Confirm please my "cable-card" assumption!

1846 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by WVZR1, Oct 25, 2011

WVZR1

Discussion Starter · Oct 23, 2011

I've 2 - Premiere XL machines, both with Comcast cable-cards. 1 is VAL: "V" the other is VAL: "?". Both machines do my basic cable functions and I have NO Premiums, seems fine and I'm quite happy.

Will my cable-card(VAL "?") swap "without" a call to Comcast to an Elite machine and function as it does presently or will I need to call for a "pairing"?

Since the new "outlet fees" and credits for cable-cards my billing seems to be right where I think it should be but if I were to call and they determined that I needed to pay the "outlet fee" for the second machine I have it would increase maybe, don't know. The install was done on a "truck roll" nearly a year ago and since it did what I needed it to do I just never questioned it.

I assume it "should"! Yes/no? Any similar experiences?

Thanks

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jrm01

· #2 · Oct 23, 2011

Usually you can switch the card to a new machine and get everything except the Premium channels. Since you don't have any premiums it is certainly worth a try.

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jfh3

· #3 · Oct 24, 2011

WVZR1 said:
Will my cable-card(VAL "?") swap "without" a call to Comcast to an Elite machine and function as it does presently or will I need to call for a "pairing"?

Yes, you will not get any premium channels if the card has a validation state of "?". If that is not an issue, no issue in swapping the card.

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kdmorse

· #4 · Oct 24, 2011

WVZR1 said:
I assume it "should"! Yes/no? Any similar experiences?

In theory, should work just as you expect, go for it.

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jfalkingham

· #5 · Oct 24, 2011

WVZR1 said:
I've 2 - Premiere XL machines, both with Comcast cable-cards. 1 is VAL: "V" the other is VAL: "?". Both machines do my basic cable functions and I have NO Premiums, seems fine and I'm quite happy.

Technically, if VAL: does not equal V, then its not paired. In your case, its not a big deal since you do not have premium channels. Keep this in mind though because you might do a PPV or some other premium sporting event, etc in the future and it will not work until the card is properly paired.

I moved my CC from my premiere to the elite, same thing, all channels except Premiums. Once Comcast got out of their own way and set it up on the head end correctly, the VAL changed to V. I think this all stems from Tivo being a one-way device and the standard comcast tech puts it as two-way device on the head end.

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Jonathan_S

· #6 · Oct 24, 2011

jfalkingham said:
Technically, if VAL: does not equal V, then its not paired. In your case, its not a big deal since you do not have premium channels. Keep this in mind though because you might do a PPV or some other premium sporting event, etc in the future and it will not work until the card is properly paired.

While it seems at the moment that your cable company restricts copy-protection to premium channels that might change in the future.

I've seen reports of copy protection that vary from everything except the broadcast channels (FCC requires that those be unprotected), to only premium channels, to no channels protected.

I just wanted to clarify that a premium channel doesn't automatically equate to a copy-protected channel. Any copy protected content requires a paired cable-card in order to be watched or recorded.

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WVZR1

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 25, 2011

I'll likely give this a go very soon. I'd like to find a home for one of my Premiere XL machines before I spring for the Elite. It would be nice to also see the "streaming" in operation and maybe some of the other issues addressed first. I'd like four tuners in "one box" but I can actually work around that with the 2 Premiere machines I have presently. Do I need the Elite? Likely NOT!

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