Coto. Cox HD. No Superbowl problems.

This seems to imply that those of you that did have problems with the Superbowl on Fox HD most likely have a cable drop or 6412 or signal strength problem. I would check the diagnostics while tuned to an HD channel giving you problems and look at Signal/Noise ratios and correctable/non-correctable errors. If the Signal/Noise ratio is too low or you see some non-correctable errors then you need to call Cox out to fix it.

I also had no trouble watching/recording the Superbowl here in Irvine.


I did experience another "subscription" bug recording. It happened on channel 707 and I also noticed that all of my series recordings that are set for channel 707 no longer appeared in the future recordings section. I had to access each series recording and "reset" them to get the future recordings to work again. This is one annoying bug. :( Both Alias and Lost failed to record even though they are set-up as series recordings. :(

Sydor25, don't know if you've been following the thread but if you backtrack a little you will see a workaround to the subscription bug which seems to be successful for some of us - since I've been employing the workaround I have not had a single miss. The crux of the workaround is once the unit is done for the night be sure that both tuners are not on any HD channel (or any other channels you record). I'm still babysitting the box for shows I really care about, but seems like a little less handholding is needed with this workaround.

Sounds good, I'll incorporate it into my system shutdown macro. :) Thanks

FYI. I revised the HD-downconvert guide in my sig link below with more detail and some corrections/clarifications for those interested in making nice widescreen DVDs from Hi Def 6412 recordings.

Hmmm..had a wierd one last night. It was almost 11pm, I wanted to have it record 704 (Leno at 11:30)

It kept telling me it was an "unrecordable channel" I could record anyother channel I looked at, but not that one. Finally gave up. (did record it a couple nights ago no problem. Wierd!)

JET, were you trying to record from the guide? In other words you were in the IPG and scrolled to that channel (but weren't tuned on it on the current tuner, but probably were on the background tuner, or vice versa), and then pressed the red record button? This is one instance of the "subscription" bug, and I've seen it a few times myself. If that comes up again, try changing your current tuner to an analog channel, then swapping and changing that tuner to an analog channel. Then go back to the IPG and schedule your recording. If not, sorry about the blabbering...

-T

I'll try that, but question...how do I switch tuners? Never tried or even looked into it. Over all it's been a pretty solid unit for me....hence my not being in here often lately! :D

JET, sounds like the subscription bug. To fix the problem all you need to do is tune to the channel that won't let you setup a record (704 in your case) and wait a few seconds for subscription bug message to dissapear, now you should be able to setup recordings on that channel again. You will also notice with subscription bug that the "Recording Schedule" won't show any recordings for that channel until you clear up the problem.

Ok...thanks for the info. I do now and then see the Sub Bug message when I go to a channel, but it always goes away so it's been a non-issue till now.


Question, would love to record some things to burn. My PC is a good 30' away. Can I get Firewire cable that long? (that works and wont break the bank?) Or should I just wait till I get a Laptop? (maybe soon, bonus coming)

The desktop would be nice if only because it's my very pretty powerful overclocked gaming homebuilt.....just installed a third HD (160GB) so I've got tons of room......plus it has a Dual Layer capable (need to upgrade the rom) NEC 8X burner that never gives me coasters.

Originally posted by JETninja
Question, would love to record some things to burn. My PC is a good 30' away. Can I get Firewire cable that long? (that works and wont break the bank?) Or should I just wait till I get a Laptop? (maybe soon, bonus coming)


I believe firewire has a spec limitation of 4.5m or about 15 feet. You can either get two cables and a repeater, but I've seen stuff like this. It's 29 bucks and worth a shot I guess. Me? I'd just wait or get a repeater, lol.

http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-fw-002-20.html

From the description, quite funny: This firewire cable is normally used in specialty situations where a normal sized FireWire cable just isn't doing the trick. FireWire connections have a limitation of 15ft, however, we also know that sometimes you can get away with longer connections. This cable will not work in every situation, especially when lots of electrical objects are nearby.

BTW to swap tuners use the "SWAP" button on the bottom left of the remote.

-T

I think 30' is probably pushing it for a firewire cable - even if you could buy such a length firewire cable my guess is it wouldn't be cheap. Laptop certainly is the ideal solution and that's what I use (with a 6' 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable). Once on laptop then you can transfer to other computers in your home.

I have been doing a large amount of reading on the subject of HTPCs (primarily HDTV tuning options as of late). One thing I cannot find a consensus on is HD tuning ability. Geography/pesky lease agreements prohibits over-the-air reception. The roadblock I am currently at is people saying a QAM capable HD tuner card "should" work for the free channels. Unfortunately I', not the Donald and "should" isn't quite certain enough for me to go buy one of these babies. I currently have Cox Digital/HD service in Orange County, CA. I'm not greedy; I can accept I will only be able to get/record the free channels like NBC, FOX, etc. Is there anywhere to find out from a more reliable source (like somone in my area who has done it) if Cox has some non-standard encryption on even the free channels that would prevent this from working? I just want an HTPC that will work with MCE, games, and HDTV. Is that so much to ask? Any advice on techniques/equipment would be MUCH appreciated.

I put together a web page for the 6412/Passport collecting together a bunch of information I gathered in this thread and in other locations as well as personal experience with the box. The idea was for a kind of 1 stop shop to quickly find relevant information without having to go hunting through this giant thread or other locations.

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html
(same link as last entry in my sig)

Please provide suggestions, comments, missing information, etc. I can update as necessary. Please be gentle as I am no HTML guru.

So is there any new information on any new HD channels being added soon? I read the rumblings about UniversalHD already but was hopeing some new information was available. It seriously sucks not having TNTHD for the ALLSTAR game. Hopefully when COX does add to there lineup it will be several channels instead of just 1. We have been waiting WAY to long for just one new channel.

Originally posted by BluesK1d
I have been doing a large amount of reading on the subject of HTPCs (primarily HDTV tuning options as of late). One thing I cannot find a consensus on is HD tuning ability. Geography/pesky lease agreements prohibits over-the-air reception. The roadblock I am currently at is people saying a QAM capable HD tuner card "should" work for the free channels. Unfortunately I', not the Donald and "should" isn't quite certain enough for me to go buy one of these babies. I currently have Cox Digital/HD service in Orange County, CA. I'm not greedy; I can accept I will only be able to get/record the free channels like NBC, FOX, etc. Is there anywhere to find out from a more reliable source (like somone in my area who has done it) if Cox has some non-standard encryption on even the free channels that would prevent this from working? I just want an HTPC that will work with MCE, games, and HDTV. Is that so much to ask? Any advice on techniques/equipment would be MUCH appreciated.

This DVD + QAM HDTV tuner at Best Buy seems interesting for someone to try with Cox Cable:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?tab=1&type=product&id=1076628571410&skuId=6294752&productCategoryId=cat03022

I don't think Best Buy charges a re-stocking fee so one could buy it at your local Best Buy and try it to confirm that the HDTV channels from Cox can be tuned or not. Or who knows, if it does a real good job of upscaling DVD playback to 1080i and connecting via it's DVI output to your TV you may even decide to keep it :)

I live in Mission Viejo and compared with many of you, I am a "late adopter" of HDTV.

I have a Sammy DLP4674W TV/Denon AVR 1705 Receiver/Infinity TSS-750 Speakers/Harmony 659 Remote and Sennheiser HD270 PRO Headphones on order and am waiting for my Home Entertainment Cabinet to be custom built. Only a few more weeks to go!!

I will soon be swapping out my Cox digital STB for a Moto 6412 with DVR.

I already wrote an email to Cox complaining of the minimal number of HD channels we get, listing those we all want as noted previously in this thread.

I got the pro forma canned response all of you got...but, it IS worthwhile for all new participants in this thread to keep on Cox's back to get us what we are PAYING for!!!

Anyway, I am SO happy to have found AVForum and have spent hours and hours over the past few days/nites reading posts in the many fascinating and extremely educational and useful threads here, especially this one!!...

Thank god for this Forum, as being an AV "newbie", going from "ultra legacy" 18 year old equipment that I will be dumping (except for my somewhat newer Sony SLV N50 VCR and Sammy DVD 631P player, the latter unit which I plan on keeping 'till the HD DVD players become available) to the cutting edge of HE gear..I need ALL the help I can get!

I hope to be able to contribute some day rather than just be a "user" of the great info posted here by the many experts (especially moyekj!) who seem so willing to share with and help the rest of us get the most out of our joint "hobby"!!!

When I get all my gear together and am hooking it up and tweaking it, what is here will become even more valuable to me. I may even have a question or two for you guys!

I hope some of the bugs currently noted in the 6412 are worked out soon, as I don't need those to deal with too!!

I am prepared for a truly awful SD pix, especially on the non-digital channels....I have a feeling I will be watching mostly HDTV and DVDs anyway!!

I want to say that I am excited about being with such a distinguished and knowledgeable group of fellow AV "addicts"!!!

Hopefully, my SO, who has most definitely been a real "WAF" challenge for me during the ramp up and purchase of my Home Entertainment Center, will calm down and "enjoy" once I get her in front of my 46" screen to watch some movies and nature/animal documentaries in glorious HD with accompanying Surround Sound!!! I have a feeling some of the rest of you have had to (or still are?) dealing with this same issue!!

Chuck, welcome to the board! Having been around in the HD game for awhile (actually, only a relatively short 4 years), I can tell you that it's come a long, LONG way to get to where it is now, and I'm sure it will only get exponentially better in the near future.

I can tell you that the most significant event in my HD lifetime is this HD-DVR. It's like a freakin god send for me (and the SO). Instead of planning my weekends around HD sporting events, I can occasionally get out and smell the roses ;)

-T

Welcome aboard Chuck. I think you will find that despite all the remaining problems and complaints these forums tend to highlight that you will be very happy with the 6412. It took a few years for ReplayTVs to get all the bugs sorted out, but I can't imagine doing without them now. The only downside to owning ReplayTVs is there will most likely never be another PVR that matches all it's features. But even coming from that perspective I am pretty happy overall with the 6412 as a dedicated HD-only PVR. Let's keep fingers crossed that the May firmware/software update solves more problems than it introduces.

I only wish that Cox/Motorola were more pro-active in beta testing by giving the opportunity for some real customers such as ourselves to test drive the system before they proceed with a buggy full-scale release - if anyone will find bugs it's the people that lease them and use them everyday, not some lab-based testing in a controlled environment. ReplayTV did this for several of their releases and that's what really ended up solving most of the major bugs.

Thanks for the warm welcome!!

I was looking forward to watching some nature shows in HD on PBS (like the recent one on the Albino Gorilla "Snowflake" which my wife and I watched in SD last week)...not gonna happen anytime soon!!

However, I see that Cox HD Subscribers in San Diego get PBS in HD, so why not here?

KCET has a nice listing of HD offerings which you can see at:


kcet.org/schedule/digital-tv/ (Can't post the full URL as I don't have 5 posts yet!)

I emailed Chrissy at Cox Customer Care about this specific question....I will post her response here.

A techy ? PBS (KCET) is an over the air HD station....I have no outdoor Antenna nor will my 4674 have a tuner in it...and I don't really want to buy a seperate HD tuner...that said, I guess there is no other way for me to view PBS in HD until the gods at Cox deem it so?

Also, WB and TNT HD are even listed in some of the generic (country wide) advertising literature Cox puts out at CC...makes me JEALOUS (and I don't even have my HD set yet)!!

Chuck

If FCC really wants to promote transistion to all digital they need to put some repeaters in some of the big markets so people like us in some areas of Orange County would have no trouble picking up the re-transmission from the repeaters using a small indoor antenna. Of course then there's still the little problem of cost of the OTA HD tuners that has to be dealt with too.

As expected, more of the same...I guess the real key here IS "by popular demand"...gotta get more heat on them to add these channels!

Here is what Chrissy replied:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dear Mr. Proche:

Thank you for your reply.

Each of our areas of cable service negotiates for channels separately.
Due to customer requests, each area has different channels that are
available to their customers on different levels of service.

The San Diego area does offer Universal HD and PBS due to customer demand and an agreed upon contract for Cox to provide these channels in this area only.

We are currently in negotiations to provide additional HD channels to
Orange County, but until the contracts are finalized we can not release
which channels and when we would begin to broadcast them.

We will notify all of our customers of additional channels through bill
messages as well as the channels appearing on the On-Screen Guide....."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We shall see!

PS: I don't understand why subscribers in San Diego would be more active in requesting such added stations than we here in OC. I think the "agreed upon contract" part of the answer is more likely the more important reason.

We can also request more HD channels by using different names/email addys !!!!!

Thanks for sharing the email Chuck. I don't really buy the customer demand for Universal HD and PBS comment. Given the set of HD channels missing in the San Diego area I don't think those 2 are anywhere near the top of the demand list.

Originally posted by chuckip
We can also request more HD channels by using different names/email addys !!!!!

It is my understanding that Cox will disregard any request for new HD channels, unless the request is accompanied by the customer's Cox account number. Therefore, using multiple e-mails would not accomplish anything.

Both Emails I sent to Chrissy in Customer Service were immediately answered by her (I posted the last one above) without me supplying my Account #. If that was a requirement, it would have been noted in her replies to me.

That comment was a bit fascitious anyway....If enough of us complain regularly, there is no reason to "stuff the ballot box" with made up names!!

I will get off their backs for a month or so to see if the new channels they are currently negotiating for come into fruition. I imagine they do only input one request for new services per customer anyway so multiple hits on them asking for the same stations will only frustrate us more.

BTW, are there any HD Cable companies lineups in the So Cal area who offer LESS choises than we get here with Cox?...I know there are those with more but, are we at the bottom of the list of Cable companies offering HD?

There's a real mixed bag of quality in HD broadcasts. This is my observation over the last few weeks:

ABC (720p)
Alias = Terrible (Very grainy - try pausing on a dark scene - yuck!)
Desperate Housewives = Good
NYPD Blue = Good

FOX (720p)
24 = Bad (Looks like the film is grainy!)
American Idol = Very good (The best of all programs I watch)

NBC (1080i)
I've never been impressed with anything HD from NBC
ER = OK
LAS VEGAS = OK

CBS (1080i)
Most CBS shows I like to watch are not in HD! (Survivor + Amazing Race)
NUMBERS = OK

I can confirm that it's not just my display as firewire captures displayed on my PC LCD and other HD monitors (from friends at work) show the same trends.

Anyone else agree/disagree with the above?

The Oscars were breathtaking, however, the broadcast was again marred by audio and video drop outs. This only seems to appear during live broadcasts. I know that moyekj has suggested that this may be a result of signal drops in the cable. I have checked the diagnostics in the past and have found the s/n to be good with few if any errors. Tonight was different, the s/n was fair and agc was poor, however there were few errors. Did anyone else see these drop outs during the broadcast?

niesman

I ran across this site..some of you may already be aware of it....?

http://www.hdtvgalaxy.com/index.html

Check the "Links" icon..."informative sites" has a number of very useful sites with info that should be of interest to us "HDTV" fanatics!

Even some "on line" HDTV magazines that you can read at no cost.

Techy stuff for the nerds and consumer educational sites etc..

Let me know if any of you found "HDTVGALAXY.com" worthwhile?

Yeah, the drop outs were really pissing me off, though I wonder if its Cox and not ABC. I have a co-worker with OTA...he noticed no drop outs though I can't say he watched it as close as I did. (I have a much bigger Display and a hell of a lot more Audio)



moyekj....Alias and 24 are filmed grainy on purpose....There are two basic types of HD cameras....the Video ones that everything is so clear and bright(Leno). The other came about because of the desire of a more film type look...I think it was Lucas that did the development of it. One Camera is suitable for live stuff, the other for that film look, though it does lack certain detail and can exibit grain. (on purpose!)

2 great free mags are "highdef" and "High Def 411" both inteview top HD providers, equipment, etc. They both expain a lot of why directors and producers make the equipment choices they do....

