Anyone have the Motorola DVR and a D-VHS deck? Wondering if I can record on the DVR, and then dump to a D-VHS deck. Didn't see any mention of it in the archives

Anyone have the Motorola DVR and a D-VHS deck? Wondering if I can record on the DVR, and then dump to a D-VHS deck. Didn't see any mention of it in the archives Yes it should work. In fact the hacked drivers to extract recordings via firewire to Windows XP or Mac machine are based on D-VHS drivers and use CapDVHS program. I extract shows from the DCT6412 to my WinXP laptop fairly often so don't see any reason why D-VHS wouldn't work.

Do you have a netgear router? I've had the same issue with AIM. Replaced the netgear router with a linksys and everything has been working fine.

Eric


Some of the Netgears have issues with both Heat, and real cheap Power Bricks. Mine worked fine for 9 months (A Super G unit I picked up on Black Friday a year ago at BB) then tons of dropped connections and stuff. The brick felt real hot too. (as was the unit) I picked up a universal one at Fry's, and it's been rock solid ever since. Runs much cooler too. Nice fix for under $10......

I use a JVC DVHS deck with my 6412 II. It works fine.

Well no new channels yet. Didnt get either of the ones I talked about previously or MTV's new HD channel. There do seem to be more test channels than I previously remembered. I believe there are at least 20 now.

Those news agency's really need to stop over simplifying things and just making general statements. I heard that both COX and VERIZON were going to receive MTV's new channel the day it launched. They made it sound like every COX and VERIZON market were going to get it. Guess not.

Good News from our favorite tech gal Brenda.....Upgrade coming Wed. 1/18/06!!!

Received this reply to my HDMI when? question....


Hello Mr. Drysdale,

Thank you for your email. There is actually an upgrade occurring early
tomorrow morning, Wednesday, that may correct this problem. The upgrade
is addressing the 6413 receivers specifically.

Although we do not have word on whether Cox will begin officially
supporting HDMI after this upgrade, we have been told that this is what
the upgrade should accomplish:

HDMI Reset:
6413 settops are experiencing a problem when connected via a HDMI to a
TV. The settops reboots when the TV is powered off or the settop is
channeled up/down w/ the TV off.

Closed Caption is Garbled:
Closed Caption (CC) text is garbled on some Digital Channels.

Video Anomaly a.k.a. The Hum Bar Artifact:
This was a quick blip of a horizontal line anomaly seen on Analog and
Digital Channels.

6413 – Audio Settings not holding w/ HDMI:
6413 does not retain the audio Dolby Digital (ac3) setting once a
channel is tuned off then back on.

Message Light Blinking:
On the 6413 receiver the front indicator panel alternately flash the
record and message lights or record and on lights under some
conditions.

This process will begin between midnight and 6 AM, and can take
receivers anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes to complete. The receiver will
be inoperable during that time.

We hope this software upgrade allows you to begin using the HDMI cable
trouble free!

We hope that we have been able to provide you with the information you
requested. If we have not, or if we can be of any additional service
to
you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Sincerely,
Brenda
Cox Communications - Video/Telephony Tech Support
Online Support Team

There is actually an upgrade occurring early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, that may correct this problem. The upgrade is addressing the 6413 receivers specifically.
How does one determine the SW version on a 6412/3 ? The usual suspects don't report very much.

I figured out how; but I have EC 2.5.037, TC 12.18 with a reboot from early Monday AM- so I wonder why I didn't get this new update?

Never mind me; I'm STUPID. Today is only Tuesday 1/17 ...! :)

[B]Closed Caption is Garbled:
Closed Caption (CC) text is garbled on some Digital Channels.

Video Anomaly a.k.a. The Hum Bar Artifact:
This was a quick blip of a horizontal line anomaly seen on Analog and
Digital Channels.

Anyone know if the 6412 will be getting these fixes as well? I have both of these and they are quite annoying.

Due to missinformation from cox I just ordered a DVI-HDMI cable. I did this to get ready for the "HDMI" software patch. I was unaware that there was a 6412 DVI-D which I have and is working today and the 6413 HDMI that needs the patch. A cox tech was even out to view picture quality as I was complaining that the analog picture looked much better before going through their box and made no mention of using DVI-D. He stated HDMI was not supported. He made some comment that there was a new box under developement but they were not giving them out yet.
1) Is the 6413 picture for analog channels much better than 6412?
2) anyone know of another box being developed?

1) Is the 6413 picture for analog channels much better than 6412?
2) anyone know of another box being developed? Analog encoding is improved on the 6413. Pretty soon (I'd say in a month or two) you won't have to worry about crappy analog encoding anymore as digital simulcast channels start to roll out. As noted by TheRock above there are now 20 test channels showing up in the Guide which I presume means at least 20 digital simulcast channels are in the works. The idea is if you have a digital converter (such as the 6412 & 6413) and tune to a traditionally analog channel you will get the SD digital version of it instead which I hope should be on par with or better than satellite quality (and no analog encoding needed by the box which is what is killing the quality of analog channels right now compared to when you view them directly on your TV).

Since the simulcast channels are SDTV, I'm assuming run-of-the-mill, non-PVR DCT boxes will tune to these as well? You eluded to such in your post, but you'd specifically mentioned PVR models as examples, so I wasn't sure.

Since the simulcast channels are SDTV, I'm assuming run-of-the-mill, non-PVR DCT boxes will tune to these as well? You eluded to such in your post, but you'd specifically mentioned PVR models as examples, so I wasn't sure. Correct, any digital box (including non-DVR digital boxes) will be mapped to the digital channels instead of the analog ones. Obviously if you use an analog box or straight into your TV NTSC tuner you would still pick up the analog channel. I would assume that CableCard QAM tuners would also correctly map to the digital channels instead of the analog but I'm not positive about that.

BTW, I tried to record "Timeline" on Sunday morning/late Saturday night and got the "recording in DVR list but no actual recording" bug. I guess that's still in 12.18, huh?

I figured out how; but I have EC 2.5.037, TC 12.18 with a reboot from early Monday AM- so I wonder why I didn't get this new update?

FWIW, I had a reboot Monday AM too.

Man, the last time they did a Wednesday 12 am - 6 am update, my box went wonky and missed Lost :(

Could someone either PM, Post, or Link the instructions for viewing software version on the 6413?

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html#Tips_and_Tricks

Could someone either PM, Post, or Link the instructions for viewing software version on the 6413?
# DCT6412 should be on
# Press Menu to display Quick Settings Menu
# Press Down, B, Up, B (within 5 seconds)

For other tips and tricks consult:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html#Tips_and_Tricks

I just wish there was a page/screen that showed how much space each recorded show is taking up. I know that 1920:1080 (HBO, SHO, INHD, CBS, NBC, DISCOVERY, etc...) usually takes up 8gigs an hour but exact information would be cool.

In Orange County Phase 2 boxes didn't get a firmware update (Phase 3 boxes did) but got the minor Passport Echo update from 2.0.5.037 to 2.0.5.040.

Also the "Test" channel count is now up to 40 in the Guide in the 800 range so that looks encouraging for digital simulcast channels - can't imagine them being anything else now for sure being that many.

In Orange County Phase 2 boxes didn't get a firmware update (Phase 3 boxes did) but got the minor Passport Echo update from 2.0.5.037 to 2.0.5.040.

Also the "Test" channel count is now up to 40 in the Guide in the 800 range so that looks encouraging for digital simulcast channels - can't imagine them being anything else now for sure being that many.

It makes sense that there was no firmware update on the phase 2's since to my knowlege there are no "showstopper" bugs on that boxes firmware.

My Phase 3 box did recieve the much-needed firmware upgrade. My firmware went from 12.18 to 12.27. Passport Echo update looks to be the same as what moyekj's box got -it went from 2.5.037 to 2.5.040. The update and reboot completed at 2:27am this morning.

I can confirm that the firmware upgrade appears to have fixed the reboot problem with the HDMI port.

I re-connected the HDMI output on the DVR to the DVI port on my Toshiba TV using a HDMI-DVI cable. I then tried powering both the TV and the DVR on and off several times and did not have any reboots.

Prior to the update, turning the TV off would almost always cause the DVR to go into a continuous reboot until I either disconnected the HDMI-DVI cable or powered the TV back on. Since this made it unusable, I had been using component. I'm happy to be back to HDMI/DVI now because I needed the component for another device.

Ok, I connected my DVI and it worked fine.....but, I then hit the Menu, vB ^B to check the versions and my box wigged out....
I am looking at a ' d1 ' in the 6413 display with a rotating cursor to the left of the 'd1' and the box is in an 'off state'.

So far I've tried disconnecting the box from both power and hdmi and no luck...
Any Ideas?

T :eek:

Ok, I connected my DVI and it worked fine.....but, I then hit the Menu, vB ^B to check the versions and my box wigged out....
I am looking at a ' d1 ' in the 6413 display with a rotating cursor to the left of the 'd1' and the box is in an 'off state'.

So far I've tried disconnecting the box from both power and hdmi and no luck...
Any Ideas?

T :eek:

"He's DEAD Jim!"

Hmm, sorry no real ideas, just felt compelled to channel McCoy.
Seems like that's what my phase 3 used to do when it was rebooting as a result of the HDMI bug, it would go to "d1", then to "8888", then to "12:00", then the correct time, then back to "d1" ...........etc.

Also the "Test" channel count is now up to 40 in the Guide in the 800 range so that looks encouraging for digital simulcast channels - can't imagine them being anything else now for sure being that many.
I also have guide data for the .2(?) sub-channels on the ABC and NBC digital channels, as further evidence they're simulcast channels.

"He's DEAD Jim!"

Hmm, sorry no real ideas, just felt compelled to channel McCoy.
Seems like that's what my phase 3 used to do when it was rebooting as a result of the HDMI bug, it would go to "d1", then to "8888", then to "12:00", then the correct time, then back to "d1" ...........etc.
FUnny, took me a while to get the Star Trek reference.....
That used to happen to me with the HDMI problem too, but this is different....it was just 'd1' . Also, I just checked and it finally fixed itself, so I wouldn't recommend that anyone do the 'Menu VB ^B ' key sequence when they have an HDMI connection, or you will be out of commission for a while.

Thanks,
T

May be off topic, but does anyone know.....Originally I had a 6412 DVI connected to my TV with separate optical audio; now that I have the 6413, if I use the HDMI connection to DVI on my TV - I presume that I still need the separate audio cable as I will be using an HDMI/DVI adapter cable, or does the audio make it through the HDMI/DVI adapter?

Thanks,
T

May be off topic, but does anyone know.....Originally I had a 6412 DVI connected to my TV with separate optical audio; now that I have the 6413, if I use the HDMI connection to DVI on my TV - I presume that I still need the separate audio cable as I will be using an HDMI/DVI adapter cable, or does the audio make it through the HDMI/DVI adapter?

Thanks,
T DVI does not support audio so won't make it to your TV. However, you can use the 6412 coaxial SPDIF feed to your receiver or the stereo outputs to your TV for audio. (I read in another thread a user claims that with HDMI connected the optical SPDIF doesn't work but the coaxial one does).

The dolby digital switching problem is now fixed with the 12.27 firmware. This is with HDMI conected and coaxial digital cable. I can not confirm if the optical connection works or not.

All this talk about HDMI and DVI....

I bought my TV right before DVI was being intergrated into newer TVs... so I have never been able to experience DVI quality from a HD source. Is the picture quality really that noticable when compared to component? My TV does support firewire, but firewire only outputs the video, and does not display the menus etc. Mitsubishi said that my TV is upgradable.. but I havent seen or heard about any upgrades yet.

xcrappy, it's very subjective but in theory DVI/HDMI has to be better because it's a digital transmission all the way to your display and therefore not subject to interference or noise. On the other hand component is analog transport and therefore subject to interference and noise and limitations of your cables. In practice however from what I have seen it's very hard to tell the difference between them, certainly on my small 32" LCD anyway. I would imagine as you go to much bigger displays differences may become more apparent.

If you compare firewire to your component connection that would probably give you a good comparison reference as firewire is also digital transport.

xcrappy, I would have to agree with moyekj about them being close in practice. I do have my Mits 65" connected with both firewire and component. Also, firewire does handle audio/video which is cool, but no guide menu. I seem to see a slight difference, or maybe it's my imagination, but it's not enough for me to give up using the component with guide. I think that the firewire passes the raw signal thru to the TV and the TV tuner processes it vs. the box, Moyekj - does that make sense??? That might explain the slight difference.

T

I think that the firewire passes the raw signal thru to the TV and the TV tuner processes it vs. the box, Moyekj - does that make sense??? That might explain the slight difference. Not the tuner itself, but the decoder. The firewire output to the TV is a digital encoded Mpeg Transport Stream which your TV is then decoding, so the quality of the decoder can affect the result - so it's not the same as DVI/HDMI in that respect so now that I think of it the firewire/component comparison is not like a DVI|HDMI/component comparison. If you believe you have a top notch TV then you would expect it to have a better decoder than the Motorola box and therefore firewire in theory could look better than component and DVI|HDMI.

But it makes sense what you are saying - For Firewire connection the TV is doing the decoding, for component connection the Motorola box is doing the decoding so one would expect differences there in decoder hardware.

i see what you guys are saying... thanks for responding, and quickly i might add!

