Official Comcast CableCard Thread!

[smark]

Yes.

[geekmedic]

I just realized something, I don't know the phone number to call to have my CableCards activated when I set the box up. Does that pop up as part of the card information, or is it a regional Comcast phone number, or what?

I'm in the Seattle (Kirkland) area.

I had such an easy time going in and getting the Cards from the office that I did not even think about getting the activation phone number. Does the 800-COMCAST number get me to the right place?
It shows up when you open the the CableCard HD screen.

[c3]

The lady giving me the cards asked bout why someone would spend $800 for a box when you can rent theirs for $10.

In my area, you have to pay $34 for expanded basic in order to get the DVR for another $10, so for people who don't care about expanded basic, the cost of the DVR is actually $44 per month. That would pay for the $800 S3 in about 18 months.

[sharding]

I just realized something, I don't know the phone number to call to have my CableCards activated when I set the box up. Does that pop up as part of the card information, or is it a regional Comcast phone number, or what?

I'm in the Seattle (Kirkland) area.


I called 1-800-COMCAST and had no trouble. The first person who answered was able to help me out. When you call 1-800-COMCAST, you get a regional call center (in Everett, I think).

[LASchleigh]

So, I thought I would share my experience getting Comcast cablecards installed. Utlimately, it was a success despite Comcast's lack of knowledge.

Started last week to order the cards. CSR said that she could only input one card on my account and that there was no way for her to indicate 2 cards on the account. After much frustration, we left it with her just putting in a note on the tech request that I am requesting 2 cards. Install was set for yesterday. Call back the next day to confirm and try a different CSR. Now I can get 2 cards but they will have to reschedule the tech call for another 2.5 weeks out. I said forget it and I will take my chances with having the tech actually read the note that I needed 2.

Tech shows up yesterday at 4:30 in a 1:00 to 5:00 window. Lo and Behold, 2 cable cards 'cause I am replacing 2 boxes, right. Set him straight and showed him the TiVo. "Wow, two cards, eh. Haven't seen that." is the response. "Not sure if it will work. Normally we only support products after they have been on the market for 90 days" he tells me after I told him it came out last week. Apparently this guy must to Internet installs a lot because he followed up saying they don't support windows Vista either but it still works.

I give the tech the instructions that were in the box AND the instructions printed from the web site. The response? "TiVo doesn't know anything about cable. I am sure those won't work." Uh, ok.... so I let him do it his way. He grabs the remote and wham.... he restarts the box. Not sure why. (He has a TiVo at home so he can get around the menus fairly well). After the restart, he runs the guided setup and installs card 1 and gets it working as part of the set up. After the downloads, etc., he restarts it, reruns guided setup, installs card 2, and gets the card working. He the restarts the TiVo again, runs guided setup again, checks for the HD and encrypted HD channels and restarts again.

So 4 restarts, 3 guided setups later it is done and works fine. He complains that it takes so long to do. Granted if he followed the instructions, it probably would have been done in half the time. Not to mention it took a while for hime to get a hold of someone to send the signals to the cards. Of course, he is the same guy that when asked if TNT-HD was indeed starting on the systme yesterday, the reply was "nope, not in this area, not for a long time." Tune to channel 926 and there it was! Made me laugh.

Observation: 1 new motorola card firmware 4.21 gets the encrypted HD channels quickly after restart. 1 older motorola card firmware 4.05 take up to 15 minutes after restart to get all the encrypted HD.

That is it. While not the "TiVo" way to install, it worked and I won't complain (too much). ;)

[singletb]

Wow, my experience with upgrading to a Series 3 has been amazing so far. I will share my experience with TiVo / Comcast here.

First off, after the initial announcement of the Series 3, I hemed and hawed about ordering due to price. Finally, I decided to pull the trigger and ordered on this Tuesday (9/19). I ordered with standard shipping, expeciting it to be 2+ weeks before I actually saw the unit. In the meantime, I called Comcast to see what the status of CableCards were. They informed me over the phone that I could pick a couple up at their Chicago north side office or have a tech come to my place and install them. They did not mention anything at all about price.

Anyway, I am sitting at work, and a big box shows up for me. To my surprise, it is my new TiVo. I am still dumbfounded by how it got here so quickly, but I won't complain. Anyway, that prompted me to stop by the Comcast office over lunch time. I showed up and asked for cable cards. Initially the lady said only a tech could install them and I would set-up an appointment. I acted surprised and told her that over the phone they said that I could pick the cards up. I didn't raise my voice or get bent out of shape, and was ready to turn around and leave when she said, "hold on." Well, she dissapeared for a few minutes and told me that a tech was setting up the cards for me. Another 10 minutes go by, and she returns with the two cards for me. No charges, no questions asked. She told me that they have been programmed and should work from the get-go. Anyway, I haven't been home yet to set things up, but this all couldn't have gone any more smoothly so far. It's nice to see that my easy-going personality with the service people has finally paid off!

Now, my only problem is that there is a lot of TV that I want to watch tonight. That makes a big conondrum on wether to install the new unit or watch the shows. I can't really do both.

[Bodshal]

Now, my only problem is that there is a lot of TV that I want to watch tonight. That makes a big conondrum on wether to install the new unit or watch the shows. I can't really do both.

Buy another TV so you can do both :)

Glad to hear it's been painless thus far.

Of course, you may yet need to call in to get those cards activated - newer cards/headends/something need to be paired to the cable card slots' hostid, which they can't have known at the comcast place (unless they powered up your tivo...)

Chris.

[btwyx]

Now, my only problem is that there is a lot of TV that I want to watch tonight. That makes a big conondrum on wether to install the new unit or watch the shows. I can't really do both.Assuming its on TiVo, you can catch up with it later. I still have a lot of things I would normally have already watched, but I've been playing with the new TiVo for most of the week.

[Barb]

My quote from Comcast...free for the first card, $2.75 per month for the second card. Installation is separate for each card and is about $15 each. Apparently, they need to provision each card and that is something they need to do themselves. I am in just north of Boston.

[tube013]

Comcast just left me a little while ago. I made the appointment a week ago, and told them I needed 2 cards. He comes in the door, and says one cable card right, and I say no 2. He borught a spare with him incase the first one didn't work, so I was SOL if on didn't work.

So it was the first time he or his dispatcher had seen the box. But I gave him the sheet and both cards seemed to work.

When we tested them I wasn't getting some of my channels, and the dispatcher on the phone said it could take up to 4 hours for all the programming to work.... is this true?

I only get regular expanded basic + HDTV which gets me espn, espn2, tnthd, universal hd, inhd, inhd2, discovery hd, Comcastsports, and my locals.

As of now about an hour after the install and after I re-ran guided setup, I have one inhd channel working, and about 3 of my locals out of about 15 all together. I figure I will give it until 7pm and then call tech support.

Reading the cablecard screens are interesting, like one card has encyption enable, and one doesn't, one card says subscribed, and one doesn't. I have no Idea what is right and wrong.

[richburr]

My S3 will be arriving today. I called Comcast's 800 number and spoke to a person there who did not seem to be aware of the new Tivos.

I told her that I wanted two CableCards, and she told me that I would not be able to view VOD content with them. I told her that I was aware of that, and that I would also like an HD box.

She told me that I only needed the HD box. I told her that no, I also needed the CableCards as they are required for the Tivo. At some point she put me on hold, and after she came back she told me that she had spoken with a tech who told her that I only needed the HD box. I told her again that I also needed the CableCards, that the tech was wrong.

She scheduled me for an appointment, I have to wait over a week to get one that is outside of my work schedule. She told me that they would need a second outlet, and that there was a fee of $24 to install that. She said there is a $16 fee to roll the truck, but that they would only charge me the $24.

She also said there would be a monthly fee for the HD box. I since have seen that FAQ and it does appear that should be free, I guess I will hash that out with them after I get my bil...


Rich

[btwyx]

When we tested them I wasn't getting some of my channels, and the dispatcher on the phone said it could take up to 4 hours for all the programming to work.... is this true?Not in any sane system, but we are talking about Comcast here.

This seems to be a way to deflect the customer and let the installer leave, without the install being completed.

[Omnius]

Everybody keeps talking about the FAQ and the "free cable box" with cable cards. I believe that is wishfull thinking and I read it completely different. As long as you pay for a digital package, you get a free cable box. The FAQ answer stating that they will be happy to provide you with a free cable box is just another way of saying you don't have to be cheap and get a cable card to save money, because you can get the full box for free.

I believe you can get a free cable box, or a free cable card, if you pay for a digital pacakge, but not both a free cable card and free box.

[singletb]

Assuming its on TiVo, you can catch up with it later. I still have a lot of things I would normally have already watched, but I've been playing with the new TiVo for most of the week.

That's the problem. If I disconect my S2 so that there are no splits in my cable when I install, then it will miss all of the shows I was going to record tonight.

[btwyx]

That's the problem. If I disconect my S2 so that there are no splits in my cable when I install, then it will miss all of the shows I was going to record tonight.Do you forsee a problem putting a splitter in the cable? It made no difference for me. You could always get a buffer amp if you're that worried about the signal level.

What about taking the output from the S2 and making sure its in standby? (S2s do have RF out don't they?)

[c3]

She also said there would be a monthly fee for the HD box. I since have seen that FAQ and it does appear that should be free, I guess I will hash that out with them after I get my bil...

HD box is $5/month here, not free, and that's also considered an additional digital outlet since you already have other outlet(s).

[Ereth]

I thought I'd add my own experience, at least so far. My S3 isn't here yet, but the tracking number says it'll be here tomorrow.

I originally called Comcast the day the S3 was announced and was told that I could not pick up the Cablecards myself but had to have it installed, at $29.95 per cablecard. Since I didn't know when the S3 would be in, I didn't schedule the install.

So last night I called to schedule that install and they inform me that I CAN just go get them if I want. But they were closed right then.

So I went down this morning on my way to work and they gave me two Cablecards. I only have the very minimum cable necessary to drive my cablemodem, so she told me the Cablecards would be $9.95 each. I said cablecards should be free and then we realized she was including the cost of the new HD service that I didn't have at that point, so that was fine (though I argued I should only get charged once, not twice, since it's one box, she wasn't having any of that).

I won't get anything but local channels in HD at this level, and the next level is about $45/month more than I'm paying, so I'm going to stick at this level until I see what it can do.

But I have the Cablecards and will install them myself tomorrow night. Both are Motorola, but I can't tell the firmware version, of course.

[AdamSKahn]

I live in Palo Alto, CA (halfway between San Francisco and San Jose). I called 1-800-945-2288. I told the technician I needed 2 cable cards installed. He figured out right away that I must have one of the new TiVos because they've been getting a lot of calls. He said that there was a one time $15.99 installation cost and that both cards were free of charge. I don't think this information was a fluke because this is the same information I received when I called Comcast on the 14th, the day I ordered my TiVo (however I did not set an appointment up at the time since I did not know when the unit would arrive). The only downside is that they've been getting so many request that the earliest they can come is October 11th. However the technician left a note for his dispatcher to see if they might be able to schedule an earlier appointment.

Also, he said the reason that a technician had to install the cards is because when they used to let customers install them on their own, the customers would often damage the cards since they are apparently very sensitive.

[xtoph]

De-lurking to share my relatively positive experience... about 24 hours after deciding to get an S3, I'm all set. Not bad at all.


Decided yesterday I could justify getting an S3. Best Buy and Circuit City were out (or not yet stocking them), but each of the two Ultimate Electronics I called had a couple in stock. (This is in the Lakewood, Colorado area.)

On the way home from UE I stopped at the closest Comcast office and asked for a couple cable cards. Was told only tech can install them, but they set up an appointment for the next morning (today!)

Tech was running late, and this was the first S3 he'd seen, but he was game to make it work. The cable cards looked shiny-new -- Motorola branding only, firmware version 4.21 on each.

He was willing to follow the TiVo instruction sheet, except for the "wait for the grey screen" step -- he poked around in the Cable Card menu and hit "Hunt" over and over until the numbers came up (probably not needed.)

The person he called to activate the first card did so quickly, and the card got its channels within a minute of the call. The tech tested a few channels from every "batch" including premiums, HD, etc. No problems.

Card 2 was slightly more complicated because when he called he spoke with a different person who was skeptical of the whole scenario, and asked to have it explained to him a few times. Then he said the work order had been entered wrong and he had to re-enter it before he could assign me the second card, But after the red tape was cut, the activation went smoothly and the tech again tested almost every channel. Then he handed the remote back to me so I could redo the guided setup, and all is well!

I'm upgrading from two single-tuner S2s, each with a cable box attached to it -- so I'm replacing 4 boxes & remotes with 1. Joy.

Next week I'll return the cable boxes to the local office and ask/argue about what all this is going to cost. I was afraid to have that conversation before the cards were installed and working, lest I turn an ally into an enemy...

[Jharrington]

Here in Sarasota FL they want to charge me a 49.95 instalation fee and 19.95 per moth for the 1st card and 11.95 a month for the second card. No pick-ups allowed. How is it that people get these for free in some areas and it costs more than 30.00 here?

Is there anything I can do? Anyone else in the area experiencing this? What could I possibly say or do to get them to lower these outragous fees? This is by far the highest price I've seen on these boards.

They told me if I keep my STB they would lower the price of the cards to 11.95 each per month...wow...how kind. I'm in a crappy apartment complex that only has Comcast for available service but if I could...bye bye Comcast. First thing I do when I move is get a new provider.

[dlstrick]

After reading several posts about the confused nightmare that is Comcast, I called to set an appointment to get 2 cablecards in advance of the arrival of my Series 3. I call Comcast on 9/20. First, the rep tells me that they can only issue one card per customer. Then it changed to one card per television set. Then, the Rep goes into how he has received an advisement from the Tech Department that the cablecards used in Northern VA. are not configured to be used with TiVo. After trying to explain the Cable Labs standard and asking why would VA have different cablecards than the rest of the Comcast network, the Rep told me that he was trying to give me some "understanding" of how things worked, and that he would not issue the cablecards because they will not work with TiVo. Realizing that I had come to a rude brick wall, I asked for a supervisor, and he said there was not one. Will take up that fight on another front. Called Comcast today after reading this thread, and the new Rep, after reading the history of my last phone call, goes into the exact same routine as the first one. Cablecards in Northern VA. will not work with TiVo, we will issue you one card only even if we decide to provide it. After wrangling with this piece of work, she finally relents, sets up the appointment, and tells me she is going to charge me $24.95 to "roll the truck out to prove that the cablecards won't work." They are charging $5 per month per card as well. Has anyone in the DC/No. VA. area encountered this same hostility, confusion and incompetence?

[jay_man2]

After reading several posts about the confused nightmare that is Comcast, I called to set an appointment to get 2 cablecards in advance of the arrival of my Series 3. I call Comcast on 9/20. First, the rep tells me that they can only issue one card per customer. Then it changed to one card per television set. Then, the Rep goes into how he has received an advisement from the Tech Department that the cablecards used in Northern VA. are not configured to be used with TiVo. After trying to explain the Cable Labs standard and asking why would VA have different cablecards than the rest of the Comcast network, the Rep told me that he was trying to give me some "understanding" of how things worked, and that he would not issue the cablecards because they will not work with TiVo. Realizing that I had come to a rude brick wall, I asked for a supervisor, and he said there was not one. Will take up that fight on another front. Called Comcast today after reading this thread, and the new Rep, after reading the history of my last phone call, goes into the exact same routine as the first one. Cablecards in Northern VA. will not work with TiVo, we will issue you one card only even if we decide to provide it. After wrangling with this piece of work, she finally relents, sets up the appointment, and tells me she is going to charge me $24.95 to "roll the truck out to prove that the cablecards won't work." They are charging $5 per month per card as well. Has anyone in the DC/No. VA. area encountered this same hostility, confusion and incompetence?Same here the first time, that they reused to install them, using the local Comcast number. Hung up on them. Then went to the local office. Cards are free, but service to each card is $9.95 a month. I left without scheduling an appointment. Then called 800-COMCAST. Different story. Cards are free, and after the rep looked at my account and saw that I pay for HD on 3 outlets, the cards appear to be free, except for a $9.95 per card one-time install fee. I set up a Monday install. We'll see.

[Brainiac 5]

Is there anything I can do? Anyone else in the area experiencing this? What could I possibly say or do to get them to lower these outragous fees? This is by far the highest price I've seen on these boards.Comcast's FAQ states here (http://www.comcast.com/Customers/FAQ/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=2651) that CableCards are free. If they change their story and say that the charge is not for the CableCards, but for the "additional outlet," I'd look for any inconsistency in that story (like would you have to pay that charge if you were getting one of their STBs?).

Also, Comcast reported to the FCC that they are making CableCards available for free (there's a link to this in another thread, but I don't seem to able to find it right now). If that's not true, then they'd probably like to know that (actually we already know from other people's experiences that it's not true everywhere).

[ad301]

Here in southern CT, I had my cablecards installed this afternoon. Comcast sent two techs, and they said it was the second S3 they were dealing with. The guy they were talkking to on the phone said that it was the sixth one he was working on today. I'm not sure if that was just for this local area or not, and I didn't think to ask at the time.

The install was pretty much painless, and works just fine. I'm was charged $15 for the first card and $12 for the second for the installation, and the monthly fees are free for the first and $2.95 for the second.

The bottom line is that I couldn't be happier. (Well, once they activate MRV and I get a second box, I'll be even happier.) This is a great box, the picture is fantastic. It really makes the D* picture, as seen using my hr10-250s, look really poor by comparison.

[JoBeth66]

So thanks to a WONDERFUL Comcast employee who reads this forum and was sympathetic to my plight, I got a call from a customer service VP in the Voorhees NJ office today. Spent about 15 minutes on the phone with me going over my issues and concerns, explaining that the people that answer the phone aren't always up on the technology and don't know sometimes what the correct answers are, they go by what they "hear" and that's not necessarily the RIGHT answer, but it's human nature. He was very pleasant and confided in me that before he went to work for Comcast he was a DirecTiVo user, and he's jealous of the S3, he wants to open up his Comcast DVR and hack it but he can't. :)

A few hours later I get a call from the head "CableCARD guy" in Voorhees, he's switching over my appointment tomorrow from the tech it was assigned to, and he's coming out himself, probably with 2 or 3 other techs, to train. (I damn well better not get charged for this truck roll, either!) They're going to leave my Comcast DVR for a month for me to use free to make sure there are not issues - that was nice, I thought.

He's telling me I'm only the 3rd install they will have done in an S3 in the South Jersey market. Nhaigh, you have the honor of being the first, I think - since he said the first they did was in Lawrenceville. :)

He also told me that after my conversation with the VP this afternoon, they got onto Tivo.com and downloaded the install directions, he also checked THIS forum and found some of the problems others were dealing with.

So we'll see how it goes. I'll report back.

[nexus99]

I have my S3 all hooked up and I am waiting for the Cable guy now... The appointment was from 1-5... and its 4:47. Who thinks he is gonna show in the next 13 minutes?

More to come...

[cschamp]

I have my S3 all hooked up and I am waiting for the Cable guy now... The appointment was from 1-5... and its 4:47. Who thinks he is gonna show in the next 13 minutes?

More to come...

I had an appointment today from 8-12:00, and at 12:10 I got a call saying that they have no cablecards right now (Sunnyvale, CA) but they could come to my house with a set-top box. Hah!

To be fair, the operator gave me a $20 credit on my bill for this trouble, and rescheduled my appointment to next Wednesday morning. And if the 800-operator I spoke with yesterday is correct, my cablecards should cost me no additional fees each month.

We'll see. At least I have roof-top antenna for receiving HDTV that will keep me happy until next Wednesday.

[AdamSKahn]

So not only did I have a good experience with the Comcast customer support ($15.99 installation, both cable cards free). Originally the earliest appointment they had was October 11, however the technician contacted his dispatch to see if I could get an earlier appointment and a few hours later they e-mailed me saying they could come on September 25.

[nexus99]

Just called Comcast and they are supposed to have someone call me back in 15 mins. (Its 5:16 now).

[aressa]

Well, my CableCARD install was completely painless. I put in the cards before I even installed the box or ran Guided Setup. When I got to the part of Setup that asks about the cards it popped up the information about the cards. I spent 3 minutes on hold with 800-COMCAST and then the CSR had no questions for me, he just started firing over the init signals. I got 164.4 on the first card, and then a few seconds later I got 164.4 on the second card. I think the CSR had had a few TiVo installs, because he was completely unfazed by my comments ("Ok, I got the 'good' error, that's good!") I had him hold on the phone until the cards synched, which took about a minute or so, and he said "I'll hold on the line as long as you need me...", so he was in it for the long haul, if required. I kept him on the line until I had HD on both cards (which was just a few minutes), and then let him go.

Completely painless process, probably took 10 minutes total.

Now to re-enter all of the season passes from the evil 6412 and get that dang thing out of my house!

[beergeek2]

So far a pretty bad experience from Comcast here.

Tech was on time -- but that was the only part that worked.

First set of cards installed and the tech struggled to get them to work for 1 and 1/2 hours. Never could.

Second set installed and called to initialize them. Got the "good" error -- but so far (nearly 2 hours later) I only get 2 channels -- both local HD channels.

The cards still show as Auth: unknown so I don't think anything is working right.

I've called to get them initialized 3 times now and just don't get anywhere.

Time to try yet again.

[nexus99]

Just got a call. It looks like the Modesto, CA dispatch center tried to farm this out to some contract installers and it got totally jacked up. They are suppoed to roll a truck tomorrow evening to see if they can do the install. I was happy but now I am sad.

[Roderigo]

I had an appointment today from 8-12:00, and at 12:10 I got a call saying that they have no cablecards right now (Sunnyvale, CA) but they could come to my house with a set-top box. Hah!

Guess there's been a run on CableCARDs with all the S3 installs. ;)

[DocSavag]

Our Experiences with Comcast in Jacksonville, FL:

First we called our local Comcast location and asked them if we could get Cable Cards. They told us yes that we could just come pick them up. We arrived at the location an hour before closing and the direct quote from the lady behind the 3 inch thick security plexiglass: "Whats a cable card?" After we got past that she called another location and found that they had them and we dashed to that store 25 minutes away to get the cards.