Originally posted by JETninja



moyekj....Alias and 24 are filmed grainy on purpose....There are two basic types of HD cameras....the Video ones that everything is so clear and bright(Leno). The other came about because of the desire of a more film type look...I think it was Lucas that did the development of it. One Camera is suitable for live stuff, the other for that film look, though it does lack certain detail and can exibit grain. (on purpose!)
Thanks JET. It almost makes me wonder if it's even worthwhile watching these in HD since the HD really is not much better than SD. A half-decent DVD blows away this kind of HD broadcast. Whoever likes the grainy film-type look better must be out of their mind IMO. I suppose the actors probably like it better since it doesn't show all their flaws.

On the Oscars my wife and I just can't stand to watch it and similar award shows anymore. The "Thank you so and so..." speeches just get way too old. I know the winners have a lot of people to thank but do so in another forum. It's just not entertainment to me watching them thank a bunch of people I have never heard about and don't care about.

Originally posted by JETninja




moyekj....Alias and 24 are filmed grainy on purpose....There are two basic types of HD cameras....the Video ones that everything is so clear and bright(Leno). The other came about because of the desire of a more film type look...I think it was Lucas that did the development of it. One Camera is suitable for live stuff, the other for that film look, though it does lack certain detail and can exibit grain. (on purpose!)
.....

FYI, almost every major TV series is filmed using 35mm cameras, the same as feature films. They prediminantly use Panavision lenses and cameras to do this. I know this because my uncle just retired from being CEO of Panavision for the last 20 years and have visited their HQ often and seen & met the camera crews prepping the equipment. I also worked on the production of TV commercials for 2 years and met a number of crew members from various shows whilst picking up equipment from Panavision.

LIVE TV shows like Leno are shot using video

An interesting point I found out last Thanksgiving whilst chatting with my uncle was that for the past year or so every major feature film and tv series filmed using conventional 35mm film has had the original film negative scanned and transferred digitally to 1080p.

My guess, as I haven't read up on the latest info, is that much of the quality issues is down to what resolution of HD the TV channel wants to transmit and/or whether the satellite/cable provider up/down converts that signal for rebroadcast to its subscribers.

From what I understand, many TV programs (mostly the 1 hour long drama;s) still shoot on 35mm, most HD sitcoms have moved to HD camera's. Joan of Arcadia (a 1hr drama I dont watch) uses the Film Type HD camera I was talking about, known as 24P, it was championed by Luca's for the last SW (Ep II) film. Sony worked with Panavision in creating and marketing them. Luca's loved HD, but hated the "live" look of it, so he went to Sony and told them to explore a 24P signal (like Film) and create HD cameras and processing equipment. They were very succesful (Sony called it their CineAlta line), he shot for 60 days without one hitch. Now others like Panasonic's AJ-HDC27 camera also support 24p.

And in processing (after conversion from 35mm if need be) the graineness can be added...for certain films/programs it's adds dirtiness to the product. (look at CSI NY compared to the other 2....much more grain and dirt looking)

I personally love it, 24 and Alias (my 2 never misses) on my display look (even with the "dirt") 1000% better in HD then SD. No contest. And theres the bonus of Digital sound too!

Thx for updated info.
I fully agree about the HD picture, up until 2 months or so ago I had to make sure I watched them live but now have the 6412 which is working well.

Hey moyekj!

I finally ordered my first Laptop the other night, a Dell I9200 17" wxga, P-M 1.6, 512Mb, ATI9700-128Mb, 80Gb HD, 8x DL DVD burner, Wireless B/G, under 8lbs! Even a built in Subwoofer! Got it for $1353....great deals going! :D

Should be here in a week or so unless I see some better deals and work Dell over on them, they are good at that. As soon as I can source a cheap 6' DVI cable I plan on going through your guide, I'm always seeing things both HD and SD I'd like to burn. Can't wait!

Sounds like a very good deal on the laptop JET! 80G hard drive is a little on the low side but an external enclosure can cure that. I've done quite a few HD recordings->DVD conversions and I think the guide is pretty streamlined and clear for that process now. I haven't bothered to put a guide for SD recordings -> DVD yet since I don't record any SD recordings with the 6412 (I use my ReplayTVs for that). However, let me know if you think a guide for handling those (both analog and digital SD) would be useful. Should be a simpler process.

Well, unlikely to consider Voom now as they are closing the doors

Voom Closing Business (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050301/ap_on_bi_ge/cablevision_voom_5)

had a couple shows drop off my listing before I RTFM to see what the hourglass icon meant. Have barely recorded anything, so was curious what the HD size is on this box - searched the manuals, Cox's website, and the Motorola spec sheet, but must be skimming over it somewhere! Anyway, reading through moyekj 's thread helped and I am hoping it is a 120 GB drive (but think it may only be 40) which, depending on resolution, will have varying showtimes it can save. I am a ReplayTV owner also and am curious if there is somewhere on the Passport screen/menu that lets me know how much recording capacity is left. I have a tendency to let shows (series like 24) sit a while and then watch 3 or 4 at once. Just started watching Lost last night!!! Any info is appreciated. Thanks to Poopli and the ReplayTV, I can receive the shows that 'dropped off'. Just wanting to know. Oh - I also leave the cable box on permanently so that the Replay can record also. Again, TIA.

TBP, look under Tips and Tricks section of my web page:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html#Tips_and_Tricks
Scroll down to Diagnostics Page section. This is a quick way to get a report on remainining available hard drive space.

Also I quote below for convenience.

Note that you have to be careful in the way you delete shows if you tend to start watching shows before they have completed recording. If you don't delete these in a certain way (outlined in Problems and Workarounds section of the web page) you will be losing space on your hard drive quickly which only a reboot restores.


Diagnostics Page
This is a quick means of obtaining software and firmware version information as well as available hard drive space for recordings. Also lists recently downloaded files from the headend.

1. DCT6412 should be on
2. Press Menu to display Quick Settings Menu
3. Press Down, B, Up, B (within 5 seconds)
4. Use Page- and Page+ to scroll pages

JET and others that may be interested, FYI I added a section in my firewire capture guide that covers SD captures->DVD:
Preparing Standard Definition (SD) mpeg captures for DVD burning
Naturally this is a much simpler process since does not involve re-encoding video (or audio).

Thanks! Should be very helpful!

I'm hoping I can keep a good 40Gb clean just for recording..that should work out, maybe more if I have too. If fact, maybe I can use the laptop to wirelessly xfer to the desktop..it has a new almost empty 160Gb in it. (along with 40/80Gb HD's)

Grrrr. Was really upset tonight with HD broadcast of 24. Don't know if it was Cox's fault or if OTA also had a problem but towards the end the video froze and after a few minutes reverted to SD (with sidebars). Anyone else saw the same? Luckily I backup every HD recording with it's SD one on my ReplayTVs so got to see the end of 24 as intended, but it was really annoying it freezing up at a critical moment in the episode.

Originally posted by moyekj
Grrrr. Was really upset tonight with HD broadcast of 24. Don't know if it was Cox's fault or if OTA also had a problem but towards the end the video froze and after a few minutes reverted to SD (with sidebars). Anyone else saw the same? Luckily I backup every HD recording with it's SD one on my ReplayTVs so got to see the end of 24 as intended, but it was really annoying it freezing up at a critical moment in the episode.

Same thing happened to me, and I was very upset too. Video froze 51 minutes in and came back at 54 minutes, and no longer in HD. Definitely Fox's problem.

Same issue with 24 last night.

I haven't seen it yet but my wife reported that it froze about 10 minutes before the end.

I think we have a season pass on one of our Tivo's, but I 'll be really ticked if we don't.

Incidentally, I get zero-length recordings almost every single night due to subscription bug. All workaraounds detailed in this thread have been tried and none have helped. Without fail, if I have 2-3 programs set up on a given night, at least one of them will fail. If we're not there to babysit, we are out of luck.

It is crazy that I still have to use tuners/space on my 2 Tivo's "covering" for the Cox box in case it fails to record. Some night I have SD stuff that they need to be recording.

Cheers,
Ray

Ok, thought 24 was only on mine...real pisser!

Hey, how do I reset the Box? I've been getting tons of short pauses over the last week. HD is never close to being full. Hoping a reset will help, if I do, will I lose my saved shows? How about my future recording data?

JET, hold down the power button on the front panel for a few seconds to reboot the box. You won't lose any recordings doing that - it's equivalent to pulling the plug on the box.

FYI, a friend of mine at work subscribing to only Cox limited basic ($15/month) recently purchased a Dvico HD OTA+QAM capable PCI card for his computer. Using his Cox feed he is able to find and tune to all HD network channels except FOXHD which he can't seem to find. Makes me kind of mad regular customers are forced into subscribing to digital + HD tiers at about $75/month in order to receive HD programming for network channels.

I only have guide data until 4:00am Thursday morning. I tried forcing a guide re-download by holding down the Guide button on the front panel and waiting a few hours - no change. After that I rebooted the unit last night and checked this morning and still no change... seems like there's only data until Thursday at 4:00am from the headend.

Anyone else?

Every day around 4am my guide loses all data. This is really annoying but it seems to only last about an hour and then its fine. I dont know why this happens but it occurs on all of my digital cable boxes from COX

When I got home tonight I went to the last page of the Quick Settings page (Menu,Down,B,Up,B) and the logs state that EPG_DATA was uploaded to my box twice today: 1:50pm and 4:16pm. The first time was shortly after I had called Cox tech support, so maybe they did something useful after all without me having to be there. In any case, I have 6 days of guide data again.

Arrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

For the 2nd week in a row, the friggen POS box locks up while recording my #1 most favorite show in the world!!!!!!!!!!

24 in HD on Fox.

This has not happened with any other recording, SD or HD. I record almost daily. The box is not close to being full....maybe 20hrs of SD. Last week late into the show it locked for several minutes before the Pulse Bomb. Tonight, I missed all from 10min to 38min into the show. It shows a recorded length of 38min, but no matter what I try it stops at 10:00min into it. I can not get it to play the rest. (should be an option to start from the end of a show)

Any ideas before I throw it into the pool! Man I'm pissed! You can't miss 5min of this show.............

I feel your pain! Last week the trash truck took out a power line that took 9 hours to fix, well past the showtime. I'm just hoping that my recording is fine. I usually record it on the Hd box and again on my Replay, but didn't last night. The Replay sure saved me last week (thanks Poopli). Definitely can't miss a thing with this show.

JET, I'm also in Mission Viejo but got the whole of 24 last night, so maybe it means some local problem to your box?

If you want to watch the show you can use ********** to retrieve the show off the internet. Over the weekend I was able to download 15 episodes of Lost via **********.

I've already captured the transport stream and converted to DVD-compatible widescreen mpeg, so alternatively if you have somewhere I can upload the show to my downconverted mpeg is about 1.2GBytes.

Has anyone else noticed the macro blocking on all of Cox's HDTV channels?

niesman

niesman, American Idol last night looked very good and no macro-blocking for me. Didn't watch anything else last night.

Originally posted by moyekj
JET, I'm also in Mission Viejo but got the whole of 24 last night, so maybe it means some local problem to your box?

If you want to watch the show you can use ********** to retrieve the show off the internet. Over the weekend I was able to download 15 episodes of Lost via **********.

I've already captured the transport stream and converted to DVD-compatible widescreen mpeg, so alternatively if you have somewhere I can upload the show to my downconverted mpeg is about 1.2GBytes.


Thats the only show ever (and just the last 2 weeks, and last week got many meaning Foxes end) to do that. Got all of Alias last night just find. Will from now on grab both SD and HD versions of 24. My Laptop is due in next week, but it'll be a few weeks before I can connect to the 6412. (need cable, will reformat to XP Pro from Home, etc...) I also had redone the order to the just released I9300...P-M 1.6 533Mhz Bus, Go 6800 256Mb, 17" WXGA (think WUXGA would be tough on my eyes) under 8lbs.

Where can I download it from? I use BT daily for my concert downloads.... (Traders Den) or maybe theres a site you can use to BT it from? WOuld really like to watch it on the big screen with 5.1 over using my PC....

I do burn DVD's on my Desktop. Nero 6+ Suite and all the various tools. Also use Print Media so I can print directly on the discs (really cool!) using the Epson R200......

Thanks!

John

Originally posted by moyekj
niesman, American Idol last night looked very good and no macro-blocking for me. Didn't watch anything else last night.

Yes, AI looked good, however, I noticed MB on "Cat in the Hat" HBO, the opening flag waving on West Wing NBC, and some minor stuff on CBS. I am just wondering if Cox is messing with the quality as they get ready for the March firmware update from Moto. Remember last summer the HD quality suffered before the Halloween update.

niesman

JET - 24 season 4 episode 13 hdtv torrent file can be found here:
http://s3.isohunt.com/torrents.php?ihq=24.04x13&ext=&op=and&iht=-1&nr

A more direct link:
http://s5.isohunt.com/download.php?mode=bt&id=3433669

Thanks!

Ok, got it downloaded.....looks great! But I get no sound! None! Zip! Nada!

I can play my music fine. But nothing out of this. Tried it with WMP10 & Nero Showtime. Vid is sweet...no sound. Ideas?

Did anyone else have major issues with the OC this week? I couldn't even watch it. It was full of drops out and macroblocks. I couldn't even read the captions, and the audio was so broken I kept missing parts of the conversation.
my wife is so annoyed, she wants us to go back to TIVO and standard def.

JET, you're probably missing AC3 codecs for WMP. Search for codecs online or use one of these players:
Media Player Classic: (This also can play HD transport streams extracted from 6412 directly)
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm

Videolan VLC:
http://videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

omarh, yes The OC had lots of audio dropouts for me too this week. I switched to my ReplayTV recording of OC from the analog channel and that was fine. Don't know if this was a Cox issue or a Fox issue.

Looks like this was a Fox issue since OTA had the same problem. American Idol on Tuesday had similar issues again because of Fox not Cox - Wednesday one was fine. So looks like we can't blame Cox and/or 6412 this time.

Unfortunately when i try and view a transport stream using Media Player Classic it says "No video capture pin found"


Steps on what i am doing:

Open media player classic. Go to File and select Open Device. I then select the Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device and click ok.

I have tried turning off and on my cable box, changing between non hd channels and HD channels but nothing seems to help. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

The program seems to have no problems at all playing previously recorded TS files.

On a side note, All of the On Demand providers seem to be up in my area. It is very cool that COX decided to include the HBO, CINEMAX, and STARZ channels for free as long as you subscribe to there respected packages.

TheRock, I think I wasn't clear. Media Player Classic cannot capture and play a transport stream at the same time. You have to first capture the transport stream with CapDVHS and then you can play it.

For real time capture + play you can do it with VideoLAN VLC if you have a machine that is powerful enough. Download and install version 0.8.1 then setup a shortcut with the following target line:
C:\home\vlc8\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe "dshow://-vdev="Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device" :dshow-adev="" :dshow-size="" :no-dshow-config"
(obviously change the path to vlc.exe according to where you installed it).

Thanks for the clarification moyekj.

The Classic Media player seems like a good player none the less. It does a good job going frame by frame for making caps. Doesnt seem to have the ability to reverse frame by frame as far as i can tell but that isnt a huge deal.

As for VLC. I already have this program and use it on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately my machine doesnt seem to be powerful enough to view the stream(lots of breakups and constant pixelation blocking)

Guess i am stuck with watching the video with MYHD program connected to the Composite cable while recording with CapDVHS.

Originally posted by moyekj
JET, you're probably missing AC3 codecs for WMP. Search for codecs online or use one of these players:
Media Player Classic: (This also can play HD transport streams extracted from 6412 directly)
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm

Videolan VLC:
http://videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Thanks! WinClassic works great!

FYI. I confirmed today that EOD movies can also be captured via firewire in our market. Only problem is that a widescreen movie is captured as 4:3 aspect ratio for some reason so one is better off with 4:3 version of the movie.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the average bitrate was 3.8Mbps and that even only on a 30" LCD HDTV the picture quality was noticeably bad - just like most of the SD digital channels - very much to be desired in quality. I think I'll stick to Netflix for movies thank you very much as a good DVD blows away an EOD movie as well as many HDTV broadcasts.

Wow, I'm totally shocked (in a good way). I borrowed my friend's computer which has a Dvico Fusion HDTV3 tuner which supports QAM (for cable) and OTA. He also let me borrow his amplified indoor Samsung Axession antenna. Haven't played much with QAM mode yet as to scan the QAM connection would take a while, but did verify it could tune all network HDTV channels.