Yea, decoder that's what I mean't....thanks Moyekj

Also, I might add that I do actually use the firewire occasionally, even HD looks slightly better. E.G. for the sports, especially the Superbowl, I just tune the TV using the component input which has the guide, and then switch the TV input to firewire. Of course this usually drives my wife/kids nuts when I forget to switch the input back to component, as they can't figure out what happened to the guide. ;-)

I had a question about Firewire capturing off the high-definition movie channels...

I know in the guides it says if a channel has a certain bit set on a program, you can't capture it via the CapDVHS program. What kind of content have people run into this on? Specifically, I'm thinking of subscribing to HBO HD or Showtime HD in order to capture high-def movies, but I don't want to subscribe and then find out that I can't record them.

Also, on a similar topic, for anyone else who uses firewire to capture high-def stuff, how do you store things for actual viewing to keep them high-def? I recorded THX-1138 off INHD2 and both Matrix films off TNT HD and have been playing around with them. If I leave them in MPEG2 format, they're huge (over 14GB for each Matrix film), so I tried re-encoding to XviD MPEG4, but then they won't playback because it's too heavy on CPU to playback in a computer.
Do most people either shrink them to DVD size, or leave them as high-def MPEG2 streams? I'm just curious what people in this area are doing with these once they get onto their computer.

ErMaC, I don't know if in OC the HBO/SHO HD channels have 5C=1 protection since I don't subscribe to them either.

For captured HD recordings of shows I really like I usually downconvert and burn them to DVD - HD source makes for a very nice anamorphic widescreen resulting DVD. Of course playing that back is not as good as HD but it still looks very nice.

If you have the disk space to spare but not much horsepower for direct playback of the .ts files I have found that Media Player Classic can handle playback of HD .ts files without consuming much CPU even on a wimpier laptop. It's not a very nice GUI compared to other players but does work for basic playback. If you have a more powerful machine then VideoLAN VLC also works fine as does WinDVD or PowerDVD.

However, due to the size of these HD captures it's not feasible to save many so I find the best that can be done for now is to downres and burn to DVD. Once Blu Ray is released and affordable then that will be a good option for preserving HD captures on disk.

Well, I can playback the HD streams fine in MCE and in MPC, I was just hoping to store them in a smaller format without resorting to downsizing the resolution.

And once Blu-Ray comes out, I'll probably just buy the films I want rather than recording them off TV. =)

I hope I don't trigger a mass return of 6412/6413 units by reporting this.

Today my 6412 finally died after a year and a half, and I took it to Cox for replacement. They gave me a 6413 unit. Naturally, the first thing I did was the Down, B, Up, B trick to find out the disk space. To my surprise, here is what I saw:

Recordable space: 127270MB
PVR_Content: used 19407MB free 128174MB total 147581MB

Clearly, Cox put a 160GB drive into this unit. I guess it was worth it to have my 6412 die and lose 5 hours of HD recordings, just to get this extra space.


***EDIT****
It looks like I got a model 6416 and not a 6413. The 6416 apparently comes with a 160GB drive.

I know in the guides it says if a channel has a certain bit set on a program, you can't capture it via the CapDVHS program. What kind of content have people run into this on? Specifically, I'm thinking of subscribing to HBO HD or Showtime HD in order to capture high-def movies, but I don't want to subscribe and then find out that I can't record them.

Yes, I am able to capture both HBO HD and Showtime HD to my computer and my JVC D-VHS. Sometimes it doesn't work, but rebooting the cable box fixes it.

hrmmm....6416.... sounds like its time i go visit the cox store..

you are allowed to upgrade regardless of what the reason is, correct?

EDIT: Are there any other noticeable differences between 6413 and 6416?

DCT 6416 III

Hello everyone,

As usual I have not been following this thread too closely but I wanted to pass on some info; you might already be aware of this but hey...

Cox OC has just receieved the new DCT 6416 III (as marked on the front of the box). Other than a 160gb HD I am really not sure if there are any hardware changes inside. My little birdy at Cox reports that all of the software bugs and the HDMI switching problem have been eliminated in this model. I just received mine yesterday but I have not had a chance to verify this. My little birdy reports that Motorola had several engineers here in the OC back in December trying to figure out what was going on, apparently they did.

These boxes are in very short supply, FSR's are only allowed 2 boxes a day and I believe the contractors for Cox aren't getting any. If you are going to switch them out it might be prudent to specifically request the new box. It is unknown when this supply issue will be resolved.

Just wanted to let y'all know.

These boxes are in very short supply, FSR's are only allowed 2 boxes a day and I believe the contractors for Cox aren't getting any. If you are going to switch them out it might be prudent to specifically request the new box. It is unknown when this supply issue will be resolved.

Wow, I must have been VERY lucky to have gotten one. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.

Also, for anyone who cares to know, PIP does NOT work on the 6416. I'm still waiting for Cox to implement that.

Well, I just got off the phone with Cox... and apparently, none of their sales or technical representatives have heard of the 6416 box... those liars! Guess I will have to wait a couple of weeks or months to get my hands on this new box...

Thanks for sharing the info gb61. I picked up a 6416 III on the way home from work and it's up and running already. The Cox store attendant was not too happy though - he stated that customers weren't supposed to know about it yet as they are tight on supply... so get yours soon while still available!

Yeah, my Cox attendant (in the Irvine office in Quail Hill) wanted to know how I'd known about it.

Cool. I might have to try and trade my 6413 in on Monday

Has anyone tested if the firewire capture works on the 6416 III?

Uh oh- I picked up two 6416s, and the one in the bedroom has frozen twice already today- it's now stuck on the "One Moment Please ..." screen with 7 of 11 dots blue. I hope they have another one for me tomorrow when I return this one!

Cool. I might have to try and trade my 6413 in on Monday

Has anyone tested if the firewire capture works on the 6416 III? I could not get CapDHVS working with the 6416 III for capture to WinXP even when re-installing the 6412 drivers. I think updated drivers would have to be made for the 6416 to work by the looks of it... I'm keeping it anyway as I can use my DVICO FusionHDTV 5 USB capture card for HD archiving.

So far no problems with 6416 freezing or anything along those lines. I will probably keep my 6412 II for a few days just in case - it's been such a reliable unit I don't want to dispense with it right away in case the 6416 proves to be a dud.

I could not get CapDHVS working with the 6416 III for capture to WinXP even when re-installing the 6412 drivers. I think updated drivers would have to be made for the 6416 to work by the looks of it... I'm keeping it anyway as I can use my DVICO FusionHDTV 5 USB capture card for HD archiving.

So far no problems with 6416 freezing or anything along those lines. I will probably keep my 6412 II for a few days just in case - it's been such a reliable unit I don't want to dispense with it right away in case the 6416 proves to be a dud.


Damn. That sucks. Guess I will wait awhile until someone has some success recording with the 6416 through firewire. Thanks for the fast response. I use the firewire capture a huge amount so that would be a huge lose.

Is it not coincidence that just as the 6416 box is out that my 2nd 6412 is starting to die. I have held on to it for nearly a year now since up to this week it had been reliable. Now it is displaying the sever macroblocking that my first 6412 did just before the HD died. I spoke to a Cox rep who chided me "we are not going to swap out your box with a 6416 unless a Cox representative determines that your existing box is damaged". Obviously Cox is sensative to the shortage of 6416's. When I asked the rep to check my history he conceded that the 6412 has its issues. Go figure.

Is it not coincidence that just as the 6416 box is out that my 2nd 6412 is starting to die. I have held on to it for nearly a year now since up to this week it had been reliable. Now it is displaying the sever macroblocking that my first 6412 did just before the HD died. I spoke to a Cox rep who chided me "we are not going to swap out your box with a 6416 unless a Cox representative determines that your existing box is damaged". Obviously Cox is sensative to the shortage of 6416's. When I asked the rep to check my history he conceded that the 6412 has its issues. Go figure. Don't bother with phone support on this issue... go to Quail Hill or Rancho Santa Margarita Cox stores and swap out the box yourself at no charge. The phone reps are probably instructed to try and minimize requests for 6416 boxes given their short supply - plus Cox ends up with a lot of 6412 boxes they paid for that nobody wants any longer.

Don't bother with phone support on this issue...


Moyekj,

Thanks for the advice.

niesman

How does cox's HD offering compare to OTA HD offerings available in Orange County? Is OTA HD reception even possible in Orange County without a roof mounted antenna?

How does cox's HD offering compare to OTA HD offerings available in Orange County? Is OTA HD reception even possible in Orange County without a roof mounted antenna? Cox HD offerings compared to OTA are pretty good. The HD locals provided by Cox are basically all the major networks:
CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, WB, PBS
All the other OTA locals with exception of 2nd PBS channel and KCAL 9 I don't really care about anyway.
In addition you get ESPN, TNT, Discovery, INHD1&2, HBO, SHO cable HD channels (for HBO, SHO you have to subscribe to that service and for ESPN, Discovery it's $5/month extra).

I'm in South County (South Mission Viejo) and can get most local OTA channels using an indoor amplified UHF antenna in my garage. The reliability of the reception is not quite as good as via Cox cable - occasionally I get some slight dropouts but overall pretty good. I was extremely surprised because I am not able to tune any analog UHF channels with the same antenna being so far from Mount Wilson in LA where most of the transmissions come from so didn't expect OTA ATSC to work so well.

So do you think I can just stop in and request a HD DVR box 6416, and say I am adding it to my house, and then the next day return my 6412 III? My 641"3" has not been bad at all.

go to Quail Hill ...
But not 'till probably Wednesday; they're out. :(

WB & UPN to cease broadcasting by September, new network to be formed:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060124/nytu143.html?.v=43

Guess that means we'll be losing an HD channel and some Clippers games in HD next year.

Well I never was able to receive UPN from my rooftop antenna so this actually sounds like good news to me. Hopefully we wont lose too many Clipper games in HD though. Hopefully they will use WB's signal instead of UPN's. WB is my strongest signal of all the channels I can receive. I also hope that COX replaces TheWB HD channel with this new one.

TheRock, do you have a 6412 III box and is firewire capture working fine with it? There were some rumblings in the firewire capture threads that the 6412 III boxes with newer firmware 12.22 or 12.27 don't seem to be working well. At first I thought it was the 6416 III box that was the cause of the trouble but now I'm thinking perhaps the recent firmware upgrade to 12.27 on phase III boxes may be the real culprit. My DCT6412 phase I box never got a firmware upgrade which is why it was working OK.

Also, there have been confirmed cases of FF/REW no longer working on phase III boxes following use of firewire port on the box (fixed with a reboot). Have you ran into that issue if you have a phase III? I have seen that issue already on my 6416 III.

I have a Phase 3 box and I haven't had problems capturing, really.

I have a Phase 3 box and I haven't had problems capturing, really. OK thanks, interesting... so maybe it is an issue only with 6416 then. And you haven't had problems with FF/REW not working properly anymore following use of firewire either?

Well first things first. When I went to make a test recording my box was off. Looks like it had a reboot in the middle of the night. It says "Echo 2.5.040 TC 12.27" but I think it has said that since everyone got the update.

I did a one minute firewire recording test with HBOHD and I didnt seem to have any problems. My box seems to be recording fine still. Although sometimes it freaks out and I loose sound and the picture gets all pixelated, jumpy, and unwatchable. This only happens when I try to record previously recorded shows. I seem to have figured out how to fix this though. I tune to the channel that my recorded show is from and start recording. Then I go to my DVR List, select the show I want to record and then hit Play. This seems to work everytime so far. Every now and then I do seem to get corrupt recordings. It is rare (maybe 1 in 100) but it is still very annoying when it happens.

I have always had issues with FF/REW and have simply gotten used to rebooting my box every couple of days. It seems to dislike it more when I try recording previously recorded shows rather than simply recording LIVE shows. After using the steps I explained above the FF/REW feature seems to work longer. I still need to reboot my box but not as often.

If I have any issues (box stops recording) I will be sure to let you guys know. Hopefully someone will create a new CapDVHS firmware update for those who have been having issues since the changes. I know this is a really good thing and good things usually dont last long but hopefully it will keep working (recording with firewire) for at least a little while longer.


OOPS. Forgot to say my model number. I have the Motorola DCT 6412 III.

When I went to make a test recording my box was off. Looks like it had a reboot in the middle of the night.
Yup. 3AM; I was up late working in my OC office and right after Futurama went off, <click!> as the box rebooted. Don't know why they did it, though, software appears to be the same (maybe it was to get new index files?)

I could not get CapDHVS working with the 6416 III for capture to WinXP even when re-installing the 6412 drivers. I think updated drivers would have to be made for the 6416 to work by the looks of it... I'm keeping it anyway as I can use my DVICO FusionHDTV 5 USB capture card for HD archiving.

So far no problems with 6416 freezing or anything along those lines. I will probably keep my 6412 II for a few days just in case - it's been such a reliable unit I don't want to dispense with it right away in case the 6416 proves to be a dud.
Well tonight I got firewire capture to work. I changed drivers to some provided by Tim Moore for MCE and it worked tonight for captures of 5 different channels as well as some pre-recorded shows so looks like I'm back in business.

However, the FF/REW not working problem shows up without fail for me after using the firewire port and I have to reboot unit to fix it.

Well tonight I got firewire capture to work. I changed drivers to some provided by Tim Moore for MCE and it worked tonight for captures of 5 different channels as well as some pre-recorded shows so looks like I'm back in business.

However, the FF/REW not working problem shows up without fail for me after using the firewire port and I have to reboot unit to fix it.

