# Cablevision Cablecards & Upgrading Tivo



## Keith Elkin (Oct 16, 2002)

I currently have two Tivo Series 3 units which I am replacing tomorrow with a Tivo Roamio and a Tivo Mini. I remember when I first got these Series 3 units that it required a tech to come on-site to install and configure them, has this changed? I'm hoping when the new boxes come tomorrow I can just pull the multistream card from one of my Series 3's, place it in the Roamio, and call up tech support to have it switched to the new box.. Is that how they do it these days or do I have to schedule an appointment with them to come onsite?

While I'm on the topic of cable cards, anyone know if the EXTREMELY ANNOYING "This channel is not authorized" message still randomly appears taking you out of what you're currently watching on the Roamios? Happens all the time on my S3 and drives me F'in insane..
-Keith


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

The message doesn't randomly appear, it appears when you go to a channel you aren't authorized for.. heh.. If you mean the abrupt change to the actual cable card screen.. that's from the cable card I think..

But if your card is actually paired, and you go to an unsubscribed channel, it now gives you different messages (there are two slightly different ones I see -- one directly says you don't have access to the channel, one seems to mean the same thing but says something slightly different -- I suspect they're getting back a different error # from the cable system.)

In short-- yes you should be able to just call in and get it paired with the new device. If they have a special "cable card hotline" (like Comcast does), call that instead of the regular customer service #.


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## malba2366 (Aug 19, 2014)

This happens on my roamio sometimes too with Cablevision. It is definitely not only on channels I do not subscribe to. I called and was told this happens when the cable card temporarily loses its authentication with the cable system.


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## Keith Elkin (Oct 16, 2002)

mattack said:


> The message doesn't randomly appear, it appears when you go to a channel you aren't authorized for.. heh.. If you mean the abrupt change to the actual cable card screen.. that's from the cable card I think..
> 
> But if your card is actually paired, and you go to an unsubscribed channel, it now gives you different messages (there are two slightly different ones I see -- one directly says you don't have access to the channel, one seems to mean the same thing but says something slightly different -- I suspect they're getting back a different error # from the cable system.)
> 
> In short-- yes you should be able to just call in and get it paired with the new device. If they have a special "cable card hotline" (like Comcast does), call that instead of the regular customer service #.


Well it does for me.. I'll be watching a movie thats already recorded or live TV and the screen will come up on its own, I did not tune to ANY station...

Aside from that I'm looking to find out from someone with knowledge about Cablevision if they can handle this over the phone. I'm well aware other companies do, last I checked Cablevision didn't... I'd like to find out if that changed. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I call to activate the new units.
-Keith


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## AdamNJ (Aug 22, 2013)

Check what firmware version is on your cablecard from the menus, post it here


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Keith Elkin said:


> Well it does for me.. I'll be watching a movie thats already recorded or live TV and the screen will come up on its own, I did not tune to ANY station...


Do you have suggestions on?


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## mbernste (Apr 6, 2003)

Keith Elkin said:


> Aside from that I'm looking to find out from someone with knowledge about Cablevision if they can handle this over the phone. I'm well aware other companies do, last I checked Cablevision didn't... I'd like to find out if that changed. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I call to activate the new units.
> -Keith


If you're switching to a Roamio from an S3, you're going to want an M card since they can handle 6 streams and you only need a single card. For that you will need to bring your old card to an Optimum store and swap it out. With regards to doing the installation and pairing of the card you can do it via a phone call to Cablevision. When you call tell them you just got a Roamio and you need to pair your card, most likely they will send you to a tier 2 tech to do it for you, just be at the screen that gives you your cable card information. You should also jot down the card's serial number and have that handy.


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## Keith Elkin (Oct 16, 2002)

mbernste said:


> If you're switching to a Roamio from an S3, you're going to want an M card since they can handle 6 streams and you only need a single card. For that you will need to bring your old card to an Optimum store and swap it out. With regards to doing the installation and pairing of the card you can do it via a phone call to Cablevision. When you call tell them you just got a Roamio and you need to pair your card, most likely they will send you to a tier 2 tech to do it for you, just be at the screen that gives you your cable card information. You should also jot down the card's serial number and have that handy.


