I then wanted to try HDMI connection to see if the picture quality would improve, and the result was that I could not get any channels below 99 all it says no signal source or words to that effect. All HD channels and all above 99 were fine. When I switched back to component all was fine again???

When I got the TV (last Sunday) I set the box to pass through all 6 resolutions.

Was hoping I had some settings not correct and was looking for a quick fix as I hate to have CV play with it, scheduled service call this afternoon.

Any help quickly would be greatly appreciated.
---Jerry---
I'm not a SARA user, but I'm thinking this is unrelated to the software, or for that matter, the box. My experience tells me that this might be signal level-related. The tech will most likely attach a meter and measure the signal levels, checking channels in the different frequency ranges. The fix at my house for a similar problem was the tech replacing ALL F-connectors from the pole to my boxes, including both "sides" of my wallplates.

If I'm right, you've done nothing wrong and therefore there's nothing you can do to fix it.

You won't be able to get 24 to play. When this stuff happens it's usually from either a signal problem or a memory problem that can cause phantom recording conflicts. Mine missed it's first recording in over 18 months a couple a weeks ago and I noticed that morning the the guide wasn't coming up. I should have rebooted the box then, but I didn't, and it missed it's next recording. Luckily it was only NBR. If it happens frequently you could have a bad box.


I had the same problem with my 8300 before I upgraded to the HD model (8300HD). TWC said that this is a known problem but that it happens very rarely with the HD box. Here in Houston, the problem began when TWC switched to an all digital lineup. TWC says it is the box's software and has asked SA to fix it. SA says it is TWC's problem because of the upgrade. I was told that both sides have been working to "fix" the problem, but that was three months ago! My solution was to do a soft reboot every day with the old box. Now, with the HD box I haven't experienced the problem at all. (TWC said that the problem rarely occurs with the HD box). If I experience the problem again, I intend to do a soft re-boot. This fixes the problem.

I'm not a SARA user, but I'm thinking this is unrelated to the software, or for that matter, the box. My experience tells me that this might be signal level-related. The tech will most likely attach a meter and measure the signal levels, checking channels in the different frequency ranges. The fix at my house for a similar problem was the tech replacing ALL F-connectors from the pole to my boxes, including both "sides" of my wallplates.

If I'm right, you've done nothing wrong and therefore there's nothing you can do to fix it.He indicated that he did get those channels when he used component. This leads me to conclude that it is NOT signal level related.

He indicated that he did get those channels when he used component. This leads me to conclude that it is NOT signal level related.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes I received all channels using component.

Will try suggestions before Tech comes, due anytime now.

Thanks again,
---Jerry---

He indicated that he did get those channels when he used component. This leads me to conclude that it is NOT signal level related.
Thanks, Dave. I re-read his OP and now I see "Everything was and still is OK while using components." I 'm puzzled though - why would some channels work and others not? Are you thinking the "missing" channels are 480i?

Thanks for the replies.

Yes I received all channels using component.

Will try suggestions before Tech comes, due anytime now.

Thanks again,
---Jerry---Of course - beware of the "standard" cable answer: "We don't support HDMI". BS, but compatibility issues such as this do make it difficult for them to support all sets.

Thanks, Dave. I re-read his OP and now I see "Everything was and still is OK while using components." I 'm puzzled though - why would some channels work and others not? Are you thinking the "missing" channels are 480i?Oh, I sure they are 480i. Almost all under 100 channels are SD.

But so are the digital channels above 99, aren't they? They are here.

Ok, I received 1.89.18.1 this morning, so I thought I'd add my initial impressions based on the info in Tips - Part 2:
1.88.x.x - Bugs Remaining (Not all-inclusive)
Turns On In 480i Mode - If the General Settings/Viewer: Power On is set to an HD channel or Last Channel (if that was HD), the unit will be in 480i mode when you turn it on. If you then tune to an SD channel and back, it will change to the correct HD mode. However, this can be minimized by setting the Power On option to an SD channel. It will then power up in the correct mode and change to HD when you tune to an HD channel. Another workaround is too simply cycle through the zoom modes using the # button.
Fixed in 1.89.x.x.
Start From Beginning/Kick Out To Live - If you select a recording in progress from the Recorded List, you will get a Start From Beginning option. If you select this, you can watch the recording through to the end without getting "kicked out to live" when the live program ends. However, if you simply tune to the desired program, rewind to the beginning, you will still get "kicked out to live" when the program ends.
Not yet tested.
Padding Start/Stop Times - You can alter Start/Stop times for scheduled recordings that are set for more often than once a week. However, any changes have to be made while scheduling these recordings. Once scheduled, they will have to be cancelled and rescheduled with any desired changes. Changes for weekly or less frequent recordings will only be applied to the next scheduled recording and not saved for future recordings.
Not yet tested.
Note: This works in 1.88.19.1 and 1.88.22.1, but is known to not work in some other 1.88.x.x. versions.
1.89.x.x - New Features
NOTE: Some of these may or may not be applicable to your particular cableco.

NEW now displays in the IPG (on the date/time line in the upper left Menu window and at the end in the Program Description window).
Second line of text now includes the show's rating - or at least it usually does.
Verified.
Categories (Talk Shows, Sci-Fi) are now shown in the description details of each show.
Verified.
Recording future-dated episodes provides options for those wanting to record episodes other than First Run, but not all rerun episodes:
On this channel this day in this time slot
On this channel at any time
On this channel any day in this time slot
Verified.
Program description is now available with the info button while you are watching a recorded program instead of only showing the Playback channel.
Might be a cableco option or something because mine still shows Playback Channel and other useless info. :(
If you block a rating, lets say PG-13, then all references anywhere in the system to any program with a PG-13 rating says "Title Blocked" until you enter the four digit code to unlock the system.
Not yet tested.
DAY UP and DAY DOWN buttons on the remote control (if you have them) are fully operational.
Verified. (Note: For those with Harmony remotes, I found my Page keys in the second page of the LCD display for Device-PVR).
If you enter a channel number that doesn't exist, rather than flashing ??? in the channel number field and then doing nothing, it instead switches to the next channel above the channel you requested.
See my Note, it still works the same way for me.

NOTE: I have never seen a ??? with any version that I've used, even before the 8300. Mine has always gone to the next channel and it is a handy "feature". However, others with 1.88.x.x report that they do, so this seems to be cableco specific somehow, though I can't imagine why.
1.89.x.x - Bugs Remaining (Not all-inclusive)
When switching from live TV to a previously recorded program, the channel indicator does not change to the Playback channel number. It remains where it was before switching. This might cause some confusion.
I've never had this problem and still don't.
Issue not resolved (same as before): When you are in FF mode and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to the next higher FF step instead of FF1. When you are in the top step FF and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to Play instead of FF1.
Still the same.
Surfing through the IPG (right arrow for example) is slower than before.
Seems about the same to me, might even be a tad quicker.

Thanks to all for the replies and the information.

Cablevision “tech” was here yesterday afternoon and was almost useless.

Asked him if he could find the version # of the SA 8300 and he said he didn’t know how.

Could offer no help with the HDMI problem, sort of shrugged his shoulders.

He did check signal strength and said it was ok.

Didn’t want him to continue so I politely said “thanks” and he left, unbelievable.

He seemed to know less then me, which is not good.

So I am going to let this HDMI thing go until after the Super Bowl, don’t want to mess anything up.

Just hope I have it set up correctly to get the best picture on Sunday.

I appreciate so much all the help everyone has offered me, you guys are great.

Will update the HDMI saga in a few days.
---Jerry---

Surfing through the IPG (right arrow for example) is slower than before.
Seems about the same to me.
I find scrolling up and down through the IPG to be faster with 1.89.17.1 than it was with 1.87.16.a109.

OK, could be a dumb question. I have tried a hard reboot several times with the 8300 on Cox with version 1.87.16.1. Every time I try it, it won't go into a mode where the IPG data downloads. The time appears again on the panel after 30 secs and it behaves like a soft reboot.

I am unplugging the unit, waiting and then holding down the power button, while plugging the power back in. I release the power after boot appears. What am doing wrong?

What IPG data do you have? Any at all? Did you just get the 8300 and have never had IPG data? If it's new, did you call to get it "authorized"?

What IPG data do you have? Any at all? Did you just get the 8300 and have never had IPG data? If it's new, did you call to get it "authorized"?


The box is about a month old. A tech came out to install. How do I check IPG? Is it one of the screens on the diagnostic?

How does one update the software? I called Cox and they told that software is updated automatically. It seems not to be true, since they gave me a box with 1.87.16 and there are newer versions.

Thanks

The box is about a month old. A tech came out to install. How do I check IPG? Is it one of the screens on the diagnostic?

How does one update the software? I called Cox and they told that software is updated automatically. It seems not to be true, since they gave me a box with 1.87.16 and there are newer versions.

Thanks
The "software" is updated automatically, or rather they do it manually. It's automatic as far as you're concerned. That other people on other systems have "newer" versions than your doesn't mean anything other than your cable company presently is using the version you have.

The box is about a month old. A tech came out to install. How do I check IPG? Is it one of the screens on the diagnostic?

How does one update the software? I called Cox and they told that software is updated automatically. It seems not to be true, since they gave me a box with 1.87.16 and there are newer versions.

ThanksGuess we need to go back to basics. :)

IPG = Interactive Program Guide. That is the IPG data you say you are trying to download. What do you see when you press the Menu button? Is there programming data? If there is, then you've already got IPG data, so at this point I'm not really sure what you are looking for.

As pepar said, you cannot download a software update, they push it to your box on their schedule. Here in Phoenix, Cox has 3 different software versions currently running on the 8300; 1.87.x.x for most users, 1.88.x.x for a few users, and I have the latest 1.89.x.x for testing.

FWIW, if you'd put a darned :) location in your profile, we could explain things a little further, since we'd then have some idea of where you are and who your cableco might be. If you intend to participate in the thread on a fairly regular basis, we'd also appreciate it if you'd add your software version info (SARA 1.87.16.1) to your signature like many of us have. It helps avoid confusion, though between now and Mar 11, almost everyone should be up to date with version 1.89.x.x.

NOTE: I know the version info in your Signature won't mean a lot in other threads, but in the DVR threads, it can help a lot. Of course, location helps in most threads.

I am running 1.87.16.1 on Cox in Northern Virginia. I just figured it out from reading the thread. Sorry, I'm not an expert on this stuff...trying to learn and get these boxes to function. I must say they are no where near as user friendly and robust as my old TIVO.

I am running 1.87.16.1 on Cox in Northern Virginia. I just figured it out from reading the thread. Sorry, I'm not an expert on this stuff...trying to learn and get these boxes to function. I must say they are no where near as user friendly and robust as my old TIVO.That's why I included the Smiley. :)

Anyway, thanks for the info. SARA is certainly not as robust as anything else on the planet, but it generally does work, except for some cableco-specific versions with some very definite problems. FWIW, you should (hopefully) get a new 1.89 version between now and Mar 11 to cope with DST. That version will be compatible with the current 8300HD User's Guide on SA's website. If you haven't downloaded it yet, you might consider doing so. Even through some options are missing in your version of SARA, it's still useful and might answer some of your questions.

Besides being feature limited, many of the problems with SARA/8300 is that folks don't always get a User's Guide and they are left to their own devices trying to figure out how things work, hence this thread. However, once you get 1.89 and download the latest Guide, it becomes a lot easier. Each release has added features. Incidently, one of the reasons SARA is so lame is that they've chosen not to license a lot of functions from Tivo, Passport, etc. SARA seems to be a bare-bones VCR-like interface and although features get added, it will prpbably be OBE soon after OCAP and other initiatives are implemented.

TWC is already doing away with Passport and switching to the in-house developed Navigator interface, ostensibly because Passport is too expensive and doesn't work with SDV and other initiatives TWC has in the works. Navigator is also a step or so backwards, more like SARA, and many folks miss the Passport features they've become accustomed to. No matter what software you start with, you tend to adapt your viewing habits to that software. If you start with SARA and then move to Passport,you adapt to the new features that becimne available. If you further progress to Tivo, you continue to adapt to even more features. The problem comes when you go in the reverse and that is what's happening to a lot of TWC folks.

OCAP should resolve some of that, but we are still at the mercy of what the cableco's decide to offer as options. Comcast now has access to a ported version of Tivo running on their Moto DVRs and Cox will be getting a port to run on their SA DVRs. The best you can do for now is to use this thread and the latest User's Guide to get the most out of what you have or simply switch services to get something more to your liking. I use TitanTV to get all the search functions that Passport and Tivo provide, but then I've got a notebook sitting right here with easy access to TitanTV. :)

This answer may be in one of the 168 pages of this thread but I was wondering how I get the volume button to work on the remote. It does nothing and I have to use the TVs volume control. Thanks in advance.

This answer may be in one of the 168 pages of this thread but I was wondering how I get the volume button to work on the remote. It does nothing and I have to use the TVs volume control. Thanks in advance.Which remote control do you have? The AT8400 has four device buttons across the top, and the AT8550 has five device buttons across the top. You should have received a User's Guide when you picked up your 8300HD and its remote. There are Device Program Codes that you need to set in order to get the DVR remote to control the volume on your TV. After you do that, I have found that the best volumes are obtained by manually setting the volume on the DVR to its maximum level, i.e., use the volume up control on the front of the 8300, then use the volume up and down on the DVR remote to control the TV's volume.

If you didn't get a User's Guide with your remote, let me know which one you have, as well as the make and model of your TV, and I will look up the codes for you, together with the instructions for making them work.

Scarlett

No matter what software you start with, you tend to adapt your viewing habits to that software. If you start with SARA and then move to Passport,you adapt to the new features that becimne available. If you further progress to Tivo, you continue to adapt to even more features. The problem comes when you go in the reverse and that is what's happening to a lot of TWC folks.



That's my problem. I started with TIVO on Directv and went to SARA on Cox. What a major downgrade. I could put up with the quirks of trying to watch a program while still recording and not being able to skip forward and backward in 15 min jumps. What bothers me the most is setting the recording and wondering if it will record properly. It's to the point that some shows get recored on both on my SA8300s.

Cox service is pretty lame. I went to the huge Cox office to trade an SD DVR for an 8300. The guy gave me a 8000 and said there were no 8300 available in the building :rolleyes: We argued for a minute and I finally said no way I was taking the 8000 because all I ran was an HDMI to my new plasma. He told me keep my old SD box. I said fine, I'll switch service. Hmmm,they just happened to find one in the back. :mad:

Which remote control do you have? The AT8400 has four device buttons across the top, and the AT8550 has five device buttons across the top. You should have received a User's Guide when you picked up your 8300HD and its remote. There are Device Program Codes that you need to set in order to get the DVR remote to control the volume on your TV. After you do that, I have found that the best volumes are obtained by manually setting the volume on the DVR to its maximum level, i.e., use the volume up control on the front of the 8300, then use the volume up and down on the DVR remote to control the TV's volume.

If you didn't get a User's Guide with your remote, let me know which one you have, as well as the make and model of your TV, and I will look up the codes for you, together with the instructions for making them work.

Scarlett
I have the AT8550 remote. I want the remote to control the volume on the box not the TV. I have the box hooked up to my 5.1 speakers and they do not have a remote, so when I need to change the volume I have to get up and adjust via the speaker volume control. The volume is already at 30 on the box. Thanks.

I have the AT8550 remote. I want the remote to control the volume on the box not the TV. I have the box hooked up to my 5.1 speakers and they do not have a remote, so when I need to change the volume I have to get up and adjust via the speaker volume control. The volume is already at 30 on the box. Thanks.
Dude! You can't control the volume level of a digital source, only analog (R+L) sources. The volume is controlled by the receiving device like a TV or Stereo system. Try hooking up a DVD player and controlling the output of the DVD player and you will get the same result.
The 30 you are seeing on the box volume level is for the Red (R) and White (L) stereo analog volume outputs.

vegggas

Can someone please tell me how to change the time on the box?

Can someone please tell me how to change the time on the box?
You don't. It sets itself automatically. Or should - immediately upon powering up while attached to a live cable.

I have the AT8550 remote. I want the remote to control the volume on the box not the TV. I have the box hooked up to my 5.1 speakers and they do not have a remote, so when I need to change the volume I have to get up and adjust via the speaker volume control. The volume is already at 30 on the box. Thanks.Sorry, I misunderstood. Subject to the response you got from Vegggas, here is a link to the AT8550 User's Guide:

http://www.sciatl.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/734357.pdf

The guide says that in AUX mode, you can control the volume for the device assigned to the AUX key. It further states that among the devices you can assign to the AUX key, a Home Theater in a Box is one of them. If that's what your speakers are, i.e., HTIB, then perhaps you can achieve the result you want. Otherwise, I have no idea.

At the very least, you will have the User's Guide for your remote. :)

Good luck!

