FIOS - anyone have MCARD's yet?

[AbMagFab]

If you do, please post your location, and what you did to get them.

To date, there have been no confirmed FIOS MCARD sightings. Just hopeful people. And FIOS CSR's don't even seem to understand what an MCARD is.

I'm in MD, 6 SCARDS, moving up to 8 shortly - I really need MCARDS.

[bdraw]

I've followed the thread here and at AVS and tried to get an M-Card myself. It seems the FIOS doesn't have them. I've been trying to get in contact with someone at corporate to figure out what the deal is, but haven't had any success.

My suspicion is that since Verizon got a 1 year waiver from the FCC concerning CableCARDs, they haven't upgraded their network to support M-Cards. All the providers that are forced to use CableCARDs in their own hardware were also forced to upgrade to M-cards otherwise they wouldn't be able to deploy dual tuner DVRs. (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Moto or SA make a dual CableCARD DVRs).

[JonInVA]

There has also been miscommunication due to inconsistent use of the term "MCARD."

TiVo users: MCARD == "multi-stream capable CableCARD"
Verizon reps: MCARD == "Motorola CableCARD" (of the standard variety)

[mamosley]

If you do, please post your location, and what you did to get them.

To date, there have been no confirmed FIOS MCARD sightings. Just hopeful people. And FIOS CSR's don't even seem to understand what an MCARD is.

I'm in MD, 6 SCARDS, moving up to 8 shortly - I really need MCARDS. You would be better off making friends with some of the installers. They will know about the availability of the mcards long before the csrs do.

[bdraw]

I've asked three different installers and none of them knew what a CableCARD was either.

[Joybob]

Do they at least have Scards?

Is there any benefit to an Mcard over Scard?

Who is supplying their cablecards? Maybe there's a supply problem? It'd explain the shortage.

[bdraw]

Yes they have S-Cards.
One M-card and replace two S-Cards in a TiVo HD (not sure if the Series 3 can do it yet).
So this means it costs you less money, cause you only have to pay FIOS for one of them.

Also, Verizon counts each CableCARD as a outlet and it can be difficult to get them to let you have more than 7 outlets.

[Joybob]

Yes they have S-Cards.
One M-card and replace two S-Cards in a TiVo HD (not sure if the Series 3 can do it yet).
So this means it costs you less money, cause you only have to pay FIOS for one of them.

Also, Verizon counts each CableCARD as a outlet and it can be difficult to get them to let you have more than 7 outlets.

My cable co. only allows me to get 1 cablecard. I currently have 1 Mcard so in retrospect it was a mistake to get the Series 3.

[ah30k]

My cable co. only allows me to get 1 cablecard. I currently have 1 Mcard so in retrospect it was a mistake to get the Series 3.At this point, S3 users have to pay an extra fee (AO fee) that those using a TiVoHD don't have to pay. This of course assumes that you can actually get an MCard and it is the same price as an SCard.

[edrock200]

I'm in NoVA, no M-Cards here, but I had a tech come out several weeks ago to install 8 s-cards for 4 Tivo HD's (got around the 7 card limit by just asking the installer for the extras.) He seemed very knowledgable and stated that M-Cards will be rolling out in January. Hopefully he's right.

[bdraw]

My cable co. only allows me to get 1 cablecard. I currently have 1 Mcard so in retrospect it was a mistake to get the Series 3.


The FCC does not allow this limitation. I'd file a complaint on the FCC's web site.

[blhirsch]

No Mcard in my tivohd (FIOS)

The installer said he was going to let me know when he spotted them.

[joegarrett]

Talked to a tech at Vz last week and asked about MCards (multi-stream). I was told that they are in the process of testing but are not available yet. Tech couldn't give me an ETA. I guess the good thing is, they are testing them. :up:

[acvthree]

Joebob,

You might want to send a PM to Tivopony. If they are testing the multistream capability on the S3, Tivo might let you give it a go.

It's a long shot, but stranger things have happened.

You should also file a report with the FCC. That can't restrict you to one card.

Al

[bdraw]

I finally heard back from Verizon's press relations.
We will definitely offer the M-card, beginning sometime next year.
To which I asked why; technological or business reasons? And unfortunately they weren't wiling to share this with me.

So yeah, I'm not very impressed with their PR department, but hey at least they responded.

[mamosley]

I finally heard back from Verizon's press relations.

To which I asked why; technological or business reasons? And unfortunately they weren't wiling to share this with me.

So yeah, I'm not very impressed with their PR department, but hey at least they responded.
Verizon is like a heard of elephants. Slow to change direction. Just like tbs in hd, not going to be available until next year.

[amigabill]

If you do, please post your location, and what you did to get them.

To date, there have been no confirmed FIOS MCARD sightings. Just hopeful people. And FIOS CSR's don't even seem to understand what an MCARD is.

I'm in MD, 6 SCARDS, moving up to 8 shortly - I really need MCARDS.

I go tmy Tivo HD hooked up with cablecards this morning. I was told on the phone that I only needed one cablecard to run both tuners. I was told that twice, a few weeks apart. Today, the cablecard the install tech put in came up as a singlestream card, and he said that for both tuners I'd need two cards. I pushed him on that and he called two of his support people, and the conclusion is that Verizon does not have any multichannel Mcards, they only have singlechannel cards. This is Howard County, Maryland. I was told the people you talk to for ordering installation don't know what they're talking about. But at the same time, it took a bit to explain what I was asking about, as they kept saying these were single-direction cards which cannot talk back to their system, which seems the install tech and his support people for a while thought I was asking about bidirectional cablecard2 cards.. :rolleyes: After I finally got them to understand what I was asking, they said they have no Mcards, they don't have many cablecards at all right now, and they're really waiting on the cablecard2 bidirectional ones to come out but admit they have no clue when that might be.

[bdraw]

All CableCARDs can do two-way, it's the host device(TiVo) that doesn't support it. CableLabs has just recently created a certification process so companies like TiVo can support two-way, but TiVo is complaining to the FCC about it, because if they implemented it, your TiVo would work EXACTLY like your CableCARDs DVR, which obviously defeats the entire point.