[mythtv-users] Comcast CableCard Info

[Ronald Frazier]

On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Don Lewis <dl-mythtv at catspoiler.org> wrote:
> The instructions in the self install kit has this note:
>
>        Once cable card is installed, do not remove and/or reseat card
>        as this will alter the Data ID number
>
> The Data ID number is one of the three numbers that need to be phoned in
> to Comcast to activate the card.  The other two are the CableCard S/N
> and the Host ID number.
>
> It sounds like the card has to be reactivated each time it gets moved,
> which could be a problem if the card originally was in a rented STB.

Yes, moving it to a different device will require it to be paired to
the new device before it works. However, I'm not sure what the warning
is about removing it. With my Ceton, I've removed the card, operated
it in QAM mode, put it back in, used it in cablecard mode, and
repeated this several times. It never required any sort of
reactivation. The only thing I can think of is that they don't want
you removing the card right away, because on some cable systems it can
take up to an hour for them to send the "hit" (ie: activation signal),
so if you removed the card before they sent it, it might get sent
while the card is out and it won't activate.


-- 
Ron Frazier