Scarlett

Can someone please tell me how to change the time on the box?pepar is correct, but why do you want to change the time? If it's because your recordings are missing the first 30 secords or so, it's because the station time is not in sync with the cable time. A lot of stations like to start programs 30 seconds or so early to try to keep you from switching channels. This wreaks havoc with DVRs. You can compensate by altering start/stop times, but then you run the risk of conflicting with another recording.

Is there anyway to reset all the settings back to factory without losing recordings? I'm having a really odd issue where my HDMI and DD sound options are not working correctly. If I set it to HDMI I get 2.0 but my TV is not outputting to my receiver. I have it hooked up through optical and getting no sound at all on the DD setting. I don't know why this is all the sudden.

Scarlett, thanks for the manual. I didn't get one with my box. Let me help clear things up a little. I have a set of Logitech 5.1 PC surround speakers which are hooked up with the red and white analog connectors comming from the box and an adapter connected to the speakers. The manual clearly states I can set the remote up to control the volume from the box. However, I still can't get it to work. It says to hold the Select and CBL button till all the menu buttons blink. I've held them buttons for over a minute and nothing happens. I notice when I push the volume button on the remote the TV menu light lights up and not the CBL light. Again, thanks for your help.

Scarlett, thanks for the manual. I didn't get one with my box. Let me help clear things up a little. I have a set of Logitech 5.1 PC surround speakers which are hooked up with the red and white analog connectors comming from the box and an adapter connected to the speakers. The manual clearly states I can set the remote up to control the volume from the box. However, I still can't get it to work. It says to hold the Select and CBL button till all the menu buttons blink. I've held them buttons for over a minute and nothing happens. I notice when I push the volume button on the remote the TV menu light lights up and not the CBL light. Again, thanks for your help.

I think your box itself is set for 'FIXED' volume - press 'Menu' twice then change Audio: Volume Ctrl from 'FIXED' to 'VARIABLE'.

This is assuming you are using SARA - I think Passport is similar though.

xnappo

Scarlett, thanks for the manual. I didn't get one with my box. Let me help clear things up a little. I have a set of Logitech 5.1 PC surround speakers which are hooked up with the red and white analog connectors comming from the box and an adapter connected to the speakers. The manual clearly states I can set the remote up to control the volume from the box. However, I still can't get it to work. It says to hold the Select and CBL button till all the menu buttons blink. I've held them buttons for over a minute and nothing happens. I notice when I push the volume button on the remote the TV menu light lights up and not the CBL light. Again, thanks for your help.
Xnappo is correct for controlling the analog audio outputs.
Be aware that using the red and white connectors does not give you the 5.1 Dolby Digital audio of HD broadcasts and premium move channels. Instead it gives you stereo only output. To get the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, you have to connect either the coaxial digital audio connector, or the optical digital connector.

vegggas

I think your box itself is set for 'FIXED' volume - press 'Menu' twice then change Audio: Volume Ctrl from 'FIXED' to 'VARIABLE'.

This is assuming you are using SARA - I think Passport is similar though.

xnappoI thought that too, but the buttons should still blink because that is the first step for changing anything.

Hmmm......I did switch the setting to variable. I think the remote is borked. I'll take it to my local TWC office and see if I can get it switched. Thanks again all of you for all your help.

You might try running your 8300HD in fixed 720p mode. You have to go to advanced settings to select fixed video output, then in setting you choose 720p. The 8300HD then converts all programming to 720p - the TV never switches.

I find this the best, or at least the good as any other, mode for SD programming. Switching between SD and HD channels is quicker. And it might solve your channels below 99 not working.

I've noticed that if I go to a diag page like Digital Video Status that shows the frequency, the frequency often does not change as I go from one channel to another. And the same channel shows up with different frequencies at different times.

Is this digital switching?

If so, I'm surprised that they can reuse the same frequency as I switch from one common channel to another. I had assumed that digital switching would allocate a frequency to each channel anyone was watching, and use that for everyone watching that channel. I don't think there are enough frequency slots to allocate a frequency per user.

To add to my confusion - if I turn in PIP, and tune different channels, both the tuner and the second tuner display show the same frequency.

Also, I'm trying this with broadcast SD channels (2 and 3). They are, AFAIK, digital. The frequency reported is 645.000 MHz.

(Is there a better forum or thread for this question?)

I've noticed that if I go to a diag page like Digital Video Status that shows the frequency, the frequency often does not change as I go from one channel to another. And the same channel shows up with different frequencies at different times.

Is this digital switching?

No, this is just normal digital cable. With SD the cable cos put somewhere around 12 channels on each QAM frequency. Usually there are only 2 or 3 HD channels per QAM freq. If you try some other channels, you will see it does indeed change.

You can see by this how much bandwidth gets wasted by having the old 'analog' signals still on the line.

Digital switching would appear as a channel that changes QAM frequencies. Basically the signal for all channels goes to your local neighborhood node all the time(there is higher bandwidth capability from central->nodes). When a 'switched' channel is accessed from someones house in your neighborhood that no one else was watching, it then assigns it to a floating QAM frequency and sends the frequency to use to the cable box.

xnappo

That's why I included the Smiley. :)

Anyway, thanks for the info. SARA is certainly not as robust as anything else on the planet, but it generally does work, except for some cableco-specific versions with some very definite problems. FWIW, you should (hopefully) get a new 1.89 version between now and Mar 11 to cope with DST. That version will be compatible with the current 8300HD User's Guide on SA's website. If you haven't downloaded it yet, you might consider doing so. Even through some options are missing in your version of SARA, it's still useful and might answer some of your questions.

Besides being feature limited, many of the problems with SARA/8300 is that folks don't always get a User's Guide and they are left to their own devices trying to figure out how things work, hence this thread. However, once you get 1.89 and download the latest Guide, it becomes a lot easier. Each release has added features. Incidently, one of the reasons SARA is so lame is that they've chosen not to license a lot of functions from Tivo, Passport, etc. SARA seems to be a bare-bones VCR-like interface and although features get added, it will prpbably be OBE soon after OCAP and other initiatives are implemented.

TWC is already doing away with Passport and switching to the in-house developed Navigator interface, ostensibly because Passport is too expensive and doesn't work with SDV and other initiatives TWC has in the works. Navigator is also a step or so backwards, more like SARA, and many folks miss the Passport features they've become accustomed to. No matter what software you start with, you tend to adapt your viewing habits to that software. If you start with SARA and then move to Passport,you adapt to the new features that becimne available. If you further progress to Tivo, you continue to adapt to even more features. The problem comes when you go in the reverse and that is what's happening to a lot of TWC folks.

OCAP should resolve some of that, but we are still at the mercy of what the cableco's decide to offer as options. Comcast now has access to a ported version of Tivo running on their Moto DVRs and Cox will be getting a port to run on their SA DVRs. The best you can do for now is to use this thread and the latest User's Guide to get the most out of what you have or simply switch services to get something more to your liking. I use TitanTV to get all the search functions that Passport and Tivo provide, but then I've got a notebook sitting right here with easy access to TitanTV. :)Dave,
Have you confirmed with your cable contact that 1.89.x.x fixes the problem with DST starting earlier and ending later?
Have you found any new features or fixes or bugs since you started testing 1.89.x.x that are not in the second post?

TIA

Have you confirmed with your cable contact that 1.89.x.x fixes the problem with DST starting earlier and ending later?That is what I'm being told, but of course we won't really know for sure until after Mar 11. :)
Have you found any new features or fixes or bugs since you started testing 1.89.x.x that are not in the second post?Only 1, actually mentioned in pm by Michael Scott who just switched to a Tivo S3 because he couldn't deal with going from Passport on TWC to SARA on Cox in San Diego as a result of a recent move.

Anyway:

1. Start viewing Recording A.
2. Stop before the end.
3. Start viewing Recording B.
4. Stop before the end.
5. Select Recording A from the List.

It incorrectly gives you the option to "Start from current location", but actually resumes recording B from where you left off. If you select Recording B from the list, that option is not available. 1.89 correctly identifies Recording B as the "active" recording and displays the correct options. Recording A is identified as just another recording in the List as if you have never viewed any part of it, no Bookmark (so to speak).

FWIW, he stumbled on this while trying to find bookmarks in SARA that he had become accustomed to in Passport. I rarely interrupt viewing of recordings for any length of time, and even more rarely to watch another one, so I never would have come across this. When I do switch recordings, I generally restart the first one from the beginning or simply FF to where I left off, depending on how long before I watch it again.

I did post some comments a few pages back (#5009 on 2-2-07) about the changes I originally posted about 1.89, but you might have missed it if you haven't been reading the thread recently.

I can also now tell you that Place-Holders have changed to only 7 days out. I just looked at them for 24 and Heroes, and even CSI:Miami and Studio 60 that just started. They are all in the List for next Monday, not Wednesday. That might mean that any altered start/stop times will be retained for weekly Season Passes, though I haven't tested that yet.

I haven't had a chance to go through the Disgnostics to see if there are any changes there. I also haven't tested the new Blocked Channel options yet, but I have no reason to think this version doesn't live up to the latest User's Guide. After Mar 11, I may have some work cut out for me with the Tips posts since we should all be on the same page finally. :)

FWIW
OS: OS, HSE 1.10
Flash: DVR 1.5.2_8300_MR.LR_F.p.1101
App(s): hgra v3.3.16
SARA v1.89.18.1
firebus: 1.9.12.1
fbdtcp: 1.3.4.1

My signal level went from -4/-5 to -1 and S/N from 34 to 36, though I don't know why, could be the weather. There are also some new SDV pages, 39 pages in all now.

I am glad to hear that placeholders went from 9 days back to 7 days. I hated seeing other shows highlighted besides the shows I have set to record. I had to go to the "Scheduled Recordings" to see if the show was really going to be recorded. It was hard to record a show if it was also a placeholder. I wonder if the old problem that repeats are highlighted will be back or is that fixed?

I did see your other post but I forgot to mention it.

I can see the placeholders being 7 days out might cause some confusion too. Lets say this week is a re-run, but you wouldn't really know at first glance because it shows that you are scheduled to record it. At least with 9 days out you knew that if a "Monday" show was listed to record on a "Wednesday" then its a repeat this week.

Tampa Bay Brighthouse decided to change my SARA OS to something called "OS, Home Server Edition 1.4" last night. Now, no matter how many times I reboot the HDMI will not work thru my Yamaha RX-V2600 (it used to work fine on SARA 1.8xx) The Version of the OS now is 1.87.23.1. Is anyone familiar with this OS? I REALLY don't want to switch over to componant. I am really fed up with Brighthouse service... The 35 pages of diag lists alot about ethernet and servers and stuff, yet the box has not ethernet port (that I recall) so why would thet load this OS into this box!??

Any help appreciated, thanks!

I wonder if the old problem that repeats are highlighted will be back or is that fixed?This will be hard to determine because it's sweeps month and I don't know when there will be a rerun of any shows I record. Since the NEW indicator is now visible, this may no longer be a problem though, assuming it's correct of course, and you always know if something is not NEW.

It did leave an old Place-Holder for Brothers & Sisters in the List even though it's correctly scheduled to record this Sunday. I can't verify that this was the result of the upgrade though, I don't often check the Scheduled List.

This may have been there before, but there is a page 34 that shows Partition Info. The Free Space for the AVFS Partition (150G) went from 87G to 109G after I deleted some recordings this morning. I just happened to notice this, so it might have been doing this all along. Should show you how large a given recording is though if you check before and after a recording. Chances are this has been there and I never noticed it.

Which remote control do you have? The AT8400 has four device buttons across the top, and the AT8550 has five device buttons across the top. You should have received a User's Guide when you picked up your 8300HD and its remote. There are Device Program Codes that you need to set in order to get the DVR remote to control the volume on your TV. After you do that, I have found that the best volumes are obtained by manually setting the volume on the DVR to its maximum level, i.e., use the volume up control on the front of the 8300, then use the volume up and down on the DVR remote to control the TV's volume.

If you didn't get a User's Guide with your remote, let me know which one you have, as well as the make and model of your TV, and I will look up the codes for you, together with the instructions for making them work.

Scarlett
As it turns out, I don't have either of these remotes. I have the Universal Electronics Atlas DVR/PVR 5-Device Universal Remote Control. There is no model number. Anyway, I got the volume control working so I don't have to get up off my lazy ass to adjust it. One more thing (OT) is that with the adapter i'm using I am getting 5.1 surround, but it is not Dolby Digital.

Tampa Bay Brighthouse decided to change my SARA OS to something called "OS, Home Server Edition 1.4" last night. Now, no matter how many times I reboot the HDMI will not work thru my Yamaha RX-V2600 (it used to work fine on SARA 1.8xx) The Version of the OS now is 1.87.23.1. Is anyone familiar with this OS? I REALLY don't want to switch over to componant. I am really fed up with Brighthouse service... The 35 pages of diag lists alot about ethernet and servers and stuff, yet the box has not ethernet port (that I recall) so why would thet load this OS into this box!??

Any help appreciated, thanks!

I am still on SARA (1.87.23.1) and in another room I have a 8300 running 1.87.16, which is weird, no? I was reading the diag screens incorrectly. BUT the fact remains when, in the past, I powered up to HDMI Blocked message, I could reboot 1,2,3 times maybe and it would work ok. Something has certainly changed to keep that fix from working. I will have to search for my previous version of sara, which I wrote down "somewhere". UHG!!

Hi, hope you can help!

I have a Panasonic 42px60u

Should I run the picture format in:

upconvert 1
upconvert 2
Fixed
Pass through

Also, would there be much difference using the HDMI instead of Component?

Hi, hope you can help!

I have a Panasonic 42px60u

Should I run the picture format in:

upconvert 1
upconvert 2
Fixed
Pass through

Also, would there be much difference using the HDMI instead of Component?Passthrough (or Audo HDMI if you use that - get your cable from an AVS Sponsor - Monoprice.com). Your set has 768 ative resolution, which means that either 720p or 1080i need to be converted to it. If you set the 8300 to always output 1080i the the 720 programs will be converted TWICE (from 720p to 1080i in the 8300 and then from 1080i to 768p in the display). Likewise, if you set it for 720p, then 1080i programs would be converted twice).

As it turns out, I don't have either of these remotes. I have the Universal Electronics Atlas DVR/PVR 5-Device Universal Remote Control. There is no model number. Anyway, I got the volume control working so I don't have to get up off my lazy ass to adjust it. One more thing (OT) is that with the adapter i'm using I am getting 5.1 surround, but it is not Dolby Digital.

That's a really good remote.
Support for it is here: http://www.urcsupport.com/

I thought I would follow up and state that when I got home that night my HDMI issue was gone. Apparently power was interrupted at my home just before I got up that morning, and my SA8300 did not have a full guide yet do to the hard reboot. It seems to me now that until the guide is up my HDCP handshake does not work with my RX-V2600.
So, I panicked for naught. Sorry to bother.

Ok Houston, I can confirm we have a problem. :)

I hit the Record button at the top of the hour when the warning message was displayed. There was 45 minutes in the buffer for the channel I was watching. After pressing Record, I checked the list and it said there was a 2 minute recording in progress. However, after it finished recording, there was actually 15 minutes recorded. But, get this, it was the first 15 minutes of the buffer, the last 30 minutes was not recorded.

Now that I think about it though, I'm pretty sure all the programs I've recorded part way through have been half-hour programs and I've never before pressed Record when the warning message was displayed. I'll have to check this again as soon as I get the 1.89 upgrade to test.

I'm not sure if there was an update yet but I noticed last night this worked correctly when recording American Idol although it showed the incorrect starting record time. I started recording 8 minutes in and it said the recording was 52 minutes but it started at the very beginning and went to the end.

Can you check your version so I won't have to test this if you did get upgraded to 1.89?

Cablevision is having trouble reliably providing TV Japan to me. Often, I get Service Not Available. If I try repeatedly, I will often get connected. I suspect its a local problem.

But - if I have a scheduled recording of TV Japan and it hits Service Not Available, it seems to hang one of the tuners and record systems. I will get a pop up saying a recording is in progress if the DVR needs two tuners. It says to cancel press A. But it won't cancel! If I switch to the TV Japan channel, I see the rec indicator, and then get Service Not Available. But the recording is not listed in the DVR list - the way in progress recordings normally are. I don't think Service Not Available will ever clear from this state - but I'm not sure.

Reboot clears it. And in my latest try, after reboot I could get TV Japan. Also, there is now a listing for the "recording" in the DVR list, but if I try to play it it doesn't play but goes the the Digital Video Recorder Playback Channel page which tells you to press list of channel up/down.