Today our S3 arrived. We put the cards in and called the local service number to get them authorized. They didn't have any issue with activating them but it didn't work.

We called back to talk to another tech and he immediately said that we would have to schedule a tech to come out. Which we agreed to but asked him to reauthorize them anyway which he agreed to do but then quickly ended the phone with the 15-20 minute dodge.

For some reason my wife who has about 3000% more patience for idiots than I do decided to call back again and try one more time. This time she got a tech who agreed to stay on the phone for a bit and try to get it to work. She apologized for not knowing more about cablecards and admitted that they get no real training and only know how to authorize them and send the initialization command with no real idea how to trouble shoot anything.

This try didn't seem to be working either but about the time she hung up telling us she would keep our appointment for Saturday the cards started working. I'm not sure what she did that the others didn't do but whatever it was finally worked and we have two working Cable cards with all the channels (as far as I've seen I've been all over the dial without finding anything amiss)

Interestingly enough only one of the cards shows "subscribed" in the network information but both seem to be working. I've seen others say they have seen this as well so I'm not sure if it is supposed to work like that or not.

[Jazhuis]

We arrived at the location an hour before closing and the direct quote from the lady behind the 3 inch thick security plexiglass
I swear that has nothing to do with me. :p

[DocSavag]

I swear that has nothing to do with me. :p

The second place had those security barriers too but they only go up half the way to the ceiling which seems a bit pointless..but frankly the lady who said "Whats a cable card" should feel lucky she was behind a protetive barrier!

[Jazhuis]

The second place had those security barriers too but they only go up half the way to the ceiling which seems a bit pointless..but frankly the lady who said "Whats a cable card" should feel lucky she was behind a protetive barrier!

How much did they quote for the two Cablecards?

[DocSavag]

How much did they quote for the two Cablecards?

The first one which we were trading out a digital box for is no additional charge. There was some mention of having to pay a fee for the second one but I don't know what it was at the moment.

[Bodshal]

Hm, noticed one small problem with my cable cards. They map the channel for INHD to NFLNET HD. The mapping for the NFL channel itself is fine. Bah. No doubt it's a mapping issue, so I'll have to convince Comcast it's their problem. It's the only such problem I've found so far though.

(Not least because I value INHD more than any sports channel)

Chris.

I never got round to calling them about this, but it rectified itself sometime today. I guess either a routine update fixed it or someone else noticed.

Chris.

[Gregor]

I never got round to calling them about this, but it rectified itself sometime today. I guess either a routine update fixed it or someone else noticed.

Chris.

Comcast switches INHD with NFLHD and OLNHD quite a bit during the winter to provide another HD channel. OLNHD carries the NHL. It seems to switch the channel labels, we'll have to see how the Tivo PG handles this...

[mikebridge]

the sheet of paper with my channel list shows an INHD2 channel, but i don't seem to receive it, and online listings don't show it either, did they remove it since they printed that list? because i remember getting it on my comcast HD box...

[Bodshal]

Comcast switches INHD with NFLHD and OLNHD quite a bit during the winter to provide another HD channel. OLNHD carries the NHL. It seems to switch the channel labels, we'll have to see how the Tivo PG handles this...

Cablecard specific? Because I've not noticed this on the STB. If it occurs again, I guess I'll go check on the STB (which is currently relegated to Tivo S2 duty...)

Chris.

[bschott]

Since I've been browsing this thread and it's growing quite big, I'll post my comments for someone who may be interested in the results for the Pottstown Area around Phila, PA.

I called the main number this morning and spoke to a pleasant person. I explained that I would like two CableCards and she immediately knew what I was asking for and stumbled a bit in her following words, with her first comment being "You will not have access to HD programming", then I pressed her again and then she said "You wont have any channels above channel 200" Then finally I believe she relented in her push for me to keep the Motorola DCT DVR that I have now. She finally quoted that I wouldn't have access to any PPV, etc. Which I already figured.

Anyhow, as the conversation progressed she told me that theres a 5 dollar charge for the first card and 8 dollars for the second. I told her about the Comcast FAQ indicating that there's no price for the cards, she told me that on Septempter 9th, they changed their policy so the cards are charged (billed) as would a stand alone HDTV receiver.

I said fine, no problem. She told me that there's a service charge for installation and that they'd have to roll a truck as there's no way I could install it myself. I laughed a bit, but played along. She told me she'd wave the installation charge and we scheduled a date for next Friday. No harm, no foul.

Brian

[Ereth]

Our Experiences with Comcast in Jacksonville, FL:


Hey, thanks for posting. Good to see another Jax user here.

I went down to the Southpoint office and picked up my Cablecards today. They told me that the charge was $9.95 each for the service (not the card). I only have minimal service, though, so they had to upgrade me to HDTV service.

My Series 3 will be here tomorrow, so I'll keep in mind your wifes patience when I go to activate it! Thanks for the info.

[doctord]

No luck on my cable card install. I had one previous installed cable card in my TV that I moved to the TiVo and it works perfectly. State: "authorized" in the conditional access screen.

Two installers, 2 cable cards and 2 phone calls to Comcast to re-initialize the card and the second newly installed card still shows State: "CA Disabled".

The PID's and CCI readings differ between the cards as well.
I guess I'll try the Comcast office tomorrow and see what shakes out.

BTW, the new card does tune the non-encryted analog and digital channels including my HD locals, but none of my package channels.

[RentMusic]

No luck on my cable card install. I had one previous installed cable card in my TV that I moved to the TiVo and it works perfectly. State: "authorized" in the conditional access screen.

Two installers, 2 cable cards and 2 phone calls to Comcast to re-initialize the card and the second newly installed card still shows State: "CA Disabled".

The PID's and CCI readings differ between the cards as well.
I guess I'll try the Comcast office tomorrow and see what shakes out.

BTW, the new card does tune the non-encryted analog and digital channels including my HD locals, but none of my package channels.

I'm having similar problems in Mountain View CA.

At first it looked like the CableCard install went flawlessly -- no problem receiving unencrypted local digital channels such as KQEDDT1-5 as well as local HD channels 702, 703, 704, 705, 707, 709.

Unfortunately, it will not tune in encrypted digital channels. I can't tune in PBS Sprout, SciFi, BBC America, Discovery HD, or INHD.

Customer support couldn't cause things to reset on the phone the other night. The tech who came out today could not get either CableCard configured to tune in encrypted channels. Not in my TV. Wouldn't touch the TiVo claiming they have been instructed not to do anything using the TiVo. His claim was that the problem was that the device was not two-way so they can't inspect information from the central office. True, the device is not two-way and so this could be part of the problem. However, Comcast could not configure their own DVR correctly for several attempts. It took two or three times before their own HD DVR could actually tune in Discovery HD.

Has anyone else in Mountain View CA been successful in tuning in encrypted digital channels with a Comcast Motorola Cablecard?

[btwyx]

Has anyone else in Mountain View CA been successful in tuning in encrypted digital channels with a Comcast Motorola Cablecard?Me.

[Desktop Icon]

My cable card installation went smoothly this evening, though I felt like I was playing a game of Beat the Clock. UPS did not deliver my S3 until 6:50pm, leaving me just over an hour to hook up the machine, do my VIP transfer, install the cable cards, download the initial batch of program info, and set up recordings for two shows starting at 8:00pm. I figured that if something held me up, I could always move the cable back to the S2 box and finish up with the S3 tomorrow.

The VIP transfer was very quick... maybe four minutes tops. Would have even been quicker but for some reason the rep put me on hold for about two minutes in the middle of things.

Then it came time to handle the dreaded cable cards. When I popped the first card in, the resulting info screen did not display a phone number to call, so I just dialed the 800 number and picked the "I have a problem" phone-tree option. This got me connected to someone who could ping the cards, so I guess it was a good choice. Anyway, I feel very fortunate to have read all the other posts in this thread about the "good" error message and that you can click right past that; had I not known that, I might have gotten all caught up on that screen. Both cards hit right away, and within a couple minutes I was able to click through the channels. This call would have only lasted about five minutes, but this was the first S3 this rep had dealt with and he started peppering me with questions. He was very familiar with Tivos, but not this model, so he was asking me all sorts of questions about the number of tuners, hard drive size, etc. It was actually a fun conversation, and I warned him that he'll undoubtedly be hearing from a lot of other new S3 owners in the coming weeks.

I continued with the rest of the Tivo setup, and was able to plug in my first Season Passes at 7:53! Plenty of time to spare!

[doctord]

Update:
Call #3 to Comcast found a helpful CSR that called in his supervisor to help. They sucessfully paired the card to the device and changed the "state" from "CA Disabled" to "Unknown" and the "Host Validation" from "Unknown" to "Valid". Unfortunately I have the same problem of not receiving encrypted channels on the one card. They finally gave up saying they were out of ideas.
The bright side is that now that I have 2 cable cards installed, I have a funtioning 2 tuner TiVo. With my OTA networks and the one fully functioning cable card, I can limp by until I find someone at Comcast that is savy. A call to TiVo is probably worth a shot as well.

[Roderigo]

The PID's and CCI readings differ between the cards as well.

The PID's and CCI are based on the channel that the CableCARD has been asked to decrypt - so it makes sense that the two cards would have different values.

[dlstrick]

Same here the first time, that they reused to install them, using the local Comcast number. Hung up on them. Then went to the local office. Cards are free, but service to each card is $9.95 a month. I left without scheduling an appointment. Then called 800-COMCAST. Different story. Cards are free, and after the rep looked at my account and saw that I pay for HD on 3 outlets, the cards appear to be free, except for a $9.95 per card one-time install fee. I set up a Monday install. We'll see.
Please post on how yours goes. They are coming for my install next Friday.

[jrog]

Comcast came and went in about 30 minutes. They took the old cable cards I had for my two Sony DHG-HDD500s and just put them in the new tivo, called Comcast, gave them the info, and now I'm up and running.

The guy had never even seen this box, most haven't, I'm sure, but it was easy enough. Now I'm enjoying my Tivo in all it's glory. Thank you Tivo, I ... I love you man.

Of course, working better than the Sony DVR wouldn't be hard, but it's nice finally having a replacement.

-jrog

[singletb]

Wow, my experience with upgrading to a Series 3 has been amazing so far. I will share my experience with TiVo / Comcast here.

First off, after the initial announcement of the Series 3, I hemed and hawed about ordering due to price. Finally, I decided to pull the trigger and ordered on this Tuesday (9/19). I ordered with standard shipping, expeciting it to be 2+ weeks before I actually saw the unit. In the meantime, I called Comcast to see what the status of CableCards were. They informed me over the phone that I could pick a couple up at their Chicago north side office or have a tech come to my place and install them. They did not mention anything at all about price.

Anyway, I am sitting at work, and a big box shows up for me. To my surprise, it is my new TiVo. I am still dumbfounded by how it got here so quickly, but I won't complain. Anyway, that prompted me to stop by the Comcast office over lunch time. I showed up and asked for cable cards. Initially the lady said only a tech could install them and I would set-up an appointment. I acted surprised and told her that over the phone they said that I could pick the cards up. I didn't raise my voice or get bent out of shape, and was ready to turn around and leave when she said, "hold on." Well, she dissapeared for a few minutes and told me that a tech was setting up the cards for me. Another 10 minutes go by, and she returns with the two cards for me. No charges, no questions asked. She told me that they have been programmed and should work from the get-go. Anyway, I haven't been home yet to set things up, but this all couldn't have gone any more smoothly so far. It's nice to see that my easy-going personality with the service people has finally paid off!

Now, my only problem is that there is a lot of TV that I want to watch tonight. That makes a big conondrum on wether to install the new unit or watch the shows. I can't really do both.


Well, things ended up going pretty well last night. No, the cards weren't ready to go as soon as I popped them in. I called Comcast customer service, who in-turn put me in contact with their CableCard expert. He was awesome, and seemed to actually know what he was doing. Anyway, it took a few re-boots, but things eventually worked. The guy even gave me their office number, and told me to call if I ever had a problem and leave a message. It is in the Chicagoland area, so if anyone wants the number, just e-mail me at brian.w.singleton@gmail.com.

[amjustice]

Well, things ended up going pretty well last night. No, the cards weren't ready to go as soon as I popped them in. I called Comcast customer service, who in-turn put me in contact with their CableCard expert. He was awesome, and seemed to actually know what he was doing. Anyway, it took a few re-boots, but things eventually worked. The guy even gave me their office number, and told me to call if I ever had a problem and leave a message. It is in the Chicagoland area, so if anyone wants the number, just e-mail me at brian.w.singleton@gmail.com.
Thats awesome, good to hear they have a few people that know what they are talking about. My install apt is today, so we will see how well things go. I saw some Comcast guys walking into my Apartment yesterday and tried to get them to come give me some cable cards, but they wouldnt, I guess i have to wait until between 1-5 today, can't wait to get things going though.

[singletb]

Thats awesome, good to hear they have a few people that know what they are talking about. My install apt is today, so we will see how well things go. I saw some Comcast guys walking into my Apartment yesterday and tried to get them to come give me some cable cards, but they wouldnt, I guess i have to wait until between 1-5 today, can't wait to get things going though.


Yeah, I picked up my cards at the North Avenue office yesterday afternoon. They told me they would work from the get-go, but I was skeptical. Everyone I talked to on the phone last night was phenomenal though. I guess that is sort-of luck of the draw though.

[Bud Green]

For those of you not getting satisfaction from Comcast, call one of the executive assistants at their corporate headquarters. It's a long distance number, but well worth it. 215-665-1700

When the contractor didn't bring CableCards, I was told it would be Monday before I could get an appointment. One call to their corporate headquarters and someone is coming tomorrow morning at 8 am.
I tried unsuccessfully for a week to schedule the installation of 2 cablecards. I talked to numerous sales reps, two supervisors, and even had a Tivo rep on the phone for one of the calls, but all I ever got was misinformation and unfulfilled promises to call me back. I called the corporate number above and the problem was resolved within a couple of hours. I now have an appointment for Monday morning. Thank you geekmedic! :)

[geekmedic]

I wonder how many calls the corporate office will receive since I posted the number?

Nothing like friends in low places! :)

[wackymann]

So I ordered my S3 2 days ago, and called Comcast yesterday to set up the cable card install. I have an appointment for October 2nd. Here are the fees they quoted me:

Install, card #1: $15.65
Install, card #2: $14.40
Monthly fees: $2.75 each

I told the CSR that I needed 2 cards for the new Tivo, and she just said OK and quoted me the prices above. She also warned me about the lack of program guides and On-Demand content.

Note that I plan on keeping my Comcast DVR (3412) for now. I figure it can't hurt to have 4 tuners while I'm testing out the new setup! And it's always nice to have a backup for my favorite shows.

I'll report back on 10/2 with how things went.

[doctord]

I previously posted my failed attempts to get a second working Cable Card (I already had a working one "State = Subscribed" that I transferred from my TV). Here is a recap:

1. Cable guy installs card #2, screens come up on TiVo as expected, he calls home but can't get it to work, doesn't have time to troubleshoot it and tells my wife that his supervisor will have to deal with it. (Only brought one card)

2. Second visit by different guy (same day) with a second cable card. Spends his time asking my wife why we want the TiVo when their box does the same thing. Says they aren't supposed to install cards in anything but TV, but installs second card anyway, calls for authorization, says it went through. Unfortunately, my wife can't remember how to get back to the Cable Card screens to check it so he leaves. (Note major clue that it didn't work is no Error 161-4.)

3. When I get home, the TiVo wants to rerun guided setup. When finished, I now have a dual tuner unit, but second cable card does not decrypt channels. Analog, OTA, and in-the-clear digital work, so I'm getting closer.Card State = CA Disabled

4. Call #1 to Comcast: CSR has to be convinced to even send another hit to the card. He doesn't want to deal with it, he wants to make a appointment for another visit. Card State = CA Disabled

5. Call #2: CSR is interested in helping, but after trying a couple of things on his end result in no change, he suggests I make an appointment for next week. Card State = CA Disabled

6. Call #3: Helpful CSR that wants to get it working. He says they are not busy. Calls in his supervisor and although they successfully pair the card to the unit, it still doesn't decrypt correctly. I spend over 45 minutes on the phone with them until they run out of ideas. Card settings have changed. Card State = Unknown

7. The next morning nothing has changed on the card (State = Unknown). I think that maybe I would have better luck getting the card working in the TV. I transfer Card #2 to my TV and check the conditional access screen. State = CA Disabled
Since I know they had paired this card to the TiVo, I change my mind and put it back in slot #2 of the TiVo and call one last time and figure I'll schedule an appointment if it doesn't work. By putting the card in the TV, I believe it was totally reset. State is back to CA Disabled and pairing is gone (Host validation is back to "Unknown" and Copy Protection Key is back to "Disabled".

8. Call #4: Young sounding female CSR. I tell her no one has been able to successfully authorize the card and ask if there is a local card expect in the house. She asks for the last 4 digits of the card serial number (note this is off of the card, not the TiVo screen. I assume this is so she knows which one to work on.)
She tells me that she has a phone number written down somewhere for cable card troubleshooting and she will try and find it for me. Instead she finds a step by step trouble shooting guide for cable cards and starts reading.
Her: take card out of TV
Me: ok (I'm thinking yeah right, it's not in my TV)
Her: are you still getting analog stations
Me: yeah (I know those work)
Her: put card back in TV
Me: ok (It's already in my TiVo)
Her: talking to herself "send re-hit to card"
Her: Is it working?
Me: Hold on here, I now have error 161-4 (I know this is a good thing). Let me try the test channels. Test channels show "No Channels Available". Error comes on screen "No signal on Cable In". I'm starting to wonder if we went forward or backward. Then, amazingly IT"S WORKING! Card state = Authorized.
Me: It works. You're a genius.
Her: This is the first cable card I've done.

Success!

I'm not sure if the reset of the card by installing it in my TV helped or not, but I thought I would give you a play by play in hopes that it helps someone else.

At this point, neither of my cards are paired to the TiVo. They have called me a couple of times over the past week telling me that I need to call them to get that done before they do a software update next month. I just wanted to wait until I had the TiVo working before I went there.

Bottomline, if it doesn't work the first time you call, I would tell the CSR to pull out the manual and follow the troubleshooting proceedure that they have.

BTW: They just added TNT-HD to the lineup last night in the Chico area. It appears that it is going to rplace iNHD2 though.

[jfh3]

the sheet of paper with my channel list shows an INHD2 channel, but i don't seem to receive it, and online listings don't show it either, did they remove it since they printed that list? because i remember getting it on my comcast HD box...

I'm pretty sure INHD2 shut down around the end of August.

[Gregor]

I'm pretty sure INHD2 shut down around the end of August.

Not dead yet.

It's still active on my system. (Comcast near Phila)

http://www.inhd.com/networkSchedule/networkSchedules.jsp

[robus]

Her: Is it working?
Me: Hold on here, I now have error 161-4 (I know this is a good thing). Let me try the test channels. Test channels show "No Channels Available". Error comes on screen "No signal on Cable In". I'm starting to wonder if we went forward or backward. Then, amazingly IT"S WORKING! Card state = Authorized.
Me: It works. You're a genius.
Her: This is the first cable card I've done.

Success!

Hey doctord - congrats. I'm also having trouble with my second card - I'm reposting my situation from the CableCard issues thread as this one seems more active:

Well I just had a return visit from a Comcast installer to try and get the second CableCard working and the conclusion is, after another failed effort, their system does not support two cablecards on a single outlet.

The CableCard says it's authorized (I've never seen the 161-4 error message people mention) - but when I try to access any of the channels beyond basic cable and the local HD I get a blank screen. I even get a blank screen on channel 17 (basic cable feed of HBO) - which makes me think it's account configuration crap not CableCard issues.

I thnk it's utter ******** and said as much - because the installers and their buddies (that they invariably call to say "Hey - have you ever heard of a TiVo that takes cable cards???" to which the answer is always "No...") seem to barely grasp how CableCard technology works.

Anyway - single tuner S3 for me for the moment - until I get to talk to someone with half a frickin' clue! I've put a call in to talk to a cablecard expert but I doubt I'll get any joy.

Robert.

[Bodshal]

Hey doctord - congrats. I'm also having trouble with my second card - I'm reposting my situation from the CableCard issues thread as this one seems more active:

Well I just had a return visit from a Comcast installer to try and get the second CableCard working and the conclusion is, after another failed effort, their system does not support two cablecards on a single outlet.

The CableCard says it's authorized (I've never seen the 161-4 error message people mention) - but when I try to access any of the channels beyond basic cable and the local HD I get a blank screen. I even get a blank screen on channel 17 (basic cable feed of HBO) - which makes me think it's account configuration crap not CableCard issues.

I thnk it's utter ******** and said as much - because the installers and their buddies (that they invariably call to say "Hey - have you ever heard of a TiVo that takes cable cards???" to which the answer is always "No...") seem to barely grasp how CableCard technology works.

Anyway - single tuner S3 for me for the moment - until I get to talk to someone with half a frickin' clue! I've put a call in to talk to a cablecard expert but I doubt I'll get any joy.

Robert.

This couldn't be something mundanely stupid like they're using the same hostid for both cards? (they're different).

Chris.

[ah30k]

My install did use the same host ID for both cards. After all, it is the same host. The installation went well with no problems (other than two of the four cards he tried having problems with the pairing, but he already expected that and brought extras).

EDIT: I was wrong, different Host_ID for each card.

[geekmedic]

My install did use the same host ID for both cards. After all, it is the same host. The installation went well with no problems (other than two of the four cards he tried having problems with the pairing, but he already expected that and brought extras).
Actually, I have two different host ID's on my TiVo. Your TiVo should have two host ID's. It's like your computer has a different MAC address for your ethernet port and your wireless access card.

[geekmedic]

Is anyone else having issues where occasionally (maybe 1 out of 20-30 channel changes), the system shows video/sound for 2-5 seconds, then sound goes out for 1/2 second, and then the screen goes blank?

