deactivation/reactivation fixed at least 2 of the others. I had to go to work so he is sending a new Mcard for me to try. He suggested swapping the Mcard out of my HD TiVo in to the XL4 but I told him I'm not doing that, the wife would have a fit if her TiVo got messed up! I have all the other channels I'm supposed to get and the TiVo diagnostics show signal strength of >94 on HBO channels but I just get black screen and "not authorized" message for the HBO channels.


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## MrMac1958

Definitely have Verizon try the "card swap" installation....that seemed to be the trick for me. Good luck.


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## FiosUser

I have same problem since last night.

S3, two single stream cards are busted. Verizon menu system and people could not activate HBO or Cinemax. They are mailing me new cards to put in.

My Tivo HD XL with one multi card works fine without me having to do anything.

The dude on the phone was stumped.


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## Gregor

One other thing to try is to have Verizon tell you what the Host ID is that they have in their system. If the Host ID is not what you see on the screen, have them change it. They will need one other piece of information from the screen to properly set up the card.


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## tobiwan

Same issue here. 2 premieres with m cards and 1 hd tivo with s cards. I went through deactivation/reactivation as others did with no luck. I am expecting a new m card tomorrow, but i am not hopeful that it will fix the issue. Fingers crossed......


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## NSPhillips

I had two single streams in my Series 3 that stopped working. I spent hours chatting with tech support Friday afternoon. He managed to unpair the one Mcard that worked in my TivoHD.

They finally decided to send a tech to pair my cards. He showed up Sunday and replaced the cards in my Series 3 with MCards. Those paired OK. But he only had two on his truck (they won't let them keep more). So I had to order another an pick it up at the store to replace the MCard that the support guy unpaired.

Got that yesterday and it took a while on the phone, but it finally paired late last night after I removed a splitter from the coax line.


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## DonaldBurns65144

Just checked HBO and have the same issue. Guess I'll need to contact FIOS and reactivate my Premiere. I knew things were going too smoothly.


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## calitivo

Same issue here. S3 wasn't getting HBO, but Tivo HD was. They sent new cards, but this isn't the issue. On the CableCard Menu, under Conditional Access, look and see what the "Val" is. If it's a "?", Verizon needs to reinput the CableCard ID, Host ID and Data information into their system. The correct "Val" should be "V". When you call Verizon support, immediately ask to get a Cablecard specialist involved. Support can only message them though, but those are the guys who need to get involved.


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## dbenrosen

Ran into the problem last night on my S3. Actually got a person who sounded like she knew what she was talking about. She said she needed to deactivate and reactivate the cards. After doing so, no joy. Still no HBO. She offered to send me new cards, but was going to charge me $19 for shipping. Or I can pick them up at my local Verizon store. I'll be picking them up later today. The most aggravating aspect is that I tried twice before to get this corrected, but since the stations were working the CSRs I spoke to in those instances wouldn't do anything (and they knew very little as well).


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## jgarman

I think that something is messed up at FiOS with single-stream cards. I have a S3 and despite about 4 hours on the phone with 5 different reps, was unable to get HBO to work again on my S3 with 2 FiOS S-Cards. I know I'm posting in the Premiere forum, but anyone with S-Cards able to successfully pair them so they can view HBO? (Even if you don't have HBO you can test by tuning to channel 131, which is also copy protected. If it's not paired correctly you'll get the CableCard grey screen).

Thanks!


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## calitivo

Lots of similar threads going around and mine was fixed by having Verizon support escalate to their Cablecard people and reinput the CableCard ID, Host ID and Data from the Cablecard menu. The Val code was "?" on Conditional Access and Tivo support says this means its not properly configured. Once Verizon did this, it changed to V and HBO was viewable.


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## jgarman

calitivo said:


> Lots of similar threads going around and mine was fixed by having Verizon support escalate to their Cablecard people and reinput the CableCard ID, Host ID and Data from the Cablecard menu. The Val code was "?" on Conditional Access and Tivo support says this means its not properly configured. Once Verizon did this, it changed to V and HBO was viewable.


Do you have M-Cards or S-Cards in your S3?


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## calitivo

jgarman said:


> Do you have M-Cards or S-Cards in your S3?


M Cards. Haven't had S in years. Verizon sent me replacements, but clearly the issue was in the ID info on their side, not the cards themselves.


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## jgarman

calitivo said:


> M Cards. Haven't had S in years. Verizon sent me replacements, but clearly the issue was in the ID info on their side, not the cards themselves.


I went through with at least 4 different techs the entire repair process- not to mention calling the 888 number for manual activation on my own and trying another pair of S-Cards (ordered by one of the techs). I think that there's something wrong with their system regarding pairing S-Cards with devices-- probably went unnoticed since I would imagine about 3 people throughout the whole system still have S-Cards, noticed that several people in this thread had the problem go away when the S-Cards were replaced with M-Cards and I haven't heard any success stories with HBO and S-Cards so far.

On the other hand, I think I found out why I still pay $2.99 for each CC instead of $3.99. Apparently the M-Cards are $3.99/mo, since I was asked to "upgrade" (and pay shipping) if I wanted to try M-Cards in my S3.


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## LDLDL

calitivo said:


> Lots of similar threads going around and mine was fixed by having Verizon support escalate to their Cablecard people and reinput the CableCard ID, Host ID and Data from the Cablecard menu. The Val code was "?" on Conditional Access and Tivo support says this means its not properly configured. Once Verizon did this, it changed to V and HBO was viewable.


Had the same problem on Premier XL & 2 other Premiers but not on the HD. The tech I talked to knew exactly what was going on and asked for the serial numbers, etc from the gray screen that showed up on channel 131. After 45 seconds, my HBO channels were back. Also, when you give them the numbers make sure they repeat them back to you. Hope this helps!


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## rrm820

i am currenly stuck in the middle between Verizon and Tivo. I have a Series 3, i'm on my second set of*cable*cards from Verizon (i have 2*cable*card*slots), that have been reset and reintialized numerous times. Both Tivo and Verizon are saying it's the other guy's problem.

After spending 3 hours on the phone with TiVo and Verizon techs, they confirmed there was no more they could do at their level. Both techs were escalating to their respective supervisors, instructing them to raise to the AD/engineers to resolve the problem.

The TiVo tech did announce that during our call, he had received an internal TiVo communique that a recent issue exists between TiVo and*fios*pertaining to copy protection on premium channels with no known resolution. Here's hoping they get the right people involved and put out a fix.*


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## MrMac1958

I feel your pain rrm820, I spent 2 days on the phone with Verizon with this issue and that's why I started this thread. Verizon was trying to say this was new to them this problem. My 3 newer Tivos are back up but not my Series 3 yet.


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## djmik

I am a FiOS cablecard customer who uses a Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime and Windows Media Center. I have the same problem which suggests this is a cablecard-only issue with Verizon. 

I too have been on the phone a few times and got a new cablecard but the cablecard still reports that I need a subscription. The cable box I have still works. It is worth noting that this is affecting both of HBOs properties, HBO and Cinemax, all channels. The rest of my pay content has no problems. 

My last call ended abruptly and I was bumped out to the main menu. This has become frustrating. Before that, I tried sharing advice from here concerning the Val: data in the cablecard's Conditional Access section. As she was going through her steps of which I had been through 4 times already, I lost her. No call back yet which means another 10 minutes wading through that auto-attendant to be placed on hold for another 10. 

I will check back here for news and post results of my experience too. 

Good luck all.


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## djmik

I got my problem fixed. I was sceptical at first and explained I did not want to go through the usual tests. She seemed to still head in that direction and performed a cablecard test. Right after that, she told me she would try something different and reloaded the card. I though this is what thjye did before but now I have all of my HBO and Cinemax! I asked for any specific language that can help you guys and she stated she performed a "CC Reload" on my cablecard. I checked the conditional access info as Calitivo indicates and it now reflects a value of "V" for Val:.

Good luck guys.


