Problems with Motorola DCP501 - Page 2

It may take awhile. You may need to get it escalated to a manager. The DCT-2000 should still be in their system.

Thanks. Already at the manager level. She could not find it in the system. I'll keep trying. Going to check in with them tonight. Already have a ticket going.

Are you calling the 1-800-COMCAST number or your local comcast office

Yes. What a disaster. Now I have lost my HD DVR and my cable card. Conflicting answers. No one knows anything. Been trying to get this done for 5 days now. Ready to scrap the whole thing. Can anyone help me give the Comcast people technical guidance on how to get this done?

Hi,
I just purchased a used DCP501, it came with no remote. Anyone have any idea where I could get a used remote for it or an affordable universal thats compatable with this av receiver? Thanks

I purchased a brand new DCP-501 on Ebay. It arrived last week and I appreciate all the great information on this thread. Happily I wanted to report I had a very good experience with Comcast. There were several calls involved, but some of that was because I was not home when they called me. The first time they provisioned the box, all I got were what I believe was the clear QAM channels or some sort of very basic package. I went into the diagnostics mode of the DCP-501 and recorded every screen in SageTV and sent them a word document of all the screens and sent them an email last night. Came home tonight and they had replied to my email. They could see nothing wrong in the config, but sent a "cold init" to the box instead of just the "init" that was sent earlier. Bingo fired up SageTV, box is working perfectly, gets all my SD digital channels including the premium channels, guide works, on demand works, picture is great. So for me it seems the magic word is "cold init" after it is provisioned.

I cannot say enough good things about the support I got from Comcast. Talked with several people there, they were all extremely helpful. 2 of them gave me their direct lines and emails, no one passed the buck.

Well I tried for a long time to get my DCP-501 activated. Comcast first said they couldn't do it, and they wanted to charge me another $8.95 a month to add it. I have 2 cablecards and pay nothing for them. I agreed to it and we started all over again with them not knowing how to do it. I give up. They wore me down. PM me if you want to buy it. Never provisioned.

Can anyone help me, Comcast in Pittsburgh said they can't activate the DCP501 maybe in the future they can.
I saw that people in Lebanon Pa. were able to get them activated, but they told me they can not get any of the features to work in this area.
Can anyone help me to get this box activated.

I recently picked up an HDD200 to use with my DCP-501. I get no HD signal to the HDD200. The SD input works fine. I am using a homemade cable, pin 4 to center, pin 9 to center band and pin 5 to outer band (ground). I have tested the cable with an ohm meter and the connections seem to be good. I believe the serial port on the DCP501 is enabled as I can use it to change the channels from a computer. Is it possible that the pins on the port can be enabled individually such that the pins that change the channel are enabled, but not the pins I need for the HD stream?

I have DCP 501, how do I reset the unit to pick up digital channels?

I got a dcp501 from infonet products i contac them by phone by email,they never returned the calls or email.

To get digital channels your cable company needs to provision the box. Follow the directions earlier in this thread about how to get them to do this. Comcast was very responsive to my request and have done 2 for me.

I bought a DCP501 from a company called Info Net Products. I called my cable company, Comcast in Denver, CO, and they were able to provision it. It took awhile, with a couple of problems, but it was finally finished, and I have my On Screen guide, my On Demand, and Everything. I sent them a video testimonial, and they were awesome to put it up on their website. The DCP501 is working great, and I love it.

O My Goodness, you never mentioned any of this in the testimonial. All we get is (It works great in your face, look at all the features too bad your box is not working) No helpful information whats so ever on how you actually got the box to work. Info net products tells me "as soon your cable provider- comcast goes fully digital your DCP 501 will work or they can get it to work" I had a comcast tech come by, no avail. I mean what did you say to you cable company? and what issues are there?

If your cable provider is Comcast then you'll have to have a few calls into tech support. Unless you're lucky you won't get that person who knows anything about what you're talking about.

Explain that it is a customer owned DCP-501. It has the insides of a Motorola DCT-2000, just with an amplifier and dvd player. With that simplified they can get you setup with you channel tier, guide info, and ondemand. You won't be able to view (hearing is find) hd channels but everything else works.