If you change channels again, it corrects it. I'm assuming the TiVo is getting corrupted data on channel change that it can't handle.

[Bodshal]

My install did use the same host ID for both cards. After all, it is the same host. The installation went well with no problems (other than two of the four cards he tried having problems with the pairing, but he already expected that and brought extras).

They need to be different. It uses it and the cards own address to target, across the wire, the messages that unlock the card.

Otherwise they go to the wrong place.

Each CC slot has it's own CC host, in essence. It's an important point - it was the first question the installer who came here asked: "Will it give me two host ids?"

Chris.

[Brainiac 5]

Well I just had a return visit from a Comcast installer to try and get the second CableCard working and the conclusion is, after another failed effort, their system does not support two cablecards on a single outlet.I thnk it's utter ******** and said as much -Yeah, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Do they wire things differently for digital cable? I only have analog, and to make a new "outlet," all they do is put in a splitter. How would CableCards on the two cables coming out of the splitter even know they were on different "outlets?"

[BellevuePaul]

Hey everyone, long time reader first time poster.

Thanks for everyone's great information here, it was truly a huge help. I'm in the Seattle suburbs and got a tracking mail that said my S3 was on the UPS truck yesterday, so I started figuring out how to install it with everyone's help here. I was able to run up to the Northgate Comcast store from work (P.S. -- 94th St. 1/2 block east of Aurora...in Google Maps it's called TCI Cable not Comcast). Waited patiently in line and said, "I need to get two CableCARDs for a TiVo Series 3." The gal barely blinked, and clicked a couple things, checked my ID, gave me the cards, and said "no charges." So, that was easy. Almost TOO easy... :-)

Plugged in one card this morning, called up 800-COMCAST, went through the "I have a problem" menu and got a CSR. I chose to play it straight and risk that they would know what they're doing (hmm...dicey) and simply said, "Hi, I need to pair and activate a CableCARD for a TiVo Series 3." I said one because I chose to take the safe route with one card at a time. She said OK, went on hold for a couple minutes, came back, went away, came back, and asked for the serial number. TiVo's getting started guide is right -- write down the serial number on the card before you plug it in, because it's not the same as the number that gets displayed. Probably it's buried in there somewhere. The smart lady knew I had two cards, but I explained that I wanted to do one at a time because that's what the Community sez. She simply asked for the last digits of the card that wasn't installed, and then sent a hit to the other one (quick thinking there).

After a minute of patience and seeing that everything said "Unknown" more or less, I got a spontaneous 161-4. I happened to mention that I got an error message that I was expecting and she said "oh yeah, 164-4 or something?" Cool, this isn't her first box...

So I went to Live TV, and sure enough it came up. So she was about to say goodbye when I realized I could just keep this Golden CSR on the phone and plug in the second card. So we did that and it seemed that it got the 161-4 about 1 second after she hit the enter key. Literally we both said "geez, that was fast." So that 4 hours quote is obviously total nonsense, though my first card did take about 30 seconds.

The only part of this that I found confusing is that there's three screens in the CableCARD area that each appear to contain information that might be useful, but unless I go read all 11 pages of this thread, I as an innocent user have very little way of knowing which screen contains the status that I should tell the CSR is what the device says (she just wanted to know so she could know for future boxes) and which screens contain stuff I should ignore. I guess the screens are designed for installer techs, but I somehow doubt that most of those know anything more than I do based on the stories here.

So, now that it has re-done guided setup and I waited 20 painful minutes for organizing the program guide, I have digital cable on a DVR that doesn't completely blow! Best $800 bucks I've spent recently, and I haven't even watched anything yet...

Boy, that piano black gloss case looks sweet, too.

Thanks everyone

[Bodshal]

The only part of this that I found confusing is that there's three screens in the CableCARD area that each appear to contain information that might be useful, but unless I go read all 11 pages of this thread, I as an innocent user have very little way of knowing which screen contains the status that I should tell the CSR is what the device says (she just wanted to know so she could know for future boxes) and which screens contain stuff I should ignore. I guess the screens are designed for installer techs, but I somehow doubt that most of those know anything more than I do based on the stories here.

Good to hear it turned out well!

Those screens are just dumping data straight out of the card - ie, motorola/comcast "designed" them, so they should know what to expect there.

It was my installers 1st S3 and he knew what to expect on those screens.

Chris.

[Flop]

My install went smooth... In and out in 20 minutes (10 minutes were spent showing off TiVo features to Comcast installers).

I was nervous when they arrived with only 2 cards after reading all the horror stories on the forums.

They had provisioned the cards this morning before leaving the office to make their runs, so that did save some time.

The cards used were SA brand.

Anyways, they were a little confused by the TiVo since they hadn't seen one yet. One guy got on the phone with the local office to read out numbers. Guy number 2 inserted card 1. After a minute or so the info screen appeared. #1 read out the info to the local office. A couple minutes later the TiVo prompted to test channels. Worked like a charm.

Repeat for 2nd card.

They asked a lot of questions about why I use a TiVo instead of their box. I showed them how easy it is to setup Season Passes and Wishlists. They were blown away by the wishlist feature. #1 couldn't stop being amazed that he could do a wishlist for the Redskins and never miss a televised game... inclusing classic reruns (why you'd watch an old game is beyond me, but he was thrilled...)

Also, while the specs aren't stellar on the S3, the drive is double the capacity of the SA boxes they use here. #2 was wowed by the (future) ability to plug in an external drive to increase capacity even more.

Now if only the S3 could do PiP...

[Bodshal]

I'll post the screen shot of my CableCARD screens tonight. The pairing screen (for a Moto headend) displays a host_ID and a CableCARD ID which then get hashed together via some algorithm to generate a unique data identifier used to prevent portability (ie taking your CableCARD over to your buddies house for the big game). For my Comcast/Moto system, the host_id is the same for both card slots. You can deny it, but I'll have the screen-shots to show you later today.

Coo. Seems odd, but if that's what it says, then that's what it says.

It does lead to the ponderance that the posters issue where the cable co said they can't cope with two things on one outlet is related. Some boxes use a single host id, and some headend/backend systems can't deal with that (would be lame if so, if it's supposed to be supported).

Chris.

[Wembley5]

I'm pretty sure INHD2 shut down around the end of August.

For me Comcast replaced it with NFLHD/Special Events and/or TNTHD.

[Wembley5]

Install, card #1: $15.65
Install, card #2: $14.40
Monthly fees: $2.75 each


Where are you?

I'm in Daly City, CA (just south of SF).

For me, the truck roll was like $17, and that's all. No monthly fees, no install cost per-card.

[geekmedic]

I'll post the screen shot of my CableCARD screens tonight. The pairing screen (for a Moto headend) displays a host_ID and a CableCARD ID which then get hashed together via some algorithm to generate a unique data identifier used to prevent portability (ie taking your CableCARD over to your buddies house for the big game). For my Comcast/Moto system, the host_id is the same for both card slots. You can deny it, but I'll have the screen-shots to show you later today.
Then one of us has a unique system because my S3 has two host ID's.

[maharg18]

My install experience so far...

I pick up 2 cards yesterday at my local Comcast office, no questions asked.

Tonight, I call the number provided, and get connected to a very rude woman who basically tells me that the local Comcast people are idiots for giving me the cards, and that I MUST have a professional install. I asked why I couldn't do it.

She said, "well, they have to hook it up to a computer-thingy".

I said, "I don't think so, you just have to send a signal down to activate it".

She says "Well, that's not going to work, let me transfer you to the cable internet department!". Obviously at this point she was already tired of me.

So, I get connected to a very nice guy in the internet department, and try as he might he was unable to get me fully configured. He sent the initialization signal multiple times, but I still keep coming up with "MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY".

He tries totally removing the cards from my account and starting over, same thing. So now I sit here waiting for a "tech" to show up Friday between 8 - 12. Hopefully he will know what he's doing.

Well, the saga continues. 2 techs came to the house today while my wife was there (I couldn't get off from work), they were unable to get my existing cards working. They brought two more cards, same thing with them.

They spent most of their time trying to find the cablecard slot in my TV (there isn't one), and messing around with my Samsung OTA tuner (not sure what their reasoning was there).

Regardless, they left after 1.5 hours having gotten no further than I did on my own. They said they would contact the local cablecard "god" and see what he has to say.

Later on I talked to my wife, and I asked her if she could tell if they called a local person or a national line to get the cards activated, she tells me that they never ONCE called anyone. These guys didn't even realize that you must call to activate the cards.

All I can say is that my patience is running VERY thin here, I'm about ready to just take my Tivo down to the cable office and make them hook it up and send the damn signals to it right there. How hard can it be to activate a freaking card???

[canyon]

I am in Portland Oregon. Since before the S3 all cablecard devices only had one cablecard Comcast has their billing system setup here that for every cablecard(I am keeping their box as well for howard stern and ppv) there is a $6.95 outlet charge, two cards, two outlet charges.
After getting thru to a local comcast supervisor and explaining why it should be only one outlet charge his response was thats the way is is in our system sorry. So called comcast corp 215 665 1700 (without this forum I would not of had comcast's corp # as the local superviser said he didnt have it) and within 5 min had a rep on the phone who agreed it should only be one outlet charge and gave me a case #. I also suggested that it would take care of alot of headaches to address this problem nationally which she also agreed.

[williamlroy]

Went down to the local comcast office (San Jose) to drop off my moto 3412 DVR. She reduced my bill $9.95 for the dvr and $6.95 for additional outlet.

Looking at my acct I noticed I had 2 more additional outlet charges for the 2 CCs. I said "Aren't the cable cards supposed to be free" (knowing damn well that I have been told numerous times that 1st is free and second is $.6.95) She said "yest they are, those are for the additional outlets" and I said "I dont have any additional outlets" and " So what are those charges for". She could not explain the reason, so she removed them.

So I am in the clear on any charges at all for the CCs. At least until someone wises up and puts back the addt outlet charge...

[JoBeth66]

Comcast guys here now. (3 of them)

One cat hiding under the bed. One hiding in #1 son's room.

One laying in the entertainment center on the shelf where they pulled the Comcast DVR box out. :)

CableCARD is being set up for the TV now, after that's in, they're going to do the TiVo box.

[BTV Engineer]

Hi everybody! Longtime lurker here, although I did have an account I never posted. I've created a new account and this is my first post. With the Series 3 I've decided to come out of the woodwork, so to speak.

I went down to my local Comcast office to take care of a few account things and figured it would also be a good time to get the Cablecard install appointment. My Series 3 will arrive this coming Monday, Sept 25th. The CSR told me their HD-DVR was better and held more hours, that I'd lose On-Demand, and that I couldn't get HD without their STB. I said the Series 3 could get HD but I needed the Cablecards installed. She said they just had a meeting and were told they didn't support the new TiVo. I had her call her supervisor and she only confirmed that their cards didn't support the Series 3.

I went home quite angry. I called the service number on my bill and talked to another CSR. She didn't say the card didn't support the TiVo, only that she didn't know how to handle 2 cards in one box. I was transfered to the service department and after a few explanations regarding Cablelabs and "some friends" that already had them installed, she put me on hold for a few minutes.

When she came back she said that the 1st card was free, the 2nd card was $6.95 and the install was $14.95. I have an appointment for Tuesday, the 26th, the day after the Series 3 arrives. Hopefully there won't be any trouble with the delivery. I also hope my boss won't mind, I'll have to leave at noon as my appointment is 1 to 5 PM.

The extra charge for the card isn't a big deal, I presently have one Comcast STB for digital cable with one TiVo, the other TiVo only gets analog cable. It's worth the extra to get digital and HD on both tuners on the Series 3.

[NaVSP]

After reading about some problems people had with comcast coming with only one cable card I decided to call and verify that the service appointment I had did note that I needed 2 cards.

A comcast CSR picked up and verified that I was scheduled to have 2 cards, and asked why I needed 2.

I explained that I purchased the new TiVO series 3 and it utilizes 2 cards. She surprised me by saying "Do you have a few minutes? I'd like to learn more"

Being at work I naturally said sure. We spent about 5 minutes on the phone talking about what features the new tivo had, why it was better than the comcast hd dvr, what features I would give up and what I would gain. I mentioned that some of the trouble people have had setting up the s3 and she was very receptive and took notes (even read them back to me!). She said she'd share the info with her coworkers, and mentioned something about a tivo + comcast deal and speculated that they might a series 3.

So not all comcast csrs are all bad!

[ah30k]

I posted earlier that my host_id was the same on both cableCARD slots. I must have been on halucenigens, because now the I verify it they are different. I could have sworn that when the tech was here installing them he and the headend tech said the host_id for the second card was the same as the first.

I stand respectfully corrected.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xx6-3
xxx-xxx-xxx-xx7-1

[JoBeth66]

Ok, the CableCARD in the TV is still not showing all the channels, but I'm getting locals. Nothing over 99.

Looks like I might have a bad card for the one they put in the TV, that's the only one that doesn't seem to be working.

Re-running guided setup now.

[JoBeth66]

TiVo is up & running on both tuners without a hitch. it's BEAUTEOUS!

Card for the TV is bad. These poor guys, I feel sorry for them. They came all prepared for the Tivo to be an issue and it went through with no problems whatsoever, but the TV is bad.

They're trying to find me another card for the TV. :)

[chadfr1]

To all,

Thank you all for posting your experience on this page. I found it very helpful, and when I began the process of obtaining another cable card for my S3 I was prepared.

Called the 800 number and was told the additional cable card was going to be $6.95 per month and another $5 for HD programming, plus $15.95 for installation. I told them I already subscribed to the HD content (and was paying for it) and both cards were going into the same device, the CSR was not budging.

I then went to the Comcast chat page and proceeded to get the following quote of $15.95 for installation and no additional fees for the 2nd card. She intitially quoted me an installation fee and a $6.95 usage fee, but then revised it. Having read the posts on this website, I was ready for them and I saved a copy of the transcript for all of you to review and hopefully use to your advantage. Please note I never said what type of device the 2nd card was going into, and I tried to keep things as general as possible. Good luck to all of you!

Transcript below:

Olivia > Thank you for contacting Comcast. My name is Olivia and I will be happy to assist you with your cable tv question today.
Chad > Hello, I would like to request an installation of a second cable card in my PVR. Can you help me setup an appointment and also let me know what the additional billing, if any, will be?
Olivia > Sure, just a moment, let me access your account Chad.
Olivia > There is a $15.99 installation charge and the cable card itself is free, however there is a $6.95 monthly service access charge applied for the 2nd cable card.
Chad > Can I setup an appointment to have that installed with you?
Olivia > Yes. Let me get the service order set up for you. One moment please.
Olivia > For your protection, I will need to verify one (1) of the following: The last 4 digits of the primary account holder’s SSN, the full 16-digit account number, or the exact amount of the most recent payment made to the account.
Chad > Sure. *************
Olivia > Thank you, one moment please.
Olivia > Thank you for waiting. I am sorry, I quoted you wrong above. There is no $6.95 charge applied for the 2nd cable card. I do apologize. The installation is still the same though.
Chad > Thank you for the clarification.
Olivia > The first date that I have open for the installation is 9/24 between 2-6pm. Will this date and time work?
Chad > As long as you keep deducting fees, we are going to get along just fine!
Chad > That is this Saturday? That will be fine.
Olivia > It is a Sunday.
Chad > That will be fine
Olivia > What is a good contact number for the tech to reach you at just in case?
Chad > My cell phone number is *************
Olivia > OK, you are set for the installation on 9/24 between 2-6pm. Please make sure that someone 18+ and English speaking is present. If possible make sure that there is at least 3-5ft behind the tv to give the tech enough room to move.
Chad > Thank you very much. Is there a confirmation number I can reference just in case?
Olivia > Job #*************
Chad > Thank you very much for your help.
Olivia > You're welcome.
Olivia > Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Chad > That will be all. Have a good weekend.

What have we learned? be persistant, document everything, and don't them get away with it!

Good luck!

[JoBeth66]

Just got a call from the original Comcast supervisor - the one who told me last week that I couldn't have the cards - he wanted to tell me that they've stopped installing them in TiVos in the South Jersey market, because of the 30 installs, none has gone right.

Except MINE went right, and so did at least 2 others in South Jersey that I personally know of. So I'm not sure if I should believe him or not.

[Bodshal]

Just got a call from the original Comcast supervisor - the one who told me last week that I couldn't have the cards - he wanted to tell me that they've stopped installing them in TiVos in the South Jersey market, because of the 30 installs, none has gone right.

Except MINE went right, and so did at least 2 others in South Jersey that I personally know of. So I'm not sure if I should believe him or not.

Yeah, mine went fine, and the installer spoke of a colleague who had done one the day before. The worst that happened was it needed a 2nd initialisation. He said most TV's need that too, anyway.

Idiots.

Still, glad to hear you got yours done in the end!

Chris.

[jward256]

Had my cablecards installed today. I spent the last couple days studying this forum so I'd be ready. Good thing!

The installer (contractor, not a Comcast employee) arrives with the two cards, Motorola branded. So far so good. Plugs them in, Tivo shows firmware 4.21. Good again.

Nothing more happening. After about 15 minutes I suggest that he call in to activate the cards. Calls his dispatcher to send a hit. Now at least the channel test shows locals, although no premiums. After re-inserting cards and another phone call we aren't making any progress. From reading this forum I know the cards are working fine but haven't been initialized. All he can do is keep calling his dispatcher to send another hit. After an hour of this I suggest that he go on to his next install and that I'm sure I can get this working via Comcast. He can't call Comcast, only his dispatcher.

After he leaves I called Comcast. CSR tells me that someone will call back in a couple hours and see if I need a truck roll. Thanked her and called back. Asked to speak to someone who knew cablecard and was transferred to a tech. I expain that I have a device that uses two cards and I would like to try to init one at a time. No problem. It took a few minutes for her to send the first signal, but I shortly have a 161-4 error, followed by success! I installed the second card, she sent the next init, and success again! I asked if the installer hitting both cards at once was the problem and she said that no, he just wasn't sending the same information that she was.

10 minutes later I get a call back from my first Comcast call. I told him that everything was good and he asked if both TV's were working. I told him that it was a two card device and he asked if I had a Tivo. This was his 5th Tivo call. Sounds like he was collecting info and trying to get everyone on the same page. The good news is that folks at Comcast seem to be working on making this better.

It appears that contractors may not have access to everything needed to make this work correctly. I did get the feeling that Comcast is working on it. Note that everyone I dealt with was doing their best to help. Be polite, and be patient. They are people doing their jobs. I doubt that they get training on every single cablecard device that comes out. Each likely has it's quirks. Talking to the installer it doesn't sound like things go any better with TV's. He has had very few cablecard installs, and some of the installers avoid them.

One question my wife asked is what would happen if the typical consumer tried to get this installed? That $800 price tag may be a good thing for limiting the S3 to people who want to do some research before plunking down that much cash. At least until the install bugs are worked out.

[DocSavag]

One question my wife asked is what would happen if the typical consumer tried to get this installed? That $800 price tag may be a good thing for limiting the S3 to people who want to do some research before plunking down that much cash. At least until the install bugs are worked out.

I think that the whole process has to get a lot easier for the average Tivo buyer to be able to get the S3 working properly. Part of that will undoubtedly come with time as the Cable techs and service reps get more experience installing the cards. Most of the people we've talked to at the cable company were friendly and trying to be helpful they just don't have any training on how to trouble shoot these device setups.

[Ereth]

Now THAT was easy.

I got home tonight and my Series 3 was here. I called the VIP line to transfer my lifetime and was told that I had got Tech Support and they'd transfer me, and then a recording told me that hold time was a minimum 35 minutes. So I hung up.

I hooked it up and ran Guided Setup. It worked fine so I called TiVo again, figuring I'd sit on hold while I fiddled with the channel lineups and stuff and got right through rep who was terrific and transferred my Lifetime right away.

Then I called Comcast and got a wonderful woman who said my Cablecards "should've been activated when I picked them up". Nonetheless she sent them a hit, without asking me any questions (the details on the screen were not necessary) and after about 2 minutes, I had CableTV.

In fact, I had channels I wasn't expecting to get!

Everybody was pleasant, and it worked first try.

So then I watched all of Shanans videos and was most amused to see "Bob Pony's music on the "Pictures and More" screenshot. We want to listen to your music, Pony!

All in all, it went perfect, with the exception that I forgot to pick up a splitter for my OTA antenna so I don't actually receive those channels until I make a quick trip to Lowes tomorrow!

[Kurthi]

My Install was today in Pottstown, PA (NW of Philadelphia)

2 Techs arrive at 4:00pm. I believe one was an apprentice, the other seemed very knowledgeable about cable cards. I showed them the TiVo and they said that they have not seen one yet.

They began by looking at the wire from the street pole into the house. The installer said that they needed to run a new cable from the pole to the house because the existing wire was old and CC are very sensitive to signal loss. They also attached a gray box to the outside of the house (signal booster?).

By 5:00pm they are ready to begin the CC install. He puts in the first card and I immediately notice it's firmware version 4.05. I am a bit concerned due to some posts here about 4.05.

Because the dispatch que says it will be at least 10 minutes before an answer, we decide to install the second card and try to activate both in one call.

Once his dispatcher gets on the line, he reads the numbers to him and the first card gets activated. after about 3 minutes I am getting all the channels. :)

We activate the second card and we get nothing. The dispatcher then tells us that since I had only one STB, The first card replaced it and he would have to duplicate my account for the second card. Ten more minutes later both cards working perfectly. :up:

To insure my internet is working, I run music on Galleon to see if pictures show up and they do. The installer is totally impressed with the applications in music, photos, and more. His apprentice can't believe how sharp the picture on my TV is compared to what he sees on their Moto boxes. They even offer to take away my old Moto box. At 6:00pm out the door they go.

He was right about the wire to the house as well. Signal strength went from 90/92 to 96/98.

Overall experience :up: :up: :) :)

[Wes Mantooth]

Thought I share my cablecard story.