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## lcualoping

I'm having this same problem, too. We have a Premiere with an M-card that's OK, but our older S3 has S-cards and it's not showing any of the HBO/Cinemax channels. I looked in the CableCard Conditional Access menu but the S3 doesn't show a field called "Val:" Our Premiere does, though. Do you really need M-cards for this to work? I called Verizon a couple of days ago and all they could do was send me more S-cards. If I want M-cards apparently I have to go through customer service and pay a fee. I got the replacements in the mail, but they're not even provisioned so no channels show up at all. Verizon's tech support has long wait times right now so I can't talk to a tech at the moment.


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## lcualoping

So I just got off the phone with Verizon tech support for the second time today and they still couldn't get my S-cards to work. She even tried the "CC Reload" method of provisioning the cards, but that didn't work either. Right now I'm back where I started where the only channels I'm missing are the HBO/Cinemax channels. They're dispatching an on-site tech tomorrow morning and put a note that they bring 2 M-cards with them. Hopefully that will straighten things out...


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## aaronwt

I thought this problem was already solved? I thought you needed M-cards and it was fine. When I had my S3 boxes, I had changed my six S-cards out to M-cards in 2009 in anticipation of getting my Premieres in 2010.


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## lcualoping

OK, finally got this issue straightened out. You definitely need M-cards for HBO/Cinemax to work now. The S-cards are probably just too obsolete to handle this new copy-protection scheme. Their CableCard menus are also different from the M-cards so you won't see that "Val:" field. Another potential roadblock the on-site tech ran into was that one of the M-cards he got was not in the "checked-out" inventory for some reason and the back-end activation system wouldn't recognize it. We had to wait for another tech to drive here with another card. I guess it best that they take more than 2 with them if they're going to swap you out just in case one of them won't work.


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## Gregor

lcualoping said:


> OK, finally got this issue straightened out. You definitely need M-cards for HBO/Cinemax to work now. The S-cards are probably just too obsolete to handle this new copy-protection scheme. Their CableCard menus are also different from the M-cards so you won't see that "Val:" field. Another potential roadblock the on-site tech ran into was that one of the M-cards he got was not in the "checked-out" inventory for some reason and the back-end activation system wouldn't recognize it. We had to wait for another tech to drive here with another card. I guess it best that they take more than 2 with them if they're going to swap you out just in case one of them won't work.


Not true. I have 2 S3s running just fine on S cards. They have been paired correctly from the get-go.

It may be true that the Verizon can no longer pair S-cards that are not paired correctly.


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## philhu

I had this problem on my premiere.. My 2 tivohd worked fine

Fios insisted on sending me a new cablecard, it did same thing

Got a 'cablecard' specialist who did the 'cable swap' method of pairing. It took 11 minutes BUT WORKED!

My 'Val' field on the conditional access screen was '?' (0x00). After fix, it is now 'V', 0x01. Note on my tivohd, this field is 'V', 0x02


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## mikein21061

hey guys, My M-card managed to work out once i had the level 3 tech pair them correctly. No such luck though with S-cards. I'm wondering if there's a firmware updated from tivo required?


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## marleyboy

Two different M-cards, still no HBO. Verizon support rep claims they updated their info with the new CableCard, Host ID, and Data ID information, still no luck. And the "replacement" card also loses all of my non-broadcast channels too (no USA, TBS, CNN, Discovery, etc.).

The CSR claims the only thing left to do is "upgrade" us to a set-top box. I told him I will cancel my recently renewed Verizon service before I add another set top box, but will wait until after they send a service technician out here to fix it before I do that.

***UPDATE***

Finally fixed. Took getting transferred to Customer Service, who didn't understand why the support rep transferred me there, he then got a different support rep, who got it fixed. Turns out that despite the first support rep assuring me the CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data ID information they had matched, it actually didn't. Once the new support rep (thanks, Ryan!) got all of that information corrected on Verizon's end, everything is working. (FWIW, he asked me for the "POD ID" number, which appears to be the same as the CableCard ID.)


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## aaronwt

marleyboy said:


> Two different M-cards, still no HBO. Verizon support rep claims they updated their info with the new CableCard, Host ID, and Data ID information, still no luck. And the "replacement" card also loses all of my non-broadcast channels too (no USA, TBS, CNN, Discovery, etc.).
> 
> The CSR claims the only thing left to do is "upgrade" us to a set-top box. I told him I will cancel my recently renewed Verizon service before I add another set top box, but will wait until after they send a service technician out here to fix it before I do that.
> 
> ***UPDATE***
> 
> Finally fixed. Took getting transferred to Customer Service, who didn't understand why the support rep transferred me there, he then got a different support rep, who got it fixed. Turns out that despite the first support rep assuring me the CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data ID information they had matched, it actually didn't. Once the new support rep (thanks, Ryan!) got all of that information corrected on Verizon's end, everything is working. (FWIW, he asked me for the "POD ID" number, which appears to be the same as the CableCard ID.)


This has always been the case cable card installs from cable companies. Making sure they had the correct info, and also having the correct person to enter the info. Without them having the right info and without the right person, the customer is screwed.


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## Gregor

aaronwt said:


> This has always been the case cable card installs from cable companies. Making sure they had the correct info, and also having the correct person to enter the info. Without them having the right info and without the right person, the customer is screwed.


Unfortunately very, very true. Glad it got straightened out.


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## jkeefe

I have same problem and wasted an hour on the phone with FIOS center. I dropped HBO/Cinemax. If we all drop it, Verizon and HBO will figure it out.


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## aaronwt

jkeefe said:


> I have same problem and wasted an hour on the phone with FIOS center. I dropped HBO/Cinemax. If we all drop it, Verizon and HBO will figure it out.


It won't make any difference. HBO is also the main reason the DirecTV has to encrypt the HD channels for commercial distribution like in a hotel. You have to get a special TV with a Pro:Idiom decoder which adds to the cost of a normal HDTV. We went through this at work and was told HBO was one of the main providers that pushed this.

Besides a few subscribers from FiOS won't make much difference. If you got the big providers with over 10 or 20 million subscribers and had a large percentage of those people cancel, maybe it would make a difference. But FiOS only has a few million TV subscribers and even less HBO subscribers.

For me, the only reason I even have Cinemax is because it's included with the Ultimate TV tier.

Although I will subscribe to HBO for a short time only to watch a specific show, like Curb Your Enthusiasm. But once the show is finished I cancel the HBO subscription. Even at the current $8 half price deal that FiOS offers I won't subscribe to it.


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## Brentc11

I have a TIVO HD with two S-Cards. Last week I lost access to HBO and Cinemax. All other channels were viewable including Showtime and AMC.
When I tuned to HBO, I got the gray cablecard screen advising me to call the cable company (verizon). After a couple of calls, I was told that it was a software issue regarding HBO encryption of cable cards and that they were working on it. After 5 days and no HBO access, I googled the issue and saw that some people were getting HBO access with the M type Cards. So I went to the verizon store and got a new M-Card. I removed the 2 S-cards and put in the new M-card into slot one. I then used the verizon inhome agent software to attempt to activate the cards. On the last screen I was told activation failed and to call verizon support. Nevertheless, my TV was now working and I was receiving every channel except HBO and Cinemax just like before. I then called tech support who first issued an activation command and after rebooting, I then only received the basic channels and not HBO, Cinemax, AMC or STARZ. I told the support person that I thought there was both an activation and pairing step and then he sent some sort of reboot instructions to the card. This resulted in a regain of AMC and Starz, but not HBO and cinemax. I then went through the cablecard troubleshooting steps at

CableCARDs: Troubleshooting with MMI Screens
http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/137

for missing channels. From this I was able to determine that my cable card was not paired though it was activated. This information was on the conditional access menu of the cablecard diagnostic screen. If I clicked on the pairing menu, I would get the grey cable card screen. I then called back verizon support and told them that my cable card was activated but not paired and needed to be paired with my TIVO. After giving the technician all the cablecard numbers again, he issued a command and in a few seconds, I had HBO and cinemax access again. (Note, The TIVO page says the pairing command is different form pairing a card to a set top box than to a TIVO.)

After checking the system information screen, the conditional access menu now showed that the card was paired. Oddly, the pairing selection still gave the grey call the cable company screen. Since it was now working, I have chosen to ignore this.

Bottom Line:  Get an M-Card if you don't already have one. Then call Verizon to have them activate *AND* pair the cablecard with the TIVO.