What really shocked me is with the OTA tuner I was able to successfully tune 13 digital stations, including all the major network ones! And remember this is way down here in Mission Viejo behind a hill and using simply an indoor amplified antenna sitting on the carpet in a corner of the living room pointing NW.

Here's the results of my tests thus far (I'll post the full set of QAM channels later, but the main HDTV ones are listed):

QAM
NBCHD 84.1
CBSHD 85.1
ABCHD 99.1
ABCNEWS 99.2
FOXHD 99.3
EOD 112.1


OTA
KCBS-DT 60 CBS 02.1 80% GOOD
NBC4-LA 36 NBC 04.1 68% GOOD
KTLA-D1 31 WB 05.1 74% GOOD
KABC-DT 53 ABC 07.1 79% GOOD
KCAL-DT 43 IND 09.1 89% GOOD
KTTV-DT 65 FOX 11.1 74% GOOD
KWHY-DT 42 IND 22.1 94% GOOD
KTBN-DT 23 TBN 23.1 40% NO
KMEX-DT 35 UNI 34.1 76% GOOD
KOCE-DT 48 PBS 50.2 100% GOOD
KVEA-DT 39 TEL 52.1 65% GOOD
KDOC-DT 32 IND 56.1 80% GOOD
KLCS-DT 41 PBS 58.1 79% GOOD
KCET-DT 59 PBS 59.1 29% NO
KSCI-DT 61 ASI 61.1 33% NO
KRCA-DT 68 IND 62.1 80% GOOD
KCOP-DT 66 UPN 66.1 28% NO

That is very cool for you moyekj.

I started out with an indoor antenna but i was only able to receive CBS and NBC, and even then the signal was terrible and never reliable. Since then i have installed a rooftop antenna and can receive pretty much all the stations you listed except one. No matter were i point my rooftop antenna i have never been able to receive UPN. That is the only major network i haven't been able to receive.

I also live in Mission Viejo and have to deal with the tough terrain. When i first was investigating a rooftop antenna several people at The Good Guys told me that i would need a 50-80 ft boom to receive ANYTHING. Well they were wrong. My signal strength isn't the best and if there is any type of bad weather even just sprinkles my feeds are unwatchable. I just wish i knew the exact location of our closest broadcast transmission tower.

The signal strength varies greatly station to station. The WB always has a very high fantastic signal strength. Unfortunately since they added a second logo to there screen for the ktla branch i have stopped watching that station. CBS is a station that always used to get a very good signal strength but recently my signal has lowered greatly.

I was thinking about buying a second hd tuner card. The one you listed looks very nice and is only $150 the last time i checked. That is less than half of what i paid for MYHD card a couple years ago and it doesnt have a QAM tuner.

Looks like i am going to email COX again about them adding new HD channels. I saw a ANTI SATELLITE commercial from COX were the main focus was on Satellite providers often use of the phrase "we are working on it" in regards to new services and channels. I found this very amusing but also very upsetting because that is almost word for word what COX has told all of us when we inquire about new channels being added. They just love to tute there own horn and bash Satellite.

Thanks TheRock, this was more out of curiosity than anything else. I only use the 6412 for HD network recordings anyway and don't care about all the SD digital channels I was forced to subscribe to in order to get Cox HD. So exploring a little to see what other options are out there. Certainly seems possible to build your own HD PVR solution, but not very cheaply and not in such a nice form factor. Will experiment with QAM tuning with the Dvico tuner tonight or tomorrow - will be interesting to see if it can pickup some of the digital channels I subscribe to, though without cable card I sincerely doubt it - would expect only the HD network channels to work (only ones in the clear).

Sure wish the 6412 could also accept OTA HD input - that would be Nirvana.

I have a particular desire to watch some of the nature shows on PBS in HD from KCET or KOCE. My SO (with whom I have had major WAF problems about my whole investment in a HT) would complain about my "unnecessary expenditure" a bit less if we could have this available.

As we all know, Cox OC is dragging their feet on adding new channels to the ten they now carry. Emailing them just adds to the general frustration with "boiler plate" responses that many of us have seen from them!

I have a Sammy 4674 DLP, with no internal tuners, and the Moto 6412 STB/DVR that Cox supplies.

What would I need to do to get the PBS HD signal at my house in MV? which is NOT on the top of a hill but more in a valley type area...OTA antennas are scarce around here and not just because everyone has cable. This does not seem to be a good area for OTA reception.

Kevin and others talk about indoor antennas as being somewhat workable, depending, I would think, on the specific topography of the area where you have your home.

I am already using the single HDMI input on the Sammy for connection from my Panny 97S DVD player and the component input from my Denon reciever. However, my DVI input on the Sammy is not being used. I suppose that is where I would plug in my OTA tuner then switch inputs between the DVI input for the OTA HD channels Cox doesn't carry and the other component input coming from the Cox box (thru my Denon) for those that they do/or which are only avail on cable.

As my Denon only has 2 Optical inputs, both already in use, I would have to use Coax from the the ATSC tuner to my Coax digital input to get Dolby etc Surround Sound as well from the OTA stations.

This ATSC tuner looks workable...anyone know anything about it?

http://www.humaxusa.com/STB_HFA100_framset.html

It is available on Amazon for $199 + S&H.

Anyway, my question is this:

Is it worth the cost and hassle to do this in this area? I would have to add the price of a good indoor antenna (and hope it would bring in an acceptable strength signal) to the above and sure as hell, as soon as I did that (and the return time on the gear ran out,) Cox will add PBS!

What other (not on Cox's OC HD list at this time) HD OTA stations do you think I could I pick up using an ATSC tuner.

Appreciate any input on this before I pull the trigger on this new gear (and take more heat from the SO if it doesn't do the job!)

I don't know how much help this is going to be chuckip but i thought i would post this anyway.

You are probably looking at an investment of at least $250 to properly set up an over the air antenna/tuner package. Personally the channels that i can receive exclusively with my Antenna aren't worth that kind of investment. I set my package up when COX didn't serve ANY HD channels. The High Def offerings for PBS are often very nice and entertaining but i don't feel they are worthy of a $250 investment.

You may feel the lack of rooftop antenna's in the Mission Viejo area are based solely on bad terrain and Cox offering there service. That is not the case. Mission Viejo seriously advocated against rooftop antennas in the past and only recently have there laws weakened. When i installed my rooftop antenna my father investigated the situation and found out that if any of my neighbors complained i would have to take the thing down.

I just did a channel scan with my rooftop antenna hooked up to MYHD tuner card installed in my PC and here are the results:



D02-1 KCBS-DT
D04-1 NBC4-LA
D04-2 WX-Plus STUPID NBC WEATHER CHANNEL
D05-1 KTLA-D1
D05-2 KTLA-D2 SPANISH WB AFFILIATE
D07-1 KABC-DT
D07-2 KABC-NN ABC NEWS CHANNEL
D07-3 KABC-RD ABC SATELIGHT DOPLER 7
D09-1 KCAL-DT
D11-1 KTTV DT
D22-1 KWHY-DT
D28-1 KCET-HD
D28-2 KCET-SD
D40-4 KTBN D4
D40-2 KTBN D2
D40-1 KTBN D1
D40-3 KTBN D3
D50-3 KOCE-DT
D50-2 KOCE-DT
D50-1 KOCE-DT
D56-1 KDOC-DT
D56-2 KDOC-SD
D57-1 KJLA-DT
D62-1 KRCA1
D62-2 KRCA2
D62-3 KRCA3
D62-4 KRCA4

These are US DTV Channels that i picked up for the very first time tonight. The channels are listed and the signal strength is given but my screen is black when i tune into them. I opened my tuner card in every multimedia program that supports it but i was never able to view the stations. Guess i need a special tuner or decoder to view them. Kind of sad that a basic cheap up and coming company offers ESPN2 yet COX doesn't. For those who dont know USDTV is a pay service that uses over the air antennas to send people pay channels previously only offered on cable and satelight.

D99-3 ESPN2
D99-6 FOOD
D99-9 HGTV
D99-2 ESPN

My motivation for OTA now has become as a means to use with my ReplayTVs. A downconverted OTA HD signal should look much nicer than the analog recording and with the right tuner (Samsung) I can preserve widescreen aspect ratio if desired. And whichever Replay I use I can stream to any other TV in the house.

Since it worked so well I just purchased a refurbished Samsung Axession antenna from Ebay - $21 shipped! The one I'm using now was from Ebay my friend got for $15 shipped and worked well so I figure I'd take a chance too. Next I'll be shopping for a Samsung OTA tuner - Samsung because of the capability of preserving 16:9 aspect ratio for S-video output. As TheRock says, you're looking at $250+ for most decent OTA tuners unless you go for a used tuner from Ebay.

EDIT: I found a refurbished Samsung SIR-T451 from a Samsung outlet for $145 shipped so couldn't resist. It has 90 day warranty so pretty low risk. So now an antenna and receiver are on the way for a total of less than $170. Shall see how it all works out.

Don't have many details, but word has it from "reliable sources" that 2 non-disclosed HDTV channels are to be added at end of April to Cox OC lineup along with perhaps other SD digital lineup additions and more negotiations for further HDTV channels before the end of the year. It's likely we will hear about some of these changes from official sources fairly soon.

Thanks for the input. Gonna put my OTA antenna and HD tuner on hold for now.

Especially after reading Kevin's post about 2 new HD channels being added to COX OCs lineup..one of them MIGHT be the highly desired PBS!

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback!

OK, Cox adverts in this weekends Registar show KOCE & KCET being added on April 23.

Damn. It is cool they are adding those channels and i know many people here will be very happy but i was hoping for something more substantial. I was hoping it would be Universalhd and some movie channel like StarzHD. Oh well. Anything is better than nothing. But it does kind of show you that COX isn't really that willing to spend a large amount of money for new channels. They probably were able to get both KOCE & KCET for 500% less than HD movie channels were asking.

There's no way Cox can satisfy everyone and quick enough. I'm just glad to see some progress on this front after a prolonged period of no HDTV channels added. Hopefully more negotiations will be completed before the end of the year - adding to the $5/month HD tier would seem like a good place for the more "expensive" channels. Right now I can't justify $5/month for HD tier (only ESPNHD & DiscoveryHD) when it's not NFL season so don't subscribe. If there were a couple more cable channels in the HD tier I would definately subscribe to it year round.

Figures they'd add KCET after Enterprise has been cancelled......sure hope they'll rerun the series.......Still wondering whats the hold up with HDnet? I want to see CART in HD!

Enterprise is on KCOP (UPN 13).

Argh! Your right, I messed up the call letters. It's even worse then I though! Bah!

Off topic again I purchased a refurbished Samsung SIR-T451 OTA + QAM HDTV tuner for $140 shipped and the Samsung Indoor Amplified HDTV antenna I described in earlier posts for $20 shipped. So for a grand total $160 I should now have pretty good OTA HDTV capability. The Samsung tuner is nice in that it can output anamorphic widescreen via S-video output so I can send that as input to my ReplayTV and get nice downconverted HDTV recordings or nicer SD digital recordings on my ReplayTV as opposed to the analog recordings. These nicer looking recordings I can then stream to any TV in the house (since I have a ReplayTV for each TV).

Tuner will arrive tomorrow and antenna on Friday so it should be an interesting weekend getting things setup and working with the ReplayTV. I'm very hopeful about the end result - it won't be HDTV quality but it should be very good quality video available for viewing on any TV in the house - very nice compliment to the 6412.

Also will be nice to have a way to compare Cox versus OTA HDTV. As I mentioned in other thread so far the comparisons I made are very favorable - Cox OC doesn't do much if any bit-rate reduction on the HDTV re-broadcasts.

I still can't believe that living in south Mission Viejo I'm able to get 13 OTA digital stations from Mount Wilson about 50 miles away, and most of them at 75% or better signal strength, all using a cheap indoor antenna.

If you dont mind I'd like know where you got the Samsung? I'm always helping folks at work get into HD cheaply, and I often myself think of getting one. I do have one heck of slope in the direction of Mt Wilson, so I'm doubtful of signal....but who knows.

For the antenna I got it through ebay. Go to ebay and search for "samsung indoor amplified hdtv antenna" and you will see many hits of bids starting at $0.99. Put a bid of $5-$10 or so and it's yours (shipping is around $13). (You want the 5.2 version of it).

For the tuner I got a refurb from amazon.com retailer (samsungmall) which has a 90 day warranty. The tuner you can buy at CC or other B&M stores for $250 new if you wish - I didn't want to pay that much though.

I got the Samsung tuner + antenna up and running last night and 1 ReplayTV controlling the tuner. Downconverted HD via S-video port from tuner into ReplayTV I setup as 16:9 full (i.e. anamorphic widescreen) so when viewing these recordings on my HDTV it occupies entire screen - something the 6412 doesn't do. The downconverted HD recordings look very nice and I have access to them from any TV in the house. Very happy with the setup. Will be nice to finally watch Star Trek Enterprise in full widescreen as well as remaining Lakers games on KCAL-DT - too bad they stink this season.

The Samsung QAM capabilities are not up to snuff. It found a few HD digital channels but there was a lot of video tiling - brought back memories of our old 6412 bug friend. So I'll be using it in OTA mode.

Hi All,

I have been waiting for cox to come to my home before posting. In short I have been complaining in the past about macro blocking and audio drop outs during live sports on ABC and Fox HD. In the past couple of days I stopped receiving guide information. I tried the numerous guide fixes posted on this thread (thank you, you know who you are), none worked and looked at the OOB in the diagnostics which read back all zero's. Cox came and replaced the box, everything works again. The interesting note in all of this is that I mentioned my frustrations with 707 and 711 to the service rep. He replied that this happens ALL THE TIME with 707 and 711. The reason being that they are presently in the FM band and that any stray FM that is picked up in the cable line or the box will cause drop outs and marcoblocking. This can also lead to missed recordings if stray FM is strong during the recording start. The solution is (as we all know) to move all channels to digital and move 707 and 711 out of the FM band. The rep said that Cox has a goal of doing this by the end of 2005.

niesman

niesman, thanks for your post - that is very interesting. When I showed one of my friends the OC Headend Excel spreadsheet we put together here a while ago he commented that putting FOXHD and ABCHD (and the other sub-channels) in the FM band was not a good idea - I didn't think much of it until your post. Still, the coax cable is fairly well shielded so wouldn't have thought it would be much of a problem.

Perhaps I misread your post, but are you saying that digital simulcast of analog channels is a Cox OC goal by the end of 2005? If so that is very interesting news indeed. Comcast is already doing this in many markets so perhaps Cox is trying to keep up with the competition and solve all the complaints from customers about analog channel quality with HD PVR and HD non-PVR boxes.

Thanks, niesman! That might explain what I've been seeing: frequent macro blocks and audio drop-outs on 707 and 711 when I'm using my wireless network. I had thought it was a bandwidth issue with Cox internet access, but it never happened when using only the PC that's wired directly to the network. It happens only when I'm using my work laptop or when my son is on Xbox Live - both wireless. I have to wait up to 9 months for a fix? As it is I have to watch what I'm doing if something is recording on one of these two stations. %$#$##&^&%!

Originally posted by moyekj

Perhaps I misread your post, but are you saying that digital simulcast of analog channels is a Cox OC goal by the end of 2005?

moyekj,

No you did not misread my post, according to the rep, Cox is very aware of the FM problem and is concerned about competition from D*. They want to be all digital by the end of the year. Also, with regard to your comment on the shielding of coax cable, yes the cable is shielded, but any loose junctions in the home or poor workmanship within the box can allow stray FM to couple to the HD signal. My hunch is that FM was entering in the TV/telephone junction box located on the side of my home. I have recently removed all of the cheap splitters Cox had in the box and installed an Electroline 8-way amp. Since then then I have not seen as much MB on live feeds. I also have a wireless network within my home, but I have not made any direct observations of MB and wireless laptop use.

nieman

Steve, FYI I have 4 802.11g access points bridged together around the house on and active all the time (used for streaming Video with my ReplayTVs) as well as a wireless laptop I use all over the house too (and use that laptop to extract recordings from 6412 via firewire). I never noticed any interference. Plus 802.11b/g uses a 2.4GHz carrier frequency which is way outside the FM band range. Which is why I'm really puzzled if indeed you are having problems due to wireless networking interference and not something else.

niesman, I too use an 8-way Electroline amp which replaced a Motorola amp and a bunch of 2-way splitters and I have 2 unused splits properly terminated with 75 ohm resistor caps.