Went down to my local Comcast office on Monday to try and pick up the cards. Asked the lady at the desk for two cablecards, she hadn't heard of the new Tivo but found the cards and entered the serial numbers into my account. The whole thing took about 5 minutes and I walked out with two cablecards. Unfortunately my S3 didn't get here until Friday. So after work I went home and set it all up. I had both of the cablecards in the Tivo. I called 1800Comcast, and selected the menu for cable tv support. The CSR got on the line and I told him I had two cablecards I needed to initialize. He said, "Two? Is this for the new Tivo?" So I guess word is finally getting around. I offered to tell him the serial numbers, but they were already on my account (from Monday). He sent the signal, I got a 161-4 error. I went to test channels and nothing happened. He sent another signal to card #2, 161-4 error, tested channels and nothing. Back to card 1 a minute later and I had my channels. Went to HBO 'cause I figured if that came in, then all my subscription channels would. Switched back to card #2 and now it worked to. All in all it was probably, 5-6 minutes for the whole process. It was really easy, and I'm glad I didn't have to have a tech come over to do it. I had braced myself for all sorts of errors, 161-1, etc..., but I was pleasantly surprised at how painless it was. I hope it goes this well for everyone else. Good luck!

[jdcountry]

I am in Sacramento. I called to obtain the Cable Card for my new Series 3 TiVo. I was told no problem. They would have to send an installer to insert the cards. No charge. The big downer was that the first appoint they had was 1 month out!! Changes in service were back logged!!!!!

I'm waiting now until Oct 21 to be able to use my new TiVo

[gthassell]

Thought I would post a follow-up. At an appointment this morning to replace the card that was never functioning from a week ago, the contractor for Comcast "refused" to touch my box - told me I had to do all the work - inserting card, etc. - and it didn't work right.

Eventually I got channels up to 99, and when he called the head end, they said that "everything was working fine on their end" and that I was "only supposed to get analog channels with the second cable card."

After a call to the National corporate office, the Chicago area corporate office was rather nice, calling me several times, and arranged for a tech to support / troubleshoot over the phone, conferenced in with their MIS department.

What I was able to discover is that the 4th menu down on the Cable Card Menu / Conditional Access, the "analog" card had settings / displays that did not match the working card (#1).

After explaining that the bad card did not say Authorized (I think it said "MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY") in the Auth field, the MIS group did a "hard reset" and after 5 minutes, I had full dual tuner access. Net time from Tivo purchase to Dual Tuners, 6 days, 23 hours.

Now to just try and deal with the billing issues....

Anyway, I can't believe how great the quality is.

Go TiVo!

[TBoyd]

I ordered one new CC and already had one CC in my Sony TV. The Comcast guy came yesterday before my S3 arrived and I suggested that he install the NEW CC in my TV to check if it worked. He resisted as he thought it might only pair (my word) with the first device it saw so he just left it for me to install.

When the S3 got here I installed the first card (old TV one) and got the MMI menu within a minute or so. I never did get the 161-4 error message. I called Comcast and they "hit" it and after a bit I got channels. I tested several and all seemed fine.

I repeated the process with the new card and again didn't get the 161-4 error. Again channels were present a minute or less after they sent the hit.

I was a happy guy. Had many SD channels and all the right HD channels, including the HBO/Starz premiums that I'd ordered.

I completed guided setup and proceeded to watch some HD. I also dialed into the Tivo server a few more times to get all the guide data and eventually got the 1a software upgrade.

Today after work I tried to look at a few more channels and discovered that I get almost everything I had last night but that virtually all the Extended Basic channels were black or very snowy.

I called Comcast and asked them to hit both cards and the rep did. No aparent change. She went away and came back and suggested I power down and remove the cards and then power back up. I did that.

Putting first card back in I was NOT able to get the MMI menu again. Same with card two. Hitting both cards again did not produce a change. I suggested that she de-authorize Extended Basic and turn it back on again. She said that wouldn't help and she refused to 'hit' the cards again as she thought too many hits might screw them up. She wants to roll a truck. Seems to me the other option is to call back hoping to get more knowledgeable rep.

I'm now actually most worried about a big blue and orange "Hunt" display on the CC Network Setup screen for both cards. I also had to re-do guided setup after re-inserting the cards. --- (new edit) The second card now says "MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY"

I searched for 'missing' in this forum and see that some folks are missing channels too. Any ideas what gives?

Thanks

[fsponge]

I'm in Arlington Heights, IL (Chicago suburb) and just called 1-800-COMCAST to ask about getting CableCards for my S3. I carefully explained to the rep that I would like to give back my current Motorola box and get 2 CableCards from Comcast to install into the S3.

She told me "Sir, we don't have CableCards for TiVo, you'll have to go to Best Buy or Circuit City to get those". I felt sorry for her, I got the impression that a lot of people call there asking to buy TiVo. I tried to give her a break and told her "I'm sure I'm not explaining this very well. I want to give back my cable box and start using my new TiVo Series 3 as a cable box. Comcast has two little cards that slide into my TiVo that turn it into a cable box."

There was enough silence on the other end of the line that I actually thought she hung up on me. I finally asked her if she was still there, and she explained that she was "looking it up".

After a few more minutes, she agreed that Comcast would provide me with the CableCards, but that she couldn't give me any more information because a supervisor would need to "close out the open ticket" on my phone service first. Surprising, since I have no problems with my Comcast phone service. Anyway, a supervisor is supposed to call me back sometime in the middle of the night. It's 12:25am now.

Not too good so far! :confused:

[btwyx]

Today after work I tried to look at a few more channels and discovered that I get almost everything I had last night but that virtually all the Extended Basic channels were black or very snowy.It sounds like you're getting analog basic channels. Comcast may be simulcasting digital on your cable, which community are you in? You might do better if you could get the digital channels instead. Tech support can't help you in this, they're totally clueless, if you do want digital, you can go to your local office and ask for a DCT700 box. That's a digtial only box and putting that on your account causes them to switch the basic channels to digital. You don't even need to take the box away, they just have to note it on your account.

[TBoyd]

It sounds like you're getting analog basic channels. Comcast may be simulcasting digital on your cable, which community are you in? You might do better if you could get the digital channels instead. Tech support can't help you in this, they're totally clueless, if you do want digital, you can go to your local office and ask for a DCT700 box. That's a digtial only box and putting that on your account causes them to switch the basic channels to digital. You don't even need to take the box away, they just have to note it on your account.

Hmm, interesting. But I AM getting HD Digitals fine and even non-HD Digitals. Would your diagnosis still apply?

[btwyx]

Hmm, interesting. But I AM getting HD Digitals fine and even non-HD Digitals. Would your diagnosis still apply?Yes. They broadcast basic as analog for compatibility. Simulcasting is the first step in going all digital.

You can check if a channel is digital by:

Hit record, if it offers quality settings, its analog.
Check cable signal strength. If it shows up, its digital
Check: Messages & Settings -> Account and System information -> Diagnostics. Look for "modulation" on your tuner, if its QAM its digital, if its unknown, its analog.

I would be really surprised if you didn't get analog basic.

[TBoyd]

Yea, it appears that basic and limited basic are analog. Although even my digital channels, both SD and HD, show 'unknown' for modulation.

So you're just saying that simulcasting, both analog and digital, would make my reception of just one block of analog stuff be less reliable? Aren't lots of places in the Bay Area like mine?

Thanks for the replies, by the way.

[yunlin12]

(new edit) The second card now says "MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY"

I searched for 'missing' in this forum and see that some folks are missing channels too. Any ideas what gives?

Thanks

I just got 2 cards installed today. The installer was in a hurry, and the girl he talked to at the other end had no clue. The installer said that no device pairing is required, does that sound normal? I'm in San Jose willow glen / almaden valley area. Anyone else here got it installed yet? After the girl on the other end said she activated the cards, the two cards do seem to at least got the channel lineup. However, I'm not getting anything besides local, PBS, HD local, and ESPN HD ESPN2 HD. It looks like I have nothing besides basic cable. Funny I guess ESPN HD is broadcasted in the clear. Mine also says

Connected:yes, EnabledByCP:no
Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY
CA enable: not possible

These 3 lines in my Conditional Access menu don't look very good to me. They are doing atruck roll tomorrow, so will se what happens.

BTW, everything was going so well. I ordered on Tue this week, with 4-6 day deliver, figure people are waiting for cable card install anyway. But lo-and-behold, there's a box sitting on my porch Thur morning. It could've even been delivered Wed for all I know. Don't know how Tivo got a box to me in 1 day (sorry for you guys with ordering problem, hope you all getting your S3 soon). I'm not thrilled that the delivery left it, but just happy it showed up none-the-less. I called Comcast on Thur, and got an appointment Fri am. I didn't think I could get this lucky. So I guess lady luck was just teasing me.

[btwyx]

my digital channels, both SD and HD, show 'unknown' for modulation. Are you sure you're looking at the right tuner? Digtial channels should be QAM.So you're just saying that simulcasting, both analog and digital, would make my reception of just one block of analog stuff be less reliable? Aren't lots of places in the Bay Area like mine?The simulcasting shoudln't make a difference to the analog. However, my experience is they're clueless at fixing analog problems, and I prefer to have digital channels. You might still have a channel block on the line somewhere, so getting them to look at it might be profitable. I just couldn't be bothered and (eventually) got them to switch me to analog.

How are the signal strengths on the digital channels? You may have a problem on all channels, but it only shows up on analog. My signal strengths are in the 96-100 range.

[TBoyd]

Digital signal strength is mostly solid 97-99 for the channels I've checked, with a couple down to 92-94.

[KidGloves]

Comcast tech (not contractor) came onsite today to install. Never seen the Tivo, told me when he walked in that he 'guarenteed he'd be back' due to Cablecard problems he had experienced (none with the Tivo). In 10 minutes, we were up and running, absolutely no problems. I'm in Southeast Michigan area (Detroit suburb). 16.95 for the service call to haul way the OMFG terrible Moto PVR's and install the Cable cards. I had to haggle on the phone to convince them that I should only have to pay one 'digital outlet fee' of 6.95, since both cablecards are going in the same device, and said device only connects to 'one outlet'.

I also got rid of the Digital Silver package I had (70.99 / month!) and went down to limited basic ($9.99) + digital outlet ($6.95) so my total bill should be $16.90 + tax every month. I only watch my local HD channels anyway, so I might has well recoup my 1k investment in this Tivo.

[Gerhard]

Or Confused



I spoke with Comcast in Denver today (Rob in Technical Support/Sales Support) and was told that the cards are free. I can pick them for a "digital self install" at no charge. The full HD package with HBO/Starz was 85/month (plus all the other HD and std channgels)...

so I then said: its just 85/month total? their answer was no. There is a service fee of 9.95 for each card per month. so add 19.90/month.

So my question now is whether the charges for cable cards were negotiated by Comcast with each Metropolitan entity as a part of their overall agreeement for the service they provided to each area....

anyone have any ideas?

Just tell him that he ComCast site says they are free. Period. ...then refer him to their own website:

http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?ID=2651

[Gerhard]

Well, I'm still sorting through all the other posts, but I figured that I'd she my ex-roommates story:

"Mike" call ComCast to get a set of CableCARDs for his Tivo S3.

When he told the woman on the phone that it was a Tivo 3, she said "We don't give out CalbeCARDs for Tivos."

Mike then asked what she meant, and the woman was adament that if it wasn't a TV, then ComCast was not giving him CableCARDs.

Mike then dropped the "FCC" bomb and said:

"You are required by the FCC to provide CableCards to for ANY device that is CableLABs certified, which the Tivo Series 3 is."

The lady immediately changed her story and told him he could go and pick up the cards at the local ComCast service center.

At this point, I'm begining to think that ComCast is PURPOSEFULLY attempting to deny CableCARDs to customers. I'm also starting to think that maybe we should be contacting the FCC about this...

Gerhard

[Gerhard]

Side by Side my S3 peanut and Harmony 880 are almost identical in shape and size. The peanut is slightly curved, slightly narrower in the center, and heavier. All in all, moving from the peanut to the 880 is pretty painless. Although I still keep the peanut out 'cause it's pretty. :)

To follow that up, even though it's off topic:

The Harmony remote can control ALL of you equipment.

I have a Denon 3600 head unit, but it's old enough to only support the older video modes (SVideo and normal video [yellow RCA]).

So this means that all of the switching capabiliies of the unit are useless with HD (HDMI, Component, and such)...

The Harmony supports macros and advanced programing... so no only does it eliminate the need for more than one remote, it also switches all of the inputs and outputs on my various componets. (i.e. between the HDTV and the AMP...)

As such, I really don't need to go out and pick up a new Denon 3800 series A/V Tuner...

Dell had a instand rebate on them and I got mine for $90.00 new. Great remote, very much like the Tivo remote (which is why it's great)...

[mdreuben]

Scheduled a Comcast - Time Warner (Bay Village, Ohio) Cablecard Install appointment for my Series 3 five days ago for 8 - 12 this morning

Last night I pulled my entire system apart, including the old HD Motorola Box, Tivo, Digital Motorola box in order to be ready for the appointment. Configured the remaining components so everything would go without a hitch.

Installed the Series 3 (everything went fine) but of course could not access any digital service.

Took off work this morning

Received a message at 7:50 this morning that they were out of cable cards and would call back in a week and half to reschedule.

Spent 90 minutes working my way up (not very far) through the system so to see if they could at least find some cable cards in the country and send them to me via FedEx or some service.

"Sorry sir we can't do that". The best we can do is keep your ticket open an give you $20 for the missed appointment.

I asked the supervisor for the number of a general Time Warner / Comcast customer service department so I could pursue this further. She claimed not to have one.

Can anyone offer a suggestion of a number I can call to obtain two simple cable cards?

Thanks!

[geekmedic]

It's more complicated than that. Each CableCard is usually keyed to a specific market. So a CableCard from the Chicago market won't work in the Atlanta market.

[sonicboom]

Comcast rolled the truck out to my house yesterday for my S3 CableCARD installation.

The cable guy brought with him two motorola DVRs and two motorola CableCARDs. I think there was some confusion in the office as to what was actually needed.

I told him all I needed was the cablecards, and that he could return the DVRs and my original HD STB.

I showed him the S3. He wasn't surprised to see it. He said they have been installing cablecards in about one S3 a day. A good sign.

He let me pop the cards in. He didn't have an interest in touching my unit :). He then made the call to the mothership to have them activated. This took a while (45 minutes) but they eventually had it all working.

I now have dual tuners with HD and digital programming in my Tivo :D

[TBoyd]

Yes. They broadcast basic as analog for compatibility. Simulcasting is the first step in going all digital.

You can check if a channel is digital by:

Hit record, if it offers quality settings, its analog.
Check cable signal strength. If it shows up, its digital
Check: Messages & Settings -> Account and System information -> Diagnostics. Look for "modulation" on your tuner, if its QAM its digital, if its unknown, its analog.

I would be really surprised if you didn't get analog basic.

Hi Btwyx,

Interestingly, I looked at my S3 diag menu this a.m. for limited basic and ext basic channels and they are both now digital with the QAM notation. Might they have switched me to ADS overnight? Hmmm?

I still can't see the ext basic channels though. I think I'll have to have Comcast hit the cards with a reset and then maybe do another guided setup. Sound right?

Thanks,
Tim

[maharg18]

Is anyone STILL having trouble getting their cards activated? I'm on day 4 now, and after 2 calls and 1 tech visit, still a no-go.. MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY is all I get. Needless to say I'm about ready to start slashing throats at Comcast. All the lady on the phone today said was that she could set up another tech visit with someone who "knows about cable cards". Give me a freaking break.

[TBoyd]

Maharg18,

Yea, I have that on one of my cards and am about to call Comcast and "dance" with them. Any hints? What NOT to say?

Funny thing is, I get lots of channels on that card too, but am still missing limited basic ones and a few HD.

T

[maharg18]

I don't have any hints that I can think of, I'm just trying to be persistant right now, which is hard when I have to sit on the phone for 1 hour before even getting to talk to someone, who ends up being clueless.

Unfortunately I'm not getting ANY channels with these cards, with the exception of analog and in-the-clear digital channels.

[geekmedic]

Is anyone STILL having trouble getting their cards activated? I'm on day 4 now, and after 2 calls and 1 tech visit, still a no-go.. MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY is all I get. Needless to say I'm about ready to start slashing throats at Comcast. All the lady on the phone today said was that she could set up another tech visit with someone who "knows about cable cards". Give me a freaking break.
Comcast has reinitialized your cards? (i.e., take both cards out, insert card 1, reinitialize, etc.)

Make sure that you didn't accidentally swap the cards. With exception to one person on here, most people seem to report that there are 2 different host ID's for the cards (as to be expected since there are 2 different "hosts" for the card -- each tuner is its own host). I played devil's advocate and switched my cards (toying with death I know). Completely wiped out my digital cable! Luckily when I switched the cards back, everything is working ok.

Comcast requires the serial number of the card and the host ID to match before the cards will work. Only a particular host ID is allowed to view content on a particular CableCard.

[ctriplett]

I'm in Reston, VA and the 2 Cablecards were installed on 9/14/06 and have been working fine. Even after I replaced the S3 (TiVo called me to say it was defective and sent another one), placed the Cablecards in the new TiVo, it still works.

Now I have no idea what the bill will be as the technician wasn't sure. He thought the first was free and the second one was maybe $9.95.

[ThreeSoFar]

OK, guy came and went and now I realize I'm getting partial success with both cards. Weird, but even on the disabled card, on the test channels screen, I DO get some channels in. I get channel 11 (WMDOCA, it's in Spanish), channel 196 PPV previews, Some of the digital channels (PBS), 208 WBALDT2 (local DT)

On the conditional status screen,

CC2 says:

Connected:yes, EnabledByCP: yes
Auth: SUBSCRIBED


CC1 says:

State: CA Disabled

He's supposed to be coming back again by 6pm. Any suggestions? Should I re-seat both cards?

The Network Setup screen has a "Hunt" option that seems to start when you hit select. What's that do?

Right after first enabling the cards, I had him reconnect some of the cable ends, which necessitated severing the connection from the wall for a while. Could that screw it up?

[grapeape]

Tech showed up late, but dropped cards in and worked instantly. No fee for service call, no fee for either card. Now saving $14/month on Comcast
(and ignoring the fortune for the Series 3 and VIP lifetime transfer).

Tivo works as expected with the exception of some missing features such as deleted items, Tivo Solutions, MRV, some HMO apps and VOD. The VOD is a
killer, but so I'll probably move my digital box from another room in order
to get Howard Stern OnDemand, PPVs and free OnDemand TV/Movies.
Digital box without DVR is $3.99/month.

Grape

For those of you who are not aware, Tivo is offering a limited edition purple (lavender) soft touch remote. Now if I can just get a purple Series 3 case,
I'm all set.

Watching TV is expensive!

[hiker]

...
Digital box without DVR is $3.99/month.
...You should be able to get the digital box free if it is on your primary TV. See the 2nd to last answer in this FAQ at Comcast here (http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?ID=2540).

[Gregor]

I don't have any hints that I can think of, I'm just trying to be persistant right now, which is hard when I have to sit on the phone for 1 hour before even getting to talk to someone, who ends up being clueless.

Unfortunately I'm not getting ANY channels with these cards, with the exception of analog and in-the-clear digital channels.

Have you tried going to your local office to talk to a tech manager there? I have had good results doing this.

[ThreeSoFar]

Specifics on Baltimore Comcast S3 Install:

Technician came near end of his window.

No fee for install.

No additional monthly fees for any of my (now 3) CableCARDs. (I have to confirm this...)

ADVICE: I should have had him stay longer and used the CHANNEL TEST option under each card to make sure I received all I thought I should.

[maharg18]

Have you tried going to your local office to talk to a tech manager there? I have had good results doing this.

That is my plan on Monday.

[maharg18]

Comcast has reinitialized your cards? (i.e., take both cards out, insert card 1, reinitialize, etc.)

Make sure that you didn't accidentally swap the cards. With exception to one person on here, most people seem to report that there are 2 different host ID's for the cards (as to be expected since there are 2 different "hosts" for the card -- each tuner is its own host). I played devil's advocate and switched my cards (toying with death I know). Completely wiped out my digital cable! Luckily when I switched the cards back, everything is working ok.

Comcast requires the serial number of the card and the host ID to match before the cards will work. Only a particular host ID is allowed to view content on a particular CableCard.

This is what is confusing me, not once have they asked me for the host ID's. They just tell me that they're re-hitting the cards and then they give up. The techs that came out yesterday didn't even phone anything in.

[nexus99]

Comcast finally rolled to my house. They sent two techs because this site had never seen a S3 before. They popped in card 1... got the screen showing that a card had been inserted. They called home and hit the card. Bam. the 131-4 error(I think that was what it was) Hit select to go back. Inserted card two. It took about 30 seconds and anonther 131-4 screen popped. Checked test channels for both HBO and HD content. Everything looked ok. Ran through the guided set up again and then tested dual channel recording with a playback. Everything looked good.

The Cabel guys choked when they asked how much it cost but one did smile and say that any amount of money is worth it to get rid of the motorola STB :-)

They also mentioned if I had waited a while I chould have gotten a TIVO brand box from Comcast without having to buy it. I guess they are working on a deal to have their own S3 box to replace the Motorola ones.

Oh, both of my cards were firmware revision 4.05. I'd have rather have had the newer firmware but these seem to work just fine. The installers said they had never even considered that the firmware could have been a potential issue.

I am just happy its all in and running. Now I can finally set up all my season passes for HD! Yay!

[ThreeSoFar]

Potential issues with my problems?

1) I was in the middle of guided setup when we put in the cards and sync'd them up.

2) My cards have two different firmware versions: 04.05 and 04.21

[beergeek2]

Tech visit number 2: Comedy in the morning

A tech visited me and after 15 minutes looking at the box ("I've never seen that before") and I explained it was new, etc. He finally (after 15 minutes) told me that they were out of cable cards and they were back ordered. But he called the person he thinks is the local expert on cable cards. And he had a couple and was going to come over and show him how to install them.