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## aaronwt

Brentc11 said:


> I have a TIVO HD with two S-Cards. ....................
> 
> Bottom Line:  Get an M-Card if you don't already have one. Then call Verizon to have them activate *AND* pair the cablecard with the TIVO.


You should have switched to an M-Card years ago. Just to save on the cable card rental fee. It makes no sense to use two S-Cards if your box can use an M-Card. At least when rental fees are involved for every cable card.


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## bogart

This might help. The Verizon technician who originally activated the cards (and the specialist he consulted) did not know how to resolve the HBO issue. They left an open ticket. I called the local office and they did. 

There are two commands that might work: "Re-validate" card and "swap" card.

Oddly, one worked on the Series 3 and the other worked on the Premiere XL4. I'm not sure which, so try one, then the other if necessary. They both have M-cards.

The local Verizon agent said that sometimes TiVo has to do something on their end before Verizon can fix it. This was not necessary in my case, perhaps because the cards were newly activated. It might be worth checking in with TiVo first.


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## rrm820

My issue is finally resolved. After reading posts here about multi stream cards, i decided to call Verizon back and have them ship me multi stream cards hoping that would resolve my issue. The verizon rep, Charlie from Pittsburgh, said he could do that but he didn't think that would solve my problem. He went on to tell me that when he first heard rumblings about this issue, he consulted with a 40-year Verizon veteran techie who knew the exact 'magic' to fix this problem.

Basically, it is a Verizon problem and the Verizon tech needs to confirm the cable card info, then the tech has to run the following command 'VALIDATE SETTOP BOX' command. He said many techs don't know the command or what it does, and some times it can take up to 20-25 minutes for the command to fully execute (which is why most techs shy away from using it). But needless to say, it worked for me. He did say that sometimes if you are using 2 cards, you have to pull the cards and swap ports before the command is run. But i didn't have to do that.

So for anyone still having problems, i suggest calling Verizon, reconfirm all the card info, then have the tech execute the VALIDATE SETTOP BOX command and you should be good to go.


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## bogart

I think that's the same command I called "re-validate" card.


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## global_dev

i got my cards to work , after calling in and having the auomated computer system (not CSR) do reset on my cards... it was after hearing my cards were already activated, but not working...

---- update
9/18 Cinemax not working again - VZ sending new cablecards


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## whistler13

Worked for me too. Had 2 single stream cards installed from back in 2007 and in the last month, I was intermittently getting the "call to activate" screen. Called Verizon and asked to swap them for a single multi-stream card. To avoid the shipping, I did it in person at the local store. Make sure you keep your receipt, as it has the "activation code" on the bottom. I put in the new M card and called the activation 800 number on the screen. The prompt asked about installing cable cards and then asked for that activation code from my receipt. Then it read the last 4 digits of the cable card ID back to me which I could see on the screen. It asked me to input the 13 digit Host(?) ID and the 11 digit Data ID from the screen. Within 30 minutes, everything was working perfectly.


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## anosrat

rrm820 said:


> My issue is finally resolved. After reading posts here about multi stream cards, i decided to call Verizon back and have them ship me multi stream cards hoping that would resolve my issue. The verizon rep, Charlie from Pittsburgh, said he could do that but he didn't think that would solve my problem. He went on to tell me that when he first heard rumblings about this issue, he consulted with a 40-year Verizon veteran techie who knew the exact 'magic' to fix this problem.
> 
> Basically, it is a Verizon problem and the Verizon tech needs to confirm the cable card info, then the tech has to run the following command 'VALIDATE SETTOP BOX' command. He said many techs don't know the command or what it does, and some times it can take up to 20-25 minutes for the command to fully execute (which is why most techs shy away from using it). But needless to say, it worked for me. He did say that sometimes if you are using 2 cards, you have to pull the cards and swap ports before the command is run. But i didn't have to do that.
> 
> So for anyone still having problems, i suggest calling Verizon, reconfirm all the card info, then have the tech execute the VALIDATE SETTOP BOX command and you should be good to go.


I have been seeing the same problem and Verizon tried to tell me that my Tivo Software was not up to date. After countless hours of dealing with them and from reading these posts, I called them back, had the fios tech consult with a "cable card specialist" and he manually re-validated my cable card to make it work.


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## dsnotgood

Just had same issue. ASK THEM TO VALIDATE YOUR CARD! Also when they send the first validation request, it changes your data Id. You have to give them the new one and then have them re validate it and it will pair and activate your card.


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## dsnotgood

Also if you get a rep who has no idea what your talking about...hang up and call back and get someone else. I spent over an hour with one guy who had no idea what to do. Called back twenty minutes later and got a rep who fixed it in 10 minutes but knew what to do


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## ills0n

dsnotgood said:


> Just had same issue. ASK THEM TO VALIDATE YOUR CARD! Also when they send the first validation request, it changes your data Id. You have to give them the new one and then have them re validate it and it will pair and activate your card.


Just went through a 6+ hour call session with 2 different FiOS reps to get the same exact issue solved.

The problem was that after a validation, the data ID changes, but the rep kept putting in the old data ID I had given him. Once I got him to realize the data ID updated, he keyed it in and things started working.

I was happy to return from my visit to crazy-town. WHY CAN'T THESE REPS BE TRAINED PROPERLY??


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## Magnificat

rrm820 said:


> So for anyone still having problems, i suggest calling Verizon, reconfirm all the card info, then have the tech execute the VALIDATE SETTOP BOX command and you should be good to go.


I just wanted to say THANK YOU for posting this. I researched a bit after I bought the new Tivo (upgraded from a series 2) and was dreading encountering this issue. Activated, sure enough, HBOs not working, Val: ?. Called verizon, got a very cooperative rep. Assured him this was a card issue not a tivo issue, that tivo couldn't resolve it, and then went through the litany of fixes I've seen posted (first off, reconfirming all card info). I asked him to run this command (took about 3 minutes in my case), and it was fixed! Val: V, HBO coming in clear as a bell. All resolved inside an hour, including tivo set up. THANK YOU!


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## Bwatford141

dsnotgood said:


> Just had same issue. ASK THEM TO VALIDATE YOUR CARD! Also when they send the first validation request, it changes your data Id. You have to give them the new one and then have them re validate it and it will pair and activate your card.


Thank you so much! This worked perfectly! I chatted online with Tivo and was finally able to get this fixed by giving him the info on this thread. At first he wanted to go through their normal processes, but I kindly asked him to try this first. After it was fixed I explained that this is a widespread issue with TiVo customers and fios. He said that he has already given the information to his supervisor, and that all reps would know about this fix within a week (I doubt it...Lol). He even said that he would be saving this chat as his favorite chat and to thank me he was giving me a $20 credit!


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## billboard_NE

I just tried to get HBO on my Tivo premiere with FIOS cable service using an M type cable card. Rep said they were sending the validation to my card, but my data ID never changed. The Network department was closed, so I am waiting for a call back.


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## billboard_NE

FIOS called me, they fixed the problem, unfortunately I have no idea what they did. 

I recommend that if you do not have HBO on your Premiere that you start an on-line chat with a Verizon rep. Try to stear them to contacting the network department before they send out a new card.


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## am95

I have to call in about twice a month and I either end up talking to someone who doesn't really know what they are doing and can easily take an hour and get no where or the person knows what to do right away. I sometimes ask the latter type person what they did and they say a cable-card reload. 

If they tell you that you need a new card, talk to someone else. Last time this happened I did just that and it turned out the person I had talked to had the wrong data-ID on file.


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## MarsupialWoman

I just got off the phone with Fios. My cable cards were not getting HBO and Cinemax. 

After struggling with the phone support guy for a bit, he explained he had to do a "MANUAL Activation" with my CableCard number, Host ID, etc., from the grey/black TiVo CableCard screen.

Tune to Channel 131. If it flips to the grey/black TiVo screen, call and request a manual activation. The rep will likely say it's not prescribed for your issue, but just insist. Once the rep is done, and tells you it's successful on their side, then flip back to 131 - if you see an active channel, you are fixed!! 

