There are two tuners in your box, but normally when you're just flipping channels, you're only using one. Each time the channel changes, the buffer for that tuner is cleared and begins re-filling.

If you are watching a program, and want to preserve access to it while you channel surf, the easiest way to do that is to hit the "record" button. When you want to go back to it, find it in the list of your recorded programs, select it, and choose "play from current location" (or whatever the exact words are). Like any other recording, you can then REW, pause, or whatever.

If you're not recording anything else at the time, then you could also use the "PIP method". Turn on Picture-in-Picture mode, swap your poker game into the small PIP window to bring the other tuner's picture to the big screen, do your channel surfing while you keep an eye on the poker progress, and then when you want to go back, swap the poker game back to the big screen and turn off the PIP window. The tuner being used for the poker game never switched channels, so the buffer is preserved, and you can rewind the show if you want.

If you're already recording something else while the poker game is on, then that second tuner will be in use to support that background recording, and obviously you won't be able to change its channel. You could still use the PIP method to check in on that recording, though.If you use the "play from current location", you may be kicked to live when the recording ends, if you paused or rewound the program.

The "play from current location" option doesn't go to the playback channel instead it goes to the channel where the show is normally shown. It has a buffer, so if you had been watching the show it will remember where you are. If it is the first time it will go to the live point.

What SARA version are you running? I'll have to try that again because I never remember it working that way for me.1.88.22.1.

Well I got my box yesterday, I actually like it, but there are some Tivo features I wish I had. Couple of things though, I have software version 1.88.xx:

1. I think I found the "kick out to live" bug(?), but I don't think I fully understood what 1.88 fixed. I had set up the box to record ER. I tuned to NBC and started watching. In the middle of the show I paused it for a bit. I came back and continued watching. When the program ended I got kicked out (but it was no big deal, i was at the end anyway). So, next time I should go into the List and select the program there and watch it and not get kicked out? Also, if I had NOT been recording it but still paused it would it have kicked me out?

2. I scheduled some recordings to do first run, keep all , etc. So I look in my List and I see that there are scheduled shows for 11/18. I didn't think the guide went that far, and furthermore these were Thursday shows and 11/18 is a Saturday. I also tried to change the number fo episodes it would record on those and it wouldn't take. I deleted them and I will try to set up a scheduled recording later.


Other than those issues, its a nice little box and the pros of having more HD channels and the ability to record them even out the cons of the interface.

Well I got my box yesterday, I actually like it, but there are some Tivo features I wish I had. Couple of things though, I have software version 1.88.xx:

1. I think I found the "kick out to live" bug(?), but I don't think I fully understood what 1.88 fixed. I had set up the box to record ER. I tuned to NBC and started watching. In the middle of the show I paused it for a bit. I came back and continued watching. When the program ended I got kicked out (but it was no big deal, i was at the end anyway). So, next time I should go into the List and select the program there and watch it and not get kicked out? Also, if I had NOT been recording it but still paused it would it have kicked me out?

2. I scheduled some recordings to do first run, keep all , etc. So I look in my List and I see that there are scheduled shows for 11/18. I didn't think the guide went that far, and furthermore these were Thursday shows and 11/18 is a Saturday. I also tried to change the number fo episodes it would record on those and it wouldn't take. I deleted them and I will try to set up a scheduled recording later.


Other than those issues, its a nice little box and the pros of having more HD channels and the ability to record them even out the cons of the interface.

If you read the first post of this thread you should get all your questions answered.

Yeah I have read the first post but the parts about being kicked out to live really confused me with the splitting of the recording and all. I just wanted to make sure I knew what it was, then I would know the workaround I needed to use.

Yeah I have read the first post but the parts about being kicked out to live really confused me with the splitting of the recording and all. I just wanted to make sure I knew what it was, then I would know the workaround I needed to use.

The simply answer is always go to the list to playback your recordings and you won't get kicked to live. If you are not recording it but just pause live TV, you will not get kicked out but you can only pause for 1 hour before it starts to play from the paused point.

Thank you. i was just getting confused with the pausing and then recording manually. I just wanted to know why those things were recommended. Thanks. And as for number 2 on my list, I should have read the first post, my bad.

The pausing, etc., was a workaround BEFORE 1.88.x.x became available and it's still not available everywhere. When you are in the buffer, as you were, there is not much you can do. Select the recording from the list and you will have no problems. I believe if you reread the first post, you will see that this is clearly mentioned.

The recording for 11/18 was simply a place-holder and you didn't have to mess with resetting any of your scheduled recordings. All you have to do is have a little patience and let the place-holders get reset as the IPG gets updated. If you want to read more, do a search on "place-holder" in this thread and you should find a couple of discussions.

I should have read the first post, my bad.Huh? You just said you read the first post. I guess you meant to say you read PART of the first post. :)

I read through the firs tpost before I got the box and never really understood how the kick out to live was affect by the buffer and recording. I just felt that having a paragraph explaining what the kick out to live bug was rather than reading the workarounds and figuring out why the workaround was doing what it was doing. No big deal, I was just wanting some clarification that I was in fact seeing this bug (gotta shake those Tivo habits). As far as the place holders, I kinda skipped over that part because it didn't make sense before having the box. But the problem of me not being able to edit the parameters of the scheduled recording (how many it would keep) is weird and I didn't see that mentioned.

edit : I only see "Padding the Start/Stop times" as a known bug in 1.88.xx. But I wasn't doing that, I was trying to change the number of episodes to keep. It was set on "All Episodes" and I wanted to change it to "3 episodes" but it wouldn't stick. Probably in the same realm as the padding bug.

I haven't had much luck with "padding start/stop times" on recordings scheduled using the guide, so I have been using manual recordings. Recently it has exhibited some really strange behavior (on 1.88.19.1).

I have it set to record a channel weekdays from 6:28 PM to 6:58 PM. When I check the list of scheduled recordings, this is shown correctly.

But sometimes it seems to slip a cog. Last Friday, it started 9 minutes early. In the Recorded List it shows as "Time 6:28pm, Length 39min", and when I play it back, I can see that it started at 6:19, because it recorded part of a local newscast and the time & temperature are displayed in the lower right corner.

Then on Monday it started 28 minutes early. It shows as "Time 6:28pm, Length 58min", so it knows when it was supposed to start, it just messed up. So far since then, this problem hasn't repeated. There are some other weird things it does that I still have to get a handle on. Luckily, all it's doing in this case is wasting a little space on the hard drive, but I can't say this adds to my confidence in this flaky little box.

Any tips on what size hammer to use to convince it to stick to the instructions I give it?

Ron

P.S. I just re-read the first post to try to get a handle on kick-out-to-live, and I noticed the item about powering up in 480i. I have my unit set to come up in the last channel tuned, and when I turned it on today this happened to be 705, a HD channel on Cox here in Phoenix. Without changing channels, I checked the "display" setting on my Sony KDF-E42A10, and it says 1080i, not 480i. Might this be because I'm using an HDMI connection?

I have the KDF-E50A10, great TV, but I have seen the 480i turn on problem once. No ig deal really, and its kinda obvious when it happens. Maybe its the order the devices turn on or something. But in a related not , afreind of mine has a Sony Tv and he sometimes get the "colored snow" when switch between HD and SD channels with HDMI. I have not seen this on my set yet.

When did "First Run" become available?? I have version 1.88.19.1, was this feature added on a more recent upgrade?

Nevermind, I guess First Run is cable company specific....

Zero,

Some of those options might have to be set up at the beginning, when you are doing the scheduling. FWIW, it's a lot simpler to just save All Episodes and delete the ones you don't want. That way you control things and aren't as affected by any bugs that inadvertently delete the wrong stuff.

Nevermind, I guess First Run is cable company specific....Right. The First Run option has been in there, but some cableco's still don't include the First Run flag in their IPG.

Ron,

Without specifics (channel, program, etc.) it's impossible to venture a guess or to set up a test to see if it's just your box. I'm willing to test just about anything, but it's awfully hard without the specific info. I assume it's not a secret. :)

P.S. I just re-read the first post to try to get a handle on kick-out-to-liveDid you figure it out or not?
and I noticed the item about powering up in 480i. I have my unit set to come up in the last channel tuned, and when I turned it on today this happened to be 705, a HD channel on Cox here in Phoenix. Without changing channels, I checked the "display" setting on my Sony KDF-E42A10, and it says 1080i, not 480i. Might this be because I'm using an HDMI connection?It could be, I don't remember if any of us who tested this use HDMI or not.

This might be a good time to mention, for the benefit of newbies, that the first post is a compliation of things over time. They may or may not affect all users, all equipment, or all setups. They are listed only as a guide in case you run into them. It gives you are starting point for troubleshooting, nothing more. There are at least 5 different versions of SARA currently being used, so view everything in the first post with some degree of caution, particularly if you do not have your 8300 yet :) or just got it and don't even know what version of SARA you have. The first post is designed to supplement SA's User's Guides, not replace them.

Thanks for the response, Dave.

I had been recording Wheel of Fortune daily, and was always missing the first two minutes. I couldn't figure out how to select the program from the IPG and change the start time -- every time I changed it to 6:28, it just changed back to 6:30 -- so I cancelled the original recording and set up a manual recording, channel 715, 6:28 to 6:58. It has worked OK most of the time, and I don't believe it has ever stopped early (which has happened with SNL from channel 712, for example), but twice it started early. Seems strange.

Ron

Did you figure it out or not?I think so. I just have to remember to always select the program from the Recorded List, instead of -- I don't know, but it seems like I must have used a different method, because last week I was surprised when I was kicked out to something -- I think it was Nightline, because I had been scanning thru some local newscasts to catch whatever they had been running teasers on. (It wasn't worth it!)

Anyway, I have etched it in my memory banks to always select the recording from the list and start it from the beginning rather than tune to the channel or whatever.

Ron,

Don't know why you can't select it from the IPG and simply edit the Start time. You have to edit the time when you do the scheduling, not after it's already scheduled. I just set it up for 6:28 using both the First Run option and the This Timeslot option. In fact, Wheel is one of the programs I used when I first tested altering Start/Stop times and I ran it altered for 2-3 weeks.

This will not work with weekly programs like SNL though and that is mentioned in the first post (or somewhere in this thread :) ). You can edit the time for one episode, but as soon as the recording starts, a place-holder is set and the time is reset.

Let me know if you try any of this and still can't get it to work.

I think so.Sounds to me like you've got it. :)

You have to edit the time when you do the scheduling, not after it's already scheduled.That's the part I was missing. I'm sure I had taken a shortcut and tried to edit the start time of an already-scheduled recording. I just tried a fresh setup, and it looks like it will work, since it has remembered the start and end times I gave it.

It's interesting that it was only the manual recordings that started prematurely. Maybe I'll set up some one-minute recordings over a few days and see if I can reproduce the problem.

Thanks for the info, especially since I should have been able to figure it out based on that very helpful initial post. I just seem to have more trouble lately with things that should be obvious. :confused:

Ron

Hey, we all have those kind of days. :)

Ok so I figured out "kick out to live". I know how to work the box so that it won't affect me. My problem with changing a scheduled run of episodes seems to only affect the "place holders". If I use the place holder to change the options (number of episodes to record) it won't take. But if I change the options on a "real" recording (not the placeholder) then it seems to stick. At least the info shows the change.

Now I got my box set up with an external 320 gb eSata drive and it looks to be running without issue. Thanks for all your help.

and I noticed the item about powering up in 480i. I have my unit set to come up in the last channel tuned, and when I turned it on today this happened to be 705, a HD channel on Cox here in Phoenix. Without changing channels, I checked the "display" setting on my Sony KDF-E42A10, and it says 1080i, not 480i. Might this be because I'm using an HDMI connection?

It could be, I don't remember if any of us who tested this use HDMI or not.


Under 1.88.19.1, it did not make any difference if I ran HDMI or component. The STB always started up in SD mode. I'm running 1.88.12.2 now and it does not have that problem. It has an issue where the drive buffers all the time. Not really an issue with me however.

As a footnote, Comcast here has 1.87.23.1 and they still don't have the "first run" option but Knology does with 1.87.9.a4 (although that version has an HD stream identity problem) :p

As a footnote, Comcast here has 1.87.23.1 and they still don't have the "first run" option but Knology does with 1.87.9.a4 (although that version has an HD stream identity problem) :p

The SARA version has nothing to do with "first run" being enabled. It's strictly a cable company issue. There is some update to the guide that they have to do.

The SARA version has nothing to do with "first run" being enabled. It's strictly a cable company issue. There is some update to the guide that they have to do.

Yes, I understand that. It just seems odd that Comcast, the biggest provider, running new versions of SARA all the time, can't/won't add some of the features of the software.

Comcast does not have here:
- "First run" option
- audio range option

In fact it seems that our local office does not seem too concerned to do much at all. We still don't have ESPN2HD, MHD, UHD but yet we are a 750Mhz plant with 20 extra west coast feeds and VOD which makes the 20 feeds pretty redundant. Concern about SARA and its options are probably pretty low on their list.

Meanwhile, Knology is trying to rollout a 1.88 version of SARA with the above plus its "start from beginning" feature as well as active firewire and front A/V ports. (which I'm fortunate to have early). As well as having the HDnets, UHD & ESPN2HD over Comcast.

Bug confirmed.

Some of you may remember a few weeks back I had the problem with disk space disappearing. While the cable company said it must be broken, just exchange it, I sespected otherwise. Well, I did exchange it, and guess what? It happened again (surprise).

This time, however, it happened at a point where I had an idea what I was doing when it happened, so I was able to narrow it down. Here's how you reproduce it:
- While watching a channel, hit the record button and start recording a program
- While the program is still recording, hit the DVR button and select "Play from start"
- While watching and before the program stops recording, press stop to bring you to the menu
- Select "erase program"

Guess what, you now just lost the disk space being used by that recording. I power off reset may sometimes recover some of it. A reset and code reload may also recover some of it. But nothing seems to ever recover all of it.

Just for the record, this is SARA version 1.88.23.1 from Cablevision in NJ.

I'm reformatting now just to make sure that really does eliminate the lost space.

I'm also using 1.88.23.1 from Cablevision. I have had a few instances were I knew the space used indicator was incorrect and I had more space. A simple reboot always corrected it. This has happened with older versions of the software too.

Here's one I never saw before....been recording Survivor for my daughter.

All worked fine.

I go to "copy to vcr" the one from 3 weeks ago & nothing happens. Can't play it either!

Shows as a normal recording for one hour.

Next two episodes work fine!!!!

Any idea what might've happened?

thnx

Do most people keep thier box on when not in use? Such as when you go to work or go to bed? Do you turn off the unit? I have my remote turn it off when I am not using it, I have a jarmony remote and when I do a new activity (like play video games) it turns off the unused devices. The box will, of course, still record and everything. I turn the box off and on a coiuple times a day. Is that the intended use for the box, to be on all at times, or it can be turned off an on whenever?

I have done the same thing for over 2 years now with no problems. I also have a Harmony remote. FWIW, the 8300 is always on unless you pull the power cord. It will record while in this Standby mode.

Is that the intended use for the box, to be on all at times, or it can be turned off an on whenever?Prior to the most recent software upgrade, from my observations of the box there was little difference between "off" and "on". Pretty much, all that switch seemed to do was turn the video outputs off/on. The hard drive would continue to spin, the box generated about the same amount of heat, etc. (Eventually, the drive would spin down if the box was "off", but it might take hours before that happened.)

With the software upgrade to 1.88.22.1 a couple months ago, the (internal) drive now spins down almost immediately when the box is turned "off". Of course, the internal electronics remain on to support programmed recordings and respond to communications from the cableco headend, etc.

I don't think the box cares too much one way or the other whether you leave it on or not.

This time it stopped after 86 minutes. (It's supposed to record for 91 minutes.)

Good thing I didn't depend it to record Citizen Kane, or I would have never known that Rosebud was the sled. :eek:

Good thing I didn't depend on it to record Casablanca, or I would never have known if Rick and Ilsa ended up together. :confused:

Good thing I didn't depend on it to record Star Wars, or I would never have known the name of the Second Assistant Gaffer. :rolleyes:

I had Desperate Housewives stop at 40 mins. It was like the bufer stopped too. I went over to live (there was still some time left, didn't miss too much, i was just timeshifting) and then tried to pause. When i paused it went back to where the buffer stopped. I think the buffer reset after the show ended as I was able to start a recording for a show in the next time slot. Is this common? I am using an external drive, if that matters.

Ron,

Were all these manual recordings? Were they "regular" recordings with start/stop times altered? Have you added an external drive?

I don't generally use manual recordings or alter the times, but when I have to test them, I've never had a short recording. In fact, I've never had a short recording with any option (and I've used them all at least once or twice) using 1.85.23.1, 1.87.16.1, 1.88.19.1 or 1.88.22.1. I don't have an external drive though.

How is the quality of the deinterlacing process in the 8300HD units? Like downconverting from a 1080i signal to 720p. Anyone know the specific IC chips used inside these units? Lots of STB's and TV's don't properly deinterlace and add an extra step such as 1080i--->540p--->720p.

Trying to find out if I should let my samsung DLP do the video processing or if the 8300 does a better job. I only use the HDMI output and the samsung doesn't support 480i over HDMI.

Sorry if this topic was covered already in the past.

I'm also using 1.88.23.1 from Cablevision. I have had a few instances were I knew the space used indicator was incorrect and I had more space. A simple reboot always corrected it. This has happened with older versions of the software too.

Reboots and even a code reload wouldn't recover all of it. The reformat did fix it. Obviously reformatting removes everything so you can't do it if you want to save anything. Of course, with the reliability of these units, I gave up on the concept of saving anything a while ago.

Now that I know what causes it, I can prevent it. To stop and delete the recording in progress, hit "live" first, then stop, which brings up the "stop and erase" menu, which seems to work fine.