The cable card tech put in a "special" card that cost him $500. I asked him if it was a diagnostic card and he said no. It let him get every channel without needing the card to be authorized. He used that to check that the TiVo actually worked.

Then he insisted that he needed to remove the cable cards and do a channel scan -- possibly a hold over from a requirement for TVs or something.

I waited for that. Then he put in the new cards and told the other tech to call in the initialize. At least he got that part right (according to what I've read here). He told him to have them initialized not "hit".

While waiting the cable card expert asked how much the series 3 cost and I told him how much I payed. (He had already told the other tech it was $1200) When I told him that he, to save face, told the other tech that the $1200 one must be the series 4 Tivo. So funny how he couldn't allow the other tech to know that he was wrong. So he asked the capacity and upped them for the one he "saw". Ugh.

So the cards started working -- partially -- I got channels 1-33 and a few of the HD ones (locals only).

I was also getting the Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY in the Conditional Access menu for both cards.

I when to the online chat for Comcast (BTW, I think this is better than the phone support -- the people are much more willing to help) and started talking to someone there asking that they send an Initialize as suggested in the thread Comcast CC Activation Troubles: What I've learned...

I don't think they did that -- but something else.

I then pointed them to the above thread and it clicked with them. They sent the right command. I then got the "good" error (first time I had seen that with these new cards). And things started working just fine.

Whew!

I am so happy to have this box and have it work. I've been waiting since before I even new it existed. But I'm worried. There is NO WAY that non technical people are going to be able to get this installed. Tivo need to step up and let people that activate a S3 know that if they have any trouble with their install to have Tivo conference in the cable company. I would e-mail every person that activates a S3 with this info right now.

Thanks to the forum for the help!

[mdreuben]

It's more complicated than that. Each CableCard is usually keyed to a specific market. So a CableCard from the Chicago market won't work in the Atlanta market.


Figures that nothing is easy. The Time Warner web site is a master stroke of not providing any way to contact them other than the standard 800 number.

Does anyone know of a phone number of higher department at Time Warner?

Thanks!

[bap]

Just had my CableCards installed here in Winchester, MA (10 miles north of Boston). I originally stopped by the Comcast office in Somerville to see if I could pick them up but they said I needed a tech to come out so they set up the appointment for me. I made sure they specified two CC's on the work order. The tech showed up right in the middle of the apointment window, and when I mentioned the cards were going in a TiVo he got a little excited since it was his first experience with it. He already knew of the S3 from talking with other techs and reading up on it on the web. He mentioned that he knew the cards needed recent firmware - two or three other techs who had S3 installs ran into all sorts of problems due to older firmware on the CC's. The install went very smoothly - the only frustrating part was the length of time he got stuck on hold calling Comcast to activate the cards. Both cards were recognized by the TiVo fairly quickly and I was able to pull up HBO within a minute or so of the cards being initialized by Comcast. I did see that 161-4 error that others reported but just ignored it as suggested.

It wasn't until after the tech left and I started this writeup that I checked the firmware levels of the CC's. They're from Motorola, and apparently have different firmware reversions. (Hopefully that won't be a problem). They're 04.21 and 04.05.

[ThreeSoFar]

Someone mentioned online/chat help being easier. I can't find that. Just some stupid automated interview/search engine thing--no person there.

ETA: Found it. Just keep putting "CableCARD" into the automated interview thing and it gives you a link to the live chat.

The live chat though defaults to Internet problems--have to click on cable.

[grapeape]

You should be able to get the digital box free if it is on your primary TV. See the 2nd to last answer in this FAQ at Comcast here (http://www.comcast.com/customers/faq/FaqDetails.ashx?ID=2540).

Not sure what primary means in the world of a multimedia house, but since I now only have one comcast owned receiver, I guess that would make it my primary. Thanks. I'll save another $3.99. Pretty soon these guys will be paying me to get Comcast. Not sure how they stay in business. :-)

[btwyx]

I got the follow up call from Comcast this morning. If I hadn't already woken up I could be annoyed by a call on Saturday before 10am.

There install questions were heavily skewed towards whether the insataller showed me how to use their unique features (remote, on demand, etc), as I don't get their unique features with cable cards I just told them it was not applicable.

I gave my feedback:

. I wasn't amused by their installer not turning up on time

. I was annoyed by them always pushing their agenda, not what the customer (ie me)wanted.

. There signal quality is pretty bad, overcompressed.

. They don't allow some of their potentially best customers (ie S3 owners) to order PPV.

. Their tech support is clueless and doesn't know how their system works (re: getting analog channels switched to digital.)

I don't know if it'll do any good.

[JakiChan]

They don't allow some of their potentially best customers (ie S3 owners) to order PPV.

What do you mean by that part? Not being able to do PPV is a known issue with using the TiVo as your only cable box, right?

[btwyx]

What do you mean by that part? Not being able to do PPV is a known issue with using the TiVo as your only cable box, right?And that's exactly what I'm saying. An S3 owner has demonstrated a high disposible income, and they don't let them order their most profitable product (PPV). There's no technical reason for this, they're just control freeks who want you to use their equipment.

[hiker]

What do you mean by that part? Not being able to do PPV is a known issue with using the TiVo as your only cable box, right?
I don't think you can even order PPV with a phone call on their web site, can you? Satellite providers allow that but maybe the CableCard technology does not?

[keenanSR]

Current CableCARD is not a two-way technology, there's no way to send the "order" signal back to Comcast.

[dianebrat]

wow.. that was completely painless.. (tho a tad annoying)
Summary:
Even though Comcast gave me some guff on the phone about 2 cards and griping that it will not need 2 installations, they conceeded that a single device install was more appropriate.

Then I got the "but it takes 4 days to roll a truck with cableCARDS" my install was in 3 days, I took the risk and said "the tech will call if he doesn't have cards? right?" which was answered as "yes"

The tech shows with 2 cards, his workorder is off it says 2 CARDS in 2 TV's but he doesn't see any issues with my Series3 install, however he does mention that this is the first Tivo he's installed CARDs in, I assure him it will go well and assist as needed in the Tivo menus.

He checks in with his supervisor just to be sure the Tivo install is acceptable, supervisor says "piece of cake, don't worry" apparently I'm the 2nd they've done in the area this week.

We have a slight concern as the CARDs take a few minutes to show up in the CableCARD menu, but then they pop up.

He goes through round one of the install with dispatch and everything went well, but then he's asked to wait for the 2nd group he has to call to activate a CARD and it turns out the techs have to wait in the same phone queue as the consumers, and it's a 30 minute wait, so we chat as he's waiting.

Then we get to an agent, they init the cards, get an error message that dispatch says is fine, I think it was a 161-4 or similar.

Both cards are ok, and sure enough, I get all the right channels.

Even though he had some hesitation, the tech did great and I said "you can brag about this on Monday"

simple, painless, and I could have done it myself if they were willing to let me pick up the cards, but that's not in place in MA yet.

And I'm in love with the Series3 already, it does so many things the motorola DVR can't even dream of, like the dual tuner swap with independant buffers.. that ROCKS!

Diane
(one of the 200"

[yunlin12]

This is what is confusing me, not once have they asked me for the host ID's. They just tell me that they're re-hitting the cards and then they give up. The techs that came out yesterday didn't even phone anything in.

That's what happened to me too. The guy who came out yesterday said he's done it before, and didn't need the host ID. he just called in the cable card ID's. He went staright to the Test Channel screen, then stayed on that screen while they were hitting the card from the other end. When that happened, a screen popped saying something like I'm asccessing a feature which would disable..., then I hit clear, Tivo went back to the test channel screen, and the blue screen with the rotating circle popped up, a few seconds later, I started seeing channel names in the title. But nothing besides the local (SD and HD) are coming in, plus a few PBS channels, and ESPN1/2 HD.

[btwyx]

Current CableCARD is not a two-way technology, there's no way to send the "order" signal back to Comcast.Yes there is. The phone or the web would do. DirecTV can do that, there's no reason Comcast can't.

[hiker]

Not sure what primary means in the world of a multimedia house, but since I now only have one comcast owned receiver, I guess that would make it my primary. Thanks. I'll save another $3.99. Pretty soon these guys will be paying me to get Comcast. Not sure how they stay in business. :-)
When my CableCard install happens next week, I'm planning to have my cable box and S3 hooked up to my "primary" TV and ask the installer to note this on the work order. Hopefully I can get a copy of the work order and take it down to the Comcast office and fight for free cable box.

[c3]

. They don't allow some of their potentially best customers (ie S3 owners) to order PPV.

Comcast's "best" customers pay them $70-$100 per month.

[ThePlungerMan]

I’ve had many problems and started a new thread to see if there is a correlation between different providers. Follow the link, you’ll see what I mean.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4408993#post4408993

[atl Tivo]

I have my S3 Tivo but am waiting unitl oct 10th for my cable card install. I currently have the ESPN College Gameplan. For those of you who do not know what this is, it allows me to watch multiple NCAA college football games on Saturdays. Since this is payperview programming, which was ordered via the phone, will I be able to view these games with my cable cards in my S3?

[grapeape]

I have my S3 Tivo but am waiting unitl oct 10th for my cable card install. I currently have the ESPN College Gameplan. For those of you who do not know what this is, it allows me to watch multiple NCAA college football games on Saturdays. Since this is payperview programming, which was ordered via the phone, will I be able to view these games with my cable cards in my S3?

Yes. Gameplans work like a premium channel, not OnDemand.

What you loose is the ability to order ala cart?

[keenanSR]

Yes there is. The phone or the web would do. DirecTV can do that, there's no reason Comcast can't.
Yes, of course, I meant the current CableCARD technology itself could not do it.

Phones have worked for 100 years, so yes, there's no reason they couldn't work for PPV ordering. :p

[TBoyd]

Just off the phone with Comcast. They would NOT "initialize" my cards, one with the missing_program error on it, remotely. They CLAIMED that a technican on-site was the only one authorized to do that as it might fry the card and they needed to be on-site to see what other conditions/issues might be causing my problem.

So, a week without full service (I'll get a credit, you bet) and then another "dance" with a technician.

Some interesting things:

- All my channels generally show QAM in the Diag menu, but sometimes they revert to analog. I'm thinking a possibility of a BAD card. --- They hinted/guessed that since the wire is analog, the card does the digital conversion and that might be an indication the card is whacked. We'll see...

- I get most all channels except EXTENDED BASIC, and a few of those at the ends of the listing come in but with LOTS of noise. Maybe a filter of some kind on the line from when I first put Internet service in? Hmmmm. Got to remember to mention that to the genius they send out next Sat.

So, I'm kind of working. <sigh>

Tim

[pyrosas]

Got both cards installed today. No issue at all other then it takes more time that I thought it would. I asked the installer, it was his second S3 install.

[ThreeSoFar]

Just off the phone with Comcast. They would NOT "initialize" my cards, one with the missing_program error on it, remotely. They CLAIMED that a technican on-site was the only one authorized to do that as it might fry the card and they needed to be on-site to see what other conditions/issues might be causing my problem.

So, a week without full service (I'll get a credit, you bet) and then another "dance" with a technician.

Some interesting things:

- All my channels generally show QAM in the Diag menu, but sometimes they revert to analog. I'm thinking a possibility of a BAD card. --- They hinted/guessed that since the wire is analog, the card does the digital conversion and that might be an indication the card is whacked. We'll see...

- I get most all channels except EXTENDED BASIC, and a few of those at the ends of the listing come in but with LOTS of noise. Maybe a filter of some kind on the line from when I first put Internet service in? Hmmmm. Got to remember to mention that to the genius they send out next Sat.

So, I'm kind of working. <sigh>

Tim
Same boat here. I should have taken more time with him here to ensure it was 100%. This delay is on me.

[DiscoBayJoe]

I got my Comcast CableCards installed today. Installer said it was his 2nd one.

Originally i was told it would be a multistream card, but TivoPony said I needed two anyways. I don't see anything indicating they are anything other than single stream cards anyhow so I'm glad I called back and asked for two.

Interestingly enuff, one card is Comcast Branded and one is Motorola Branded. They are actually both Motorolas.

The Comcast Card has Firmware 4.05. The Motorola has 4.21

It was a 15 minute install proccess. Insert cards (1 minute), Wait for cards to initialize (5 Minutes), Talk about my Dog (4 Minutes) and Test channels on both Cards (5 Minutes).

For the first 30 minutes or so I noticed the GRAY background screen hang a little longer than I would like between channel changes. It appears to be changing faster now tho.

The image is Great!

[futcher]

We've got Comcast here, that's really Adelphia - or was a couple months ago. Anyway, the local office had no trouble with the concept of CableCards. They said it was a $20 install charge, $1.75 for the first card and $4.20 for the second. I asked for two first cards. ;)

We'll see how the install goes, but they set it up to have me trade in the POS Motorola box with the tech when he comes, so I'm optimistic.

[Gregor]

Yes there is. The phone or the web would do. DirecTV can do that, there's no reason Comcast can't.

More won't than can't.

The big reason they won't is money. They do not have the infrastructure to handle calls and push requests in volume out to the headends.

[Gerhard]

Ok,

I've been having this issue with one of the CableCARDS giving me the message:

"MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY"

I tried about 6 times to have the central office reauthorize the 2nd CableCARD in the Tivo 3.

A technician came to the house today, and, very respectfully, listened to want I told him. He then tried having the card reauthorized, but nothing happened. I did, however, get one of the errors with I assume was the "good" error.

Still, the second card showed "MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY."

The tech decided that we should try switching the CableCARDs around. I informed him that it had to be done ONE AT A TIME. We put the unworking CC #2 into CC slot 1 and he had the central office authorize the card.

Suddenly that card that had not been working for 6 days indicated AUTH: SUBSCRIBED!

At this point he asked me to put the CableCARD that was originally card #1 into slot #2. So I did...

...and after about a minute the original CC#1 that was NOW IN SLOT #2 turned out to have the message AUTH: SUBSCRIBED as well.

The tech was adament that either card would work in either slot. That he frequently troubleshoots TV problems by moving a CableCARD from one TV to another in the same house, and then having the CC reauthorized or "hit."

It appears that he was correct... because everything is now working!

Cooooool.

[btwyx]

More won't than can't.

The big reason they won't is money. They do not have the infrastructure to handle calls and push requests in volume out to the headends.They could even allow you to order it on your free cable box, and then view it on your TiVo. That takes zero extra infrastructure. They just have to send out the right authorisation to let the TiVo see it. I did wonder if I was browsing on demand on channel 1 on the cable box, i'd be able to see the demanded programs on channel 1 on the TiVo. I couldn't.

[Gregor]

They could even allow you to order it on your free cable box, and then view it on your TiVo. That takes zero extra infrastructure. They just have to send out the right authorisation to let the TiVo see it. I did wonder if I was browsing on demand on channel 1 on the cable box, i'd be able to see the demanded programs on channel 1 on the TiVo. I couldn't.


Correct. I've ordered some PPV on one box and been able to see it on all boxes in the house.

I'll have to order something on one of the boxes I'm keeping then try tuning the Tivo to that channel. They may set the recording flag to "never" though.

[GoHokies!]

Smooth install here in Anne Arundel County, MD. Installer was one time, said it was his second Tivo and had several other jobs for 2 cards today, so it looked like he was going to be doing a lot of these.

Dropped both cards in, got the numbers, he called them in and within 2 minutes got the 161-4 on both cards. He hung around when while I redid guided setup, everything worked perfectly. We talked Tivo just about the whole time, the installer didn't know about all the extra features that the Tivo offered, said he'd have to look into getting one himself.

I can't believe it, but :up: Comcast!!!

Looking at the paperwork he left, it cost me 8 bucks - we'll see how the monthly works itself out.

Edit: FWIW, both were the pastel label Moto-branded cards

[uksausage]

I am in Northern Virginia and I think I have seen posted earlier there is a MAJOR porblem with Comcast here.

No one is specifying the make of their cablecards whish are working - please can you let us know if any are Scientifc Atlanta cards.

After a contractor technician came out with a SA DVR expecting to pick up 2 cable cards he then called in to get an installed around promto (this was Friday lunch time and one was scheduled for 4pm) with 2 cards.

I got a call from installer prior to going to call before mine - great service I thought and infact the call before was for identical Tivo series3 2 cable card installs.
Then got a call 40 minutes later - the cards they have are incomatible with Tivo they WILL NOT WORK.
There is new software from SA that is meant to fix the porblems but they havent goty the software in NaVA

Is this an issue that can be escalated does anyone know?

Given I live 4 miles from the FCC building it woudl be ironic if NaVA were breaking some rules somehow.

I have no idea when I will get the cards now and am "suffering" from the lack of digital channels and HD but enjoying the better output and dual tuner anyway.

[tube013]

OK, guy came and went and now I realize I'm getting partial success with both cards. Weird, but even on the disabled card, on the test channels screen, I DO get some channels in. I get channel 11 (WMDOCA, it's in Spanish), channel 196 PPV previews, Some of the digital channels (PBS), 208 WBALDT2 (local DT)

On the conditional status screen,

CC2 says:

Connected:yes, EnabledByCP: yes
Auth: SUBSCRIBED


CC1 says:

State: CA Disabled

He's supposed to be coming back again by 6pm. Any suggestions? Should I re-seat both cards?

The Network Setup screen has a "Hunt" option that seems to start when you hit select. What's that do?

Right after first enabling the cards, I had him reconnect some of the cable ends, which necessitated severing the connection from the wall for a while. Could that screw it up?


ThreeSoFar,

I think I have the exact same problem up here in Wilmington, DE. Let us know how you make out with the tech.

My cards give the same messages you note above, also both are moto. 04.05 firmware version. Sometimes when I flip to channels I should get, I get the cablecard pairing screen pop up. No matter what I'm still missing about 2/3rds of my total content, and I missed having ESPN in HD on a college football saturday!!!!! I think I know the real meaning of "Comcastic" and it isn't good.

[Gerhard]

I am in Northern Virginia and I think I have seen posted earlier there is a MAJOR porblem with Comcast here.

No one is specifying the make of their cablecards whish are working - please can you let us know if any are Scientifc Atlanta cards.

After a contractor technician came out with a SA DVR expecting to pick up 2 cable cards he then called in to get an installed around promto (this was Friday lunch time and one was scheduled for 4pm) with 2 cards.

I got a call from installer prior to going to call before mine - great service I thought and infact the call before was for identical Tivo series3 2 cable card installs.
Then got a call 40 minutes later - the cards they have are incomatible with Tivo they WILL NOT WORK.
There is new software from SA that is meant to fix the porblems but they havent goty the software in NaVA

Is this an issue that can be escalated does anyone know?

Given I live 4 miles from the FCC building it woudl be ironic if NaVA were breaking some rules somehow.

I have no idea when I will get the cards now and am "suffering" from the lack of digital channels and HD but enjoying the better output and dual tuner anyway.

Did you call Tivo and verify that the SA CableLABS certifed CableCARDs are not compatible with Tivo Series 3 units?

...because if those cards ARE real CableCARDs, then there is no reason that they should not work... and it would also mean that SA could loose their certifcation.

So.... I'd consider calling SA and finding out if they really do have compatibility issues or if someone is giving you the run around.

[IraF]

I admit I only read part of this thread ... but I didn't see anyone mentioning the prices I was just quoted by a Comcast CSR regarding service in San Francisco.

Currently, in addition to my Series One TiVo, I have the Comcast Motorola dual DVR, which, for $9.95, includes dual HD service. There is another $9.95 charge for digital classic which includes the cost of one "converter/remote."

I was told the first cable card would replace the converter/remote in the digital cable package, thus you could say it is free - but it's actually not - the digital classic package includes the price of a converter and a remote, and you wouldn't have either anymore - so if the price stays the same, you are paying the same price for the cable card as you were for your now non-existent converter/remote. If the digital classic package cost less with cable card, THEN cable card could be said to be free.

Ignoring that, he says if I wanted HD on the cable card, I'd have to add $5.

And, a second cable card would cost $6.95 more.

And HD on the second cable card would cost another $5 more!

So my Comcast monthly costs for dual HD would go from $9.95 with dual DVR, to $16.95 with 2 cable cards!

That is completely absurd! Isn't it?

He swore this was true - but maybe he was thinking "two outlets", not "one TiVo."

Of course this is ignoring the costs of the TiVo hardware or subscription (I would convert my lifetime Series One subscription to a Series 3 lifetime, as I think that is possible for $200).

Are these Comcast fees possible? Was this CSR just totally wrong? I didn't spot anyone else mentioning these fees in this thread - on the contrary, far more people were saying cable card was free, and no one was saying adding HD to a cable card would cost $5 or $10 extra.

I'm thinking maybe these fees are possible - they know if they give you cable card, they will get no On Demand revenue from you.

[Gerhard]

Comcast in Montgomery County, MD is not charging me for EITHER of the two CableCards.

However, there are other fees that they are no making clear prior to turning on the cable:

There is 6.00 HD fee, the Digital 5 package for $120.00, and then some other fee.

However, these fees were there before I switches to CableCards. As such, I'm still paying about $20.00 less to Comcast than I was... including the $6.95 fee to Tivo for the additional box.

Gerhard

[wdave]

I'll try to keep this short, because my experience definitely wasn't:

Called on 12th, earliest appt was for today 1pm-5pm.
Told them, "Make sure it's an in-house tech, and to bring a few CCs"
They say, "No problem"
I'm around all afternoon.
At 5pm I call asking "Where are you?"
They say, "Running late today, will be there by 7pm"
At 7pm they call, "We just looked at your order. We're just contractors. Don't have CCs"
I call Comcast directly.
They say "Sorry, sir, our mistake, I'll escalate this to my supervisor right away."
I say "I still want someone to come out this evening."
They say "Yes, that may be possible, we'll work on it through dispatch".
I call back at 8pm, "Where are you?"
They say, "He (supervisor) is still trying to make it happen. He promises to call you back"
Evening has ended ... no call back.