Nice to hear that you are back up and running. It sucks but I guess the FF/REW problem is a small price to pay. Nice to see people like Tim Moore always helping out. I think I will still stick with my 6413 III for now but its nice to hear that the 6416 is working. If I do ever upgrade my box is there a website with the new drivers?

If I do ever upgrade my box is there a website with the new drivers? Don't think so, but I have them so you could always p.m. me. My guess is they will be released by Tim at TheGreenButton (http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152) sometime soon as part of his MCE package. Even though I don't have MCE you can install just the driver part of his package.

After firewire recording sometimes I do get FF/REW problems, where it will only FF or REW in realtime. Sometimes I've fixed this by just shutting down the CapDVHS program on the computer but on Sunday I did have to reset the box to restore FF/rew to proper speed. I only plug in the cable when I want to capture something and reboot after as a result, usually.

Have had occasional issues where a program only records a second or so but otherwise Subscription bug seems to have gone.

Also called Cox today and cancelled the $5/month (overpriced) for ESPN HD and Discovery HD as I just dont watch it enough and just a waste of money. Maybe it will send a signal for more programming but doubt it.

I agree I won't pay $5 just for ESPN HD when it isn't football season.

discHD I could care less about, and ESPN HD, while nice, has the problem where 90% of its programming isnt in HD anyway, pretty much football and sportscenter are it. Once the NFL starts up again I may subscribe for Monday Night Football, but for now it's a waste of money.

I may have to resubscribe for a month or 2 this summer if ESPN broadcast the 2006 World Cup (this is 1st time they will be using HD cameras), but it will most likely be Fox as they do all the football (soccer) so hopefully it wont just be on Fox Sports which is not HD.

Hey guys, Laguna Niguel here...

I just picked up the new 6416 HD DVR box from the Santa Margarita location. Of course, when I called Cox beforehand to see if they had any so I wouldn't have to make a trip for nothing, they said they don't give those out at the retail locations and it would be $12 to send it out.

Ahh, sure buddy! No thanks, I know you have them. I was pissed at Cox for being so elusive about these new boxes. I pay almost $100 a month, like most of us...I deserve your most up to date equipment. Especially when I can't use my HDMI input on the 6412 or 13.

So, anyways, went down there and buttered up the woman at the counter and you could tell she was wondering how in the hell does this guy know about these new boxes? I was expecting a 'Sorry, we're all out" but she went to the counter behind her and went through about 7 of the 8 boxes that were sitting there and the last one she got to was the 6416. WHEW!!

now, this is my first time with a DVR box and I was reading awhile back about how to find out how large the Hard Drive is inside. Could someone write the steps on how to find out how much space is on my box?

Also, this box makes a lot more noise than my old non-DVR...it really sounds like a old computer hard drive...is this normal?

Lastly, do these boxes get hotter than the non-DVR...because we usually have our VCR/DVD players on top of the box, but I'm wondering if we should try another setup.

Oh, I've also recorded a few shows and haven't had any problems with FF or Rew, yet.


thanks!

Quigs, the HDMI problems with 6412 III (AKA 6413) and 6416 III boxes have been resolved so you are free to use the HDMI connection now without problems.

Lots of information and tips you can find here (including how to tell how much HD space you have):
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html

The DVR has an internal hard drive that is constantly being written to all the time by the 2 tuners (even if you are not watching and you turn the DVR power button off). The output of both tuners are always being written to the hard drive before they reach your display - this is what allows you to pause live TV or go back in time for "live" broadcasts. As a result, you will hear hard drive crunching away all the time. The hard drive definately contributes a lot to generating heat in the box so it runs hotter than a non-DVR box for sure.

Finally, you shouldn't see problems with FF/REW unless you try and use the firewire ports.

I was also wondering if someone could point me in the direction of the steps./directions on how to capture or send what I've recorded on the Cox DVR to my computer?

Also, once it is on your computer, can you burn it to a DVD with a program like NERO? I've used that to burn movies and programs, but never from my box recordings.

Thanks!

Quigs, the HDMI problems with 6412 III (AKA 6413) and 6416 III boxes have been resolved so you are free to use the HDMI connection now without problems.

Lots of information and tips you can find here (including how to tell how much HD space you have):
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html

The DVR has an internal hard drive that is constantly being written to all the time by the 2 tuners (even if you are not watching and you turn the DVR power button off). The output of both tuners are always being written to the hard drive before they reach your display - this is what allows you to pause live TV or go back in time for "live" broadcasts. As a result, you will hear hard drive crunching away all the time. The hard drive definately contributes a lot to generating heat in the box so it runs hotter than a non-DVR box for sure.

Finally, you shouldn't see problems with FF/REW unless you try and use the firewire ports.


That was fast..thanks moyekj. appreciate it.

I was also wondering if someone could point me in the direction of the steps./directions on how to capture or send what I've recorded on the Cox DVR to my computer?

Also, once it is on your computer, can you burn it to a DVD with a program like NERO? I've used that to burn movies and programs, but never from my box recordings.

Thanks! Second link in my sig line covers this. It's possible that the drivers you get from there may not work with your 6416. I had some trouble when I upgraded to a 6416 from a 6412 and after some email exchanges with an expert got a set of updated drivers that sort of work OK (flakier than before).

Ok, I got into the advanced settings to see about the Hard Drive space (says 147GB and where it shows your box temperature (mine is at 102), etc.

Then, Under the listings of my recodings it has some of the shows and the channel, then "ConvertLOD" and then the next line says "ConvertLOD- Failed"

What in the heck does that mean? :confused:

Yes I was confused by that for a while too but I think I have an explanation:

I believe LOD is short for Live Off Disk which refers to the recording buffer of that tuner (there are 2 tuners code-named: P0 & P1). When changing a channel, one of the things that has to happen after tuning (changing channels) is for the LOD to be re-created or "converted". If the tuner is already on the right channel you setup to record then there is no need to create the LOD and hence you get that "ConverLOD failed" message in the DVR log.

The reason I deduced the above is I noticed that for a recording that follows a prior recording on the same channel the "ConvertLOD failed" message is always present. When the tuner has to switch to a different channel I don't see the "ConverLOD failed" message, only the ConvertLOD so I think my explanation above makes sense.

that would make perfect sense in this case. I had scheduled to record "oobi" for my little girl and then Jack's Big Music Show" a little later on the same channel (105 Noggin).

*a side note.... why Cox has two channels 354 and 105 as the same exact channel "Noggin" is beyond me. Just stupid....why not offer other programming on one of those. My wife wants the "Style" channel that Time Warner Cable offers.

*a side note.... why Cox has two channels 354 and 105 as the same exact channel "Noggin" is beyond me. Just stupid....why not offer other programming on one of those?
I'll bet they're just "aliases": two channel numbers that share the same frequency.

Is anyo one having problems with ABC HD? I'm using the built in tuner and cox cable and haven't had any problems, but for the last week or so, I get picture but no sound, all the other channels are okay.

-Vic

Is anyo one having problems with ABC HD? I'm using the built in tuner and cox cable and haven't had any problems, but for the last week or so, I get picture but no sound, all the other channels are okay.

Well, LOST was perfect for me last night, so I would have to say no.

Question about the temperatures of these new boxes:

I did the down, B, up, B to see the temp of mine and it was 102F and a max of 109 F :eek:

Whereas my next door neighbor who also just got the 6416 has 95 F and a 99 F Max.

What's the highest it will be without shutting down? We have it clear on all sides and on top, so I don't know why mine is so much hotter than his. :confused:



Also, do you guys power off you STB every night along with your TVs? We usually just turn off the TV and left our 6412 on ALL the time. Maybe that we have the 6416 we should turn off both each night.

Anyone else noticing a lipsync issue with NBCHD?
All my other HD programming is fine.

niesman

Anyone else noticing a lipsync issue with NBCHD?
All my other HD programming is fine.

niesman

According to a post in the Los Angeles, CA - OTA thread, OTA NBC is having the same problem.

I did the down, B, up, B to see the temp of mine and it was 102F and a max of 109 F :eek:<snip>Also, do you guys power off you STB every night along with your TVs? We usually just turn off the TV and left our 6412 on ALL the time. Maybe that we have the 6416 we should turn off both each night. Mine is about that too and that's fine. My old 6412 Phase I (with only 1 fan) would run at 130F with a max of 139F and still didn't shut off so 102F is not bad in comparison.
No point turning the unit off - it still buffers both tuners to the HD anyway so powering it off really doesn't accomplish anything aside from muting audio/video to the outputs. Bonus of leaving it powered on all the time is you can tell when the unit was rebooted since following a reboot it's powered off.

According to a post in the Los Angeles, CA - OTA thread, OTA NBC is having the same problem. Confirmed the problem via my OTA tuner.

I'm having problems with my HD signal so I was hoping if someone could help me out. I just bought a new Sony kdf-e50a10. On the 1080i HD channels, it's flawless, but when I watch a 720 or 480 HD channel, I get what appears to be the signal breaking up. The audio and video will "freeze" momentarily, and then refresh to the current picture resulting in intermittent audio and video. Does anyone have this problem or know how to fix it? Thanks in advance.

I'm having problems with my HD signal so I was hoping if someone could help me out. I just bought a new Sony kdf-e50a10. On the 1080i HD channels, it's flawless, but when I watch a 720 or 480 HD channel, I get what appears to be the signal breaking up. The audio and video will "freeze" momentarily, and then refresh to the current picture resulting in intermittent audio and video. Does anyone have this problem or know how to fix it? Thanks in advance. Since you didn't mention it I assume you are using QAM tuner (with or without CableCard)? Certain tuners have been reported in this thread to have trouble tuning 720p channels ABC HD & FOX HD from Cox. My Samsung SIR-451 has problems with those and I never figured out why. The same tuner works great OTA for those channels. I have a PC HD QAM tuner which works fine with the Cox channels however so it seems to be tuner-specific problem.

I'm having problems with my HD signal so I was hoping if someone could help me out. I just bought a new Sony kdf-e50a10. On the 1080i HD channels, it's flawless, but when I watch a 720 or 480 HD channel, I get what appears to be the signal breaking up. The audio and video will "freeze" momentarily, and then refresh to the current picture resulting in intermittent audio and video. Does anyone have this problem or know how to fix it? Thanks in advance.I had the same problem with ABC and Fox, and it turned out to be the signal strength. Cox installed a new amp at my distribution point, and put an attenuator on the line just before the 6412 to dial it in just right.

Cox OC has KABC-HD, Fox11-HD, and two other non-HD channels on the same carrier frequency. If those are the only two HD channels that give you trouble, suspect the signal and call Cox. If you are having the same problem with ESPN-HD (which is also 720p but on a different carrier frequency), then it might be something else.

I never bothered much with most SD digital channels in my lineup. Tonight I was browsing through the channels in the 300s and it was a pool of digital messy artifacting goo - what an embarassment. Whatever was on I was so distracted by the digital artifacting I just couldn't stand to watch. I tried all the output modes of the DCT6416 (preserve 480i, preserve 480p, sidebar 1080i, wide 1080i) and nothing made them look any better. Anyone else have any feedback on what your channels in the 300s look like?

An example was Lord of the Rings, a fairly recent movie. Zoomed in and still shots were pretty good, but anything with zoomed out motion had a lot of ghosting around the edges and text had a lot of ghosting around it too.

There were a couple of sports channels showing some old college basketball games also that were just terrible small squares of pixelation all through and a lot of snow. Obviously in that case the source material was bad to begin with and mpeg encoding only makes matters worse.

Overall at least on my TV the encoded analog channels look a lot better as do of course analog channels fed directly to the TV (not encoded via the DCT6416).

You've got good signal? I really don't see pictures that are so bad on my SD channels.

You've got good signal? I really don't see pictures that are so bad on my SD channels. HD and analog channels look pretty good, so yes I would say I have good signal strength. What display are you using? Mine is an oldish 30" 1024x768 LCD HDTV with 16ms response time (slow compared to newer LCDs) connected via component cables. I'm thinking that perhaps some of the ghosting around the edges is due to the slow 16ms response time of my TV as I see that quite a lot in basketball games in SD (HD looks fine though - no ghosting).

I have a regular TV set that I watch most of the time in the office bedroom, hooked up via S-Video. The cheap LCD in the living room (resp. time unknown) looks OK enough on SD, there's some 4:3-to-16:9-isms, but nothing like the blocking and digital artifacts you're seeing.

Tubes have always looked better to me for SD channels - they hide many of the defects. I guess I have developed a very picky eye but the macro-blocking is so obvious on any motion on most of the SD digital channels I don't know how one would not notice. To qualify signal strength I just checked INBAND STATUS diagnostics and both tuners look good:
Tuner 1
SNR ~ 35dB GOOD
AGC ~ 52% GOOD
No 5 sec error counts
Tuner 2
SNR ~ 34dB GOOD
ACC ~ 52% GOOD
No 5 sec error counts

I know this is in your FAQ, but I wouldn't know where to look. Run off the key sequence, and I'll post what I have here for signal levels.

I'm a little curious about that myself- my cable modem (Moto SB5120) has reported a steady drop in signal level (was at 0db when I moved the office here three weeks ago, now at -2db, with no changes in any of the installed cable equipment (other than swapping a DCT for a 6412 and a 6412 for a 6416).

Power off, Select, Select (don't leave much delay between commands)
Scroll down to d04 INBAND STATUS and then right arrow
Power off to exit the diagnostics

I'm currently taping something on the 1st tuner in analog mode, but the 2nd:

SNR is 35.0 dB (Good)
AGC is 56% (Good)
with no uncorrectable nor correctable error counts.