The Cox all digital prospect while good in some respects is also bad. Currently I have 4 TVs/ReplayTVs which use the Cox feed directly for tuning analog channels - I'd hate to have to fork out money to rent 4 set top boxes to decode the digital channels not to mention that's excessive electronic equipment on top of all the stuff I already have. However I'm pretty sure Cox would have to continue to provide analog lineup and have a long-term phase out so not too worried about it for now, but at some point it will become a problem.

Interesting info.

One consistent problem (seems to be happening more lately) is when replaying shows I get lots of video pauses, and audio drops. I recorded all the F1 races the last 3 days (Practice, Quals, Race) on Speed for instance, and every few minutes these problems happen. I did reset the box last night before it recorded the last 2 shows, same problem still. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Edit...later watched "sunday morning" recorded early in the morning on CBS...it played fine. Wierd.....

The FM radio band is from 88 to 108 MHz. Ch 707 and 711 are on TV channel 99 which is at 117 MHZ outside the FM radio band. Any interference to the digital carrier is not coming from FM radio stations. Must be something else.

There are radio carriers on all frequencies including the ones that have the other digital carriers. The only long term solution to keeping them from being a problem is to make sure to use good quality components and coax that have good shielding.

Not getting guide data is probably not related to radio interference could be a low level issue but more likely something wrong with the box, or the guide carrier which is located in a different part of the spectrum.

Originally posted by moyekj
JET, I'm also in Mission Viejo but got the whole of 24 last night, so maybe it means some local problem to your box?

If you want to watch the show you can use ********** to retrieve the show off the internet. Over the weekend I was able to download 15 episodes of Lost via **********.

I've already captured the transport stream and converted to DVD-compatible widescreen mpeg, so alternatively if you have somewhere I can upload the show to my downconverted mpeg is about 1.2GBytes.


Hey moyekj,

I'm over in Laguna Niguel and am interested in using ********** for some episodes of shows my wife and I have missed (new baby girl does that to ya..lol). What sites would be best to take a look at in learning how to use it and also what I need to download (the program itself, etc.)

Thanks!!

Quigs, I used ABC (Yet Another ********** Client):
http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/download.php

You should open up TCP port 6881 in your router Firewall (and WindowsXP firewall if you are using it). If you want to download more than 1 file at a time then you should open up port 6882, 6883, etc.

Once installed and port 6881 properly opened up to internet all you need is to find a torrent file for the show(s) you want and download to your computer. Once you download them if you double-click on them it will open ABC and start download. Download will be very slow at first and will speed up in time. NOTE: The way that torrents work you will see uploads of the file you are downloading as well.

When hunting for Torrent files I found this site pretty good:
http://isohunt.com/
Type in your keywords in "File" field and then click on Torrents button

Many of the torrent files are avi/mpeg4 converted from HD recordings. You can use Media Player Classic for playback:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/mplayerc.exe

NOTE: I am no authority on Bittorent and only used it once to get a few shows I had missed - I suggest you should close the ports you opened up in your Firewall once done with it.

Hello....

I live in San Clemente and have used the Moto 6412 with great success over the last couple months until yesterday. [Since it was installed I've used the DVI port to connect to my TV (Toshiba 46H84) via a DVI-to-HDMI cable.]

Well I get home from work last night and the DVI port out of the blue isn't working. It will show the picture for a second then the screen will turn completely black. I unplugged and plugged everything, reset the box, did everything I could to address a handshake issue but nothing has helped. Component and the other ports works fine and if I have to I'll resort back to component.

My question is: Is anyone else who's been using their DVI port noticed any problem within the last day? I was wondering if a new software update has disabled it or something. Or, any possible ideas as to why the DVI port that has worked nearly flawlessly for the past two months is now acting dead? I called Cox but it was less than helpful. They just said "burgeoning/competing technologies are imperfect..." etc.

Thanks...

Thanks a ton moyekj! That was very clear to follow.

Don't know if this will help at all, but ... I have my dvd hooked to the Sammy using DVI and it works fine. The 6412 is hooked up with component and all is fine there, too. Don't know about any upgrades. Feel your pain!

caleboar, I've used DVI from day 1. Just yesterday there was a problem but seemingly with the TV (Philips 30" LCD HDTV) - when I selected DVI input it would strobe in and out of a pink and fuzzy picture to a moment of clarity and the pink was still there even after unplugging the DVI cable. I was really worried and no matter what I did to the 6412 it wouldn't go away. Finally I unplugged the TV from the wall for a couple of minutes and plugged it back in and then thankfully it was back to normal - very strange. So if you haven't already tried it, unplug the TV from the outlet for a couple of minutes.

Note to all DVI users - the Phase 3 6412 box has HDMI port instead of DVI. Kind of a pain for me since I'll have to buy an HDMI->DVI cable if/when switching to that box.

Thanks for the tips...nothing has worked yet but I'm not too bummed and I'll keep fiddling with it (fingers crossed). You mentioned a phase 3 box with HDMI...Do you know approx. when this will be available?

Not sure about timing for phase 3 box, but probably July at the earliest.

I used the DVI connection for awhile but didnt see much of a difference in quality so i stopped using it. If you have a second DVI cable around your house you might try that cable on your box. I dont know much about cables but sometimes they can go bad.

HDMI brings back more memories of how bad i am at buying things.

I have had my Television for awhile now but i purchased it at the worst possible time. At the time my tv was the most highly rated television and generally regarded as the best HDTV on the market. So i buy the thing and literally 1-2 months later the new and improved version comes out. Not only does it have a built-in HDTV tuner, CableCard slot, true independent memory per input, and HDMI input but it is also $1000 cheaper.

I have been happy with my set but i cant help but feel a little pissed about this situation. Spending $3000+ on anything is difficult for me but to have a better version come out so quickly afterward for cheaper really sucks. I wish Sony had a trade in policy or something. Oh well. I thought my TV would last a good 10 years before it was out of date. After just a year or so it is already there.

Recent Cox advertising confirms the 2 HD channels to be added in OC on April 28:
KOCE == PBS
and
KTLA == WB
(note that the second channel is KTLA not KCET as previously posted)

In my opinion these are pretty good additions with hopefully more on the way this year.

Sweet, KTLA is what I wanted. Some new pure HD channels would be nice though.

Again. I am thrilled they are finally adding more channels but these two are both channels i can receive for free from my rooftop antenna. I know many people in this area dont have rooftop antennas so this is great for them but i cant help but feel dissapointed. There are so many great HD channels available and COX shows how cheap they are buy offering these two. I am also mad because if the next HD channel addition takes as long as this one did we wont see any good channels for around a year.

I would have prefered any of these over there choices.
Encore-HD, Cinemax-HD, Starz-HD, TMC-HD, TNT-HD, ESPN2-HD, Universal-HD, UPN-HD, HD-Net, HD-Net Movies, Fox Sports West-HD,NBA-HD

Oh well. I guess i should just be happy. Sorry for the little rant.

Originally posted by TheRock
Again. I am thrilled they are finally adding more channels but these two are both channels i can receive for free from my rooftop antenna. I know many people in this area dont have rooftop antennas so this is great for them but i cant help but feel dissapointed. There are so many great HD channels available and COX shows how cheap they are buy offering these two. I am also mad because if the next HD channel addition takes as long as this one did we wont see any good channels for around a year.

I would have prefered any of these over there choices.
Encore-HD, Cinemax-HD, Starz-HD, TMC-HD, TNT-HD, ESPN2-HD, Universal-HD, UPN-HD, HD-Net, HD-Net Movies, Fox Sports West-HD,NBA-HD

Oh well. I guess i should just be happy. Sorry for the little rant.


ditto

Me three. I can get PBS and WB from San Diego over the air.

Originally posted by Rich4av
Me three. I can get PBS and WB from San Diego over the air. Yeah but can you DVR them in HD?

I am glad to see PBS and WB being added to the current 10 channels who broadcast in HD to one degree or another....Hopefully we WON'T have to wait a year to get some more!

I talked to a seemingly knowledgable Cox Service guy who came out to swap out my Moto 6412 when I couldn't watch another channel than the one I was recording!!!

Anyway, he said that only 1500 or so of Cox's Cable customers in So OC currently have HD STBs... I was surprised it was so few out of the tens of thousands of cable TV homes Cox serves in this area!

I told him one reason was the low number of HD channels (many of which, I am finding out, do NOT broadcast that often in TRUE 16/9 HD with DD sound etc!!) available...he says that is a constant complaint hea hears from the HD customers as well.

Another interesting point was in regard to the next gen 6412. Somehow, I got the idea that this was going to be some kind of system wide change out with new boxes being brought out to all the houses with the current ones to upgrade the service..

NOT! At least according to him!

You will have to "create" some problem with your existing box as an excuse to get a new one and not right away either, but only after it is likely that you will get the newer box when you take your old one to the Cox office in RSM to get one!

He said that there will be no way to tell by looking at the outside of the 6412 if it had the upgrades or not...only knowledge of the serial number sequence for the new boxes will tell you if you are getting a new one or another old one that has been turned in.

This was a surprise to me and I am not sure he is correct about this procedure...???

Kevin, what do you know about the best way to go about obtaining an upgraded 6412, once they become available...there are probably quite a few of us who will want to do this.

Finally, he said that Cox would make no announcement of this change in the 6412s as they do NOT want 1500 people coming in wanting new STBs...what would they do with all the old ones?

chuckip, I would think it will be more obvious than a serial # to distinguish phase 3 box from the current one. They are supposed to have a SATA port and HDMI instead of DVI - so a look at the back of the box should be a clue. Also, the current box has a label USB 1.1 in the front - so you figure that label would change to 2.0 (or perhaps there will be no label). I figure Motorola would have some kind of announcement about the new hardware, or at least a blurb about it at their website. Note that perhaps the only immediate advantage of the new hardware will be possible improvement of analog channel encoding - the SATA port and USB2 ports likely won't be activated in software when the box first comes out anyway. So if that is the case and analog channels do turn out to look better, complaining about analog channel quality enough and indicating you know a newer box is available that improves it may get you on the list for a new box. Remember when the 6412 box first came out we all had to be patient to get it since they had limited quantities - no doubt this will be the case with the newer hardware.

Remember that Cox probably paid at minimum something like $600 per box - so they would want to keep that box in service as long as possible to recoup the cost + some profit, so I can understand why they wouldn't want to replace our older boxes automatically.

Originally posted by moyekj
Yeah but can you DVR them in HD?

When I tune the San Diego HD channels OTA (I live on the OC Coast), I use my computer with MyHD's card and software. It does include DVR functions so yes, I can record them in HD if I wish ;)

Personally, I would prefer more movie channels.

I was watching a recorded program last night when suddently at 10:00pm the 6412 decided to reboot itself and download a fresh EPG. Not only was I watching something but the box was supposed to start recording Grey's Anatomy at 10:00pm so I had to wait for reboot to complete and setup a single record since it didn't start recording automatically once rebooted.

I Noticed this morning the TV Guide logo that used to be to the right of the Cox logo in the guide has now dissapeared again. I'm still getting 7 days of guide data but now diagnostics (Menu, Down, B, Up, B) show some errors downloading files like I used to get when only 6 days of guide data showed. Also, file name conventions seem to have changed in the diagnostics which seems to imply this is a different guide provider (perhaps this is Tribune Media Services versus TV Guide?)

Anyone else had their box reboot on them last night around 10:00 or a change in the Guide appearance and file names in diagnostics?

I don't know what time it happened yesterday but my box rebooted itself also. I had just hit the select button to start the ondemand program and it shut off. I didn't have any info for shows for a good hour but the info finally came back. I was hoping they were adding the new HD channels and the box needed to reboot to recognize them. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.

Come to think of it, the box rebooted before 10 because i was able to record both Deadwood and Grey's Anatomy. I use my computer to record shows so i don't know how the rebooting affected people who use a dvr.

Just out of curiosity how much extra a month is the DVR from COX? It would be cool to record 2 shows at once. I guess i would also have to ask for the newest box to make sure i don't have errors while i try and record shows. Also is there a firewire port on the DVR that you can connect to a computer?

Originally posted by TheRock
Just out of curiosity how much extra a month is the DVR from COX? It would be cool to record 2 shows at once. I guess i would also have to ask for the newest box to make sure i don't have errors while i try and record shows. Also is there a firewire port on the DVR that you can connect to a computer? $5/month for DVR "service". The box rental is same as non-DVR digital box at $10/month. It's really a no-brainer to have the DVR box if you already are paying for digital service anyway. Firewire extraction works for sure (just like it did for 5100/6200 boxes) and I use it very often and it works for live extraction or pre-recorded show extraction - see my sig link below for all the gory details.

P.S. There is no "newer" DVR box. If you ordered right now you'd get the same hardware and software as everyone else here. There is a software update coming up potentially in May and perhaps new hardware sometime after July timeframe but those timeframes are not solid as far as I know.

Thanks for the response. It is nice to hear that you can extract the prerecorded shows as well as live ones using the firewire port for the dvr. I will probably wait a while to order anything. An extra $15 bucks a month might not sound like much but i am already paying WAY more than i would like. Digital cable in several rooms, HD cable in one, and Internet service really adds up.

TheRock, actually it's only $5/month extra assuming you trade in your HD cable box for the DVR box, which is why I said it's a no-brainer to have the DVR box instead of the HD box. Obviously the DVR box does everything the HD box does + much more.

Mine rebooted sometime yesterday well before Greys Anatomy. I'm still getting the sound drops...was home today and recorded Under a Tuscan Sun on Encore, wife and I watched it later and must have had half a dozen drops at least. Sucks!

On Torreting, I use Bittornado. Google it, one of the best out there. I use Zone Alarm for my firewall, I never have messed with ports, I torret ROIO's all time with sites like www.tradersden.org I love Music.......

Oh. That is good news. I think i can handle an extra $5 a month. I thought the dvr was a totally different and extra unit. I thought I would still need a hd digital cable box. Guess i might just switch out one of the remaining digital cable boxes and move my HD one downstairs. Thanks again for the help.

I think there was a forced reboot yesterday to upload new guide data to account for some channel lineup changes. There are only 22 In Demand channels now when there used to be 30. frequency 747MHz was cleared up most likely to make room for the new HD channels and/or other channel additions coming at the end of the month. I'm sure there were other changes too - I'll have to compare the headend spreadsheet versus the current guide and update it at some point - probably best to wait until after the end of the month when changes have stabilized.

I was having problems again yesterday with the picture turning all pink and fuzzy on my DVI-connected HDTV to 6412. I was cursing at the 6412 and then the TV for a while and unplugging the 6412 and HDTV and nothing seemed to help. I then unplugged the DVI cable from both ends and re-connected - this time the picture turned yellow. I was encouraged by this because it seemed to imply the cable was the culprit. So I unplugged the DVI cable again and inspected both ends closely. I noticed that the pins were all angled at about 30 degrees except for one (on 1 end of the cable). So I grabbed some small pliers and twisted the offending pin to match the angle of the other pins and re-connected. Bingo! - problem solved. What's really annoying is this is a stupid "high quality" Monster cable I think I paid $70 for only a year ago or so and it's already giving me trouble.

So I would suggest first thing to check when having DVI problems is the cable!


Originally posted by caleboar
Hello....

I live in San Clemente and have used the Moto 6412 with great success over the last couple months until yesterday. [Since it was installed I've used the DVI port to connect to my TV (Toshiba 46H84) via a DVI-to-HDMI cable.]

Well I get home from work last night and the DVI port out of the blue isn't working. It will show the picture for a second then the screen will turn completely black. I unplugged and plugged everything, reset the box, did everything I could to address a handshake issue but nothing has helped. Component and the other ports works fine and if I have to I'll resort back to component.