[IraF]

After reading more, called Comcast again regarding San Francisco. Last time, was told 6.95 for 2nd card, plus $10 to get HD on each. Now, I was told this:

- both cable cards are free
- HD is no extra charge
- just go to the Comcast store and get 2 cable cards, no truck roll involved.

So from $16.95/month in fees for dual HD cable card, I'm down to $0, saving $9.95 vs. dual DVR service. My TiVo service will cost something like 5.55 per month over 3 years ($200 lifetime conversion cost, spread over 3 years). This is Not Bad At All!

I only hope when I actually go get the cable cards, that the prices haven't shot up again :).

[canyon]

Just tell him that he ComCast site says they are free. Period. ...then refer him to their own website:


Has anyone noticed in the past week Comcast have changed this on their website from ---There is no additional charge for cablecards--- to--- There is no additional charge for CableCARD service
big difference

[jfh3]

The tech was adament that either card would work in either slot. That he frequently troubleshoots TV problems by moving a CableCARD from one TV to another in the same house, and then having the CC reauthorized or "hit."

It appears that he was correct... because everything is now working!

He was correct, but not for the reason he thought. Either card will work in either slot, BUT ONLY IF THEY ARE PROPERLY INIT'ed AFTER THE SWAP.

Each card has a host id that is paired with an entry in the head end system. Once paired, if you swap cards, neither will work.

[RentMusic]

While waiting the cable card expert asked how much the series 3 cost and I told him how much I payed. (He had already told the other tech it was $1200) When I told him that he, to save face, told the other tech that the $1200 one must be the series 4 Tivo. So funny how he couldn't allow the other tech to know that he was wrong. So he asked the capacity and upped them for the one he "saw". Ugh.


Just to be fair to the poor guy, Weaknees charges $1299 for a 600 HR SD / 60 Hour HD Series 3 (500GB) and $1599.00 for a 925 HR SD / 100 HR HD (750GB) Series3.

Maybe he wasn't wrong.

[crazyxgerman]

After the successful cable card install today I called Comcast customer service to find out about pricing.

First lady told me $60 for the package, $5 for HD, and $6.95 per month per cable card. I told her that's not going to happen. She transferred me to somebody else.

Talked to a very nice gentleman and explained the 1 TV 1 outlet 1 TiVo w/dual tuner 0 digital converter boxes concept to him. He agreed that the pricing should be different and assured me my charge will be

$60 for package, first cable card included, $6.95 for second cable card, basic HD channels (702-709, 719-725) included, no extra charge.

My total bill goes up by $6.95 which is reasonable. However, I just saw this FAQ - https://www.comcast.com/Customers/FAQ/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=2651 - and will call them on that tomorrow and see what they have to say.

[dwiller]

This has got to have been one of the more frustrating experiences in recent memory. I've been so excited for the Series 3, since it was announced....when was that January 2005? And all along dreading, just dreading any involvement from the cable company....

So the Series 3 comes out...I run out to Best Buy and get one last Friday. Seemed to be the only one in the area. Call Comcast to try to schedule....my work schedule isn't the most convenient to schedule this kind of stuff, so I have to wait until today (Saturday) which was about 8 days after I bought the new Series 3.

Installer shows up right on time...perhaps a minute early for my 11am-1pm appt. He recognizes the Series 3. Immediatelyi starts writing down the S/N off the cable cards. He puts one in.....the gray screen pops up. He writes the information down. He even waits for me to finish typing the stuff into my computer (the host id and data id). He shows me all the cable cards in his little metal tray. I ask if he's been installing a lot of them, he says yes, and I ask 'in TiVos?' He says yes. I was surprised since they had just come out less than 2 weeks ago. He said many ordered online....I figured it was promising that he'd done TiVos before.

Anyway, He sticks the 2nd card in, same thing. I'm thinking 'this is going pretty well so far....it's only been 10 minutes and both cards are in!' He calls his dispatch (I think he was a contractor) and gives the 2 numbers for the CableCards and tells him I'm returning a DVR.

This is when the problems start....he gets transferred to the Comcast number. He's on hold for at least 20 minutes. Then I can hear through his phone, that it starts ringing....great! Well, it rings, and rings, and rings and rings.....no answer. He was transferred into some abyss. While he was on hold, he tuned in 804, 805, 807 my local channels in HD. I saw HD golf on NBC. I was pleased that everything was working so well. So when nobody picked up, he eventually hung up and said that he'd call the stuff in, and then call me back if there were any problems. Said that it'd take about 30 minutes or so to get all the information downloaded.

So I start playing around when he leaves and see that I'm not getting any HD channels other than the local ones. I'm not getting any of the HBOs. No ESPNHD, no INHD. I eventually call Comcast and ask that they hit the cards, since my installer never got through. He does. I see no error messages, nothing. I had to leave for work.

When I get home, I check my channels, still not working so I power TiVo off. Take the cards out. Restart TiVo, insert 1 card back in. Call Comcast. Ask her to reinitialize the card I gave her the S/N for. Nothing. Both of my cards are Motorola, one is v. 4.21, the other is 4.05. Still not working, so she suggests setting up a service call, since she was out of ideas. I agree, figuring I might as well set up the call, and then can cancel if things start to work. Of course I work 11-7, so pretty much no appointments during the week work for me. I have to take next Friday 9-11am, which is a full 2 weeks since I bought the TiVo.

I then plug TiVo directly into the wall, bypassing all splitters. Nothing changes on the status of the cards. Not sure if this would require them to rehit me or not.

I noticed that each card has a different Conditional Access screen. The card in slot 1 (v. 4.21) says:
Encryption:DES
Connected:yes, EnabledByCP: no
Auth: MISSING_PROGRAM_KEKEY
CA enable: not possible
Host Validation: Unknown

The card in slot 2 (v. 4.05) says:
State: Subscribed (just as I was typing this)...I got excited, went to test channels, didn't work, and now the message is back to saying
State: CA Disabled
Host Validation: Unknown
This screen does not mention Encryption , Auth, etc. Not sure why the 2 screens look different.

I plug TiVo back into the splitter, and try the online help. That person hits the cards for me. Then tells me I am not subscribed for HD service, and that it was cancelled. i'm happy for a second, because I figure if he turns that back on, I'll be all set. Turns out he tells me I need to call the local office.

So I call Comcast again, and I ask the woman to check my account. She says nothing was removed, and that I should be receiving HD. She says she has sent signals to my cards and sees I have an appt. for Friday. She says a technician will need to come out.

This is so frustrating. I just want to watch TV. I've been looking forward to this for so long. I don't want Comcast here touching my stuff. I wish I could just exchange the CCs myself. Not sure if they are bad, or if it is the TiVo or if someone is screwing up at Comcast. It's 4:33am. I'm exhausted. Can't make any more calls today. At least Comcast has 24 hour support, not that it's done me much good. If I can't get this stuff to work, I'm going to need to return TiVo and go back to that God awful Comcast DVR. Noooooooo!!!!

Dave

[geekmedic]

Does anyone know what the benefit is to the firmware upgrade (4.2.1)?

[BarryPCC]

I'm a S2 Tivo subscriber and want to get S3 by New Year's Eve so I can transfer my lifetime service. I currently subscribe to MLB Extra Innings package (Channels 771-780). When I inquired about CableCards to a Comcast CSR, she said, "Well, if you gave up your set top box and got Cable Cards, you would not be able to order the baseball package."

I know that all of Comcast's CSR's here in Richmond are temporary employees who rarely know what they are providing service for so, I'm asking here on this thread, [B]is what she said true? I really want to get the S3 and have dual tuning capability, but I don't want to lose my baseball package next season.

Thanks so much for any assistance.

[hybucket]

Does anyone know if Comcast has any...er, "incentive" deals for dropping satellite and going with them? I'm thinking of dumping D* for the TiVO Series 3, but I'm on a 2-year committment with D*, and am curious if Comcast would make it worth my while. I'm sure it depends on which CSR you speak to, but if there's a precedent for this sort of thing....
With D*, if you threaten to leave them, they'll give you just about anything with their "customer retention" department.

[mchief]

I am in Northern Virginia and I think I have seen posted earlier there is a MAJOR porblem with Comcast here.

No one is specifying the make of their cablecards whish are working - please can you let us know if any are Scientifc Atlanta cards.

After a contractor technician came out with a SA DVR expecting to pick up 2 cable cards he then called in to get an installed around promto (this was Friday lunch time and one was scheduled for 4pm) with 2 cards.

I got a call from installer prior to going to call before mine - great service I thought and infact the call before was for identical Tivo series3 2 cable card installs.
Then got a call 40 minutes later - the cards they have are incomatible with Tivo they WILL NOT WORK.
There is new software from SA that is meant to fix the porblems but they havent goty the software in NaVA

Is this an issue that can be escalated does anyone know?

Given I live 4 miles from the FCC building it woudl be ironic if NaVA were breaking some rules somehow.

I have no idea when I will get the cards now and am "suffering" from the lack of digital channels and HD but enjoying the better output and dual tuner anyway.

Sounds like you are in Arlington. I'm in Alexandria with Comcast and an SA cablecard in my HDTV which works fine. Try talking to someone else or a supervisor. There are no software issues with the SA card.

[HomieG]

Does anyone know if Comcast has any...er, "incentive" deals for dropping satellite and going with them? I'm thinking of dumping D* for the TiVO Series 3, but I'm on a 2-year committment with D*, and am curious if Comcast would make it worth my while. I'm sure it depends on which CSR you speak to, but if there's a precedent for this sort of thing....
With D*, if you threaten to leave them, they'll give you just about anything with their "customer retention" department.


In my area it was $400 over 16 months to go from satellite to Comcast. $25 credit per month for 16 months. It's called the Ditch-the-Dish promotion. Don't know if it's still in place, or available in your area. Supposedly they were going to want to take back one of my receivers, but the tech didn't ask. Oh yea, in my area the picture quality was significantly better with Comcast than D*. YMMV.

[geekmedic]

Barry, CableCards allow you to get all the content you subscribe to, including HBO, Cinemax, and your baseball package. The only thing you can't do is order pay-per-view or on-demand movies through your TiVo.

[yunlin12]

Currently, in addition to my Series One TiVo, I have the Comcast Motorola dual DVR, which, for $9.95, includes dual HD service. There is another $9.95 charge for digital classic which includes the cost of one "converter/remote."

I was told the first cable card would replace the converter/remote in the digital cable package, thus you could say it is free - but it's actually not - the digital classic package includes the price of a converter and a remote, and you wouldn't have either anymore - so if the price stays the same, you are paying the same price for the cable card as you were for your now non-existent converter/remote. If the digital classic package cost less with cable card, THEN cable card could be said to be free.

Ignoring that, he says if I wanted HD on the cable card, I'd have to add $5.

And, a second cable card would cost $6.95 more.

That sounds like BS. I have Digital Silver here in San Jose. When I called the CSR asked what I need the cards for. I said Tivo. She said "Oh you need 2 then". I asked her if there'll be rental fees, she said no, those are free. She didn't mention an outlet charge either, so I could still be screwed. But she sounded nice.

Before this I wass paying for $9.95 for HDDVR with Motorola, on top of the digital silver package which includes the STB. I'm not sure if they charge me $5 for HD or not since I got this whole deal when signing up with Comcast. The only item that's broken out is the DVR fee.

[silentbob]

Mixed experience here in Montgomery County, MD. Fortunately, most of the problems were on the front end.

I had an appointment for 5-8 pm yesterday, and the technician did not show up until around 9:15. When I first showed him the Series 3, he refused to install the cards because it was not a television. My line about the FCC/CableLabs had no effect. He claimed that there were potential liability issues installing a CableCARD into a device like the TiVo. So I asked how I was supposed to get a CableCARD, and he said to go to the Comcast offices. When I replied that going to the offices and getting turned down was why I needed to make an appointment in the first place, he called his supervisor and finally relented.

The install itself went fine. It took 20 minutes and I got the 161-4 error for both cards (Motorola version 4.21), but as stated upthread, it's actually a good thing. Everything worked shortly thereafter, and now I'm watching English soccer and the Ryder Cup. Brilliant.

[BarryPCC]

Barry, CableCards allow you to get all the content you subscribe to, including HBO, Cinemax, and your baseball package. The only thing you can't do is order pay-per-view or on-demand movies through your TiVo.
Thanks for that info! That's what I thought when I sat back and thought about it for a while. The CSR on the phone however was "certain" that I would lose MLB Extra Innings".

I'll go to the Comcast office in person when I am ready to get CableCards. Hopefully I run into a tech who knows what I am talking about. Hope to get the S3 in November.

We shall see!

[Gregor]

Thanks for that info! That's what I thought when I sat back and thought about it for a while. The CSR on the phone however was "certain" that I would lose MLB Extra Innings".

I'll go to the Comcast office in person when I am ready to get CableCards. Hopefully I run into a tech who knows what I am talking about. Hope to get the S3 in November.

We shall see!

Ask to talk to one of their tech managers. The guy I talked to wasn't sure about Tivo but agreed to send his 'guru' over to do the install.

[dlmart2]

Im in AA county also, I was told there was a charge, however, I wasn't told there was a charge either <shrug> The only pricing info I got was the install charge, which I beleive was $17.xx

I guess I'll have to look closely at my next bill....

Smooth install here in Anne Arundel County, MD. Installer was one time, said it was his second Tivo and had several other jobs for 2 cards today, so it looked like he was going to be doing a lot of these.

Dropped both cards in, got the numbers, he called them in and within 2 minutes got the 161-4 on both cards. He hung around when while I redid guided setup, everything worked perfectly. We talked Tivo just about the whole time, the installer didn't know about all the extra features that the Tivo offered, said he'd have to look into getting one himself.

I can't believe it, but :up: Comcast!!!

Looking at the paperwork he left, it cost me 8 bucks - we'll see how the monthly works itself out.

Edit: FWIW, both were the pastel label Moto-branded cards

[Bill4hand]

I've called twice and e-mailed with customer service twice at Comcast cable in Rockville MD and I can't get them to believe I need two cablecards for my Tivo. The first response was they won't give me two cards, a later response was Comcast cablecards won't work in the Tivo, and the last response was the Comcast doesn't service or program Tivos. So I've had no success trying to get Comcast to even agree to sell, rent, install or allow me to have two cable cards. Has anyone had success with Comcast in Montgomery County? Is there someone I can talk to? I don't care if I need to pay more money, I hate having the $800 Tivo just sitting on a table doing nothing. If I can't get cablecards installed I'm going to have to see if I can get Tivo to take it back.

[jfh3]

I've called twice and e-mailed with customer service twice at Comcast cable in Rockville MD and I can't get them to believe I need two cablecards for my Tivo. The first response was they won't give me two cards, a later response was Comcast cablecards won't work in the Tivo, and the last response was the Comcast doesn't service or program Tivos. So I've had no success trying to get Comcast to even agree to sell, rent, install or allow me to have two cable cards. Has anyone had success with Comcast in Montgomery County? Is there someone I can talk to? I don't care if I need to pay more money, I hate having the $800 Tivo just sitting on a table doing nothing. If I can't get cablecards installed I'm going to have to see if I can get Tivo to take it back.

Call them back and tell them you have two TVs that you want CableCARDs with and just lead the installer to the Tivo when he gets there. The person on the phone who activates the cards will have no way to tell that the cards are in a Tivo and the system won't care.

[Parkmad]

Ok, I am not sure this a Comcast issue at this point, but I don't seem to be making progress.

Comcast came out on Friday and I will skip the first hour of "We don't support this" and me replying with Yes, you do. The installer didn't know anything and I guided him through the setup and we got CC1 to work, but CC2 only displays basic cable (not digital stations). He finally had to go and I called Comcast and had them ping CC2 but nothing changed so they sent another installer today.

Today's installer didn't give me any grief and proceeded to ping the CC's to no avail. His boss drove by and gave him another CC and installed it into slot 2. Now, CC2 works, but CC1 only displays basic cable! I have rerun guided setup numerous times but it hasn't helped. The test channel menu indicates that no channels are available.

In the conditional access menu, CC2 used to display EnabledbyCP: No and CC1 showed EnabledbyCP: Yes and now CC1 and CC2 both show yes, but CC1 now shows that Connected: No

I am wondering if it's a sequencing issue. Should I start over knowing that I have 2 good cards and reinstall and call Comcast and have them initialize? Hopefully this won't get buried in this massive thread.

Thanks

[GoHokies!]

Im in AA county also, I was told there was a charge, however, I wasn't told there was a charge either <shrug> The only pricing info I got was the install charge, which I beleive was $17.xx

I guess I'll have to look closely at my next bill....

Sounds like the CC I know and "love"... I was charged 17 for the original HD install, then 8 for the change from the HD box to the Cable cards. I guess that 17 is their "install HD feed"? (which the lady made sound like brain surgery when I set up "You can't do it because there are 5 cables to hook up!!!!" :rolleyes:

Kind of crummy that you're paying twice as much as I did for the same service...

[Parkmad]

Ok, it was comcast. I called and explained the situation and they initalized CC1 (error message occurred) and voila, all is good, 2 fully functional tuners. Sweet.

[Gerhard]

Ok, I am not sure this a Comcast issue at this point, but I don't seem to be making progress.

Comcast came out on Friday and I will skip the first hour of "We don't support this" and me replying with Yes, you do. The installer didn't know anything and I guided him through the setup and we got CC1 to work, but CC2 only displays basic cable (not digital stations). He finally had to go and I called Comcast and had them ping CC2 but nothing changed so they sent another installer today.

Today's installer didn't give me any grief and proceeded to ping the CC's to no avail. His boss drove by and gave him another CC and installed it into slot 2. Now, CC2 works, but CC1 only displays basic cable! I have rerun guided setup numerous times but it hasn't helped. The test channel menu indicates that no channels are available.

In the conditional access menu, CC2 used to display EnabledbyCP: No and CC1 showed EnabledbyCP: Yes and now CC1 and CC2 both show yes, but CC1 now shows that Connected: No

I am wondering if it's a sequencing issue. Should I start over knowing that I have 2 good cards and reinstall and call Comcast and have them initialize? Hopefully this won't get buried in this massive thread.

Thanks

Switch the cards around and have them re-authorize them from the central office.

[amf]

I live in the Greater Bay Area.. Sonoma County about 100 miles north of San Francisco. Just called comcast to schedule installation of 4 cable cards for my Tivo Series 3 dvrs due to arrive next week.

Comcast stated cards were free and a single installation charge of 15.99. Monthly fee of 5.95 for HD service per device. They will pick up existing motorola HD recorders and take them away during install. Appointment set for 1st week in OCT.

Very easy call to comcast at 800-comcast and 1st contact was knowledgable and no hassle at all.

Alan
Cloverdale CA

[atl Tivo]

I live in the Greater Bay Area.. Sonoma County about 100 miles north of San Francisco. Just called comcast to schedule installation of 4 cable cards for my Tivo Series 3 dvrs due to arrive next week.

Comcast stated cards were free and a single installation charge of 15.99. Monthly fee of 5.95 for HD service per device. They will pick up existing motorola HD recorders and take them away during install. Appointment set for 1st week in OCT.

Very easy call to comcast at 800-comcast and 1st contact was knowledgable and no hassle at all.

Alan
Cloverdale CA

I had two comcast DVR boxes and decided to get rid of one a few months ago. Made an appointment with comcast to pick it up, waited 5 hours and no one showed. Got my next comcast bill and They took it off my bill but I still have the box. I may try this with my current Comcast DVR that is being replaced by the S3 TIVO.

[shady]

I may try this with my current Comcast DVR that is being replaced by the S3 TIVO.

But then you'd still have the Comcast DVR :eek: I'm missing something, what's the upside? :D

[DocSavag]

But then you'd still have the Comcast DVR :eek: I'm missing something, what's the upside? :D

Its free which means its a very cost efficient door stop ;)

[uksausage]

Sounds like you are in Arlington. I'm in Alexandria with Comcast and an SA cablecard in my HDTV which works fine. Try talking to someone else or a supervisor. There are no software issues with the SA card.

I am in Alexandria too, they obviously work in TV's but not Tivo's. I havent seen a CCard yet as they called from a previous job where they wouldnt work.

Any one know what level of Scientific Atlanta firmware is required?

[JakiChan]

Comcast's "best" customers pay them $70-$100 per month.

My bill is like $129 right now. That's their top tier (which doesn't seem to include EVERYTHING) + the tier thing that allows me to get Speed. I could cut back, I suppose, but I love seeing the movies in HD.

[SeanTivo]

I'm being charged $2.75 per month for the second card and $30 for the install.

I pay for cable in 2 houses and I pushed back on being charged for the 2nd card.
Via online chat I asked for a supervisor to explain why it made sense to charge for the 2nd card when it was only one outlet and especially since if they insisted I would consider going with satellite and DSL for my second home.

I got an email back from a supervisor reitterating their pricing and ignoring everything else. I don't need a dvr in the second house so I will be checking out Sat + DSL. Comcast should end up with an extra $32 per year on the cable card but less $1,200 for my second house.

Anyways, the install was last Friday and took about 2 hours.

First installer showed up with a big roll of wire so I knew he had no idea what type of install this was. He was a sub-contractor, not a Comcast employee.

I told him this was a Tivo install and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. I handed him the install instructions and he glanced at it for about 30 seconds, tossed it down and then asked me where the second TV was?

For the first of about a half dozen times I tried to explain to him that both cards were going into the Tivo. I had the box pulled out and he took 1 card and inserted it into a slot. The TV pulled up the info screen for slot 2. I took the directions and pointed out to him that the directions said to do slot 1 first and he ignored me. (Turns out it doesn't matter which slot goes first but I wanted him to follow the directions).

He ignores me and gets on the phone to his supervisor and says he has a Tivo install. The supv mumbles something and says he'll be over in a few minutes.

The installer puts the phone down and then again asks me where the 2nd TV is?

Exasperated, I hand him the directions and ask him why he can't just follow the directions. I'm getting nowhere so I leave the room.