Sara 1.88.23.100

This will be hard to determine because it's sweeps month and I don't know when there will be a rerun of any shows I record. Since the NEW indicator is now visible, this may no longer be a problem though, assuming it's correct of course, and you always know if something is not NEW.Just happened to be looking through my Scheduled List and noticed a recording for L&O:CI on Tue 2/20, CSI:CI. The funny thing is that it's listed in the middle of the place-holders for the programs I recorded tonight, Wed 2/14. The other funny thing is that I've got 2 other recordings scheduled for that timeslot next Tue, so CI would be a 3rd and that episode is also NEW. I'm going to leave it in there and check to see what happens when the IPG updates tonight. Could be they added some scheme to deal with inadvertent conflicts?

I also set a weekly recording with 5 minutes added to the stop time. The place-holder did NOT retain the extra 5 minutes, so that has not been changed.

I read through the latest User's Guide and so far everything is in sync with the options I see and how they work, including the new Block options. You can even block recordings from being viewed without entering a PIN, but I'm probably the only one that didn't know that. :)

What will happen with the DVR when DST begins March 11 if SARA has not been updated?

The only issue I could see is if you are recording during the time switch. Otherwise its just your cable company sending ti a new time. The shows still come on in the same time slots. I don't think there is a big software difference (assuming the same SARA software and all that) between a box in eastern time and a box in central time other than the time the cable co gives it. I mean your box gets the current time from somewhere. All that will happen is that it will get a new time.

So, I have set up programs to "record all" keeping "5 episodes" and "keep until I delete". Two shows recently just disappeared and had to be reprogrammed: Desperate Housewives and CSI: Miami. I had to go back into the guide, select them and reprogram them AGAIN!

Any idea what is going on?

Thanks!
Eph

I think I've finally hit the last straw with this piece of garbage device.

I'm recording a number of shows last night, including both Lost programs. I'm get in late so I watching the first Lost show delayed. No problem. Finished watching it about 40 minutes into the second show. The recording ends, I hit delete, and go back to the DVR menu. It shows me two shows being recorded, one of them the real epsiode of Lost. I select it, and say play from beginning. Nothing but black. I went to Live on the channel, see everything no problem, and tried to just rewind: goes to black.

So, being very annoyed because I know its bad, I figure I'll see what happens if I wait for the record to finish. I start watching the other program being recorded. No problem watching it and playing it through to the end. When I'm done I go back to the DVR menu and guess what, no recording of Lost saved at all.

Does anyone know what triggers this behavior of not recording/losing recordings (ie, how to prevent it from happening)?

What a joke the software in this thing is. They keep updating the software, which fixes some bugs, and introduces new ones. With the latest, along with, apparently, dropping recordings, I now get a periodic screen of static when I switch channels, which is an HDMI handshaking problem. Glad they added that "feature" too.

Anyone else have OS, Home Server Edition 1.8 ? Got that download today. Other than it added the fourth FF speed, I can't find any difference from the SARA software.

minnow101,

You are really confused. There is, and always has been, a version of the OS Home Server Edition along with a version of SARA on SARA-based 8300s. The fact that you've just noticed the OS doesn't mean much, it's the SARA version that is important. Reread the first 2 posts (Tips Parts 1 & 2) to see how to find your SARA version, it is probably 1.88.x.x.

Each update of SARA has also included a new version of the OS. I am on SARA 1.89.18.1 and the OS is now up to 1.10. SARA 1.88 added a 4th FF/REW speed along with a Start From Beginning option when joining a recording in progress. If you read both parts of the Tips post, you will see what was added in 1.88 and what has been added/changed in 1.89. You should get 1.89 before Mar 11 since it deals with DST problems.

I think I've finally hit the last straw with this piece of garbage device.

I'm recording a number of shows last night, including both Lost programs. I'm get in late so I watching the first Lost show delayed. No problem. Finished watching it about 40 minutes into the second show. The recording ends, I hit delete, and go back to the DVR menu. It shows me two shows being recorded, one of them the real epsiode of Lost. I select it, and say play from beginning. Nothing but black. I went to Live on the channel, see everything no problem, and tried to just rewind: goes to black.

So, being very annoyed because I know its bad, I figure I'll see what happens if I wait for the record to finish. I start watching the other program being recorded. No problem watching it and playing it through to the end. When I'm done I go back to the DVR menu and guess what, no recording of Lost saved at all.

Does anyone know what triggers this behavior of not recording/losing recordings (ie, how to prevent it from happening)?

I had the same problem. After a lot of research (performed in trying to keep from having to have my dvr replaced and therefore losing all of my recordings), it seems as if this is a common problem, and really not able to be fixed. If anyone knows otherwise, then please correct me. The strange thing is that mine would record all digital channels correctly, but anything from the basic and expanded basic package (from SuddenLink) would do exactly what you're describing. I ended up trading mine in for a replacement.

I don't understand why they don't make it possible to transfer the recordings to another receiver, so whenever something like this happens (and it seems that it does often), there aren't any problems when swapping it for another. It seems a bit wrong that we have to lose everything due to their faulty equipment.

I do have a question for everyone here, though. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

Is it not possible to just record a certain portion of a show (VCR-like)? I've tried a few times to no avail. For instance, last night I watched an entire movie. I didn't record it. I heard a song played during the ending credits that I really enjoyed. I wanted to only record the ending credits so I could look for the song's artist. Halfway through the credits, I pressed record and set the time to start recording for when the credits had started, and left the ending time at the default setting (end of the program). It looked as if it was going to work. On the menu during recording it showed that it was only 4 minutes. However, today I checked and it showed that it recorded 58 minutes. It recorded the very beginning of the movie, from where I started watching, to about half-way through. It didn't even get the credits. I tested this on a few other shows, and it always does the same thing. It never gets what it's supposed to. It somehow chooses random times to stop, and always starts at the point that I started watching regardless of when I set it to actually start recording.

I don't understand why they don't make it possible to transfer the recordings to another receiver, so whenever something like this happens (and it seems that it does often), there aren't any problems when swapping it for another. It seems a bit wrong that we have to lose everything due to their faulty equipment.Been using the same 8300 for over 2 years now, so some of us must have some pretty good karma or maybe it's the dry heat out here. :) Anyway, if they allowed recordings to be moved to a different unit they wouldn't satisfy the copy-protection requirements. AFAIK, SA is not the only DRV maker that encodes it's recordings to a specific unit in order to foil copies.
Is it not possible to just record a certain portion of a show (VCR-like)? Seems like I've recorded parts of programs in the past, but not by pressing Record while the program was being broadcast. I just set up a recording for Leno from 11:05-11:17 and I'll let you know what I get. I do know that SARA 1.88 (and possibly earlier versions) has some problems starting a recording by pressing Record after a certain amount of time. I've tested starting a recording during the last 2 minutes when the message telling me a recording "will begin in 2 minutes" is displayed and I get the first 30 minutes of the buffer instead of the whole buffer. This was posted earlier in the thread and I haven't tested it on SARA 1.89 yet to see if it's been fixed. This could be related to your problem.

Also, it would help keep things straight if you would post your SARA version number.

FWIW, I believe unit failures are generally the result of hard drives going south. This could be because of excessive heat, either because of poor ventilation and/or because they run 24/7. I'm sure SA has plenty of data on failures/causes and we just are not privy to that data. It doesn't help that many cableco's simply put returned units back on the shelf without testing them to make sure they work, especially those being exchanged. It could be too that some units have problems when hot, but seem okay after they've been sitting on a shelf for awhile.

Thanks for the quick reply. I wasn't even considering the whole copy protection law. I guess nothing can really be done to resolve that issue then. But, as you said, it really is the fault of the distributors more than SA. SuddenLink must not have tested my dvr that well before sending it to me, as it was already messed up from the time that it was connected.

I'm going to go mess around with it for a bit to see if I can figure out how to do what I'm trying to do. I'll get the SARA number while I'm at it and post it as soon as I get back on here.

Thanks again for the help!


UPDATE:

1.88.24.2

It seems impossible to do what I want to do.

You can only schedule a recording in one of the following ways:
1) You record the entire portion that you've watched (from the very beginning)
2) You record it from the current time (the exact minute--no earlier)
3) You record it from some point in the future

It seems strange to me that it can go back and record everything that you've watched after it has already passed, but it can't go back and record only what you want it to. If something has passed that you wanted to record, you either have to record the entire program to get it, or just not record it at all.

Is this correct?

Thanks for the quick reply. I wasn't even considering the whole copy protection law. I guess nothing can really be done to resolve that issue then. But, as you said, it really is the fault of the distributors more than SA. SuddenLink must not have tested my dvr that well before sending it to me, as it was already messed up from the time that it was connected.

I'm going to go mess around with it for a bit to see if I can figure out how to do what I'm trying to do. I'll get the SARA number while I'm at it and post it as soon as I get back on here.

Thanks again for the help!


UPDATE:

1.88.24.2

It seems impossible to do what I want to do.

You can only schedule a recording in one of the following ways:
1) You record the entire portion that you've watched (from the very beginning)
2) You record it from the current time (the exact minute--no earlier)
3) You record it from some point in the future

It seems strange to me that it can go back and record everything that you've watched after it has already passed, but it can't go back and record only what you want it to. If something has passed that you wanted to record, you either have to record the entire program to get it, or just not record it at all.

Is this correct?Yes, that is correct. Note on number 1, the buffer is only 1 hour and that is as far as it will record in the past. Also, it will only record the lastest program on the channel. When a new program comes on it will not record any of the previous program. It will either record 1 hour of the current program or the current program when you started watching the channel. It will record the shortest of the two. This is the way it is supposed to work but there have been posts that it does not always work like this.

You can clear the buffer by switching to another channel then switching back. This allows you to record the rest of the program without recording what you have already watched.

Another option is to "Schedule a new Manual Recording" from the Preferences page. This allows you to specify the channel, day, start, stop, and save options. It doesn't allow recording from the buffer so this is only for current or future recordings.

[QUOTE=DoubleDAZ]minnow101,

You are really confused. [quote=DoubleDaz]




You'll excuse this fool. One must however admit that it is actually fairly easy to become confused while attempting to wade through 169 pages of posts and the search function here leaves a lot be desired.

minnow101, that was kind of tongue in cheek, but when you look at the diag page, it should be pretty apparent that there is an OS along with SARA and I see you found the SARA version info. Since you knew about the OS change, I assumed you were looking at the diag pages that also show the SARA version info. And, yes, the search function does leave a lot to be desired unless you know the specific terms being used, etc.

Anyway, I recorded 12 minutes of Leno last night just fine by selecting it from the IPG and altering the Start/Stop times. It showed the unrecorded parts in red and the recorded parts in green. I watched a few secs and FF'd through the rest, so I know it got what I requested.

I just set up a 1 minute recording for 2 minutes from now for the channel I am watching. When I look at the Menu, the program is highlighted to record, but when I check the List, it is not in there yet.

It just hit the 2 minute mark and the recording now shows up in the List.

It just finished and all I got was a 1 minute recording from 7:02-7:03, all while the program was still in progress.

So, since I'm now using 1.89.18.1, I assume it may have been fixed. The one anamoly I did see was the List incorrectly indicated a 3 minute recording. I'll still try to check a longer program near the end and also when the 2 minute warning is displayed to see what happens.

I just tried some new tests to confirm that my 8300HD (SARA 1.88.19.1) is still misbehaving on Manual Recordings and on a recording set up from the IPG if I modify the start time. As a rule, the recordings are fine, unless I happen to be watching the channel to be recorded, prior to the time the recording is supposed to start. If I am watching the channel, the only thing that works correctly is the "Recording" display on the 8300HD's front panel. The recording is lengthened -- it's padded at the beginning with material from the buffer. Seems to be a maximum of 30 minutes added -- I haven't done enough testing to put a boundary on that.

Here's what I did today.

On Cox in Phoenix, watching channel 14, which shows the news from channel 3 or repeats past news shows until the next live news show starts. At the time I was watching, the IPG showed a series of 30-minute programs titled "News".

At 9:30 am, the program on the screen showed "Recorded 7:30 am". They show this during the delayed/repeated news segments, not during commercials.

I set a Manual Recording for this channel, 9:40 to 9:42 am. It appeared correctly in the list of Scheduled Recordings. No red "Recording" display on front panel. All OK so far. Continued watching channel 14.

At 9:40, "Recording" display came on; it went off at 9:42.

At 9:45, I checked the Recorded List. It shows:

Manual Recording Fri 2/9 9:40 am 12min

When I play it, at the beginning the screen shows "Recorded 7:30 am". Fast fwd, near the end, it shows "Recorded 7:42 am"

Sorry for the extra confusion between what I recorded and what was shown on the screen. Channel 3 and Cox are repeating the morning's newscast from the 7 o'clock hour, in the 9 o'clock hour. I thought this on-screen time stamp would be useful in debugging the 8300HD's behavior.

So the recording effectively started at the time I set it up, even though it was not supposed to start for ten minutes.

I then tried another test. At 9:48 I used the IPG and selected the 10:00-10:30 segment, and marked it for recording, but I modified the start time to be 9:59. Again, the "Recording" display on the front panel worked as expected, but after 10:30 when I checked the Recorded List, it appeared as:

News Fri 2/9 9:59 am 43min

So again, because I was watching the channel that was to be recorded, and because I had modified the starting time, the 8300HD has padded the recording by adding in the contents of the buffer from the time I set the recording until the time it was supposed to start.

This situation is just a nuisance, since it uses up extra disk space, and requires a little extra fast-forwarding when I want to playback a recording if I happened to have the box turned on and tuned to that channel before the program started, but it shows there must be flaky logic somewhere in the SARA software.

I have done several reboots over the past months and this behavior has not gone away.

I had the same problem. After a lot of research (performed in trying to keep from having to have my dvr replaced and therefore losing all of my recordings), it seems as if this is a common problem, and really not able to be fixed. If anyone knows otherwise, then please correct me. The strange thing is that mine would record all digital channels correctly, but anything from the basic and expanded basic package (from SuddenLink) would do exactly what you're describing. I ended up trading mine in for a replacement.

Yes, replacing it was the first thing the cable company said. Of course, there's only about a 5% chance it really is a hardware problem. I've learned that lesson already. In my case, it was a digital HD channel, so it wasn't what you had.

The icing is that my other 8300HD did a similar thing last night, although a much simpler case. One recording scheduled to start and end at specific times. A couple of minutes after it was supposed to start recording, I noticed the "recording" light was not displayed on the front panel. So I turn it on and looked at the DVR menu. It said it was recording the program, but it wasn't.

Maybe the next software update will just not support recording, that should eliminate a lot of their problems. What garbage.

Greensboro TWC just installed SARA 1.89.17.1 on my SA8300HD . I now have the 4th FF/REW speed, the IPG says if an episode is HDTV and/or NEW. There are a couple more recording options as well.

Greensboro TWC just installed SARA 1.89.17.1 on my SA8300HD . I now have the 4th FF/REW speed, the IPG says if an episode is HDTV and/or NEW. There are a couple more recording options as well.Have you read the first 2 posts lately? There is a summary of changes in Part 2. Also, 1.89 now matches the latest User's Guide on SA's website.

I'll check the start of the thread again.

I also noticed that 480p now works with HDMI for me, it did not work on the old SARA.

Hey, that's cool. Did 480i ever work and does it also work now? I can add that to the list if I can get some confirmation. I didn't get any release notes with this version, so I don't know what's all in it besides the DST stuff and the things others have found.

Just a reminder. The first 2 posts are continously updated and should be reviewed periodically for changes. Once everyone is on 1.89, I will be editing both parts to delete stuff no longer needed. As always, I appreciate everyone who helps me keep all this stuff straight.

Hey, that's cool. Did 480i ever work and does it also work now? I can add that to the list if I can get some confirmation. I didn't get any release notes with this version, so I don't know what's all in it besides the DST stuff and the things others have found.

Just a reminder. The first 2 posts are continously updated and should be reviewed periodically for changes. Once everyone is on 1.89, I will be editing both parts to delete stuff no longer needed. As always, I appreciate everyone who helps me keep all this stuff straight.

I'm beginning to think I'll never see version 1.89 :( Stupid Charter.

I set a Manual Recording for this channel, 9:40 to 9:42 am. It appeared correctly in the list of Scheduled Recordings. No red "Recording" display on front panel. All OK so far. Continued watching channel 14.

At 9:40, "Recording" display came on; it went off at 9:42.

At 9:45, I checked the Recorded List. It shows:

Manual Recording Fri 2/9 9:40 am 12min

When I play it, at the beginning the screen shows "Recorded 7:30 am". Fast fwd, near the end, it shows "Recorded 7:42 am"
Ok, Russ, I set up a similar situation a few minutes ago for 1.89 and it did the same thing. I set a manual recording for Cox14 from 6:40-6:42 and it showed in the Scheduled List. I continued watching the channel. The record light came on at 6:40 (recorded at 5:08pm) and went off at 6:42 (recorded at 5:10pm). Recording did indeed add the buffer to the recording. I ended up with 7 minutes starting at "recorded at 5:03pm".
Sorry for the extra confusion between what I recorded and what was shown on the screen. Channel 3 and Cox are repeating the morning's newscast from the 7 o'clock hour, in the 9 o'clock hour. I thought this on-screen time stamp would be useful in debugging the 8300HD's behavior.Certainly helped.
So the recording effectively started at the time I set it up, even though it was not supposed to start for ten minutes.Since the recording light came on at the right time, I think it simply added the buffer, probably because you were still watching the channel. Obviously, this is an error and shows my previous test of Dan's problem wasn't really a good one. I was simply trying to show that you can record just a few minutes of a given program. Hoever, I went about it differently than what he was doing.