Rimshaker,

To be honest, the deinterlacing on the 8300HD is not that good. I have tried both ways on my 7210 PJ setup (native 720p) and 1080i material is not very good from the 8300HD. I also have a VP30 processor, and while it does much better than the 8300HD, I am still not satisfied with 1080i material. You really need a good HD processor in order to get really good 1080i processing - my opinion of course.

WIth that said, I also have a large screen, which exacerbates the problems I encounter of sports material. It may be significantly less on a 50" or 60" display.

Regarding the deinterlacer used in the 8300HD, I believe it is a proprietary ASIC - at least SA used to internally develop all of their STB chip sets. I don't know if this is still the case, but it was a couple of years ago. SA had some relationships with a large STB Chip manufacturer and there was some IP sharing and the STB Chip mfr also fabbed the SA ASICS. I don't know if this is still the case, however, as I have been out of the STB ASIC market for about two years.

HTSteve, thanx for your input. I suppose it's best to give the TV the benefit of the doubt and let it do its own processing. I'll set the 8300 to ouput 1080i signals and let the samsung do the work.

HTSteve, thanx for your input. I suppose it's best to give the TV the benefit of the doubt and let it do its own processing. I'll set the 8300 to ouput 1080i signals and let the samsung do the work.

If you want the Samsung to do the work, use Auto HDMI on the 8300. That way, it will pass through 1080i, 720P, or 480P.

I have a Samsung LCD connected to a 3250HD using Auto-DVI this way, and it works reasonably well. Auto-HDMI on the 8300 does the same thing.

Is there any difference between the 1.88.xx versions? I have 1.88.19.a2 and was wondering what is different in the 1.88.22.xx versions. Just wondering.

Yes, there are differences, but you'll be hard pressed to figure them out. I don't know what the exact numbering scheme is, but experience seems to indicate that version numbers like yours (specifically the "a2") appear to be unique to a given cableco and maybe even location. I could be all wrong here, but AFAIK, there has never been a full release to all cableco's with a number like yours. Then, too, SA uses a completely different numbering scheme internally for both hardware and software, so who really knows? Perhaps vegggas could shed some light on this, but he hasn't posted for a while now. :(

This time it stopped after 86 minutes. (It's supposed to record for 91 minutes.)

Good thing I didn't depend it to record Citizen Kane, or I would have never known that Rosebud was the sled. :eek:

Good thing I didn't depend on it to record Casablanca, or I would never have known if Rick and Ilsa ended up together. :confused:

Good thing I didn't depend on it to record Star Wars, or I would never have known the name of the Second Assistant Gaffer. :rolleyes:

Don't feel too bad, mine just dumped everything I had on it over the weekend including about 8 movies in the queue to be watched along with a few other programs I was saving. On the plus side, I now have 100% free space on the drive:mad:

So, do you know what happened? Did it spontaneously reboot and delete all your recordings? Did you lose your schedule too? What version of SARA? SATA external drive attached?

Let me know if you try any of this and still can't get it to work.Well, it (programming Wheel from the IPG and adjusting the start & end times) worked, sort of.

I was able to program it with no problems, changing it from the incorrect 6:30-7:00 to the closer-to-correct 6:28-6:58. But tonight, its first chance to get it right, it started at 6:26 rather than 6:28. It shows in the list of recorded programs as Time=6:28pm, Length=32min. I checked the schedule for tomorrow, and it remembers that it's supposed to start at 6:28.

So if there's a quirk that makes the 8300HD start recordings early, it's evidently not limited to manual recordings.

By the way, I had a one minute test, manual recording, same channel (715), 6:22-6:23pm weekdays, and tonight it worked fine. So it's not starting everything early, or all recording on 715 early, or all weekday recordings on 715 early. Must be something else triggering it. FWIW, I was watching the channel from about 6:25 on, but didn't notice the recording starting up. I didn't realize it had happened until I did my "play from beginning" so I could pause it.

Well, I wish I had some better news for you, but I don't. I also set Wheel to record All Episodes/First Run from 6:28 - 7:00 (32 minutes) on Cox 715 and that's exactly what it did, at least based on my viewing of the beginning and then checking the end. I'll reschedule it for 6:28 - 6:58 and see what it does tomorrow night. Do you always start watching it before it finishes recording?

Well I recreated a "FAIL" condition but not on purpose. I am pretty sure this is what happened the last time I got a "FAIL" too so I think this may reproduce it, well for me anyway. I have an external drive connected (Seagate 320 GB 7200.10 with Kingwin enclosure). I was recording 2 HD feeds. While I was doing this recording I was going through the guide looking for more shows to record. I scheduled a first run recording and it conflicted with some other recordings. When it brought up the "conflict" screen asking me which recording to cancel, the box froze. The tuners were still working, I think, since I could still see the show in the upper right corner but the remote wasn't responding. The words "FAIL" came on the display and it rebooted soon after that. One of the recordings continued the other did not. Both were being recorded to the external. This happened a couple fo days ago and I think I rember it being on that "conflict" screen. I just wanted to pass this along to see if maybe it was a known bug or someone else has seen it with these conditions.

Oh and DoubleDaz, thanks for your response to my version question.

Do you always start watching it before it finishes recording?Sometimes we watch it before it finishes recording, sometimes we watch it later, sometimes we don't watch it at all (especially during college basketball season, which is just starting).

If we're not watching tv, I have noticed the hard drive start up two minutes before a scheduled recording starts. That is, the box starts to whir, but the red RECORDING light doesn't come on. Again, that's with the tv not on, and the SA8300HD "off". That may have something to do with these two-minutes-early starts, but of course there are thousands of people starting thousands of recordings every day, and it seems that no one else is seeing what's going on here.

Maybe it's just time to call Cox customer service.

C0, you're welcome.

Ron,

The HDD spins down when not in-use these days, so it spins up before starting a recording. Since you have problems with the unit on or off, I seriously doubt that has anything to do with it though. I don't know that I ever tested changing "both" start and stop times at the same time, so we'll see tomorrow if the results are different than just changing the start time like I did for tonight's recording. If I still don't have a problem, then I suppose it's possible there is something wrong with the internal clock or something, or it's been fixed in the 1.88.22.1 I'm currently testing. Since I'm testing changing both times, perhaps you might test just changing the start time.

Tonight (with SARA 1.88.19.1) I set a manual recording on 710, from 9:24 to 9:25. And it recorded something. When I look at it in the recorded list, it says "Time 9:24pm, Length 3min". But when I play it back, at the start, the on-screen time display shows the time as 9:02. It runs through 9:04, just into 9:05 (this is a local newscast) and then stops at the end of the three-minute recording.

I didn't note what time I set the recording, but I think it was after 9:00.

So I set another recording. (At this point, I was watching 710 the whole time.)

At 9:33, I set a manual recording to run from 9:38 to 9:39. I watched the panel. No "RECORDING" display.

At 9:38, the red "RECORDING" indicator came on, for just one minute.
This recording shows as Time 9:38pm, Length 3min.

When I play it back, it shows the on-screen time as "9:33". It plays for three minutes, and stops with a frame that says "9:35".

I was watching channel 10 (HD) the entire time, and the time display seemed to be correct, within about 10 seconds.

Weird!

-- Ron

Edit: Dave, thanks for the replies.

That is certainly weird and does not equate in any way to my experience testing all the various recording options back when I first got 1.88.19.1. I believe RussB also did quite a bit of testing and I don't recall him having that kind of trouble either. I'll let you know what happens with Wheel tonight, I've got it recording on 2 units. Sounds like you might be looking at a unit swap though.

I have a problem with two HD channels (HDnet and Hdnet Movies) showing up as blank screens. It happened yesterday before work and when I got home it was still blank. It kicked back in at about 5:00pm. Then this morning they were blank again. I sent an email to my cable company bu tI was wondering if this would be a box issue or a cable co issue?

I have a problem with two HD channels (HDnet and Hdnet Movies) showing up as blank screens. It happened yesterday before work and when I got home it was still blank. It kicked back in at about 5:00pm. Then this morning they were blank again. I sent an email to my cable company bu tI was wondering if this would be a box issue or a cable co issue?Call your cableco. The rep on the phone can tell at a glance whether your box is authorized to receive the HDNets, and they can "ping" your box to try to reset it. If there's a problem with the network feed or cable plant that's affecting multiple customers, they can tell you that right away, as well.

If your account is set up right and they're not aware of any broadcast problems, then you have two choices: Have a tech come to your house to look at it (and hope the problem is stil happening so he has something to look at), or swap out your box and see if that clears it.

Jim

Well they come back and display fine, I recorded a movie off of HDnet Movies last night around 2 am and it was fine. I will contact the cable co, I just curious if the anyone has seen this type of problem and if it was the box or not.

I had CSI come up short this past Thursday. On both my Knology boxes, it only recorded for 51 minutes. My Comcast box only recorded for 56 minutes. All are set as "first run" eps. on Knology. Comcast is set for "this time slot". Knology is 1.88.12.2 and Comcast is 1.87.23.1. I ended up watching it on VOD from Comcast.

Odd that it came up short on both but with 2 different times.

Can anyone provide insight as to the viability of permanent archival storage going from an eSATA drive to a PC?

I would like to transfer my Star Wars recordings from Skinemax to my PC. Is this possible?

Can anyone provide insight as to the viability of permanent archival storage going from an eSATA drive to a PC?

I would like to transfer my Star Wars recordings from Skinemax to my PC. Is this possible?

Can't be done. This is the built in protection, they don't want people to make quality DVDs of recorded content. Anything that gets recorded on your external SATA drive is only accessible from the SA8300 it was recorded on.

I had CSI come up short this past Thursday. On both my Knology boxes, it only recorded for 51 minutes. My Comcast box only recorded for 56 minutes. All are set as "first run" eps. on Knology. Comcast is set for "this time slot". Knology is 1.88.12.2 and Comcast is 1.87.23.1. I ended up watching it on VOD from Comcast.

Odd that it came up short on both but with 2 different times.


Goob, I think it's because we get crappy Dothan CBS. I've had it do this to me a couple of times. I don't understand why PC can't get it's own CBS affiliate or at least use a Florida affiliate. It ticks me off every Saturday when they stick with the syndicated Lincoln Financial SEC game (usually Alabama or Auburn playing) instead of showing the national CBS SEC game (usually UF).

Can anyone provide insight as to the viability of permanent archival storage going from an eSATA drive to a PC?

I would like to transfer my Star Wars recordings from Skinemax to my PC. Is this possible?
While RemyM provided a direct answer to your question, you should be advised that there is a thread devoted to Recording to a PC from a SA8300HD via Firewire (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=593271). Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any consistent success there either.

I just got the 8300HD last week and have a question.

I have a one-hour HD show stored and 3 hours SD of golf stored. When I tried to record Frontline for tonight, I got a message saying there wasn't enough room to record it????

I thought you could store 20 hours of HD content on these?

Now I get, "There are problems with your program disk"

It did a "boot" spontaneously....looks like I have a lemon and the exchange center is closed.

I think I must have the deluxe hard drive. Click on the picture to see full size.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9922/20069dvrmenu0002ax9.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20069dvrmenu0002ax9.jpg)

Where can I get one of these? :) :D :)

So, do you know what happened? Did it spontaneously reboot and delete all your recordings? Did you lose your schedule too? What version of SARA? SATA external drive attached?
Upon powering up, I got a couple of "fail"s which isn't unusual but more than one is, then a "hhdf" (or something similar) which is a disk failure I assume, then it booted up fine but lost all the programs and scheduled recordings. No external drive. Since I still have 3 arrows, no start from beginning and get dumped to live at the end of a recording I assume I'm still on 1.87.xx but haven't checked it lately.

Ron,

I recorded 2 programs today; one from 3:28-3:58 and Wheel from 6:28-6:58. Both recorded correctly. I'll leave Wheel in the schedule for a few days, but I don't anticipate any problems.

FWIW, I've got around 30+ season passes set and I add a few individual recordings every week. I only have 1 recording that I'm saving and there are only 2 that are more than a week old. I don't check of my used space very often, but I doubt I go much over 50% for very long.

I recorded 2 programs today; one from 3:28-3:58 and Wheel from 6:28-6:58. Both recorded correctly. ...Most of my 9 or 10 "season pass"-type recordings work with no problems, other than SNL which often stops early. That may be related to the fact that it is supposed to run to 12:01am.

Today we weren't home when the test recordings came up, so I expected them to start at the correct times, and they did.

Today the special recordings for my little stress-test of the SA8300HD were:

Manual recording, ch. 715, 6:22-6:23pm
This one shows in the Recorded List as "6:22pm, 1min" so it apparently worked. I selected the times for this every-weekday manual recording at random, and I need to change them, because channel 15 seems to always run commercials at this time so there's no on-screen time check and I can't be sure when the recording actually occurred.

Wheel of Fortune, ch. 715, 6:28-6:58pm
This one shows in the Recorded List as "6:28pm, 15min", so at least it started at the correct time; again, I expected that, because we were not watching that channel, or any other channel, at 6:26. Unfortunately it stopped early. No bonus round on this recording, so I guess I'll skip it.

I have 38 recordings; my drive shows as 74% full.

Ron

Well, I guess I'll leave my drive fill up some and see if that introduces any problems. I'm still of the opinion though that there is something wrong with your unit. There are now quite a few using 1.88.19.1 here, so I would expect others to show some of your symptoms, though I must admit there probably aren't many altering the start/stop times often. Have you looked at you signal levels to see if they fluctuate, etc.? A dropped signal will cause a recording to stop.

A dropped signal will cause a recording to stop.I figured that was the case. I need to check the levels again. The last time I checked, I think they were marginal, but I'm not sure I was looking in the right place, on the right screen. (Right now it says, under current FDC, -11 dBmV; under Current QAM, -12 dBmV, S/N: 34dB. I need to check the first post, etc., and see how that rates. I could change to two 2-way splitters instead of the 3-way I'm using now, and put the DVR on one of the outputs of the first splitter, to gain 1.5dB or so. I don't use the tv set's tuner very often, and only use the VCR to pick up audio.)

I forgot to mention that I have my SA8300HD configured to go to the last channel tuned on power-up, rather than CLIC (the Cox info channel) which was the default. Tonight when I turned it on, it came up on CLIC, and I never tune to that channel (1) on purpose, so I suspect that something may have been downloaded to my unit, and it reset some of its settings to the defaults. Or ...??

Ron

Yes, the switch to digital simulcast reset mine last Monday night, so there are times when they send a reset/reboot that changes some settings.

As far as levels go, those are outside the range, but that, by itself, shouldn't cause your problems. I've had levels as bad as -19 and still had only minor glitches.

I don't suppose your modem is on one leg of that 3-way, is it? Also, if that 3-way doesn't support 1Ghz, that isn't good either, though I don't know exactly what problems a lower-rated splitter will cause. If nothing else, I think temporarily swapping in a 1Ghz 2-way might help rule out levels.

Yes, the switch to digital simulcast reset mine last Monday night, so there are times when they send a reset/reboot that changes some settings.

As far as levels go, those are outside the range, but that, by itself, shouldn't cause your problems. I've had levels as bad as -19 and still had only minor glitches.

I don't suppose your modem is on one leg of that 3-way, is it? Also, if that 3-way doesn't support 1Ghz, that isn't good either, though I don't know exactly what problems a lower-rated splitter will cause. If nothing else, I think temporarily swapping in a 1Ghz 2-way might help rule out levels.The splitter I installed for the dvr/tv/vcr hookup is what Monster Cable calls a 2Ghz. The losses above 1Ghz are a little high, but up to 1Ghz it's supposed to be 5.7dB, which I think is "right-on" for a 3-way.

You reminded me of something I was overlooking. There are other splitters where the cable enters the house. I need to check what's there, and make sure they are capable of passing a proper signal.

Thanks for your patient and helpful responses,
Ron

ok I set my box to record Justice on with all new eps. on this channel. The show plays from 8-9pm. As for now the show is on hold until December 11th, I think. So why is my box still recording the 8-9pm slot which is now playing House?

hey sorry if its already posted but couldn't find the answer to my question....

question: can you record your DVR video files using componet cables or can you only record through the AV2 out (using the regulard AV compsite cables)?

i want to record some of my files using my dvd recorder over componet cables...won't that picture be better than just over AV cables?

thanks

Tonight (with SARA 1.88.19.1) I set a manual recording on 710, from 9:24 to 9:25. And it recorded something. When I look at it in the recorded list, it says "Time 9:24pm, Length 3min". But when I play it back, at the start, the on-screen time display shows the time as 9:02. It runs through 9:04, just into 9:05 (this is a local newscast) and then stops at the end of the three-minute recording.

I didn't note what time I set the recording, but I think it was after 9:00.

So I set another recording. (At this point, I was watching 710 the whole time.)

At 9:33, I set a manual recording to run from 9:38 to 9:39. I watched the panel. No "RECORDING" display.

At 9:38, the red "RECORDING" indicator came on, for just one minute.
This recording shows as Time 9:38pm, Length 3min.

When I play it back, it shows the on-screen time as "9:33". It plays for three minutes, and stops with a frame that says "9:35".

I was watching channel 10 (HD) the entire time, and the time display seemed to be correct, within about 10 seconds.

Weird!

