# M-Card Availability



## Rich8899 (Aug 21, 2004)

The Comcast tech came this morning and did not have an M Card. He said that there weren't any in the warehouse. I have re-scheduled for Tuesday but Comcast Customer Support can't guarantee they''ll have the card on Tuesday either.

Is there anyone in MA that has gotten an M Card from Comcast?


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## tazzmission (Oct 15, 2002)

Comcast came today to hook my M-Card up only to tell me that my area is not setup to use M-Cards yet. I have no idea how that is possible since I have two Series 3's with S-Cards working now.


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## Nded (Apr 3, 2010)

I received 2 M-Cards in Tampa Bay yesterday


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## tazzmission (Oct 15, 2002)

tazzmission said:


> Comcast came today to hook my M-Card up only to tell me that my area is not setup to use M-Cards yet. I have no idea how that is possible since I have two Series 3's with S-Cards working now.


On the line with Comcast now. They say since I am in an area that was Adelphia and we are still on Scientific Atlanta equipment that I am SOL. They say the only M-Cards they have are Motorola.


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## hogarth (Mar 28, 2010)

Comcast, here in the Chicago burbs area told me there was a big shortage of Mcards after the installer came with the wrong card. They were really rude about it and after I threatened to pull all my comcast services,they magically found an M card for me.


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## tazzmission (Oct 15, 2002)

hogarth said:


> Comcast, here in the Chicago burbs area told me there was a big shortage of Mcards after the installer came with the wrong card. They were really rude about it and after I threatened to pull all my comcast services,they magically found an M card for me.


That is my next move


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## cydeweyz (Mar 15, 2010)

Walked into the Comcast office, returned my DVR, grabbed an M-Card, waited for UPS, installed M-Card, called Comcast, ate dinner. The hard part was finding all the channels online for my service level and matching that with the Premiere. A few channels not listed by Comcast, I get, and a many random channels Tivo checked did not work at all.


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## CraigK (Jun 9, 2006)

cydeweyz said:


> Walked into the Comcast office, returned my DVR, grabbed an M-Card, waited for UPS, installed M-Card, called Comcast, ate dinner. The hard part was finding all the channels online for my service level and matching that with the Premiere. A few channels not listed by Comcast, I get, and a many random channels Tivo checked did not work at all.


You should have grabbed a rate/channel lineup card when you picked up you M-Card. 

Congrats on the self-install. :up:


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## cydeweyz (Mar 15, 2010)

Not a Tivo owner previously. I thought channel scans would be a basic function for the best DVR in the world.


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## tazzmission (Oct 15, 2002)

Anyone have a number at Comcast that I can call about M Cards for my area? From what I was told Comcast does not want to "buy" Scientific Atlanta M-cards because they use Motorola. I live in an area that Comcast took over from Adelphia. I can only get S Cards of which I have 4 already for my two series 3 boxes. I am being told that I can't get an M Card becasue they "simply do not have them" and "will not be buying any" and "they don'
t work in yoru area anyway" I say BS, if an S Card works, why would an M Card not work as well??? I am about to call Comcast and tell them I am canceling my service if they don't provide me with an M card. But I don't think they will really care. If i could speak to someone at Comcast that actully knows what they are talking about I might have better luck.


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## oViTynoT (May 18, 2007)

Wait a minute. Channel Scans with a Cablecard? Why?

The TiVo knows your channel lineup; they get that data from the provider via Tribune, and you tell it WHICH lineup to use during the Guided Setup.

You shouldn't have to SCAN the channels. (In fact, I didn't even know that was possible on the CABLE input; only on the ANTENNA input.)


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

oViTynoT said:


> Wait a minute. Channel Scans with a Cablecard? Why?
> 
> The TiVo knows your channel lineup; they get that data from the provider via Tribune, and you tell it WHICH lineup to use during the Guided Setup.
> 
> You shouldn't have to SCAN the channels. (In fact, I didn't even know that was possible on the CABLE input; only on the ANTENNA input.)


I did a channel scan on my sister's Premiere to get the HD channels "viewable" while they wait for CableCARD install.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

orangeboy said:


> I did a channel scan on my sister's Premiere to get the HD channels "viewable" while they wait for CableCARD install.


Yes, that is for finding unencrypted QAM channels. There's no need for a channel scan with a cablecard installed since the cablecard provides the channel map already.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

rainwater said:


> There's no need for a channel scan with a cablecard installed since the cablecard provides the channel map already.


