M-Card only supports two streams??

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Space

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M-Card only supports two streams??

#1

Post by Space » Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:37 pm

Why does your cable provider only allow 2 streams? If you have an M-card it should allow up to 6 streams per device (if the device supports it).

I've read that the FCC requires cable providers to allow at least 4 streams per CableCard, although I just saw this in forum posts and don't know about the actual rules.

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tirebiter

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#2

Post by tirebiter » Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:20 pm

Space wrote:Why does your cable provider only allow 2 streams? If you have an M-card it should allow up to 6 streams per device (if the device supports it).

I've read that the FCC requires cable providers to allow at least 4 streams per CableCard, although I just saw this in forum posts and don't know about the actual rules.
I've had the cable card (Fios) for 3-4 years and I fought valiantly at the time for one that supported more tuners. I was told repeatedly by several people that this was all they had. In fact, they gave me the very strong impression that cable cards were being phased out and I was lucky to get this one.

But $5/month for 2 tuners is OK. With them, WMC records HD to a PC folder. Only a few channels are copy protected, so I can take the shows on my laptop when I go on business trips. But maybe I'll give Verizon another call someday and ask if they have a cable card that supports more tuners.

I have another DVR that records SD to a PC folder. Those shows look good enough on a tablet. So my untethered TV needs are currently well met between the two.

Space

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#3

Post by Space » Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:29 pm

tirebiter wrote:
Space wrote:Why does your cable provider only allow 2 streams? If you have an M-card it should allow up to 6 streams per device (if the device supports it).

I've read that the FCC requires cable providers to allow at least 4 streams per CableCard, although I just saw this in forum posts and don't know about the actual rules.
I've had the cable card (Fios) for 3-4 years and I fought valiantly at the time for one that supported more tuners. I was told repeatedly by several people that this was all they had. In fact, they gave me the very strong impression that cable cards were being phased out and I was lucky to get this one.

But $5/month for 2 tuners is OK. With them, WMC records HD to a PC folder. Only a few channels are copy protected, so I can take the shows on my laptop when I go on business trips. But maybe I'll give Verizon another call someday and ask if they have a cable card that supports more tuners.

I have another DVR that records SD to a PC folder. Those shows look good enough on a tablet. So my untethered TV needs are currently well met between the two.
I have FiOS in NJ (VHO7) and use the $5/month Motorola Multi-stream CableCard (M-card) and can get three streams on my HDHomerun Prime just fine. I don't know why you would not be able to also...

Cable companies don't like CableCard because it means you don't have to rent one or more cable boxes from them, fortunately (at least for now) it is the law that they are required to support them.

illuminated

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#4

Post by illuminated » Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:03 am

Space wrote:I have FiOS in NJ (VHO7) and use the $5/month Motorola Multi-stream CableCard (M-card) and can get three streams on my HDHomerun Prime just fine. I don't know why you would not be able to also...

Cable companies don't like CableCard because it means you don't have to rent one or more cable boxes from them, fortunately (at least for now) it is the law that they are required to support them.
Me too - HDHomerun with 3 tuners on FiOS and I don't recall it being a problem to get the cablecard and set it up when I got it a few years ago. I get everything including protected content like HBO.

There was going to be an FCC rule that would have allowed the elimination of the cable box but Trump is killing it.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/02/technol ... index.html

tirebiter

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#5

Post by tirebiter » Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:40 am

Space wrote: I have FiOS in NJ (VHO7) and use the $5/month Motorola Multi-stream CableCard (M-card) and can get three streams on my HDHomerun Prime just fine. I don't know why you would not be able to also...

Cable companies don't like CableCard because it means you don't have to rent one or more cable boxes from them, fortunately (at least for now) it is the law that they are required to support them.
Well, I'll call Verizon again next week and ask again. I have often wanted to watch 3 shows that aired at the same time and had to choose which one to cut. But it will only be for one more tuner, as I don't feel the need to add another HDHomerun device. The 6 tuner DVR provides sufficient backup to any other recordings (except I can't export the shows to a PC).

Thanks for the info.

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#6

Post by Space » Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:01 am

Go to this URL on your Prime:
[url]http://<IP_ADDR_OF_PRIME>/get_cc_url?CableCARD///ps/ps[/url]

This is the first few lines of mine:

Man: Motorola Uptime: 0004 19:49
HW: 0554050003 Boot: 04.01
FW* 06.25 - --/--/-- --:--:--
FW --.-- - --/--/-- --:--:--

I believe you have to have a firmware (FW*) version of 06.25 to get up to 6 streams.

If you are running an older firmware, then see if they can push an upgrade to the card. I think this is supposed to happen automatically. If it is on an older firmware, it is possible that you have a defective card and might need a replacement.

Make sure your CableCard is an M-Card (Multistream CableCard) which I assume it is since if it was an S-Card you would only be able to get one stream.