-- Ron

Edit: Dave, thanks for the replies.I just retested manual recordings and I got the expected results. I set a manual recording for Tuesday 11/14 from 10:08 PM to 10:10 PM and it started at 10:08 PM and ended at 10:10 PM with a length of 2 minutes (it recorded almost all of the 10:08 and 10:09 minutes). The recording was a weather forecast with the time displayed. The time displayed on the channel is about 2 seconds behind the time on the box. I think this is the reason I didn't see it display 10:10 PM in the recording. I did this several times at different times with similar results.
I set a manual recording from 10:53 PM to 10:54 PM and it started and ended at the correct times with a length of 1 minute. I also turned off the box before one of the tests and the test still worked correctly. I don't understand why you are seeing different results.

ok I set my box to record Justice on with all new eps. on this channel. The show plays from 8-9pm. As for now the show is on hold until December 11th, I think. So why is my box still recording the 8-9pm slot which is now playing House?Maybe, the program guide was not updated to show that "House" replaced "Justice". What does the "Recorded List" show for the name of the program? If it shows Justice, then that is what happened. I think "Justice" has been taken off the schedule and is not coming back. Click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8888290&&#post8888290) to go to the "Hot Off the Press!" Forum post about "Justice" being cancelled.

That is certainly weird and does not equate in any way to my experience testing all the various recording options back when I first got 1.88.19.1. I believe RussB also did quite a bit of testing and I don't recall him having that kind of trouble either. I'll let you know what happens with Wheel tonight, I've got it recording on 2 units. Sounds like you might be looking at a unit swap though.I didn't have trouble like that when I was testing and I retested manual recordings without problems. I modified both the start and stop times when I was testing and the only problem that I discovered is that on programs that are shown weekly or less frequently the modified start and/or stop times are not retained. I think this is related to the use of place holders for the program.

question: can you record your DVR video files using componet cables or can you only record through the AV2 out (using the regulard AV compsite cables)?

i want to record some of my files using my dvd recorder over componet cables...won't that picture be better than just over AV cables?

thanksNothing in the 8300HD (or any other device with a component video output) is stopping you from recording the signal sent out the component cables.

However, I think you'll have a hard time finding a recording device that has component video inputs for recording. If you look closely at your DVD recorder, I bet you'll find that it only has S-Video and composite video inputs.

Brandon,

The same thing happened to me and it was because the IPG still showed Justice in that timeslot. Justice had indeed been cancelled and next week's IPG should show correctly.

I didn't have trouble like that when I was testing and I retested manual recordings without problems.The key seems to be having the unit "on" and tuned to the same channel before and during the scheduled manual recording. In my testing, this has consistently caused recording to occur at the wrong time, either starting two minutes early, or at the time the recording was set, if a manual recording is set to occur on that channel more than two minutes but less than thirty minutes later.

Edit: I agree that it seems likely that if I'm the only user seeing this problem, it must be a local problem. I do need to try to bring up my signal level, and I'll be working on that. And at some point, I may need to have my box swapped out (again).

If anyone else sees some strange, reproducible behavior, especially with manual recordings, and if they are the type of problem that means the content will not be recorded as desired, it would be worth noting that here, but we can take it for granted that the great majority of recordings are working for the great majority of users. I didn't mean to monopolize (or hijack) this thread. Sorry for the repeated postings on a problem that no one else is seeing.

Ron

Hey guys, forgive me because I'm sure this question has been covered somewhere, but search is currently offline and so I can't find it!

Anyhow, I'm trying to free up a Component port for my Wii on my Sharp 37'' LCD (assuming I can get component cables this weekend). So, today I tried hooking up my 8300HD via HDMI rather than the component I've been using for over a year now. I've tried a few different things, but I always get a black screen on my TV and an error about an incompatible video signal. I do, however, get audio.

I read that component cables need to be disconnected, so I removed those. I tried turning the DVR on manually and also tried letting the TV turn on the DVR when I go to the HDMI input, but always the same error message.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Hey guys, forgive me because I'm sure this question has been covered somewhere, but search is currently offline and so I can't find it!

Anyhow, I'm trying to free up a Component port for my Wii on my Sharp 37'' LCD (assuming I can get component cables this weekend). So, today I tried hooking up my 8300HD via HDMI rather than the component I've been using for over a year now. I've tried a few different things, but I always get a black screen on my TV and an error about an incompatible video signal. I do, however, get audio.

I read that component cables need to be disconnected, so I removed those. I tried turning the DVR on manually and also tried letting the TV turn on the DVR when I go to the HDMI input, but always the same error message.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

What resolution are you having trouble with? If it’s 480i, your Sharp may not accept it via HDMI. I have a Samsung LCD which won’t accept 480i HDMI and use 480p instead. I’ve disabled 480i in the 8300 and use Auto HDMI.

I think you can find the setup routine at the start of this thread for enabling and disabling output resolutions.

If I go through the setup routine using the component output will those same choices "stick" for the HDMI as well? I tried running through the setup under HDMI but it's kinda hard to do it when you can't see anything :)

I'll give it a shot, but I'm not sure that's necessarily the problem, because when I try to turn on the TV first and have it turn on the DVR it does not turn on the DVR, it just displays the error message.

This could be a dumb question but here goes...During playback, can you do slow motion? Skip? There is no button on the remote to do these but it would be nice to have it. Just asking and thanks.

To follow up on the HDMI question, I did disable 480i and that didn't do it. HOwever, I read this thread (http://www.milwaukeehdtv.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=6083) that mentioned "hot swapping" in the HDMI cable. Oddly enough, that did it. It does work...but the color looks awful :) Guess it's time to re-tune the settings again.

Leo, if you hit the Play button again it will go into slow-motion. There's no skip that I know of.

Leo, read the first post. It discusses slow-motion and single-frame advance.

RussB and DoubleDAZ Justice HAS NOT been canceled. I checked the Fox website and it is indeed coming back on December 11th. I don't know know how the canceled runor was started. Anyway, on my IPG it did indeed say House, not Justice. This also happened when Smith was canceled on CBS, the IPG said CSI, but it still recorded it.

Fredfa posted this on 11-13:
I think it was late Friday that it became known that Fox was halting production of "Justice" after the initial order of 13 episodes. Rarely does a network actually announce a show's cancellation. And when it does actualy do the deed, it often does it just as the weekend hits and word tends to leak out. So it was this past weekend with "Justice".

On a number of occasions, recently, I have rewound the current show and saw that very little of the past has been recorded. The channel had been live for far longer. Are either of these possible explanations?

1- The buffer is cleared whenever a new show starts? The channel was Fox News which I perceive as one long news show. But I know that, formally, Fox has one show after the other just like NBC

2- A common failure mode is that the buffer stays clear until REW is pushed, after which it acts normally for a while. This 8300 is somewhat flaky -- pushing Guide often hangs it requiring a power cycle to work properly for a while.

Thanks -- Vincent

On a number of occasions, recently, I have rewound the current show and saw that very little of the past has been recorded. The channel had been live for far longer. Are either of these possible explanations?I have never noticed my buffer acting "flaky" or resetting unexpectedly. You do know that the buffer is only 1 hr long, right? And that it always resets whenever you change the channel?

The buffer does not reset at transitions between one show and another. (At least, mine doesn't.)

If you are just sitting watching the same channel for hours on end, you should always have access to the most recently-aired 60 minutes of programming on that channel via the buffer.

Jim

I'm trying to figure out the audio levels on my box. The sound on some shows sounds kind of muffled (especially on the HDNETS). I don't have any sound system -- just listen through my TV.

I'm connected with component and regular audio cables. I looked on the first page of this thread, which has the info i quoted below. But i don't see those options. I can only choose from variable or fixed. I'm on the old firmware (only have the 3x fast forward and still get booted out to live).

Time Warner Oceanic.

Any ideas?



Audio Range Settings. The Audio Range choices are for the Dolby Digital output signals and they refer to the digital "Dynamic Range".

A Wide Dynamic Range will render audio that will go from the faintest audio level of a whisper at an extremely low level to a thundering boom at ear-shattering levels. This gives great impact to action movies, but calls for a good audio setup to properly be able to hear normal dialog without blasting the speakers during loud scenes.

A Narrow Dynamic Range keeps the lower volumes at a higher level, while muting the higher level sounds to a lower level. This way whispered dialog is not that much quieter than an explosion and all sound levels are "Narrowed" to a certain level.

A Normal Dynamic Range basically splits the difference.

Ron,

I'm at 73% and I've tried every combination, including being tuned to a channel when a manual recording begins, and I still cannot make any recording fail. Sorry.

I'm at 73% and I've tried every combination, including being tuned to a channel when a manual recording begins, and I still cannot make any recording fail. Sorry.Dave,

Thanks for trying those tests. I still have to find out what splitters are upstream, see if I can improve my signal levels, and then consider having my box swapped out if I'm still having trouble.

Ron

Ron,

I don't know how elaborate your setup is, but have you tried simply connecting the cable to the 8300 without any inside splitter to see what happens to the S/N? I don't really think the S/N is your problem, but that sure seems like a quick and easy way to find out what affect the inside splitter has, if any. Of course, if your level drops into the accepted range, then you'll have to run some more tests. :)

RussB and DoubleDAZ Justice HAS NOT been canceled. I checked the Fox website and it is indeed coming back on December 11th. I don't know know how the canceled runor was started. Anyway, on my IPG it did indeed say House, not Justice. This also happened when Smith was canceled on CBS, the IPG said CSI, but it still recorded it.Actually I was referring to the fact that "Justice" has just been pulled -- permanently -- from the Fox schedule, with the remaining four episodes only to be shown online. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8927568&&#post8927568)

New to this thread :)

Been trying to get my firewire working, came across this awesome thread, and entered diagnostic mode only to discover I'm running version "1.87.16.1", and the first page clearly states version 1.88xxxx adds the firewire support..

So the magic question, right.. How can I get that upgrade? I noted an RF IP address.. Can I connect to that and send the update?

Also noted that it lists on one of those pages, HDD 1 and 2 info.. Can we add a second harddrive internally?

New to this thread :)

Been trying to get my firewire working, came across this awesome thread, and entered diagnostic mode only to discover I'm running version "1.87.16.1", and the first page clearly states version 1.88xxxx adds the firewire support..

So the magic question, right.. How can I get that upgrade? I noted an RF IP address.. Can I connect to that and send the update?

Also noted that it lists on one of those pages, HDD 1 and 2 info.. Can we add a second harddrive internally?The first post in this thread has a lot of good information. There is no way to force a download of 1.88.x.x. Your cable system determines when to send out upgrades.

You should be able to add an external drive using the eSata port. There are several threads that cover this topic.

The first post in this thread has a lot of good information. There is no way to force a download of 1.88.x.x. Your cable system determines when to send out upgrades. (since I don't have one hooked up, I made the assumption that one of those 24 pages, lol, would be for sata/external drive hookups).

You should be able to add an external drive using the eSata port. There are several threads that cover this topic.

Yeah I've seen the stuff on the external drive.. I just thought since it lists 2, that maybe there was the possibility for a second internal one.. Since I had the firmware question, figured I'd ask that one as well :) So I assume no 'bay' inside then... ;)

Will complaining about it do any good? First thread really doesn't say anything about upgrading from what I read.. Nor did the 'in thread search' for upgrade / upgrade firmware :( Just wondering if anyone has any positive experience on what can be done, since it seems manual upgrade is not an option..

And more importantly, why isn't there a way.. I mean, everything else out there gets hacked, lol.. :( *sighs* I wish Cox enabled the firewire.. :(

*edited by Rooster*

Since you think Cox PHX sucks, I won't tell you to check out the Phoenix thread. BTW, you may be biting the hand that feeds you, so you might want to check your attitude. ;)

Since you think Cox PHX sucks, I won't tell you to check out the Phoenix thread. BTW, y6ou may be biting the hand that feeds you so you might want to check your attitude. ;)

Okies, I'll look up the Cox PHX thread. Not sure what you're talking about by attitude and biting the hand that feeds you.. All I said was the simple fact that I did search this thread for upgrade.. Maybe you misread something.. Or you work for Cox and are upset at the sucks part. :( If that (unlikly) is the case, get us upgraded!! :)

No way... LoL:) Double, you do, don't ya?
"NOTE FOR COX DVR USERS: PM me your SA8300HD serial number (SABXXXXX) and I will try to get 1.88.x.x pushed to your box.
"
Can you seriously do that? I mean without getting in trouble? And why wouldn't we have it, if you can answer.. I know HSI and digital cable are different, but they are on top of the HSI part, I thought they'd be on top of the cable side, too. Or are lots of companies not pushing this newer version. ? Other than the firewire, which I can see more headaches from customer calls, there seems to be alot of fixes/updates in it.

Okies, I'll look up the Cox PHX thread. Not sure what you're talking about by attitude and biting the hand that feeds you.. All I said was the simple fact that I did search this thread for upgrade.. Maybe you misread something.. Or you work for Cox and are upset at the sucks part. :( If that (unlikly) is the case, get us upgraded!! :)
Rooster. Be aware your attitude is being monitored and you will be reprimanded for voicing any displeasure with Cox PHX. Back in Aug I made a rather flippant remark concerning Cox missing another rollout target date for 1.88.xx which brought an immediate heated response. You would have thought I just committed a capital crime. We are all suppose to play well together here and pretend everything is peachy. BTW, is almost 4 months later now and still we are on 1.87.xx with all of it's great, user friendly "features".

... have you tried simply connecting the cable to the 8300 without any inside splitter to see what happens to the S/N?Dave,

I checked the splitter where the cable enters the house, and it doesn't look as bad as I thought it might be. Our home has cable outlets in four rooms, but I asked them to leave one of them open because we don't need it right now. One room has the computer (and router), one has the tv (w/DVR and VCR), and one has just a tv (w/analog tuner). Since the house was built in 1994 and we signed up for cable Internet two years ago, and then digital cable tv last December, I thought there might be a hodge-podge of splitters that hadn't been optimized for my arrangement.

Well, the splitter installed by Cox where the cable enters the house is marked "SVI Digital", "SV-3G", "5/1000MHz". It's a 3-way splitter, with the first outlet marked 3.5 dB, and the other two 7 dB. What I had been considering was to use two 2GHz 2-way splitters, so I could get only 3.5 dB loss on one of the lines, and 7 on the other two, but they have effectively done that (but with a 1GHz splitter), and their splitter is in one enclosure so I don't have the loss from the extra connectors my idea would have required. The line running from that first outlet is tagged "DATA", so it must be the one running to my modem, and that's clearly the way it should be. I wouldn't be interested in swapping the DVR and the modem just to stop some recordings from being truncated. So between Cox's pedestal and my DVR I'm evidently seeing a loss of about 13dB.

Now I have bypassed my inside splitter and checked the numbers, and the level shows as -5 or -6 dB, with S/N = 36dB. So that is quite a bit better.

It will be easy enough to put the splitter back in the circuit if I want it, so I think I'll run this way for a while. The problem of recordings ending early has been happening maybe twice a week, so if that incidence goes way down with this setup, that will give me something to think about.

I was considering installing a 7- or 10dB amplifier just before the second splitter; ideally it would probably be better to put it at the entrance to the house, but I don't think there's room for that right now. I know if I plan to buy an amp, I have to check its return loss. I also know an amp is not necessarily a cure-all, because it will just amplify the noise along with the signal. Have you seen amps help in cases like this?

Ron

I was considering installing a 7- or 10dB amplifier just before the second splitter; ideally it would probably be better to put it at the entrance to the house, but I don't think there's room for that right now. I know if I plan to buy an amp, I have to check its return loss. I also know an amp is not necessarily a cure-all, because it will just amplify the noise along with the signal. Have you seen amps help in cases like this?

RonI don't know about Cox (the other Dave will know better), but Time Warner would take care of this for you at NO COST. It is important to have the right level to the 8300 (not too much, as well as too little signal), and the amp has to be bi-directional also. If you need an amp, they should put it in for you - and make sure everything is correct. It might be a matter of a new line from the pole, or a new tap at the pole, or something else. You really don't want to throw an amp at the problem when the cause is somewhere else. ;)

No, I do not work for Cox (FWIW, I'm retired USAF and now a letter carrier), but I still don't understand anyone's need to comment like that, especially when they are asking for something. If you are not happy with cable, why have it? There is DirecTV, Dish, and the plain old antenna, and there are plenty of folks not happy with those either I don't read those threads, so maybe some of them make the same comment. I just think it's been said many, many, many times before and does not bear repeating in the same post where you ask for help, simply a pet peeve of mine.

Yes, I can seriously do that and, no, I won't get into any trouble. Cox has offered 1.88.19.1 on an individual basis for several months now and many folks have it. The only reason I am involved is because they wanted some kind of control and I happily provide that. The reason it is not released to all is that there are still bugs that they are not willing to contend with on a system-wide basis. Those of us who have it accept the fact that we may run into a problem that we won't like, but the pluses are worth it for us.

Also, they have been busy converting Cable America to Cox and implementing the Digital Simulcast. Now they have moved on to Switched Digital Video with OCAP and VOD coming late 2007 or sometime in 2008. We lost INHD2 (it merged with INHD1), but they just added ESPN2-HD (732) and ESPNU (164). They will be adding NFL Network (719), but only the first 2 games will be available to everyone before it becomes part of the Sports&Info tier. Granted, there are still some channels out there that I wish they'd get, but no one has all channels, so that hardly qualifies as "sucking".

Rooster. Be aware your attitude is being monitored and you will be reprimanded for voicing any displeasure with Cox PHX. Back in Aug I made a rather flippant remark concerning Cox missing another rollout target date for 1.88.xx which brought an immediate heated response. You would have thought I just committed a capital crime. We are all suppose to play well together here and pretend everything is peachy. BTW, is almost 4 months later now and still we are on 1.87.xx with all of it's great, user friendly "features".Why don't you tell the whole story? You didn't bother to read the thread and the part about the date being soft in the first place or the reasons why it was "missed" because you can't be bothered with keeping up with the thread. I've pointed out the instructions for getting 1.88.19.1 and personally offered more than once to get you upgraded, but you have chosen not to, your problem, not Cox's. Nobody here pretends everything is peachy, but Cox doesn't suck any more than any other cableco and is better than a whole lot of them. You are free to say, "Cox sucks", all you want, but I and others are free to disagree. The Moderators make the rules and have interjected their admonishment more than once, I simply try to minimize it to keep them off our backs. The Phoenix thread was hard enough to start without taking 2 steps back every time someone has nothing better to do that make derogatory comments.