My question is: Is anyone else who's been using their DVI port noticed any problem within the last day? I was wondering if a new software update has disabled it or something. Or, any possible ideas as to why the DVI port that has worked nearly flawlessly for the past two months is now acting dead? I called Cox but it was less than helpful. They just said "burgeoning/competing technologies are imperfect..." etc.

Thanks...

From time to time, I nudge the Cox Customer Service people about adding new HD Channels in So OC.

Well, I got this reply today that documents what has already been reported here as in the works...but now with details:

Dear Mr. Proche,

Thank you for your reply.

Good news for Orange County Cox High Definition cable customers. New
channels to be added to HD Service effective April 28th.
Ch. 705 - KTLA HD
Ch. 710 - KOCE HD

As mentioned in our previous email the San Diego area does offer
Universal HD and PBS HD while these channels are not yet available to
our customers in Orange County. Each Cox service area has different
channels that are available to the customers of that area based on the
negotiations and agreed upon contracts between the networks and Cox to
provide the channels for that area.

We understand how anxious our customers are for more HD channels and
are
working continuously to increase the number available over the next
year. Unfortunately, we can not disclose information regarding
upcoming
releases until all negotiations have been completed and contracts in
place. We appreciate your patience as our HD channel lineup continues
to grow.

Thank you for being a valued Cox customer and allowing us to assist you
via cox.com.

Sincerely,
SD CCC
Customer Care Dept
Brenda
Cox Communications - Customer Care
Online Support Team
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brenda's response seems to indicate that KOCE-HD and PBS-HD are two seperate channels with different programs...we now will get KOCE-HD but not PBS-HD?

I thought that PBS-HD is more of a national HD Feed that is picked up and rebroadcast (OTA or by a Cable provider) by the local affiliates, such as KOCE.

Can someone clear this up?

There is a website for PBS-HD with a schedule of programs...is THIS what we will be seeing on KOCE-HD?

Also, I havn't checked, but what worth watching in HD will we get from KTLA-HD?

Yes, I too would wish for HD-NET or Universal-HD, etc....but, lets' be thankful for what we ARE getting and look forward to what is in the "HD Pipleline" for us!

Originally posted by chuckip
Also, I havn't checked, but what worth watching in HD will we get from KTLA-HD?



Chuck, thanks for the news. From my standpoint the only big win with KTLA is Smallville, which is huge for me and mine. I think there are several other WB shows in HD, but Smallville is the only thing we've ever watched.

Smallville and Enterprise were the last regular scripted series that we were stuck watching in SD. It's too late for Enterprise, but we'll sure be happy to finally have Smallville.

...Looked up WB HD lineup:
Everwood
Gilmore Girls
One Tree Hill
Smallville
Jack & Bobby
What I Like About You
Reba
Living with Fran
Summerland

....yawn

Cheers,
Ray

Quick On-Demand Question. Mine has never worked, I always get an error 114 message.....I've ignored it forever but finally decided to call it in. So tomorrow a tech will be here. I have a reg Digital Box in the Master, and of course the HD-PVR. Both show the same error, so it mst be a line problem.

My question is, is there anyway my Electroline Amp/Splitter could be causing the problem? I have the 4 port model EDA 4-G from the E-bay store. Everything else works fine, great signal. Just want to make sure the problem is not something of mine before they get out here...

JET, I use an 8-way amplified Electroline splitter and have used VOD without problems and my Cable Modem connection through the amp also works fine. The electroline provides for a return path but the return signal strength will be somewhat compromised (forget the dB drop number). My guess is the tech should be able to measure the return signal strength to see if it's a problem.

One suggestion is perhaps before the tech comes take the Electroline out of the picture completely and provide a straight connection from the drop to one of your set-top-boxes and try VOD again - obviously if it still doesn't work you can rule out the Electroline as the problem. That's also a good way to see how good a job the Electroline is doing. For me a straight connection or going through Electroline I get pretty much identical S/N and AGC readings in 6412 diagnostics, so I know the Electroline is doing a good job.

Thanks for the quick reply, maybe later tonight when the attic cools I'll look into it. I'd be surprised if it was the problem, it's supposed to work with everything but cable modems. (I have that routed seperately)

Most likely the street or house line.....I just don't want to be charged for a percieved problem on my end.

Surprised I get a tech so soon, usually it's days or a week for service, not the next afternoon.....

Works fine for cable modem too - my cable drop goes directly into the Electroline input which gets split 8-ways (6 in use, 2 terminated) and 1 of the splits goes to Cable Modem. No problems whatsoever. So not sure why you were told not to use it for cable modem connection? I like the way I have it because otherwise you'd have to split the cable drop into 2 - 1 split feeding cable modem, the other to the Electroline, so you've already degraded signal from the drop before you get to the Electroline and thus are possibly getting sub-optimal feeds for the rest of the house, though it may not matter much.

If you go to his store he says it does not work with Cable modems, only the newer XP2400 series do. Otherwise they are the same......just search at E-Bay (cant do links to them here) for Electroline under my model and you'll see what I mean. Same for the regular 8 port models, the newer ones do support Cable Modems....

I guess I must have the newer model then. If yours doesn't work with cable modems then it seems to imply there is no return path which may well be the reason for your EOD problem.

Actually it has whats known as "passive" return:

In most situations you can connect a cable modem to a 1, 2, or 4 port (passive return) amplifier with no problem. 8 port passive return amplifiers are generally not recommended for these situations. You can use the ACTIVE RETURN model (PDI) in both 4 and 8 port versions when a cable modem is involved.

The newer 4 & 8 ports use "active" return.

I'm pretty sure I have the "passive" return model (i.e. no return path amplification) and don't have problems - must have lucked out. I remember thinking after ordering that perhaps I should have bought the active return model instead but since mine worked I didn't think about it anymore.

It looks like I will finally be getting EOD this week. Before yesterday, I couldn't even switch to channel 1 - it simply wasn't there. Now I can get to the channel, but I can't do anything else. When I press Select, the screen goes black for a second, then continues as if nothing happened. I assume they will have it working by Thursday, because they sent me a new channel guide in the mail which says the two new HD channels and EOD will be effective April 28th.

Has anyone been successful programming a 30 second skip into their remote? If so, which remote and what code was used. Seems as though this should be an easy task but keep getting dead ended.

Also, is there a way to know how much space is still available on the hard drive? Sure do like my Replay - now just need it to record HD!

Thanks for any info.

TBP, the 30-second skip hack is only available for 6412/Iguide solution - it's disabled in Passport. Best you can do is program a macro to use top FF speed followed by instant replay, but it's nowhere near as good, accurate or fast as a real 30-second skip. Once you get used to it, top FF followed by instant replay as soon as commercial ends works OK.

For available hard drive space and a bunch of other info consult:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html#Tips_and_Tricks

Moyekj:

I don't want to find out the answer to this question the hard way, when one of the shows I set to record stops halfway thru because I have exceeded the Hard Drive's capacity.

I see in your FAQ that you show 11 hours of capacity for HD at 1080i
and 17 hours for 720p broadcasts.

I currently have about 10 hours of HD (not sure if it is 1080 or 720?) on my 6412 and have these shows set to NOT be automatically erased as I havn't had a chance to watch them yet.

So, IF they were all 1080i then I am about out of room!

No wonder there is talk of moving some recordings to auxiliary HDs...I, unfortunately, do not have (or want to buy) a Firewire connection to my "legacy laptop", so shifting content to a computer isn't a realistic option for me....I am the perfect customer for what, I hope, will either be a larger capacity HD in the STB/DVR or a way to attach an outside HD with 200+ gigs of space to offload stuff to that you want to keep.

I appreciate the 100+ hours of SD that you can keep in the 6412 but, I don't record much if any SD...so all I am really interested in is more room to record and keep (for varying lenghts of time) HD recordings..

I may be off a bit on some of the suppositions I made above as I am a relative newby to all this, now entering my 4th week in the HD world.

Any advise or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

chuckip, you can check directly how much hard drive space you have left - see last section in this post below. Keep in mind that the average bit rates of HD programs can vary quite a lot, so it's really impossible to get a good estimate of available recording time remaining - which is why all these DVR solutions don't provide that information. For sure if you record a lot of 1080i programs (only FOX, ABC, ESPN are currently 720p) you will take quite a bit more space than 720p programs.

If you have only 1 6412 and record a lot of HD then you are kind of forced into the watch-as-it-records model. I don't know if Orange County is allowing more than 1 6412 per household yet, but it's worth asking. If you were able to rent another that would probably be an additional $10-$15 more per month and may be worth it. Still eventually though you would find you will run out of space quickly if only recording HD and keeping them for a long time.

For stuff I really want to keep I usually offload to my laptop from firewire and mostly down-converting to make a great-looking DVD. Note that with new computer hardware you can buy graphics cards with DVI output such that you can offload a recording to your computer and play back to your HDTV at a later time directly from computer. The best solution will of course be an external HD enclosure we can attach to the 6412 - but for that not only do we have to wait for new 6412 hardware to be released, but then we have to wait for the firmware to be updated to support it - my guess is it's probably at least 1 year away before we see it and that's if Cox OC is willing to sign up for it which they could choose not to - I imagine this would initially flood their support centers with problems/questions which they may not want to deal with.

This is a segment from my web page Tips & Tricks useful for a quick way of checking hard drive space:

Diagnostics Page
This is a quick means of obtaining software and firmware version information as well as available hard drive space for recordings. Also lists recently downloaded files from the headend.

1. DCT6412 should be on
2. Press Menu to display Quick Settings Menu
3. Press Down, B, Up, B (within 5 seconds)
4. Use Page- and Page+ to scroll pages
5. Press Exit to exit this page

Thanks for clearing up some loose ends. Relatively new to the HD arena also, though have had a (or three) Replays for a while. Love the picture from HD. Now to learn how to down-convert and link up to a laptop. So much tech, so little time to play!

So today is supposedly the "big day" we get 2 new HD channels: 705, 710. Didn't get a chance to check it out this morning. zap2it and Cox listings don't have these channels listed yet and neither did the guide last night, so my guess is perhaps tomorrow morning guide update (around 4:00am or so for my unit) will have the new channels show up.

Well they both are up and running for me and like i was worried about KTLA retained there second logo/bug!!! Damn.

Nice to see new HD channels but i couldnt help but email COX today about adding more.

I updated the Cox OC headend spreadsheet to account for these 2 new HD channels and to remove the 8 PPV channels that were taken away from the lineup. The spreadsheet now has 2 tabs:
Lineup by ascending channel number
Lineup by ascending carrier frequency

Not surprisingly the 2 new 1080i channels were bundled together along with another 480i channel at frequency 597MHz.

Spreadsheet can be found here:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/Cox_OC_headend3.xls

Has anyone in the Irvine area gotten EOD to work? I thought for sure they would have it working by now. I can get to Channel 1, but when I press select, the screen just blanks for a couple seconds, then continues where it left off like nothing happened. Anyone else having this problem?

Same thing happens to me. I just called Cox and they said it won't be ready in our area until middle of May. They said that they'll send a postcard (yeah, right). Also, no HD channels at this time, so who cares?

One comment on the new HD-PBS channel: As if one logo at the bottom right of the screen isn't enough, we get another on the top left. I'm glad I don't have a plasma...

EOD works fine for me in Rancho Santa Margarita with the 6412. Has been working for a couple of months. There are no HD programs that I have noticed, although you can get widescreen versions of most movies. Without this I would never use it & would still rather go rent the DVD for any movie where picture/sound quality is a concern.

Last time I tried EOD a few weeks back I wasn't at all impressed with picture quality of the widescreen movie. The DVD of the same movie looked MUCH better on my HDTV so certainly for SD movies something like Netflix is a better alternative. So personally I won't bother with EOD again unless they start offering HD selections.

Originally posted by gb61
Has anyone in the Irvine area gotten EOD to work?

I watched the Freezone EOD last night. not much in there. I just watched around 10 minutes of DIY stuff.

Initial Impressions: quality isn't as sharp as the normal broadcast. clips were cut in a wierd place (started in a wierd place).

Originally posted by moyekj


Not surprisingly the 2 new 1080i channels were bundled together along with another 480i channel at frequency 597MHz.



And not surprisingly, PBS HD has serious MB issues.

niesman

Originally posted by moyekj
I updated the Cox OC headend spreadsheet to account for these 2 new HD channels and to remove the 8 PPV channels that were taken away from the lineup. The spreadsheet now has 2 tabs:
Lineup by ascending channel number
Lineup by ascending carrier frequency

Not surprisingly the 2 new 1080i channels were bundled together along with another 480i channel at frequency 597MHz.

Spreadsheet can be found here:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/Cox_OC_headend3.xls My mistake, after a more thorough review there are only the 2 new 1080i channels at 597MHz, the NBA.COM channel moved to a different frequency and there were other changes too including a bunch more PPV channels removed as well as some foreign language channels added. I've updated the spreadsheet accordingly.

I just set up my pcHDTV card in mythTV with QAM, and it picked up NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX, but no KTLA and KOCE. These new channels encrypted or do I need to look elsewhere for the problem?

And nice job with the spreadsheet, saved me some time trying to figure thigs out.

Even further updates to the spreadsheet...

Hi guys,
I read what you have to say every day. I really want to thank moyekj for the work he has done.
My queston is, what is the box I get on my screen that is 1" high and 4" long. This time it says AowtD. I have to turn off my tv to get rid of it. Do you have this also?

Has anyone noticed that the Guide for KOCE-HD shows the same programing that is on KOCE-SD!

However, what is actually being broadcast on KOCE-HD is NOT the same programming as what is shown on KOCE-SD.

You have to go to the PBS site on the web to check the HD schedule to determine what is playing when on the HD channel.

I believe that PBS has a feed of HD programming that is picked up and rebroadcast by the individual PBS affiliates across the country. That is what is playing on KOCE-HD

I was waiting a few days to see if Cox recognizes this and fixes it so that the Guide accurately shows what is playing on the HD channel.

Can someone else check this to make sure I am seeing this right?

OK, I've seen enough of this problem lately that it's getting very annoying. Anyone seeing a green band flash for an instant across the top of the screen every so often (like 10 times per 1 hour show) on HD channels? So far I've noticed this on ABC HD and CBS HD. The defect is in the recording itself for sure - confirmed because playback shows it in same frame and a capture of the mpeg transport stream and playback on computer shows defect in same frame.

Here's a sample taken from this past Friday's episode of Numbers on CBS HD. If someone still has that recording this scene is towards the very start of the show and would be great if you could check if you see the same problem in your recording:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/CIMG0313.JPG

Still have the recording and plan to watch it later today - will keep an eye out for the problem. Can you give me an approximate minute that it occurs?

Thanks TBP - this one is like at 2 or 3 minutes into the show and there were several more scattered throughout in my recording.

Originally posted by moyekj
OK, I've seen enough of this problem lately that it's getting very annoying. Anyone seeing a green band flash for an instant across the top of the screen every so often (like 10 times per 1 hour show) on HD channels?

I've seen it and was also annoyed by it. I noticed it on CBS-HD. I figured it was CBS's transmission problem, but you say you saw it on ABC as well, so it must be Cox's problem.

gb61, actually after a lot of thinking back I think it's only on CBS-HD and I was mistaken into thinking it happens on ABC HD. I watched several ABC HD programs over the weekend and didn't see the problem on that channel. I noticed the problem last week on Amazing Race, Survivor and Numbers, all from CBS-HD. I'm fairly certain it's a CBS transmission problem not a Cox Headend problem. I've reported the problem to Cox OC so hopefully they will look into it and confirm for sure where the problem is.

Sorry for not reporting back earlier. Ended up too busy to wach the Numb3rs episode last night so just took a few minutes and can now confirm that the same flash appeared on my recording. I have also been noticing quick freezeframes - kind of a stutter - on occasion. Noticed it on an episode of 24 (FOX) we watched Friday night (don't think that isn't hard to hold off watching) and didn't think too much about it, but then it happened again during Alias (ABC) that we watched Saturday night. Does anyone else get these hiccups. I can only describe it as a freezeframe for less than a second, then skip to 'live'. Probably some sort of compression/conversion problem I will learn to live with! Keep up all the hard work everyone!

I've also seen the green banding during an episode of Cold Case. I haven't seen it on any other channel.