Technically, the CableCARD performs a "scan" automatically. Thus the "acquiring channel information" screen when you first insert a new card.


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## timstack8969 (May 14, 2004)

Here's my comcast M-Card Story-Called comcast and told them I needed an "M Card" for my New Tivo Premiere. The lady I was talking to tells me that she Can't Guarantee the comcast tech will bring an "M-Card" He could bring 2 "S-Cards" which I told her my Series 4 Tivo Premiere only takes "M-CARDS" and it only has 1 slot not 2 slots. The tech is coming out on Saturday I told the lady he better bring "M-Cards" She kept telling me that TIVO Series 3 will support "S-Cards" but I kept telling her I don't have a Series 3 and that I have a Series 4. Anyone on Comcast of Garden State, NJ have trouble getting "M-Card" installed???


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## SoBayJake (Feb 6, 2002)

gweempose said:


> Technically, the CableCARD performs a "scan" automatically. Thus the "acquiring channel information" screen when you first insert a new card.


That's not a scan. It's just waiting for the channel map to be downloaded.


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## cydeweyz (Mar 15, 2010)

Ya, I had to dump more than a dozen or so channels that were just blank. Some said I didn't have access, and others stuck at aquiring. None were officially on my Tier.


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## falcon26 (Mar 17, 2010)

Just picked up my 2nd mcard for my 2nd tivo coming weds. So far its been pretty easy to get an mcard...


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## DPF (Mar 20, 2003)

According to my WOW cable guy when he came out to do my Card install, M-cards are all they use now. They no longer stock S-Cards at all. So I guess it's going to vary widely by provider/region. This is in the western burbs of Chicago.

We only needed one. He borked the original setup of the card, then we rebooted the TiVo, which of course was right when they pushed the 14.1a update, so we had to wait for that to complete. Once we went thru it again, and determined the office had my channels provisioned wrong, all was well. Any issues I had were human-error related, not equipment.

-DPF


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## tazzmission (Oct 15, 2002)

Comcast came with two M-Cards. The tech was clueless as to what needed done. The first M-Card was still registered to another user for some reason. So he then tried card number two. That one took but not for about 30 minutes. The person that he called at the head-end did not know what to do. I had to tell them both that they needed the host ID and cable card ID's paired. I got TiVo support on the line and they helped a little. They both gave up and were about to setup another appointment when all of a sudden the card started working. So maybe it takes a while for the card to activate when they enter it in the system.

Anyway, I'm all setup on the new XL thanks to Tom at [email protected]

Tom even called me minutes after the tech left to make sure I was all set.


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## rhoops (Jan 8, 2005)

I got my TiVo Premiere XL on Wednesday March 31. I just had time to hook it up to Cable and Ethernet before leaving for a 4 day trip.

I checked with Mediacom and they were out of M-Cards, but expected them in on Thursday April 8th. I went in Thursday and they had them. They no longer require a truck roll, but hand them out over the counter. They had no instructions for me.

I have family (analog) cable before and asked to add the Digital Plus tier. 

I came home, plugged in the M-Card without powering off the TiVo. It took about 15 minutes while the screen said "acquiring channels". When it finished I had the clear QAM channels, but none of the encrypted ones in the Digital Plus tier.

I drove over to the Mediacom office, which is a short 5 minute drive from my house and told the lady at the counter who had given me the M-Card that I wasn't getting Digital Plus channels. She futzed with her computer a minute or two and said they were sending a signal to "format" the card. I think she really meant a "box hit" to authorize the M-Card.

When I got home all the Digital Plus and non-premium HD were working. 

Then I had to go though and de-select a few dead channels from the channels I receive function.

I'm very happy with the TiVo Premiere XL. I upgraded from an old Series 2.

I have noticed that it's picking up a lot of TiVo selections. It's gotten around a hundred over the past week. I guess it doesn't hurt anything. I need to go through and do some thumbs up / thumbs down so it learns my tastes.



When I first installed it I put it on an ethernet wire strung across the hallway, but later put it on a wireless G adapter. I may go back to ethernet when I can route the cable faster.

I had one glitch when I set up the output of the TiVo. Originally I set it to output 480i, 720p, 1080i etc, depending on the received signal and that made things glitch as I changed channels. I set it to always output 1080i and that made things better.