So, in order to do what he wants, he will need to determine approximately when the song he's looking for starts/ends and set up a recording for that timeframe (or something close to it) using a subsequent broadcast and not be tuned to that channel. It appears that as long as you are tuned to the channel, you will get whatever is in the buffer added to the beginning of the recording.

I set up another test with a Manual Recording for 7:05-7:10 and a Scheduled Recording using the IPG from 7:12-7:14. I will not be tuned to the channel. I suspect they will both work correctly and will let you know in a few minutes.

Edit: As expected, I ended up with a 5 miunte recording from the Manual Recording and a 2 minute recording from the Scheduled Recording. So, the key is to not keep watching the channel you are trying to partially record. With a little dexterity and planning, it should be possible to watch until you get close to where you want to be, schedule the recording, and then tune to a different channel. This may not be very elegant, it seems to work.

I added the following to Tips-Part 1:
Partial Recordings. When scheduling recordings (manually or via the IPG) for only a portion of a program, it is important not to be tuned to the channel being recorded. If you are, whatever is in the buffer will be added to the beginning of the recording and your recording will not be limited to only the part you wanted. If you are not tuned to the channel, the start/stop times and length should be correct.

Dan, did you read this?

I'm beginning to think I'll never see version 1.89 :( Stupid Charter.Don't fret, they have until Mar 11. They still haven't loaded it here for everyone either.

We were recently upgraded from SARA 1.87.23.1 to 1.88.25.1. Ever since the upgrade, when I change from an HD station to an SD station, the picture is shifted to the left a few inches and the quality of the picture is degraded. It also appears to be missing many horizontal lines of display.

The only workarounds I've found so far are to either power the TV down and up, or cycle through sources back to HDMI where I started.

I understand that ultimately this is an issue with my set, but since it began after a SARA upgrade, I figured I'd post it here, thinking that maybe someone else has experienced or will experience this issue.

Any ideas as to what's actually happening here?

I could not get 480i to pass with HDMI on the latest release.

I set up another test with a Manual Recording for 7:05-7:10 and a Scheduled Recording using the IPG from 7:12-7:14. I will not be tuned to the channel. I suspect they will both work correctly and will let you know in a few minutes.

Edit: As expected, I ended up with a 5 miunte recording from the Manual Recording and a 2 minute recording from the Scheduled Recording. So, the key is to not keep watching the channel you are trying to partially record. With a little dexterity and planning, it should be possible to watch until you get close to where you want to be, schedule the recording, and then tune to a different channel. This may not be very elegant, it seems to work.Thanks for the update to the tips. By the way, I have identified a couple of different workarounds for this quirk. Here's a proposed update that incorporates them:

Recordings with Manually-set Start Times. If you have scheduled a recording to begin on a certain channel at a time you have set, either as a Manual Recording or by modifying the starting time from the IPG, and if the box happens to be tuned to that channel during the time just before the recording is set to begin, the resulting recording will capture a longer interval than you wanted, because the contents of the buffer will be added to the beginning of the recording.

If it is important to you to have the recording limited to just the interval you wanted, you can also schedule a one-minute recording to occur just before the period you want. This other recording will absorb the extra material from the buffer, and after you have deleted it, your original recording will be just what you wanted. Again, this dodge is only needed if someone may be watching the channel in question just prior to the time the recording is set to start.

An alternate workaround is to switch the box away from that channel and switch back just after the recording has started.By the way, I have had a manual recording and a two-minute shifted season pass (Wheel) for several months, and they have functioned accurately except for what I believe was an unrelated quirk: my scheduled daily (Mon-Fri) recording from 6:17 to 6:18 unexpectedly shifted and turned into 6:17 to 6:17. When I watched one of the recordings made after the box decided to change my programming, it was only about 10 to 12 seconds long. I then deleted the 6:17-6:17 item and put it back as a two-minute recording, and as far as I know it has stayed there without shifting ever since (i.e., for about three months).

Ron

I could not get 480i to pass with HDMI on the latest release.Did it (480i via HDMI) work on the earlier release? Many displays won't accept 480i on HDMI.

Did it (480i via HDMI) work on the earlier release? Many displays won't accept 480i on HDMI.


No. 480p was the main problem since it would not work on the older SARA. I could only pass 720p and 1080i.

No. 480p was the main problem since it would not work on the older SARA. I could only pass 720p and 1080i.So THIS (480i) problem may be related to your display - not SARA?

No, I know that 480i almost never passes over HDMI. I could never get 480p to work and now it does after the SARA upgrade.

No, I know that 480i almost never passes over HDMI. 480i does pass over HDMI - IF the display will accept it. I've calibrated lots of displays (driven with SA8300HDs via HDMI) that DID accept 480i and I've seen many that did not.
I could never get 480p to work and now it does after the SARA upgrade. That apparently was a SARA issue. But that does not mean your 480i problem is a SARA issue.

Have you checked the specs on your display? The specs usually say what scan rates their HDMI inputs accept.

My display is a Samsung LN-S4051.

Ok, here's what I settled on. I felt too many folks might read just the Tips and not be privy to our short dicsussion, so I thought it best to add some specific examples.
Recordings With Manually Set/Altered Start Times. There is a problem whereby the contents of the buffer is incorrectly added to the beginning of a recording whose start time differs from the IPG start time. The problem only occurs if you happen to be tuned to the same channel prior to the start of recording. Such recordings can be set in one of three ways; by scheduling a manual recording, by pressing Record and altering the start time, or by selecting a program from the IPG and altering the start time. To illustrate, here are some examples: The IPG shows Program A on ABC from 6:30-7:00. However, the station always starts the program 1 minute early. In order to capture the first minute, a series recording is scheduled with the start time altered to 6:29. Under normal circumstances, the recording would start at 6:29 and correctly record 31 minutes. However, if you tune to ABC prior to 6:29, the contents of the buffer will be added to the recording and you will end up with a recording longer than 31 minutes, starting at the point where you tuned to ABC (or the beginning of the buffer).
The IPG shows Program B on HBO from 2:00-4:00. You are interested in capturing a specific musical performance from 3:15-3:20. To do this, you schedule a manual recording for 3:15-3:20. Under normal circumstances, the recording would start at 3:15 and correctly record 5 minutes. However, if you happen to be watching Program B, the contents of the buffer will again be added to the recording and you will end up with a recording longer than 5 minutes.
You are watching Program C on MTV and see a certain video is about to start. You want to record the video, so you press Record and alter the start/stop times. However, since you are already tuned to MTV, the contents of the buffer will again be added to the recording and you will end up with more than you intended.
All is not lost, there are a couple of workarounds: Tune to a different channel before the recording begins.
Schedule a one-minute recording to occur just before the desired timeframe. This recording will absorb/reset the contents of the buffer and can then be deleted leaving the recording with just the desired content.

Just discovered 480i is being successfully passed over HDMI to my samsung HL-S5087W. Checked SARA version and i have 1.88.22.1 through TWC. Must've been an update recently cause 480i never passed before.

SD channels look a little better now, thanks to either Film mode being enabled now, or becuase the samsung upconverts better starting with a basic 480i signal instead of 480p.

Only resolutions I have enabled are 480i Standard, 720p, and 1080i.

Edit: Oh yes, I remember now.. there WAS an update a few weeks back because I used to get HDNet by accident before and now I dont :( 480i or HDNet...... not a good enough tradeoff.

Okie dokie... I'm going to blatantly rip-off my own post from my local HDTV thread (Greensboro, NC) and post my recent SA8300 dealings, because it's making me quite upset... Mostly because SARA is no 'mo.

-------------
Firstly, I am assuming that the update is system-wide, not simply limited to Winston-Salem. Secondly, I am assuming that the ~same~ update was sent to whomever is using this hardware.

Since the update (I received it a 4-something a.m. on Thursday, February 8th) my box has been cutting itself off. For my setup, this is a very bad thing. The settings option for "Power: Power Button and Numeric" does not work. Because I can't send a discrete power "ON" signal, I'm pretty much boned.

Also, while watching TV, it will randomly (seemingly, at least) go gray, with a message saying "Press any button to watch TV."

Time Warner Cable has hijacked my cable box, and I don't like it.

The diagnostic screens reveal the following:

PTV: OS Home Server Edition 1.8

Flash: DVR 1.5.2_8300_MR.LR_F.p.1002

Apps: Compass Version .0.4.0b17.2
hgra v3.3.16

Everything appears as normal (as far as the last time I'd look at it) except that I'm no longer showing SARA as my app. SARA used to be the only app listed. Is anyone else in this are having difficulty? Has anyone else in this area received said update? If so, what was the update supposed to fix?
------------------

What's the deal here, ladies and gents?

Take a look at page 17 and see if there is a SARA version mentioned there. I assume it will say 1.88 something.

Try a hard reboot (holding the Power button as described in the first post). I'm using 1.89 and the Power/Numeric still works to power on.

Also, since it's only Feb 11th, I doubt the date is correct or it may be 2006, not 2007. 1.88 has been available for some time now.

Thanks, DoubleDAZ.

Page 17 shows my firmware as 1.89.17.1. I did a hard power reset as described, but no go for the numeric wakeup. Also, I corrected the date on my previous post to the 8th of this month. That's what I get for trying to figure out stuff that's already happened to me during the wee hours of the morning ;)

Oh well... Until the update I received on the 8th, I'd never seen a message asking me to "Press any key to watch TV".

The only message like that I know of is the one early in the morning at auto-shutdown time. That's been there for a long time and at one time pressing a key didn't keep it from shutting down. Since you mentioned working in the wee hours, I don't suppose that's the one you are actually talking about? If it is, it's not new, may just be the first time you've seen it.

Just to make sure I understand, you are saying that when you have the Set: Power-On Keys option set to "Power and Numeric", the unit doesn't turn on when you press a numeric key? And the remote is in the cable mode?

Last night, at 9:02PM, I noticed my 8300HD DVR was not in "recording" mode even though I have Desperate Housewives scheduled to record.

So, I figured the box screwed up (again) and immediately hit the record button on the remote with the intent to record Desperate Housewives. When I pressed the "A" button to confirm the recording, I received the following screen:
http://albanyhdtv.homestead.com/files/DSC03150.jpg
Typically, I would receive this screen when I already have 2 scheduled recordings and attempt to record a third.

I then took a look at my list of scheduled recordings and received this screen:
http://albanyhdtv.homestead.com/files/DSC03151.jpg
Wow, was I suprised to see ALL of my scheduled recordings had disappeared!!!

Luckily, I have a SONY DVR that I use to record OTA and was able to watch Desperate Housewives. I have learned from many previous instances when the 8300 DVR fails to record the programs I have scheduled that I need a backup DVR. Otherwise, I would be S.O.L.

Did anyone else experience anything like this?

TWC SARA 1.89.17.1

We got a little upgrade that the Guide button now takes us directly to the guide. Not sure how we get to the main menu though. I checked the version and it looked like the version was the same. Odd.

Last night, at 9:02PM, I noticed my 8300HD DVR was not in "recording" mode even though I have Desperate Housewives scheduled to record........................I've had this happen once or twice over the 2 years I've had my unit. I tried everything I could think of, including a reboot. A hard reboot (holding power button) finally cleared it.
Wow, was I suprised to see ALL of my scheduled recordings had disappeared!!!I don't recall hearing about scheduled recordings being deleted, but there have been several reports of losing all recorded programs with the push of the new Navigator. TWC seems to have it's share of problems when pushing new software. Did you just receive the SARA 1.89 upgrade?

Did you just receive the SARA 1.89 upgrade?
Got it on January 24, 2007.

I was able to buy a Seagate eSATA drive (300GB) from CompUSA and just plug it in and it worked. My available space went from 45% to 15%. Just power off the 8300HD, unplug it, connect the provided cable, power on the harddrive, plug in the 8300HD, power it on , format the drive (there is no message when the new drive is formatted, I waited about 10 minutes) and repeat the power off-on sequence.

Thanks,

Rich

Rich,

Did you mean to post in the SARA thread or were you trying to post in the SATA thread?

Is there anyway to have the guide display in higher resolution? In the user manual on the TWC website it has the guide looking smooth and nice, but it isn't like that on my box even though they're both SARA. I searched everywhere in the settings trying to find it. I tried looking this thread but its just too large to search the whole thing. Thanks to anyone who helps.

No, the current Guide is low-res.

No, the current Guide is low-res.

That really sucks. I wonder why they show it all pretty in the User Guide but don't allow you to have it that way on your TV. I wouldn't think it would be terribly difficult to allow the user to select the resolution.

That really sucks. I wonder why they show it all pretty in the User Guide but don't allow you to have it that way on your TV. I wouldn't think it would be terribly difficult to allow the user to select the resolution.
I doubt if the pictures in the guide are screenshots. More likely, they are close to the original art used to create the STB's graphics which was then down-rezed to fit the memory allotted.

Is there anyway to have the guide display in higher resolution? In the user manual on the TWC website it has the guide looking smooth and nice, but it isn't like that on my box even though they're both SARA. I searched everywhere in the settings trying to find it. I tried looking this thread but its just too large to search the whole thing. Thanks to anyone who helps.
I've actually done research on this and talked to SA on the chipset used. The guide and on-screen graphics overlay can be a higher resolution, but it will always retain the square image shown (in non-stretched modes). The higher the detail, the more memory and cpu resources are used. Beyond that, the detail is dependent on the data being sent to all the STB's using the data. Older generation digital STB's (think up to 10 years old) may not be able to handle the extra data, so it is never sent as a global configuration. A brand new system with no legacy STB's could probably pull it off easier than an established system.
Note that you can always change the color scheme in the General settings menu too.

vegggas

I've also seen screenshots of the Sara interface with "Enhanced graphics" and it's all semi=transluscent and pretty.

I'll see if I can dig some up.

- D

Wow, was I suprised to see ALL of my scheduled recordings had disappeared!!!
TWC SARA 1.89.17.1Last night I did a hard reset where I unplugged the box and waited for the time to reappear on the box's display. My scheduled recordings where there, once again.

Rich,

Did you mean to post in the SARA thread or were you trying to post in the SATA thread?

Ooops, I didn't realize I posted in the wrong thread, although I do have SARA (I don't know the release, but I do have the 4-speed advance and the "start from beginning".)

Maybe an administrator can move it? Maybe it doesn't matter. I was excited, anyway.

Rich N.

It doesn't really matter, just thought I'd let you know. There is a database over in the SATA thread though that they'd probably like you to add your experience to.

Just though I'd pass along a few comments regarding recording retention. I've been recording NASCAR Now on ESPN2-HD and decided to try out the number of episodes option. I scheduled a series recording to record "All Episodes, First Run only, Save 2 Episodes" and it has been working flawlessly for the past week and over this weekend (Thu/Fri became Fri/Tue because there was no new episode Mon).

"First Run only, Save 2 Episodes"
We don't have these options in Albany NY.

Is there anyway to reset all the settings back to factory without losing recordings? I'm having a really odd issue where my HDMI and DD sound options are not working correctly. If I set it to HDMI I get 2.0 but my TV is not outputting to my receiver. I have it hooked up through optical and getting no sound at all on the DD setting. I don't know why this is all the sudden.

I have the same issue starting last night (or at least I first noticed it last night). I get no sound on DD, and stereo only on "Other". I did switch between Optical and Coax and both have the same problem. Haven't tried reboot yet, but any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Curious question here. I live in a northwest suburb of Chicago, using wide open west cable with SA8300. Not sure the SARA version, but there is no 4th ff or rw speed, or start from begining option, no "new" flag in program guide, so im guessing it's out of date. Anyhow, i used to have comcast (motorola dvr i believe), and i was able to actually see a list of which shows i have selected as a "series" recording, and manipulate their priority incase an overlap would occur or manipulate their recording options. I cant seem to find this on the SA8300 (a listing of my series selections, or priority setting). Am i missing somthing? I would be suprised this feature isn't available.

We don't have these options in Albany NY.I suspect that you really do. Dave was citing an example.

We got (or at least I got) 1.89.17.1 last night and I checked out the recording options that Dave cited. It is as the other Dave stated (though some of the IPG items don't appear to be - I suspect that these may be features related to the IPG more than to SARA).