Oh! And did you not noticed the Wink? Or did you do some more selective reading.

Ron,

Dave is absolutely correct. IMHO, you should be able to split every run at least once without problems. If you can't, then Cox should fix things. Your problems seem to be why the digital simulcast was put off last year and done by area this year. They ran into problems like this and needed to roll a truck to check the lines, they couldn't keep up, so they posponed the simulcast. Your house is wired very similar to mine (1995). My level is -6 with a splitter and -1 without a splitter. I'm still not convinced that is your recording problem though, so let us know how it goes without the splitter. you don't want to spend money on an amp only to over-drive the signal and end up with other problems.

Okies, lol :(

Look sorry for the semi-inappropriate post. When I said what I did, I suppose it could have reworded. So I have revamped what I "feel" to make it more accurate. Never meant to stir up such emotions, or get others starting fires.. Just a personal irritation of mine when a product has 'x' features and someone else has the option to enable them, but doesn't. I have looked on other threads on here as well as other sites (before I knew AVS had SA8300HD forums) the #1 response from every other place has been my provider has chosen to disable the firewire, which (again, from what I'm told) is illegal with several references to laws/rules/guidelines.. These guys are all telling me, "call you cable co - Demand they enable your firewire, they cannot by law prevent you from using them!". So then, I was looking up stuff for a projector I just picked up, and was curious if the 8300 had a service menu like pretty much everything else in the AV world.. A search brought me here, where I not only learned how to get into the service menu, but also noted that the 'current' rev was higher, and well, you know the rest - The firewire's enabled! That's all I knew and that's where I came from. And this wasn't from one particular other forum, and I belive similar info is floating around on the AVS as well..

Furthermore, I love my service 99.7% of the time and the only real problem I've ever had, which again, not Cox's fault directly, was when I first tried to get a cableCARD going, because my TV (Mitsu 73927) has a built-in DVR function, and even after three cards we were unable to work the kinks out.. And that's when I came to the 8300HD.. This was due to both a combination of the cablecard having older firmwares, and even my TV needing a firmware update via CF update. (which I now have finally, lol). Only thing I would change would be some additional HD lineup (HGTVHD, SCIFIHD) and for them to continue overall keeping the HD channels matching their non-hd (IE HD 705 = 5, HD 710 = 10, etc). Makes it easy to remember the channels!

Double - I may be interested in that, will have to talk it over with the wife and find out exactly what kind of bugs / issues to expect before making that decision. Will post in that Phx topic any q's etc. about it since it seems a more appropriate area..

DoubleDAZ, can you get anyone the upgrade? Or is this just an AZ thing? I would love to get it myself, I already called SuddenLink(formerly Cox) and they were ZERO help. Thanks either way!

This thread was hard enough to start without taking 2 steps back every time someone has nothing better to do that make derogatory comments.Are you saying that there was industry pressure not to start this thread? Or are just referring to the difficulty in doing anything worthwhile?

Vincent

Dave,
You have been extremely helpful to me, and I thank you for it. You are also correct about Dish and Direct. I have friends and family who would love to get their sat co. in a room for 10 minutes :cool:
I'm not asking for NFL Sunday Ticket for free.
I am a customer of Cox, and expect competent service for my money. I've worked tech support before, and if someone asked for a supervisor, they got one. If I didn't know the answer, I found someone who did. I was not allowed to make up answers, or say someone will call you back (when hell freezes over). I know these are different complaints then many Cox detractors, but in an industry where they keep setting the bar lower, why can't Cox step up?
Have you ever asked yourself:

How did I become the 411 for Cox?
Shouldn't Cox be doing this?
Shouldn't Cox be providing the info their customers want/need?
How come this info isn't on their website?

Double - I may be interested in that, will have to talk it over with the wife and find out exactly what kind of bugs / issues to expect before making that decision. Will post in that Phx topic any q's etc. about it since it seems a more appropriate area..I don't think you'll have any problems with the upgrade (and I beleive it can be rolled back if needed), I and others haven't, but the Phoenix thread is the more appropriate place to discuss it since I can only help in Phoenix. You might also be interested in the AZ HDTV Forums, see my profile for a link.

Regarding the other stuff, there is a lot of mis-info floating around regarding firewire and what the rules actually say. There are dates when certain things are supposed to happen, but even those are open to interpretation, as you can see from the discussions you mentioned. But, with 5c copy-protection in play, specifically in Phoenix that I am directly aware of, firewire is all but useless for archiving anything except local channels and you cannot archive recorded stuff off the HDD in any case.

Regarding your comment about Cox, there is nothing even semi-inappropriate about your post, derogatory statements like that are simply a pet peeve of mine, especially in a thread that has nothing to do with Cox specifically, and I will comment on them. It's nothing personal and I did include a Wink. I'm just trying to keep the thread postitive and help as many folks as we can get the most out of their HD equipment. As I said, the Moderators make the rules and have interjected their opinions here and elsewhere, I just try to follow them, regardless of what others think.

While some cableco's supposedly have disabled firewire support (there is no proof of that though that I am aware of), Cox has not. They offer the SA3250HD as their standard firewire-enabled unit and I believe most other cableco's do the same. Firewire only became available on the 8300 when 1.88.x.x was released, but there are bugs that have prevented cableco's from releasing it system-wide. In Phoenix, those bugs affect the 30k SA8000HD units that are in service. 1.88.22.1 is currently being tested, but I'm not sure the 8000 bugs have been fixed.

Due to some problems with a 3250 upgrade that actually broke firewire, we were able to find a contact at Cox-Phoenix who was sympathetic with our plight and desire for the enhanced features 1.88.x.x offered, read the first post for a list. This was a new attitude from Cox and the derogatory comments were giving him pause to reconsider his offer of help. He is relatively high up in the Phoenix hierarchy and was recently promoted. He does check this and other threads and can pull his support at any time. That is not to say that negative comments are not welcome, but they should at least have some supporting info so we can try to get any problems resolved, that is my ONLY point to this dicussion.

Anyway, this is now too far off topic for this thread and we can continue it in the Phoenix thread (or even better in the AZ HDTV Forums where we can get down and dirty. :) )

DoubleDAZ, can you get anyone the upgrade? Or is this just an AZ thing? I would love to get it myself, I already called SuddenLink(formerly Cox) and they were ZERO help. Thanks either way!Sorry, just Phoenix.

Are you saying that there was industry pressure not to start this thread? Or are just referring to the difficulty in doing anything worthwhile?Actually I was talking about the Phoenix thread, original post edited. Sorry for the confusion.

This thread was easy to start thanks to all vegggas' work on the 3250 and 8000 threads. However, derogatory comments just for the sake of being negative don't help anyone and only provide temporary relief for those who post them. Most folks who have been around awhile add the /rant, etc., to the post and then rant away. I've used that technique a few times myself. Even I get upset at some of this at times, though I decided quite awhile ago to take the "glass is half full" approach. :)

FWIW, besides my Cox contact who checks in as often as he can, I recently got a PM (not the first one) from someone who uses this thread to augment CSR training. So, the positive far outwieghs the negative.

Dave,
You have been extremely helpful to me, and I thank you for it. You are also correct about Dish and Direct. I have friends and family who would love to get their sat co. in a room for 10 minutes :cool:
I'm not asking for NFL Sunday Ticket for free.
I am a customer of Cox, and expect competent service for my money. I've worked tech support before, and if someone asked for a supervisor, they got one. If I didn't know the answer, I found someone who did. I was not allowed to make up answers, or say someone will call you back (when hell freezes over). I know these are different complaints then many Cox detractors, but in an industry where they keep setting the bar lower, why can't Cox step up?
Have you ever asked yourself:

How did I become the 411 for Cox?
Shouldn't Cox be doing this?
Shouldn't Cox be providing the info their customers want/need?
How come this info isn't on their website?
Believe me, I have asked myself those questions many, many times and it applies equally to almost all cableco's/satco's. And, my contact and I had a big discussion about that very thing when he stopped by my home for a little "interview" session. Regardless of what others think, Cox-Phoenix has come a long way from the days when I first contemplated shelling out $500 for an SA3100HD. But, if they and others were as perfect as we'd like, a good portion of AVS would be out of business. :)

Look, as I've said, I don't pretend all is peachy. However, IMHO these and other threads are not the place to simply throw out derogatory comments with no further explanation. /rant all you want, I'll even join the discussion at times, but just what good does saying, "Cox-PHX sucks" do???? IMO that is childish, but then so are my responses to a degree, I guess. My blood pressure would appreciate it if I just let them pass, but when I've done that in the past, they've just multiplied like rabbits and then the Moderators step in.

Now, here's something to ask yourself. It's taken me 3 years with a lot of help to get to this point and I had the advantage of all vegggas' earlier work. And this is something that interests me. Just how do you expect a relatively low paid CSR, who may not even have an HDTV/SA8300HD, gain this amount of knowledge? Certainly not through any cableco training program. And then, you have to ask yourself just how customers approach them when the customer may not even know the right question to ask.

I don't know of anyone here in Phoenix who has been refused a supervisor, etc. And I know more than one person who has gotten a call back, which is what started my whole involvement in the 1.88.x.x upgrade process. My intitial involvement with Cox started when I fired off a scathing (yes, scathing, though accurate and supported by facts) email to the then new vice-president of Cox-Phoenix (they published his email address in the paper when he took over). I got a return email from the Manager of CSR Operations and the rest is history.

As for getting answers, how would you have responded to a question about when Cox-Phoenix will get Channel X when the customer has been told, by a supervisor and the CSR Manager, that there are no plans to carry that channel and the customer is still not satisfied? Just how high do you pass the customer? No one in Phoenix knows when Cox-Phoenix will get Channel X. Cox-Phoenix can only do so much, yet they "suck" simply because they don't have the answer the customer is looking for. When the Director of IT Operations tells me he doesn't know when or if Cox-Phoenix will get Channel X I tend to believe him and move on. Unfortunately, other folks just can't and here we are.

I'm not sure where the Sunday Ticket comment comes from, but no amount of asking Cox about it will help. It is an exclusive for DirecTV and they can (and have) out-bid any single cableco. It is being looked at on anti-trust grounds, but I doubt anything will come of that. However, that is another good question for how you would handle that question by someone who simply has an axe to grind and already knows the answer (I could name a few from this thread alone).

I'm trying to figure out the audio levels on my box. The sound on some shows sounds kind of muffled (especially on the HDNETS). I don't have any sound system -- just listen through my TV.

I'm connected with component and regular audio cables. I looked on the first page of this thread, which has the info i quoted below. But i don't see those options. I can only choose from variable or fixed. I'm on the old firmware (only have the 3x fast forward and still get booted out to live).

Time Warner Oceanic.

Any ideas?

So anyway, does anyone else only have the "variable" and "fixed" options in the audio setup menu? Am I looking in the wrong place? Which one would make more sense when you just listen through the TV (Samsung HD Plasma) without a sound system. The main problem is on some shows I have to turn the volume up pretty high to hear what people are saying. Mandy Patinkin especially.

So anyway, does anyone else only have the "variable" and "fixed" options in the audio setup menu? Am I looking in the wrong place? Which one would make more sense when you just listen through the TV (Samsung HD Plasma) without a sound system. The main problem is on some shows I have to turn the volume up pretty high to hear what people are saying. Mandy Patinkin especially.

I'm no expert by any means, but I've noticed much better results with it set to fixed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DeathRay
So anyway, does anyone else only have the "variable" and "fixed" options in the audio setup menu? Am I looking in the wrong place? Which one would make more sense when you just listen through the TV (Samsung HD Plasma) without a sound system. The main problem is on some shows I have to turn the volume up pretty high to hear what people are saying. Mandy Patinkin especially.

I'm no expert by any means, but I've noticed much better results with it set to fixed.

I also vote for FIXED! I was just playing around with some settings a few weeks ago and re-tried audio variable for a second time....way too much of a swing in volumes between sources!!!!!

Question about recording from my SA 8300 HD (TWC) to a DVD? Before I go out and purchase a DVR to archive some of the better programs I've saved on the 8300, I'd like to know how much of a quality loss I'll get (HD video and audio) by using the 'Save to VCR' feature? Thanks.

Question about recording from my SA 8300 HD (TWC) to a DVD? Before I go out and purchase a DVR to archive some of the better programs I've saved on the 8300, I'd like to know how much of a quality loss I'll get (HD video and audio) by using the 'Save to VCR' feature? Thanks.Well, it will be SD - so there is some loss. However, I have used a "trick" that I picked up a while ago to make high quality anamorphic (wide screen) DVD's from a HD recording.

First, you need a DVD recorder that you can set to anamorphic (16:9) recording. Second, you need to connect that recorder to the S-Video out of the 8300. Third, you need to record directly (not use "Copy to VCR") and you need to put the 8300 in the SD mode.

Specific instructions:
1) Have TV display 8300 & turn off the 8300.
2) Simultaneously push GUIDE and INFO buttons on front of the 8300- display should show set-up screen.
3) Press "A" button to select SD mode - screen should reflect that and prompt you to turn the 8300 on. When you do (if you were watching on component) the screen will be magenta. (See my note below for a recommended additional step.)
4) Switch display to DVD-R out. It should show the cable box out - except it will be letterboxed. Press the remote "#" key - the image should be in the "stretch" mode (really meaning that it stretched vertically to fill the 4:3 frame).
5) Start recording and playing the HD recording you want to copy.
6) When done, repeat the set-up procedure, this time pressing "B" to restore the HD mode.

NOTE: The above procedure worked fine for me until 1.88.xx.xx came along. Then I started to have problems with the 8300 jumping back into the HD mode (and loosing the "stretch" mode. I found that I could avoid this problem by rebooting (remove power cord for 30 seconds) while the box is in the SD mode (and doing that again after I restored to the HD mode). I know it is a bit of a pain, but I found that when I did this the 8300 reliably stayed in the mode that I had it in.

So my local cable co wasn't sending the guide data for 11/23 and on. The fixed the problem but I think they forgot the "first run" flags because my scheduled recorings aren't showing up for those days and I know they are new episodes. If I go in and set it to manually record will that overwrite my season recording?

If I go in and set it to manually record will that overwrite my season recording?

No

I also vote for FIXED! I was just playing around with some settings a few weeks ago and re-tried audio variable for a second time....way too much of a swing in volumes between sources!!!!!You guys are confusing me. AFAIK:

Fixed tells the 8300 to put out a constant volume and you will control thre actual volume with another device, like the TV, an AVR, etc. I set mine to the maximum setting before selecting the Fixed option. I control the volume through my Denon AVR or the TV (on the rare occassions I use the TV speakers).

Variable means you control the volume using the 8300 and leave your TV or AVR volume constant.

The option that most affects "swings" in volume is the General Settings/Audio: Range (Wide, Narrow, or Normal) and they are explained to some degree in the first post.

The option that most affects "swings" in volume is the General Settings/Audio: Range (Wide, Narrow, or Normal) and they are explained to some degree in the first post.

Thanks for the input all. But I don't see those wide, narrow, normal options in my settings menu.

Thanks for the input all. But I don't see those wide, narrow, normal options in my settings menu.I knew that, I was commenting on some of the other discussion.

I could be wrong, but I suspect those options can be enabled by the cableco. They only affect the optical and coax digital outputs though. I don't think plugging a digital cable in enables the options like plugging an HDMI cable in changes the Pass-Through Picture Format option to Auto-HDMI. You might call the cableco, but if you are not running your audio through an AVR, I'm not sure there is any benefit for you.

I knew that, I was commenting on some of the other discussion.

I could be wrong, but I suspect those options can be enabled by the cableco. They only affect the optical and coax digital outputs though. I don't think plugging a digital cable in enables the options like plugging an HDMI cable in changes the Pass-Through Picture Format option to Auto-HDMI. You might call the cableco, but if you are not running your audio through an AVR, I'm not sure there is any benefit for you.

Ah, thanks! I'll play around with the fixed and vaiable some more.

Just wanted to report that ESATA is working on my Wide Open West (Cleveland) SA8300HD running SARA 1.87.16.1

I put a Maxtor 500GB SATA drive (7H500F0) into a generic ESATA enclosure from newegg.com and it worked. The enclosure is an OKGear eCombo 3.5" SATA/PATA to eSATA/USB 2.0 External Enclosure, model number OK 350AU2S-SILVER. I had to purchase separately an external ESATA-ESATA cable -- the cable included in the box didn't have the right ends to fit in the SA8300HD.

Note that earlier I tried to use an IDE drive in this enclosure and it did NOT work. The SA8300HD would not recognize it. Now that I've replaced the IDE drive with a SATA drive, all is well.

The Maxtor drive is a "Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 7H500F0 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM"

Edit: The ESATA cable that I needed to purchase separately was this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10226&cs_id=1022602&p_id=2882&seq=1&format=2&style=

"SATA External Shielded Cable - eSATA to eSATA (Type I to Type I)"

Thanks for the input all. But I don't see those wide, narrow, normal options in my settings menu.

I believe that is a cableco specific option. My Comcast box does not have it but my Knology boxes do.

Originally my Knology boxes did not have the color themes. I sent them a letter asking about it and a week later - POOF - an update with the themes added.

I programmed to record Jeopardy everyday and Poker. I also programmed Travel Channel to record everyday too. The Travel Channel did not record yesterday. I check the list of scheduled programs and Jeopardy was there five times and Poker once. I did not see any entry for Travel Channel.

So, I programmed Travel Channel again, at 6:30pm everyday. There was no entry in the list of scheduled recordings for the Travel Channel. Am I hitting a limit here? Seems a max of 6 is too small. Any clue? Thanks.