Thanks, that's very helpful information, good to hear that Cablevision will walk you through it over the phone and not require an onsite visit now. I'm pretty sure I have an M card already, I originally had 2 S cards in each box but swapped them out later on due to technical issues.. I'll have to double check tonight.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Keith Elkin said:


> Thanks, that's very helpful information, good to hear that Cablevision will walk you through it over the phone and not require an onsite visit now. I'm pretty sure I have an M card already, I originally had 2 S cards in each box but swapped them out later on due to technical issues.. I'll have to double check tonight.


If you already have M-cards in your S3, then you can just use one of those in the Roamio.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

Keith Elkin said:


> Well it does for me.. I'll be watching a movie thats already recorded or live TV and the screen will come up on its own, I did not tune to ANY station...


I have 2 Roamios and 1 mini on cablevision in NJ.

This happened to me when I didn't delete channels that I subscribed to, that the Tivo was trying to record as suggestions on a tuner I wasn't actively watching.

So for some more background, I used to subscribe to the sports pack, and had 'thumbs upped' a few programs on MavTV... then I dropped that package but didnt immediately hide those channels from my guide.

The tivo would then periodically try to record suggestions on the channels I didn't have access to.

Hiding the channels I didn't sub to fixed my issue. I was able to prove this was the issue by first clearing the "not authorized error", hitting info, then looking at the other tuners to see what channels they were on.



Keith Elkin said:


> Aside from that I'm looking to find out from someone with knowledge about Cablevision if they can handle this over the phone. I'm well aware other companies do, last I checked Cablevision didn't... I'd like to find out if that changed. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I call to activate the new units.
> -Keith


I upgraded to Roamios back in January from a Tivo S3 and a Tivo HD. The M-card in the HD I just popped into 1 Roamio and called cablevision to pair the cc to the new tivo. No issue there.. The S3 had 2 s-cards in it. Those I brought back to a walk in center to trade for 1 M card. Got home, called cablevision to pair the new M card and I was good to go.


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## Keith Elkin (Oct 16, 2002)

Here's my MCard info:

HW Model 0900 Ver 0010
Mode: MMODE

NDS M-Card for Cablevision
NDS s/w version:
3.92.15 Oct 08 2013 18:20:55


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## Keith Elkin (Oct 16, 2002)

Keith Elkin said:


> I currently have two Tivo Series 3 units which I am replacing tomorrow with a Tivo Roamio and a Tivo Mini. I remember when I first got these Series 3 units that it required a tech to come on-site to install and configure them, has this changed? I'm hoping when the new boxes come tomorrow I can just pull the multistream card from one of my Series 3's, place it in the Roamio, and call up tech support to have it switched to the new box.. Is that how they do it these days or do I have to schedule an appointment with them to come onsite?
> 
> While I'm on the topic of cable cards, anyone know if the EXTREMELY ANNOYING "This channel is not authorized" message still randomly appears taking you out of what you're currently watching on the Roamios? Happens all the time on my S3 and drives me F'in insane..
> -Keith


Glad to see that Cablevision got their act together and didn't require an onsite tech to come to swap out my card to a new unit like they had to do in 2009. Even better, I love that I was able to transfer my season passes from my old Tivos to the new Roamio Plus with just a few clicks! Very happy...

Now I'm setting up the Tivo Mini... let's see how that goes..


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Keith Elkin said:


> Glad to see that Cablevision got their act together and didn't require an onsite tech to come to swap out my card to a new unit like they had to do in 2009.


Don't thank Cablevision for that iota of sanity. I'm pretty sure the FCC forced all cable companies to allow self-installation of CableCards.


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## AdamsCableEquip (Apr 23, 2015)

All - if you need a cable card for your TiVo, I've got 75,000 of them in stock for reduced pricing right now. 

BR,
Jason - Adams Cable Equipment


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

How long is your list of cable companies that allow you to use your own cable card?


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## psywzrd (Mar 25, 2003)

Keith Elkin said:


> Even better, I love that I was able to transfer my season passes from my old Tivos to the new Roamio Plus with just a few clicks! Very happy...


How exactly does that work?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

psywzrd said:


> How exactly does that work?