I'm currently taping something on the 1st tuner in analog mode, but the 2nd:

SNR is 35.0 dB (Good)
AGC is 56% (Good)
with no uncorrectable nor correctable error counts. i.e. Very similar numbers (my AGC number actually slightly better since it is lower but very close). So doubt it's anything to do with signal strength. I think the problem is more the end display and "eyes of the beholder". What I plan to do is extract a recording via firewire and see how that looks on my PC display and also on a regular boob tube.

Has anyone seen a recent change in the speed at which channels change and are displayed? They seem to be much slower for me recently. I am not just talking about HD channels but SD ones as well. Also when I press the GUIDE button it takes a little more time to recognize. I restarted my box to see if that would make things better but it didnt seem to help any.

On an unrelated topic... Does anyone know how long it usually takes for a channel to go from a TEST (testing mode) channel into one that we actually can view? Seems like we have had these TEST channels for awhile now.

Has anyone seen a recent change in the speed at which channels change and are displayed? They seem to be much slower for me recently. I am not just talking about HD channels but SD ones as well. Also when I press the GUIDE button it takes a little more time to recognize. I restarted my box to see if that would make things better but it didnt seem to help any.

My guess is that this was caused by the subscription bug fix that was put into Passport 2.5. Personally, I am willing to put up with slower channel changing to be rid of the subscription bug.

TheRock, in answer to your first question, I too have noticed a significant difference in the speed at which channels change and are displayed. In fact, with the 6416, when I change the channel, the screen jumps to the new station, then very briefly I see a freezeframe from the channel I was just on, and then it officially makes a switch to the new channel. It's extremely slow. Does anyone know if there's a fix for this? Thank you.

I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me with an audio problem I'm having. Like all of you, I have suffered through many crappy Motorola DVR's in the hopes that they will finally get it right. After waiting for a long time, I now have the 6416 and like many of you have commented on, it looks like the HDMI input is working which is a step in the right direction. Now here's my problem, and forgive me if I'm not explaining it correctly because I'm not ver technical.

Like many of you, I have a fairly adequate home theater system at home. When I watch tv, I typically like to watch regular programming in 5 channel stereo because Dolby Pro Logic doesn't sound right to me with all of the sound coming out of the center channel.
Before I get to my problem, let me also say that I have a Panasonic 508UK Industrial Plasma and my audio go directly through my Rotel 1066 surround sound processor (pre-amp). Currently, I use an Optilink Digital connection out of the 6416 directly to my Rotel. Ok, here's the problem - In order for me to listen in 5 channel stereo, I have to set the audio settings on the cable box to Pulse Code Modulated. However, I noticed that when I use the HDMI input, the audio option on the box defaults to Dolby Digital and it won't let me change it. Therefore, I cannot listen in 5 channel stereo. Is this normal? Is this a function of the HDMI technology? I'm not quite sure I understand it.

Anyone with some knowledge about this stuff, your comments would be appreciated. Dolby digital is great when you're watching a movie, but watching the news or regular programming just doesn't sound good to me and I would like to be able to switch to 5 channel stereo if possible. Thank you!

Yabbut we've got DVRs now; little need to channel-surf!

Does anyone know the answer to my question above? Any information would help. Thanks.

Does anyone know the answer to my question above? Any information would help. Thanks. As far as I know HDMI supports PCM and DD. My guess (pure speculation) is that because of the issues with HDMI where audio switched from DD to PCM when changing channels the Cox/Motorola workaround to the issue was to force HDMI to always use DD (make PCM not available) if HDMI port is active.

I'm not using HDMI connection with my DCT6416 and under Advanced Settings digital audio gives me choice of DD or PCM.

EDIT: Quick Google search on HDMI and PCM turned up the following:
HDMI's audio capabilities vary, depending on which HDMI standard is employed. While these are developing all the time, at the time of writing, the situation is as follows:
V1.0 - two-channel PCM audio up to 48kHz/24-bit including standard Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1 bitstreams.
V1.1 - up to 8-channel PCM audio up to 192kHz/24-bit.
V1.2 - as V1.1, plus DSD audio (for SACD) at 1.824Gb/s.
V1.3 - (proposed) as above, plus Dolby Digital+ and DTS-HD enhanced audio.

Over the last few days I've had an odd problem where I'll watch something and it'll start skipping frames (I have 6412mark3). It comes and goes, sometimes rebooting makes the problem go away, but sometimes it doesn't. It's most pronounced on recorded shows but I've seen it happen live on TNT HD. It happens both to SD and HD channels. Has anyone else seen this?
Because of the FF/REW problems and the inconsistency with which CapDHVS captures work properly, I've just unplugged the firewire altogether and given up on it.

Over the last few days I've had an odd problem where I'll watch something and it'll start skipping frames (I have 6412mark3). It comes and goes, sometimes rebooting makes the problem go away, but sometimes it doesn't. It's most pronounced on recorded shows but I've seen it happen live on TNT HD. It happens both to SD and HD channels. Has anyone else seen this?
Because of the FF/REW problems and the inconsistency with which CapDHVS captures work properly, I've just unplugged the firewire altogether and given up on it.


I also noticed this on one recording I made. It was "Family Guy" and I recorded it from the FOX digital channel 711. For no reason at all the picture would go to black but I could still hear the sound. I tried to fast forward and rewind but that didnt help. I ended up having to reset the box to finish viewing the episode. I thought it was just because my box was really full of recordings and I hadnt reset it in awhile. I havent seen it on any live programs though. Hopefully this isnt something we have to worry about from now on. Seems like when they fix one problem another one is right there waiting to take its place. I didnt make any statements about this because I thought it was an isolated case and just me.

I also have the MOTOROLA DCT 6412III

Over the last few days I've had an odd problem where I'll watch something and it'll start skipping frames (I have 6412mark3). It comes and goes, sometimes rebooting makes the problem go away, but sometimes it doesn't. It's most pronounced on recorded shows but I've seen it happen live on TNT HD. It happens both to SD and HD channels. Has anyone else seen this?
Because of the FF/REW problems and the inconsistency with which CapDHVS captures work properly, I've just unplugged the firewire altogether and given up on it.

I have seen this as well on my 6416. I noticed it on a couple of CBS HD shows. I thought it was interesting that although video skipped frames, the audio was fine. I thought maybe it was CBS's problem, but since it's happening on TNT HD as well, it must be either a problem with the DVR or with Cox's retransmission.

I have seen this as well on my 6416. I noticed it on a couple of CBS HD shows. I thought it was interesting that although video skipped frames, the audio was fine. I thought maybe it was CBS's problem, but since it's happening on TNT HD as well, it must be either a problem with the DVR or with Cox's retransmission. I saw it too on CBS HD during playback of the Pitsburgh/Denver game back on Sun Jan 22 just after I had picked up my 6416 III that Friday. That same day it was fine on FOX HD. It was soon after I discovered that firewire captures screw up FF/REW so I assumed the problem was also due to firewire capture. I haven't used firewire capture since and haven't seen the issue again - could be just coincidence though.

Remember way back when the DCT6412/2000 (AKA DCT6412 Phase I) was first released there was the "HD Tiliing" issue which eventually got fixed by a Headend change from Cox in combination with a firmware upgrade. So I wouldn't rule out the possibility that if this problem persists that a Headend and/or firmware change will be needed.

Based on posts so far I have noticed (based on a very small sample of those reporting the problem) that the problem seems to be for phase III boxes only. Anyone with a phase I/II noticed this?

It was soon after I discovered that firewire captures screw up FF/REW so I assumed the problem was also due to firewire capture. I haven't used firewire capture since and haven't seen the issue again - could be just coincidence though.

I have never done a firewire capture before, and I have seen the skipped frames, so it definitely has nothing to do with firewire.

I also had the huge black dropout during Family Guy on Sunday - I think it was a problem with the transmission. Getting past that point was a pain, too.

Was your error right before Brian gets set on fire by Stewie? That was almost exactly where the error occurred for me.

Also, I've seen the frame-skipping problem on ABC Family (who's line is it anyway), TNT HD (Law & Order), and on Food Network (Iron Chef America).

Those are just ones I can think of off the top of my head. At this point I don't have the firewire cables plugged in at all.

I also had the huge black dropout during Family Guy on Sunday - I think it was a problem with the transmission. Getting past that point was a pain, too.

Was your error right before Brian gets set on fire by Stewie? That was almost exactly where the error occurred for me.

Also, I've seen the frame-skipping problem on ABC Family (who's line is it anyway), TNT HD (Law & Order), and on Food Network (Iron Chef America).

Those are just ones I can think of off the top of my head. At this point I don't have the firewire cables plugged in at all.


My blackout happened right when Peter ran to the bathroom to throw up. I was able to see that scene after I reset my box. Odd. This is really going to suck if it continues. Hopefully someone at COX pays attention to these forums and makes the appropriate changes.

I wonder if this has something to do with the test channels. Maybe they are playing around with the signals and things are getting messed up.

I also had the video skipping/freezing issue a couple days ago. Mostly on my HD channels. It would look like a flip book. Very staggered video but the audio was fine. But, definite frames missed. This was in the evening on all HD channels except ESPN HD. I went to bed and the next day it was fine. Weird. :confused:


Oh, I've also noticed the pixelization on the 300 channels since I got the 6416 DVR. Especially 360 and 361 (country music channels) I believe. I tried 480p, stretch, preserve 480, etc. even went to component instead of my HDMI and the "pixels" were still there. Hopefully this isn't how the 6416 DVR will always be.

I also had the huge black dropout during Family Guy on Sunday - I think it was a problem with the transmission. ... Was your error right before Brian gets set on fire by Stewie? That was almost exactly where the error occurred for me.
Same here- and I recorded the SDTV (CH 11) feed on the 6412M3 in the back bedroom. This one wasn't the Moto's fault.

I just saw something interesting. When I went to TitanTV.com to check what was on tv tonight I saw that they now list UHD. It is channel 744 on there guide. I checked my digital cable box guide to see if the channel was there but unfortunately it wasn't. Is this just another mistake from TitanTV or our we going to be receiving this channel soon and they just heard about it before us?

I just saw something interesting. When I went to TitanTV.com to check what was on tv tonight I saw that they now list UHD. It is channel 744 on there guide. I checked my digital cable box guide to see if the channel was there but unfortunately it wasn't. Is this just another mistake from TitanTV or our we going to be receiving this channel soon and they just heard about it before us? Hopefully with the overnight update it will show up since New England just got theirs today.

I think this is a special edition (and will stay on afterwards) for the Olympics, since NBC is trying to have 100 hours of live HD Olympics a week. NBC HD, Universal HD. Boy oh Boy I hope we get it in Irvine.

Hopefully with the overnight update it will show up since New England just got theirs today.


Not there this morning, bummer. Maybe tonight...

What is going on with NBC HD, again tonight there was horrible lipsync isuess with "The Office" and "ER"?

niesman

What is going on with NBC HD, again tonight there was horrible lipsync isuess with "The Office" and "ER"?

niesman Yup, again I confirmed OTA NBC HD had same problem.

Not there this morning, bummer. Maybe tonight... At this point I wouldn't expect UHD addition (if we are going to get it) to happen until Tues night/Wed morning as that seems to be "update" day for OC.

Yeah. NBC still seems to be having issues. Thankfully it hasnt been raining so they wont be able to blame there problems on that.


UniversalHD still isnt on my guide but I do now have a 744 test channel. Hopefully those test channels will become viewable channels soon.

UniversalHD still isnt on my guide but I do now have a 744 test channel.

That is very encouraging news indeed. My dreams of Battlestar Galactica in HD may finally be realized.

That is very encouraging news indeed. My dreams of Battlestar Galactica in HD may finally be realized. Most definately! Plus as a bonus Monk and Century City series and of course the upcoming Olympics coverage.

Universal HD Confirmed for OC starting in time for the Olympics!

I called Bobbie at the OC Marketing Office, it launches Feb 7th!

Anyone else notice more "pixelization" of SD and analog channels with the 6416 than the 6412 or 6413 boxes?

to me and my next door neighbor that is the first thing we noticed. Yes, the 6416 now works with my HDMI cable , but the picture quality is worse? Why?

Anyone else notice more "pixelzation" of SD and analog channels with the 6416 than the 6412 or 6413 boxes?

to me and my next door neighbor that is the first thing we noticed. Yes, the 6416 now works with my HDMI cable , but the picture quality is worse? Why? Hard to tell for sure unless you have 2 boxes side by side and to the same display. But as I posted further up I find picture quality of SD digital channels pretty bad in general with my 6416 - a lot of artifacting during motion and also a lot of ghosting around edges and text. Problem is I didn't really pay attention to SD digital channels with my 6412 so I can't compare them mentally. I would assume the 6413 & 6416 decoder hardware is the same in which case there shouldn't be a difference. Have you tried the 6416 with component connection?

P.S. On one particular bad channel - Golf channel 323 I extracted a 1 minute sample from firewire and playback on my laptop revealed that all the defects I noticed on my HDTV were also visible on my laptop display, so this rules out the 6416 as a culprit at least for that channel. Apparently Golf channel comes into Cox headend as analog and gets digitized there so the original source is bad to begin with.

So using firewire extraction is a good tool to determine if it's a problem with your DCT box or from your headend/cable drop.

