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Cable Card Keeps Crapping Out

Hian

My service was installed on 1/26/09....The tech was great and I really am liking FIOS TV far more than what Comcrap was providing with one exception. the Cable Card.

It went out again. Since installation, I have had 3 techs , all very nice, come to the house to get it to work. Cards have been swapped out and finally on Tuesday 2/17, when the 3rd tech came out, he must have spoken to the right person, because the Cable Card was working flawlessly...until this afternoon, when the POS went out again.

The lady, Portia, in the Dallas office, re-sent the config and for a moment, the set showed some life, but to no avail. Monday 2/23/09 we'll have our 4th post visit install to get this cable card working.

Anyway, if any one has any suggestions, other than demanding that Verizon give ma a Set Top Box at the Cable Card rate until they can figure this out, please chime in.

Comments

KenAF

What's the make and model of your CableCard device?

Can you describe what you mean by "crapping out?" Do you just get a black screen on some channels? Do you lose the locals, or just the cable channels?

Hian

I',m not sure who makes the cable card, but all of the channels are gone, there is nothing but black where there used to be crystal clear beautiful pictures.. The device is not able to tune into the signal. This is the 3rd card that they have tried. The set is a SONY 3LCD from about 3 years ago......

riffjim4069

I had this issue with my single-tuner Sony HD DVR (DHG-HDD500) when I was installed almost a year ago. The Sony HD DVR sits in the entertainment room which isn't used very often. Every week or two I would turn on the DVR and notice the FiOS TV channels were blank, but I was still receiving over-the-air channels with my antenna. Each time I would call Verizon to reauthorize (aka hit) the box. After the 4th of 5th time, Tech Support agreed this shouldn't be happening and that they would "look into it." That was back in July/Aug and I haven't had a problem since. Additionally, I have a Tivo HD with two Cablecards and I have never had a single problem with either Cablecard.

To be honest, the Sony HD DVR is connected to a 50" Sony 3LCD (circa 2003). For testing purposes, I popped-out the Cablecard from the DVR and slid it into the Sony HDTV and it worked perfecly. Additionally, I also tested one of the Cablecards from my Tivo HD by sliding it into my Mitsubishi Diamond DLP and it too worked perfectly for the short while I tested them. I concluded that the Cablecards must be paired to my account and not to a physical device since I can swap these cards out willy-nilly between my two Cablecard ready HD DVRs and two CableCard ready HDTVs. I am not sure if this is standard operating procedure, but this is how things work in my home.

Oh, I just remembed that I had a blank screen on the Sony DVR last weekend (we haven't been in the entertainment room in almost six weeks). I power cycled the Sony DVR and it worked fine. Anyway, since you have already been working with Tech Support I don't know what other advice I can offer other than to hope they square-away your problem. We have three cablecards (S-card) and they work perfectly with our Tivo HD, Sony HD DVR, Sony HDTV and Mits HDTV.

KenAF

@Hian wrote:
I',m not sure who makes the cable card, but all of the channels are gone, there is nothing but black where there used to be crystal clear beautiful pictures.. The device is not able to tune into the signal. This is the 3rd card that they have tried. The set is a SONY 3LCD from about 3 years ago......

Unpaired CableCards do not "go out." The only thing that can go out is your TV.

At one point about two years ago, defect rate on Motorola S-CARDs were as high as 10%. However, now defective rates are down to <1%. There is no way you got three defective cards in a row.

It sounds to me like your TV just has a "buggy" CableCard implementation. It is also possible that Verizon uses the newer multistream CableCards (M-CARDs) in your area, and your Sony TV has problems with those. They are supposed to be 100% backward compatible, but maybe that isn't the case. If you pull out the CableCard on it, does it say "CableCard" or "MCARD?"

Hian

Good thoughts all, both S and M cards have been used.....the thing that xrives me crazy is that iit was working perfectly for about 3 days and just went out like a light switch was thrown to the off position. I ttied powering up the set a little while ago and I got a few seconds of some channel with some break up and then all channels were black again.

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