Alan’s Build Log Episode #5

I had the Media Center all gussied up and ready to go in anticipation of the CableCard install. After all of these months, I could hardly stand the anticipation :).

Right out of the box, I knew it wasn’t going to be a painless experience. The tech only came out with one card to install and it was an M-Card to boot. Not looking good so far but this is basically the first Media Center install performed by this cable co. I knew I had to be patient.

As noted above, this is basically the first HTPC install of a CableCard in this city. The tech spent the first 20 minutes of the install tracing down a signal issue and then we moved on to the actuall install. The next little while consisted of the tech moving up the support ladder trying to find someone who might know something on how to proceed. After this turned up little results I talked to Chris Morley, the fricking CableCard genius, to get us started.

As mentioned in the manual, you will want to setup the DCT’s ahead of time with at least the analog cable signal. This makes the install portion with the cable co. a whole lot easier. All you have to do to get the DCT installed properly is plug in the CableCard and a little pop up window comes up asking you to proceed with CableCard setup. After that you follow the prompts until you get to the screen that gives you the CableCard information that the tech has to give to the company. After that, the cable co. sends an init signal and you should be set.

I will be asking Chris to update his CableCard FAQ. M-Cards are backwards compatabile with S-Cards. So if your installer comes out with M-Cards, do not worry! They will work :).

Other then some Harmony remote configuration, I should be in HTPC heaven next week when the tech comes back out to install the second system.