I have an 8300 HD with Cox in Las Vegas. I haven't checked my SW version yet. Over the past month I have been getting partially recorded programs. The most common is to only get 31 minutes of an hour long program. This has happened several times recently. On Monday it only recorded 1 hour and 39 minutes of the 2 hour "24" Episode. I am getting really sick of this. I haven't called Cox yet, but am planning on tonight. Am I going to get some run around, or is there an actual fix for this?

Curious question here. I live in a northwest suburb of Chicago, using wide open west cable with SA8300. Not sure the SARA version, but there is no 4th ff or rw speed, or start from begining option, no "new" flag in program guide, so im guessing it's out of date. Anyhow, i used to have comcast (motorola dvr i believe), and i was able to actually see a list of which shows i have selected as a "series" recording, and manipulate their priority incase an overlap would occur or manipulate their recording options. I cant seem to find this on the SA8300 (a listing of my series selections, or priority setting). Am i missing somthing? I would be suprised this feature isn't available.
Prepare to be surprised. The SARA OS is a dismal example of any kind of serious file mgmt. It's very limited and basically useless in manipulating files, which HD they are stored on(assuming an external drive is attached), a limited TOC, etc., and the list goes on. Others will acquiesce, saying the designers used the KISS method of software development - keeping it in the realm of appliance CE device. Whatever, but at the very least, the OS should include an 'advance' mode (activated by a secret button sequence) for users who do wish to take more control of the files and have more information available about them. That way mom and pop can always use the 'simple', or easy mode as they recline in their Lazyboys and man-handle the remote! :(

I have an 8300 HD with Cox in Las Vegas. I haven't checked my SW version yet. Over the past month I have been getting partially recorded programs. The most common is to only get 31 minutes of an hour long program. This has happened several times recently. On Monday it only recorded 1 hour and 39 minutes of the 2 hour "24" Episode. I am getting really sick of this. I haven't called Cox yet, but am planning on tonight. Am I going to get some run around, or is there an actual fix for this?
My understand (from my local TW) is that this has been a problem with some older 8300HDs with a specific chip inside. They told me that it is a known problem and a SARA fix would be in the next upgrade (1.89.xx.xx). We just received this last night - so I don't know if it is really fixed. It used to happen to me periodically (2-3 times a month) so it might be awhile till I really know.

The 1.89 version of SARA is the one with the Daylight Savings Time alteration, so most systems will have it pretty soon.

You will know when you have it - it will have the 4th FF & RW speeds.

Others will acquiesce, saying the designers used the KISS method of software development - keeping it in the realm of appliance CE device. Whatever, but at the very least, the OS should include an 'advance' mode (activated by a secret button sequence) for users who do wish to take more control of the files and have more information available about them. That way mom and pop can always use the 'simple', or easy mode as they recline in their Lazyboys and man-handle the remote! :(My take is that they may have done that, but they also simply didn't license functions that are patented/copyrighted by someone else, except those on a very short list. Part of the OCAP process will allow folks who want/need more functionality to subscribe to a most robust software package. How soon all that happens though is up for grabs.

has anyone here had any luck sending the HDMI output from their 8300 through a splitter and then out to two displays? i keep getting the HDCP BS, but it works fine if i hook it up directly to each display

has anyone here had any luck sending the HDMI output from their 8300 through a splitter and then out to two displays? i keep getting the HDCP BS, but it works fine if i hook it up directly to each display
You've answered your own question; Your splitter is not (at all, or sufficiently) HDCP compliant, so when you use the splitter you get errors, connect directly (to either display) and the HDCP Handshake works fine. Bottom line is it aint gonna work that way :(
If one tv has HDMI OUT, try using it as the pass-thru to the other set- You may still get HDCP errors, but maybe not..

You've answered your own question; Your splitter is not (at all, or sufficiently) HDCP compliant, so when you use the splitter you get errors, connect directly (to either display) and the HDCP Handshake works fine. Bottom line is it aint gonna work that way :(
If one tv has HDMI OUT, try using it as the pass-thru to the other set- You may still get HDCP errors, but maybe not..
i think it works when i only have one of the tv's connected to the splitter thoug (i'll double check), any idea if i can use a 2x1 HDMI switch as a 1x2 switch? i don't really need to split the HDMI, a switch to select which tv it goes to would be fine

i think it works when i only have one of the tv's connected to the splitter thoug (i'll double check), any idea if i can use a 2x1 HDMI switch as a 1x2 switch? i don't really need to split the HDMI, a switch to select which tv it goes to would be fine
If the splitter is "passive" it probably does pass the entire HDCP signal clean thru to one TV, however, like macrovision protection once you dedrade-by-halving the digital signal via 1x2 the HDCP signal must be getting disrupted, and thus causing failure. I could be wrong, but can't you use component for one set and HDMI for the other out of the 8300 simultaneously?

i think it works when i only have one of the tv's connected to the splitter thoug (i'll double check), any idea if i can use a 2x1 HDMI switch as a 1x2 switch? i don't really need to split the HDMI, a switch to select which tv it goes to would be fineMonoprice has a passive push-button HDMI switch for under $30 - that ought to be worth a try (t just might work).

If the splitter is "passive" it probably does pass the entire HDCP signal clean thru to one TV, however, like macrovision protection once you dedrade-by-halving the digital signal via 1x2 the HDCP signal must be getting disrupted, and thus causing failure. I could be wrong, but can't you use component for one set and HDMI for the other out of the 8300 simultaneously?
I have a passport 8300, and it seems to do some kind of autodetect to determine if it's using component or HDMI (i guess i'll try, but i think i tried this a while ago), so unless i want to keep disconnecting/reconnecting wires on the back of the 8300, that's no good, i'm going to give the manual 2x1 splitter a try; the simple Y-splitter i tried worked when only one of the tv's was connected, so if the manual 2x1 actually makes it so only one device on the "2" side is connected i think it should work

I'm using a geffen 2x1 HDMI splitter for that very thing, one to my projector and one to a LCD flat panel.
I have not had any problems at all, I can get the picture to work using either display or both at the same time

I'm using a geffen 2x1 HDMI splitter for that very thing, one to my projector and one to a LCD flat panel.
I have not had any problems at all, I can get the picture to work using either display or both at the same time
I mispoke, i meant i was going to give a manual 2x1 switch a try, i don't feel like shelling out over a $100 bux for the powered splitter (i don't need to output to both displays at once)

By the way, I have had a manual recording and a two-minute shifted season pass (Wheel) for several months, and they have functioned accurately except for what I believe was an unrelated quirk...Well, now I have seen something really strange happen, and it's more serious than the problems we have addressed so far.

The following has occurred twice. I ignored it the first time, figuring it was just a fluke. Now it has happened twice.

My situation is, I have the box set to record channel 715 (ABC-HD), 6:26-6:28, M-F, and then to record Wheel of Fortune, which shows in the IPG as 6:30-7:00 but actually starts and ends two minutes early, so I have modified the season pass to record channel 715, 6:28-6:58 p.m. The two-minute manual recording is to avoid getting extra stuff recorded if I happen to have the box tuned to 715 at 6:28.

The bad thing that happens is if I have the box on at 6:28, and it's tuned to a channel other than 715: let's say 708 (PBS-HD) or 733 (ESPN-HD). The "recording light" on the box works as it should, but if I look at the guide during that time, it shows that it's recording the other channel, 708 or 733. I think on one occasion it also showed "Wheel" in red, the other time it definitely did not.

After 7:00 if I check my list of recorded shows, I see:

Wheel of Fortune Thu 2/15 6:28pm 1hr 0min

and if I play it back it's Prov vs. ND, the basketball game we were watching on ESPN when Wheel came on. (The first time it happened I got the Newshour from PBS.)

And I forgot to mention, after this happens and when I push the "DVR LIST" button on the remote, the screen for the recorded shows pops up just for about 200 ms and goes away. The first time this happened I rebooted to get it back, last night I found that just turning the box off and back on was enough to get the listing to show up as it should.

I know this topic (recordings with modified start times, or manual recordings) isn't one that many people run into, and it won't be a popular topic, but when I see some software doing strange things I like to figure out ways to avoid the problems. At this point I am inclined to cancel my season pass for Wheel (and 60 minutes, which starts one minute early here) and reschedule them from the IPG and just leave them that way, since missing a minute or two at the beginning of the show is more acceptable than the Monty Python result I'm getting: "... something completely different!"

I tried hooking up both component and hdmi to my new 58" panny, just to see if there was a noticable picture difference, but once you connect the hdmi it dissables the component. I notice with the hdmi hookup, you cannot control the volume through the cable box, is this correct?

Great news for Atlantic Broadband customers in the Johnstown / Altoona, PA area. There's finally been an update for that 8300HD SARA firmware. If you haven't seen a update of your SARA software yet try a hard reboot. I noticed on Feb 15 my firmware went from 1.87.16.a11 to 1.88.24.2.

Now, I'm not saying I'm responsible for this, it's probably pure coincidence but this occurred one day after I contacted SA about the issue. On February 14 I called Scientific Atlantic customer service. I Asked if was possible if a customer could somehow put in a request for their provider to update their reciever's software. The gentlemen took my information and providers information. He said he'd have it looked into, and I didn't expect much. Anywho, whether I may have had anything to do with it or not I'm just happy it finally happened.

The new features I immediately noticed were;

A 4th FF speed.
The option to play a currently recording program "from beginning".
No longer being kicked out of delayed program once it ends live.
Program time (ie. 1:00PM-2:00PM) displayed in IPG.

If anyone else happens to live in this market please post if what version of SARA installed on your 8300HD . Thanks.

I am having the same issues with the monotype passive splitter. I also want to only display one TV at a time. What I am going to do is get an extension HDMI cable so that I can easily switch the input between the two TVs. I don't mind paying the $100 for an powered splitter but I can't get someone to confirm to me that they work. There is no way I am spending $300 on a slitter like some are going for.

If anyone has one that works, I would like to know where they got it and how much they spent.

Well, now I have seen something really strange happen, and it's more serious than the problems we have addressed so far.
1. I set up a Manual Recording for Ch 715 from 6:26-6:28 weekdays.
2. I set up a Series Recording for Wheel on Ch 715, All Episodes, First Run only with an altered start time of 6:28.
3. I then tuned to 733.
4. Manual recording started promptly at 6:26 and was properly displayed in the List.
5. Manual recording ended promptly at 6:28 and displays as a 2 minute recording in the List, contains 2 minutes of news.
6. Series recording started promptly at 6:28 and was properly displayed int he List
7. Series recording ended promptly at 7:00 and displays as a 32 minute recording, contains Wheel of Fortune.

This is with SARA 1.89.18.1. Let me know if I need to try something else.

This is with SARA 1.89.18.1. Let me know if I need to try something else.Dave, thanks a lot for taking the time to check this situation out.

Back here on SARA 1.88.19.1, I still have my two season passes set up: channel 715, 6:26-6:28, M-F, and 6:28-6:58, Wheel, all episodes in this time slot. (I thought it was set to first-run only, not sure now.)

Today I wanted to watch ESPN2 live, and catch Wheel later, so at about 6:19 I tuned the STB to 715, to try to keep from recording ESPN2 instead of Wheel. We were watching ESPN2 on another set, but I kept the STB on in order to make sure I knew how to avoid the SARA pitfalls.

Instead of what I expected, I got (as shown in the Recorded List):

Manual Recording Fri 2/16 6:26pm 5min (when I checked it later, the on-screen time at the start showed 6:19)

and

Wheel of Fortune Fri 2/16 6:28pm 34min (when I watched it, it started in the middle of the news, with the on-screen time showing 6:24).

I think I have learned my lesson. I will now stop fiddling with the start time of recordings and just stick to what's shown in the IPG.

The idea of two cable cards and a TiVo Series 3 is looking like a better option all the time!

Russ,

You should be getting 1.89 in the next couple of weeks, sometime before Mar 11 anyway, and it fixes some of this. I don't mean to trivialize your timing problem with Wheel, but I can't believe that is a problem you're willing to spend ~$800 to resolve. But, hey, it's your money. :) Obviously there are other defficiencies you would like to have fixed too for that kind of money, but have you thought about going into the S3 thread and asking someone there to test Wheel for you just to make sure it works the way you want it to? Also, don't forget to consider SDV. Some folks don't think popular stations will be SDV, but that is proving not to be the case where SDV has been implemented/tested. There's really no reason why all stations shouldn't be SDV and many stations might be popular only during certain timeframes, making them very SDV-able for other timeframes.

Here in Austin on TWC, they pushed Sara 1.89 down the line a couple of weeks ago. Wasn't checking for it, but should have suspected, as all of a sudden for a couple of days, I had box reboots, including in the middle of recording.

Do appreciated the word NEW in the IPG, etc.

One issue that had become a serious issue for us was the new second STB up in the bedroom, mounted high (along with LCD TV). The noise when off was driving us crazy. The continuous cycle all night of disk spin for 2 minutes, no spin for 3 minutes, repeating. The noise issue was NOT the disk spinning, it was the spin up and spin down along with the head parking. VERY LOUD in a quite bedroom, especially when the box is off the floor.

I was using the "tune both tuners to a non-buffered (i.e. music) channel" trick, when I could remember (sometime you just crash in bed!). But that was a PIA. Others noted on the forum, they were just unplugged the box each night!

ANYWAY, it appears the SARA 1.89 "fixed" that. Best I can tell the disk spins ALL the time. And that is fine, as the disk spin noise is pretty low, I have to stand with my ear near it, to tell.

So it seems they just spin it 24x7 now. Which is actually MUCH less wear and tear on the disk. Disk MTBF on power-on hours is tens and tens (if not hundreds) or thousands of hours, now a days. But the MTBF on power cycles is much much lower.

As far as power (in)efficiency, I don't know. Might be slightly more $ for us, might not, as the current in rush to spin up a drive is a relatively large one.


I still find it amazingly bad code/architecture to not be able to power down the drives, but going thru 13,000+ power cycles a year (once every 5 minutes), was just plain STUPID.

I am having the same issues with the monotype passive splitter. I also want to only display one TV at a time. What I am going to do is get an extension HDMI cable so that I can easily switch the input between the two TVs. I don't mind paying the $100 for an powered splitter but I can't get someone to confirm to me that they work. There is no way I am spending $300 on a slitter like some are going for.

If anyone has one that works, I would like to know where they got it and how much they spent.
so i hooked up the 2x1 manual switch backwards as a 1x2 and it "kinda" works, if i turn my STB off when i switch it outputs properly, but one of the legs i have is a 10 ft HDMI to DVI cable which doesn't work through the switch (the HDCP seems to be happy though because i still get audio out of the STB) i have about 6ft of HDMI from the STB to the switch and then the 10 ft of HDMI-DVI to the display that doesnt work (if i hook the display up directly with the HDMI-DVI cable it works fine) anyone have any idea what limits there are on signal loss over a distance of DV cable? is 6 ft, then a switch, then 10 ft pushing the limits?

Comcast is whording these boxes here in S.FL and we just got another HD set. "Sorry, you already have 2 HD boxes, and there is a 1 per customer limit right now".

If I buy the same box from ebay (8300HD) will it work with my Comcast service, or do they do some sort of special programming at Comcast to make the boxes work with their service?

Any help is appreciated!

No, they'd have to "authorize" it and that is highly doubtful.

All the boxes in the SC area have been off on time by two or three minutes -- running fast. So if you record something you missed the last two or three minutes.

They seem to have fixed that today but the CSR was very upset that I would see that as a problem. She said it was a headend problem and I should not have bothered to call her!

Maybe navigator will let me set my own time so I won't have to bother her :mad:

Also about 2 hours after they fixed the time my box rebooted by itself -- this has been going on for over two years and TW just swaps out the boxes. It had not happened for over a month we thought the problem was solved -- silly me!

What a lousy CSR. Too bad they don't have a "Report This CSR" button on the TWC website. I'll bet they even said they might record your conversation when you called, didn't they? Maybe you should email the TWC President with the date/time so he/she can listen to the exchange. You may laugh at this suggestion, but I once emailed the VP of Cox-Phoenix and got a return email from the CSR Manager the next day. I'm sure the VP never saw it, but someone on his staff obviously did and moved it to the right person. Solved my problem with having to "purchase" a 3250 at the time and resulted in quite a bit of inside info until the manager was promoted and moved.

BTW, we have the opposite problem where a single station (ABC) starts their shows 1-1.5 minutes before the hour/half hour and is never in sync with the IPG.

Comcast is whording these boxes here in S.FL and we just got another HD set. "Sorry, you already have 2 HD boxes, and there is a 1 per customer limit right now".

If I buy the same box from ebay (8300HD) will it work with my Comcast service, or do they do some sort of special programming at Comcast to make the boxes work with their service?

Any help is appreciated!
My cable company laid the same BS on me when I went for my second 8300HD. I escalated and asked them what the difference was between getting an extra $8.95 per month from me or from someone else. They said they didn't have enough boxes and I told them to get more. I got my second box. Try it, maybe it will work for you as well.

