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Can anyone report success with Comcast, TivoHD, SA M-Card?

Discussion in 'TiVo Series3 HDTV DVRs' started by Uncle_Steve, Sep 8, 2007.

  1. Sep 8, 2007 #1 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
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    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...

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    Supposedly the Comcast cable guy is coming today for round 4 of the TivoHD/CableCard slamfest. As of right now, the TivoHD can receive all the channels except for the premium channels (HBO and Starz).

    The current cable card is a Scientific Atlanta multi-stream card.

    Can anyone report success receiving premium channels using Comcast with the TivoHD and an M-card? If so, was there some special incantations involved? Was a live chicken involved? (I want to be prepared and don't have any chickens right now.)

    Thanks.
     
  2. Sep 8, 2007 #2 of 17
    Slime

    Slime New Member

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    Apr 6, 2003
    I plugged in a M-Card that I picked up at the Redmond WA store. Called up Comcast tech support and gave out the pairing information, and within 5 mins Tivo could see the channels (only on the CC Menu), I had to rerun guided setup to get it to find any channels through the normal method, but that only took another 10 mins or so.

    Both tuners work and no problems reported.

    I'm going to get another M-Card on Monday and replace the two Cards that are in my S3, as I get my 1st card free (M or regular) and each other only cost $1.79 per month...
     
  3. Sep 8, 2007 #3 of 17
    dkwong

    dkwong New Member

    22
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    Aug 27, 2007
    Union City, CA
    Did I miss some news? I thought the S3's don't support using M-Cards in multistream mode yet.
     
  4. Sep 8, 2007 #4 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
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    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    The TivoHD (Son of Series 3) does support an m-card in multistream mode.
     
  5. Sep 8, 2007 #5 of 17
    dkwong

    dkwong New Member

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    Aug 27, 2007
    Union City, CA

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    I was referring to this statement by Slime:

    "I'm going to get another M-Card on Monday and replace the two Cards that are in my S3"
     
  6. Sep 8, 2007 #6 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
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    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    Oh. Uh, maybe we both missed something.
     
  7. Sep 8, 2007 #7 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    Well, the Comcast guy did show today and was a reasonable human being. He didn't get it to work, but at least he didn't BS me.

    We tried a single stream card and the folks at the Comcast office weren't able to initialize it. We put the m-card back in, the guy at the office said it wasn't working either, but after about 5 minutes the display changed to AUTHORIZED and we were able to view all the regular channels, but still no HBO or STARZ.

    So, he's scheduled to come back out Monday afternoon with another m-card. However, it really feels to me like this has nothing to do with the Tivo end of things.

    (No chickens were harmed during the service call.)
     
  8. Sep 8, 2007 #8 of 17
    jfh3

    jfh3 Active Member

    4,471
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    Apr 15, 2004
    Denver area
    If you don't see the premium channels, see if they have a CCI flag of 0x02 on them. If they do, Comcast has paired your cards, but not validated them.
     
  9. Sep 8, 2007 #9 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    tivo->
    messages & settings->
    settings->
    remote, cablecard & devices->
    cablecard decoder->
    configure cablecard 1->
    cablecard menu->
    sa cablecard cp info

    shows:

    auth status: cp auth recieved
    info for pgm index 0-5:
    ltsid:0x3 pn:0x4 cci:0x2
    ltsid:0x4 pn:0x2 cci:0x2
    ....
    verifykey status: OK

    Is this what you're referring to? the two lines with 0x2 on then above? Should I call Comcast and ask them to "Validate" my card?
     
  10. Sep 8, 2007 #10 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    Ah ha! I found the CCI byte on the Diagnostic Screen (same path as above but one level earlier at the leaf). And it is 0x02!
     
  11. Sep 8, 2007 #11 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    Sigh! Comcast's last "hit" of the device resulted in disabling all but the local channels.
     
  12. Sep 8, 2007 #12 of 17
    jfh3

    jfh3 Active Member

    4,471
    2
    Apr 15, 2004
    Denver area
    Actually, I'd have to see if I can find the info for SA cards to tell how you see if the card is validated. I know where it is for Motorola cards, but not SA.

    The tough part is finding someone at Comcast that will know the difference between pairing and validation.
     
  13. Sep 9, 2007 #13 of 17
    mchief

    mchief Morey

    339
    1
    Sep 10, 2005
    Alexandria, VA
    In Alexandria, VA I'm running a THD with a single SA M-Card without any problems. I did have initial pairing problems, but a call to the headend fixed that. Most of the problems I have had with Comcast has been account related. By that I mean the account was not set up properly for the CC.
     
  14. Sep 9, 2007 #14 of 17
    Slime

    Slime New Member

    39
    0
    Apr 6, 2003
    I didnt know there was a problem with the S3 and an M-Card... I'll still pick one up tomorrow from Redmond Comcast and see if I can get it to work -- I'll let you know how I get on.
     
  15. Sep 9, 2007 #15 of 17
    scottkathi

    scottkathi Member

    44
    0
    Sep 14, 2001
    Sammamish,...
    Slime - can you just walk into the Redmond store and pick up an M-card (without having to schedule a Comcast tech to come out and install it)?
    Thanks, Scott
     
  16. Sep 9, 2007 #16 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    My instincts tell me that all of my cable card problems have been account related too. But tomorrow afternoon the cable guy will be back to try again.
     
  17. Sep 11, 2007 #17 of 17
    Uncle_Steve

    Uncle_Steve Member

    105
    0
    Jul 23, 2004
    Sykesville,...
    Well, the cable guy didn't show yesterday; however, during the conversation with the Comcast office, we asked for another hit on the cable card. This time it worked. The TivoHD now receives all the channels we're supposed to as far as I can tell (including premiums). We're not getting A&E-HD, but talking with other customers, that seems to be hit-or-miss anyway.

    On this past Sunday, we upgraded from "digital starter" to "full digital" (or something like that). I'm guessing that upgrade changed some path through the software at the Comcast office allowing the correct signals to be sent to the cable card. That's strictly a guess of course. Some folks have reported success having their cards authorized at some top tier service and then having services removed one by one.

    This does validate my assumption that there was nothing wrong at my end of the link.
     

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