This is related to the copyright issues HBO and Cinemax had in summer 2012.


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## sevenx7

My cablecards were not getting HBO or Cinemax. My installer had no idea what was wrong. I Called Verizon Customer service and Gave them the Data number again and they channels came on!
It seems like you just have to find someone with some Cablecard experience and some patience


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## starks9630

Does anyone have a name or a direct number I can call. Having the same problem. Spent 2 hours live chatting the other night, 2 hours on the phone last night and they sent a tech here this morning who was on the phone with another tech and they are saying it's a problem with the Tivo. What exactly do I need to tell the next Verizon tech I get on the phone. Everything works except for HBO and Cinemax. 2 tivos, 3 different cable cards we've tried (m cards)

Update - Found another thread where someone had said that you can tweet @verizonsupport. Tried that. An hour and a bunch of DMs later, my problem was fixed. Deactivate and reactivate.


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## debtoine

starks9630 said:


> Update - Found another thread where someone had said that you can tweet @verizonsupport. Tried that. An hour and a bunch of DMs later, my problem was fixed. Deactivate and reactivate.


Thanks for this. I just tweeted them for help as we're having the same issue.

deb


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## fahtas

Thanks for info. Fixed hbo in 5 mins


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## wmhjr

Having this issue with a new XL4 and a new cablecard. Have talked to two tech reps, they were both horrible and know nothing of cablecard. I've been through this before with 3 other cards. It's clearly a problem in their provisioning system. Have validated host, card and data IDs. VZ claims they all match. Oh well. all works except for HBO and Ciinemax, pointing to Data ID issues.


----------



## debtoine

wmhjr said:


> Having this issue with a new XL4 and a new cablecard. Have talked to two tech reps, they were both horrible and know nothing of cablecard. I've been through this before with 3 other cards. It's clearly a problem in their provisioning system. Have validated host, card and data IDs. VZ claims they all match. Oh well. all works except for HBO and Ciinemax, pointing to Data ID issues.


We tried calling for help at first. No one on the phone was able to help us get the issue resolved. After reading here that someone tweeted @VerizonSupport, I did the same thing. A few direct messages back and forth with them had our issue resolved.

If you have a Twitter account, it might be worth trying. You could always create a Twitter account just for this. Even though I have a Twitter account, this is the only kind of stuff I use it for.

deb


----------



## wmhjr

Miraculously and on it's own, sometime between last night and mid day today it just started working. Verizon claims they did nothing. Hmph.


----------



## Nels

aaronwt said:


> You should have switched to an M-Card years ago. Just to save on the cable card rental fee. It makes no sense to use two S-Cards if your box can use an M-Card. At least when rental fees are involved for every cable card.


I would love to do this, but last summer I had an S card go bad and when I called Verizon to ask for a replacement M I was denied. They sent me a new S card and I sent the defective one back to Verizon. Then to make matters worse they have been charging me for three cards since it happened. I have to call every month and get the charge reversed, but they can't seem to get it set up correctly to just charge me for my two cards.


----------



## MookieDoug

So glad I found this thread. I changed my Fios subscription, updating to the Ultimate HD on Monday. Since then I wasn't getting HBO or Cinemax. I called Fios a couple of times, assuming it was something they did when they upgraded my service to Ultimate that caused HBO and Cinemax to leave. After 2 days of calling 3 different techs, they told me that the problem was PROBABLY with my Tivo boxes (I have 2 Tivo HDs), and that sometimes the cable cards don't work with old boxes. They said the only option to me was to send out 2 new M-cards and reactivate them. So I then did a search online and found this thread, and realized that not one tech person asked me for CC IDs, Host or Data IDs! 

So I called back and got a good rep...he immediately said "why would they send out new cable cards?" So he went through the process of re-activating the cable cards, and within seconds HBO and Cinemax was back. So if this happens, the correct course of action (at least for me) is:

1) Call Verizon and say that you need to re-activate the cable cards.
2) Ensure they have ALL the correct data input correctly on their end: CC ID; Host ID; Data ID.
3) New cable cards should NOT be needed, although perhaps if you have S-cards you may need new M-cards. But that I'm not sure of. (I already had M-cards in mine.)

Now i'm going to have to send back the 2 new M-cards they ordered for me, but that's a small price to finally get resolution on something that seems so innocuous.


----------



## Davisadm

MookieDoug said:


> Now i'm going to have to send back the 2 new M-cards they ordered for me, but that's a small price to finally get resolution on something that seems so innocuous.


I hope you aren't paying anything for getting or returning the unneeded M-Cards. That was Verizon's screw up, not yours. Make sure they pay for shipping and credit you for any charges they may have put on your account.


----------



## MookieDoug

Davisadm said:


> I hope you aren't paying anything for getting or returning the unneeded M-Cards. That was Verizon's screw up, not yours. Make sure they pay for shipping and credit you for any charges they may have put on your account.


No, they told me that they would pay for the shipping of the cards back to them, and they've already given me a month's credit on my account for both Cinemax and HBO for the time lost.


----------



## PGHammer

aaronwt said:


> This has always been the case cable card installs from cable companies. Making sure they had the correct info, and also having the correct person to enter the info. Without them having the right info and without the right person, the customer is screwed.


Sometimes, it CAN be the device (not necessarily a TiVo). I had a CableCARD fail with an HDTV that supports them but the SAME CC paired right up with my Premiere. Same CableCARD (Motorola M-card) and same provider (Comcast) - I had picked up the CC from the local Comcast office myself. Did the installation myself. The TV never displayed pairing information - the Premiere's Guided Setup did. The Premiere showed me how painless CableCARD installs SHOULD be.


----------



## MaxH42

*tl;dr version: Contact Verizon Support on Twitter (twitter.com/VerizonSupport). From the CableCard Pairing screen (Settings>Remote, CableCARD, & Devices>CableCARD Decoder>CableCARD Options>CableCARD Menu) give them the numbers for CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data number, and ask them to please MANUALLY VALIDATE that card. *

I just had the exact same issue -- I was given a few months free HBO as a promotion, but only my TiVo Premiere 4 could receive HBO. The TiVo HD XL got the CableCard message to contact my cable provider when tuned to HBO (or the FIOS tips and tricks channel, for that matter.

First call, the tech said he had seen this exact issue before, and was looking into it when my internet (and my VOIP call) dropped for a minute or so. When I called back, I got a tech who insisted that TiVo had to do something to "allow MPEG4", and there was nothing he could do. I tried to talk him through revalidating the card, but I could tell he was sending a reset because the tuner would reset and the Data number for the CableCard would change, which would mess up the pairing.

But Verizon Support on Twitter was able to fix it in seconds via manual validation with those three numbers from the Pairing screen.


----------



## GmanTiVo

Hi, this is a re-post of mine from another thread and do apologize for doing it in the Premiere area but since I was able to successfullt get past the HBO CCI flag (blank screen with cc info telling me to pair the cable cards to get HBO) perhaps this will help someone with the same issue (regardless of Tivo box):



> So, called in around noon on Saturday and armed with all the helpful posts here and in other threads I had the Tech Support guy speak to the CableCard group, do a "manual validation", (gave him all the S cablecard info needed) but after waiting 30 min. nada.
> 
> I just bit the bullet, drove 10min. to the VZ shop, got 2 M cards, and swapped out the S cards, called to 1) activate (automatic phone service), waited 60min. then 2) called back to speak to Tech Support to do a "manual validation", gave all the M card info and was told the process could take a couple of hours (it is 7pm by now). Went out to dinner and forgot to check that evening.
> 
> The next morning I promptly checked ch 131 and all the HBOs (900s and 400s) and all working perfectly!
> 
> Thanks all, hope every S3 OLED owner like myself can be successful like myself with M cards.
> 
> Note: my Data # did not change during the process as reported by some.
> 
> Also a shout out to Chrisentia, aka "Lady Boss", who overseas all the North NJ VZ stores and Carlos "da man who knows it all" in the rte 17 N. VZ store for once again making my visit to VZ a nice and short one.
> 
> Gman


----------



## CoxInPHX

GmanTiVo said:


> *HBO not working on S3 OLED with S cable cards - RESLOVED with M cards*
> Hi, this is a re-post of mine from another thread and do apologize for doing it in the Premiere area but since I was able to successfullt get past the HBO CCI flag (blank screen with cc info telling me to pair the cable cards to get HBO) perhaps this will help someone with the same issue (regardless of Tivo box):


Sorry to piss on your parade, but if/when FiOS changes the HBO video feeds to MPEG-4 (H.264) your S3 will once again not be capable of receiving those channels.