Last night, I saw the noise band on CBS and experienced the glitches (mini-freezes) as well...

Well i finally saw the video defect on CBS that you guys have been talking about. Although i dont like it i am glad it is on screen for much less than a second. There are several other things that bother me much more than the cbs's defect but i would like to see it stop.

Just to give you guys an idea of how long it can take for new channels to be added Cox told me that they have been trying to get KOCE ever since they started offering there HD service. Obviously they have the channel now but that is after years of dealing. I dont know why it takes so damn long for the negotiations to finalize.

It's confirmed for sure the CBS glitches are due to KCBS not Cox. Tonight at 7:51 into The Amazing Race there was a huge glitch with multiple green bands covering pretty much the whole screen and I think they spanned more than 1 frame this time. I also record Amazing Race on one of my RTVs from downconverted OTA digital tuner and saw the glitch there at exact same time, so it's definately not a Cox problem. Sure hope they get this figured out. That was the only glitch I noticed in that show tonight.

Hey there folks,

I haven't been keeping up with this forum for about the last month, so I don't know what you all have been discussing regarding the new DVR boxes. I apologize if this is a rehash of old information. A little birdy at COX reports that new boxes will be available 3rd quarter 2005, with an upgraded/different analog tuner for channels 2-97. Apparently they will be swapping out all of the boxes. The little birdy did not have any knowledge of HDMI vs. DVI, or SATA as has been reported. The replacement boxes will be Motorola as they have a contract with them.

I hope this information is helpful...................................................

Thanks for the info mikemoe. Most of the info we know about Phase 3 hardware came from VideooooGuy posts (links to them are here):
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html#DCT6412Passport_AVS_Forum_Interesting_

What was not clear was the timing of when the Phase 3 boxes would become available and if Cox would notify current DCT6412 subscribers that an "upgraded" box is available. If your "birdy" is correct it seems like good news that Cox would proactively look to replace current boxes with the new hardware in order to improve analog picture quality if nothing else. I figured we would have to make a fuss in order to get the new and improved box once/if we found out they were available. Q3 2005 I assume is calendar Q3 which would put it at July-Sep timeframe which sounds reasonable. In the meantime we look forward to a firmware/software upgrade perhaps in June to fix subscription bug and perhaps some other enhancements & bug fixes.

FYI, Cox will let you have a 2nd DCT6412 unit.
Just had it installed in the bedroom to replace the TiVo.

Hey guys. New here, but I thought you might find this interesting. My wife just went to the Cox office and swapped out our old HD STB (without DVR) for the 6412. Evidently, the Cox person told my wife, "these just came in yesterday." Is it possible I have a Phase 3? I'll let you know more once I get home and check it out for myself.

Ockham, it's doubtful but the easy check is to see the usb label in the front. If it's still 1.x then it's not a phase 3 box. Also, the back would have HDMI instead of DVI and a SATA port. I haven't seen picture of phase 3 box so this is just conjecture based on the specs VideooooGuy has given about the box.

Nope. You're right. Just a 'new out of the box' Phase 2 6412.

Been awhile since anyone has posted here. Well i emailed Cox again about adding more HD channels. Should get a responce soon. Being a NBA fan it has sucked really hard since Cox doesnt have TNTHD.

On an unrelated topic. I suggest all of you guys email KTLA (WB) about the removal of there second logo. The KTLA-DT logo is on the screen all the time even during commercials. I emailed them in the past several times but i think i am gonna send them another one.

Well as no suprise i got the stereotypical response from COX. Seems like they don't even read these emails we send them. Seems like there is just an automated computer response that fills in the channels that you are requesting with the BS response they give everyone.

I have emailed Cox OC twice now regarding the lack of detail program info on Guide for this newly added channel.

All of the entries for Ch#710 just say "KOCE-HD PROGRAMMING".

That's nice to know! But, WHAT is the programming being broadcast.

I understand it takes a while to update Guide when new channels are added, but no such problem arose with the other channel added at the same time, Warner Bros KTLA-HD, Ch #705!

What I have to do is go to the PBS-HD Website to look up what will be shown when..WHY this hassle.

No one from Cox can give me a satisfactory reply other than that this is a "known situation " that they are "working to resolve"...How hard could this be????????

I suppose they want to try and fix what they are already giving us before adding anything new!!

I have emailed both Cox and KOCE about this problem. Here is my email and the reply from KOCE. This seems strange to me..they don't KNOW what they will be broadcasting? Well maybe in a couple of months or so they will figure it out and provide a schedule...in the meantime, it is a mixed bag of stuff with no way of setting a Recording for a particular show.

This is NOT what I thought we were getting as I believed it was going to be the national PBS-HD feed which is re-broadcast by most of the PBS affiliates This has some VERY good programs on per their website...The programs on Ch 710 do NOT match the program schedule on the PBS-HD website!:

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:49:36 -0700
From: "Kathleen Yoder" <kyoder@koce.cccd.edu>
To: "CHARLES PROCHE" <ciproche@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: KOCE-HD SCHEDULE QUESTION

Charles, KOCE does not have an HD schedule in place as of yet but we will have it up and running by the end of the summer. It will show up on your Cox menu and also on our Website at www.koce.org.

Thanks for your inquiry,

Kathleen

CHARLES PROCHE wrote:

Dear KOCE:

I am a Cox Cable customer in So OC.

I have the Cox HD service and they recently added Ch 710 which is KOCE HIGH DEFINITION TV.

However, the "GUIDE" function that gives the viewer on screen programming info for all of the many channels we get does NOT have the detailed programming for KOCE HD TV?

All it says is "KOCE HIGH DEFINITION TV" in all time slots.

I thought that you may just be rebroadcasting the PBS-HD schedule but, when I checked the website for PBS-HD at http://pbs.org/tvschedules the listings on that site don't seem to match what is on the screen at the same time?

Please help me out and tell me where I can find a complete schedule of what is being broadcast and when on Cox Channel 710.

I see your KOCE logo in the lower right corner of the screen so hopefully you can answer this question for me?

Thank you.

Charles I. Proche

PS: Cox is of no help here....they have been offering your HD channel for well over a month and still can't seem to be able to include any detailed program info in the on screen "GUIDE"!!

Been having some serious picture quality problems for the past day or 2 (jun18,19). Yesterday channels 711 (fox) and 707 (abc) were horrible. They we unavailable for awhile and when they came back there was horrible breakups, pixelation, and macro blocking. The problems on those channels seem to be better today but some other channels are having issues. I have been having a weird thing going on for regular stations. Seems like interference or something but every now and then the picture goes fuzzy. Hopefully this is a result of them testing a new HD channel but i doubt it.

I have been plagued recently in a big way by what I believe is the "subscription bug". Shows not recording until you actually tune into that channel.
I am going to try out one thing I heard which was to tune one of the tuners to an analogue channel.

Also, isn't there an impending firmware release to fix this ?

Also, isn't there an impending firmware release to fix this ? Yes, several Cox markets already got the upgrade. There is a delay in OC and NE markets apparently due to trouble with EOD integration (EOD software is different in those markets than other Cox markets). It's unkown how long we will have to wait but I'm guessing about a month.

Yeah I was hit by the no record bug yesterday. I was out all weekend in HB at a Soccer Tournement, so I had the box recording: 17Hrs of Lemans on Speed, The F1 Race on Speed, and the Portland Champ Car race on CBS or NBC (forget)

I go all the Speed stuff, it was on that channel anyway....but didn't get the Portland race! Bah!

I also see a sudden increase in the subscription error on NBC/704 and missed recordings. It was OK for a long time.

When I tune to 705 (KTLADT) lately it's nothing but dark. Anyone else seeing the same?

Cox OC web site is a joke. It doesn't even list the 2 additional HD channels in the HD lineup and it's been several weeks since they were added. It hardly gets any updates that I can tell. Well actually that's not entirely true... I did notice one welcome change when first going to cox.com/oc there is no more annoying window scrolling down getting in the way of everything else.

When I tune to 705 (KTLADT) lately it's nothing but dark. Anyone else seeing the same?

Cox OC web site is a joke. It doesn't even list the 2 additional HD channels in the HD lineup and it's been several weeks since they were added. It hardly gets any updates that I can tell. Well actually that's not entirely true... I did notice one welcome change when first going to cox.com/oc there is no more annoying window scrolling down getting in the way of everything else.


I noticed this also. Ever since yesterday (june 26) 705 is blank. I dont watch the WB but i did notice this when i was surfing the channels. I was hopeing they were simply updating the station and finally removing the second logo but that doesnt seem to be the case. I just checked my rooftop antenna and it doesnt seem to be picking up the WB at all. That station usually gets the strongest signal that i recieve but it shows 0% right now. Guess the whole KTLA station is having issues and not just Cox's feed.

Yes. Cox's website is a joke. Although it does list WB and KOCE in there channel lineup. http://www.cox.com/OC/ChannelLink/SelectFranchise.asp

In another thread, it was reported that KTLA is installing a new DT antenna to improve their range, hence the current outage.

Well the WB (channel 705) is back now.

Is it just me or does HBO(700) and Showtime (740) not recordable using firewire to the pc? It seems that today that none of the things i try to record from these channels will play or be edited in any of my programs. It has the normal file sizes but the screen is blank. Also in D-VHS MPEG2 Transport Stream Capture program when i hit "record" all of the Data info is blank. I recorded CBS and didn't have any issues and the data info showed the correct info. This is a very sad thing if this is permanent. I dont have the COX DVR and this was my only way to record HD cable shows.


Well i just checked all the Digital Channels and these are the results:

HBOHD 700 (no record)
CBS 702 (record)
NBC 704 (record)
WB 705 (record)
ABC 707 (record)
KOCE 710 (record)
FOX 711 (record)
ESPN 715 (record)
INHD 716 (record)
INHD2 717 (record)
DISCHD 721 (record)
SHOHD 740 (no record)

Is anyone else having any issues with recording HBO or Showtime with there computer?

Is it just me or does HBO(700) and Showtime (740) not recordable using firewire to the pc? Check for 5C protection on those channels - how is explained here:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html#DCT6412_Firewire_mpeg2_capture_using

Most likely 5C=1 on those and other premium channels which means you could use DVHS to record but not the PC firewire solution. I don't subscribe to any premium channels so can't check myself.

Also curious if you really want to record why not rent the DVR? Perhaps you are waiting for the software/firmware update?

Thanks for the help seeing how to check if 5c is enabled. On HBOhd and Showtimehd the value is now set to 1. So i guess they decided recently that they dont want people recording those 2 channels. I guess i should just be happy they havent dissabled the other premiere channels (INHD,INHD2,DISCOVERYHD,ESPN)

I did call Cox asking about the situation earlier and the rep did say that they have recently made some changes (firmware upgrades) but she wasn't sure if that was my problem. She said she was going to ask the tech people and get back to me later today. Still waiting for the call.

I don't have Cox's DVR yet because i keep hearing it is flaky and needs updates. Also the extra $5 a month doesn't sound like much but my bill is already crazy. Not only that but the box only holds a certain amount of data and then you cant record any more. I really like recording a great deal of programs so that is an issue. I also like to archive the files to DVD and that is not currently supported. I also enjoy vidcaping and making videos from these programs. I have read a great deal of posts and threads here and it seems that i have the legal right to copy these programs. As long as i don't mass produce or sell them.

Because of this i will probably end up in the newsgroups and bittorent sites looking for HD copies of movies. Not only do they feel this is worse than just recording the show yourself but i am going to be wasting COX's bandwidth doing it. Hopefully Cox will adjust this setting so that customers like me wont lose out. They have to give an alternative to there own DVR and my computer just happens to be mine. The people who copy and sell movies will always find a way. All Cox is doing is hurting the innocent costumers who pay a SHITLOAD of money for there over priced product.

I also like to archive the files to DVD and that is not currently supported. I totally agree with you that not being able to copy the original digital transport stream via firewire port stinks. However, Cox can claim that if you use "approved" devices such as DVHS recorder that you would be able to make a digital copy. Remember that these firewire drivers are not approved drivers. Also, Cox can claim it is possible to make copies via S-video or composite analog outputs (using VHS or DVD recorder of some sort) so technically you can still make copies one way or another, just not the original digital transport stream. So even though I don't like it any more than you do I'm not convinced that Cox is violating any "fair rights" use for copies for personal reasons. It's very likely that since 5C is enabled only for certain premium channels that it is those content providers that demand it to be that way. Also, reading other forums I've discovered that in some Comcast markets (for example Seattle, Washington) 5C is enabled on ALL digital channels including the major network HD channels, so in that sense I'm happy we can readily digitally record all the HD channels you listed above.

I am crossing my fingers. It looks like COX flipped the switch back and i can now record both Showtimehd and HBOHD. Under the diagnostics the 5c now reads 0 again. Hopefully this will last. Guess it is a good idea to contact companys sometimes. Sometimes changes actually occur. Again i hope this continues. I will let you guys know if it stops working again.

For you NFL fans I just noticed that we have NFL Network on 339 and NFL EOD under:
EOD Main Menu -> FreeZone -> Cable TV Showcase -> Sports -> NFL Network
There are 2 selections:
NFL Network Xtra -> TOTAL ACCESS Week in Review
and
NFL Replay (Various extended highlights of past games)

Really sucks they are buried so deep in EOD and that EOD navigation is so frustrating, but in any case thought I would point it out.

Hello again everyone,

I haven't been keeping up as usual but I wanted to report on the replacement DCT6412. It is labeled as a DCT6412/2000. I have had mine for about one week and the video problems on the analog tuner channels are gone. The picture is clearer, but not as nice as the digi channels- but way better than it was.

The new box has SATA, HDMI, and USB 2.0 ports and a fan in the bottom of the case. Temperatures are running about 15 degrees cooler. I don't know if the SATA or USB 2.0 are hot or not, haven't tried them out.

The new problems however really suck. These problems have occurred on both my friends system and mine.

First, if you try to connect both HDMI and component video out the box becomes extremely flustered and spontaneously reboots until you unplug one of the two. This may not be a problem for folks that only use one video output but it is still a problem.

Secondly, and more importantly, when HDMI is plugged in it disables the optical audio output. This is a huge problem for me as I am using my optical to feed my receiver for audio. The second distressing part of this is that it disables Dolby Digital output every time you change channels. For example if you have selected AC-3 output from the DVR settings menu it will work fine until you change channels and then it will revert to PCM output. I do not know if the PCM output is working as I do not have a PCM cable to try. I suspect that it may not work either with HDMI. Apparently when HDMI is active it disables the other audio outputs. I don't know if this something hardcoded or if they can fix it with a software patch. (I really hope they can) I have not tried RCA outputs so I can't tell you if that is a solution or not, but hey, who the hell wants to listen to that anyway.

The temporary solution is to revert back to component video and optical outputs but then whats the point? The DVI worked fine, it was just that damn analog tuner problem.

Be forewarned if you mess around with it too much you may have to reset your box, as I learned the hard way.

The little birdy at Cox believes that no one at Cox is aware of this problem yet, but just let me find my phone.

If anyone else has any info I'd love to hear it.

Thanks all, you guys rock....

Mike :D

Thanks for info on the phase 3 boxes mikemoe. In my case I would use the component and optical outputs so sounds like I would be OK. Good to get confirmation that analog encoding is improved and that the box runs cooler. I am assuming this phase 3 box runs the same firmware/software as the older boxes? Did you get a chance to try the firewire output(s) yet to see if they still work? This is the biggest concern for me with the phase 3 box.

I would really like them to get the new firmware/software update in place ASAP for the current (now older) boxes in place so we can put the subscription bug worries behind us before I worry about getting my current box replaced with a phase 3 box. Also, don't want to do that until I get confirmation the firewire extraction still works with the phase 3 box.

I doubt (hope I am wrong?) COX will do a systemwide swap out for the new Phase 3 box...they may only be replaced for a specific reason. To do otherwise would be quite expensive and then what do they do with all the old boxes...sell them to Mexico?

There may have been a post on this question and if so please refer me to it, especially if I am wrong and we CAN expect to get the new boxes "automatically"at some time in the future?.

If not, I think my own solution is a valid one, at least for me.