The supervisor (a comcast employee) shows up and things get better. He has a vague understanding of Tivo but the 2 card thing confuses him. At least he reads the instructions I hand him and puts the second card in and tells the installer to call "dispatch". They spend 15 minutes on hold. I comment that I thought this only happened to customers and they both laughed. Once they spoke to someone on the other end they tried to read the card numbers (Motorola cards, BTW) when the guy on the other end said the cards were not "on my account". The supervisor bitched at the installer and asked why he hadn't called "dispatch" to update my account first so they had to hang up and call dispatch.

10 minutes on hold before dispatch answers, updates my account and then it's back to being on hold for tech suppt. Luckily, the supervisor had started a call to tech suppt while we were on hold for dispatch.

Another 10 minutes and we get a tech guy who knows what he's doing. Says he's already done a bunch of Tivo's that day. 5 minutes later, everythings working and the installers are out the door.

[Dark Helmet]

I am in Northern Virginia and I think I have seen posted earlier there is a MAJOR porblem with Comcast here.

No one is specifying the make of their cablecards whish are working - please can you let us know if any are Scientifc Atlanta cards.

So, I live in Northern VA, but I have Cox (but I guess we can't be that far apart, since the area Comcast covers in Northern VA is pretty small). Cox supplied me with two Scientific Atlanta CableCards, and after a few fits and starts, they work fine. I know, this isn't Comcast, but I just thought I'd let you know that Scientific Atlanta cards work for me.

[mweppner]

OK, I'm still kicking this around. For the heck of it, I decided to call Comcast and see how much they would charge me for 2 cable cards in a single location. I've read in various posts that some are getting them cheaper than others, some free, and some are treating them as 2 locations instead of just 1, etc. I haven't put all thsoe numbers together yet to try to haggle for a deal - just trying to see what they told me.

I called the 800 number for Comcast and said:

Me: I was curious how much it would cost for me to add 2 cable cards to my account.

Rep: Is this for a Tivo Series 3

Me: Yes

Rep: Comcast cablecards are not supported for Tivo Series 3 and do not work. You can't do it.

Me: Are you serious? I've read plenty of forums online where people were successful installing the cable cards with Comcast and the S3.

Rep: Yes, I'm serious. *insert some sort of technical speak about MAC-ID's or something like that*

Me: I'm still baffled because I see someone in MD just had it installed 2 days ago and it is working - that is not far from me.

Rep: We have received complaint after complaint. They just issued a notice today stating that Comcast didnt' support S3 and we are trying to make it work.

Me: Ok, just for fun, how much would it cost me for the 2 cable cards?

Rep: It would be $14.95 per month per card - you would essentially be paying for 2 locations in the same spot, almost like having 2 DVR's in the same room.

Me: Wow - I've read different things online. I guess I'll have to call back and see what other information I get. Thank you.


Does that seem right to anyone? Am I missing something? I admittedly have not read all 15+ pages of this thread, but I have read a good deal of it, as well as plenty of others in the S3 forum. Is this "Comcast cards won't work at all" new?

Thoughts? Thanks.

[jay_man2]

My Comcast cablecard installation in the Series 3 is done, and I'm re-running the Guided setup as I type this. When the tech saw that the cards were going into a TiVo, he called to make sure it was okay.

They were on top of it, as the guy back at the office said they'd been emailed information in the last day or so (after a customer in Reston raised heck with them). The first card was bad, but the second initialized just fine. In diagnosing the bad card, I discovered that the little release button to pop the card back out of the TiVo is busted.

The tech got a new card, it installed fine, received all the channels fine, but the 2nd card took some work. The tech who programs the cards into the head-end was able to resolve whatever the problem was with the 2nd card, ans all is well.

Happy camper here. The tech said it was the first install in the system here in Manassas, VA.

[getgray]

Hi guys: I've had my S3 for a week or so and been chicken to stick in the CC's. I'm in Nashville and after duking it out with a typical conversation on the phone with a CSR they said I could go get the CC myself at the main office. Actually that was my only option, come get them. I'm OK with that and have done so.

Now, am I going to have to completely reset the box (and what I've already recorded OTA) to get the 2 CC's installed?

What is the sequence of getting them going with the best probablility of sucess?

Thanks,
Scott

[c3]

What is the sequence of getting them going with the best probablility of sucess?

Step 1: Pray. :)

[Bodshal]

Hi guys: I've had my S3 for a week or so and been chicken to stick in the CC's. I'm in Nashville and after duking it out with a typical conversation on the phone with a CSR they said I could go get the CC myself at the main office. Actually that was my only option, come get them. I'm OK with that and have done so.

Now, am I going to have to completely reset the box (and what I've already recorded OTA) to get the 2 CC's installed?

What is the sequence of getting them going with the best probablility of sucess?

Thanks,
Scott

No resetting required - but you will have to re-run guided setup. For the OTA stuff, it should offer you the same settings you gave it last time, but this time round you tell it cable+antenna.

Just insert card 1, get it working, then do card 2. Then re-run guided setup.

Nothing already recorded will be lost.

Chris.

[yunlin12]

Oops, posted to wrong thread before.

Cable man came on Sat. This guy has never seen the Tivo before. But after reading about the Auth:MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY, I told him to ask the office to initialize the card. The did that, and I got 161-4 error on card 1 in a couple of minutes, and card 2 a couple of minutes after that. Tested and can see HBO-HD on both cards. I got all the channels within a couple of minutes, so the first guy who came on Fri saying thet it takes up to 2 hours for CC to get all the channels was just full of BS, and just looking to get thru with the job.

The install guy on Sat was interested in Tivo, and pretty glad they he got such an easy install (basically just what I told him to), so he stuck around and I showed him the Tivo box a litte.

Here are my time line:

Ordered on Tue
Got it Wed/Thur !? :)
Called Comcast Thur, 2 cards, no rental fee on either (forgot to ask about outlet fee though) $16 installation
1st CC install Fri (failed)
2nd CC install Sat (good)

I'm a happy camper :)

[ThreeSoFar]

I tried to get 1800COMCAST to "initialize" by phone today, but they had no clue. They did not see any of the #'s I gave them from my cable cards. They kept thinking all my "boxes" started with a letter, but none of the CC ID's do.

*sigh*

Anyway, got another tech coming out Saturday. Hoping the magic word, "initialize", works then.....

Until then, I have a mostly useless S3.

[corwin_ranger]

I had Comcast out on Friday 9/22 to do my CC install. Two techs showed up on site. Looks like this was one of the first in the area. The techs were thrilled when I showed them that my devices were all set up and ready for the CCs. I had them install 3. One in the TV and two in the TiVo.

It took these guys more time to write down the info and call in the activation than anything else. We had a false start or two until I told them to slow down a bit and do this one card at a time. I think they just wanted to get out fast.

One thing I will say is that it took several minutes (as much as 5 minutes on one of the cards) for TiVo to display that various Host/Serial number screens, so be a little patient with this step.

Once they got this info on all 3 cards, they called the home office and had them "hit" the cards one at a time. As each card was activated, the installers were great about taking a minute to check encrypted chaneels to make sure I was getting everything.

Since this has come up in other threads, my cards were activated BEFORE the software update. They did NOT have to be "hit" again after the update.

Overall, it was a pretty painless experience.

I do have one question that I haven't seen in a thread search. Has anyone noticed that you can't change the Recording Quality, even for SD shows? I set my default recording quality to medium (lots of SD kids programming for my daughter). On my Series 2 I could always change the recording quality of a show in Season Pass Manager or at setup time. I understand why this isn't the case for for HD prgramming, but why not for HD? I called TiVo Support and didn;t really get an answer on this, though I did force an update of the sofware as a potential solution, which is why I know the CCs worked after the update.

I'm going to try and do antother search on this and if I don't find it, I'll start a thread.

Found the thread: Long story short, if you are recording a digital signal of ANY kind, recording quality is not an option: Recording Quality Thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=316739&highlight=Recording+Quality)

Thanks,

Steve.

[zfalcon]

Surprisingly, I had a good install after nothing but trouble from comcast the last few times. This is Comcast in the SF east bay.

The tech guessed that I had the S3 after he saw the order. It did not sound like he had done one before, but he knew that you do one card at a time and to put it in the bottom slot first.

He explained the procedure to his dispatch and made sure that the cards were pinged one at a time.

There were only a few minor issues.
1) He did not know his way around the tivo, but wanted to drive. I had to guide him around.
2) 161-4 error on the first card...I told him this was ok.
3) After putting in the second card, I let him know that we had to wait until the cablecard mmi screen came up automatically.

[Gregor]

Finally, I am up and running! :)

The tech (a comcast employee, not a rent-a-tech) was just outstanding. He spend a good 45 minutes to an hour checking the wiring both inside and out before he started working on the Tivo. He changed out all the old splitters and connectors as well. He said most of the problems he has encountered are due to bad wiring more than anything else.

I told him the first card was bad (161-1 error), and he replaced it and the MMI screen came up just like it's supposed to. He called it in and asked the tech on the other end for a favor as "this is a special case, 2 cablecards in one box", and it initialized. We didn't get the 161-4 error. Tuned to the HD channels and HBO, and repeated for the 2nd card.

Since I could tune to all the extra channels, he left at this point, repeated guided setup with no issues.

I am now officially a happy camper. :)

[ThreeSoFar]

*crossing fingers*

Hoping to go camping this weekend....

[maharg18]

I tried to get 1800COMCAST to "initialize" by phone today, but they had no clue. They did not see any of the #'s I gave them from my cable cards. They kept thinking all my "boxes" started with a letter, but none of the CC ID's do.

*sigh*

Anyway, got another tech coming out Saturday. Hoping the magic word, "initialize", works then.....

Until then, I have a mostly useless S3.

I feel your pain, man. I've been going through the same thing since last Wednesday.

[dlstrick]

Sounds like you are in Arlington. I'm in Alexandria with Comcast and an SA cablecard in my HDTV which works fine. Try talking to someone else or a supervisor. There are no software issues with the SA card.
I live in Alexandria and they were giving me that same story. They have to provide you the cards so long as your equipment is certified by Cablelabs, otherwise they are in violation of the FCC "plug and play" rule. Articulate this fact to your Comcast rep, and tell them you will be going to your local city cable regulator with your complaint along with filing a complaint with the Consumer Affairs Bureau at the FCC, they will bring the cards out. I cannot imagine compliant cards not working across an entire equipment line barring an ignorant tech or bad cards. I have an install set for this Friday. Has anyone in the Alexandria/Arlington VA area had a successful install? Or is this SA Card issue true?

[Gregor]

I would try talking to your local Comcast office instead of the 1-800 folks, easier to deal with.

[bwherry]

Up and Running in Denco. Total time 45 mins.

The Tech, "Justin" showed up 30 mins early he called but I missed his call. He had just done 2 CC installs that morning in TVs. He had not seen the S3 before. I gave him the cable installer sheet. He took his time and read it twice.

He checked the levels on a splitter that comcast installed when they installed my cable modem. He told me some taps were also installed. Went to the outside of my house and removed the taps. Came back in. I offered the remote to him but he said your equipment, you drive. Popped one car in... got an error on the pairing screen something like c:\\\POD failed to init... 15 seconds later it cleared and showed the host, data ids, and unit address.

He called a special tech's only number. on hold less than 30 seconds. The person on the other end was apparently new according to Justin so there was some fumbling on the remote side. 10 mins go by and and he is ready to send the init. got the 161-4 error. About 90 seconds later the test channel screen came up. we flipped around to the encrypted SD channels and HD channels.

Installed second card. The tivo screen went dark then. I reset the TV, AV receiver and that didn't do anything. so I unplugged the power from the TIVO, it came back on. Went to the cable screen and there was the second card. He called in and he immediately spoke to someone. 2 mins later, we were flipping around the channels on the second card.

he took my directv bill and had me sign a form. I verified the 0.00 charge for the cable cards. We will see what my first cable bill shows but I am keeping an open mind. Justin said this was relatively painless for cable cards.

Updated: I'm glad that they rolled the install because the box on the side of my house with the taps had a padlock on it and Justin had the magic key to get the taps off. Otherwise the taps would have blocked some of the HD channels.

[Sfagan]

Pardon the newbie - I have Comcast and (not that I'm going to drop $799 - I think that's rape) although I think I have an idea what this is from context, I'm really not sure. Is this a tuner that can be plugged into the TiVo series 3 and obviate the need for the Motorola box?

[bwherry]

YES more or less. Right now each tuner in the Tivo needs 1 cable card. When multi-stream cards come out if the TIVO software supports it then only 1 multi-stream cable card is needed. The CC's decrypt encrypted channels. While I was waiting for comcast to show up I was able to see the unencrypted local HD channels (or so I think because they sure looked like high def).

Pardon the newbie - I have Comcast and (not that I'm going to drop $799 - I think that's rape) although I think I have an idea what this is from context, I'm really not sure. Is this a tuner that can be plugged into the TiVo series 3 and obviate the need for the Motorola box?

[btwyx]

Is this a tuner that can be plugged into the TiVo series 3 and obviate the need for the Motorola box?A Cable card is the thing which a cable co can/must supply so that cable card enabled equipment can operate on the cable network without the need for an external cable box. Its not a tuner, the S3 has the tuner it provides channel mappings to the S3 (so you know channel 119-7 is really CNN on channel 56) and it decrypts digital channels which are encrypted.

Yes, its plugged into the S3. If you have a Motorolla box, a cable card in an S3 would obviate the need for the Motorolla box to recevie digital cable channels. (Except for PPV, VOD and SDV.)

[JoBeth66]

2nd visit to fix the card that was in the TV (bad card) took nearly 2 hours for them to get the new one up & running, but now I have 3 tuners!

GREAT supervisor who came to my house, even played with the cat for a while. :) He stayed here to make sure that *everything* was working, that all 3 tuners were decoding properly, and that there were no issues.

Festivus, for the rest of us. :D

Now to re-set my season passes. Blech!

Hey, TiVo - THERE'S an option I'd like to see! Enable us to upload season passes somewhere and manage them online, change passes around to different boxes, add stuff, whatever - that'd be awesome. :)

[maharg18]

Holy crap! After 6 days, 3 calls, 2 online chats, and 2 techs visiting my house, just as I was about to give up hope, I come home tonight to find both of my cards authorized and fully functional!! I am so shocked that they are working that I'm speechless. Apparently word of my problems got to someone who knows something and they took care of it. Amazing.

[bruceoberg]

I picked up two CCs at the local Comcast office (94th st. in Seattle) and got a cooperative rep on the phone for activation. After a couple hiccups, both cards are apparently working in my (weaknee'd) S3. Yay for self-install!

The rep did say that they didn't know what "pairing" meant yet, but that they would be getting a memo on it this week. So we just activated my cards without doing any pairing. Perhaps I won't have to pair at all?

As others have noted, the key to the install is to use the "Test Channels" screen after the card has been signalled. This screen is one level up from all the "CableCARD status" screens. My second card only worked after signalling it three or four times.

I found it very useful to be overly friendly with the rep. She had to put me on hold to ask someone a question and I cheerfully said "Sure! Take your time! I'm just glad I have someone who knows what questions to ask!". Later, when my second card didn't take, she was very patient and essentially let me control the debugging process (me: "let's ping it again" her: "ok"). I had convinced her we were working together and that made the whole thing less painful during the hiccups.

It also seemed to help when I mentioned that I had read these forums and thus knew about some of the weirdnesses on the install (e.g. the ignorable 161-4 errors).

[wackymann]

Hey, TiVo - THERE'S an option I'd like to see! Enable us to upload season passes somewhere and manage them online, change passes around to different boxes, add stuff, whatever - that'd be awesome. :)

I'll second that request!! I've had a Comcast DVR ever since the 6208 was introduced way back when, and I think I have gone through my season pass setup at least 10 times since then (mostly due to bugs in their horrible firmware). It gets to be soooo tedious.

I am scheduled to receive my first ever Tivo this week, and Comcast is scheduled to come install my cable cards next Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to it!! I'm going to keep my Moto3412 for a while, but I will probably turn it back in once I get used to the Tivo. I don't use PPV or OnDemand very much at all, so I can definitely live without them.

[Gregor]

2nd visit to fix the card that was in the TV (bad card) took nearly 2 hours for them to get the new one up & running, but now I have 3 tuners!

GREAT supervisor who came to my house, even played with the cat for a while. :) He stayed here to make sure that *everything* was working, that all 3 tuners were decoding properly, and that there were no issues.

Festivus, for the rest of us. :D

Now to re-set my season passes. Blech!

Hey, TiVo - THERE'S an option I'd like to see! Enable us to upload season passes somewhere and manage them online, change passes around to different boxes, add stuff, whatever - that'd be awesome. :)

Actually if you sign up for KidZone, IIRC, there's some sort of weird SP saving karma....

[HamDoc]

Hi all!
Well, I have tried to comb thru all 16 pages of posts, and I couldn't find an answer. You may not be able to help. I had Comcast install both cards, but they insisted on installing both before calling to set up #1. I get regular channels and most OTA HD channels(except on 2 of them: I only get audio and my tv shows no video signal at all(not just the tivo gray screen like it usually does).) I also get TNTHD. NO premium or HD channels. We uninstalled the cards and reinstalled them. I still am having no luck. The local company knows very little about the Cablecards. Any suggestions for things I should tell them?

Thanks!

[Gregor]

Hi all!
Well, I have tried to comb thru all 16 pages of posts, and I couldn't find an answer. You may not be able to help. I had Comcast install both cards, but they insisted on installing both before calling to set up #1. I get regular channels and most OTA HD channels(except on 2 of them: I only get audio and my tv shows no video signal at all(not just the tivo gray screen like it usually does).) I also get TNTHD. NO premium or HD channels. We uninstalled the cards and reinstalled them. I still am having no luck. The local company knows very little about the Cablecards. Any suggestions for things I should tell them?

Thanks!

Yes, follow the instructions on the installer sheet. Have them install the #1 card (bottom slot) and get that working first, then work on #2.

Check all connections to make sure an adequate signal strength is getting to the Tivo.

You can also get a Tivo tech on the phone to talk to the cable tech if needed.

[TostitoBandito]

Got my Tivo in the mail today (finally, ordered on 9/12). Called Comcast and asked about getting cablecards. The guy said sure, and started about a $15.95 charge for the truck. I stopped him and asked if I could pick them up myself. He said sure. I drove over to the Comcast place in Redmond and asked for 2 cablecards. The lady there took a few seconds to record the serial numbers in my account, had me sign for them, and I was on my way. No charges for anything. Couldn't have been any smoother. This should work for anyone in the Seattle area.

[jfh3]

I'm being charged $2.75 per month for the second card and $30 for the install.

I pay for cable in 2 houses and I pushed back on being charged for the 2nd card.
Via online chat I asked for a supervisor to explain why it made sense to charge for the 2nd card when it was only one outlet and especially since if they insisted I would consider going with satellite and DSL for my second home.

I got an email back from a supervisor reitterating their pricing and ignoring everything else. I don't need a dvr in the second house so I will be checking out Sat + DSL. Comcast should end up with an extra $32 per year on the cable card but less $1,200 for my second house.

Anyways, the install was last Friday and took about 2 hours.

First installer showed up with a big roll of wire so I knew he had no idea what type of install this was. He was a sub-contractor, not a Comcast employee.

I told him this was a Tivo install and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. I handed him the install instructions and he glanced at it for about 30 seconds, tossed it down and then asked me where the second TV was?

For the first of about a half dozen times I tried to explain to him that both cards were going into the Tivo. I had the box pulled out and he took 1 card and inserted it into a slot. The TV pulled up the info screen for slot 2. I took the directions and pointed out to him that the directions said to do slot 1 first and he ignored me. (Turns out it doesn't matter which slot goes first but I wanted him to follow the directions).

He ignores me and gets on the phone to his supervisor and says he has a Tivo install. The supv mumbles something and says he'll be over in a few minutes.

The installer puts the phone down and then again asks me where the 2nd TV is?

Exasperated, I hand him the directions and ask him why he can't just follow the directions. I'm getting nowhere so I leave the room.

The supervisor (a comcast employee) shows up and things get better. He has a vague understanding of Tivo but the 2 card thing confuses him. At least he reads the instructions I hand him and puts the second card in and tells the installer to call "dispatch". They spend 15 minutes on hold. I comment that I thought this only happened to customers and they both laughed. Once they spoke to someone on the other end they tried to read the card numbers (Motorola cards, BTW) when the guy on the other end said the cards were not "on my account". The supervisor bitched at the installer and asked why he hadn't called "dispatch" to update my account first so they had to hang up and call dispatch.

10 minutes on hold before dispatch answers, updates my account and then it's back to being on hold for tech suppt. Luckily, the supervisor had started a call to tech suppt while we were on hold for dispatch.

Another 10 minutes and we get a tech guy who knows what he's doing. Says he's already done a bunch of Tivo's that day. 5 minutes later, everythings working and the installers are out the door.

I swear, it's stories like these that make me think WE should be charging Comcast for the installations ... :)

[jfh3]

Does that seem right to anyone? Am I missing something? I admittedly have not read all 15+ pages of this thread, but I have read a good deal of it, as well as plenty of others in the S3 forum. Is this "Comcast cards won't work at all" new?

Clueless CSR. Call back and talk to someone else. If that doesn't work, ask to be transfered to your local dispatch or field office.

And if you get someone that spouts the "there's a memo" BS, have them send you a copy of the memo, since that will be helpful with you file a complaint with the FCC or local franchising authority.

[jfh3]

I tried to get 1800COMCAST to "initialize" by phone today, but they had no clue. They did not see any of the #'s I gave them from my cable cards. They kept thinking all my "boxes" started with a letter, but none of the CC ID's do.

*sigh*

Try calling back and ask for a cable card specialist - on the Motorola cards, the serial numbers start with letters (e.g. NG) - they need these to enter into their system. Then each card needs the host and data id (shown by the Tivo) to complete the pairing / authorization info. They don't "see" the host/data info - they have to enter it into the system.