----------



## aaronwt

CoxInPHX said:


> Sorry to piss on your parade, but if/when FiOS changes the HBO video feeds to MPEG-4 (H.264) your S3 will once again not be capable of receiving those channels.


It's only a few of the HBO channels. Not all of them.


----------



## aaronwt

Four HBO channels are supposed to switch to H.264. Two of them are Spanish ones. And it's really only two channels, but the East and West coast feeds.

HBO Family 906
HBO Family (West) 907
HBO Latino 912
HBO Latino (West) 913


----------



## GmanTiVo

CoxInPHX said:


> Sorry to piss on your parade, but if/when FiOS changes the HBO video feeds to MPEG-4 (H.264) your S3 will once again not be capable of receiving those channels.


Not a parade here, I do realize what is in store for my S3 in the future, I was just addressing the current CCI flag that is marring all HBO channels, SD & HD. 

*aarnwt*, ty for clarifying which channels will go MPEG-4 first on FIOS, I barely ever watch HBO, and have never clicked on HBO Family and no hablo a español bien either. 

Hopefully I can squeeze out of my problem free LT 2TB S3 OLED another year or two and then jump on the next gen box (TiVo 5) whatever that may be. 

Gman


----------



## dahacker

I had a hard drive start to fail on my Tivo HD, so I got a new one from another Tivo HD. Clear and Delete....Setup Again....tried automated phone re-activation with Verizon FIOS.....no activation.

Spent two hours on Verizon FIOS tech support to get the card activated again. They got it activated again, but of course it couldn't display HBO etc. i.e. it wasn't validated. They sent me a new card, I activated it online, still showing not validated. Two more hours on tech support tonight with them trying to "manually validate" it and still no validation. They suggest I replace the Tivo because that must be what is the problem. They also wanted me to try the card in my other still perfectly functioning Tivo HD XL to see if it would work there. Like I am going to invalidate the other Tivo too.

I AM AT FREAKING WITS END.


----------



## skatze

Folks,

I had the exact same problem with HBO/MAX. It's not the cablecard. It's poorly trained Verizon tech support/customer service. After speaking with a level 2 tech, the issue was resolved in under 5 minutes. It's all about how they activate the card and which software program they use. I wrote notes down to help others with the same issue and when I get to my computer tomorrow, I'll be more than glad to post them.

Incidentally, Comcast in many markets now offers their OnDemand as an application at no additional charge. This makes the TiVo the best alternative to cable companies' DVR's as they no longer offer that one feature that TiVo lacked...ondemand. Hopefully, Verizon will get with it and work with TiVo as well to allow OnDemand.


----------



## dahacker

skatze said:


> Folks,
> 
> I had the exact same problem with HBO/MAX. It's not the cablecard. It's poorly trained Verizon tech support/customer service. After speaking with a level 2 tech, the issue was resolved in under 5 minutes. It's all about how they activate the card and which software program they use. I wrote notes down to help others with the same issue and when I get to my computer tomorrow, I'll be more than glad to post them.
> 
> Incidentally, Comcast in many markets now offers their OnDemand as an application at no additional charge. This makes the TiVo the best alternative to cable companies' DVR's as they no longer offer that one feature that TiVo lacked...ondemand. Hopefully, Verizon will get with it and work with TiVo as well to allow OnDemand.


I think we are all in agreement there isn't a hardware issue. Any detailed suggestions are more than welcome. Just telling them to "manually validate" the cablecard hasn't worked for me yet.


----------



## JAH_PGH

I've been having the same issue for the last 2 days (I got my TiVo hooked up for the first time last Saturday). Unfortunately I didn't check to make sure that HBO / MAX were working at the time, but I'm guessing that they did because now, every 1/2 hour, I get the 'start cable service' screen.

What's really odd is that the original Data ID that I specifically wrote down when activating the card is completely different than the one in the setup screen today.

I'm on the phone with Verizon tech support right now. He tried to re-activate and said that something looks wrong. He's had me on hold for about 10 minute while he talks to his helpdesk. Apparently my account looks good, but there's something with this card.

Also of note, he said that the Data ID numbers can change on their own. I find that hard to believe, but I've witnessed it first hand.


----------



## JAH_PGH

the tech just came back on the line and everything works!

I didn't quite understand what happened, but apparently he was seeing the card on my account as active and in good standing, however there is another database that wasn't showing the CC on my account. When he contacted his helpdesk, they re-activated the card on MY account and everything works now.

It's so true that you need to get the right technician to fix these problems...

Thanks to the TiVo community for your help!

JAH


----------



## shamilian

JAH_PGH said:


> the tech just came back on the line and everything works!
> 
> I didn't quite understand what happened, but apparently he was seeing the card on my account as active and in good standing, however there is another database that wasn't showing the CC on my account. When he contacted his helpdesk, they re-activated the card on MY account and everything works now.
> 
> It's so true that you need to get the right technician to fix these problems...
> 
> Thanks to the TiVo community for your help!
> 
> JAH


That is the biggest problem with the FIOS system. It is a bunch of systems connected together and they each have their own databases. When I spoke with the last tech, I told him I know they have 2 different systems to control CCs but he told me that they are up to 4 different systems now....


----------



## skatze

Here's what you need to do:

Verizon has two software systems. You need to tell them to please enter the info using their DTI system (command system). If they simply do a search for "copy protection", it will direct them to the proper steps. It is because of HBO/MAX's copy protection that those two channels don't come in and/or you don't see proper validation. They should NOT use auto-validation or re-validate commands.

The DATA id does stay the same UNLESS you put it into another TiVo or cable card device. You should be able to remove it and put it back in the same unit with no change however.

I initially found this information at:

http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/v...sid=9c50ad245e4e038167a968f4b8bbe479&start=15

When I spoke with the Verizon tech at only level 1, they followed the directions and it worked just fine. They also informed me that some techs don't realize the issue is generally a "copy protection" issue and they need to search for those key words to resolve it.

I hope this helps everyone.

Steve


----------



## dahacker

skatze said:


> ...
> 
> The DATA id does stay the same UNLESS you put it into another TiVo or cable card device. You should be able to remove it and put it back in the same unit with no change however.
> 
> ...
> 
> Steve


I can assure you that the DataID can change without moving the card at all. It has happened on my Tivo.


----------



## skatze

dahacker said:


> I can assure you that the DataID can change without moving the card at all. It has happened on my Tivo.


Okay, let's not argue the point. Regardless of whether it does or doesn't, to properly activate the card, the current info needs to be relayed to the customer service rep who's inputting the info for cablecard activation.


----------



## bantar

dahacker said:


> I can assure you that the DataID can change without moving the card at all. It has happened on my Tivo.


Agreed. It absolutely changes. There are two steps needed when you get the tech on the line to fix the HBO issue.

Revalidate - this changes the data id
Manual Pair - using the CHANGED data you now see on the screen

Again, when I called Verizon to fix the HBO issue, the tech had never heard of this and suggested bad card, but thanks to this forum and his willingness to listen to my directions, we were on and off the phone in a few minutes. Of course you need to let them try the manual pair first because... they will insist. After it fails, do the above.


----------



## eagle104

I was on the phone with Fios support for about 3 hours yesterday to get Cinemax working on my new cable card. I used the information in this thread and it still took this long. I was with tech and she was working with level 3 support there. She was trying to get me to hang up saying I need to get a cablebox for it to work even though I knew it was ******** as I recently had HBO and Max both on the older card and they were like well that's because it was paired before the CCI change. I talked to a different tech first and he was really bad he ordered a new card even though I told him the one I was using did work he just has to validate it correctly. 

My advice to people with cablecard issues is to just keep them on the line and don't allow them to get rid of you because they aren't sure what they are doing. A Verizon tech can fix things because even a broken clock is right twice a day.