Just wanted to report that ESATA is working on my Wide Open West (Cleveland) SA8300HD running SARA 1.87.16.1

I put a Maxtor 500GB SATA drive (7H500F0) into a generic ESATA enclosure from newegg.com and it worked. The enclosure is an OKGear eCombo 3.5" SATA/PATA to eSATA/USB 2.0 External Enclosure, model number OK 350AU2S-SILVER. I had to purchase separately an external ESATA-ESATA cable -- the cable included in the box didn't have the right ends to fit in the SA8300HD.

Note that earlier I tried to use an IDE drive in this enclosure and it did NOT work. The SA8300HD would not recognize it. Now that I've replaced the IDE drive with a SATA drive, all is well.

The Maxtor drive is a "Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 7H500F0 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM"

This is great info. Do you have the part number for the cable? I am on Newegg now. When I search on "Esata cable" I get one cable - KINAMAX 3 FT eSata to Serial ATA (SATA) 7 Pin Cable Model CB-ES3F - Retail

Thanks for the great detailed info. Joe

This is great info. Do you have the part number for the cable? I am on Newegg now. When I search on "Esata cable" I get one cable - KINAMAX 3 FT eSata to Serial ATA (SATA) 7 Pin Cable Model CB-ES3F - Retail

Thanks for the great detailed info. Joe

I don't think that Kinamax is going to work - I think that is the type of cable that came with the enclosure. The cable that worked for me I got from monoprice.com:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10226&cs_id=1022602&p_id=2882&seq=1&format=2&style=

"SATA External Shielded Cable - eSATA to eSATA (Type I to Type I)"

I programmed to record Jeopardy everyday and Poker. I also programmed Travel Channel to record everyday too. The Travel Channel did not record yesterday. I check the list of scheduled programs and Jeopardy was there five times and Poker once. I did not see any entry for Travel Channel.

So, I programmed Travel Channel again, at 6:30pm everyday. There was no entry in the list of scheduled recordings for the Travel Channel. Am I hitting a limit here? Seems a max of 6 is too small. Any clue? Thanks.
I think we need more info here. Jeopardy at what time? Poker at what time? What program on The Travel Channel? What recording options? Any day in this slot? This channel any time? First run? Manual recordings?

I really tried to search for this answer...

Is there a post that explains how, on a Cablevision system, or any system, how to get a JVC 40k to record from the 8300HD??? Is there a certain boot up sequence?

The JVC recognizes the box as I-1, but does not record any signal. Then, when I try to reset the i.link sequence, the JVC locks up.

Thanks and sorry...

I think we need more info here. Jeopardy at what time? Poker at what time? What program on The Travel Channel? What recording options? Any day in this slot? This channel any time? First run? Manual recordings?

Jeopardy at 3:30pm, first run, 14 episodes. Same with Poker. When I checked the programmed list, there were five entries for Jeopardy for each day from Mon to Fri, one entry for Poker.

Then I programmed Travel Channel at 6pm, first run, 14 episodes. It does not show up in the schedule and it does not record at all. I tried it several times but it does not show up.

Then I programmed Travel Channel at 6pm, first run, 14 episodes. It does not show up in the schedule and it does not record at all. I tried it several times but it does not show up.

If the episode you are trying to set it up with is not flagged as first run then that is what happens, it doesn't set anything up. You can only set up an all episode, first run, recording with a flagged first run episode. Try time slot.

Just to add to RemyM's comments, when you select a program from the IPG and schedule it to record, regardless of option selected, if it doesn't get highlighted, it didn't take. If you try to schedule a First Run recording and that program doesn't get highlighted, then it is not a First Run episode and nothing is scheduled. Unfortunately, the IPG does not display the First Run indicator. This may change with the next revision of the IPG. In the meantime, many of us use alternate sources, like TitanTV, to check that kind of info.

On another note, why 14 episodes? Why not All Episodes? Or don't you have that option?

Ok, I've been hunting and hunting for the answer to this and can't find it...so...I have the SA 8300HD DVR hooked up via HDMI to sony kds-50a2000. My question is regarding the pass-through option...right now the TWC guy has the output on the box as 1080i--does that mean the box is upconverting rather than the tv and wouldn't it be better for the tv to do it? Also, I can't find the pass-through option listed in the FAQ, etc.--pressing settings twice doesn't do it and I can't find it on the general settings menu...thanks for any help!!

When you are using HDMI the box should automatically be put into auto HDMI/DVI which is the same as pass-through. Pass-through is only available for component. You can run the setup wizard to force it. Press info and guide and follow the on screen instructions.

so leaving the 8300HD DVR on 1080i is the correct thing to do? I tried to select all (e.g. 720p, 480i, and 480p in addition to 1080i) and it basically went to snow requiring me to power down and back up again...I was thinking something isn't right b/c the display on the sony tv always reads 1080i & 16:9 aspect ratio no matter what the source and doesn't give any program info (it did with my direct tv tivo)...looks like the tv sees everything as 1080i which means the box is doing all of the upconverting?...

ArtVandalay7,
I’ve got 2 8300s. One connected to a Samsung DLP and the other is connected to a Panasonic plasma. I’ve tried to use HDMI with both, with limited success. If I set the 8300s to output Dolby Digital to my AVRs I get snow. I can get HDMI to work with the DLP if I set the 8300 audio to HDMI. The problem started with the June firmware update. My 8300s are currently at 1.88.17.a100. I’m currently using component with no perceivable loss in picture quality. My preference is to output 1080i to both TVs. I find the 8300 does as good a job of up-converting as either TV.

For those who don't follow both threads, Art has cross-posted in the Passport thread (since it turns out he has the Passport software, not SARA) and they have responded that this is a known issue with some versions of Passport.

thanks for the help. I did post to that forum when I was able to find out after many hours last night that I do in fact have the passport software...although after reading many, many posts these hdmi problems seem to run in the family--the SA family that is...

I have thin black bars between the picture and the grey bar on all SD channels as was originally reported here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8163355&&#post8163355

Did anybody diagnose this issue?

I use a Yamaha receiver to switch my component inputs. I had no problems with the 8000 but the 8300 doesn't perform (picture washed out) well if I route the component output through the receiver.

I tried 2 different units and both exhibit the same behavior

thanks for the help. I did post to that forum when I was able to find out after many hours last night that I do in fact have the passport software...although after reading many, many posts these hdmi problems seem to run in the family--the SA family that is...I believe that there are similar problems with the other cble boxes (Motorola, Pace). The issue seems to be the copy protection standards that have been imposed by the entertainment industry through cable labs as well as poor HDCP standards.

I have thin black bars between the picture and the grey bar on all SD channels as was originally reported here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8163355&&#post8163355

Did anybody diagnose this issue?

I use a Yamaha receiver to switch my component inputs. I had no problems with the 8000 but the 8300 doesn't perform (picture washed out) well if I route the component output through the receiver.

I tried 2 different units and both exhibit the same behavior

Your link did not appear to take me to a previous post of yours. The discussion in that (the linked) area is about HDMI, but you say that you are using component.

However, there used to be a problem with the 8300 and many component switching receivers in that the 8300HD's component outputs did not have coupling capacitors. This allows the video signal to carry a DC component. Most TV displays have a coupling capacitor on the component inputs but many AV receivers did not. The usual symptom was that the receiver could not pass the video signal - but the impact here could just as well be a "washed out". The solution is to add blocking capacitors to each of the component leads. Audio Authority (https://www.audioauthority.com/indexh.php) has a Model 1182 DC Blocker for $34 that will solve the problem.

Your link did not appear to take me to a previous post of yours. The discussion in that (the linked) area is about HDMI, but you say that you are using component.

The post was from someone else...at the bottom of the page...

Do I have any way to adjust the edges of the picture? I hate stretch mode...

However, there used to be a problem with the 8300 and many component switching receivers in that the 8300HD's component outputs did not have coupling capacitors. This allows the video signal to carry a DC component. Most TV displays have a coupling capacitor on the component inputs but many AV receivers did not. The usual symptom was that the receiver could not pass the video signal - but the impact here could just as well be a "washed out". The solution is to add blocking capacitors to each of the component leads. Audio Authority (https://www.audioauthority.com/indexh.php) has a Model 1182 DC Blocker for $34 that will solve the problem.

Thanks for this excellent info, I will order one today.

WOW...this forum rocks...thanks for the quick responses.

Thanks for this excellent info, I will order one today.

WOW...this forum rocks...thanks for the quick responses.

I actually have one I don't need that I will let go of cheaper - PM me if you get this before you order one.

xnappo

Remy and Dave,
Thanks for your replies. I think its just getting the hang of using the DVR. I played with it this noon and it seems to be okay. I will post again with details if something happens.

Thanks

Leo

I actually have one I don't need that I will let go of cheaper - PM me if you get this before you order one.

xnappo


Sorry, I already ordered one from Audio Authority...but thanks for the offer...


Has anybody found a solution for the thin black vertical bars or am I going to have to learn to like stretch mode????

thanks for the help. I did post to that forum when I was able to find out after many hours last night that I do in fact have the passport software...although after reading many, many posts these hdmi problems seem to run in the family--the SA family that is...Just to clarify a bit. It's true there are some HDMI problems with the 8300 that are not software specific, the 2.0 vs 5.1 audio issue using the HDMI or DD setting being one. However, I don't believe I've ever read about anyone using SARA having the "snow" issue you have been referring to. Though I could be wrong, that appears to be limited to Passport.

The other point is that there are 2 threads, one for SARA and one for Passport, to limit the confusion that exists between the 2 platforms. Every other post in the SATA thread seems to request location and software info these days because that thread has not been separated. It's simply more appropriate to post in the correct thread to avoid such confusion and get more accurate answers. Of course, anyone if free to post anywhere they want, just trying to help you get the answers you need and avoid a duplicate discussion in this SARA thread. :)

A friend of mine uses HDMI and gets colored snow sometimes. He has to switch inputs on the TV and then it clears up. I use HDMI and have not seen this issue. He is using SARA, same version as me.

Dave,
I have the snow problem (no picture at all) with both of my 8300s, when using HDMI. I can occasionally clear it up on my DLP by switching inputs. I can’t, however, get it to clear up on my plasma. The problem didn’t start until the 1.88 update.

SARA 1.88.17.a100

Thanks, that's why I posted my comment. Nothing gets folks to post like saying something doesn't happen. :)

I don't use HDMI, so I've never seen the problem, and I don't recall it being mentioned in this thread before. I do find it interesting that both of you are using what I tend to think of as non-standard (or cableco-specific) releases, a2 and a100. I haven't been able to confirm it, but it "seems" like releases with those kind of numbers have more problems than those ending in .1, etc. Anyone with 1.88.19.1, 1.88.22.1, or 1.88.23.1 seeing snow with HDMI? Perhaps this is another reason why 1.88.x.x hasn't been released by more cableco's. Even here, it's been released on a limited basis.

One annoyance I have with my provider (TWC) is that I do not have the “New first-run episodes on this channel” option. It’s very annoying, having to erase multiple recordings of the same thing. I’m curious if any others here have this problem. The 8300 guide says this option is not available everywhere.

FWIW, the option IS in the software and has been from the beginning, 1.85.x.x at least. The problem lies with the IPG not having the First Run flag for the software to use.

Dave,
Are you saying the IPG just has to turn the flag on or that they don’t have the flag to turn on?
Thanks

Question regarding the INFO + GUIDE setup wizard:

If I set it to just 720p (my LCD's native res.) is there any way to watch regular non hdtv channels in a widescreen mode? I subscribe to the NHL package and watching those in the funny 4:3 deal is a little obnoxious.
I've noticed that if I take the cable signal and bypass the box by inputting it directly into my tv the HDTV channels are much nicer looking, using the box I seem to lose a bit of signal strength and I can't really discern if 720p or 1080i looks better.

TIA

Anyone with 1.88.19.1, 1.88.22.1, or 1.88.23.1 seeing snow with HDMI?My Sony set has a single HDMI input, which I am using for the connection with my 8300HD. I haven't seen any "snow" problem in the 11 months I have had the DVR (originally at 1.87.xx.x, at 1.88.19.1 since early October).

Ron

P.S. Dave, we were away for the past week but since I bypassed the 3:1 splitter and connected directly into the DVR, I haven't seen any instances of shortened recordings.

HDD Defrag. To defrag the drive (1.88.x.x):
<small voice>wow you folks can defrag . . . </small voice>

Hey DoubleD... could you hit my unit with 1.88.19.1 ... or whatever's the latest & greatest that Cox has. I'm up in Peoria.

Let me know what info you need, if I have to leave the unit "on", etc...

Thanks,
Chad

I connected an HDMI cable from my 8300 HD box to my new Magnavox 32 inch lcd tv Model 32MF231D. When i turn on the box and my TV an error message comes on my screen saying " Copy protection HDMI output is blocked use Component video output" I tried reseting my box and i called Atlantic broadband Miami. They could not figure out what was wrong. Before i exchange my 8300HD box is there something i am over looking? Anything else i can try to do to make the HDMI output work? Is this a problem with my box or a problem with my cable company. Thank you in advance for your help. Bart

Dave,
Are you saying the IPG just has to turn the flag on or that they don’t have the flag to turn on?My guess is that the IPG your cableco currently uses does not have the flag in it's database, I know ours didn't. It's always possible the option itself can be turned on/off by the cableco, though I can't imagine why they would turn it off. We just happened to get the flag with the upgrade to 1.87.x.x a long time ago and everyone here thought is was part of that release. That notion was quickly dispelled by others more familiar with all this, mostly vegggas.

It might be worth sending your cableco an email indicating everyone else has this flag in their IPG and the option has been in the software for some time. Ask them nicely to check into it and see if they can't do something to upgrade their IPG to make their DVR more functional and join the rest of us. :)

Hello, I am in Central Florida (Land O Lakes, near Tampa Bay) and am Running SARA 1.87.xx on Brighthouse Networks, can anyone confirm/deny eSATA operability...b4 I buy an external HD for this box?

P.S. Dave, we were away for the past week but since I bypassed the 3:1 splitter and connected directly into the DVR, I haven't seen any instances of shortened recordings.That's interesting. We've long suspected that signal levels might be at the heart of some of these problems. Unfortunately it's difficult to prove, especially if the level fluctuates. Of course, the splitter could also introduce problems depending on where in the spectrum a given channel is, like on the high end, etc.

BTW. Welcome home. Did you bring this weather with you? :)

Hey DoubleD... could you hit my unit with 1.88.19.1 ... or whatever's the latest & greatest that Cox has. I'm up in Peoria.

Let me know what info you need, if I have to leave the unit "on", etc...Mosey on over to the Phoenix thread and read the first post, the instructions are there.

Welcome home. Did you bring this weather with you? :)Not exactly, because it's much colder today here in Phoenix than it was where we were last week: Springfield MO. The bright side of the picture is that here it's supposed to be sunny and near 60° tomorrow, and SGF is expecting snow, freezing rain and sleet.

Ron

<small voice>wow you folks can defrag . . . </small voice>See how enlightened you get reading this thread instead of holding your nose in the air limiting yourself to the Passport thread. ;)

Actually, now that I think about it a little, I can't really tell if that was a serious comment or not. :)

I connected an HDMI cable from my 8300 HD box to my new Magnavox 32 inch lcd tv Model 32MF231D. When i turn on the box and my TV an error message comes on my screen saying " Copy protection HDMI output is blocked use Component video output" I tried reseting my box and i called Atlantic broadband Miami. They could not figure out what was wrong. Before i exchange my 8300HD box is there something i am over looking? Anything else i can try to do to make the HDMI output work? Is this a problem with my box or a problem with my cable company. Thank you in advance for your help. Bart

Are your sure your TV supports HDCP? HDMI will not work from the 8300 unless the TV supports HDCP.

I connected an HDMI cable from my 8300 HD box to my new Magnavox 32 inch lcd tv Model 32MF231D. When i turn on the box and my TV an error message comes on my screen saying " Copy protection HDMI output is blocked use Component video output" I tried reseting my box and i called Atlantic broadband Miami. They could not figure out what was wrong. Before i exchange my 8300HD box is there something i am over looking? Anything else i can try to do to make the HDMI output work? Is this a problem with my box or a problem with my cable company. Thank you in advance for your help. Bart

I also have the 8300 and Atlantic Broadband. HDMI works fine from the 8300 to my Mitsubishi 73927 TV but I get the same msg you get if I try to hook up the HDMI to my Pioneer receiver and from the receiver to the TV. Our software version on the 8300 is very old, thanks to a small cableco like ABB and that's probably the reason . I believe that if we had the newest version this and many other problems would be fixed. We got the 1.87 version and almost everybody else has the 1.88. I bought a TIVO S3 and hope to get rid of the 8300 very soon. Call ABB and try to talk to a supervisor. Ask for the new software and put some pressure on this guys!

Sergio

We're still running 1.87.x.x on Cox here in Phoenix (except for a few), so it's not just small cableco's like ABB that haven't upgraded yet. It would be interesting though to see if the Pioneer, acting as an HDMI switcher, would work any better with the 1.88.x.x version. Of course, Southbeach5's problem could be as simple as not turning the TV on before the 8300. :)

1..87.xx officially here in Las Vegas too... Although I've been using beta versions of 1.88.xx for almost a year, but they are not released due to causing various crashes and other issues.
IPG error tonight on ABC with the regulary scheduled program "The Nine" being preempted by "20/20". The IPG guide data showed "20/20" in the "The Nine" Timeslot. The header info for the scheduled recording still had the title "The Nine" listed as it started recording.
For this error, the IPG and description changed, but the flag was still set for a new recording of the original programming.


vegggas

In the Florida Panhandle, we were just upgraded yesterday to the 1.88.24.2 version of SARA. I am not sure what the upgrades were, but we were notified to delete any recordings we had scheduled on non-digital channels and reschedule them.