Yep, that's what my neighbor and I did. We kept our 6412 boxes for about a week after we got the 6416's and compared. The 6412 definitely were "smoother" with the SD channels. The HDTV channels were crystal clear on each box, but the 6416 did exactly what you mentioned (the artifacting and text "ghosting" and when there was movement you saw the pixels more than the 6412.

We also tried component and HDMI hookups and they both were virtually the same on the 6416. :mad: Both had what I call "pixelization".

So, he kept his 6412 and 6416 and is using the 6412 for now. I, unfortunately, had already taken back my 6412. :confused: So, I hope they somehow have some sort of upgrade that will "smooth" out the picture more. :rolleyes:

Jeeze...just when I thought I'd upgrade (been wanting the better Analog of the newer boxes compared to my 6412) and the extra memory would really be appreciated.....bugs in the SD would not work here. We all watch many of those SD channels....Military, Speed, All the Encores, Wam, and more. Guess I'll keep on waiting.......

Well, I'm getting pretty pissed at how bad the tiling/pixelization is on the channels in the 300's on this new 6416.

Did they ever come out with a 6412 box that you could use the HDMI cable without getting the re-boot problem?

If so, i'm going to switch the 6416 back to the 6412 or 13.

Ok, just went through some old posts and see that they fixed the HDMI problem with a firmware upgrade to the 6412 III (6413) boxes. I'm going to go get one and do another comparison and ditch the 6416 if the 6412 III is better with the SD channels.

Jees, I swear, how does Motorola make an "updated" model worse than the ones before it?! :mad:

I mean some of the 300 channels are horrible now.

Ok, just went through some old posts and see that they fixed the HDMI problem with a firmware upgrade to the 6412 III (6413) boxes. I'm going to go get one and do another comparison and ditch the 6416 if the 6412 III is better with the SD channels.

Jees, I swear, how does Motorola make an "updated" model worse than the ones before it?! :mad:

I mean some of the 300 channels are horrible now. That's what I've been saying. But like I mentioned judging from firewire captures it doesn't seem to be the 6416 is the problem since playback on my laptop reveals the same defects - I think the SD digital transport streams coming from headend are bad to begin with and perhaps the 6416 is more "faithful" in displaying them. I'm going to capture a few more channels in the 300s that look pretty bad to confirm for sure.

I found setting "Preserve 4:3 - 480i" to be MUCH, MUCH better than "Preserve 4:3 - 480p" with the 6416. With that setting playback on my laptop and HDTV show about same quality (though still not good on many of the channels in the 300s).

Something is wrong with the scaler in the 6416 as 480i->480p conversion is horrible. From what I recall the 6412 did a much better job when set to 480p for SD.

On some of the better channels in the 300s (307 for example) I found playback better on PC than the HDTV.

Read these forums all the time, and just wanted to post an odd issue I had with a series III box today.

I woke up to find that none of my Friday programs had recorded. Played around with the box and all the channels seemed to be working, etc. Finally, I noticed that all my Friday programs were still listed in the "Scheduled to Record" section of the DVR list. What was even more strange was that they were listed at the top, chronologically correct, but the DVR knew today wasn't Friday because all programs to record today were noted as "Today."

So I rebooted the box and when it came back up, 3 programs I had already watched and deleted reappeared in the DVR list.

I should also note that I had had to reboot the box yesterday -- before I watched and deleted any of the mysteriously reappearing programs -- because I was having the frame-skipping issue.

It's kind of a bummer, because now after the subscription bug has been addressed, I again find myself without any confidence that the thing will record as requested.

I just had Comcast out to my house for picture lock ups on both my 6412s. The only solution is to unplus and replug. What a bummer. The tech guy told me there was nothing he could do since these boxes are known for these lock ups. That's a load of crap!! I'm spending a lot money for these boxes and they need to be rebooted every 2 days. Are there any other HD DVRs that work on Comcast?

Mike

I'm spending a lot money for these boxes
Hrmph. The rest of us are only paying $10/mo ... :rolleyes:

Well, just got back from the Santa Margarita office to try and get a 6412 III box instead of the 6416 because of the bad image quality on the 300 channels.

Well, to make a long time/story short, these "customer service" people are complete A-HOLES. :mad: All I wanted was to get a 6412 box instead and she (Barbara) got a huge attitude with me and said we don't have any of those. I asked if she could look at the 12 boxes right behind her and see if one was a 6412. She reacted with "that's a lot of work. Those are heavy."

WHAT!!! ??? I said you are "customer service" right? I would like the 6412 box and could you please look right behind you and see if one of those are it. It was like pulling teeth. Finally, she slumped back there and YEP, found a 6412/2000 box. (Which I don't even know if it will work with DVI-HDMI connection I want.)


but, here's the icing on the cake. I get it home and plug it all in and ...."Passport Echo" screen and nothing else. :mad:

so, I call tech support and I get "Paula". Actually, surprisingly, VERY nice and tried to help me, but still couldn't get it to work. So, she was to reset the box back to "manufacture" settings and reboot it and said she will be calling me back in 30-40 mintues.

That was 1 hour ago. :mad: Still waiting..........

Now, as I wait....

Question for those who know about the 6412/2000 box (I have only had the non-DVR 6412 III box). Did it get the firmware upgrade like the other box versions? And do you know the HD space of it? Lastly, what are the problems you've heard o with the DVR 6412/2000 boxes?

Thanks!

6412 II has 120 GB space, I believe the firmware was never updated no the software. Look at Mojekj's pages for more info

(...)
I woke up to find that none of my Friday programs had recorded. Played around with the box and all the channels seemed to be working, etc. Finally, I noticed that all my Friday programs were still listed in the "Scheduled to Record" section of the DVR list.
(...)
So I rebooted the box and when it came back up, 3 programs I had already watched and deleted reappeared in the DVR list.
(...)WestBeverly, recently I've had exactly the same problem with 6412 DVR. After a few frustrating days (during which I viewed previously recorded material) and losing a few newly recorded items, I took the box back to Cox and got a new 6416 (I didn't know that it was available!). The new box runs cooler, has a larger drive (147,581 MB allocated for DVR content), and the on-screen info and guide work while watching a HD channel.

Mike

Hey All, well just to update what happened after my "waste" of a day with Cox.

After taling to a second tech (Ron) when Paula NEVER called back...he couldn't figure the problem of the Passport Echo screen either. So, we scheduled an appt. for Monday.

Then a little after that, I realized I couldn't be here for the tech guy and miss work, so I called in again to cancel and talked to a 3rd person. :confused:

As I explained the problem to her AGAIN, she said to try this, "Cable, Power, Exit Exit". Then the picture appeared and the Passport Echo screen was gone. I said "Why in the hell didn't the other techs tell me to do that?"

But, eventhough the image was back, there was "NO DATA" in the entire guide. And the recording feature wouldn't work. So, she said to keep my appt. if I could or reschedule.

Well, I was all set to just say forget it and return the 6412 II box and keep the 6416 with the bad image qulaity in the SD channels until another day. When about an hour later the guide appeared out of nowhere and my DVR started working. :eek:

So far, knock on wood!, the 6412 /2000 seems to work fine with DVI-HDMI connection. Hopefully it will NOT have the re-boot problem. The image quality for the SD channels blows the 6416 away. Why the 6416 is so crappy with SD channels is ridiculous. Where is the quality testing on these?

but, just to be safe, I'm keeping the 6416 for just a few days and making sure the 6412 works without a hitch before I return it.

Man, Cox is unbelievably bad for a company that's been around so long. :mad:

Now, last question to you experts out there... since I have a bunch of recorded shows on the 6416 I'm returning....is there anyway to trasfer the shows/files from the old 6416 box I'm returning to the 6412 box I'm keeping?

via firewire somehow?


thanks for the help....this forum has been a lifesaver for getting some REAL answers.

Now, as I wait....

Question for those who know about the 6412/2000 box (I have only had the non-DVR 6412 III box). Did it get the firmware upgrade like the other box versions? And do you know the HD space of it? Lastly, what are the problems you've heard o with the DVR 6412/2000 boxes?

Thanks!

The 6412/2000 did not ever have the reboot problem with the DVI port. This issue was specific to the phase III models with the HDMI port. It also did not have the issue with Dolby Digital/Stereo audio settings not sticking.

The above issues have been fixed with a firmware update for the Phase III boxes. Phase II boxes did not get a corresponding firmware update since those serious bugs were not present on them.

The biggest recent problem with the 6412/2000 was the subscription bug which was fixed with a recent Passport Echo update. The problem was present on all the boxes and is now pretty much fixed.

There are many who feel(and I agree) that the anaolog(1-100) channels look much beter on the Phase III boxes than on the phase II. This is due to a newer mpeg converter in the Phase III.

Finally there is recent discussion that the digital SD channels look worse on the Phase III's than the older phase II's.

I agree that those channels look like total crap, especially the 300 range ones, but it's my opinion that they looked just as bad on my old series II box as they do on my current 6416. Since the box simply records the incoming digital stream with no conversion, it seems unlikely to me that the box is messing this up. Moyekj's recent testing with firewire output seems to confirm this. I think the signal coming from the headend for these channels just plain and simply sucks because they are compressing it to death in order to save bandwidth. The good news is that at least some of that saved bandwidth is going to our beautiful HD channels.

Cheers,
Ray

(...)she said to try this, "Cable, Power, Exit Exit". Then the picture appeared and the Passport Echo screen was gone.
(...)
But, eventhough the image was back, there was "NO DATA" in the entire guide. And the recording feature wouldn't work.(...)
(...)
When about an hour later the guide appeared out of nowhere and my DVR started working.
1. The old guide data was erased by the command.
2. It takes a while to reload the guide data, because it is being sent at low bit rate.

The 6412/2000 did not ever have the reboot problem with the DVI port. This issue was specific to the phase III models with the HDMI port. It also did not have the issue with Dolby Digital/Stereo audio settings not sticking.

The above issues have been fixed with a firmware update for the Phase III boxes. Phase II boxes did not get a corresponding firmware update since those serious bugs were not present on them.

The biggest recent problem with the 6412/2000 was the subscription bug which was fixed with a recent Passport Echo update. The problem was present on all the boxes and is now pretty much fixed.

There are many who feel(and I agree) that the anaolog(1-100) channels look much beter on the Phase III boxes than on the phase II. This is due to a newer mpeg converter in the Phase III.

Finally there is recent discussion that the digital SD channels look worse on the Phase III's than the older phase II's.

I agree that those channels look like total crap, especially the 300 range ones, but it's my opinion that they looked just as bad on my old series II box as they do on my current 6416. Since the box simply records the incoming digital stream with no conversion, it seems unlikely to me that the box is messing this up. Moyekj's recent testing with firewire output seems to confirm this. I think the signal coming from the headend for these channels just plain and simply sucks because they are compressing it to death in order to save bandwidth. The good news is that at least some of that saved bandwidth is going to our beautiful HD channels.

Cheers,
Ray


Thanks, so, the basic difference between the phase 2 and phase 3 boxes are a little better quality of lower end analog on the III and better mid-high SD channels on the II. Which , for us, better that we have the II because we watch a lot of the 100-300 channels. We watch the low end ones on HD.

I give up HDMI-HDMI but I use a DVI -HDMI cable so I think that's the same quality of picture for HD content.

I'm much happier with the quality of the SD and analog channels with the 6412 over the 6416. They were REALLY bad (ghosting and very pixelated) on the 6416.
Bth my neighbor and I took our 6416's back.

Superbowl is looking good. 34 seconds behind OTA feed, hope I won't hear the nieghbors cheering.

My ABC HD OTA feed was breaking up badly today for some odd reason - glad I have the Cox ABC HD feed which is fine.

34 seconds behind OTA feed.
I watched the 1st half in L.A., where the SD/HD delay was only the standard second or two, then drove to the OC for the 2nd half (empty roads!) where the delay was as you'd said. I wonder why it was so much longer down there?

Major Outage Confirmed.

I am in Irvine, and I awoke to no Digital/ or Digital HD channels. The analog channels are less than acceptable. No problem with my High Speed however. Cox is currently making repairs where needed. They better have it ready for 24 tonight.

I wonder if this will push off the UHD debut tomorrow.

I was nearly about to post similarly. My OC office is in Irvine, and I'm getting far lower signal strength (-4dB when it's normally 0dB) on my cable modem as well as one complete internet outage, and about 10mins ago my STB rebooted (and just did it again).

I hope they fix this soon; I've got signal but it's fairly attenuated. I'm in 92606 at the corner of Barranca and Paseo Westpark.

92606 here, I am at Deerfield and Harvard. Cable Modem wasn't having any dropout. Analog was entirely crap quality and the only digital channel I could get KABC LA HD was entirely artifacted.

Thanks for the heads up guys - I wouldn't have known until I turned on the TV later tonight. Guess I'll make plans to record at least Surface season finale & 24 OTA with my FusionHDTV laptop tuner.

Perhaps some of the disruption was an attempt to get some of those "Test" channels released.

Hi, new guy here. Just ordered my plasma and should get it within the week.

My situation: I'm in 92602 and I currently only have Limited Cable from Cox (I do, however, also have High Speed Internet and Phone service from them already). Doing a quick search on Cox's website on getting HD content resulted in a recommendation of upgrading to their Digital Cable & HD Service, which will cost me about $50 extra a month. And I'm interested in the DVR service and that'll be extra. That's quite a bit more to pay but if it's really the only way for me to get HD content, then I guess I'll have to bite the bullet.