----------



## cmshep222

Add me to the Fios HBO issue list. We recently added HBO to our subscription (half off deal for 12 months). I have 2 TiVo Premieres and on my XL4, no issue. HBO is working great. 

But on my basic (2 tuner) Premiere, I get the CableCard pairing screen on all the HBO's. Spent an hour on the phone with Fios the other night, tech tried all the tricks and still no HBO on my premiere. Said they'd send me a new CableCard. It arrived Fri and I activated last night. Activated fine...but as you guessed it...HBO still does not work on the new CableCard. 

Guess I have to go through this song and dance with Fios tech support again. Not looking forward to it.


----------



## cmshep222

Update. New CableCard was "manually validated" by Fios and HBO now works on my Premiere. Took about 10 min total.


----------



## TheTivoPenguin

MaxH42 said:


> *tl;dr version: Contact Verizon Support on Twitter (twitter.com/VerizonSupport). From the CableCard Pairing screen (Settings>Remote, CableCARD, & Devices>CableCARD Decoder>CableCARD Options>CableCARD Menu) give them the numbers for CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data number, and ask them to please MANUALLY VALIDATE that card. *
> 
> But Verizon Support on Twitter was able to fix it in seconds via manual validation with those three numbers from the Pairing screen.


Had to post a big thanks to this thread and Twitter Verizon Support. I sent them 2 tweets:
1 - Hoping you could help with a TIVO no HBO prob. Looks like my CC needs "manual validation" I was unsuccesful in getting that

2 - Could I get that if I send my CC ID HostID and Data#

I received a reply in less than 5 minutes asking to start a DM with them - I sent them the 3 #'s and they asked for the Serial Number. 5 minutes later they asked me to check and WOOT!!! I now have HBO!!!

Numerous phone calls over the last 2 months, many techs, 2 different cards sent back and forth and it took the Twitter tech less than 5 minutes.

Thanks everyone here for the info.


----------



## BigJimOutlaw

I've said it before; the VerizonSupport twitter folks are superheros compared to the phone support.


----------



## DonaldBurns65144

I'm trying to cut my monthly costs and trying to return the Verizon DVR that's costing me $20/mt. While trying to install a self-purchased Motorola M card into a Premiere I ran into the card activation screen. Called the 888 # and was told that I have use a M-card supplied from Verizon, that they won't support non-Verizon equipment. Is this true? Isn't my Tivo "non-Verizon" equipment too!


----------



## BigJimOutlaw

DonaldBurns65144 said:


> I'm trying to cut my monthly costs and trying to return the Verizon DVR that's costing me $20/mt. While trying to install a self-purchased Motorola M card into a Premiere I ran into the card activation screen. Called the 888 # and was told that I have use a M-card supplied from Verizon, that they won't support non-Verizon equipment. Is this true? Isn't my Tivo "non-Verizon" equipment too!


Yes, you have to rent their cablecard(s). The cards have their channel mapping and decryption data to tune the channels properly. You MIGHT be able to get the unencrypted local channels with the generic card, but not the rest of the lineup.


----------



## idelgado782

Thank you for letting us know how great the verizon twitter support team are! Ive been having issues with premiere and getting HBO & CINEMAX since I started service. I tried chatting and phone tech support and explained to them about the other software system as well as manually activating and both people were no help. The chat tech support guy told me that I had to go to billing because of the copyright issues  and then phone tech support guy told me I needed new cable cards 
I reached out to verizon twitter support and Ali got me up and running within 5 minutes and no explanation from me! I just gave him my card card info and boom it was working!! Thank Penguin for the suggestion!!!



TheTivoPenguin said:


> Had to post a big thanks to this thread and Twitter Verizon Support. I sent them 2 tweets:
> 1 - Hoping you could help with a TIVO no HBO prob. Looks like my CC needs "manual validation" I was unsuccesful in getting that
> 
> 2 - Could I get that if I send my CC ID HostID and Data#
> 
> I received a reply in less than 5 minutes asking to start a DM with them - I sent them the 3 #'s and they asked for the Serial Number. 5 minutes later they asked me to check and WOOT!!! I now have HBO!!!
> 
> Numerous phone calls over the last 2 months, many techs, 2 different cards sent back and forth and it took the Twitter tech less than 5 minutes.
> 
> Thanks everyone here for the info.


----------



## nickram

I asked them to do a manual pair and it worked. They basically typed in the same info in again.

First tech i talked to said I should just get their set top box as they dont support TiVo any more and I should have received a letter in the mail. I searched google, landed on this forum. Called them back immediately and told them to "manually repair the card" The guy had to put me on hold to talk to his "resource" they agreed to manually pair the card and it worked after about 30 seconds of him hitting enter. 

If you have a TiVo Series 3 or later and they say you must update your TiVo's firmware politely tell them no. That is their way to get you off the phone.


----------



## aaronwt

I'm done with trying to get help form Verizon on the phone. Chat seems to have better results for me. And it sounds like Twitter works too.


----------



## rich1383

I can confirm with others that 2 things fixed this problem for me after 3-4 calls each to TiVo TS and Fios TS:
1. Insist on a "manual reset" and have them read back all 3 IDs (CableCard ID/POD#, Host ID, and Data ID). Even though I had read the previous reps my Data ID, the info had been entered completely incorrectly (according to this evening's rep, who did fix the problem). I suspect that Fios TS either has huge gaps in training/knowledge of CableCard installs, or they may be intentionally messing the info up in the hopes of getting you to switch to their DVR rentals.
2. I read in one post that they fixed their problem by the above, *and* removing a cable splitter and wiring the wall cable directly to the TiVo for reset purposes. I did this as well; when all was working I put the splitter back in so my Fios wireless router could get the network connection as well.

I suspect it was only #1 that was needed - a diligent, courteous agent who listened and did the manual reset and carefully checked the entered information.

--TiVo Premiere 4 w/Verizon FIOS M-Card.


----------



## shadoh

Sooooooooooooooo.... *bump*

Has there been any definitive "checklist" created anywhere about all of this? I have had FiOS for quite a while now, but only recently tried adding HBO, and ran into similar nightmares as described in this thread - MANY hours on the phone and two new CableCARDS later, they finally got it working. Unfortunately, I had to go and tempt fate and I upgraded to a Roamio (from an S3 HD XL) - moved the CableCARD over, and not surprisingly, lost HBO (and channel 131). I tried the automated self re-activation, waited 30 minutes, and it didn't work. Called CS, and it again took another hour or so to re-activate it, despite my insistence that they look at the notes on my account - again, I had already spent hours on the phone with CS in the past week, and the previous person I had spoken to did her research and said she found the "known issue" between TiVos/CableCARDS/HBO/channel 131. I tried using all the buzzwords I read on this thread (Manual validation, Re-validate, CC reload, etc) and although the CS rep sounded competent, he still seemed insistent on following his little flowchart. Like I said, he eventually got it to work, but IT SHOULDN'T TAKE AN HOUR for such a simple task!

So here's my dilemma - as soon as I finish moving/watching some shows off of my HD XL, I am moving it into another room to replace a plain S3 HD. That means I am going to again move the CableCARD from one unit to another, and I know I am going to have the same issue. So, again, any recommended courses of action? I see some talk about using their Twitter support team - I've also heard people talk about "use this wording and they should know what to do," but that didn't seem to get me anywhere last night.

Advice?


----------



## dianebrat

shadoh said:


> I've also heard people talk about "use this wording and they should know what to do," but that didn't seem to get me anywhere last night.
> 
> Advice?


