[mythtv-users] Comcast Homerun Prime Cablecard activation issues

[David Engel]

On Sat, Oct 11, 2014 at 02:26:53PM -0400, Stephen P. Villano wrote:
> 
> On 10/11/14 2:23 PM, Peter Bennett (cats22) wrote:
> > I have been using a Homerun Prime for almost a year with no issue. It
> > broke and I got a new one under warranty. I plugged my cablecard into
> > the new homerun prime and  the device web admin page told me to call and
> > get it activated. The people at Comcast were unable to activate due to
> > it "already being paired with my old Homerun Prime", even after I went
> > and exchanged the cable card for another one. They insisted a technician
> > visit was needed.
> >
> > Later I tried a test of watching a program through the Homerun prime
> > config GUI. I was surprised to find it receives the encrypted channels
> > perfectly. I switched mythtv to the new device id and found my channels,
> > both basic channels and cable channels receive and record perfectly, in
> > spite of the web interface saying I needed to call to activate. I
> > canceled the technician visit appointment.
> >
> > As soon as I use it for watching, the web interface message telling me
> > to activate disappears. It says "Card Authentication success, Card OOB
> > Lock success, Card Validation none. The message saying I have to call
> > and activate comes back a little later if I do not watch anything for a
> > while.
> >
> > Some things are different - the web interface does not show the channel
> > lineup (channel lineup shows no channels), and using the command
> > "hdhomerun_config FFFFFFFF get /tuner2/vstatus" shows "auth=subscribed
> > cci=none cgms=none" where before it showed "auth=subscribed
> > cci=unrestricted cgms=n/a"
> >
> > Does anybody know what is going on? Is the whole activation process
> > unnecessary? Should I leave well alone since it is working or try
> > spending more time on the phone or with a technician visit?

Your card needs to be activated, but it does not need to be paired to
receive copy-freely channels.  Since you will only ever be able to
receive copy-freely channels with MythTV anyway, going through the
hassle of getting the card paired usually isn't worth it.

> To be honest, I have the same general impression from my FIOS. The page
> keeps telling me to activate it, Verizon was utterly unable to get it to
> "activate", yet I was able to watch my regular and premium channels. I
> don't have encrypted channels, so that experience is lacking.

It depends greatly on the capabilities and patience of the support
person you get whether or not you get your card paired.  When I first
got my cable cards on FIOS, it took several phone calls and several
support persons before I eventually got them paired.  When I recently
switched some hardware around, I didn't even bother trying to get them
repaired this time.

David
-- 
David Engel
david at istwok.net