Now, my new plasma does have the CableCARD option. But Cox's website is not very helpful on that option. It looks like they do offer it, but they make it pretty difficult to find any info about it (even pricing).

Does anybody has any experience with CableCARD from Cox or my situation in general?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Endorus

Well as a heads up, CableCard rarely works with settop DVRs, since they want you to rent theirs. And I think if you want multiple tuners you need multiple cards at 5 a card a month, it is almost like just getting their HD DVR less 5 dollars. Now I have a HDTV with a built in tuner, so if I would give up ESPN DiscoveryHD INHD1 and 2 HBO and ShowHD then I can get all the other stations thru my digital and HD enabled tv, but few tvs are offering that yet. SOunds like yours may with the Cable Card option though, but it most likely does not have a DVR.

Here is my set up:

Phone = 11-10
Cable = ~57
Internet = 29.99
HD+DVR+ESPN DISC. = 10+4.95+0
Premium HBO = 4.95

1+57+30+15+5= ~108 dollars + tax a month

Does anybody has any experience with CableCARD from Cox or my situation in general?
A friend of mine tried it about 1.5 years ago with his Mitsubishi CableCard TV and had problems. A Mitsubishi firmware upgrade eventually fixed the problem mostly, but he still had occasional trouble with HD channels so he eventually gave up. I'm hoping these problems have been figured out by now as I'm looking forwards to switching over to dual tuner HD Tivo Series 3 DVR (includes 2 CableCard slots) when it is released supposedly late this year. I thought I saw mentioned somewhere the pricing was about $3/month per CableCard not $5/month but I haven't check with CSR lately. $5/month seems a little much given you can rent a non-DVR box for about that.

I was nearly about to post similarly. My OC office is in Irvine, and I'm getting far lower signal strength (-4dB when it's normally 0dB) on my cable modem as well as one complete internet outage, and about 10mins ago my STB rebooted (and just did it again).

I hope they fix this soon; I've got signal but it's fairly attenuated. I'm in 92606 at the corner of Barranca and Paseo Westpark.

Same here, and I also had the same reboots today. (I'm just up the road from you at Harvard and Walnut.)

well at harvard and deerfield the signal strength has returned, a few fade outs have occured on 721, in the past 2o min

My cable-modem signal strength is still at -4dB, and my SNR has dropped to a lousy 33dB (from a norm of 36 to a high of 38 when I first moved in here at the beginning of January).

How would I measure my signal stregnth.

How would I measure my signal stregnth. http://192.168.100.1

No cable outages (according to my wife) or box reboots (still turned on) down here in Mission Viejo, so must have been localized outage in Irvine.

It is a 1000+ home outage, and has to do something with a house burning down. It appears the 3 of us all back up to Harvard Avenue here in Irvine, so it must affect homes along Harvard and Culver.

Not sure how the house burning would cause horrible signal. Right now HBO is so messed up but NBC HD looks just fine. And the radio stations are not working at all.

I just thought of a good way of describing the poor quality, it looks like we are experiencing a hurricane and I am watching Dish Network. I thought that was the advantage of cable over satelite, I guess cable is not imune to fire.

I checked that signal stregnth thing, THANKS!

Frequency 561000000 Hz Locked
Signal to Noise Ratio 29 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level 4 dBmV
The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading
Upstream Value
Channel ID 1
Frequency 28700000 Hz Ranged
Ranging Service ID 61
Symbol Rate 3.200 Msym/s
Power Level 37 dBmV

... [The Irvine outage] has to do something with a house burning down. ... I guess cable is not imune to fire.
OK, so exactly what have I been smelling all day? The Irvine house afire, or the fires in Anaheim (I was in both cities today and wondered why the smell of smoke was all over the place)? Oh, and cable won't be immune to fire if the fire burns down a hardline or an amplifier ...!

I checked that signal stregnth thing, THANKS!
Signal to Noise Ratio 29 dB
...
Power Level 4 dBmV
...
Symbol Rate 3.200 Msym/s
Power Level 37 dBmV
OK, here's what I don't get- your SNR is much lower than mine, but your signal strength, bitrates and powerlevel are all much better than mine:

Frequency 561000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 35 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level -3 dBmV

Channel ID 1
Frequency 28700000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 1576
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 46 dBmV
You've got a higher symbol rate, and you need less power (37 dBmV vs. 46) to make it to the headend. Which service do you subscribe to? I'm on the promo 9000/1000 plan ('till the promo price goes away, I only get that kind of speed at 4:30am (even though I am up working that late many times)).

well at 5 am or so I can get roughly 700KBps... in the evening I get roughly 400-500.

I think I am on the 5mbps/1mbps for 29.99 a month, not sure. It has been a while. I have digital phone or whatever, but I dont think it is digital, since it is just running out of the hard wired line.

Signal to Noise Ratio 33 dB
Power Level 11 dBmV
Upstream Value
Channel ID 1
Frequency 28700000 Hz Ranged
Ranging Service ID 61
Symbol Rate 3.200 Msym/s
Power Level 37 dBmV

Well its FEB 7 and channel 744 is still listed as test. No update last night I guess. Hopefully in the next couple days it will happen.

I am going to "guess" because of the major outages and low signal strength across the Irvine area there was a fear that updating boxes could cause some problems. I know it is just an update of 1 channel, but they probably just wanted to wait till it settled down. My announcement came straight from the marketing team, but you know how that goes ;) I just hope it is hear for Friday!

As I posted last week Tues night/Wed morning seems to be the traditional day for channel lineup changes so I would expect it to show up tomorrow morning.

Has anyone noticed an issue where the (analog, via RCA-jack) audio just spontaneously mutes itself? I'm running 2.5.040/12.27 and I have to hit pause or something to get the sound back.

Has anyone noticed an issue where the (analog, via RCA-jack) audio just spontaneously mutes itself? I'm running 2.5.040/12.27 and I have to hit pause or something to get the sound back.

I have this problem over digital, where the NBC HD feed during commercials switches out of DD 5.1 and won't switch back to DD 5.1 when the show comes on again, the only fix is to pause and play.

Not sure if this is related.

OK, Barranca and Paseo Westpark in 92606 (at least) just lost Internet (everything including signal, if my SB5120's lights are to be believed) for about 45 mins. It's back now (obviously :)) but signals are down to -3dB. I guess they're doing more maintenance. TV didn't go anywhere, though.

I have this problem over digital, where the NBC HD feed during commercials switches out of DD 5.1 and won't switch back to DD 5.1 when the show comes on again
Thing is, this'll do it in the middle of a program. I have a Cyberhome DVD recorder and have had bad recordings 'cause of this.

Wooooo-hooooo. Universal HD is now officially here on Cox.

Now where the hell is MHD, Cox OC?

Oh goodie!

What is MHD?

Wooooo-hooooo. Universal HD is now officially here on Cox.

Now where the hell is MHD, Cox OC? Are you serious (the MTV HD channel)?? I would much rather have even ESPN2 HD (which hardly has any HD content) or pretty much any other cable HD channel before that one. Can't remember the last time I watched MTV.

Oh goodie!

What is MHD?
MHD is the new HD channel from MTV Networks. It features content culled from the networks of MTV, CMT, VH1 and the other MTV owned channels. They've been filming almost all musical content in HD for over a year to build up content for the networks and this is mixed with HD and upconverted music videos. People who already have it have given it a very positive review in terms of picture and sound quality, and especially the programming. It's not all the stupid crap that is on the regular MTV channel. What is played are concert events like Crossroads, the 2$bill concerts, ect. And anyway, Cox is one of the launch partners, and OC still doesn't have it while most of the nation does; I mean, even freaking Idaho does (no offense to Idaho-ians (yeah, I doubt that's what a resident of Idaho is called, but bah, I want my MHD).

And to moyekj, I certainly want other channels too; but I mean, ESPN2 is almost always just SD content with those darned HD bars on the side, moreso than ESPN HD. From friends that have D*, they tell that there is hardly times when there are two simultaneous HD events. But hey, I'd still take it ;). And in addition to that, I'd like Starz HD, HDnet and HDnet Movies (I know, fat chance), and FSN West HD.

Maybe that'll happen someday, once they start removing analog channels and moving them to digital.

AVS Forum: So has anyone actually SEEN the new MHD channel yet? Yes! (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=630226)

MHD is the new HD channel from MTV Networks.
I'll take it! It'll partially make up for how I lost VH1 Soul, MTV Jamz and VH1 when I went from ComCast-land to Cox-land.

Is there any way to transfer recording from one stb to another stb? I have one box i'm returning and it has Kobe's 81 point game on it and I'd like to transfer it to the box we're keeping.

Is there any way to transfer recording from one stb to another stb?

I am not totally sure but I dont believe so quigs. You should be able to send the recording to your computer though.

moyekj has a guide that explains how to accomplish this. Just follow his link titled "DCT6412 mpeg2 firewire capture and HD/SD->DVD howto"

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html

So, I don't understand why Cox can't just make the bill extremely basic.

Instead of breaking things down into complex and undecipherable totals...
They should have FLAT RATES

Anyway, I got a bill for 158.00 today, called up and canceled almost everything I didn't need.

HBO, Sho, Cinemax. GONE.
Internet down from 5 to 4.
Tried to cancel the phone, but they said that would cost me 20 dollars more. WHOA.

Ok, so could some people break down what they subscribe to, so I can see if I am getting screwed or if their billing system is screwy.

I have:
2 HD DVRs: 29.80
No Premium Channels: 0.00
4mbps/512mbps: 39.95
Phone (Active Lifestyles): 20.89
Basic + Extended + Digital: ???
Bundle discount: -10.00

My total is at or around 100 now? Is this right? She told me if I cancel my phone I lose the Bundle Discount, and my total would be 104. I am terribly confused at their math.

Sure, why not.

Cable TV -- $85.89
Limited basic - $14.39
Expanded service - $28.60
Digital cable - $12.95
HBO & Showtime - $15.00
DVR service - $4.95
Digital receiver (DVR/HD) - $9.95

Internet - $39.99

Phone - $28.26
Basic service - $9.99
Active Lifestyle Pkg. - $6.95
Caller ID - $6.15 (heh, I should drop this)
Unlisted fee - $.79
FCC Charge - $4.38
Taxes & Fees: $6.97

<Digital Suite $10 discount>

Total: $151.03

By the time my new-subscriber deductions come off, I'll be shelling out close to $180/mo for Internet and Cable. Thank God most of that's tax-deductible for me!

BTW, does anyone have guide data for UHD yet? Rebooting doesn't work.

BTW, does anyone have guide data for UHD yet? Rebooting doesn't work.

Nothing here yet. Maybe over night.

FYI on Universal HD:
RF channel 83, 1080i, Encrypted.
Muxed in on same RF channel with:
SHOW HD, 1080i, Encrypted
HRTV, 480i, Encrypted.

I actually noticed a 3rd encrypted channel show up on RF 83 a while ago and guessed it was a new HD channel but obviously couldn't confirm until today with the DCT6416.

I am not totally sure but I dont believe so quigs. You should be able to send the recording to your computer though.

moyekj has a guide that explains how to accomplish this. Just follow his link titled "DCT6412 mpeg2 firewire capture and HD/SD->DVD howto"

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html


Hmm, ok...thanks Rock...

Yeah, I know about the STB-Computer transfer, but I don't have the 6 to 6 pin Firewire....just a 6 to 4 pin. And don't have a laptop....although I might try to just setup the old box next to my desktop in the den. but I'll still need the firewire cable.

Quigs, **********...

Can anyone else confirm if channel 19 (Abc family) is missing the left audio channel? As of Monday it's no longer in stereo, there's a totally dead left channel. This is the only channel it looks like its happening on. Tried headphones, rebooting the box, nothing helps.

Yup, just tried it. Call Cox, go thru the "it's your equpment, sir, we have no reports of ..." BS dance, and maybe they'll fix it.

Guide Data is now available on UHD.

Did anyone else have some breakups for CBS during The Grammys?

Anyone else experiencing drop outs during the Grammys?

I live for the day when the major networks will broadcast a "big" event with out drop outs. The SuperBowl was without drop outs until the 4th quarter. It may seem like nit picking but the trend in this thread is to comment about the DVR functionality. I am fine with the basic performance of the moto box. But what drives me crazy are all the drop outs and the lipsync issue on network programming on NBCHD!

niesman

Anyone else experiencing drop outs during the Grammys?

I live for the day when the major networks will broadcast a "big" event with out drop outs. The SuperBowl was without drop outs until the 4th quarter. It may seem like nit picking but the trend in this thread is to comment about the DVR functionality. I am fine with the basic performance of the moto box. But what drives me crazy are all the drop outs and the lipsync issue on network programming on NBCHD!

The problem is not just with NBC HD. I experienced dropouts this evening on both Fox HD (American Idol) and ABC HD (Lost). Obviously, when the problem spans multiple networks, the blame lies with Cox.

The problem is not just with NBC HD. I experienced dropouts this evening on both Fox HD (American Idol) and ABC HD (Lost). Obviously, when the problem spans multiple networks, the blame lies with Cox. FYI I'm in Mission Viejo and watched both AI and Lost last night (time-shifted on the 6416) and didn't see any glitches.

NBC HD quality kind of sucks for Olympics. 2 years ago I got my HDTV in time for summer olympics and remember how crappy and artifacting the HD coverage was (and how limited the coverage in HD was). I figured by now they would have learned to do it right. Well they surely will have more HD coverage this time but it sure doesn't look much better in terms of motion artifacts...