EDIT:

Rather than call them, it would probably be a better idea to start a thread here (Verizon Direct):

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzdirect

This is a forum that allows you to contact a Verizon technician directly. CSRs are usually clueless about CableCards, so you will probably get a much more knowledgeable response from that forum. Note that all threads you start there are private and only you and the tech can read them (if you try to read other's threads, it will tell you they are private, only the subject is public).

ike301

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#7

Post by ike301 » Sun Jul 16, 2017 6:27 pm

tirebiter wrote:
Space wrote:Why does your cable provider only allow 2 streams? If you have an M-card it should allow up to 6 streams per device (if the device supports it).

I've read that the FCC requires cable providers to allow at least 4 streams per CableCard, although I just saw this in forum posts and don't know about the actual rules.
I've had the cable card (Fios) for 3-4 years and I fought valiantly at the time for one that supported more tuners. I was told repeatedly by several people that this was all they had. In fact, they gave me the very strong impression that cable cards were being phased out and I was lucky to get this one.

But $5/month for 2 tuners is OK. With them, WMC records HD to a PC folder. Only a few channels are copy protected, so I can take the shows on my laptop when I go on business trips. But maybe I'll give Verizon another call someday and ask if they have a cable card that supports more tuners.

I have another DVR that records SD to a PC folder. Those shows look good enough on a tablet. So my untethered TV needs are currently well met between the two.
Are you sure you have everything setup correctly? I have FiOS, along with several other friends who are using Cable Cards with FiOS, and we are using either 1 or 2 HDhomerun Primes using 3 to 6 tuners. FiOS does not limit anyone to just 2 streams. This is factually incorrect. I would recommend starting over again, because calling Verizon is not the issue. There are videos on YouTube that can assist you.

tirebiter

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#8

Post by tirebiter » Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:03 pm

@Space & @illuminated ----

I just got off the phone with Verizon, and they repeated the same story. They only have M-Cards with 2-tuner support.

Can you give me any other info related to your setup that I can tell Fios support regarding the 3 or 4 tuner cable cards?

Thanks in advance!

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Scallica

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#9

Post by Scallica » Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:48 pm

tirebiter wrote:I just got off the phone with Verizon, and they repeated the same story. They only have M-Cards with 2-tuner support.
I think Verizon is feeding you Fake News. I never heard of M-cards only supporting two streams. M-cards support up to six streams.

https://apps.cablelabs.com/specificatio ... ation?v=27
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tirebiter

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#10

Post by tirebiter » Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:01 pm

ike301 wrote:Are you sure you have everything setup correctly? I have FiOS, along with several other friends who are using Cable Cards with FiOS, and we are using either 1 or 2 HDhomerun Primes using 3 to 6 tuners. FiOS does not limit anyone to just 2 streams. This is factually incorrect. I would recommend starting over again, because calling Verizon is not the issue. There are videos on YouTube that can assist you.
Hi ike301. As I noted above, I just got off the phone with Verizon and it was deja vu from my original calls 4 years ago. The agent I talked with put me on hold and asked around. He came back and said that nobody was aware of a Fios M-Card that supported more than 2 tuners. I said that people on this forum said differently and said it would be useful if he could identify the exact equipment you are using.

I went through the youtube vids and there was nothing there that I hadn't done myself a few dozen times in the past.

I just now ran the HDHomeRun Config app. It shows the 3 tuners (0, 1 and 2). When I click through the "Physical Channels", I get green bars for "Signal Strength", "Signal Quality" and "Symbol Quality" with 100% in each bar for tuners 0 and 2. Tuner 1 shows 100% for "Signal Strength" but the bar is white, not green, and the other two bars are grey and show 0%.

Any ideas?

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#11

Post by stuartm » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:03 pm

I also have never heard of an M card that only supports 2 tuners. Possibly some really strange firmware in your M card. (perhaps real old). One thing I would try is going over to the SiliconDust support form and asking for help there. They are pretty good at getting things sorted out between Cable Cards and the SD tuners. As others have said, M cards should support up to 6 tuners.

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#12

Post by Space » Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:02 pm

Did you see my prior post about checking the firmware/hardware of your card and also going to Verizon Direct??

viewtopic.php?p=119375#p119375

You can directly access the HDHomerun Prime with your web browser if you know it's IP address. For example, if it is 192.168.1.20 just go here to see the firmware info:

http://192.168.1.20/get_cc_url?CableCARD///ps/ps

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#13

Post by newfiend » Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:33 am

I concur with the other posts here regarding M cards supporting 6 tuners. I am using a M card from Comcast in my Ceton infinitv 6 and can record 6 shows at once with my M card. I would definitely have a look at Space's suggestions regarding firmware version and contacting Verizon direct.

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#14

Post by dkm » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:45 pm

IIRC - Back when the Ceton cards were new, Ceton undertook an effort to ensure that all major cable companies supported 6 channels per M card. There were some companies that were stragglers, especially for Motorola-based networks, but I thought they were all resolved. I believe it ultimately came down to certifying firmware updates on the head ends, as well as a corresponding firmware on the cable cards themselves. But all this should have been resolved 5+ years ago...

I'd switch cable cards until you find one that works. The tech who did my install way back when literally had a fistful of them and had to go through a few before finding one that had the right firmware and auth'd correctly. While I'd love to assume things have gotten better since then, it wouldn't shock me if after the initial "Tivo" wave in around 5-10 years ago, all the training and support knowledge dried up.

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