So far the only difference I have noticed is that sometimes when the box is turned on at a HD channel, the box recognizes the resolution (720p or 1080i) compared to before the upgrade when the box always came up as 480i no matter what channel you were on.

Question regarding the INFO + GUIDE setup wizard:

If I set it to just 720p (my LCD's native res.) is there any way to watch regular non hdtv channels in a widescreen mode? I subscribe to the NHL package and watching those in the funny 4:3 deal is a little obnoxious.
I've noticed that if I take the cable signal and bypass the box by inputting it directly into my tv the HDTV channels are much nicer looking, using the box I seem to lose a bit of signal strength and I can't really discern if 720p or 1080i looks better.

TIA
Someting sounds odd here.
You should have a zoom stetch mode in settings and/or a remote button to go through the 4 various settings.
Bypassing the box and getting a much better pic sounds like it may not be connected correctly. Are you using just the HDMI or three-wire component connection? Your post sounds like you may be using the RF Coax Cable instead???
If it's HDMI, change the setting to Auto HDMI and if component, change it to passthrough. You should see the screen re-sync whenver the resolution changes between 720p, 1080i, and 480i/p.

vegggas

In the Florida Panhandle, we were just upgraded yesterday to the 1.88.24.2 version of SARA. I am not sure what the upgrades were, but we were notified to delete any recordings we had scheduled on non-digital channels and reschedule them.

So far the only difference I have noticed is that sometimes when the box is turned on at a HD channel, the box recognizes the resolution (720p or 1080i) compared to before the upgrade when the box always came up as 480i no matter what channel you were on.
That is a known specific DVR issue where you may have had analog channels that are now simulcast on as digital. These are on a different channel which is invisible to you and remapped in the STB so that you tune your old analog channel number and it gets remapped to the digital equivelent. You will gain extra recording time on those channels, since they are already converted to digital at the head end and take up less space than STB converted analog recordings.

vegggas

Veggas,

That explains why I have channels showing up like 1003-1070 on my DVR when I go to the settings menu and select which channel I want the DVR to start-up on. Those must be my equivalent analog channels.

I set up my DVR to always start up on ESPNHD. I did this because that channel is in 720p and the two channels on either side of it are in 1080i. That way if my DVR comes up in 480i mode (which is about 50% of the time now), I only need to switch one channel for the signal to be sent to the box to produce HD output.

Has anyone with Cablevision of Woodbury (Long Island, NY) been able to use one SA 8300HD to serve two HDTVs? Despite what was mentioned in the first post in this thread about being able to use multiple HD outputs simultaneously, my boxes seem to be unable to. Here's my experience to date:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have two SA 8300HD from Cablevision of Woodbury, NY, one newer one with 1394a and one older one with out. I'm trying to get rid of either one of them and just use the remaining one to serve both the HDTV in my den and the HDTV in my bedroom.

I've tried using component cables to the den TV and HDMI to the bedroom and have found that as soon as I connect the HDMI to the bedroom TV (powered on), the component output shuts off. If I recall correctly, turning the bedroom TV off causes the component output to turn back on, but with an overlay blocking the picture that says a non-HDCP device is connected and component cables should be used instead. :mad:

I have also purchased an HDMI splitter (not a switch, but what amounts to an HDMI Y cable), and a second HDMI cable in the hopes that this may work.

So far, I have found that connecting either set individually to the Y cable works, but connecting one set completely and the other disconnected HDMI cable to the splitter yields no output to the one connected set. (Both sets are DVI and both cables are HDMI and I only have one HDMI-DVI adapter, and I need a second adapter to be able to connect both sets to the splitter at the same time. I've purchased one, but haven't received it yet.) I am hoping that this is a simple cable termination issue and not another case of the 8300HD detecting a "device" without HDCP (this time, the "device" being the unterminated length of cable). Having to keep both TVs powered on and tuned to their HDMI inputs (so they both send HDCP back to the box) just to be able to watch either one would be completely pointless.

After all the money and time I've spent running cables and IR transmitters and shopping online just to be able to go from two boxes to one, I'm starting to go crazy. (This whole exercise began with wanting to eventually replace both boxes with a TiVo 3 HD.)

If anyone has gone down this road before and found success, please share your recipie. Thanks!

Has anyone with Cablevision of Woodbury (Long Island, NY) been able to use one SA 8300HD to serve two HDTVs? Despite what was mentioned in the first post in this thread about being able to use multiple HD outputs simultaneously, my boxes seem to be unable to. Here's my experience to date:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have two SA 8300HD from Cablevision of Woodbury, NY, one newer one with 1394a and one older one with out. I'm trying to get rid of either one of them and just use the remaining one to serve both the HDTV in my den and the HDTV in my bedroom.

I've tried using component cables to the den TV and HDMI to the bedroom and have found that as soon as I connect the HDMI to the bedroom TV (powered on), the component output shuts off. If I recall correctly, turning the bedroom TV off causes the component output to turn back on, but with an overlay blocking the picture that says a non-HDCP device is connected and component cables should be used instead. :mad:

I have also purchased an HDMI splitter (not a switch, but what amounts to an HDMI Y cable), and a second HDMI cable in the hopes that this may work.

So far, I have found that connecting either set individually to the Y cable works, but connecting one set completely and the other disconnected HDMI cable to the splitter yields no output to the one connected set. (Both sets are DVI and both cables are HDMI and I only have one HDMI-DVI adapter, and I need a second adapter to be able to connect both sets to the splitter at the same time. I've purchased one, but haven't received it yet.) I am hoping that this is a simple cable termination issue and not another case of the 8300HD detecting a "device" without HDCP. Having to keep both TVs powered on and tuned to HDMI (input so they both send HDCP back to the box) just to be able to watch either one would be completely pointless.

After all the money and time I've spent running cables and IR transmitters and shopping online just to be able to go from two boxes to one, I'm starting to go crazy. (This whole exercise began with wanting to replace both boxes with a TiVo 3 HD.)

If anyone has gone down this road before and found success, please share your recipie. Thanks!
Whew, I'm exhausted just reading your post. Seems like a lot of effort and inconvenience to save $8/mo. HDMI splitters will not work with HDCP. You can "distribute" component video.

Whew, I'm exhausted just reading your post. Seems like a lot of effort and inconvenience to save $8/mo. HDMI splitters will not work with HDCP. You can "distribute" component video.

I was afraid that would end up being the case :(

The 8300HD are actually $15/month each, but the real saving I was aiming for was trying to avoid purchasing two TiVo 3 HD units.

I suppose that asking if TiVo 3 blocks the component out when the HDMI out is connected without HDCP (digitally connected TV powered off) is way too off topic for this thread...

How about getting the 8300HD component output to work even while the HDMI port is connected to another (powered off) TV? Any suggestions there?

The 8300HD works in either one of two distinct modes. Analog Domain or Digital Domain proccessing.
Analog Domain Processing is used when the cable plant and head end are not fully sending HDCP content and are not completely enforcing the restrictions. This is seen when the analog processing is done and output is over Component video. The HDMI may work, but it's just an A - D conversion of the Analog processed signal in the STB, which is just the component signal fed through the HDMI port. Comparing these two signals will result in the exact same quality out of both outputs, varible only by the way your TV interprets the inputs. Component will look the same as HDMI.

Digital Domain Processing uses the digital path and enforces all the digital copyright protection used in cable systems. The signal is processed and delivered in the Digital Domain through the HDMI port - As part of the restrictions, there is NOT a comparable signal over an Analog output. All Analog will be downsampled to 480i and the component ( as setup for HD) will not display a signal.
There is no full Analog output when using a Digitally processed path. When a STB is in this mode, any component outputs are muted while there is a Digital cable attached to the STB.

On a STB with Digital Domain processing without a Digital cable connected, the Component output should either (which method is used is unknown and could vary) default back to Analog processing or show a downconverted (480p), then re-upconverted back to HD resolution ((720p or 1080i) signal. In this scenario, there will be a great difference between the way the two outputs are viewed. HDMI will look better at full resolution and Component will be scaled.

vegggas
I'mmm baa-aack

Welcome back, vegggas!!

I was afraid that would end up being the case :(

The 8300HD are actually $15/month each, but the real saving I was aiming for was trying to avoid purchasing two TiVo 3 HD units.

I suppose that asking if TiVo 3 blocks the component out when the HDMI out is connected without HDCP (digitally connected TV powered off) is way too off topic for this thread...

How about getting the 8300HD component output to work even while the HDMI port is connected to another (powered off) TV? Any suggestions there?This has all worked in the past and has simply fallen victim to software/cableco changes. I've updated the first post to add such caveats. If it doesn't work for you, I don't know of anything you can do to change it.

As for off-topic, it probably is, but only because there may not be anyone here with the answer. We often go pretty far off-topic. However, there is a Tivo S3 thread and I'm sure you'll get the correct info there quicker.

From time to time, when I record a program on the HD8300, playback is just a bunch of digital garbage - no picture that one could recognize, just a bunch of square small blocks. Any advise ? Thanks

I read your first post, (which has a lot of great information, congrats!) however, how do you upgrade the firmware on the box??? I didn't see step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Can you please help upgrade my box from 1.87.xx.xx to the most current version?

Thank you for your help.

I read your first post, (which has a lot of great information, congrats!) however, how do you upgrade the firmware on the box??? I didn't see step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Can you please help upgrade my box from 1.87.xx.xx to the most current version?

Thank you for your help.

Updates are provided by your cable company. How and when updates are offered differs by cable company and, sometimes, region.

A few posts back, there is some discussion about this between a poster and DoubleDAZ.

Please add your location to your profile. It helps if people know where you are.

I read your first post, (which has a lot of great information, congrats!) however, how do you upgrade the firmware on the box??? I didn't see step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Can you please help upgrade my box from 1.87.xx.xx to the most current version?

Thank you for your help.
Firmware is decided upon and installed/updated solely by the cable provider.

Just to add to RemyM's comments, when you select a program from the IPG and schedule it to record, regardless of option selected, if it doesn't get highlighted, it didn't take. If you try to schedule a First Run recording and that program doesn't get highlighted, then it is not a First Run episode and nothing is scheduled. Unfortunately, the IPG does not display the First Run indicator. This may change with the next revision of the IPG. In the meantime, many of us use alternate sources, like TitanTV, to check that kind of info.

On another note, why 14 episodes? Why not All Episodes? Or don't you have that option?It is true that the IPG does not display the First Run indicator, but now on SARA 1.88.22.1 the IPG indicates whether a show is first run or a repeat for shows that are scheduled to record by First Run. After a show has been successfully scheduled by First Run, if a subsequent episode is a first run episode it will be highlighted in the IPG, if it is a repeat it will not be highlighted (indicating that it will not be recorded). This is a change from what the IPG used to do which was always highlight subsequent episodes whether they were first run or repeats. I have Time Warner Cable in Houston (SARA 1.88.22.1 which was upgraded from SARA 1.87.16.a104). This is probably true for all 1.88.x.x versions but I can't say for sure.

That's because in 1.88 placeholders are set 9 days out. In 1.87 placeholders were 7 days out.

That's because in 1.88 placeholders are set 9 days out. In 1.87 placeholders were 7 days out.I don't understand how the number of days out the placeholders are set is related to whether the IPG doesn't highlight an episode if it is a repeat. I thnk when the IPG is updated, which is normally the next day if the show is going to be aired the next week, it decides whether to highlight the episode in the IPG or not. Please explain this further. TIA

It is true that the IPG does not display the First Run indicator

Actually, for me, if I look a the guide "by channel" I will not see a first run indicator. But if I search "by title" there will be a star by the first run shows. For example I was searching for a movie. It showed up twice in the guide (searching by title) and the first listing had a star by it. According to the channel (schedule online) it had it as a "premiere". And I have seen the star by other shows that were first run.

Actually, for me, if I look a the guide "by channel" I will not see a first run indicator. But if I search "by title" there will be a star by the first run shows. For example I was searching for a movie. It showed up twice in the guide (searching by title) and the first listing had a star by it. According to the channel (schedule online) it had it as a "premiere". And I have seen the star by other shows that were first run.I thnk the star in the IPG when you browse by Title indicates the show is currently being broadcast. There is no description for what the star means. Some of the shows with a star are repeats but they are all currently being broadcast.

Russ,

I don't know that it has anything to do with the actual number of days for the PH, but I believe it was changed when the PH was set for 9 days out. I think cableco's update the IPG a bit differently and that's why 9 was chosen. In my case, I can't scroll past midnight in the IPG for next Friday (it's now Saturday), but there is data in there past midnight, probably until 3:00 am when our IPG gets updated.

I have noticed (and I think I commented a while back) that reruns don't get highlighted anymore. The IPG gets updated and the PH is checked against the new data. If the program is in there and is a First Run, it gets highlighted. If not, the PH remains or gets set to the last time a recording was made. I'll have to do some checking to see exactly what happens when.

I'm running SARA 1.88.23.1 through a Marantz SR7001 and into a Vizio VX37L, HDMI all the way in and out.

I am experiencing, from what research I've gathered on the thread, an HDCP handshake issue where when I switch inputs on the AVR (or TV, or power down anything), the 8300 immediately drops me into 480i. I have to go through the setup again in order to get back into HD.

I've tried disabling 480i/480iWS and it still drops me into SD the second the inputs are switched.

I'm starting to see some threads where related issues appear to be addressed with 1.88.24.2, but not specific to this issue. If anyone had experienced this HDCP handshake issue, was it resolved if/when your cable provider upgraded you to 1.88.24.2?

I'm guessing my next course of action is to drop down to component and wait until the firmware is updated. What's disconcerting is that I can only see HDCP getting stricter, not more leniant. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

I use Cablevision Woodbury in New York.

Have you tried turning the 8300 off before you switch inputs and then turning it back on after you switch back?

Have you tried turning the 8300 off before you switch inputs and then turning it back on after you switch back?

Yes, I tried a whole sequence of power up/down events, but the box acts like HD doesn't live here.

But I can fire up the setup and everything is okay until I power down or switch inputs, I've gotten pretty quick at the setup ;)

Are you saying that even when you turn the power off, it comes back on in SD? You do know there is a bug if the Power On option is set to an HD channel or Last Channel (and the last channel was HD)?

Are you saying that even when you turn the power off, it comes back on in SD? You do know there is a bug if the Power On option is set to an HD channel or Last Channel (and the last channel was HD)?

I did see that bug on the thread, but the power on channel is SD.

I just did two interesting tests though:

Test 1: Everything (AVR, Monitor, 8300) is powered up in glorious HD. I power down the 8300 only but leave everything else as is. Wait 5 seconds. Power up. It comes back and I switch to an HD channel and everything is still HD.

Test 2: Everything (AVR, Monitor, 8300) is powered up in glorious HD. I power down the 8300 only. Wait 5 seconds. Switch the AVR input from TV to DVD while the 8300 power is down. Switch the AVR input back to the TV. Power up the 8300. I lose HD.

[Edit: I did a modified Test 2 in order to isolate the issue by powering down the TV in the sequence but not touching the AVR. Same result of losing HD.]

Russ,

I don't know that it has anything to do with the actual number of days for the PH, but I believe it was changed when the PH was set for 9 days out. I think cableco's update the IPG a bit differently and that's why 9 was chosen. In my case, I can't scroll past midnight in the IPG for next Friday (it's now Saturday), but there is data in there past midnight, probably until 3:00 am when our IPG gets updated.

I have noticed (and I think I commented a while back) that reruns don't get highlighted anymore. The IPG gets updated and the PH is checked against the new data. If the program is in there and is a First Run, it gets highlighted. If not, the PH remains or gets set to the last time a recording was made. I'll have to do some checking to see exactly what happens when.I must have missed your comments about reruns not being highlighted anymore. I didn't see any comments about it in the first post in the "New Features In Version 1.88.x.x." section.

I agree it could have been changed when the place holder was changed to 9 days. I don't understand the reason for 9 days.

I just did two interesting tests though:Thanks for trying those, helps rule things out. Is the 8300 HDMI to the AVR and the AVR then HDMI to the TV? Have you tried HDMI direct from 8300 to TV? When you say you switch inputs, is that on the TV or the AVR?

I must have missed your comments about reruns not being highlighted anymore. I didn't see any comments about it in the first post in the "New Features In Version 1.88.x.x." section.

I agree it could have been changed when the place holder was changed to 9 days. I don't understand the reason for 9 days.Well, I know reruns aren't highlighted anymore when using the First Run option because DH and B&S aren't highlighted tonight, they are both reruns. I don't know exactly when this changed though, but I think it was with 1.88.x.x. Not sure why it's not mentioned in the release notes, but that list is certainly not a complete list.

I don't know the reason for 9 days either, other than to get past the 7 days most cableco's have in their IPGs. I suspect is has something to do with when they do certain things in the code and this was the easiest workaround. With everything moving to OCAP, etc., I'm not sure how much effort is being put on the current SARA platform these days. Perhaps vegggas has some idea.

IMHO it really messes up the Scheduled Recordings list and I don't know how noobs deal with it. I know some here were deleting items from the schedule and then rescheduling them because of that. I wonder how many others who don't read this thread are doing the same thing and getting frustrated?

I generally don't even mess with looking at it unless someone here asks a question. I pretty much set 'em and forget 'em. Since I haven't missed any recordings in over 2 years, I guess I trust things will get recorded. :)

I do get a daily email of what's on in HD though and I match that against the highlighted items in my IPG, but that's just to make sure I didn't forget to schedule something, not because I suspect something is wrong with the schedule.