I note that the new box has a fan and runs maybe 15 degress F cooler because of it. My 6412 is in an enclosed wooden cabinet with some "breathing space" but consistently runs so hot that I can just barely stand to touch the top of it at the rear left corner.

I am going to contact (or just go by with my old box under my arm!) the Cox office in this area (So OC CA) and tell them that the only place I have to place my DVR is in an inclosure that causes it to run too hot and that I need to swap it out for the new box with a fan in it so it will run cooler!

I will let you know what happens!

Al

I doubt (hope I am wrong?) COX will do a systemwide swap out for the new Phase 3 box...they may only be replaced for a specific reason.

There may have been a post on this question and if so please refer me to it, especially if I am wrong and we CAN expect to get the new boxes "automatically"at some time in the future?.
According to mikemoe in an earlier post they were/are planning on swapping out the old boxes - which I found strange at the time and still do:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5577539&&#post5577539

For someone that gets the new phase 3 box and uses the firewire port to extract shows to WinXP box I'd really appreciate some feedback on whether it works or not.

Hey there everybody,

If you want to get the phase 3 box you should call Cox and tell them you want it. I would think that complaining about the poor picture quality on the analog channels would be sufficient grounds to swap. I will see if the little birdy has any info regarding a global swap-out or if it is on a case-by-case basis. I understand that most of the installers typically find it easier to swap a box than to try and solve any underlying problems: bad cable run/signal strength, etc. The number of boxes swapped out for bs reasons is astronomical.

I do not know about the firewire and recording, I just don't have the time right know to figure that out (I'm lazy).

I believe the latest software version is x.15, I will confirm this when I get home tonight.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Any updates, Mike? Is it working OK?

Hi there,

I live in Irvine and just bought a Sony WEGA. I've had Cox Digital with a TiVo for some time now. I really appreciate all the information here about the Cox HD/DVR service -- I didn't even know they offered it.

I think I am going to give the HD/DVR a try. I had two questions that I didn't see directly answered here, although I think the answer to both is yes.

1) Currently I have a splitter on the cable running into my living room -- one goes to a cable modem, the second to the digital cable box (and out to TiVo) and the third goes directly into a Panasonic DVD recorder. Will I be able to split the signal like this with the Motorola DVR? (I would run the analog line into the TiVo instead, with no cable signal to the Panasonic.)

2) From the Motorola DVR, using the S-video cable and composite audio, will I be able to export shows to the Panasonic? (I realize that anything recorded in hi-def will no longer be hi-def.) I suspect yes but I wanted to be sure.

Thanks again for all the great information posted here. It's been a huge help.

(BTW... does anyone know how to get a big heavy broken tube TV picked up and hauled away in Irvine/Orange County?)

Whitearrow as you suspected the answer is yes to both questions. If you have too many splits you probably have to consider a bi-directional amplifier but yes you can definately run through splits before the DVR box (I do a 6-way split from cable drop to replayTVs, TVs, DVR box and cable modem in my house so naturally use a high quality bi-directional amp).

For hi-def outputs to Composite/S-video outputs it really is crappy because they are not anamorphic widescreen and thus will be letterboxed with black bars at least on top & bottom. For 4:3 content on 16:9 channels they are further letterboxed on the sides too resulting in a significantly reduced picture on your final display.

I was at Circuit City in Newport Beach today and saw the Cox guy swapping out all the old 6412 with the new "6412 III" which had the "USB 2.0" port in the front. He didn't give any more info than confirming that "eventually" you'll be able to add additional hard drives.

Did anyone call Cox to request a Phase III box?

One more question... when I plugged in the cable to the TV, I found the HD channel with the "KOCE" bug in the corner at 86.1 or whatever... is this the same PBS channel in the Cox HD lineup?

Also, did anyone ever find listings for that channel? I believe I saw it mentioned earlier in this thread but I wasn't sure if an answer was discovered. The first show I bumped into was Smart Travels and it sure looked beautiful in hi-def.

Thanks again. I put in my order and my box is supposed to come next Thursday.

KOCE is the only PBS channel in the Cox OC HD lineup currently. Note that all these local HD channels are just re-transmission of local OTA feeds. The listings problem someone posted here a while back is a problem with KOCE itself not providing the information to the channel guide providers. The problem is still there last I checked and the solution is mostly in the hands of KOCE.

Anyone can confirm firewire capture works with the Phase 3 box yet? Whitearrow, if you get a phase 3 box (with HDMI, SATA and USB 2.x ports and fan on the bottom) would appreciate if you can try out the firewire capture - instructions in my sig link below.

KOCE is the only PBS channel in the Cox OC HD lineup currently. Note that all these local HD channels are just re-transmission of local OTA feeds.

It is bizarre that KOCE has nothing about its digital channel on its website. The main PBS digital site has them listed as an affiliate with digital broadcasts, but KOCE doesn't seem to acknowledge that it exists. Bizarre, especially at a time when KOCE is trying to increase public support -- you would think they'd be catering to people like early adopters of HDTV.

Whitearrow, if you get a phase 3 box (with HDMI, SATA and USB 2.x ports and fan on the bottom) would appreciate if you can try out the firewire capture - instructions in my sig link below.

That looks a bit daunting, but I will give the capture part a try once I get installed.

I hope I get a phase 3 box. I am holding off buying a cable until I see whether the cable box has HDMI or DVI -- I don't know whether I need an HDMI to HDMI or a DVI to HDMI.

Does anyone know if PIP works on the Phase 3?

Did the Motorola Diagnostic pages change at all with the addition of SATA on the Phase 3? In other words, is there now a SATA diag page? If so what does it display?

Thanks

I was the member who previously posted about Cox policy on the new Phase 3 DVRs and if it would be one by one or global as far as how to get the new boxes out to the customers who now have the (I guess "Phase 2") units.

I now have the answer, at least as far as Cox OC is concerned. I called Customer Service today and spoke with "Carmen" who was most helpful to me.

I told her that I had an old 6412 and that there were 3 problems with it:
1. Subscription Bug
2. Poor analog channel reception
3. Runs too hot.

I indicated that I wanted to come in to their RSM office and "swap out" my Phase 2 box for a Phase 3 one with the USB 2.0 port on the front.

She advised that they do NOT do swap outs at the Cox office location due to the need to make sure it is properly connected and booted up. The ONLY way, she says, to obtain the Phase 3 is for a tech to bring it out to your house to install and pick up the old unit.

She then had a tip for me. She said that a service call would be at no charge, BUT, at this time (and she didn't know for how much longer) it was "Likely" (her word) that the unit brought out to swap out would just be ANOTHER PHASE 2 BOX!! I told her that was ridiculous, as I knew, just as one example, that the new unit has an internal fan and my box is getting too hot in the enclosed cabinet where I have it (SO won't let me sit it out where it would get more ventilation...doesn't "look nice"!)

She then went to her Supervisor and left me on hold for 10 mins (should be an FCC reg about hold times with Cable operators!)...

Finally, she came back with the solution:

Cox is now offering a "non-service related" swap out for a Phase 3 6412.

Here is the catch...in order to insure you get the new box, they have instituted a new fee of $31.50 to do this.

I hesitated as I didn't think this was appropriate since I had a SERVICE related problem (problemS actually) and should't have to pay ANYTHING to get it fixed!

Again back to the Supervisor (I got the feeling I was the first customer to ask her about this...maybe a first impression item for the Supervisor as well...which would explain the looooooooooooong hold times).

NOPE...if you want a new box you PAY or you take your chances on having a Phase 3 swap out on a pure "service" call.

I almost said to "forget it"....but, thinking about the lousy PQ I got on TNT Ch 18 watching the stock car race yesterday (vs the truly spectacular NBC and FOX HD etc coverage of NASCAR that spoiled me so!) and knowing that 6 more races this season are scheduled to be broadcast on analog channel TNT, I caved in and ordered the $31.50 call, which is set for this Saturday between 10AM and Noon.

I will post here as to how that goes and what I can find out from the installer (if anything).

So, that appears to be the answer as to the swap out question...This will prolly change later as more Phase 3 boxes are added to Cox OC's inventory..but for "early adopters" like me..you pay da man or you don't and watch it "snow" on all your analog channels!!

I just picked up a Voom receiver and a 40in UHF antenna from Radioshack (15-2160). Before getting on my roof and setting everything up, I tried hooking up the antenna in my living room but did not pick up a single signal. Should I be worried about this or is there a huge difference between mounting on the roof and using the antenna indoors?

Ordered HDTV (1 HD-DVr, 1 HDTV w/ component, 1 normal digital box, along with the HBO HD package) service to be installed this Saturday. I requested a HD-DVR with HDMI to be connected to my Pioneer 50" plasma PDP-5050HD.

Cox transferred me to tech who then put a note for sales to have them supply me with the Motorola 6413. We'll see what happens saturday.

This is the first I have heard about Moto re-designating thier newest STB as a model "6413" ?

Is this a fact or was that a typo in ammo_collector's post?

Guess I will find out this Saturday when I am going to get one as well!

This would be better than just describing it when discussing with Cox. You just ask for a 6413.

PS: Just found this posted today in the HD Recorders and Player's Section from someone who already has one:

"The easiest way I can see is on the front. Mine says "6412 III". The version III also has HDMI and USB 2.0 while the version II has DVI and USB 1.1"

Looks like it was just a typo (or a guess?)

When I ordered, I asked for a HD-DVR 6412 Phase 3 with HDMI outputs. The tech put me on hold and put a note for the salesperson to order a 6413. We'll find out if this is a new model number or an internal designation.

This is the first I have heard about Moto re-designating thier newest STB as a model "6413" ?

Is this a fact or was that a typo in ammo_collector's post?

Guess I will find out this Saturday when I am going to get one as well!

This would be better than just describing it when discussing with Cox. You just ask for a 6413.

PS: Just found this posted today in the HD Recorders and Player's Section from someone who already has one:

"The easiest way I can see is on the front. Mine says "6412 III". The version III also has HDMI and USB 2.0 while the version II has DVI and USB 1.1"

Looks like it was just a typo (or a guess?)

I was the one in the 6412 thread that mentioned that I have the 6412 III. I just found this thread today. I have been very happy with the improved picture quality on the the non-HD channels with this model and I have noticed that the unit runs at around 105 degrees (not in an enclosed case). I have not as of yet used the USB 2.0 or SATA. I have not had any problems with the HDMI cutting off the other outputs. I currently am using the HDMI direct to TV (Mits 62725), component video also direct to tv for PIP comparison and yes the HDMI looks much better. But I still cannot have the PIP on two different channels which I believe is the Cox software at this point. I am using Coax out to receiver for sound. I will have to pay attention to see if there is an impact that I saw mentioned above regarding the signal switching off of Dolby D on the HD channels.

I am having the box replaced today because the hard drive chirps regularly when recording or accessing, so we'll see what a replacement III brings.

Overall I have been very happy with the better picture quality but I would still like to have many of the software glitches fixed which I understand will happen when they figure out how to get the upgraded software to work with our EOD.

Well I got the 6412 phase 3 yesterday from Cox. My request for the phase 3 was passed along to the installers -- it was on the top of the workorder.

Overall, it seems to work pretty well so far. As someone who's used to TiVo, I think the software is kinda clunky, but I was expecting that.

I tried several recordings yesterday evening and overnight, and had a few questions.

1) I recorded (by selecting from the Guide) Smallville last night and the movie "Troy" overnight. Both of them recorded over the scheduled time, and not at any request of mine. Smallville recorded almost 20 minutes extra (until, I think, I changed the channel on that tuner) and Troy recorded more than an hour extra, well over 4 hours total.

The time listed on the Info screen is the correct amount of time for the recording (1 hr. for Smallville, 3 hours or whatever Troy is) but the line with the tick marks shows the extra recorded time. I also recorded another show overnight (some travel thing on one of the HD channels) and it only recorded the scheduled 30 minutes, so it seems a bit random.

Is this a familiar issue, and is there anything to be done about it? Considering the small size of the hard drive, I'd hate to see it eaten up by going over when I didn't ask it to.

2) Is there any way to allow the DVR to record reruns, but keep it from recording multiple copies of the same episode? I want to record the TV show The Magnificent 7 on Showtime Extreme, and if I set it to record only "first run" episodes I'm not sure it would record anything, since the show is not new in general or new to ShoExt. But when I allow it to record first run & reruns, it schedules the same episode even if it airs 5 times per week. Other than manually deleting recordings, is there anything you can do?

3) A few times last night when I was messing around and trying things out, the red light on the top left of the front display (the one labeled "messages") went on, and it was on when I went downstairs this morning. I also saw the red light on the left and right of the machine blink alternately a few times. Is there a "message" screen somewhere I'm supposed to look at when the light comes on? Any meaning to the blinking lights?

Thanks, and I'll update as I use the machine more.

I'm sorry I tried to search but it was difficult to find the info I need.

My HDTV card currently does not do QAM. I am considering buying a card capable of tuning into QAM signals. Since I already receive strong OTA signals, I don't need the local and network stations in QAM. This includes CBSHD, NBCHD, WBHD, ABCHD, FoxHD, UPNHD, and PBS.

I currently have Cox Standard Service and I was wondering if that came with QAM channel that I can tune into.

Which unencrypted QAM channels come over Cox Basic Service? Which come over
Cox Standard Service (Standard = Basic + Expanded)?

If I am not able to receive any additional channels than what I already receive OTA, I'll save some time and cash. So thanks in advance if you have this info.

kelly7000, the Cox HD locals you mentioned above that you can tune to OTA are all "in the clear". Pretty much everything else including the SD digital channeis are all encrypted. I know this since I have a Samsung HD QAM-capable tuner and also have used a Dvico Fusion III QAM capable HDTV tuner borrowed from a friend.

Anyone else been having issues with Channels 707(abchd) and 711(foxhd) lately? I have been having pixelation and serious breakups for a long time today (July 24, 2005) and i was wondering if it was just me. My over the air antenna picks both of them up fine with no problems.

I am getting closer and closer to deciding to get the dvr from COX. Especially since you guys say that the regular analog channels look much better with the new model. The picture quality is really horrid with my current box. Channels like TNT, FX, MTV, SPIKETV, ETC... are almost unwatchable. And for only an extra 5 bucks a month it is most likely worth it for the improved pq not even taking into affect having the ability to record shows.

I do get mad with COX's commercials though. They say HD channels are free but they forget to mention that you have to upgrade your box. When i give a company money that is not free. I think they should make this a free upgrade to deluxe customers who request it. Especially since they dont offer very many HD channels.

Speaking of channels.... any news on new HD ones being added any time soon? Seems like it has been awhile since they added anything. I believe Dish Network and DirectTV have both recently added several HD channels and would really like COX to do the same. I would email them but it doesnt seem to do any good. I always get the form letter that says they are in contact with several channels to possibly add them but they cant comment until a deal is made. I dont see how it is possible for a market as big as ORANGE COUNTY to not have STARSHD,MAXHD,UNIVERSALHD,TNTHD,ESPN2HD,UPNHD,TMCHD just to name a few.



On an unrelated topic.... Do any of you guys who use Cox's high speed internet in the Mission Viejo area having any issues with it lately. For the past couple days my internet is very unreliable. Sometimes it goes alright but other times it goes slower than a 56k. I have tried this on many different sites so it isnt the sites server being slow.

Got my Moto 6412 STB swapped out yesterday for the III model. It was a bit of a fiasco and here is a warning to others who are going to do this:

1. I was supposed to get a call BEFORE the tech came out-no call!
2. The tech was an indep contractor NOT a Cox tech...he was NOT well trained
3. He comes to the door and says: I have the analog box you ordered!!! WHAT???
I tell him my order was to swap out my 6412 for a 6412 III and he doesn't even know I am talking about. I carefully explain what a 6412 III should look like with an HDMI port on the back and a USB 2.0 port on the front. He goes back out to his truck and luckily for me, he happens to have one 6412 III with him.
4. He pulls my 6412, removing all the connections such as the power cord, the coax in, the 3 composite cable outs , 3 component cable outs and the optical audio cable out. Pulls the box out and plugs all of the above cables into the new box..slides it back in and I turn on my display...Ooooooooooooops, Suddenly it is the '50 again and now I have a $3K BLACK AND WHITE TV!!!! He can't figure out what is wrong????

