Homerun and COMCAST digital setup - what a cluster

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offroad

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Homerun and COMCAST digital setup - what a cluster

#1

Post by offroad » Tue Oct 29, 2013 12:49 am

Finally bit the bullet. Bought a homerun prime. Got a cable card from Comcast.

1). You need your account number at comcast other wise they can not find your account. They have a poor index system to look up users.
2). You need the code number off the card. Write that down before you plug in. You will need that three times during the setup with comcast.
3). Download silicon dust software. Install it. The setting page you need is buried in this software. COMCAST will not know what page this is. But they need the codes off this page. They can talk you through a WMC7 settings page to get this information. But....
4) you need to set up WMC7 to recognize the prime device. Make sure there is nothing else in your computer. Like a analog capture card. That just messes everything up.
5) WMC7 will not work completely with prime until WMC7 is DIGITAL READY which requires more testing and software downloads.
6) once all this is set up and known you now need to call comcast and have them do a remote initialize of the prime and the Cablecard together.
7) not done yet. Your premium channels are still locked out. Now you need to call the comcast business office to activate your Cablecard for premium channels you own.

Anything goes wrong? Start again with comcast. This was not enjoyable to set up in any context.

epayson85

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#2

Post by epayson85 » Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:13 am

2. you don't need the code number off the card. They already got that number when they assigned the card to your account. Who ever asked for it doesn't know how to setup a cable card. I had a tech do that to me on the phone and I immediately asked for his supervisor. After explaining to him multiple times that he doesn't know what he is doing and I don't trust him to setup my card he finally gave me to his supervisor. His supervisor never asked me for that number.

3. SiliconDust explains it in their directions on how to activate the card and where to get the activation info. Also if you called into the right comcast number most of the cablecard techs especially level 2 techs know exactly how to deal with primes. Ceton devices well thats another story.

4. I don't understand why an analog tuner is going to mess anything up. You run setup again, it lists all your tuners, and at the end gives you the activation info for your cable cards. Not to mention there is an activation menu in your settings of tv signal that you can always access as well once the setup is done.

5. Yes.... you need this for DRM

6. should have happened when you gave them the activation numbers. This clearly shows the person you talked to didn't know what they were doing hence why they asked for a number they didn't need.

7. I don't think I need to repeat myself again.

The homerun prime forums are a great resource for this. they have special numbers to call for most service providers including comcast. If you use those numbers and ask for level 2 techs it goes a lot smoother.

mdavej

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#3

Post by mdavej » Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:11 pm

The OP could have done a few things differently, since the WMC setup pretty much steps you through the whole process. But this does illustrate that cable card setups can be confusing for first timers, especially for an existing setup. The OP is actually very lucky things went so smoothly. If he had Charter, he'd still be on the phone trying to find someone who knows what a cable card is.

Bryan

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#4

Post by Bryan » Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:40 pm

I don't know if SD does, but Ceton included numbers for the dedicated CalbeCard activation lines for several providers, including Comcast. I used that number, and apart from telling the lady it was a Media Center and her calling it a Tivo anyway, it was easy, I was activated in no time. Media Center gave me everything I needed as part of the process. I did have the Media Center digital advisor installed ahead of time.

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machausta

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#5

Post by machausta » Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:43 pm

When I set up my first CC tuner I had to play 20 questions with Comcast about the cablecard itself and the entire process took about 25 minutes.

I bought a cablecard (so I have ZERO rental devices) and my Ceton InfiniTV and it took maybe 5 minutes to swap everything over -- that rep was awesome.

I had a co-worker who went through several weeks finding the right person at Comcast to fix his issues, so YMMV.

blueiedgod

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#6

Post by blueiedgod » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:14 pm

Just shows that having half knowledge is worse than having no knowledge at all, IMHO.

Someone who thinks they know everything there is to know will just jump right in, and will probably run into problems and possibly mess things up.

Someone who does not know much, will just follow written directions, and will not encounter issues.

1) Run WEI
2) Run DCA, if passed, proceed to 3. If failed, fix. Repeat 1)
3) Run Tuner set up.
4) Follow on-screen prompts.
5) Enjoy.


Running 3 without runnin 1 or 2, will cause issues. Expecting 5 right out fo the box is unrealistic, even for TiVO. Someone has to pair the card to the tuner. If someone wanted 5 out of the box, they should just rent the DVR from the provider.

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STC

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#7

Post by STC » Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:05 pm

+1 for title ;)
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offroad

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#8

Post by offroad » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:04 am

Have to say it is nicely functional though now. Pulled my old video capture card out and ebayed it. Total investment about $80 for SD PRIME.

Anyone know of an iPhone app for WMC7 ? Remote ?

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#9

Post by mdavej » Wed Oct 30, 2013 1:47 pm

offroad wrote:Have to say it is nicely functional though now. Pulled my old video capture card out and ebayed it. Total investment about $80 for SD PRIME.

Anyone know of an iPhone app for WMC7 ? Remote ?
My Media Center, Hippo Remote, Remote Potato, Mobile Mouse.

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