I suspect shortages may become more of a problem. If OCAP eventually results in subs being able to buy STBs from retail stores, I see cableco's not wanting to invest in more inventory. Also, I could be wrong, but isn't there some system overhead based on the number of DVRs in-use? Either way, I think it's a stupid policy with little short-term gain and potentially many unhappy subs. While many folks haven't bought their first HDTV, many are now buying second and third HDTVs for bedrooms, patios (at least here in The Valley of The Sun :) ), etc., and need/want multiple DVRs.

I suspect shortages may become more of a problem. If OCAP eventually results in subs being able to buy STBs from retail stores, I see cableco's not wanting to invest in more inventory.
That's a very good point. Somebody - everybody eventually - is going to get stuck with boxes they can't lease and the way to mitigate it is to short themselves.

so i hooked up the 2x1 manual switch backwards as a 1x2 and it "kinda" works, if i turn my STB off when i switch it outputs properly, but one of the legs i have is a 10 ft HDMI to DVI cable which doesn't work through the switch (the HDCP seems to be happy though because i still get audio out of the STB) i have about 6ft of HDMI from the STB to the switch and then the 10 ft of HDMI-DVI to the display that doesnt work (if i hook the display up directly with the HDMI-DVI cable it works fine) anyone have any idea what limits there are on signal loss over a distance of DV cable? is 6 ft, then a switch, then 10 ft pushing the limits?
So i got the manual monoprice 2x1 to work as a 1x2; i opened up the switch to verify that it should be the same going through forwards or backwards and one of the paths for each 2X side had a diode, so i shorted out the diode and it works fine now whether it's hooked up as a 2x1 or 1x2 (there were no other electronic components in the switch, not really sure why there was a diode in it, guess it's to make people buy a more expensive, powered, fancier splitter)

i shorted out the diode and it works fine now whether it's hooked up as a 2x1 or 1x2 (there were no other electronic components in the switch, not really sure why there was a diode in it, guess it's to make people buy a more expensive, powered, fancier splitter)
:eek:

You *hope* it was there for some reason like that!

So i got the manual monoprice 2x1 to work as a 1x2; i opened up the switch to verify that it should be the same going through forwards or backwards and one of the paths for each 2X side had a diode, so i shorted out the diode and it works fine now whether it's hooked up as a 2x1 or 1x2 (there were no other electronic components in the switch, not really sure why there was a diode in it, guess it's to make people buy a more expensive, powered, fancier splitter)

Glad you at least got a manual switch to work. Why don't they sell those?

Glad you at least got a manual switch to work. Why don't they sell those?
i dont think there is that much demand for a manual 1x2 switch, and i'm sure the make more money on the more expensive powered splitters

Wow; after being on version 1.87.16.1 since I got the 8300HD over a year ago, Cox OKC updated me to 1.89.18.1 last night. I only noticed because the box powered up on channel 1 this afternoon. I hadn't read this thread in so long, I didn't even know there was a 1.89 version. It sounds like it addresses several of the issues I had with 1.87.16.1. And after three 8300s that had various problems, I finally got a unit that works. Woo hoo!

Sean

I've made some minor updates to the features and bugs in 1.89 in the Tips-Part 2 post.

Wow; after being on version 1.87.16.1 since I got the 8300HD over a year ago, Cox OKC updated me to 1.89.18.1 last night. Sean

I beleive you have to be on 1.89 and greater for the March 11th Daylight Saving changes.

I beleive you have to be on 1.89 and greater for the March 11th Daylight Saving changes.That certainly seems to be the goal, but is there any doubt some cableco will drop the ball? :)

Incidently, folks getting updated to 1.89 might want to review the first/second posts for a list of changes in 1.88/1.89. Some cableco's skipped 1.88, but those changes still apply to 1.89. Also, don't forget to download the latest User's Guide from SAs website, it is up to date with 1.89.

That certainly seems to be the goal, but is there any doubt some cableco will drop the ball? :)
Well, I nominate Charter Cable in central Massachusetts as the cableco most likely to drop the ball and not update their boxes. We've been on 1.87.32.1 for a very long time, and when I tried calling about the upcoming DST issue, I was reassured that the head-end was already programmed properly for DST, and that the DVRs would continue to work correctly like they always have. :o

Well, I nominate Charter Cable in central Massachusetts as the cableco most likely to drop the ball and not update their boxes. We've been on 1.87.32.1 for a very long time, and when I tried calling about the upcoming DST issue, I was reassured that the head-end was already programmed properly for DST, and that the DVRs would continue to work correctly like they always have. :o
Did they say "work correctly as they always have" or just "work as they always have?" :)

I have my panny 600u hooked up to my 8300 via HDMI. Ist it true that with this hookup you cannot control the volume through the cable box? The cable volume inicator appears on the screen and shows incriment/decrement, however there is no sound adjustment. I can only control the volume via the "TV" button. Is this correct? Thx

I have my panny 600u hooked up to my 8300 via HDMI. Ist it true that with this hookup you cannot control the volume through the cable box? The cable volume inicator appears on the screen and shows incriment/decrement, however there is no sound adjustment. I can only control the volume via the "TV" button. Is this correct? Thx
The audio level is not adjustable on the box when sent via HDMI.

I've made some minor updates to the features and bugs in 1.89 in the Tips-Part 2 post.

Thanks Dave!

I wonder what the "High Resolution Screens" on 8300 look like? Oh well, I will probably be starting all over on Navigator by the time it is ready anyway...

xnappo

Thanks Dave!

I wonder what the "High Resolution Screens" on 8300 look like? Oh well, I will probably be starting all over on Navigator by the time it is ready anyway..Oops! I meant to leave that one out since no cableco that I know of is using that option and I didn't want to generate questions with no ready answers. I'm not even sure what it means, could just be support for newer interfaces. Perhaps that's why we haven't seen better graphics in the past and maybe there is hope for the future. I know Passport looks nicer, but it's still lo-res and 4:3, just cleaner fonts, etc.

The audio level is not adjustable on the box when sent via HDMI.

I can adjust the audio level on my box connect to a Hitachi TV. Not through the remote, but directly at the box using the volume keys.

I beleive you have to be on 1.89 and greater for the March 11th Daylight Saving changes.

I got an update this morning to 1.88.24.2 from 1.87.16.1 (Astound/Wave BB). When I noticed the box had been updated, I assumed that the update would have been to 1.89 to fix the DST issue, then I checked the version and found it was the 1.88...Hopefully the DST issue is fixed in my box, or they do another update to 1.89 before the March 11th change....

-- Rich

Thanks Dave!

I wonder what the "High Resolution Screens" on 8300 look like? Oh well, I will probably be starting all over on Navigator by the time it is ready anyway...

xnappo
They look just like the low resolution screens, just in higher resolution and still 4x3. To see examples of the high resolution screens, check out the explorer clubs "Getting started guide" linked at the start of the thread and compare to what you have on your screen. The difference is as big as comparing MS Excel in either 800x600 or 1024x768 on your PC or viewing this webpage at those resolutions. Just less jagged lines.

vegggas

The audio level is not adjustable on the box when sent via HDMI.
I can adjust the audio level on my box connect to a Hitachi TV. Not through the remote, but directly at the box using the volume keys.
Sounds like you have the analog audio outputs connected to your TV. To do what you are saying, the digital audio would have to be converted to 2 channel analog (like the Red and Black analog audio outputs), adjusted in the analog domain, and then converted to 2 channel PCM to the HDMI output. Not a feasable or ever proven method of ever being available in the current hardware.

vegggas

I was updated to 1.89.18.1 in the last week and we are seeing some serious errors - primarily if you go to a show that is supposed to be recording and try to rewind it (yes, sometimes the menu to ask play live or play from beginning doesnt pop up) and it kills the entire capture - the screen and audio is dark if you try to go to that channel until the capture time is over and as noted, it does not appear in the playlist when over either.

I am curious if 1.89.19.1 corrects this.

With WOW in Cleveland, and my 8300HD is still running 1.87. Can someone explain to me what will happen on 3/11 if the box is not updated to 1.89, and why the cable co merely changing the time on the box will not account for DST.

I got an update this morning to 1.88.24.2 from 1.87.16.1 (Astound/Wave BB). When I noticed the box had been updated, I assumed that the update would have been to 1.89 to fix the DST issue, then I checked the version and found it was the 1.88...Hopefully the DST issue is fixed in my box, or they do another update to 1.89 before the March 11th change....

-- Rich

Yeah we just got an update to 1.88.24.2 from 1.88.19.a2 which really seemed like a waste of an update since 1.89 is out there. The only difference I saw was that the "Guide" button goes automatically to the Guide and not to a menu where I have to press the select button to get into the guide.

I was updated to 1.89.18.1 in the last week and we are seeing some serious errors - primarily if you go to a show that is supposed to be recording and try to rewind it (yes, sometimes the menu to ask play live or play from beginning doesnt pop up) and it kills the entire capture - the screen and audio is dark if you try to go to that channel until the capture time is over and as noted, it does not appear in the playlist when over either.

I am curious if 1.89.19.1 corrects this.I don't know about 1.89.19.1, but I've had 1.89.18.1 for over a month now and I routinely join recordings in-progress by selecting them from the List. I have never had a problem and have always gotten the "Start from beginning" option. Since I always get that option, I have never run into the other part of your problem, but I assume it's related to the fact that for some reason what appears to be recording isn't. I assume you've tried a "hard" reboot (holding the Power button)?

Thanks for all the reading material!

Well, I nominate Charter Cable in central Massachusetts as the cableco most likely to drop the ball and not update their boxes. We've been on 1.87.32.1 for a very long time, and when I tried calling about the upcoming DST issue, I was reassured that the head-end was already programmed properly for DST, and that the DVRs would continue to work correctly like they always have. :o

Charter finally updated our SARA software to version 1.88.25.1 - after being on 1.87.32.1 for almost 2 years. I wonder if the DST "fix" works in 1.88.xx.x.

Charter finally updated our SARA software to version 1.88.25.1 - after being on 1.87.32.1 for almost 2 years. I wonder if the DST "fix" works in 1.88.xx.x.
Same here, a bit further west of Worcester.

I've noticed some positive changes in 1.88.25.1, including the fourth FF/rew speed and the ability to watch a recording in progress and not get kicked to live at completion of recording.

Charter finally updated our SARA software to version 1.88.25.1 - after being on 1.87.32.1 for almost 2 years. I wonder if the DST "fix" works in 1.88.xx.x.
Well, I'm in Westborough, so I suspect my box got the 1.88 code too (will check tonight).

Can anyone tell me how to get to the advanced settings screen (where I can set up for 480i pass through for example) on the 8300HD when the remote will not work? My local Comcast has decided to provide their own custom remotes, and the one feature that does not work is pressing "settings" twice. In fact, the button is not labeled "settings", it is "setup". Anyway, other than pressing info+guide on the box to get the rudamentary settings functions, I see no way to get into the menus without a remote that is completely compatible with the 8300.

Can anyone tell me how to get to the advanced settings screen (where I can set up for 480i pass through for example) on the 8300HD when the remote will not work? My local Comcast has decided to provide their own custom remotes, and the one feature that does not work is pressing "settings" twice. In fact, the button is not labeled "settings", it is "setup". Anyway, other than pressing info+guide on the box to get the rudamentary settings functions, I see no way to get into the menus without a remote that is completely compatible with the 8300.Use the "Setup Wizard". Check out page 9 of the manual here (http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/4003870.pdf).

Thanks cctvtech, I'll try again. It's still not obvious to me how I'll get into the "quick settings" menu without a "settings" button on my remote - like it says at the top of page 12. But I'll try to work through it again.

I just tested all 3 of the Bugs Remaining In 1.88.x.x that are listed in the Tips - Part 2 post and they appear to be fixed in 1.89. Here's what I did:

1. I reset my Power On option to Ch 721, INHD. I then turned the 8300 off and back on. It powered up to Ch 721 and was now in 1080i, not 480i.

2. My wife was watching Paula's Cooking when I got home from work, so I hit the Record button. I changed channels and tuned back to Paula's. I then rewound a few minutes and watched through to the end without getting Kicked Out To Live. I verified I was on Food Network and not in the buffer. Then, when I pressed the Live button, it took me a few minutes into Everyday Italian. I want to test this again by joining an actual recording in progress by tuning to the channel and rewinding all the way to the beginning, maybe later tonight.

3. I edited the Start time for my Season Pass for Ghost tonight and it saved the new time.

I've added notes to the Part 2 post. If anyone else with 1.89 can test and verify my results, I'd appreciate it.

My scheduled recordings are all fine for the upcoming week. However, for Sunday March 4, all of the programs that are scheduled during the week are listed again for that date. Has this happened to anyone else, or is it just me? I also posted this on 8300 problems board, curious as to whether it might be specifically a Cox LV problem.

Hask


Confirmed. I have the same issue, where about a dozen items are listed as being on 3/4, but not highlighed in the IPG. I think it might be an IPG issue not getting updated. On closer inspection, it looks like all the items listed for Sunday are set for recording NEW or FIRST RUN items, but all the episodes listed are re-runs. This would make them place holders of up to a week to keep your season pass active, but not record repeats.
DO NOT CHANGE OR MODIFY YOUR RECORDINGS SCHEDULES!! Let the IPG continue to update. If you check your upcoming scheduled recordings, you will notice that there is no info for recordings that won't happen, and they are all repeats.
I'm going to copy this to the main 8300 thread linked in my sig.
vegggas

Confirmed. I have the same issue, where about a dozen items are listed as being on 3/4, but not highlighed in the IPG. I think it might be an IPG issue not getting updated. On closer inspection, it looks like all the items listed for Sunday are set for recording NEW or FIRST RUN items, but all the episodes listed are re-runs. This would make them place holders of up to a week to keep your season pass active, but not record repeats.
DO NOT CHANGE OR MODIFY YOUR RECORDINGS SCHEDULES!! Let the IPG continue to update. If you check your upcoming scheduled recordings, you will notice that there is no info for recordings that won't happen, and they are all repeats.
I'm going to copy this to the main 8300 thread linked in my sig.
vegggasI've had the same thing (bunch of recordings scheduled for 3/4) AFTER the upgrade to 1.89.17.1. I also had a problem last week when I was on vacation - several programs did not record at all. I attributed that to my drives being almost full and initially thought that this 3/4 thing was related to not recording those programs - but I guess that it is some sort of placeholder the week before the daylight savings change.

My cable company (Atlantic Broadband in South Florida) just updated my 8300HD to SARA version 1.88.24.2. The first thing I noticed is that the box now defaults to 480i mode when turned on. I tried to set the Power On channel to a SD channel but my General Settings menu do not include a Viewer: Power On option. The only Viewer option I have is Set Favorites. Any thoughts?

Francisco

I hate to be a wet blanket. All my 3/4 shows appear to be accurate and correctly highlighted in the IPG, but maybe I don't understand what others are seeing. I use the First Run option almost exclusively, at least until 3/11 when some of my cablenet recordings will conflict with the network ones. Then I'll be using the new This Day/Time/Channel option. :)

My cable company (Atlantic Broadband in South Florida) just updated my 8300HD to SARA version 1.88.24.2. The first thing I noticed is that the box now defaults to 480i mode when turned on. I tried to set the Power On channel to a SD channel but my General Settings menu do not include a Viewer: Power On option. The only Viewer option I have is Set Favorites. Any thoughts?
It's a known issue that is fixed in 1.89. What happen when you turn it off/on if the last channel you were watching was an SD channel? What happens if you switch to an SD channel then back to an HD channel?

OK..I have been bouncing this around in a few other threads, but it appears this is a Comcast and/or SA 8300 issue, so...here goes:

I have a Comcast issued SA 8300

Issue #1 - After I moved to an HDMI cable (from my SA 8300 to the TV), I noticed that when switching from HD to SD channels, the picture shifts to the left and gets fuzzy. THe only way to correct it is to flip through the HDMI inputs or turn the TV off and then on. I flipped over to OTA and tried to switch from HD to SD. Guess what? No issue.

Issue #2 - No Optical Digital Audio when running off the SA 8300 through HDMI. When I flip to OTA, I get a digital feed for every channel.

Anyone have any ideas or is this typical commiecast/SA 8300 issues?

on 1.89, when I use HDMI:

Optical Audio out is 2 channel and not DD5.1 since my TV handshakes for accepting only 2 channel audio via HDMI. I can switch the 8300 to DD5.1 for optical audio, however the TV now gets no audio.

It's a known issue that is fixed in 1.89. What happen when you turn it off/on if the last channel you were watching was an SD channel? What happens if you switch to an SD channel then back to an HD channel?

Yes, I saw it on the FAQ that it was a known bug. However, the FAQ suggests setting the PowerOn option to an SD channel, but fails to mention that such an option does not exist.

If the last channel I watched before turning it off was SD then everything is OK. Also OK if I switch back and forth.

