I have a Sony hdtv that for years now has used an s-card without any problems. Recently issues have developed, some HD and SD channels are not tuning in at all, some partially tune in with pixelation, and some channels tune in just fine. Called support and they were not able to fix the problem, so they sent out a new cablecard, an m-card(I knew this was not going to be good). Installed the m-card, but the tv would not present the pairing screen(I knew this was going to be trouble), but I saved the host and data id from when the s-card was installed. Was able to get the m-card activated but it will not scan for channels, it gets a copy protection error. The tv is only a one way device so it probable can't respond to the copy protection flag.
There is no reason to believe that my issue will be resolved by someone at the end of an 800 number and a computer screen. The best course of action would be to try another s-card, but I was told none are available. Without another s-card it is difficult to know weather the existing card is defective. I don't know if the m-card is a viable option, but simply installing and activating the card is not sufficient to get it working. I believe it will take a very knowledgeable tech/engineer to resolve my issue, perhaps the proper type of provisioning to allow the m-card to function in a one way device or solving the issue with the existing s-card.