I don't understand how the number of days out the placeholders are set is related to whether the IPG doesn't highlight an episode if it is a repeat. I thnk when the IPG is updated, which is normally the next day if the show is going to be aired the next week, it decides whether to highlight the episode in the IPG or not. Please explain this further. TIA

It's quite simple. On an "all episode", "first run" setup on 1.88 when a show is recorded the PH is set 9 days later. When the guide data gets populated the next day, and the next airing is a repeat, the PH doesn't schedule the repeat. Since the PH does not have the same date as the repeat then the repeat won't be highlighted in the IPG. Whatever show is airing at the date and time of the PH will be highlighted.

In 1.87 where the PH is set 7 days later, the next airing will be highlighted whether it's first run or a repeat because the PH is in that slot. If it's a repeat it won't record, but you won't know that until the show actually starts. I think that is why they went from 7 days to 9 days. People would think the DVR was missing recordings when in actuality it wasn't, based on the "first run" parameter.

The 9 days out PH takes some getting used to but I personally like it better the the 7 day out one. I've had 1.88 for a year and a half now, so I've had plenty of time to adjust to it. If SA and the Cable Companies would document how the PH works there would be less confusion with the newer users.

You got that right. If they documented half this stuff, we'd all be out of a job here, though the latest User's Guide does much better than any before it. :)

All they really did was shift the disparity from the actual date/slot the recording would be if it were a new episode to a date/slot 2 days later. This really gums up the display and makes it that much more difficult for noobs to understand what is happening. I don't record anything on CBS tonight at 7:00 pm MST, but that slot, The Amazing Race, is highlighted just the same.

Of course, I know nothing will get recorded, but I can just see a noob pulling his/her hair out trying to figure out what is going on. If they check the Scheduled List, they'll see Ghost Whisperer is scheduled for tonight and it's not even on. They'll look at the IPG and see The Amazing Race. If they cancel that thinking it's an error, they'll end up missing next week's Ghost unless they also catch that before then. Very convoluted way of doing things if you ask me.

I don't understand why it is so hard for them to simply not highlight programs that are not going to be recorded. I know it is a timing issue and keeps them from constantly checking the list against the IPG with each IPG update, but there should be an easier way to do all this. IMHO, it would be better to highlight the correct date/slot and simply display the First Run/Rerun indicator. IMHO, whether or not the program is a rerun should be displayed anyway. It's certainly more useful than some of the info they do display.

Thanks for trying those, helps rule things out. Is the 8300 HDMI to the AVR and the AVR then HDMI to the TV? Have you tried HDMI direct from 8300 to TV? When you say you switch inputs, is that on the TV or the AVR?

My setup is 8300 via HDMI to AVR, then AVR via HDMI out to TV. It was switching inputs on the AVR that caused it.

I ran a separate test via the 8300 via HDMI direct to the TV per your suggestion and starting switching inputs on the TV. Same problem.

From the looks of things, I think I'll either have to wait for a SA firmware update via Cablevision, or if and when Marantz can update the firmware on the AVR (don't even know if this is possible via the home user) that can shake hands a little firmer with HDCP.

My setup is 8300 via HDMI to AVR, then AVR via HDMI out to TV. It was switching inputs on the AVR that caused it.

I ran a separate test via the 8300 via HDMI direct to the TV per your suggestion and starting switching inputs on the TV. Same problem.

From the looks of things, I think I'll either have to wait for a SA firmware update via Cablevision, or if and when Marantz can update the firmware on the AVR (don't even know if this is possible via the home user) that can shake hands a little firmer with HDCP.
Those dead fish handshakes will get you every time.

Well the good news is that the SR7001 passes all component resolutions over HDMI to the TV, so I hooked up an extra set of component cables and a coax for audio out of the 8300 and into the SR7001 and disabled the HDMI port in on the AVR's TV input. For a while I had a red picture and thought there was a misconnected cable (even after disconnecting the HDMI out of the 8300 and a cold reboot). I jumped back online to check it out, and while I was scratching my head, five minutes later the HDTV Setup Wizard suddenly changed from SD options to HD options, like a patient out of Awakenings.

So I'm still getting that seamless experience of not having to constantly re-enter the HD Setup Wizard and not having to cycle between HDMI and component inputs on the TV, but the component initially doesn't look as great as the HDMI, though I haven't tweaked any settings on the TV yet.

If anyone is interested in the SR7001, I'm posting a pretty extensive first impressions review to the Marantz thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=734000&page=6&pp=30) in the next couple of days.

From time to time, when I record a program on the HD8300, playback is just a bunch of digital garbage - no picture that one could recognize, just a bunch of square small blocks. Any advise ? Thanks


Again, asking if anyone else has or is experiencing this issue ?

It's quite simple. On an "all episode", "first run" setup on 1.88 when a show is recorded the PH is set 9 days later. When the guide data gets populated the next day, and the next airing is a repeat, the PH doesn't schedule the repeat. Since the PH does not have the same date as the repeat then the repeat won't be highlighted in the IPG. Whatever show is airing at the date and time of the PH will be highlighted.
In 1.87 where the PH is set 7 days later, the next airing will be highlighted whether it's first run or a repeat because the PH is in that slot. If it's a repeat it won't record, but you won't know that until the show actually starts. I think that is why they went from 7 days to 9 days. People would think the DVR was missing recordings when in actuality it wasn't, based on the "first run" parameter.

The 9 days out PH takes some getting used to but I personally like it better the the 7 day out one. I've had 1.88 for a year and a half now, so I've had plenty of time to adjust to it. If SA and the Cable Companies would document how the PH works there would be less confusion with the newer users.Because SA highlights the wrong show (see the underlined sentence in the quote) people may think the DVR is going to record something that they don't want to record. Sometimes, I would delete that scheduled recording because it was a show I didn't want to record without realizing that it was a place holder. I wondered why some of my "first run" shows would no longer be scheduled to be recorded and I would have to reschedule the recording. SA shouldn't highlight a show that it won't record just because it is a place holder. I think it has enough information or can get the information that a show is not going to be recorded before it highlights the placeholder.

Did SA remove the option to sort the Scheduled Recordings list alphabetically and limit that sort to the Recorded List only in 1.88.x.x?

P.S. - Sorry Dave. When I made my post I didn't understand what you were saying. I had to convince myself that the underlined sentence in the quote was correct. Most of the future place holders are at the same time and channel of something that I am planning to record.

I think it has enough information or can get the information that a show is not going to be recorded before it highlights the placeholder.I agree that they shouldn't highlight a PH, to me that's a given. If the program info doesn't agree, why highlight anything?

I also think it would be simple enough to fix the PH and highlight disparities, but then I don't have the code to look at. But, since they set a PH for 9 days out and that gets reset as soon as the IPG gets updated the next morning, they are obviously comparing the scheduled list to the updated IPG each day. It would seem simple enough at that time to check the First Run flag, etc., too and only highlight what's actually going to record.

I haven't done any tests, but I assume they also compensate for changes to the IPG on a daily basis during the update. If you change your schedule, highlights get changed accordingly. If a program is cancelled or preempted or replaced with a rerun, highlights get changed at that time too. If a rerun gets replaced with a First Run, highlights also get changed.

FWIW, PHs only remain if the next episode is a rerun or missing altogether. I'm not sure exactly when they get reset to the correct day/time. I have PHs for Lost, Monk, and B&S. They all reflect the last date they were recorded, but at one time they would have been 9 days out. I assume they got reset once the normal date/time passed. Since they will also get reset as soon as the programs show up in the IPG again, I don't understand the need for the 9 day PH at all. I PH for the last dat recorded seems to work just fine. :)
Did SA remove the option to sort the Sceduled Recordings list alphabetically and limit that sort to the Recorded List only in 1.88.x.x?I don't know. I never tried to view the Scheduled List in any order than what comes up. I can see where that would be a useful feature though. Is that the way it was before 1.88.x.x?

P.S. - Sorry Dave. When I made my post I didn't understand what you were saying. I had to convince myself that the underlined sentence in the quote was correct. Most of the future place holders are at the same time and channel of something that I am planning to record.In that case though, you wouldn't really notice the PH by looking at the IPG, you'd only see it when looking at the Scheduled List and then there should be 2 entries with the same date/time but different program titles, one for the actual program to be recorded and one for the PH.

I just happen to have that example right now. I have a PH for NCIS and a scheduled recording for Survivor next Thursday at 7:00 pm MST. NCIS is normally on Tuesday and next week's epsiode is a rerun. If I look at the IPG, Survivor is correctly highlighted. If I were not already recording Survivor, it would still be highlighted though because of the NCIS PH.

I thought the Scheduled Recordings and the Recorded List were sorted the same way either by time or alphabetically based on your selection in the Preferences section. The wording has been changed to say Recorded List and it also says how the list is currently sorted. Before, you would have to look at the menu selection and if the menu selection was Sort by time then the current sort was alphabetical and vice versa. It was a long time ago when I tested this and I am not sure if this is correct.

Can anyone with 1.87.x.x verify this?

TIA

Again, asking if anyone else has or is experiencing this issue ?

This happened to me once about a year ago. I'm sorry but I don't remember the circumstances.

________________________________
SA8300HD-Comcast-SARA v. 1.88.22.1

Again, asking if anyone else has or is experiencing this issue ?Sorry, nothing here like that. If it were me I'd double-check my cable connections and signal levels.

You didn't include a location in your profile and you didn't mention what cableco or software you are using, so it's kind of hard to provide many ideas. The 8300 uses either Passport or SARA software and this is the SARA thread. The first post gives you info on finding what software you use and, if SARA, how to find signal levels.

Your problem could also be a station issue if they have trouble from time to time and the problem is with the same channel.

You can always try a reboot or a "hard" reboot to see if that helps. That info is also in the first post.

Thanks to all who helped me with my previous question.

I have the same problem as TBASSNY. I have a Sony Grand WEGA rear projection (KDS-50A2000) with the 8300HD connected by HDMI. I also have a Sony 400 disc DVD changer (DVP-CX995V) connected by HDMI to the TVs 2nd HDMI. I have set-up the 8300HD to display all resolutions. Things work great until I change the TV to one of it's other inputs. It drops to 420i and will not revert back until I run the 8300's HD set-up wizard. I don't have to change any settings, just bring the wizard start menu up and then cancel. Things work fine until I change the inputs.

Problem Fixed: I read on several other boards that some cable boxes have issues when connected to HDTV with HDMI cable. Most DVD units and other digital equipment are fine. I used componet cable and audio jacks to connect the HDTV and SA 8300HD. At first the screen is pinkish/red and will only display the SD output screen. After a minute or two, the picture returns to normal with the HD mode now active. I completed setup and have had none of the old problems. Changing inputs, turning on and off the TV or Box now have no detrimental affect on the HD settings. Thanks to all that supplied what they know to help a newb out. You guys are great. My wife wanted to wait for the cable guys to come and find a way to blame it on the TV, but I knew after a couple goggles I'd find people that knew the answers. Thanks again fellas!!!!

. . .
FWIW, PHs only remain if the next episode is a rerun or missing altogether. I'm not sure exactly when they get reset to the correct day/time. I have PHs for Lost, Monk, and B&S. They all reflect the last date they were recorded, but at one time they would have been 9 days out. I assume they got reset once the normal date/time passed. Since they will also get reset as soon as the programs show up in the IPG again, I don't understand the need for the 9 day PH at all. I PH for the last dat recorded seems to work just fine. :)
. . .
When I look at old place holders, they have the same 9 days out date as when they were created. Examples: Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are Sun 10/1 and they were last first run recorded on Fri 9/22; Real Time With Bill Maher is Sun 11/26 and it was last first run recorded on Fri 11/17.

That's correct Russ. That's how the old placeholders are on mine too.

I stand corrected. I just double-checked and mine are that way too. I guess I didn't pay enough attention to the date when I looked the first time. :)

To me this seems like a very simple question:

Why doesn' t the SARA software just download more than 7 days of Guide data?

It seems like most programs that we setup to record automatically are shown on a weekly basis or daily basis and if the Guide had 14 days of data, the whole placeholder thing would be unnecessary.

Does the TV lineup change that much that the developers of the software felt 7 days was adequate enough? Seems ridiculous to me that while viewing a show on Thursday I cannot look at the guide and see if next week's show will be a rerun or not or see what the description of next week's show is.

There are many free guides on the internet that show enough information in advance to help users with viewing. Also, from what I understand, Tivo has 14 days of information as well. Seems pretty simple.

I have the same problem as TBASSNY. I have a Sony Grand WEGA rear projection (KDS-50A2000) with the 8300HD connected by HDMI. I also have a Sony 400 disc DVD changer (DVP-CX995V) connected by HDMI to the TVs 2nd HDMI. I have set-up the 8300HD to display all resolutions. Things work great until I change the TV to one of it's other inputs. It drops to 420i and will not revert back until I run the 8300's HD set-up wizard. I don't have to change any settings, just bring the wizard start menu up and then cancel. Things work fine until I change the inputs.Chandler35, I've had some similar things happen under different circumstances and found that a Hard Reboot after setting resolutions took care of the problem.

To do a hard reboot: Unplug DVR power cord (at rear of unit) for 30 seconds. Then plug back in WHILE HOLDING IN FRONT PANEL POWER BUTTON. Release the Power button when "boot" appears on the front panel. The unit is good to go when time reappears on the front.

NOTE: This hard reboot is a good cure for many different ills. It might not fix the problem, but it's always worth a try.

How can I record a program that is highlighted as a placeholder? Went I try ti edit the recording its editing for the place held program not the highlighted one. I am afraid if I cancel the recording then it will cancel my placeholder and thus my first run recording schedule.

To me this seems like a very simple question:

Why doesn' t the SARA software just download more than 7 days of Guide data?

It seems like most programs that we setup to record automatically are shown on a weekly basis or daily basis and if the Guide had 14 days of data, the whole placeholder thing would be unnecessary.

Does the TV lineup change that much that the developers of the software felt 7 days was adequate enough? Seems ridiculous to me that while viewing a show on Thursday I cannot look at the guide and see if next week's show will be a rerun or not or see what the description of next week's show is.

There are many free guides on the internet that show enough information in advance to help users with viewing. Also, from what I understand, Tivo has 14 days of information as well. Seems pretty simple.
Storing more program data would consume more resources.

How can I record a program that is highlighted as a placeholder? Went I try ti edit the recording its editing for the place held program not the highlighted one. I am afraid if I cancel the recording then it will cancel my placeholder and thus my first run recording schedule.

I don't think I've ever had to do this so I'm not speaking from experience. I don't know why you say you are trying to edit it. You shouldn't be trying to do something from the scheduled recording list with the placeholder. You should be bringing up the program you want to record in the guide, ignore that it's highlighted, and press the record button to schedule it. If you are and it's trying to do something with the placeholder then that is a major bug.

Storing more program data would consume more resources.

Ok, granted that more program data would require more space on the hard drive. But we are not talking about a ton of space needed for another week of program data.

I used a program that would grab TV listings and store those listings on my computer. I loaded up 2 weeks worth of data and it came out to be about 70MB of hard disk space. From what I have seen on this board and others, a 1 hour SD broadcast takes anywhere from 1GB - 3GB to store to the hard disk. So that means, the extra 1 week of program data would be about 42 sec - 2 min worth of TV recording time.

I am all in favor for losing 2 min of total recording time to have an extra week's worth of program data. Now these are just rough numbers and I don't know exactly how the SARA software stores the program data information, but it probably is a very, very small amount of data compared to the actual recordings.

Ok, granted that more program data would require more space on the hard drive. But we are not talking about a ton of space needed for another week of program data.

I used a program that would grab TV listings and store those listings on my computer. I loaded up 2 weeks worth of data and it came out to be about 70MB of hard disk space. From what I have seen on this board and others, a 1 hour SD broadcast takes anywhere from 1GB - 3GB to store to the hard disk. So that means, the extra 1 week of program data would be about 42 sec - 2 min worth of TV recording time.

I am all in favor for losing 2 min of total recording time to have an extra week's worth of program data. Now these are just rough numbers and I don't know exactly how the SARA software stores the program data information, but it probably is a very, very small amount of data compared to the actual recordings.
I guess I should have been more precise. The "resources" to which I referred is memory. And that is not really in abundance as drive space is. They had to set a limit somewhere - why is nine days not enough?

FWIW, us Passport users get only seven days, including the current day. This means that today I CANNOT see NEXT Monday. How's that for sucking? :)

I guess I should have been more precise. The "resources" to which I referred is memory. And that is not really in abundance as drive space is. They had to set a limit somewhere - why is nine days not enough?

FWIW, us Passport users get only seven days, including the current day. This means that today I CANNOT see NEXT Monday. How's that for sucking? :)SARA users get only seven days in the IPG, too, including the current day.

A placeholder is created with a date that is 9 days in the future, but the user can only see this in the Scheduled Recordings list not in the IPG. After several days, the placeholder will be visible in the IPG.

Does Passport use placeholders?

SARA users get only seven days in the IPG, too, including the current day.

A placeholder has a date that is 9 days in the future, but the user can only see this in the Scheduled Recordings list not in the IPG.

Does Passport use placeholders?
Not sure what that is.

We can bring up the list of recorded content, things scheduled to be recorded in the next 7 days, and the Series Manager.

I guess I should have been more precise. The "resources" to which I referred is memory. And that is not really in abundance as drive space is. They had to set a limit somewhere - why is nine days not enough?

FWIW, us Passport users get only seven days, including the current day. This means that today I CANNOT see NEXT Monday. How's that for sucking? :)

I can see where memory could be an issue, but as a software programmer myself who has to deal with those kind of things, I know of many ways to handle that kind of problem such that memory is not an issue.

It is much easier to see problems and failures in a software program, then it is to actually create the program flawlessly in the first place. The issue that I have with the SARA software is that it sure doesn't look like there is much emphasis or work being currently done on the software. This is the only website that I know of that actually discusses the issues with the software. And I am not aware of anyone that is working on the software that is on these boards or responds to posts.