On TiVo.com, login to My Account. Under Find Shows select Season Pass. It will let you select the destination device. It's not instantaneous.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

AdamsCableEquip said:


> All - if you need a cable card for your TiVo, I've got 75,000 of them in stock for reduced pricing right now. BR, Jason - Adams Cable Equipment





JoeKustra said:


> How long is your list of cable companies that allow you to use your own cable card?


Even if they won't activate it they're good to use on systems that still have clear QAM channels because the cablecard will map the channels to their correct numbers on your TiVo guide. Just make sure you get the one that's used on your system.


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

HarperVision said:


> Even if they won't activate it they're good to use on systems that still have clear QAM channels because the cablecard will map the channels to their correct numbers on your TiVo guide. Just make sure you get the one that's used on your system.


Can you elaborate a little? I didn't realize there were cable cards aside from what the cable companies provide (to authorize access to their content). If you're not accessing, say, Comcast's programming, what do you get? Who's the "provider" in Guided Setup?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

b-ball-fanatic said:


> Can you elaborate a little? I didn't realize there were cable cards aside from what the cable companies provide (to authorize access to their content). If you're not accessing, say, Comcast's programming, what do you get? Who's the "provider" in Guided Setup?


If your cable co. uses Motorola cards then get a Motorola, if it uses Cisco get a Cisco. When you connect it then it will map the clear QAM (if any) channels to their proper channel from the guide. This allows you to watch and record clear QAM channels and schedule recordings and use the TiVo as you would normally as if you had a paired card.

If you didn't have a card installed then you could do a channel scan and receive the channels, but they would be at their original frequency (125.3, etc) instead of where your cable co mapped them to so you wouldn't be able to use the guide or do normal recording type functions of a TiVo. You could only do manual recordings with no guide.


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

Thanks, Dave. That's interesting....now I'm curious to take a look.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

HarperVision said:


> Even if they won't activate it they're good to use on systems that still have clear QAM channels because the cablecard will map the channels to their correct numbers on your TiVo guide. Just make sure you get the one that's used on your system.


I tried that. Picked up an M-Card from eBay and put it in my Premiere. It found nothing and the diags indicated nothing but a lot of empty entries. It did show me the card was there, but nothing changed. I have 10 clear QAM right now. Normally I have 5 analog test patterns and one clear QAM (cable co info channel). I have been tempted to call my feed and see if they will activate if I don't tell them where I got it and they don't check my records. But I don't want them to get mad at me.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

JoeKustra said:


> I tried that. Picked up an M-Card from eBay and put it in my Premiere. It found nothing and the diags indicated nothing but a lot of empty entries. It did show me the card was there, but nothing changed. I have 10 clear QAM right now. Normally I have 5 analog test patterns and one clear QAM (cable co info channel). I have been tempted to call my feed and see if they will activate if I don't tell them where I got it and they don't check my records. But I don't want them to get mad at me.


I have heard that it doesn't work in some systems. I don't know what the issue could be. Mine works fine on TWC using a Cisco card.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

HarperVision said:


> I have heard that it doesn't work in some systems. I don't know what the issue could be. Mine works fine on TWC using a Cisco card.


It could be a "virgin" card or one from a different type of cable (HRC, IRC?) or I'm just unlucky. I have moved a card from a Premiere to a Roamio without any problems.


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## Jed1 (Jun 18, 2013)

JoeKustra said:


> It could be a "virgin" card or one from a different type of cable (HRC, IRC?) or I'm just unlucky. I have moved a card from a Premiere to a Roamio without any problems.


The card is not authenticated to be on their system. Then the card has to be added to your account to allow you to view he channels you subscribe to.
When this division was run by SECO all that you had to do was enter the serial number of the card in the system and you can view the in the clear channels.

SECV will not authenticate a card that they did not hand out so any card or box that doesn't belong is junk.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Jed1 said:


> The card is not authenticated to be on their system. Then the card has to be added to your account to allow you to view he channels you subscribe to. When this division was run by SECO all that you had to do was enter the serial number of the card in the system and you can view the in the clear channels. SECV will not authenticate a card that they did not hand out so any card or box that doesn't belong is junk.


Neither was mine and many others but they've worked for clear QAM.


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