Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

@TexasTim wrote:

Well...here we go again. Talked to someone in billing and he went to schedule a cable card install and there was no truck charge.  Bad news is Tivo wants to charge me more a month for their service (was on a grandfathered plan). So now, after all the hassle, it looks like Verizon's HD-DVR is cheaper than going with Tivo 😞  I love my tivo


If you want to keep your grandfathered plan, then you can't buy your TivoHD from TiVo.com.  TiVos purchased from TiVo.com require a new subscription at the new rate.   You must buy it from a third-party retailer like Amazon.com or Best Buy to retain your existing rate.


To switch out your old TiVo for the new, and maintain your grandfathered rate (such as $6.95/mo), you login to Manage My Account @ TiVo.com and click "Change service number."    You replace the service number for your old TiVo with the service number for the new TiVo.  You can find the service number on the TiVo System Information screen.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
BucBrew
Newbie

I am thinking of putting together a HT PC.  Can you give me a reccomendation on what cable cards and Tuner cards will work with FiOS?

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

@BucBrew wrote:

I am thinking of putting together a HT PC.  Can you give me a reccomendation on what cable cards and Tuner cards will work with FiOS?


CableCards are supplied by Verizon for $3.99/mo.  [You can't buy your own and have them work.]  You need a CableCard tuner for your PC; the CableCard from Verizon plugs into a slot on that tuner.


@at this time, there is only one CableCard tuner available for PCs -- the ATI Digital Cable Tuner, otherwise known as the ATI OCUR tuner.  It is available in internal and external versions for $200-$250.    Each ATI OCUR tuner supports can tune one channel using a CableCard from Verizon, so if you want dual-tuner capability to record two channels at the same time, then you would need two of these tuners (2x $200-$250) and two CableCards from Verizon @ $3.99/mo each.


In 1Q 2010, Ceton plans to introduce a new CableCard tuner for PCs.   It will incorporate four tuners onto a single card, with all supported by a single CableCard at $3.99/mo.   That will allow you to watch/record four different channels at the same time.  This tuner product will be pricey, at $400-$600.   Ceton hopes to offer a dual-tuner version for under $300 by mid-2010.

Keep in mind you must have Windows 7 Home Premium (or Pro) to use these CableCard tuner cards.  You'll also want an Xbox360 in every room without direct access to the HTPC.  The Xbox360 is able to act as a remote extender to view liveTV and recordings using the HTPC elsewhere in your home.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
SteveLogan
Enthusiast - Level 3

I took the plunge yesterday and order cable card for our Tivo.  What an exhausting and frustrating experience! 

First, I tried to do it online by logging in and locating the "Add/Change Hardware" link on the My Account page.  Clicking that took me to a page with some sort of order confirmation number saying "Thank you - your order is complete".  Huh?  I didn't order anything.

So I get on the phone and wait on hold with bad music for 45 minutes and get nowhere.  Check out the instructions on gethuman.com and even though it seems I'm routed to the same queue, I get a human after 30 seconds. 

"Cable card?  No problem!  That'll be $79.99 for the truck roll..."  Argh!!  I explain to her about what's been told to other people here on this forum that the truck roll fee is waived etc and she will not budge.  I ask her to check with her supervisor and she comes back and says the truck roll fee is only waived if it's ordered online.  First, I explained that that makes zero sense at all.  If the truck comes out, there should be fee or no fee - regardless of how the order is actually placed.  What does me sitting on hold for 45 minutes vs. me wanting to strangle the web team for verizon.com (seriously web team - **bleep** is up with this site??) have to do with a fee for a truck roll.  Getting no where down that logic path, I explained that I tried online and even went back with her on the phone and told her about the order confirmation team.  She offered to give me a number for web support, but that they were closed.  I explained that I've already got over an hour of my time after work wasted trying to order a simple cable card and that this was ridiculous.  She put me back on hold and came back and said while she can't waive the $79.99 truck roll fee, she can give us $10.00 off our bill for a year. 

No wonder why prices are so high from companies like this.  All I wanted was to have a $79.99 fee waived, so instead they give me $120 because for some reason the phone people can't waive a fee that shouldn't be there in the first place!

Now we'll see what happens thursday when the tech comes out.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
SteveLogan
Enthusiast - Level 3

Tech arrived in the alloted appointment window and said he'd never done a cable card install before.  We put the card in, he made some calls to FSC and was told to activate it via his laptop.  The laptop screen asks for POD-ID which is not on the card or on the cable card menu itself.  After trying different numbers and seeing the formatting required via the error message, we figured out it was the "CableCARD ID" as shown on the screen.  When he tried to submit the form, it had one of those little javascript errors in the bottom left of the IE status bar area.  I explained to him that no matter how many times he retyped all of the info in, that it's an error in the page coding.  After 2 more tries he conceded and called the FSC (888-553-1555) and read the numbers in to a tech.  Within a minute the card seemed to activate.  Right before he left though the screen went to gray for about 30 seconds.  I'm hoping that's just something updating or the Tivo attenuation issue that'll be fixed by a Tivo O/S update.  Fingers crossed.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
vgsmike
Enthusiast - Level 2

A number of Tivo/Cablecard users are beginning to report losing encrypted channels above channels 50/550, seemingly after the 1.7 update. Not sure what that would have to do with cablecards directly, but the error began at the same time regardless.

What's up, Verizon?

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
prisaz
Legend

@vgsmike wrote:

A number of Tivo/Cablecard users are beginning to report losing encrypted channels above channels 50/550, seemingly after the 1.7 update. Not sure what that would have to do with cablecards directly, but the error began at the same time regardless.

What's up, Verizon?


Where are you located?

I would think a cablecard software update would also be required in the card. Perhaps card users are low on the priority list. Even so I would not think the 1.7 would cause pre 1.7 issues, because FIOS can not upgrade all the boxes at the same time?

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

From reports across various forums, dozens (maybe hundreds?) if FiOS CableCard users in the New York area all lost their cable channels in the past few days.   It affects CableCard TVs, TivoHDs, Moxis, and PC CableCard setups.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
mjryder
Newbie

I just had a second tech out to my house since I lost the CableCARD Auth Thursday night/Friday Morning. Sounds like Verizon is realizing there's something going on here. This tech told me he had several open orders, including startups, where the CableCard would not authorize. He escalated the call and told me that he was told to aggregate these calls under my current open ticket. I'm located in the Western New York area. Whatever happened Thurs night seems to have hosed the ability to auth cards.

There are separate threads building on DSL reports and the TiVO community site related to this.

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Re: FiOS, TiVo, and CableCards
RF75
Newbie

Western NY (Hamburg) also am missing nearly all encrypted channels from TivoHD with Cablecard, spent about 45 mins with tech support, they sent commands to the card & had me reboot twice to no effect, have opened a ticket with video support.  Clearly something to do with the head end in WNY since other areas report on Tivocommunity that they're fine. Sad that tech support had no record of similar problems.  At my work we do tech support for a widely deployed web application and track problems seen by multiple customers, and it helps pinpoint the problem QUICKLY. Hope this doesn't take long for FiOS to figure out, that it affects other types of box (Moxi, PC Cablecard tuners) sure points the finger at FiOS TV.

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