NBC HD quality kind of sucks for Olympics. 2 years ago I got my HDTV in time for summer olympics and remember how crappy and artifacting the HD coverage was (and how limited the coverage in HD was). I figured by now they would have learned to do it right. Well they surely will have more HD coverage this time but it sure doesn't look much better in terms of motion artifacts...

That is very sad to hear. I didnt watch any yet but I do remember that last time the Olympics were on they were unwatchable. Just horrid picture quality. I find it extremely odd that NBC can have fast movements, water ripples, and other taxing elements on Las Vegas and still look fairly good yet they cant figure out how for the Olympics. I did watch part of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and NBC still seems to be having audio issues.

Hmm, I watched last night and the opening ceremony had no major glitches. I was impressed with the menu graphics NBC went with, slick and informative.

Here is my biggest complaint, why can't the menus and score displays be moved to the outer edges. All it would take would be a computer to overlay the graphics for SD transmission and one for HD transmission. They already do it with the watermark icon. I get frustrated at seeing the menus showing nothing on the sidebars.

Hmmm. I watched OTA NBC HD & Cox NBC HD feed Olympics today and still see a lot of motion artifacting when zoomed in on athletes (same on both feeds). Unless I sit >10 feet away from the TV it is VERY noticeable and annoying.

ok i sit pretty far back, and when i looked more closely i noticed. Camera HD Lenses, or is it a compression they are using when they send it back to North America.

Tonights had a lot of cut outs. audio and video both

ok i sit pretty far back, and when i looked more closely i noticed. Camera HD Lenses, or is it a compression they are using when they send it back to North America.

Tonights had a lot of cut outs. audio and video both


I was starting to get annoyed by the video/audio cutouts, at least it's not just me.

Some of the other local threads have pointed out issues with audio/video dropouts so it looks like a problem with NBC broadcasting... they still haven't figured things out since the last Olympics.

Can anyone else confirm if channel 19 (Abc family) is missing the left audio channel? As of Monday it's no longer in stereo, there's a totally dead left channel. This is the only channel it looks like its happening on. Tried headphones, rebooting the box, nothing helps.

Yes, I have been having this problem for probably a year now. It was even occurring when I had regular cable, and persisted when I installed digital. Thought I was the only one.

I got the subscription bug last night when attempting to tape the Westminister Dog Show on Universal HD. It showed up as 0 minutes and a recording error, and when I tuned to Universal HD I got the subscription notice for several seconds before it went away. Has anyone else had this issue with Universal HD?

I have had the same DVR from the first month that it was introduced by Cox. Would this older version of the DVR be more prone to this?

Thanks,

Tom

I've had a few recordings on UHD (Battlestar Galactica and Monk) that worked fine so I don't think it's a problem specific to that channel. The Subscription Bug is related to how Passport Echo software deals with slow tuning and both older units and Phase III units have same Passport software. Slow tuning can have lots of causes such as signal strength, SNR, heat, etc. and it could be that the Phase III boxes since they are newer hardware have some tuner specific improvements and they certainly do run cooler than the older boxes which should help performance overall. Also of course the base firmware on the phase III boxes is different than older boxes. So I'd say there's a good chance it would improve with Phase III box but certainly no guarantee it will eliminate the problem alltogether.

I have consistently seen over the last few days that my 6416 has a lot of frame hiccups on 1080i channels - NBC HD & CBS HD in particular. It's very noticeable when there is some slow motion such as the camera panning slowly there will be an instantaneous freeze of a frame and then jerks forwards a few frames and it happens every 10 seconds or so. It's not immediately obvious but once you start noticing it it drives you crazy. There are no such issues at all on any 720p channels or 480i channels. My 6412/2000 (Phase I box) never had such an issue and now I find I really miss it. The added disk space and faster FF of the 6416 are nice but this hiccup problem is ridiculous.

I've tried rebooting the unit several times but the problem never goes away. If I quick skip back I get the problems in exact same spots. So this unit is going back. The thing I'd like to know is if this is a problem specific to 6416 units or is it a phase 3 box firmware 12.27 specific issue? i.e. Should I change it for a 6412-III or go back to a 6412/2000 (phase I)?

Anyone else seeing this?

moyekj: I haven't noticed this on my 6412 III, but I can confirm if it's a hardware issue over the weekend. I just swapped my digital cable box for a second DVR, so I now have a 6412 III and a 6416 III.

OK thanks Steve - yes I appreciate if you report your findings after some testing. I'm inclined to go for a 6412/2000 if they still have any in stock since it doesn't have the issue with FF/REW not working following firewire extraction which I believe all the phase III/12.27 firmware boxes have. I should have known to keep my known good working box for a few weeks before giving it up so easily - seems like a crap shoot to get a good, stable box. At this point I can't wait to get hold of a Tivo S3 which is now rumoured to be in beta testing phase for key Tivo employees (which means still several months to go for general release assuming all goes well).

I have consistently seen over the last few days that my 6416 has a lot of frame hiccups on 1080i channels - NBC HD & CBS HD in particular. It's very noticeable when there is some slow motion such as the camera panning slowly there will be an instantaneous freeze of a frame and then jerks forwards a few frames and it happens every 10 seconds or so. It's not immediately obvious but once you start noticing it it drives you crazy. There are no such issues at all on any 720p channels or 480i channels. My 6412/2000 (Phase I box) never had such an issue and now I find I really miss it. The added disk space and faster FF of the 6416 are nice but this hiccup problem is ridiculous.

I've tried rebooting the unit several times but the problem never goes away. If I quick skip back I get the problems in exact same spots. So this unit is going back. The thing I'd like to know is if this is a problem specific to 6416 units or is it a phase 3 box firmware 12.27 specific issue? i.e. Should I change it for a 6412-III or go back to a 6412/2000 (phase I)?

Anyone else seeing this?

I haven't seen what you are describing on my 6416. I do get occasional dropouts though. Last week I was getting audio dropouts, and this week the video will occasionally go to a black screen with normal audio. I think these are more likely transmission problems than a DVR issue.

I compared NBC HD tonight closely on my OTA tuner and the 6416. It's no contest, the OTA picture is so much sharper in clarity and smoother in motion. The 6416 has the hiccup problem and actually looks noisy compared to the OTA picture - definately something wrong with the 6416, so it's going back for sure. Still deciding on what to replace it with, but it won't be another 6416 for sure.

Can't believe what I just witnessed. An Emergency Alert System (EAS) message appeared via Cox cable warning of flash floods for tonight in Orange County. Right before the 6416 was recording 2 shows. The EAS message completely killed both recordings and once the EAS message finished the 2 recordings did not resume!! What a POS. I've had ReplayTVs for 5 years and never have I seen them do that - they simply keep on recording through the EAS message.

I have consistently seen over the last few days that my 6416 has a lot of frame hiccups on 1080i channels - NBC HD & CBS HD in particular...

moyekj,

I noticed this on my 6412 PhaseI while dual recording and watching the olympics. It was this that finally forced me to get a 6416 III. I have not seen this per se on the new box. There was some "skipping" during the men's board cross event, but it was specific to that event, the skating that followed did not exhibit the same effect. I also have had a recording error which some how corrected its self. (???)

Strange. Overall I am impressed with the video quality (HD and SD) vs. the 6412 I.

I took a break while writing this response to watch the womens snowboarding fiasco. Once again the skipping was extremely noticeable. This is a NBC site specific effect. NBC's HD coverage is embarrassing!!! Lipsync, (Bob Costas should have had a "Via satellite" banner like it was 1969 all over agin", stutter, and non stop motion artifacts. This is crap!!!!! not the box.


niesman

niesman, check CBS HD and I think you will notice the hiccups occur there too. I see the hiccups quite noticeably there too but not with my OTA tuner. I already have the box emptied and unplugged and ready to go back for a replacement tomorrow morning. You're getting me worried now that the problem really lies at the Cox headend... remember the old HD tiling problem we had way back! I hope this isn't another such problem.

niesman, check CBS HD and I think you will notice the hiccups occur there too. I see the hiccups quite noticeably there too but not with my OTA tuner. I already have the box emptied and unplugged and ready to go back for a replacement tomorrow morning. You're getting me worried now that the problem really lies at the Cox headend... remember the old HD tiling problem we had way back! I hope this isn't another such problem.


Yes I remember, I will pay close attention to CBS HD college BB for motion jitter.

I watched INHD volleyball just to check and did not see any effects there. Have you checked the stats on NBC and CBS? Cox has been testing more channels and I wonder if they are squeezing the local HD for subscription HD.

niesman

This morning I swapped out my old 6416 for a brand new one at the Cox store in Quail Hill. Plugged in the new unit and tuned directly to 704 (NBC HD) and immediately recognized the hiccup problem. Tuned to 702 (CBS HD) basketball and saw the problem there right away too.

My QAM tuner for my PC tunes to those same channels and does not have the problem. Also my OTA tuner attached to the HDTV doesn't have the problem.

I can only conclude that 6416 has a hardware defect or incompatability with Cox headend. At the Cox store I looked closely at a 6412 III on those channels and didn't notice the problem so perhaps those units are OK, but 6416 for sure is messed up.

Guess I'll be making another trip to the Cox store again today and I'm going to try and get a 6412/2000 (Phase I).

This morning I swapped out my old 6416 for a brand new one at the Cox store in Quail Hill. Plugged in the new unit and tuned directly to 704 (NBC HD) and immediately recognized the hiccup problem. Tuned to 702 (CBS HD) basketball and saw the problem there right away too.

My QAM tuner for my PC tunes to those same channels and does not have the problem. Also my OTA tuner attached to the HDTV doesn't have the problem.

I can only conclude that 6416 has a hardware defect or incompatability with Cox headend. At the Cox store I looked closely at a 6412 III on those channels and didn't notice the problem so perhaps those units are OK, but 6416 for sure is messed up.

Guess I'll be making another trip to the Cox store again today and I'm going to try and get a 6412/2000 (Phase I).


moyekj,

What is your TV's native resolution? My sony is 720P when I switch to 720P res on the 6416 all the hiccups disappear!!!! And The Picture is far superior. This new box's scaler may be very sensitive to your set's internal scaler. I too have a new 6416 III sitting in my car, I may swith it out, but your observation tells me that the results will be the same. The only reason I was using the 1080i out put was that it gave more punch to the PQ. Now the opposite is true.

niesman

I dont know if this is possible or works for the 6416 (I have the 6412 III) but you might want to try the following moyekj.


Turn off and reset the box.

Leave it alone for a good 10-15 minutes.

Turn on the box.

Tune to channel 700

Tune to channel 2

Hit the SWAP button on your remote

Now tune to channel 700 again





Hopefully the hiccup problem will now be fixed for your 1080 channels.

niesman, my HDTV is a 1st generation LCD and accepts only 480i, 480p, 1080i as input resolutions so I have no choice but to use 1080i - ironically I've always found 720p channels look better on this TV.

TheRock, somehow your crazy recipe seems to have resolved the problem!? How in the world did you come up with that one? (I had to use 702 though, not 700 as I don't subscribe to 700). Thanks! Seems like a 6412/16 III related issue then for sure. I'm going to make note of your crazy workaround recipe in my 6412 web page.

EDIT: I updated my web page Known Problems section to include a problem description of the frame hiccups/hesitations and TheRocks recipe to fix it. Thanks again TheRock.

I went to my friends last night in Corona Del Mar. My friend uses Adelphia, and he had a wild looking Motorola DCT... It was a DCT 9022 AKA MOXI.

I looked it up on Motorolas site and around the web, and it appears the 6412 line is far superior with 120+ GB now 160 as we have seen in the 6416. And it looks like the Moxi lacks a FW port.

My only quip with Cox vs Adelphia, the Moxi software looks way nicer, can anyone confirm through prolonged use of Moxi over Passport.

Anyone have any experience with Moxi, Does it really allow you to share units, like watch what is taped in room A in room B, or has that not been implemented?

And hey!!! On this note, MOXI is coming to SoCal to show off new features it appears, free on Feb 25 for AVS Members, https://secure.digeo.com/contacts/moxiguy.jsp

Sigh... I spoke too soon on the 6416. TheRock workaround is not working for me anymore on live 1080i channels (add TNT HD to the growing list that I've seen the problem on), and I'm seeing on recordings from NBC HD which I don't think the workaround could address. So frustrating! Tivo S3 where are you already!

niesman, my HDTV is a 1st generation LCD and accepts only 480i, 480p, 1080i as input resolutions so I have no choice but to use 1080i - ironically I've always found 720p channels look better on this TV.

TheRock, somehow your crazy recipe seems to have resolved the problem!? How in the world did you come up with that one? (I had to use 702 though, not 700 as I don't subscribe to 700). Thanks! Seems like a 6412/16 III related issue then for sure. I'm going to make note of your crazy workaround recipe in my 6412 web page.

EDIT: I updated my web page Known Problems section to include a problem description of the frame hiccups/hesitations and TheRocks recipe to fix it. Thanks again TheRock.