Things are working perfectly now. 

I wonder if there is a way to punch in channel number like 10-1, 21-2 or 33-1. Currently I have to punch in 10 and channel up to get to 10-1.


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## joanmaries (Nov 3, 2001)

timstack8969 said:


> Here's my comcast M-Card Story-Called comcast and told them I needed an "M Card" for my New Tivo Premiere. The lady I was talking to tells me that she Can't Guarantee the comcast tech will bring an "M-Card" He could bring 2 "S-Cards" which I told her my Series 4 Tivo Premiere only takes "M-CARDS" and it only has 1 slot not 2 slots. The tech is coming out on Saturday I told the lady he better bring "M-Cards" She kept telling me that TIVO Series 3 will support "S-Cards" but I kept telling her I don't have a Series 3 and that I have a Series 4. Anyone on Comcast of Garden State, NJ have trouble getting "M-Card" installed???


How did you make out and what part of NJ? We're in Monmouth county - the tivo arrived today, we called and Comcast is due to come out Sunday. We explained that we need an M-card and it is written on the work order but the person on the phone seemed to have the IQ of my pet dust bunny, so I'm not hopeful or encouraged.


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## WhiskeyTango (Sep 20, 2006)

I live in Burlington County with Comcast GS and had no problem getting an M card installed in my TivoHD about 2 years ago. The tech had never done a cablecard install so I basically did all of the on screen setup and just gave him the numbers he needed to call in. Just make sure you make a few connections to the tivo server to get the up to date software and run guided setup before the tech comes out. Also make sure you have the cablecard install sheet that came with the tivo just in case.


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## Mark McM (Oct 24, 2007)

Rich8899 said:


> Is there anyone in MA that has gotten an M Card from Comcast?


I have Comcast and I'm in Concord, MA. When my Tivo HD was set up about 2 years ago, the technician came with 2 or 3 Cable Cards in hand, and they were all M-Cards. He had done Series 3 installations before but not the newer Tivo HD models, and assumed that I needed two Cable Cards. After the first card was installed, he was a little surprised that both tuners worked, but I explained that with the M-Card, only one card was needed with the Tivo HD.

So far, my experience with the Tivo HD on Comcast has been okay. The cable card stopped working once about a year ago, but a call to tech. support soon cleared it up. They asked that I turn off the Tivo HD, pull the Cable Card out and then re-insert it (making sure it was fully seated), and restart the Tivo HD. They then gave the card a hit, and it started working again, and has worked fine ever since.


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## timstack8969 (May 14, 2004)

joanmaries said:


> How did you make out and what part of NJ? We're in Monmouth county - the tivo arrived today, we called and Comcast is due to come out Sunday. We explained that we need an M-card and it is written on the work order but the person on the phone seemed to have the IQ of my pet dust bunny, so I'm not hopeful or encouraged.


Comcast coming tomorrow morning I'll let you know how it went. Setting up TIVO tonight w/out Cable Card. (Comcast of Garden State)


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## suggest THIS (Jan 13, 2005)

"I wonder if there is a way to punch in channel number like 10-1, 21-2 or 33-1. Currently I have to punch in 10 and channel up to get to 10-1."

Use the advance/skip (->) button as a dash, e.g., 10 -> to enter 10-1.


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## timstack8969 (May 14, 2004)

timstack8969 said:


> Comcast coming tomorrow morning I'll let you know how it went. Setting up TIVO tonight w/out Cable Card. (Comcast of Garden State)


Comcast guy came early this morning and everything works fine with M-Card here over on Comcast of Garden State, NJ. I pretty much did the set up while he charged me $18.00 for installation


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## CoyoteTeacher (Aug 4, 2007)

Rich8899 said:


> The Comcast tech came this morning and did not have an M Card. He said that there weren't any in the warehouse. I have re-scheduled for Tuesday but Comcast Customer Support can't guarantee they''ll have the card on Tuesday either.
> 
> Is there anyone in MA that has gotten an M Card from Comcast?


I'm in western Mass, and it took 10 days and 4 appointments to get an M-Card. (I also got $40 back for two waits. Thank you Comcast.) Anyhow, the techs say there are none in the warehouse. The one I got had been passed around between techs until it got to my town. Now I would like to get the two S-Cards in my Tivo HD replaced with a single M-Card, since they charge me for both ($6.95 each).


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