Francisco

I just woke up to SARA 1.89.17. My 8300 is HDMI to my Yamaha 2600 to my Sony SXRD. I have read before about the HDCP issue that presents in 1.89.xx which I did NOT have before, ie the screen blacks/blanks out every few seconds. Has there been any talk about this issue, other than its existance? Is there anything I can do (short of going to componant, Wii & Xbox360 have used up my RGB inputs!). I really hate the concept of an "upgrade" that takes away my functionality. Please help!

I am in the Tampa Bay area, on Brighthouse Networks Cable.

An update to my previous postings on making Anamorphic DVD's from HD recordings from the 8300HD:

With version 1.88.xx.xx I had found that the box would not stay in the SD mode reliably. My solution was to do a hard reboot after putting the box in the SD mode. Further, I needed to do a hard reboot again, after setting the box back to HD in order to keep the box from dropping back into the SD mode after the overnight power down.

I've just made some Anamorphic DVDs with 1.89.xx.xx and found that I no longer need to do the hard reboot.

Dave (DoubleDAZ), you might want to update your section in your post to reflect that the hard reboot steps are not needed for 1.89.xx.xx (and probably later revisions).

OK..I have been bouncing this around in a few other threads, but it appears this is a Comcast and/or SA 8300 issue, so...here goes:

I have a Comcast issued SA 8300

Issue #1 - After I moved to an HDMI cable (from my SA 8300 to the TV), I noticed that when switching from HD to SD channels, the picture shifts to the left and gets fuzzy. THe only way to correct it is to flip through the HDMI inputs or turn the TV off and then on. I flipped over to OTA and tried to switch from HD to SD. Guess what? No issue.

Issue #2 - No Optical Digital Audio when running off the SA 8300 through HDMI. When I flip to OTA, I get a digital feed for every channel.

Anyone have any ideas or is this typical commiecast/SA 8300 issues?

I've had issue #1 since we were upgraded to SARA 1.88.25.1. I didn't have it when we were at 1.87.23.1. I posted this earlier in this thread, but got no response. Currently I have no other solutions than what you've described.

I'm hoping that maybe it will be corrected in 1.89, but there doesn't appear to be many of us that are experiencing the problem, so it may not have been a known issue to correct.

I don't know enough about HD or HDMI to know what's actually happening, but I just tried component cables and there is no issue with them. The SD picture remains clear and centered.

Yes, I saw it on the FAQ that it was a known bug. However, the FAQ suggests setting the PowerOn option to an SD channel, but fails to mention that such an option does not exist.The option does exist, it just hasn't been enabled by your cableco. I'm sorry I'm not privy to every option a given cableco doesn't choose to enable for it's subs. Obviously, every option is at the discretion of the cableco, so I suggest you give them a call and find someone who can enable that option for you.

I just woke up to SARA 1.89.17. My 8300 is HDMI to my Yamaha 2600 to my Sony SXRD. I have read before about the HDCP issue that presents in 1.89.xx which I did NOT have before, ie the screen blacks/blanks out every few seconds. Has there been any talk about this issue, other than its existance? Is there anything I can do (short of going to componant, Wii & Xbox360 have used up my RGB inputs!). I really hate the concept of an "upgrade" that takes away my functionality. Please help!

I am in the Tampa Bay area, on Brighthouse Networks Cable.

After our update in Hawaii my screen was doing the same thing. I rebooted everything and once it handshaked it has been fine all these weeks since. I was worried there until I did the reboot.

on 1.89, when I use HDMI:

Optical Audio out is 2 channel and not DD5.1 since my TV handshakes for accepting only 2 channel audio via HDMI. I can switch the 8300 to DD5.1 for optical audio, however the TV now gets no audio.

I have lived with this since the day I got our DVR two years ago. I was hoping a future update would allow independence of the audio setting when using HDMI.

I am still hoping. Most any cheap DVD player has no problem with this, certainly it can't be such a huge hurdle.

The option does exist, it just hasn't been enabled by your cableco. I'm sorry I'm not privy to every option a given cableco doesn't choose to enable for it's subs. Obviously, every option is at the discretion of the cableco, so I suggest you give them a call and find someone who can enable that option for you.

Sorry for my ignorance. I had no idea the cableco could pick and choose the options. I thought it was just built in the software. Thanks for the clarification.

Sorry for my ignorance. I had no idea the cableco could pick and choose the options. I thought it was just built in the software. Thanks for the clarification.
Evidently, there are "user preferences" - with the cable company being the "user" - similar to user preferences on, say, a browser or image editing software. Nothing changed on my box, but after our cableco was bought <poof> there went my ability to predetermine what the Turn On Channel was. Stooopid Comcast and their "in house" channel. No offense, but I feel like I'm locked into the local community cable access channel.

After our update in Hawaii my screen was doing the same thing. I rebooted everything and once it handshaked it has been fine all these weeks since. I was worried there until I did the reboot.

I had a power failure during the day, so my box had rebooted (at least in "that" way), and when I got home and fired it all up the issue was gone.... For about 45mins, then it returned, seemingly worse. I will attempt a hard reboot tonite. I have already switched to component cable and am sure it does not look as good as HDMI. I will certainly give HDMI another shot, Thanks

Sorry for my ignorance. I had no idea the cableco could pick and choose the options. I thought it was just built in the software. Thanks for the clarification.BTW, I meant to add a Smiley to that. :)

I guess since I mention the option in the first place, you would have known it does exist and there was a reason you weren't seeing it. We've had a number of discussions here about contacting the cableco when an option is missing. Oftentimes, they don't even know what the various options allow users to do and we have to educate them.

I beleive you have to be on 1.89 and greater for the March 11th Daylight Saving changes.I don't think the quoted statement is correct. Houston Comcast/TWC system updated the SARA firmware from 1.88.22.1 to 1.88.25.1 on Tuesday 2-27-07. I think the only changes were for the Daylight Saving Time fix. It doesn't have any of the features or bug fixes for 1.89.x.x.

Hi. I hope this is the right thread to come for this question.

I'm on Cablevision out of Long Island with the 8300HD STB. I'm subscribed to about the half of channels and the rest of the channels says "not authorized" Is there any way to delete these channels from the list so that when I scroll thru they are skipped. I tried blocking them but that just disable the picture/audio. Is this a function o the box or the cable provider?

Thanks
Fred

You can't remove the channels from the guide.

Hi. I hope this is the right thread to come for this question.

I'm on Cablevision out of Long Island with the 8300HD STB. I'm subscribed to about the half of channels and the rest of the channels says "not authorized" Is there any way to delete these channels from the list so that when I scroll thru they are skipped. I tried blocking them but that just disable the picture/audio. Is this a function o the box or the cable provider?

Thanks
Fred
You can create a 'favorites' list, but it will not remove them from the guide listing. Then use the favorite button on the remote to cycle through only those channels.

You can create a 'favorites' list, but it will not remove them from the guide listing. Then use the favorite button on the remote to cycle through only those channels.

Thanks. That's too bad. Favorites is good except that you can't go backward. I thought a feature like this would be there.

Hi. I hope this is the right thread to come for this question.

I'm on Cablevision out of Long Island with the 8300HD STB. I'm subscribed to about the half of channels and the rest of the channels says "not authorized" Is there any way to delete these channels from the list so that when I scroll thru they are skipped. I tried blocking them but that just disable the picture/audio. Is this a function o the box or the cable provider?

Thanks
Fred

I too am a Cablevision sub. When I scan channels using channel up and down on my digital boxes I only see channels I am subscribed to. The only time I get unauthorized messages is if I punch in a channel number I don't subscribe to.

Just got a Sharp 42D62U and have the 480i issue, with HD channels. My 8300HD updated last night to 1.88.25, hopefully I'll get 1.89 soon. I tried the work around for SD channels and it seemed to work on 1.88.19 but now whenever I shut it off nothing works to reset it beyond the info/guide settings and just going through and just reaccepting what is already there, then it works.

I'm on Comcast in Mass on the Cape and didnt know if anyone else was experiencing the 8300 not saving it at all now.

It would be a pain to have to do setup each time I go to watch TV. Yes, the set to SD on power up and switching to an SD channel and then to HD doesnt work.. it boots to 480i and never leaves unless I do info/guide setup.

Thanks.

BTW, I meant to add a Smiley to that. :)

I guess since I mention the option in the first place, you would have known it does exist and there was a reason you weren't seeing it. We've had a number of discussions here about contacting the cableco when an option is missing. Oftentimes, they don't even know what the various options allow users to do and we have to educate them.

Sorry again. When I said the option didn't exist I meant to say it didn't exist in my box; I really should have said that the option was not activated.

In any case, I contacted the headend manager of my cableco and after several attempts he could not activate that option. He gave me a sob story about it being some sort of unchangeable global setting and finally promised me he would just upgrade to 1.89 as soon as possible. I'll believe it when I see it...

All the best,

Francisco

Well, that is just a bunch of BS. If that were true, none of us would have the option and we've had it since at least 1.85. I hope he doesn't give you that same excuse after loading 1.89. I suppose there could be something that makes it difficult to enable the option without re-releasing the software, but even that is doubtful. Don't let him snow you again after 1.89. On the bright side, at least he knew what you were talking about, right? :)

Individual options are global for the system location, and not individually set. Many cable co's are starting to remove the power on channel option in favor of forcing their On Demand or Info channel to customers. In addition, they are also starting to enforce the power down options so that it will power on to the desired channel.

vegggas

I don't think this is common knowledge, but it could save many users a lot of grief.
Most STB's that have failed can be revived by a total reset by the user, depending on the failure type. Instead of replacing the STB and losing your shows, try this trick as a last (or first) resort. This is known to reset a STB that is no longer displaying Video, unable to lock on to one or both of the tuners, unable to read off the Hard Drive, or a STB no longer able to get a download (display counting or hunting).

If the hard reboot does not clear the issues, a complete reset can be done by removing power and all connections for an extended amount of time. This means that you have to remove the power cable, the Coax cable(s), the eSATA cable, everything, etc (just like you were going to remove it) so that it can fully discharge all the capacitors and memory in the unit. This can take anywhere from 4 - 24 hours (although it MIGHT work in less than 30Min), so pick a time that you are not going to be using the STB, like overnight and while you are at work - The longer, the better.
After leaving it discnnected overnight, repower it (don't turn it on) with just the basic connections (no eSATA) and let it sit until it gets a full download, which could take a long time. The basic OS download should be complete once you see the time, or the dot appear (depending on your settings) on the front panel within 3 - 7 minutes. The IPG may take up to an hour, but the unit could be turned on at this point. If it works, unpower the unit and reconnect as normal and consider yourself lucky that you didn't have to swap it out.
BTW, leaving the unit off while repowering and downloading is always a good idea and should be done whenver you may reboot the unit. Powering on while downloading the OS can result in early fragmentation of memory and erratic results.

vegggas

edit - I had done this a few years ago, but not recently, until the DST update that went out for all STB's - This is a major reason that cable co's don't like to send too many updates as 1% of boxes are expected to need to be replaced due to corrupted downloads, etc.
For personal results, I have revived two of my STB's in thte last month. One STB died after the cable co pushed the DST update. It was in constant "Hunt" mode and counting up every morning, and would not get any updates to teh IPG and eventually became unusable. Total reset cleared the corrupted download and it now works.
The other STB was my 8300HD DVR with eSATA that lost both tuners and could not get an IP address. The STB would power up to blank channels and remain unconfigured an unusable. After two days of short term attempts at resetting and redownloading, I completely disconnected and let it sit overnight and while I went to work. Returned home and repowered and waited for a download, which took about 20 minutes until the time reappeared, then powered it on and it worked.
good luck
v

Individual options are global for the system location, and not individually set. Many cable co's are starting to remove the power on channel option in favor of forcing their On Demand or Info channel to customers. In addition, they are also starting to enforce the power down options so that it will power on to the desired channel.

vegggas
Mine, Comcast, has forced CN8 on us. This is their in-house channel, but seems more like the local community cable access channel in terms of production values. And content. :mad:

With some electronics....pressing and holding the on/off button, while the machine is unplugged, will drain the residual charge and hurry the process.

Worth a try.

I too am a Cablevision sub. When I scan channels using channel up and down on my digital boxes I only see channels I am subscribed to. The only time I get unauthorized messages is if I punch in a channel number I don't subscribe to.

Really? On my system 737 is TNTHD. When I press my channel up I get 744 STARZHD which I don't subscribe. Of course the picture doesn't show but the channel is there. I can keep going up the channel list and tune to

744 UHD which I get picture
750 HBOHD (no pic)
760 SHOWHD (no pic)
770 MAXHD (no pic)
780 TMCHD( no pic)

same is true for lower non-HD channels as well. Maybe I should call CV.

I don't think this is common knowledge, but it could save many users a lot of grief...........I suppose you'd like me to add this to the first post. ;)

EDIT: Done!

Really? On my system 737 is TNTHD. When I press my channel up I get 744 STARZHD which I don't subscribe. Of course the picture doesn't show but the channel is there. I can keep going up the channel list and tune to

744 UHD which I get picture
750 HBOHD (no pic)
760 SHOWHD (no pic)
770 MAXHD (no pic)
780 TMCHD( no pic)

same is true for lower non-HD channels as well. Maybe I should call CV.

I have Silver so I don't get SHO, MAX or TMC and both my SA8300HD and my SA4250HD skip them.

I have Silver so I don't get SHO, MAX or TMC and both my SA8300HD and my SA4250HD skip them.

I have only basic iO and don't get any premium channels either but my channel buttons scroll through them. I guess I'll call CV and see what's up. Thanks for your feedback.

Fred

Well, that is just a bunch of BS. If that were true, none of us would have the option and we've had it since at least 1.85. I hope he doesn't give you that same excuse after loading 1.89. I suppose there could be something that makes it difficult to enable the option without re-releasing the software, but even that is doubtful. Don't let him snow you again after 1.89. On the bright side, at least he knew what you were talking about, right? :)

Individual options are global for the system location, and not individually set. Many cable co's are starting to remove the power on channel option in favor of forcing their On Demand or Info channel to customers. In addition, they are also starting to enforce the power down options so that it will power on to the desired channel.

Well, I guess that settles it. Anyway, if my cableco updates the box to 1.89 the PowerOn option will be less relevant since the 480i issue will no longer be an issue, right?

Thanks all,

Francisco

OK..I have been bouncing this around in a few other threads, but it appears this is a Comcast and/or SA 8300 issue, so...here goes:

I have a Comcast issued SA 8300

Issue #1 - After I moved to an HDMI cable (from my SA 8300 to the TV), I noticed that when switching from HD to SD channels, the picture shifts to the left and gets fuzzy. THe only way to correct it is to flip through the HDMI inputs or turn the TV off and then on. I flipped over to OTA and tried to switch from HD to SD. Guess what? No issue.

Anyone have any ideas or is this typical commiecast/SA 8300 issues?

OK...Comcast replaced my box, but it didn't fix the issue. I called my TV maker who said that there have been many reports of this, but only with their 1080p tvs(of course that's what I bought). Anyhoo, I was told that the box doesn't know how to handshake with the newer technology yet and my only options are to cycle through the inputs on my tv to force a new handshake, or go back to compnent video. Anyone know if this might be fixed in an upcoming SARA release?

just fyi, looks like TWC (formerly adelphia) in the Cleveland/Akron area pushed 1.88 to all of the 8300HD boxes FINALLY. Now I can use HDMI into my Onkyo 674 with NO PROBLEMS!

caf,

I don't recall if you mentioned what release you had, but there is supposedly quite a bit in 1.89.x.x that deals with HDMI, though I don't know if it will solve your problem. What release do you have? 1.88.x.x?

OK...Comcast replaced my box, but it didn't fix the issue. I called my TV maker who said that there have been many reports of this, but only with their 1080p tvs(of course that's what I bought). Anyhoo, I was told that the box doesn't know how to handshake with the newer technology yet and my only options are to cycle through the inputs on my tv to force a new handshake, or go back to compnent video. Anyone know if this might be fixed in an upcoming SARA release?

Just wanted to mention that mine's only 1080i, but has the same issue.

Comcast, formerly Adelphia on Cape Cod, MA.. just pushed us to 1.88.25 .. I really want 1.89 though. It seems like the box forgets about HDMI and doesnt save each time my tv is actually turned off and no longer sending HDMI handshake info? maybe.

I have to go through info/guide setup each time I want to watch tv. I've heard people have limited sucess doing a hard reset after the setup and also having component cables plugged in before HDMI.. should I go get a component cable? (only using HDMI and DVI-HDMI stuff with the new set) .. or is this just a bug? or am I maybe stupid and doing something wrong?

caf,

I don't recall if you mentioned what release you had, but there is supposedly quite a bit in 1.89.x.x that deals with HDMI, though I don't know if it will solve your problem. What release do you have? 1.88.x.x?