If they don't have the cablecards attached to your account (e.g. the serial numbers), you can read them host / data info and they can send hits to the card until they are blue in the face and the cards won't work.

[ThreeSoFar]

Try calling back and ask for a cable card specialist - on the Motorola cards, the serial numbers start with letters (e.g. NG) - they need these to enter into their system. Then each card needs the host and data id (shown by the Tivo) to complete the pairing / authorization info. They don't "see" the host/data info - they have to enter it into the system.

If they don't have the cablecards attached to your account (e.g. the serial numbers), you can read them host / data info and they can send hits to the card until they are blue in the face and the cards won't work.
I suggested that. They insisted on rolling a truck.

Didn't think to yank out the cards--figured anything visible there would be ont he screen as well....

[jfh3]

I suggested that. They insisted on rolling a truck.

Didn't think to yank out the cards--figured anything visible there would be ont he screen as well....

LOL! They insist on rolling a truck because the guy in the back office can't read his computer screen ... :confused:

The serial number is on the card itself. If the installer didn't write this down and/or give it to the person on the other end of the phone, you will have to pull the cards to get it.

The host / data info is visible from the CableCARD diag screens.

[HD_Dude]

I'm in Montgomery County Maryland...and even though I had a looooong session with Comcast installing the CC's in the S3, I had none of the "sorry we don't work with these Tivo things" issues.

They came immediately after I called and requested install on two cablecards. Never asked "for what."

Tech said he'd never seen one of the S3's before...not surprising since I bought it on Day One and he was here on Day Two.

Normal amount of 'what was that number?' chatter between the tech and the Comcast HQ...took a few hours for both CC's to be 'seen' by the main office. But the tech was great...even ran a new line from the pole to maximize signal strength.

Finally I had to do a system reset on the S3, and immediately, it all worked perfectly.

But...no hassles, no nonsense about unsupported hardware, just a friendly, "let's make it work" attitude.

I am amazed and furious about the other people around the country who have experienced roadblocks in the installation of CableCards in DVR's.

I'm wondering, since here in DC about half the people work for the Federal Government...whether Comcast doesn't DARE throw up roadblocks to something that's legal...

Of course, Comcast here is also VERY motivated to provide quality customer support, since Verizon FIOS and the county have come to terms...basically, if Montgomery County lets in FIOS TV, Verizon will drop its federal lawsuit against the county, charging they're blocking access to the service.

If they're successful, my next project will be re-fitting the S3 for FIOS.

Remember, we are not thieves. We are early adopters. The CableCard law was passed, and we are on the cutting edge of people who are putting that law to use.

Anyone who blocks us? THEY are the criminals...not us.

[Brad Porter]

Longtime lurker, new S3 owner... here's the tally so far.

My initial call to 1-800-COMCAST went fairly well, considering that I was placed on hold a few times for over ten minutes while the CSR tracked down the info she needed for setting up a Series 3. Apparently she had recently received an e-mail about how to handle those calls and I was the first one to test her. The appointment was successfully booked for setup with 2 cards without me having to emphasize that.

In the meantime, I had the box all set up with the analog feed and had done the channel scan to find all the QAM channels. Manual recordings on the high-def network channels enabled me to not miss any of the premiering shows in Hi-Def while waiting for a Cablecard. The only real bug I identified during that period was that switching from the menu system to an analog recording or a live TV channel tuned to an analog feed resulted in muted audio until I toggled the inputs on my pre-amplifier (Outlaw 990) and had it reacquire the input. This is an annoyance that I expect I may have to live with on a limited basis since I'm moving all the analog recordings to the Series 1 TiVo.

So today my appointment was schedule for 3 to 5 PM. At around quarter to 5 I get "the call" that there weren't any cards available up here in Boulder and the tech would need to drive back to Denver to get them and would be late - was that OK? Fine by me... I later heard the tech saying to the person on the other end of the phone that he had misread the work order and left without the cards earlier that day. Around 6 or so the tech calls and starts asking for directions to my place. I came to understand that he doesn't usually service Boulder and his map stinks. No problem. These are small things that don't really bother me.

I handed him the instructions from TiVo, and he wasn't hesitant to inform me that he had received zero training in Cablecard installation and this was his first attempt to install one. I had this thread open on my laptop and I was scanning the posts for useful directions just in case things took a bad turn.

We put the first card in. TiVo recognized it as expected and the Host ID and Data ID were collected and reported back to the main office. We went to the Test Channels screen and watched the wheel spin for 10 minutes before it quit and said it couldn't tune any channels. The main office person volunteered their help and it was obvious to me that they were reading from the same instruction sheet from TiVo that I had given the tech. We ejected the Cablecard, rebooted the TiVo, reinserted the card, and tried again. We still got the Blue Screen of Impatient Yearning until it faulted. At this point I asked for him to try the other card.

Everything went the same until the Test Channels stage. We got the 161-4 error which I was very pleased to see. A few minutes later we were cycling through all of the channels and seeing a successful setup for that card. I'm scheduled for another visit on Wednesday to get the second card installed. I don't know what the issue was with the first card and I've only seen one other post with similar unresolved installation problems. Until Wednesday I'm in single tuner mode.

The invoice says both cards are free. He didn't quote me a fee for the install, nor is there anything on the invoice. Time (and my next bill) will tell as to whether this remains true, but with as much as I'm paying them each month I think I've earned a little VIP treatment.

I restarted guided set-up and had it hang twice. There's a point where it's identifying which cable lineup I have and it tunes to a channel and asks me to confirm what is airing there. It tuned to MTV, and then it gave me the neverending "Please Wait" clock after I acknowledged this. For the next 40 minutes I was stuck watching some unbearable tripe called "Next" with an unresponsive box (all remote presses got "bonged"). I finally yanked the plug and tried again. The second time I hit the acknowledge button before it could perform the channel change to MTV. It then sat there for 90 minutes or so on a black screen with the "Please Wait" signal. Once I felt that it wasn't actually doing some background indexing chore I yanked the plug and started over again. This time I made sure to test the channels on the cablecard during the setup and I also told it to quiz me with a channel other than MTV. After confirming the USA network it popped back into the menu system and completed the guided setup in a few minutes. I don't know what went wrong the first two times, but please don't ever make me watch "Next" ever again.

Lessons so far:

1. If at all possible, request that they bring more than 2 cards in case there are problems with any of them. Otherwise somebody is making a second trip.

2. Have patience. It takes a few minutes for the screens to pop up in each step of the instruction sheet. What seems like quiet failure is really just a slow interface.

3. Arm yourself with knowledge from this thread before they show up. You may have to supply more tech support for the install than you would like.

Final note: The young lady on the authorization end of the phone said "I hate these TiVos" when the whole authorization process started. I don't know if she knew that the tech had her on speakerphone, but I may not have been the first person asking her to do her job this week. I don't have any grief to give to the tech for being inexperienced. He was happy to interact with me during the setup and apologetic about the delay and the first card not working. I'll repost on my experience with whoever shows up on Wednesday.

PS. This Series 3 is pretty f'ing awesome. Thanks TiVo.

Brad

[ac3dd]

CableCards can't be purchased separately from the cable company and then called in or brought to them for activation?

It's a big loophole in the law if the cable company is the only source of cards. They can then charge what they want like the $10/month per card examples mentioned in this thread, which would make the cards de facto unavailable to most people.

[ac3dd]

Now I am a guy who actually does want PPV in addition to the TiVo S3 ... anybody else here done that? How did that work out? Did you just run a splitter to the separate cable box?

I don't need the PPV in HD, since it would be mainly for fights or other special events where I'm more concerned about the content than the picture quality. But I'd still want it in HD if it came at no additional cost.

[bicker]

It's a big loophole in the law if ...A loophole so large that it was clearly left in deliberately. While we'd all like to think that these regulations were put in place solely to address our own personal concerns, in reality, they often have little to do with specific personal concerns, and typically represent a compromise between conflicting considerations.

[sinanju]

It's a big loophole in the law if the cable company is the only source of cards.

IIRC, a nominal rental fee is part of the CableCARD law. That's why you see folks reporting that they are being charged anywhere from $0-$few for them.

[geekmedic]

CableCards can't be purchased separately from the cable company and then called in or brought to them for activation?

The CableCARD must come from your cable company. You can't purchase it elsewhere. The reason is the CableCARD is programmed with the cable company's encryption algorithm. In fact, if the cable company uses different encryption algorithms or keys in each market, then you can't just move from market to market without getting new CableCARDs.

[jay_man2]

Now I am a guy who actually does want PPV in addition to the TiVo S3 ... anybody else here done that? How did that work out? Did you just run a splitter to the separate cable box?

I don't need the PPV in HD, since it would be mainly for fights or other special events where I'm more concerned about the content than the picture quality. But I'd still want it in HD if it came at no additional cost.I just used a splitter to split the signal to 3 outputs - 1 to the TiVo, one to a set top box, and one to the TV. I then have the set top box into Component 1 on the TV, TiVo into Component 2 and HDMI on the TV, and RF directly into the TV. No problem. I also run the audio out in a similar fashion. I use the TV speakers for TV audio, the Cable-SAT input on my stereo for the set top box audio, and the TV input on my stereo for the TiVo audio.

[gregkeene]

In the Oregon market, install free, CableCARDs free (up-front and monthly).

We recently reviewed the TiVo Series 3 with the weaKnees upgrade.
Here: http://techdigs.net/content/view/45/42/

In addition to that, we created a tips article. In the tips article, we talk about the Comcast experience in detail.
Here: http://techdigs.net/content/view/46/42/

In summary, our Comcast experience was good on the initial installation. To test out the TiVo and Comcast, we completely reset the TiVo so that we'd have to re-initialize the CableCARDs and that's where we saw a couple of issues. Comcast has an issue with their system that can be confusing. For details on cablecard config, jump
here: http://techdigs.net/content/view/46/42/#ccconfig

[Bodshal]

Actually if you sign up for KidZone, IIRC, there's some sort of weird SP saving karma....

I noticed that, after I totally rebuilt the S2 with new drives from a virgin image - and a day later my SP's came back. By themselves. Unannounced.

Was weird, and unexpected.

Chris.

[wbswbs]

Ordered S3 on first day, arrived a few days later. We just bought a new house, so I arranged for a full comcast install (internet, tv, phone). The order taker we quite confused about the request for two cablecard, primarily because her system wasn't configured to put two cablecards on a single outlet (much less the additional digital cable box that we use on a different input). She eventually just put all of the information in some comments box. The day prior to the install, I called to confirm that the tech was going to bring TWO cablecards.

Tech arrived, had never seen the S3 and had only done one cablecard install previously. He did most of the other work first (internet, phone, digital boxes on other outlets) before turning to the S3. I described to him the situation, showed him the sheet that came with the Tivo for the installer, and then we got started.

He put in the first card, the info screen came up a few minutes later. He took down all the information and then wanted to put in the second card. I stopped him and got him to agree to call for activation before proceeding (simply b/c that's what the sheet said to do). He called for activation and the girl at the activation center confirmed things looked fine (i.e., it successfully paired, or whatever). The tech then repeated the process for the second card and it appeared to go just fine. After he was done, we did "check channels" and things looked fine, although we only checked a couple of channels. The tech wrapped up and left. Nice experience, no "can't touch that" stuff.

Later, I realized that the S3 was only receiving some of the channels that I was supposed to receive, even though the digital cable box that I have on another input was not having any such problem. I was missing a number of basic and extended channels and did not have ANY of my premium stations (HBO, SHO, etc.). The screen would just show grey, even after waiting for a few minutes. Very frustrating.

I restarted the TIVO and went through the re-set-up process. Same result.

The next day, I called Comcast support and they re-zapped the cards from the activation center (I was at work at the time). When I got home, I checked for reception and everything was working just fine -- great reception on all channels. All cable issues resolved, lots of stuff recordnig already!

On a side note, I also downloaded Tivo Desktop for Mac and thought I'd give it a try with the S3. I turned it on to share my iTunes and iPhoto with the Tivo. Tivo could see my computer, but when I drilled down to access the photo albums and songs, I ended up with an error (server not responding, network interruption, that sort of thing). Signal strength is just fine -- I'm using the USB wireless adapter. I can only assume that Tivo Desktop for Mac doesn't work with the S3 yet -- although, it just occurred to me, I might need to turn sharing on in iTunes and iPhoto directly as well (although I think it's already on...). I'll report back.

Anyone have success using Tivo Desktop for Mac with the S3 yet?

[wdave]

Anyone have success using Tivo Desktop for Mac with the S3 yet?
Yes, works fine for me. I'm only sharing iTunes though, only mp3's seem to work (not AAC encoded songs), and if it matters my S3 is hard wired to my network.

[turbobozz]

Pringe Georges County, MD Comcast representing here.

I'll share my install tale.

Called local call center Friday 9/22 to schedule install... rep seemed a little confused about installing cablecards into a Tivo, but was OK with it.
She said install would be $17, BUT said that I could pick up the cablecards if I wanted to. (I wasn't expecting that from past dealings with local Comcast.)

I went to local walk-in office to turn in my STB and pick up cards... but they didn't have cablecards at the office so they scheduled the install for monday 9/25.
They were also slightly confused about installing cablecards into a tivo, but again.. were ok with it.

Monday 9/25 9am-1pm was my appointment.
But alas, no one showed up or called by 2pm, so I called the local 24hr call center... but the phone kept ringing and no one answered. -.-
I called 800-COMCAST and vented at the Florida call center lady... whopping $25 credit /cough.
She said WIP reported my tech running late... and apparently she tracked him down... he called to say he would be late shortly after I talked with her.

Tech shows up ~5:50pm with 2 cards.
Looks at Tivo and says he's never seen anything like it before. :D
Pops both cards in at the same time and we get <161-1 error>.
He calls for hits anyways.
Tried popping a card into my TV and still got 161-1 from TV... apparently the tech put the other card into my TV and it began pulling in channels during the scan.
So I moved that one into my Tivo and it began working in my Tivo.
The other card still gets 161-1 though and the tech had to leave.

So now I have one card working... pulling all of the digital and HD channels including the premium channels I subscribe to.
I was told to call tech support today to try to work out the other card (because they had to add another outlet on their end???).
I am thinking the 161-1 means the one card is just plain bad though... hope they will let me go to the office and swap cards.

In the end, I'm glad to have one card working. :D

[shady]

I have my cablecard install today, sometime between 2 and 6.

Wish me luck!

[mweppner]

Clueless CSR. Call back and talk to someone else. If that doesn't work, ask to be transfered to your local dispatch or field office.

And if you get someone that spouts the "there's a memo" BS, have them send you a copy of the memo, since that will be helpful with you file a complaint with the FCC or local franchising authority.

Thanks for the reply! I'll be tackling this issue SOON! (hopefully in the next week or two anyway) If I do find the time to do it, I'll post my results. Appreciate it!

[gregkeene]

I have my cablecard install today, sometime between 2 and 6.

Wish me luck!

Shady: check out our setup guide: http://techdigs.net/content/view/46/42/#setup

Regards,

Greg

[Phantom Gremlin]

In the Oregon market, install free, CableCARDs free (up-front and monthly).
Well, isn't that special. I didn't know there was a monolithic "Oregon market". I myself have received much different information from the Comcast office on Nimbus Ave in Beaverton. Please notice the greater specificity of my information.

But reading your web site I learn that you're part of some "test market". There may be some information on your site about where in Oregon that "test market" is, but it's sure hard to find among all the rambling.

[TostitoBandito]

Now I am a guy who actually does want PPV in addition to the TiVo S3 ... anybody else here done that? How did that work out? Did you just run a splitter to the separate cable box?

I don't need the PPV in HD, since it would be mainly for fights or other special events where I'm more concerned about the content than the picture quality. But I'd still want it in HD if it came at no additional cost.

All I did was use a splitter to send one coax to my Tivo and one to my Comcast cable box. The Tivo attaches to my currently standard def tv via yellow/red/white A/V cables and the cable box attaches via coax. All I need to do to get my on demand is switch inputs.

Eventually I plan on running my Tivo and cable box into my new receiver and then from the receiver into an HD televison, but it will be a month or so before I have that equipment.

[yunlin12]

In San Jose, CA

I was just checking over the bill after switching from Comcast's HDDVR to S3, and noticed that my monthly went from ~104 (bundled of Digi Silver + internet + HDDVR) to ~118. Turns out the tech took the HDDVR, but they never took it off of my account, so $9.95 there. Plus they were charging 2X$6.95 for the two cable cards, under line item called "DIGI A/O". It was realtively easy to straighten out the HDDVR and the charges for the 1st $6.95. But they wouldn't take off the second $6.95 charge, claiming that it's a charge for a second device, and the cable card is the device, not the Tivo. Oh well, I'll just have to call back when they have the multi-stream cards available.

[ac3dd]

The CableCARD must come from your cable company. You can't purchase it elsewhere. The reason is the CableCARD is programmed with the cable company's encryption algorithm. In fact, if the cable company uses different encryption algorithms or keys in each market, then you can't just move from market to market without getting new CableCARDs.The hardware of the card is standard. It would still be technically possible to buy your own cards, then take them in to the cable company to be programmed. Then if you move, do the same thing with the next cable company and the same cards.

Of course, the cable company could still charge you $100 or something ridiculous to program the cards, unless the law allowed third parties to do it (like what is commonly done with SIM cards and cell phones outside the US).

[boblip11]

Just wanted to add my data to the thread....

My S3 was ordered on Sunday and will be here on Friday if the UPS website estimate is correct. Called Comcast 1-800-COMCAST and asked for 2 more cablecards. I already have a cablecard in my TV and want to keep it for now. I did not mention Tivo. Reaction was..."No problem, they are $2.45 a month per card". I said the website says cablecards are free. He said, only the first one is free then next ones are $2.45 plus a truck roll per card. Could have had an appoinment tomorrow or next Tuesday, so next Tuesday it is. After the S3 gets here I may try to see if I can move the appointment in.

Will post an update after it gets installed and I do the happy dance when the Comcast SA DVR goes away.

[Woodstock2]

My (comcast) Cablecard install went relatively painless. I ignored the -4 errors (the tech on the phone actually told me to as well), he said they had been doing a bunch of the S3 ones, was really nice about the whole thing. Now we just have to watch the rest of the stuff on the comcast dvr and return it.

[ebh]

It is fairly obvious that Comcast pricing and policy is different in various parts of the country and may even differ within one state. Here's my S3 install experience, so far: My install was scheduled for Sunday morning. Lesson One - Never schedule an install on a Sunday. The installer had never seen a S3, was not an experienced Cablecard installer and there was no one at the head end who could help. Adding to the fun was a language barrier between the installer and the head end. We ended up putting one Cablecard in the TV just to prove that the card was good (it was.) The installer promised to come back first thing next morning to finish the install. He never showed up.

In the ensuing conversation with Comcast I was told that the S3 could not be set up because their computer system could not accept multiple cablecards on one outlet. And that they had a few S3 purchasers who were having the same problem as I am having.

I called TiVo and they said that they had not gotten any information from Comcast regarding that.

I am now scheduled for a "repair" tomorrow afternoon. The technician is bringing an additional cable card - I have one installed in the TV, the other in the S3 but not initialized.

My sense is that I have to ask the technician to install each card on a separate outlet and ignore the fact that it is one box. Agree? Disagree? Suggestions?
Now I have scheduled a "repair" for tomorrow afternoon to try again to get the S3 configured and working.

[JonC24]

I had CableCards installed in my series 3 with no problem on Saturday 9/23. ComCast showed up in the time frame promised, installed them, called up the support center to register them, and within minutes I was receiving cable channels (although it took about 30 minutes for all the channels to work, as the installer had said). The installer knew exactly what to do, he said he had already installed CableCards for about 15 TiVos in the last week.

I think the CableCards are about $2.50 per month, and the install was $17. When I called up to schedule the appointment, the person I talked to said the CableCards would be only be free if I did not have a CableBox (which I wanted to keep to get PPV and OnDemaand).

I live in the Boston area (Natick, MA).

[gregkeene]

Well, isn't that special. I didn't know there was a monolithic "Oregon market". I myself have received much different information from the Comcast office on Nimbus Ave in Beaverton. Please notice the greater specificity of my information.

But reading your web site I learn that you're part of some "test market". There may be some information on your site about where in Oregon that "test market" is, but it's sure hard to find among all the rambling.

According to Comcast, Oregon is a market or region. They're pricing should be the same through out Oregon - which is where we installed the S3.

Greg

[Steve Richards]

Comcast was here and installed two cards without incident. Very good job. It took them about half an hour with a call to get the cards on the account and a call to the ATS to get them authorized.

Steve

Also card prices were quoted as $2.75 month...

[shady]

I just had a successful install as well. 30 mins at the most.

I got home at around 1:30 for the 2 - 6 window, and he was waiting outside.

He hadn't done a TiVo install before, although he had heard about them, and he talked to someone on the radio that had done one last week (although that one had a bad card!)

Anyway, I double checked that the HD channels would be on the card, and he checked, and apparantly they hadn't authorized them, so he fixed that, read the instructions, called in the cards, tested the channels, and all went well

I'm just going through the rest of the install now

But so far, 1 happy camper :)

[rshrieve]

We had our Comcast guy out on Friday 9/22. He had two cable cards in his shirt pocket.

Mine was the first Tivo S3 he had seen so he made a call to one of colleagues at the office who had been through several. We installed the first card (he had me do it) and the Tivo screen came up with the info he had to call to the office. We checked the channels and they worked OK.

We got an error message and he called the office to find out what that meant --they said ignore it.

Did the same with the second card.

But after the cards were installed the S3 would not switch from one tuner to the other nor get the range of channels we subscribe to. I re-read the instructions. YOU NEED TO RE-RUN GUIDED SETUP after the cards are in and tested.

Now the S3 works beautifully. No problems at all.

We got to ditch two Comcast boxes and a lot of cables. So the setup looks much cleaner and less cluttered.

I could not get the Tivo remote to do anything other than power up our Fujitsu 50" plasma monitor. It will not control the Bose System 12 sound system we use for audio.

Rich