Don't use the generic CS numbers, use the CableCARD/ FiOS number (that of course I can't track down at the moment)


----------



## shadoh

dianebrat said:


> Don't use the generic CS numbers, use the CableCARD/ FiOS number (that of course I can't track down at the moment)


Ooh, if you can track that down, that would be most excellent! :up:


----------



## dianebrat

shadoh said:


> Ooh, if you can track that down, that would be most excellent! :up:


I'm not 100% sure but I have this one in a note: 1-888-553-1555, and I have a note with 1-866-240-1174 on it too and the 1174 strikes a chord that it was "special"


----------



## shadoh

dianebrat said:


> I'm not 100% sure but I have this one in a note: 1-888-553-1555, and I have a note with 1-866-240-1174 on it too and the 1174 strikes a chord that it was "special"


Thanks, I'll give those a shot. I'm not ready to do it yet, but out of curiousity, I dialed both numbers. The first connects me to Verizon, but sounds identical to the 800-Verizon automated system. It may or may not be, but seems like it is. The second number said, "The number you have dialed cannot be reached from your calling area."  I am calling from work, not home, so I hold out small hopes that that is why, but not convinced. Sigh. Thanks for trying!


----------



## BigJimOutlaw

I was about to recommend their @VerizonSupport feed, but apparently you're already aware of it. The twitter feed is run by superheroes compared to phone support. Request a "manual validation" (as you know) and supply them with the 3 lines on the cablecard activation screen as well as the serial number on the card itself, and hopefully they can have HBO running shortly without the annoyance of being on hold.

Follow them, and ask them to follow you in advance (on twitter) to save a little time when you're ready to Private Message them the request and information.


----------



## shadoh

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Follow them, and ask them to follow you in advance (on twitter) to save a little time when you're ready to Private Message them the request and information.


Good advice, thanks. I was hesitant to go that route, because I wanted something a little more immediate (e.g. a 5-minute phone call), but in the end, that will probably be my best course of action. I'd rather spend 30 minutes or whatever tweeting someone knowledgable than wasting an hour on the phone with someone who frustrates me.

I will report back on how it goes, though I probably won't be ready to give it a go until next week.


----------



## Tivogre

I just moved a card yesterday. 

The FIOS guy I spoke to got it right on the very first try.

He told me the key phrase is to request that the card be "manually re-validated" after you give them all of the required numbers.


----------



## shadoh

Tivogre said:


> He told me the key phrase is to request that the card be "manually re-validated" after you give them all of the required numbers.


Good info!


----------



## NotVeryWitty

When I bought my two Tivo Premieres 3 years ago, I also switched from Charter to Verizon Fios. At the time, Fios did not pair the cards, but since I don't get any of the premium channels, it didn't really matter.

Fast forward to this week: I just upgraded one of my Premieres to a Roamio, and am about to have HBO added. When I set up the Roamio last week, I moved the cablecard from the old Premiere, called up the CS line, and within a few minutes I could see all of my channels. But, the cablecard status was still showing "Val: ?" on both Tivos, and channel 131 would not tune, so I knew I would not be able to get HBO until I got this resolved.

Today I decided to try the "Live Chat" service. To make a long story short, it took at most 20 minutes to get through the whole process, and now both Tivos are displaying channel 131 and the CC status says "Val: V". The support rep asked for the serial number of each card (which is available on the status page), CCID, Host ID, and Data ID. I also asked him to do a manual validation. Within a minute of giving him the info, he asked me to check the Tivos, and they were both working already.

FWIW, both of my cards are the old versions (xxxxx-002-xxx), but have the (latest) 06.25 firmware. Based on TivoMargret's posting, I'm expecting that the HBO pixelation issue will not be happening with these old cards.


----------



## shamilian

NotVeryWitty said:


> FWIW, both of my cards are the old versions (xxxxx-002-xxx), but have the (latest) 06.25 firmware. Based on TivoMargret's posting, I'm expecting that the HBO pixelation issue will not be happening with these old cards.


Can you give me a pointer to the discussion or brief explanation of the pixelation issue (Does is concern premiere). I recall that Romeio required a newer card but I think that issue was fixed....


----------



## shadoh

Well, it looks like a lot of you are reporting a lot more success, whether it's via phone, Twitter, or Live Chat. I'm glad to hear! Hopefully things are improving over there (or maybe it took us to learn what buzzwords to give them).

It hasn't even been two weeks since I had to sit through several grueling hours of phone support to get this issue fixed on my units. I got a survey after my first phone call, and I let them have it. A representative contacted me later to discuss my survey, and she apologized and said she would credit me a week's worth of HBO since I didn't have it for all that week. I said that, while I appreciated the credit, I would gladly pay my service fees if it would have saved me wasting hours of my time on the phone. I would like to think that the word is getting around on their end, but I'm very glad we have this community to fall back on.


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## NotVeryWitty

shamilian said:


> Can you give me a pointer to the discussion or brief explanation of the pixelation issue (Does is concern premiere). I recall that Romeio required a newer card but I think that issue was fixed....


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=507823

I'm quite sure the problems were specific to Roamios. Late in that thread, TivoMargret says they were working on a fix for older cablecards. She never replied again in that thread, but elsewhere I saw her mention that an update fixed the issue.


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## shadoh

Here was my experience, for what it's worth.

I had previously had Twitter conversations with the Verizon Twitter team (@VerizonSupport), so we were already following one another. Knowing I was about to need their help, I did both an @ tweet to them, and I sent them a Direct Message (DM), letting them know I needed help to have a CableCARD "manually re-validated."

I did all the cabling to switch over my TiVos, then moved my CableCARD from one TiVo to another. When it finished booting (it's a Series 3, so it took a while), I got the CC screen with all the info on it (Host ID, Data ID, etc). Checked Twitter.... nothing. I waited a while and kept checking... nothing. Finally, after over an hour of waiting with no response, I gave up on Twitter. Then, I logged on to the Verizon website and started a live Chat on the Support page. There was about a 10-minute wait before a rep started chatting with me. However, once the rep responded, it was smooth sailing. She did ask me why I needed my CC re-validated, but when I briefly explained, she immediately asked me for all my #s (serial #, CC ID, Host ID, Data). About 90 seconds later, she said it was done. I checked -- HBO worked, channel 131 worked -- score!

The Twitter support team ended up responding eventually (over an hour and a half after I initially tried to get their attention), but I was very happy with how smoothly the online chat went.


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## MookieDoug

I had a very similar experience as Shadoh. Yesterday I got my new Roamio Plus and after having problems in years past with phone support on Cable Card validations, and past success stories with Twitter, I started there. Sent an @ and a DM as we've talked in the past. It was around 8 pm EST, and I didn't get a response for over 30 minutes; when I did, it was simply, "Sure we can help, start an online chat session." I was skeptical, but did that and while it took about 30 minutes to get it set up, the cable card got activated. I had TV channels but NO HBO, but before I could mention this to them they said "Wait while we re-validate the card", and sure enough with that HBO came through. Also, I'm now getting BEiN Sport, which my old Tivo HD never was able to receive, even though it was part of my service.


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## zubinh

I had the exact same issue. Got 3 months of HBO free and nada on my Roamio. Called Tech support and he read off some script about it being a known issue with Tivo and that my box needs a Tivo software update. What total BS. That was before I searched here. Dumb mistake on my part. Called back, had them do a manual validation and it worked in 5 minutes.

_So Verizon uses their own internal system to search for a wrong solution when they could've Googled it and given me the right solution the first time. Unbelievable _


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## lemieuxfan67

Was having same issue with my new box. All channels but HBO working. Contact @verizonsupport on twitter. Had to start chat with them so that they could verify account info. I explained all channels but HBO worked, Tivo said HBO not authorized. I told chat agent that cable card needed manually re-validated and that should work. Within minutes HBO was working. I would highly recommend the @verizonsupport method as I was able to resolve from start to finish in under 30 mins with no phone calls!!!


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## NaperTiVo

My issue started after they added HBO to my Fios. It worked on one Premier so I didn't noticed for a few days. Turned out it was not working on 1 Premier, 2 Premier XLs, and 1 THD. I have been on the phone with support three times and they even sent a tech out. They were sending a 2nd tech out when I decided to google the issue. Stupid me for not checking sooner. Called in again and had them do a manual verification of the 5 cable cards that were not displaying HBO. After verifying all the numbers it took about a minute on each one. All are working now! So obviously this is still an issue for Verizon and they still don't have it in their notes for the techs on how to fix.


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## mikead_99

NaperTiVo said:


> So obviously this is still an issue for Verizon and they still don't have it in their notes for the techs on how to fix.