Okay, I called comcast ask to speak to an supervisor and they ask why. I told them I bought my own Motorola dcp 501. And to my suprise they said "I'll put you through to the main office". There the woman (who was very nice) Said "bare us cause were new at this too" then ask for numbers. I gave her my serial # along with the Mac address# . She then said "it could take up to a week to update the box on there system". So we'll see. I did get her direct #

I'll let you know what happens.

ok here is my story i ordered mine out of info net also, and it is my third day with comcast and alot of patience with the reps. i called like 6 times already and they all told me the same thing that it was not allowed. then as soon as i said if i can get the number for the comcast legal department (very nicely) their supervisor was able to provision my box. now i have a signal going through my box but no digital channels yet. they told me to wait till tommorrow morning so that i can get all the other features. will keep u posted, to see what happens

So what if you bought a Motorola HD box on e-bay and 'told' comcast it was a DCP-501? Would they activate it, or would it immediately tell them on screen "Hey this is not the serial number for a DCP-501!".

I think it if has been provisioned previously on another Comcast account then they will not allow it.

Comcast can query the box to get model, serial, type... stuff like that

i finally had my cable box provisioned by comcast but i am still geating the analog channels and not the digitial channels does anyone have any idea why?
i called them 4 times about it already so they are sending a tech out tommorrow to check it out. if anyones knows how i can get this to work please share thank you

I got my box activated today but I don't get any HBO or premium channels. About a week ago I gave my serial # also unit address today called comcast and ask about my box she said "they have all the info they needed" then sent a few hits to the box no avail and she set up a service appointment but then I called a different person and she simply asked for the serial # and the first hit No I explained to her that I can only go up to channel 99 (analog) She sent another hit(must of been a different hit) and Bam It worked right away! And it should be that simple of a activation for anyone you just have to find that right operator! It did take a while (15mins) for the remote and menu to function properly!

No Premium Channels or PPV! Why?
Thanks

Did everyone who order the DCP501 get their boxes provisioned with all the premium channels they subscribed to along with On Demand? My old leased DCT5100s arent working too well anymore and need to upgrade.

Sorry for bumping the old thread but the discussion in here was great.

Has anyone been able to get this box activated via FiOS? I've read that its possible but I am having a tough time and any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Where have you read that it's possible with FiOS?

Everything I've seen about it said Comcast was the only one willing to provision it (as they use/used the equivalent standalone digital box.)

There are posts around the SageTV forums as well as in the R5000 topic. R5000s changelog mentions some FiOS channel mapping additions as well.

I read most of the postings here and some are true and others are NOT.

These two comments below are not true!

"If your cable system is using Scientific Atlanta boxes, you can NOT use a Motorola box".

"You can't change the Bass and Treble"

I live in MA and use Comcast. We only use cable ready tv's (tube not lcd). I got my first dcp501 and loved the sound and options. This unit cranks and sounds awesome! After reading these posts I didn't think I should bother even trying to activate the box knowing Comcast here uses Scientific Atlanta boxes. Also, each time I called all rep's said you can not use any bought boxes, only leased/rented ones will work. Today I called to have our lines tested because a few channels(4, 5 and 7) are weak(lots of snow) and asked the rep about this again and he said "that is not true, you can use a ". "It is an option in our system now". So after setting up an appt. for the signal problem he transfered to the "provision dept". I talked with a very nice guy and told him the whole story. He said most was true and faulse. Then said to hold on and he would look up the information and be right back. So I was worried after reading all the posts that the dcp501 would not be supported. He came back after 10 min's and said their is only one box Comcast supports and that box is a Motorola DCP501! I was very happy and we started the activation process (like other posts, that it will take a few days, they make sure it's not a stolen box and from a real company, I gave them the company name/address too). I first ordered one from Inphome.com. I called/emailed several times(6 calls/4 emails) with questions (even more after reading the posts here) and never got a call back(box was $249). They seams like a 1 man operation(name is JB or BJ?). It was COD so with no calls back from them(him) I refused the package and ordered one from smarthome.com($181). If all goes good I will buy another one and post my outcome here.

I just want to be clear here, because the place that i bought my DCP501 from said it was plug n play...inphome.com ....
1. I have to have an account with my cable company
2. I have to have to fight with them to have it added to my account
3. I will only get the stations that I have subscribed to

And the purpose of this box is to save me the $5 per month if i was renting???

To some, that's a big deal.

Probably more for the principle, though.

If they happen to have Moto equipment at the headend alongside the SA gear, sure. Most cable systems aren't set up that way though, and MediaCipher II (Motorola's cryptosystem) and PowerKEY (SA/Cisco's cryptosystem) are *not* interoperable. That is not questionable. There still has to be Moto gear on the headend for it to work with. Sounds like you just got lucky...