The only posts and discussions that I have seen here are from users only. Very, very "smart" users mind you, but users only. I think it would be great to see some of the developers (or maybe there is only 1 of them) start to read and post here. :)

Not sure what that is.

We can bring up the list of recorded content, things scheduled to be recorded in the next 7 days, and the Series Manager.A placeholder is a scheduled recording entry that is created by the DVR software for the next recording of a program that is not in the IPG, yet. It is created with a blank description and a date 9 days in the future. It used to be created with a date only 7 days in the future. The DVR software converts this placeholder to a real scheduled recording entry when the recording criteria is meet. For example, when the criteria is to record first run episodes of a program. This is done when the DVR software processes new IPG data. A placeholder will have a blank description. Most real scheduled recording entries have some description.

I can see where memory could be an issue, but as a software programmer myself who has to deal with those kind of things, I know of many ways to handle that kind of problem such that memory is not an issue.

It is much easier to see problems and failures in a software program, then it is to actually create the program flawlessly in the first place. The issue that I have with the SARA software is that it sure doesn't look like there is much emphasis or work being currently done on the software. This is the only website that I know of that actually discusses the issues with the software. And I am not aware of anyone that is working on the software that is on these boards or responds to posts.

The only posts and discussions that I have seen here are from users only. Very, very "smart" users mind you, but users only. I think it would be great to see some of the developers (or maybe there is only 1 of them) start to read and post here. :)RE: Memory use. Most programmers these days are used to working with disk operating systems of some sort. While the 8300 does have a disk, it does not have a disk operating system - so the things that one would usually expect to be able to do in software might be more difficult (or impossible) in the 8300.
RE: SARA updates - Scientific Atlanta's customers are the cable companies. They answer to those customers. Because these cable boxes are highly integrated into a larger cable system, the cable customers are not anxious to deploy new versions into their system - because they are basically introducing instability. So you see a very conservative approach here. Also, each cable system in the US is uniquely different with different mixtures of equipment - at the head end, in the distribution network, and on the customer premises, a software version cannot be thoroughly tested in the lab. Hence, each cable system will have to do their own Beta testing of new releases.
RE: Programmer participation: Please recognize that there are significant differences from system to system, and that SA's customer is the cable company. There is no incentive for SA programmers to participate here (though there has been participation from some people who have been clearly involved in development at the local cable level).

I don't think I've ever had to do this so I'm not speaking from experience. I don't know why you say you are trying to edit it. You shouldn't be trying to do something from the scheduled recording list with the placeholder. You should be bringing up the program you want to record in the guide, ignore that it's highlighted, and press the record button to schedule it. If you are and it's trying to do something with the placeholder then that is a major bug.It is a major bug. The reason he is trying to edit the program entry is because you can only edit or cancel it even from the IPG. The DVR software will not let you schedule the recording because the DVR software thinks it is already scheduled to record the program, but it won't record because the program title is the title of the placeholder program and not the new program title. I think the only way to record the new program is to cancel it and then schedule it for recording, but this deletes the placeholder for the original program so you will have to reschedule the original program. If you edit the program, you can see the name of the placeholder program. If you don't edit the program, you won't know the name of the placeholder program and may not realize that it has to be rescheduled. It may not be possible to reschedule for months if the recording criteria is for first run and a new episode won't be broadcast for a while.

This is even worse than what I described above. If you just look at the IPG the new program will indicate that it is going to be recorded because it is highlighted so you expect it to be recorded and don't realize that it is a placeholder and won't be recorded. Most people will have no idea why the program didn't get recorded.

I'll have to play with that tonight RussB. I think I have a couple of placeholders in the schedule this week. I can't believe I have never come across this in 2 years.

I can see where memory could be an issue, but as a software programmer myself who has to deal with those kind of things, I know of many ways to handle that kind of problem such that memory is not an issue.

It is much easier to see problems and failures in a software program, then it is to actually create the program flawlessly in the first place. The issue that I have with the SARA software is that it sure doesn't look like there is much emphasis or work being currently done on the software. This is the only website that I know of that actually discusses the issues with the software. And I am not aware of anyone that is working on the software that is on these boards or responds to posts.

The only posts and discussions that I have seen here are from users only. Very, very "smart" users mind you, but users only. I think it would be great to see some of the developers (or maybe there is only 1 of them) start to read and post here. :)
Maybe they are lurking . . .

A placeholder is a scheduled recording entry that is created by the DVR software for the next recording of a program that is not in the IPG, yet. It is created with a blank description and a date 9 days in the future. It used to be created with a date only 7 days in the future. The DVR software converts this placeholder to a real scheduled recording entry when the recording criteria is meet. For example, when the criteria is to record first run episodes of a program. This is done when the DVR software processes new IPG data. A placeholder will have a blank description. Most real scheduled recording entries have some description.
If one scans through the Passport guide, one will see any programs scheduled to record - either manually or automatically through the Series Manager - highlighted in red. One can also go to the Scheduled Recordings screen and see a summary of all of the programs . . scheduled . . to record. DOH! Neither the user nor the Series Manager (Mangler?) can "see" beyond six days (and whatever remains of the current day). As the next day's programming fills in, the Series Manager looks for programs that meet the criteria the user has entered, if any.

Chandler35, I've had some similar things happen under different circumstances and found that a Hard Reboot after setting resolutions took care of the problem.

To do a hard reboot: Unplug DVR power cord (at rear of unit) for 30 seconds. Then plug back in WHILE HOLDING IN FRONT PANEL POWER BUTTON. Release the Power button when "boot" appears on the front panel. The unit is good to go when time reappears on the front.

NOTE: This hard reboot is a good cure for many different ills. It might not fix the problem, but it's always worth a try.


I tried the reboot but it didn't work for me. The wife discovered that when you turn the TV off it will do the same thing. We called Time Warner and they want to come replace the 8300, but they seem to think it's the TV since it happens when you turn the TV off also. It's strange because you don't have to run the 8300's HD set-up again to fix it, you just have to threaten too by bringing up the HD menu screen and then canceling the set-up without actually starting it.

I recently got a new Samsung HL-S4266W and it doesn't seem to recognize the HD signal coming from my 8300HD box.

In other words, neither of the HDMI ports work nor the component imputs. It does recognize the composite signal. The TV also works fine with my Xbox 360 over component.

Samsung is supposed to send out a repair person, but I don't know how much good that will do - he might just blame it on the cable box.

Any ideas? I've already tried rebooting the 8300HD. I've tested it with my older TV via HDMI and it works fine. Thanks.

EDIT: i'm pretty sure it's some sort of compatibility issue between the TV and 8300HD. I did a hard reboot of the box and when i normally don't get signal, the logo "Power TV" showed up for a split second. So i'm pretty sure it's not the TV's fault.

Should i just get a new box, even though it works fine on my other TV? Help!

Well I tried to record something that was highlighted in the IPG because of a placeholder and couldn't do it by pressing record. I'll have to play with this some more later to see if I can come up with a work around. I'm still amazed that this is the first time I've heard or seen this problem.

Well I tried to record something that was highlighted in the IPG because of a placeholder and couldn't do it by pressing record. I'll have to play with this some more later to see if I can come up with a work around. I'm still amazed that this is the first time I've heard or seen this problem.You can record it by setting up a manual recording. SARA knows it is a placeholder because it allows the user to schedule 2 additional recordings at the same time without displaying a conflict screen.

RemyM,

Got a PH for Grey's Anatomy next Saturday at 8:00 pm when Dr Seus is being broadcast. Like C_Z, when I go to the IPG for that program and try to schedule Dr Sues for recording, it pops up the Cancel/Edit/Tune options. The only way to get past that is to cancel the recording and then you can schedule the correct recording. Then you have to remember to reschedule the First Run recordings for Grey's Anatomy wherever it comes back on. AFAIK, it's been this way forever, I remember having to cancel PHs even before they went to 9 days.

If one scans through the Passport guide, one will see any programs scheduled to record - either manually or automatically through the Series Manager - highlighted in red. One can also go to the Scheduled Recordings screen and see a summary of all of the programs . . scheduled . . to record. DOH! Neither the user nor the Series Manager (Mangler?) can "see" beyond six days (and whatever remains of the current day). As the next day's programming fills in, the Series Manager looks for programs that meet the criteria the user has entered, if any.If I understand correctly, the difference is in how the 2 software packages handle scheduled recordings where there is no program in the IPG. Passport uses a Series Manager to display/manage scheduled recordings that are not in the current IPG. SARA uses place-holders and the first instance of the place-holder is visible in the IPG 9 days out, 2 days off from where the program would normally be. The next week, the place-holder is no longer visible in the IPG, it can only be seen in the Scheduled Recordings list.

For example, I have a PH for Monk dated Sunday, 12/3. Yesterday, that place-holder was visible in the IPG for Sunday, 12-3. However, today the next Sunday is 12/10 and the place-holder is no longer visible in the IPG. This makes sense because the place-holder is dated 12/3 and it will remain that way until Monk returns in January. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Passport, that place-holder for Monk would be displayed only in the Series Manager and it would be set for Friday when Monk is really on.

If I understand correctly, the difference is in how the 2 software packages handle scheduled recordings where there is no program in the IPG. Passport uses a Series Manager to display/manage scheduled recordings that are not in the current IPG. SARA uses place-holders and the first instance of the place-holder is visible in the IPG 9 days out, 2 days off from where the program would normally be. The next week, the place-holder is no longer visible in the IPG, it can only be seen in the Scheduled Recordings list.

For example, I have a PH for Monk dated Sunday, 12/3. Yesterday, that place-holder was visible in the IPG for Sunday, 12-3. However, today the next Sunday is 12/10 and the place-holder is no longer visible in the IPG. This makes sense because the place-holder is dated 12/3 and it will remain that way until Monk returns in January. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Passport, that place-holder for Monk would be displayed only in the Series Manager and it would be set for Friday when Monk is really on.
There are no placeholders with Passport. As programs appear in the guide, those that are part of a series selected in the Series Manager (that meet the specified recording criteria) become highlighted in red and appear on the Scheduled Recording page.

What is the purpose of the placeholder?

You can record it by setting up a manual recording. SARA knows it is a placeholder because it allows the user to schedule 2 additional recordings at the same time without displaying a conflict screen.


By manual, do you mean by pressing the record button while the TV show is on?

edit:


What is the purpose of the placeholder?

I think it has to do with SARA not having a Series Manager. It just lumps everything together in the scheduled recordings. So the series need to be listed in the scheduled list. And the way to do this is to have a date for the recording. But I am just speculating.

By manual, do you mean by pressing the record button while the TV show is on?No, you bring up the List, then press B and scroll down to Schedule A Nerw Manual Recording. Select that and follow the display.

I think it has to do with SARA not having a Series Manager. It just lumps everything together in the scheduled recordings. So the series need to be listed in the scheduled list. And the way to do this is to have a date for the recording. But I am just speculating.That is my belief too. There is no doubt SA provides SARA as a basic IPG interface and that's all I beleive it is intended to be. There are enhanced interfaces available, but I think Cox and others are simply moving toward OCAP before they give us something more useful. I don't know about Passport per se, but a lot of this stuff takes significant changes to cableco internals and that can add up to be quite an investment. Unfortunately, a lot of folks simply don't want to recognize that or just don't care, they want the latest and greatest right now with no increase in rates, don't I wish? :)

By manual, do you mean by pressing the record button while the TV show is on?
. . .
No.

1) Press List
2) Press B for Preferences
3) Move to the "Schedule a new Manual Recording" menu option
4) Press Select
5) Enter the correct parameters for the manual recording.
6) Press A for Accept All

Note: It is a pain but at least you don't have to cancel your placeholder.

SA 83xxHD DVR w/ I-Guide - Coming 2007 to replace the SARA Software.

Comcast has announced that it will be replacing the SARA software w/ I-Guide software in mid 2007.

Version 25A of I-Guide will be the first version used.

Click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9045086&&#post9045086) to go to a post that links to articles about this.

SA 83xxHD DVR w/ I-Guide - Coming 2007 to replace the SARA Software.

Comcast has announced that it will be replacing the SARA software w/ I-Guide software in mid 2007.

Version 25A of I-Guide will be the first version used.

Click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9045086&&#post9045086) to go to a post that links to articles about this.
Wonder if it'll replace Passport?

I recently got a new Samsung HL-S4266W and it doesn't seem to recognize the HD signal coming from my 8300HD box.

In other words, neither of the HDMI ports work nor the component imputs. It does recognize the composite signal. The TV also works fine with my Xbox 360 over component.

Samsung is supposed to send out a repair person, but I don't know how much good that will do - he might just blame it on the cable box.

Any ideas? I've already tried rebooting the 8300HD. I've tested it with my older TV via HDMI and it works fine. Thanks.

EDIT: i'm pretty sure it's some sort of compatibility issue between the TV and 8300HD. I did a hard reboot of the box and when i normally don't get signal, the logo "Power TV" showed up for a split second. So i'm pretty sure it's not the TV's fault.

Should i just get a new box, even though it works fine on my other TV? Help!

Unhook HDMI and try to run the initial setup (see first post of thread) with only component connected. If that works, we may be able to help you with an HDMI connection.

RemyM,

Got a PH for Grey's Anatomy next Saturday at 8:00 pm when Dr Seus is being broadcast. Like C_Z, when I go to the IPG for that program and try to schedule Dr Sues for recording, it pops up the Cancel/Edit/Tune options. The only way to get past that is to cancel the recording and then you can schedule the correct recording. Then you have to remember to reschedule the First Run recordings for Grey's Anatomy wherever it comes back on. AFAIK, it's been this way forever, I remember having to cancel PHs even before they went to 9 days.

Can't believe I never knew about this issue before. I feel like an idiot. But any way, aside from doing a manual recording I could also schedule the show before or after the highlighted placeholder and edit the times. Probably the same as doing a manual since it won't have the proper title. Certainly a better option then deleting your PH.

Somehow SA needs to figure out how to keep the placeholder in your list with the date it last recorded. I'll report this to our guy at Cablevision as a bug.

Just to add more, here's what I ran into tonight (Tuesday 12/5):

Season pass set for new episodes of The Unit on Tuesday's at 8:00.
Season pass set for new episodes of 3 Lbs on Tuesday's at 9:00.
Last episode of 3 Lbs was on Tuesday at 8:00, 2 hour premiere.
Tonight's The Unit is a rerun.
No 3 Lbs this week.

The Unit recorded anyway and is in the Recordings List as 3 Lbs.

Chandler35, I've had some similar things happen under different circumstances and found that a Hard Reboot after setting resolutions took care of the problem.


This WORKED for me! Mr. Hancock, you are the man. The 8300 is basically moving from a SD setup to an HD setup and couldn't kick itself out of SD. Even when I connected component it would still boot up (as it did yesterday morning) with a red screen, after dropping into SD mode.

I finally did a hard reboot (I had previously rebooted but not a hard reboot) with nothing but HDMI plugged in and the AVR and TV on. Entered the HD setup wizard and started messing around with switching inputs and powering items on and off and everything looks good so far.

For those unfamiliar with my situation, any time I switched inputs on the AVR or TV, the 8300 dropped me to SD. Changing environments wasn't kind without a hard reboot. Lesson learned. Thanks :D

Just to add more, here's what I ran into tonight (Tuesday 12/5):

Season pass set for new episodes of The Unit on Tuesday's at 8:00.
Season pass set for new episodes of 3 Lbs on Tuesday's at 9:00.
Last episode of 3 Lbs was on Tuesday at 8:00, 2 hour premiere.
Tonight's The Unit is a rerun.
No 3 Lbs this week.

The Unit recorded anyway and is in the Recordings List as 3 Lbs.I think this is a different problem. I saw the same conditions but I deleted the 3 Lbs placeholder because that show has been cancelled (or put on hiatus) and nothing recorded. I think a new episode of 3 Lbs was in the guide at some point but got replaced by The Unit and SARA didn't catch it. Other people have posted in this thread about wrong recordings under similar circumstances. I don't think it mattered that you had a season pass set for new episodes of The Unit.

I didn't think it really mattered about The Unit season pass and I assumed the IPG was in error. I just wanted to throw it out there as another example of how convoluted the IPG display can get because of Place-Holders vs the Series Manager that Passport uses. I've long had the opinion (because of The "Rebel" Billionaire fiasco years ago) that the database actually contains 2 title fields; one for display (The Unit) and one for recording use (3 Lbs). I used that technique for a variety of reasons when I was programming years ago. This was also a little more unique in that both season passes were for different times, but the one for 3 Lbs was initially set up using the 2 hour premiere that started at 8:00.

Thanks for the reminder though that 3 Lbs has been put on hiatus, I need to delete that one. :)

I didn't think it really mattered about The Unit season pass and I assumed the IPG was in error. I just wanted to throw it out there as another example of how convoluted the IPG display can get because of Place-Holders vs the Series Manager that Passport uses. I've long had the opinion (because of The "Rebel" Billionaire fiasco years ago) that the database actually contains 2 title fields; one for display (The Unit) and one for recording use (3 Lbs). I used that technique for a variety of reasons when I was programming years ago. This was also a little more unique in that both season passes were for different times, but the one for 3 Lbs was initially set up using the 2 hour premiere that started at 8:00.

Thanks for the reminder though that 3 Lbs has been put on hiatus, I need to delete that one. :)
Sounds like telling ?he 8300HD to record only first-run episodes only doesn't work correctly? Now that, for example, Curb Your Enthusiasm is NOT on at all I cannot schedule recordings for it. But my Series Manager still contains that and other series titles and recording criteria from when they were on. When they resume, it will record them. This has never failed to work properly. Also, recently Boston Legal ran a new episode on a different night and, even though it was a different night, my 8300HD correctly identified the show as "first run" and recorded it.