Too Bad,


I just finished optimizing my 720p input and the PQ is outstanding. So far no more jitter. I am tired of replacing boxes so I am going to keep the 6416. I do not understand how Cox OC/Moto continues to issue products with serious issues. I am sure by summer there will be yet another firmware/software revision to address these issues and some other demon will crop up. Cox really needs to consider terminating there present agreement with Moto and look to other vendors. Judging by the incredible number of dissatisfied customers returning their HDDVR boxes at RSM today, that day may come sooner than later.

niesman

just a thought,

This could be a componet output issue. I only have a DVI input for my set and it is not a true all digital pathway (many Sony < 2004 sets have DVI that go DVI->analog-> digital, wile thier component input is analog->digits, with one less conversion). The Phase III boxes did away with DVI infavor of HDMI. The boxes may have only been spected out for HDMI. Anyone out there using the digital output and seeing jitter on 1080i?


niesman

Sorry to hear that the tip didnt end up working for you.

I did notice some hiccups on TNT during some of the NBA Allstar events but I think it was TNT's fault and not COX or the MOTO boxes. The hiccup was only for one show and I havent seen it since.

I did have some issues this morning with TNTHD. My box didnt want to tune on to the TNTHD channel 718. It didnt seem to recognize it or something. The problem seems to be fixed now though. I can now view TNTHD without any issues.

I havent noticed the hiccups on any other 1080 channels but I must admit I havent watched much of those channels lately with all of the reruns being shown.

Unfortunately I think you guys (and COX) choose the worst possible time to update your boxes. I think these TEST channels are messing things up for everyone. I have seen changes in my own box with how it is acting. I think that is why these channels are still in the TESTing phase and not active. I think COX is having a ton of problems getting these channels to work properly.

Can't believe what I just witnessed. An Emergency Alert System (EAS) message appeared via Cox cable
Yeah, that's the SINGLE MOST ANNOYING thing about digital-cable boxes! You can't tune past those things, they interrupt playback (and evidently, recording) and you have to sit thru that annoying-ass message (whether you want to hear it or not).

I end up muting the TV, as there's no way to get around it. Is there a way to opt-out of these? I lived for 34 years in places with real weather (compared to SoCal) and I managed to not die w/o these screaming EAS broadcasts.

This could be a componet output issue...Anyone out there using the digital output and seeing jitter on 1080i? I have HDMI->DVI hookup as well to the TV and the glitches are still there when viewing from that source.

At Quail Hill they seemed to have a hard time finding any 6412/2000 (Phase I) machines... that's the only unit for sure I know does not have this hiccup issue and I should not have given mine up.

Following niesman's train of thought I figured I'd try and disconnect component output from 6416 altogether and just try HDMI->DVI. When I did that the problem got even worse! Now it was continuous bump, bump, bump of a picture, not smooth at all. I rebooted the box (component unconnected & HDMI->DVI still connected) and it went back to the previous behavior - occasional hiccups on 1080i channels. This 6416 with current 12.27 firmware is very screwed up and I can't wait to get rid of it - hopefully tomorrow. It's not like I got a bad box either, as my 1st 6416 was doing the same thing.

I don't get this whole hiccup issue you guys are getting. My 6416 works perfect with 1080i output over component video connection. No hiccups at all.

I'm gonna have to second "gb61"s post, but in all honesty I don't watch that set that much (plus we don't know exactly what is meant by "hiccup").

I do recall that I've seen where the video skips a beat, but I always figured that was a Cox transmission issue.

I'm gonna have to second "gb61"s post, but in all honesty I don't watch that set that much (plus we don't know exactly what is meant by "hiccup").


The "hiccup" issue is only noticeable during fast action sporting events. The effect is somewhat like a frame missing from a film. Most of the time your brain fills in the missing information, but if the frame loss is on the same time scale as your brain the "jitter" in the motion of the sport becomes obvious and extremely annoying. As I said switching to 720p resolved the issue for my system. I have a second box that I am going to try tomorrow using 1080i.

niesman

niesman, following your workaround and since I can't get 720p I set output instead to 480p. With that output setting I verified the hiccups went away. I left it that way about 10 minutes just to verify for sure there were no more hiccups. Then I switched back to 1080i and the problem seems to have gone away now for the last couple of hours. So this may be a new workaround to the problem. I'll keep the box a few more days and see if this workaround really works or is just a coincidence.

Workaround summary:
* Switch output mode to 480p
* Verify no hiccups
* Switch back to 1080i

(BTW, I'm back to using component with HDMI unconnected)

niesman, I'm now very curious to see that if you now switch back to 1080i that your problem has also gone away?

What you guys are referring to are the reasons I took my 6416 back over two weeks ago after only having it for 6 days. The main reason was the picture quality was HORRIBLE on SD and analog channels compared to the 6412's.

Now, my question about the EBS thing. If that comes on, does that erase all of your files/shows you've recorded? Because we had a bunch of shows and programs recorded (about 12 all together) and they're all gone now.

We usually leave our box on and turn of the tv at night. would turning the box off eliminate the EBS from erasing the show we've recorded?

niesman, I'm now very curious to see that if you now switch back to 1080i that your problem has also gone away?[/

moyekj,

Yes I have tried switching back to 1080i and the jitter returned although with fewer instances. I must point out that for my set ( Sony 60XBR800 ) the picture quality is superior with 720p for HD and SD. This was not the case with the 6412 I. I am beginning to think that my first thought that there is a compatibility issue with my set's scaler and the 6416 III's scaler is most likely the cause of the jitter.
It is only a guess. With these Moto boxes anything is possible.


niesman

OK thanks niesman. I can say that tonight after switching to 480p then back to 1080i the box was perfect - didn't notice a single hiccup on NBC HD, CBS HD or TNT HD. Just hoping it will now stay that way...

Now, my question about the EBS thing. If that comes on, does that erase all of your files/shows you've recorded? Because we had a bunch of shows and programs recorded (about 12 all together) and they're all gone now.

We usually leave our box on and turn of the tv at night. would turning the box off eliminate the EBS from erasing the show we've recorded? In my experience the 6416 simply stopped my 2 current recordings and after EAS warning completed the recordings did not resume so I ended up with 2 partial recordings (other pre-recorded shows were not deleted).

In contrast my ReplayTV recording (recording analog channel directly from wall cable) during that same period simply recorded the whole show and include an EAS message on top of the screen in the recording - a much better way of dealing with it obviously. One big difference I noticed is for 6416 the message had a blue background and was in the middle of the screen. For ReplayTV recording the message was simply overlaid over video on top of the screen and audio of the EAS message took over, so obviously the DCT boxes are programmed to deal with EAS in a different way than other devices.

Not a single "hiccup" glitch tonight on NBC HD and I watched at least 2 hours or so (there were a couple of blackouts in NBC transmission but nothing new there). Still hard to believe that the 1080i->480p->1080i change would have fixed it but if that's all it takes I can live with that assuming the problem doesn't re-surface often. I put the problem description and apparent workaround in my web page - let's see if it stands the test of time.

I realize that this may belong in the HDTV DVR forum, but I"m in the OC so I'm posting here. I think my 6412 may be dying. I've had it for about 13 months now, relatively few problems (aside from the subscription bug which hasn't ailed me for many months now). I'm connected to a Vizio 42 HD Plasma via DVI from the 6412, box is set to 720p.

I began experiencing the following problems yesterday: first, when I turn the TV on (I usually leave the cable box powered on), I get nothing but white snow for a few seconds (like 10 - 15 seconds); sound comes through fine but no video. Then, the picture will begin flickering on and off (back to snow), for about another 10 seconds or so. Finally, the picture will come on but with a bunch of colored lines (strectching the entire width of the picture and randomly appearing at different vertical points on the screen. These lines, which are generally green, only appear for miliseconds at a time but there are enough of them to make the picture very difficult to watch. Eventually, the quantity of these "lines" (not sure what the technical A/V term is!) decreases after about 10 minutes to a point where its bearable to watch the picture. After about 20 minutes, they disappear altogether.

When this first happened, it was affecting the HD channels only (i get all by Showtime). In other words, when I switched to a SD channel, no problems. But more recently, the SD channels have some of the same issues. I tried rebooting the box this morning...didn't change a thing.

I guessing it's either the cable (I've disconnected and reconnected both ends) or the box; I'm hoping its not the TV although I plan to visit one of the Vizio threads to see if this has happened to anyone else with these TV's. Tonight, I'll try a Component cable to see if that changes anything, but in the mean time, has anyone else experienced anything like this (don't recall hearing about it here previously).

Any thoughts are more than welcome!

Lardoggy, I had something similar a while back when using DVI connection - weird colors, don't remember seeing snow. A close inspection of my DVI cable on both ends revealed that one of the pins on one end that are normally angled at 45 degrees was at a different angle compared to other pins around it and thus presumably not making a good connection. Once I righted the angle on that pin to match the angle of the other pins the problem went away. Obviously you want to disconnect the cable from equipment before messing around with it to be sure you don't short out your equipment.

You should check component connection from 6412 to your TV to confirm the 6412 is OK (which most likely is the case). My bet is on the DVI cable as the cause of the problem. Unfortunately these cables are not that cheap especially if you buy them at a local store such as Best Buy or CC etc. If you are patient then ordering online they are MUCH cheaper. Luckily I was able to fix mine myself since it was a minor problem.

Thanks, Moyekj, I'll take a look at the pins themselves tonight too, although I havent touched the cables in months...I'm not sure how one of them would have gotten bent, but you never know! Absent that working, I'm gonna hookup the Component too. You're right about the cables, though...not cheap. I'm actually kind of hoping that this is the problem as I'm kind of reluctant to swap out my box based on problems I keep hearing about the newest ones.

I have the HD package and one STB, if I buy the 2nd HDTV and use the built-in QAM tuner. How many channels I will get?

You will get all the analog so 0-73 Not all are used however, so roughly 60 channels, and

NBCHD ABCHD CBSHD WBHD KOCEHD FOXHD.

TNTHD and UNiHD has supposedly been encrypted, for what reason? Who knows. You will need a Card or DCT for these and INHD1 2 ESPNHD HBOHD SHOHD and DiscHD.

6HD avaliable on QAM
2HD avaliable with DCT
6HD avaliable with DCT and subscription

Had to reboot my 6416 (playback got stuck on a blacked out event - Lakers/Portland on NBATV). When I did so the 1080i hiccup problem returned right away. I immediately applied my workaround of switching to 480p then back to 1080i and it fixed the problem right away. So looks like I need to employ the workaround at least every time the box reboots. Just wish my TV supported 720p input and then I'd just leave it at that.

You will get all the analog so 0-73 Not all are used however, so roughly 60 channels, and

NBCHD ABCHD CBSHD WBHD KOCEHD FOXHD.

TNTHD and UNiHD has supposedly been encrypted, for what reason? Who knows. You will need a Card or DCT for these and INHD1 2 ESPNHD HBOHD SHOHD and DiscHD.

6HD avaliable on QAM
2HD avaliable with DCT
6HD avaliable with DCT and subscription

Thanks. Do I get the digital channels from 100-400 with QAM tuner?

No I do not believe so, as they are encrypted. You will get Music Choice Channels and access to one InDemand Channel, but it will only be in preview mode.

You will get all the analog so 0-73 Not all are used however, so roughly 60 channels, and

NBCHD ABCHD CBSHD WBHD KOCEHD FOXHD.

TNTHD and UNiHD has supposedly been encrypted, for what reason? Who knows. You will need a Card or DCT for these and INHD1 2 ESPNHD HBOHD SHOHD and DiscHD.

6HD avaliable on QAM
2HD avaliable with DCT
6HD avaliable with DCT and subscription


Could you help clarify. On Cox cable in Trabuco Canyon.
I just added a plasma ( Panasonic 37" ) to bedroom. Already have another plasma & HD STB in another room. Bedroom plasma only hooked up to analog cable at this point. I'm receiving ( in bedroom ) the following stations. 7 - ABC "7-1", appears to be be ABC HD, "7-2", appears to be ABC on some sort of delay, often 2 hours. Also getting 11 ( fox ), and "11-1" ( Fox HD ) I see a bunch of channels in the channel 74/75 range. Like 74-40, 74-61, etc
So I'm seeing ABC & Fox HD, what about the other stations you mentioned??

Thanks,
Rick

CBSHD = 85.3 = Cox channel 702
NBCHD = 84.3 = Cox channel 704
ABCNEWS = 99.2 = Cox channel 807
ABCHD = 99.3 = Cox channel 707
FOXHD = 99.4 = Cox channel 711
KTLAHD (WB) = 86.2 = Cox channel 705
KOCEHD (PBS) = 86.1 = Cox channel 710
TNTHD = 103.2 ==> Now encrypted so you won't be able to see/tune it anymore

If you want a complete headend map I keep this spreadsheet fairly up to date:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/Cox_OC_headend3.xls

NOTE: Some channels like ABC, FOX, CBS & NBC have PSIP information from their original OTA broadcast (which Cox simply passes along to us) and therefore the sub-channel names you may see via your QAM tuner can be mapped to the OTA equivalents which are CBSHD=2.1, NBCHD=4.1, ABCHD=7.1, FOXHD=11.1. The real RF & sub-channel numbers are the ones posted above.

god, i wish cox carried KCET instead of that other stupid PBS channel.

F*ck. I just got hit with the Emergency Broadcast System test. Not only did it happen during the middle of a recording. But it happened during the climax. I spent 2+ hours recording this movie only to have the final 30 minutes screwed up because of this f*cking test warning. What is really messed up is that often times when a real emergency happens (9-11) the system isn't used. :rolleyes: I will never trust making a recording during the day again. Guess it will only be during primetime or in the middle of the night from now on.

There REALLY oughta be a way to opt out of those!