Advice needed - install for my Mother in Yardley, PA (Comcast)

[jtrain73]

Need some quick advice. Here is the basic situation:

I live in FL, but my Mother lives in Yardley, PA (Comcast Lower Bucks County / Levittown). She currently has a Pioneer Tivo DVD unit that she loves, but as you guys know it can't do HDTV. She currently has an HD cable box (non-DVR) feeding the Tivo. For watching HD she switches inputs and loses Tivo function, so we bought her a Tivo HD unit for Xmas and I will be visiting in January to help set it up. I think this will be a great upgrade with dual tuners and HD function. We lose the integrated DVD, but we can deal with that.

What do I need to do with Comcast to get this setup for the install? I've been trying to read some the install threads but it seems to vary by location.

Can anyone in this area answer the following:

a) can I pick up cable cards at the Comcast office or if I must schedule an install appointment?

b) is there a particular type of cards to get?

c) any big 'gotchas' to worry about during the install?

I am fairly tech savvy and handy with a/v installs so assuming I can get the right cards from Comcast and get them activated/working, I am optimistic about getting this done. It is kind of a risk since I don't get up to PA often and I only have a day or two in the area when I go to do this.

Thanks in advance for your assistance and advice.

[jtrain73]

Sorry to reply to my own thread, but it hasn't received any replies. Is there any one that can comment here? Is there another post where I should ask this question instead?

[greg_burns]

It is very doubtful you will be able to pick up the cards yourself. You are probably going to have to schedule comcast to come out, hopefully while you are visiting.

[jtrain73]

Just to report back, I finally got this done for my Mother this weekend.

Scheduled an installer via Comcast about 2 weeks in advance, and the installer was a Comcast employee, not a sub. He had a large amount of cable cards with him and was familiar with the Tivo install (although not an expert).

After a few minutes, he had 1 single M type multistream card in the Tivo HD and it was working. I had to redo the guided setup and had to reset a few times on blank video problems, but everything seems to be working well. She can receive two tuners of digital, analog and HD cable channels and the speed of the box is much better than her old Pioneer Series 2 DVD unit. I think she will miss the ability to quickly burn to DVD (I'm still looking into this via Tivo To Go download and PC burn, but not reliable or easy yet), but all the other great Tivo features are there and she is happy with that.

Have to say after reading the horror stories regarding Comcast I was pleasantly surprised with how the install went.

Now as long as Comcast Philadelphia doesn't screw their customers as much as BHN in Orlando has done recently, we should be good.

[jrm01]

Just to report back, I finally got this done for my Mother this weekend.

Scheduled an installer via Comcast about 2 weeks in advance, and the installer was a Comcast employee, not a sub. He had a large amount of cable cards with him and was familiar with the Tivo install (although not an expert).

After a few minutes, he had 1 single M type multistream card in the Tivo HD and it was working. I had to redo the guided setup and had to reset a few times on blank video problems, but everything seems to be working well. She can receive two tuners of digital, analog and HD cable channels and the speed of the box is much better than her old Pioneer Series 2 DVD unit. I think she will miss the ability to quickly burn to DVD (I'm still looking into this via Tivo To Go download and PC burn, but not reliable or easy yet), but all the other great Tivo features are there and she is happy with that.

Have to say after reading the horror stories regarding Comcast I was pleasantly surprised with how the install went.

Now as long as Comcast Philadelphia doesn't screw their customers as much as BHN in Orlando has done recently, we should be good.

Congratulations on the good install.

If she is bent on recording to DVD you can attach a DVD Recorder and use the Save to VCR function. This may be easier than having her work with the PC.

BTW, you still have one Comcast hurdle to go: Deciphering the first bill when you get it.