Since this thread started in 2012, I think it is safe to say they will not be updating their notes. Verizon is required by law to support cable cards, they have no incentive to do so beyond compliance with the law. If it were easy to turn on a third party box with a cable card they may lose business on their own set top boxes. I just went through a week and half of this switching a good M-card from a series 3 to a Roamio+. At one point the card became completely de-activated and they had a field visit scheduled. After reading this thread I got on Twitter with @verizonSupport and had it fixed in 15 minutes. So annoying...


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## aaronwt

It's much better than it was seven years ago on FiOS. It's also better with Comcast compared to seven years ago when dealing with cable cards. It is so much better now dealing with cable cards than back in the "dark ages" of cable card use.


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## surfnutbry

Today I moved two Tivo's from Comcast to Fios. The installer was able to get everything working except HBO and Cinemax. I spent hours on the the phone with Verizon customer support and nothing they suggested worked. The support agent claimed that he had tried everything so he decided to drop ship two new cable cards to me. He suspected that they would arrive in a couple of days. After I hung up, I tracked down this thread. Years earlier, when I needed to install cable cards the information in this forum was key. After reading this thread, I called support back and said the magic words "manual validation", gave her all of the Id's and had her verify them back to me, and like magic "Val:?" changed to "Val:V" and presto I have HBO and Cinemax. I don't know why saying "manual validation" makes a seemingly impossible task extremely simple, but it does. Perhaps customer support is instructed to stall and do nothing until they hear "manual validation", to prevent all but the most persistent customers from using cable cards.

Thanks again to all you who have came before.


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## aaronwt

The last time they shipped me a cable card like that, I got a new Actiontec router instead. Then I spent an hour on the phone trying to get it returned. In the end, it never got returned and I will never waste my time trying to do something like that again. I now have five of the Actiontec Routers gathering dust in my closet. FOr some reason FiOS has kept sending them to me over the last seven years, but I don't even use them since I use my own router on FiOS.


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## billboard_NE

I just swapped TIVOs and lost HBO, I was familiar with the cable card validation issues, I have had good luck with the live chat. They first tried a reset, then when that didn't work they asked for the card ID, Host ID, and Data info.

In no time I was up and running.


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## LXIV

I just created an account to specifically thank you guys for this solution. I had FIOS installed today, and HBO/Cinemax was not displaying on my Tivo Roamio. The tech tried for an hour and reset things multiple times.

I read this thread, called customer service, and asked the guy to do a "manual validation." He asked for the numbers from the screen, and after a minute or so, the VAL:? changed to VAL:V. Everything is working fine now.

Thanks!!


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## Doug G

I just moved two M-cards to new premiere units from Series 3's and had this same problem with HBO. A chat session for manual re-validation did the trick in under 10 minutes. Luckily I got a rep in the know since I hadn't yet seen this thread but they mention that exact phrase. Personally I prefer the chat over phone calls, so just wanted to let everyone know.


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## Mturck

MaxH42 said:


> *tl;dr version: Contact Verizon Support on Twitter (twitter.com/VerizonSupport). From the CableCard Pairing screen (Settings>Remote, CableCARD, & Devices>CableCARD Decoder>CableCARD Options>CableCARD Menu) give them the numbers for CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data number, and ask them to please MANUALLY VALIDATE that card. *
> 
> I just had the exact same issue -- I was given a few months free HBO as a promotion, but only my TiVo Premiere 4 could receive HBO. The TiVo HD XL got the CableCard message to contact my cable provider when tuned to HBO (or the FIOS tips and tricks channel, for that matter.
> 
> First call, the tech said he had seen this exact issue before, and was looking into it when my internet (and my VOIP call) dropped for a minute or so. When I called back, I got a tech who insisted that TiVo had to do something to "allow MPEG4", and there was nothing he could do. I tried to talk him through revalidating the card, but I could tell he was sending a reset because the tuner would reset and the Data number for the CableCard would change, which would mess up the pairing.
> 
> But Verizon Support on Twitter was able to fix it in seconds via manual validation with those three numbers from the Pairing screen.


OMG am i glad I found this! I've been going back and forth with Verizon for a while now, with multiple reps who did nothing for me and keep trying to send me replacement cable cards. 1 tweet and 30 minutes later everything is fixed!

Thanks SO MUCH!!!


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## aaronwt

I have been putting off pairing this card to my latest Bolt.. I guess I need to do it sometime. But fortunately it doesn't affect too many channels.


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## genius069

MaxH42 said:


> *tl;dr version: Contact Verizon Support on Twitter (twitter.com/VerizonSupport). From the CableCard Pairing screen (Settings>Remote, CableCARD, & Devices>CableCARD Decoder>CableCARD Options>CableCARD Menu) give them the numbers for CableCard ID, Host ID, and Data number, and ask them to please MANUALLY VALIDATE that card. *
> 
> I just had the exact same issue -- I was given a few months free HBO as a promotion, but only my TiVo Premiere 4 could receive HBO. The TiVo HD XL got the CableCard message to contact my cable provider when tuned to HBO (or the FIOS tips and tricks channel, for that matter.
> 
> First call, the tech said he had seen this exact issue before, and was looking into it when my internet (and my VOIP call) dropped for a minute or so. When I called back, I got a tech who insisted that TiVo had to do something to "allow MPEG4", and there was nothing he could do. I tried to talk him through revalidating the card, but I could tell he was sending a reset because the tuner would reset and the Data number for the CableCard would change, which would mess up the pairing.
> 
> But Verizon Support on Twitter was able to fix it in seconds via manual validation with those three numbers from the Pairing screen.


Thank god for this thread. Chatted w/ FIOS tech and told him I needed a manual validation and voila - all channels working. This should get added to a sticky that gives folks keywords to tell the techs at fios.


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## global_dev

wow, i just picked up a new bolt this evening. activated it and ran it through the system.

swapped an M-card from a 2 tuner premiere, went through FIOS phone activation and of course got stuck at val:? i tried calling and really got no answer from the automated system. it's about midnight now and it looked like the online help was not available, but then it was suddenly.. 

I told the CSR i needed a "manual validation" he asked for 4 numbers off the screen (S/N, ID, HOost, Data) and in a total 6 minute online conversation (from "hi, my name is Niranjan" to "i have successfully validated manually", it was fixed. i checked right then, and it was good. no reboot, no wait, no nothing. Thanks Niranjan! (I'm sure he'll never see this, but i just wanted to spread some good karma!)


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## aaronwt

genius069 said:


> Thank god for this thread. Chatted w/ FIOS tech and told him I needed a manual validation and voila - all channels working. This should get added to a sticky that gives folks keywords to tell the techs at fios.


I just say I need to re-pair the cable card. It's gone well the last couple of times in chat. Last week was the most recent and also the fastest. My channels were showing up in less than a minute after I typed in the Cable Card info while in chat.


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## Lensman

surfnutbry said:


> I called support back and said the magic words "manual validation", gave her all of the Id's and had her verify them back to me, and like magic "Val:?" changed to "Val:V" and presto I have HBO and Cinemax. I don't know why saying "manual validation" makes a seemingly impossible task extremely simple, but it does. Perhaps customer support is instructed to stall and do nothing until they hear "manual validation", to prevent all but the most persistent customers from using cable cards.
> 
> Thanks again to all you who have came before.


I moved my cablecard from my old Premiere 4 to my new Bolt+ and had the same problem with HBO. Spent 45 minutes on the phone with support before he gave up and ordered me a new cablecard. I then decided to Google and found this thread, called Verizon support, said "manual validation", read them the three numbers, and was up and running seconds later. Well, I did have to read the numbers twice because I may have misread them the first time. 

Amazing! Super valuable thread. This is why tech support needs better tooling support.

Note - Val:? Was the clincher to RCA'ing my problem.


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## aaronwt

I had them screw up another cable card of mine two weeks ago. MAnual Validation didn't cut since the first csr screwed the card up in the system. So I picked up a new one from the FiOS store to activate. 

The previous night I changed out my first cable card, and that tech knew what they were doing. So I didn't have any issues. I wish now that I had done both cards at the same time. But the reason I didn't was in case they did screw something up. So I wanted to make sure I had one Bolt working so I could record off FiOS.


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