Cards installed Friday, no Premium Channels, Comcast coming back tomorrow, HELP!

[starks9630]

I had my cards installed Friday. The guy said it was the first time he's done it and only 2 guys in the office had done it before. He left, I'm getting all the channels except the premium channels I subscribe to (HBO, Starz, Showtime) and the Sports Package (NFL Network...). When I go to the cable card screen, it shows 2 cards installed. For card 1 it says "M Card". When I go each individual card on this screen and go to test channel, card 1 does not get the premium channels, but card 2 does. When I'm watching TV normally, I cannot see the premium channels. What should I tell this guy to do tomorrow, because I'm betting that the Sunday guy is not one of the experienced ones.

[rainwater]

I had my cards installed Friday. The guy said it was the first time he's done it and only 2 guys in the office had done it before. He left, I'm getting all the channels except the premium channels I subscribe to (HBO, Starz, Showtime) and the Sports Package (NFL Network...). When I go to the cable card screen, it shows 2 cards installed. For card 1 it says "M Card". When I go each individual card on this screen and go to test channel, card 1 does not get the premium channels, but card 2 does. When I'm watching TV normally, I cannot see the premium channels. What should I tell this guy to do tomorrow, because I'm betting that the Sunday guy is not one of the experienced ones.

Tune both tuners to a premium channel. Then look at the Auth section of the CableCard's Conditional Access screen for each card. You will most likely see exactly which card is not paired correctly. Then have the tech verify the host and data ids in their system with that particular cablecard. It's possible they just have not initialized the card at all or they entered some of the data/host values incorrectly in their system.

[crazi4tv]

I had my cards installed Friday. The guy said it was the first time he's done it and only 2 guys in the office had done it before. He left, I'm getting all the channels except the premium channels I subscribe to (HBO, Starz, Showtime) and the Sports Package (NFL Network...). When I go to the cable card screen, it shows 2 cards installed. For card 1 it says "M Card". When I go each individual card on this screen and go to test channel, card 1 does not get the premium channels, but card 2 does. When I'm watching TV normally, I cannot see the premium channels. What should I tell this guy to do tomorrow, because I'm betting that the Sunday guy is not one of the experienced ones.

Do you have a Series3 or the HD DVR? Are both cards Multi-stream? If you have the HD DVR, if a multi-stream card is installed in tuner 1, the DVR will ignore any cablecard installed in tuner 2. The Conditional Access screen will display if the problem is with pairing or if the channel is not authorized for viewing. Depending on what type of card is installed, this screen will display the information differently.

[enjoyingsilence]

This happened to me... (and a lot more... I could write a book on Comcrap's issues with my cablecard acquisition)

Pull up your Cable Card menu... where it shows the cable card ID. the host ID, and such... under the cable card pairing menu

The DATA ID number is sometimes likely to change when they initialize the cards... and therefore throws off access to your premium channels. (it is basically the equivalent to an IP address, if you will)


You can try calling Customer Service... speak with a supervisor... and have them run over to the engineering department and fix it.... If they look in their computer and the Data ID in their computer differs from the one on your tivo... that's more than likely the problem.

I'd suggest calling the call center in your area if you have the local number, over the 1800 comcast... that usually gets you some person in Manilla (or Canada)... in my lengthy and unfortunate experience with Comcrap.... the Canadians and local market call centres are better than the Phillipines... as they have easier access to the Engineering department.

caveat: the above is asssuming your standard digital channels work

also.. why do you have a Multistream card AND a single stream card BOTH installed? It is to my understanding frtom the tivo documentation that you do not need both installed at the same time, especially if you are using an M Card to decrypt digital channels.

[starks9630]

I have the TivoHD

[starks9630]

So I only should have 1 card?

[enjoyingsilence]

if you have a tivo, that is compatible with multi stream cable cards... such as the Tivo HD... then only 1 M Card is necessary.. and it will allow you to record 1 thing while watching another, or record 2 things at 1 time.

[crazi4tv]

I have the TivoHD

Then you only need 1 Mcard installed in tuner 1. Remove the card from slot 2, then go to a channel which is not coming in and then press the TiVo button on the remote. From TiVo Central, select Messages & Settings, Settings, Remote Cablecard Devices, Cablecard Decoder. Cablecard 1 should show that a Multi-Stream card is installed. Select Configure Cablecard 1, Cablecard Menu, Cablecard pairing. Locate "Val", if you see Val:V, then the card is paired, if you see Val:? the card is not paired (Host and/or Data was entered incorrectly on your cable account). Next look for "Auth", if you see Auth:S then the channel has been authorized for viewing. If you see Auth:NS or N, then the channel is not authorized for viewing and either the channel is not part of your cable package, or the card needs to be initialized. If both the pairing and authorization show correct, then "Go Back" until you are back on the Decoder screen, then highlight configure Cablecard 1, Test channels. Enter different channels and if all are coming in on tuner 1, press Live TV on the remote and test channels on the second tuner.

[starks9630]

I don't see anything about pairing, val, auth

[crazi4tv]

The information I posted is for Motorola cards, is yours Scientific Atlanta?

[starks9630]

Scientific Atlanta

[crazi4tv]

click on this link http://www.tivo.com/assets/kdb/SA_MCards_final.pdf

This will give you all the information on the Conditional Access screen. Post a reply on what you have on your screen

[starks9630]

click on this link http://www.tivo.com/assets/kdb/SA_MCards_final.pdf

This will give you all the information on the Conditional Access screen. Post a reply on what you have on your screen

All good until I got to the Checking Binding and Copy Protection section, Auth status says "Waiting for CP Auth

I'm assuming this means that it's not paired? Can this be resolved with a phone call?

[crazi4tv]

All good until I got to the Checking Binding and Copy Protection section, Auth status says "Waiting for CP Auth

I'm assuming this means that it's not paired? Can this be resolved with a phone call?

I'm not as familiar with Scientific Atlantic cards, but I believe this is a pairing issue, and yes, it can be resolved over the phone IF you reach someone who knows how to verify cablecard information. Ask for a supervisor since they should have authorization to update the pairing information. If you cannot resolve this over the phone, wait for the technician to arrive. Access the screen which displays the Host information. Ask the technician to call his dispatch and give that person the Cablecard info, and to verify that the Host is paired to the correct card and then initialized. Premium & HD channels do have a tendancy to download slower than analog channels, so be patient: it should not take longer than a few minutes if there are no signals backed up in their system.

[starks9630]

called and spoke with a supervisor today, she consulted a senior tech and they came to the conclusion that my M card is bad, and the tech coming today will replace it. I guess my TivoHD saga has begun. If anyone cares, I'll keep you posted, but I'm sure this type of thread has been posted here a billion times.