I know what cable goes where, but I want to see if he does..he struggles with the connections switching them around until I have seen enough of this amatuer at work and connect them properly myself. BTW, these are all Monster cables and clearly indicate on the socket what they are. If I was less knowledgable about the hook up, I wonder if he ever would have reconnected my STB correctly.
5. Cox needs to train their independent installers to at least be able to hook up an STB to the customers system!

One other thing...I asked him what he recommended for the output setting for the STB going to a HD display. He says: This should always be left on the 1080i "Default" setting....I showed him how much better the HD PQ was when using the 720P setting as this is the "Native Resolution" of my display....He nodded his head and looked puzzeled at this information...you have to wonder how many uninformed HD owners out there will NEVER get the proper PQ because someone like this guy tells them to leave the STB output at the wrong setting!! That would be a shame.

Anyway, the PQ on the analog channels is noticably better...still blurred and grainy but ALOT more watchable. All other channels are the same as before. DVR works fine as does the Guide and other functions. I havn't tried the HDMI (The single HDMI port on my 46" Sammy DLP is connected by HDMI cable to my Panny 97S DVD player)or the SATA ports yet. I thought it would run cooler than it does as I am seeing only a few degrees less heat than the old STB. The HD runs alot quieter...perhaps the drive on my old box was extra noisy? Firmware version is Echo 1.6.026 and TC 12.15.

All in all I found it well worth the $31.50 swap out charge...now all COX needs to do is train their independent installers to do the hookups of their STBs correctly!

chuckip or someone else with a phase III box - does the firewire capture work? Surely someone with a phase III box sees value in firewire capture, at least for SD digital if not HD? Instructions are pretty easy to follow in my link below for someone willing to try it. Note that the web link details a lot more than just capture so it's not that intimidating just for capture part. If someone can't follow my instructions there is even a windows-installer based solution that makes it even easier to setup for capture - I can post if someone is interested.

Moyekj:

Sorry, but I have a 5 yr old "legacy" Tosh laptop with no Firewire Port and my two card slots are taken up by my high speed I'net card and my USB 2.0 card!

I hope to get a new laptop next year.....this year's "electronics budget" was more than blown by my Home Entertainment Center!

Perhaps someone else with a Firewire port on their PC can answer your question re Firewire Capture?

One other thing...I asked him what he recommended for the output setting for the STB going to a HD display. He says: This should always be left on the 1080i "Default" setting....I showed him how much better the HD PQ was when using the 720P setting as this is the "Native Resolution" of my display....

While this may be true for your display, it is certainly not true for ALL displays. My Samsung DLP has a Faroudja DCDI that does a far better job of converting 1080i to 720p than the 6412 does. Therefore, I always leave the 6412 set to 1080i output.

Ok, installed the 6412 Phase 3 on Saturday, 1 digital stb, 1 HD stb, and 1 HD-DVR. The HD-DVR is connected to a Pioneer PDP-5050HD plasma via HDMI.

I couldn't get the plasma media receiver to do a digital audio passthrough out to the receiver, so I connected the digital optical output from hte 6412 directly to the receiver.

Anyways, the picture is really good. Opted for the HBO package which includes HBO HD. The DVR functions are incredibly easy to use.

Big problem though, when watching a channel and using the menus to select the audio output from PCM to Dolby Digital, if you change channels, the output reverts back to PCM (as confirmed by the receiver's display and sound from the speakers).

Anyone else experiencing this?

Chuck & others,

Appreciate the feedback on the phase 3 box.

I find it really interesting that cox insisted on having a "pro" come out and do the install and absolutley mandated that and the $30 install fee and then sent a guy who didn't know what he was doing. I'd like to get the new box, but that policy really rubs me wrong.

Ammo_collector, from the phrasing of your e-mail, it almost sounds like you did the install yourself. Is this true? I know there are several on the list that have had the box shipped to them for self-install and had good results.

I certainly am cabable of removing a box and replacing it, especially since the signal levels, splits, etc. etc. are already in place from 3 previous HD box installs performed by Cox.

If anyone else out there has been able to get the phase III without having to pay a tech visit let us know. I'm only like a 1/2 mile from the Santa Margarita office.

Kevin, I agree that to me the new software release, with it's supposed fix for the subscription bug is WAY more important to me that EOD. I couldn't care less about movies on demand, but I'm REALLY sick of missing recordings from the subscription bug. But, since EOD is the supposed new "golden goose" of revenue generation, they'll make us wait forever rather than break it.

Cheers,
Ray

To get a 6412 III without paying, tell them that you are having problems with the DVI interface on your 6412 II and that it causing problems with your HD viewing. My DVI interface went bad and I have seen on another board here that others have had the same problem.

You will be taking a bit of a risk though because they will charge you if they try to check it out and you are not experiencing the problem.

I will say though that when I replaced my 6412 II, they did not even check to see if they could reproduce the problem. I also just had to replace my first 6412 III with a new one (very noisy hard drive access) and they did it again no questions asked.

So up to you if you are willing to risk that they charge you. I am in So. OC by the way.

Was the new box supposed to fix the subscription bug, or is it supposed to be new software that is to come later? I have the new box, and the subscription bug has reared its ugly head. I have missed several recordings on HD channels. Very frustrating.

Whitearrow, no the new box and it's 12.x firmware doesn't fix subscription bug. The fix is in the Passport Echo 2.5.x software which none of the OC boxes (new and old) have received yet because of VOD integration problems. As yet I have absolutely no idea when OC is scheduled to receive the 2.5.x software update - we are already going on 2 months of delay now compared to other Cox markets.

Okay -- that's good to know, hopefully when we do get the new software, the subscription bug will be fixed. The recordings going over is a minor annoyance compared to not recording at all.

No, the tech from Cox tested the line, hooked up the box and called HQ to do some signal syncronization steps. After the signal was verified, I removed the box and my home theater installers did the rest.

I got a postcard from Cox today saying that on August 9 we are getting a "better" and "enhanced" program guide. So this is probably the date set for the new passport software.

I am crossing fingers that this solves the problems I've been having, esp. the subscription bug.

This post in Cox Cable 6412 thread also states almost that same day for the OC update (my guess is we will get it at around 2:00am on August 10th):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5946639&&#post5946639
Fingers crossed that it will happen. I'm fairly confident the subscription bug as we know it is fixed in this update. Can't wait to dispense with the workaround once and for all.

Question to those who have and use the COX dvr.

Cox seems to run a very large amount of Emergency Broadcast tests. They say they only happen once a week but i seem to catch them all the time. My question is this... If you are recording something, does the test disrupt the recording? Does it stop it or do you simply have the emergency info recorded on the file inplace of the regular program footage? Or does the box somehow know you are recording and doesnt affect it in any way? Just something i have been wondering about recently since i have been considering upgrading my BOX.

Also here is another question to those who have the dvr.

When you transfer a recorded show to your pc using the firewire port is it in real time? Does it take 2hours to transfer the file to your pc if the original program is 2 hours? Or is there a way to speed up the process like high speed tape recorder copying back in the day?

TheRock, I have yet to have any recording be interrupted by Emergency Broadcast and since I only watch what is pre-recorded I have never seen any - fingers crossed.
Also, I've had several ReplayTVs for years and don't recall any recordings containing the broadcast test - and I do watch a lot of shows but mostly in primetime slots.

The firewire transfer is real time. I tried to record by FFing the commercials during the capture one time and it messed up the A/V sync. So yes the firewire capture is real time only. For HD captures real time is actually not bad considering the amount of data being captured (can be as high as 8G/hour).

I got a postcard from Cox today saying that on August 9 we are getting a "better" and "enhanced" program guide. So this is probably the date set for the new passport software.

I am crossing fingers that this solves the problems I've been having, esp. the subscription bug.


I received the same postcard and I am praying that it fixes the subscription bug. Anyone think there is any chance it will allow us to record reruns without recording the same episode over and over?

I haven't had the 6412 long, but I don't think I started seeing that red lock thing in the guide before today.

Is it new? Does anyone know what it means? Something to do with whether certain stuff can be recorded or copied?

Question to DVR users.

I heard that you can watch one show while you record another. My question is this. Is it possible to be recording one show with the DVR and also record a different program with the firewire connection to the computer at the same time? And if so can you record 2 HD shows on the High Def channels simultaneously with that setup? Just something i have been wondering. Sometimes there are several shows on at the same time that i would like to record.

I havent emailed Cox in awhile about them adding more channels. I think i might need to send one soon.

TheRock, the firewire capture is real time for whatever is currently being output to the output ports of the DCT6412 - a live program on the foreground tuner or playback of a previously recorded show. So you can have an HD show recording in the background while capturing the foreground tuner or playing back another previously recorded HD show. You can't be recording 2 HD shows and capturing a 3rd live channel via firewire if that's what you are asking - there are only 2 tuners. But certainly you can record 2 HD channels at the same time on the 2 tuners while playing back a previously recorded HD program and capturing it via firewire - I've done it before and the box is capable of doing it.

Still no confirmation from anyone with a phase 3 box if firewire capture still works... must not be a priority for most or perhaps most haven't jumped the hurdle of getting that capability setup on their computer.

Thanks. That answered my question. I was only wondering if it was possible to record the 2 live shows at once. One with the Cox DVR and the other with the firewire connection to a computer.

BOO HOO :(. From this post looks like the long-awaited Passport Echo update we were going to get this Wednesday has been postponed for OC and NE yet again until September:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6000838&&#post6000838

That means that for start of football and fall season we will still have to deal with subscription bug...

Does anyone know a site or a link to a forum here that lists what markets are the biggest? I was under the impression that Orange County was a HUGE market yet we have some of the most mediocre HD offerings of any COX areas and they continue to delay updates. I literally dont see how it is possible for stations like TNT,UNIVERSAL,STARZ,CINEMAX,ESPN2,UPN,ETC... to have there HIGH DEF channels not available in such a substantial area. I would think this would be one of the first markets they would go after and try to take full advantage of.

TheRock, I think precisely because OC is a big market for Cox that these software updates get delayed because the impact of a very buggy release is too big for such a market... not that what we do finally get is not buggy :)

No promises made but an anonymous source revealed 1 of the HD channels above in your list will be added shortly (i.e. perhaps this month). I think Cox obviously knows the value of getting as many HD channels as possible in their lineup but they must do so in such a way that they can profit from them as much as possible and I think negotiations are much harder than one would expect. Also, I don't know how much channel juggling needs to be done on the technical side to make room for new HD channels in the limited bandwidth available, especially given that digital simulcast of the analog lineup is expected to start this year too according to press releases.

I just got this email from COX and I am hopeful that it means that those of us who have the 6412 DVR box will still get the upgrade in the next couple of days. Note the * in the message. Does anybody know anything?


"An important message to Cox Orange County and Palos Verdes Digital Cable customers regarding your digital on-screen guide*.

You may have already received a postcard in the mail notifying you that we would be upgrading our digital on-screen guide on August 9th. During recent testing, it was determined that the new on-screen guide was not performing as planned and did not fit our high level of customer satisfaction.

Due to these test results, we will be delaying our digital on-screen guide upgrade until a later date. We will notify you when we are certain of the date, and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.


* Note: This does not effect our Digital Video Recorder customers. "

Good grief. Could they be any more confusing.

FYI (and knocking wood) I've had almost no problems with the box since I unplugged the HDMI cable -- I am convinced it was making something wonky (and not convinced that it looks better than component anyway). I've left the box on continuously and it's done all the channel changes and recorded things properly, mostly on HD channels.

It's also stopped rebooting itself -- before I would come home, the box would be off and the tuners would be on channels 1 and 3, now they are where I left them.

That's interesting about the HDMI. I am using the HDMI with no problems and when I use my Mits PIP to split the screen in two and compare HDMI to Component the HDMI picture is much cleaner.

* Note: This does not effect our Digital Video Recorder customers. " I'm guessing this means that DVR customers were never intended to get an update on August 9/10 to begin with but I hope I'm wrong and that we will wake up tomorrow to find Passport Echo 2.5.x. If we don't see an update tomorrow then I will presume we have to wait until September time frame to get our update. I don't think a call to customer service to get a date for DVR software update will do us much good. Even if someone did happen to know they can't make any promises on a date anyway. I was just hoping to get the update before NFL and fall lineup begins.

Ok so now I am really frustrated. I called Cox about the software upgrade for the 6412. They claim (after she talked to a supervisor) that the upgrade was never intended for those of us with the 6412 and that they have no idea when the software upgrade for the 6412 will even occur.

She also said that she just recently had the subsciption bug occur to her and that when she came in to work and told "everyone", they were very suprised to hear about it. She then went on to say that they have only heard from a couple of other customers about this bug.

Please call cox if you are having this bug so they can escalate getting us the software upgrade. This is ridiculous.

So what we feared was right. This cancelled Guide update was indeed for non-DVR customers. I still cannot get information from anyone in customer service about the DVR software update. Perhaps someone else would have more luck or a better means of reaching someone with some clue about it.

Hello again everyone,

A little birdy has indicated that the update scheduled for Aug 9/10 was for non DVR digital boxes to get the same search features as DVR customers. The message light (red blinker) is a known bug in the 6412 III software.

The problems with the HDMI resetting the Dolby Digital to PCM when changing channels is news to Cox. Their official "out" is that Cox does not support DVI/HDMI, only component and the digital optical out.

Well I found out today that not everyone at San Diego Cox support center is clueless about the DVR software and the Subscription Bug. If you ask to speak to a supervisor you may get lucky and get hold of one that knows about a lot of the DVR issues and about the delays in the DVR software update. I'm not at liberty to divulge the exact time frame for the next planned DVR software update for OC but unfortunately it is later than even the September time frame I was led to believe until today.

In any case I do encourage any of you with DVR problems to call in and be cordial with the 1st line of support and describe your problems politely and then ask to speak to a supervisor. You may be surprised to find a supervisor who knows what you are talking about and may be willing to give you their direct line so that you can call in to get updates without waiting.

Any of you with the Phase 3 box are you still getting Subscription Bug problem? It was indicated to me Phase 3 boxes do not have Subscription Bug but I find that hard to believe as the problem is partly in Passport Echo software and OC Phase 3 boxes still get Echo 1.6.x software.

I still have the subscription bug with the Phase III box.

That's what I figured... thanks for confirming. Not much incentive then for me to swap out for a phase 3 box. SD recordings on analog channels I use ReplayTVs for anyway so the improved quality of analog encoding on the phase 3 box is not a plus for me. At least for the box I have the "Subscription Bug workaround" seems to work most of the time and I wouldn't want to take a chance on a new/different box.

If I get an HDTV with no built in HD tuner, is it free to get one from Cox?

spin03, for HD programming from Cox OC the minimum requirements are (with approximate prices/month for each) on top of whatever you may currently have in terms of analog service:
Digital cable service: $13
HD Digital converter box: $10

If you want the DVR then the rental fee for the box is the same but you then must pay for DVR service: $5
If you want Discovery HD and ESPN HD that's another $5 for HD tier.

In short, no it's not free and why would you expect it to be so?

In short, no it's not free and why would you expect it to be so?

He probably thought this because Cox says "Free" in there commercials. It is very misleading.

Satellite vs Cox

Just got a new Samsung 61" 1920 x 1080 set and was HORRIFIED by the SD on Dish! Haven't any HD programming yet. Should I switch to Direct or Cox? I mostly watch movies on DVD except TCM and occassionally another channel. But need cable news I can stand to watch! I would apprecite your opinions and suggestions. Thanks!

That's what worries me about transistion to all digital. A lot of SD digital that I've seen from both Satellite and cable does not look that great - a lot of macro-blocking visible during motion scenes. When it's done right, digital can look great. But the trend for cable companies is to cram 15-16 SD digital channels in one 6MHz carrier channel meaning the bit rates of each SD digital channel are compromised. Satellite tends to compromise even more since they have more limited bandwidth. A high quality analog channel IMO looks better than most SD digital I've seen out there and offers you the flexibility to split the signal to multiple rooms without the need for a converter box which is why I like cable. On most HDTV sets only DVDs and HD channels look good to me.

Can you still get analog cable from COX in Irvine? I still have Cox but only for Internet right now.