1.88.25.2 However, looking at the release fixes in the begining of this thread, I am not to hopeful that 1.89.xx will fix it. I may be moving back to component video this weekend.

The release notes at the beginning of the thread are just that, notes. They do not begin to list every change that is included in a release and I know of no way to get a full list to make available to the public.

This is starting to really anger me, I seem to have a problem where just about every recording is stopped early, it has happened on 5 of the last 6 shows I've tried to record.
Last night I tried to record the black donnellys and only got the first 48 min, and it has happened with movies from HBO, Hockey games on FSNHD, most anything, I can't predict it and it's getting really old playing did I get the show or not.
Does anyone have any ideas on what could be happening

This is really strange regarding the recording problems. I have SARA 1.88; got the box in December when I moved over to Comcast. I have never, ever, had one messed up recording with the box (knock on wood).

If the software and hardware are the same or can some boxes mess up while other do not? Could the Guide Data actually screwing it up?

wingzz,

Try the hard reboot mentioned in the first post. Let us know if that does/doesn't help. Also, let us know what software version you have.

DoubleDaz a hard reboot might not help wingzz problem if the guide info he's getting from his cable provider isnt accurate. I've had it happen before myself. Not that badly though, and I forgot about the Black Donnellys last night so I cant tell if I had the same problem.

My experience has been that when the box gets pushed new updates to the guide some shows arent entirely accurate. Thats what happens when the DVR thinks its going to record an episode of Heroes on Friday night when you know it isnt on.. or when you get 1hr 3min shows like Lost does.

The Networks for about a year now have been messing with there start and end times in an effort to pwn people with Tivos and other DVRs starting shows a minute after the hour and ending them a minute after the hour.

It's been a tactic for years, heck TBS used to start almost all its shows at 5mins past the hour just to lock you in.. so once you were done watching the show, if you changed the channel, oh look you missed the first 5 mins of it, so they'd be more likely to continue watching TBS.

This is starting to really anger me, I seem to have a problem where just about every recording is stopped early, it has happened on 5 of the last 6 shows I've tried to record.
Last night I tried to record the black donnellys and only got the first 48 min, and it has happened with movies from HBO, Hockey games on FSNHD, most anything, I can't predict it and it's getting really old playing did I get the show or not.
Does anyone have any ideas on what could be happeningThis problem seems to periodically show up. It seems to affect some channels more than others. I've complained about it a lot to someone deep inside out local cable company (TW) and was told that it is a "well known" (to Scientific Atlanta) bug that relates to a certain chip in some of the older SA8300HDs. I've never wanted to exchange my box because I'll loose both the recordings on the box and those on my external hard drive. Last fall I was told that the next software release (for DST) will have the fix. We've now had this release for about a month and the problem has not shown up.

I agree with the suggestion for a Hard Reboot - though I've found that the problem did occur for me after I did that.

Do you have version 1.89.xx.xx yet? (Should have it by now).

BTW: I just checked my recordings for the last few days (including last night "Black Donneleys") and don't have any short recordings.

Comcast has been slow to update former Adelphia customers, we just got 1.88.25 last last week .. I want 1.89.. argh.

I did try the hard boot (This thread has been a Saviour in that regard ) and the software version is 1.88.22, I think WOW is really slow in updating us
Will we be getting 1.89 before DST ???

This is really strange regarding the recording problems. I have SARA 1.88; got the box in December when I moved over to Comcast. I have never, ever, had one messed up recording with the box (knock on wood).

If the software and hardware are the same or can some boxes mess up while other do not? Could the Guide Data actually screwing it up?Yes, some boxes can mess up while others do not even with the same software and hardware. Within a cable system, many of the boxes have the same software and hardware and only some of the boxes have significant recording problems. I think one problem is a signal that is not in the correct range, check the first 2 posts to diagnose this.

If the guide data is wrong, the box will only record from the start time to the end time. I don't think the guide data would be that wrong to cause so many recordings to stop early. It should be easy to compare the guide data for new recordings and see if that is the problem.

I had an interesting experience last night with the recording of 24.... the recording was split into 4 parts.... 34 mins, 16 mins, 8 mins and 1 min...... it was all there... at least most of it... a few seconds were lost between each recording.... there was plenty of space left, was only at about 75% usage....

anyone else had this happen to them?

Rogers cable in toronto SARA ver 1.89.xx

Don

I did try the hard boot (This thread has been a Saviour in that regard ) and the software version is 1.88.22, I think WOW is really slow in updating us
Will we be getting 1.89 before DST ???You should get an update with the DST fix. It might be 1.89.x.x or one of the later 1.88.x.x updates.
Click here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9907612&&#post9907612) to go to my earlier post about this. If you get one of the later 1.88.x.x updates, it might be a while before your cable company releases 1.89.x.x.

DoubleDaz a hard reboot might not help wingzz problem if the guide info he's getting from his cable provider isnt accurate. I've had it happen before myself. Not that badly though, and I forgot about the Black Donnellys last night so I cant tell if I had the same problem.I've been around the block a time or 2 ;) and know all about the start/end time tactics, but there has never, to my knowledge, been an IPG error that accounted for the significantly shortened recordings discussed by the OP. As you've no doubt read in subsequent posts, this is a recurring problem for some boxes, nothing related to the IPG at all. The OP wasn't talking about the 1-3 minute offsets for Lost, ER, and other programs. Short of returning the unit, a hard reboot can sometimes clear the problem, at least for awhile.

I had an interesting experience last night with the recording of 24.... the recording was split into 4 parts.... 34 mins, 16 mins, 8 mins and 1 min...... it was all there... at least most of it... a few seconds were lost between each recording.... there was plenty of space left, was only at about 75% usage....

anyone else had this happen to them?

Rogers cable in toronto SARA ver 1.89.xx

Don

This can happen if the box's recording is interferred with during a scheduled recording. This can occur if 1) power is interrupted (power spikes), or 2) cable broadcast is interrupted.

This is normal for those two conditions and shouldn't be anything to worry about unless you start noticing it happening a lot. This could mean a bad connection or electrical problems.

I had an interesting experience last night with the recording of 24.... the recording was split into 4 parts.... 34 mins, 16 mins, 8 mins and 1 min...... it was all there... at least most of it... a few seconds were lost between each recording.... there was plenty of space left, was only at about 75% usage....

anyone else had this happen to them?

Rogers cable in toronto SARA ver 1.89.xx

DonYes, on Feb. 26th, my recording of "24" was split into two parts--51 minutes and 10 minutes. The break occurred at a commercial, so I didn't lose any of the story. I have had the same or similar problems with other shows that I have deleted, so don't know the dates or titles for those.

Additionally, last night's recording of "The Black Donnellys" got only the first 3 minutes! Today, HDNet had nothing but a black screen. I decided to leave it tuned to see if it would ever show the program scheduled for 4pm CST. Toward the end of the program, I got flickers of severely macro-blocked programming, so I did a hard reboot (which took 8 minutes) and was just in time to catch Solomon Burke's performance of "When the Saints Go Marching In"--the last song in the hour-long concert.

I had been having some minor, intermittent audio and video glitches, and the reboot seems to have fixed those problems as well. Also, on Sunday, March 4th, I got my first full recording of "Autoline Detroit" on the Speed Channel--which is one of TWC's switched channels here in Austin. There are known issues with tuning the switched channels from the program guide, and it is possible that TWC had fixed that issue already. In any event, these most recent problems for me (and I do have the latest upgrade for SARA in Austin) seem to be fixed by rebooting. It is unfortunate that we have to lose some of our programming before we realize that a reboot is in order.

Scarlett

I had an interesting experience last night with the recording of 24.... the recording was split into 4 parts.... 34 mins, 16 mins, 8 mins and 1 min...... it was all there... at least most of it... a few seconds were lost between each recording.... there was plenty of space left, was only at about 75% usage....

anyone else had this happen to them?

Rogers cable in toronto SARA ver 1.89.xx

Don

We have seen this problem on our local Fox affiliate every once in a while for the last three years. It seems something in the commercial transition causes the breakups. It hasn't been too bad this year, only happened a few times and it isn't too bad since it is always during commercials.

xnappo

This problem seems to periodically show up. It seems to affect some channels more than others. I've complained about it a lot to someone deep inside out local cable company (TW) and was told that it is a "well known" (to Scientific Atlanta) bug that relates to a certain chip in some of the older SA8300HDs. I've never wanted to exchange my box because I'll loose both the recordings on the box and those on my external hard drive. Last fall I was told that the next software release (for DST) will have the fix. We've now had this release for about a month and the problem has not shown up.

I agree with the suggestion for a Hard Reboot - though I've found that the problem did occur for me after I did that.

Do you have version 1.89.xx.xx yet? (Should have it by now).

BTW: I just checked my recordings for the last few days (including last night "Black Donneleys") and don't have any short recordings.Dave, I've got the 1.89.xx.xx update, and I am still getting truncated recordings, as well as split recordings. I have a very new (Dec. 2006) SA8300HD build, so I don't know if the "chip" can be blamed for the problem, and the upgrade to 1.89.xx.xx has not fixed it for me, so.....

When the hard reboots quit working, I guess I will be forced to trade the box for the 4th time! I am amazed by those of you who have had their 8300's for years. Six months is the most I have managed on any one box so far. :)

Scarlett

We have seen this problem on our local Fox affiliate every once in a while for the last three years. It seems something in the commercial transition causes the breakups. It hasn't been too bad this year, only happened a few times and it isn't too bad since it is always during commercials.

xnappo

The picture was not the best with a lot of digital breakups and, here in Toronto, the show is "re-broadcast"? (same channel just the Global feed) by Global TV..... all the commercials are local... also it is sent as 1080i not 720p as it is on FOX.

So I guess that it probably because of all the screwing around with the signal and the insertion of local commercials......

Just wish they would leave things alone and let me watch with out any problems....

Thanks for all the responses...

Don

Dave, I've got the 1.89.xx.xx update, and I am still getting truncated recordings, as well as split recordings. I have a very new (Dec. 2006) SA8300HD build, so I don't know if the "chip" can be blamed for the problem, and the upgrade to 1.89.xx.xx has not fixed it for me, so.....

When the hard reboots quit working, I guess I will be forced to trade the box for the 4th time! I am amazed by those of you who have had their 8300's for years. Six months is the most I have managed on any one box so far. :)

Scarlett
Scarlett,

Something else about this problem: it seems to more often be reported by those with external drives than those without (I am also one of the early ones with a 250GB Maxtor). I've heard a few report it who didn't have drives - so it isn't JUST that.

I don't completely trust what TW is telling me (I wonder why :rolleyes: ), so I have been a bit skeptical about the new version fixing it.

The problem for me seems to rear its head every 2-3 months and persists for a couple of weeks. So the fact that I have not seen it lately may be more related to a normal "quiet" period than it really being fixed.

Dave, I've got the 1.89.xx.xx update, and I am still getting truncated recordings, as well as split recordings. I have a very new (Dec. 2006) SA8300HD build, so I don't know if the "chip" can be blamed for the problem, and the upgrade to 1.89.xx.xx has not fixed it for me, so.....

When the hard reboots quit working, I guess I will be forced to trade the box for the 4th time! I am amazed by those of you who have had their 8300's for years. Six months is the most I have managed on any one box so far. :)

Scarlett
Scarlett - are you only getting split recordings on Fox during commercial breaks?

xnappo

Scarlett - are you only getting split recordings on Fox during commercial breaks?

xnappoYes--so far. I was interested to read your earlier post about this. Makes me a little less "nervous" about the "24" recordings. :)

Scarlett

DoubleDaz a hard reboot might not help wingzz problem if the guide info he's getting from his cable provider isnt accurate. I've had it happen before myself. Not that badly though, and I forgot about the Black Donnellys last night so I cant tell if I had the same problem.

My experience has been that when the box gets pushed new updates to the guide some shows arent entirely accurate. Thats what happens when the DVR thinks its going to record an episode of Heroes on Friday night when you know it isnt on.. or when you get 1hr 3min shows like Lost does.

The Networks for about a year now have been messing with there start and end times in an effort to pwn people with Tivos and other DVRs starting shows a minute after the hour and ending them a minute after the hour.

It's been a tactic for years, heck TBS used to start almost all its shows at 5mins past the hour just to lock you in.. so once you were done watching the show, if you changed the channel, oh look you missed the first 5 mins of it, so they'd be more likely to continue watching TBS.There are a couple of reasons the guide may highlight the wrong show. The first reason is SARA's use of place holders which is explained in the first post "Place-Holders For Future Recordings (1.88.x.x)" section and in this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9695623&&#post9695623) for 1.89.x.x. You can tell it is a placeholder because the description will be blank. For placeholders, it is best to leave them alone. They don't conflict with scheduling other recordings. The second reason is if there has been a change in the IPG data. For instance, if you have a program scheduled for "First Run only on this channel" and the IPG has the program listed and then the program is cancelled and the IPG changes it later in the week to another program. The new program may be incorrectly highlighted. In this case, it would be best to cancel the recording and reschedule it.

I had been having some minor, intermittent audio and video glitches, and the reboot seems to have fixed those problems as well.

This brings to mind, I tend to get intermittent audio drop outs when recording, I dont notice it much on live tv but it happens. Where the audio goes from dolby digital to pro logic for a split second and there is no audio.

At first I thought it was an issue with my receiver. But it happens through HDMI on my tv as well during the same point.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? I've also had bad luck with the signal on my local fox affiliate through Comcast, 24 last night had a lot of video hiccups which is the first time I've seen it in a while having the box.

This is starting to really anger me, I seem to have a problem where just about every recording is stopped early, it has happened on 5 of the last 6 shows I've tried to record.
Last night I tried to record the black donnellys and only got the first 48 min, and it has happened with movies from HBO, Hockey games on FSNHD, most anything, I can't predict it and it's getting really old playing did I get the show or not.
Does anyone have any ideas on what could be happening
Wingzz-

I had a similar problem, although not that severe; about 1 recording a week was short. I tried everything that was suggested to me here, called my cable provider, and finally swapped the box out for another. That box also did the same thing, so the cable company checked my signal levels, but everything looked fine. I swapped boxes again, and still had the same issues. They sent a guy out to the house, but he didn't find anything wrong. He brought another box, and that one has worked fine for several months now. All the boxes appeared brand new. I didn't keep track of serial numbers to see if this one was a newer build than the others, but they all were the same SW version. Edit: no external drive.

Sean

Wingzz-

I had a similar problem, although not that severe; about 1 recording a week was short. I tried everything that was suggested to me here, called my cable provider, and finally swapped the box out for another. That box also did the same thing, so the cable company checked my signal levels, but everything looked fine. I swapped boxes again, and still had the same issues. They sent a guy out to the house, but he didn't find anything wrong. He brought another box, and that one has worked fine for several months now. All the boxes appeared brand new. I didn't keep track of serial numbers to see if this one was a newer build than the others, but they all were the same SW version. Edit: no external drive.

Sean

I am using an external drive but I can't see why that would cause the early endings

I have a theory on early recordings. This has happened to me more than once but not very often. Its usually the same channels. I am wondering if during the recording the signal level takes slight drop. Not a long drop that you would notice if you were watching live just a small and short drop. The box sees this drop and stops the recording. The software doesn't seem robust enough to see if the signal rises, it just stops the recording. But its just my theory. That way the signal levels look fine any other time, but once in a while they dip for just a second.

C_Z,

That theory has been offered in the distant past (maybe even by you :) )and it seems to be more likely than anything else so far. These short recordings, especially the mulitple ones, are not much different than if your power goes out and comes back on. You generally end up with 2 recordings, missing the portion where the power was out. Some units could be a little more touchy about level drops, etc., or there could simply be noise or something on the line causing the problem. I watch my levels periodically just to see if they move, etc., but I have had the same unit since day one and never had a short recording. I have had mulitples, but that was because of software updates and 2 short power outages over 2 years+.

Yes--so far. I was interested to read your earlier post about this. Makes me a little less "nervous" about the "24" recordings. :)

Scarlett

If you look through our local maillist, you will see this has been happening for years on Fox off and on. It is weird though - it seems to always happen in the spring and clear up by summer?!

xnappo

Can someone tell me the procedure for finding out what version # my SA8300 HD DVR has?

I'm a Cablevision subscriber.

Thanks,
---Jerry---

Daz,
Yes I may have offered it up at one time. Whats weird is that I don't get 2 recordings but 1 short one. If I were to reboot the box during a recording it will make a second one, which is weird. I have had times where I was watching a movie on HDnet and tried to record and it would lock up the box. I didn't investigate the levels though. I wonder if there are different level requirements for watching vs. recording?

Can someone tell me the procedure for finding out what version # my SA8300 HD DVR has?

I'm a Cablevision subscriber.

Thanks,
---Jerry---

From Post #2:

If you have SARA:

Diagnostics
Diagnostic Mode. There are two ways to enter the Diagnostic Mode:
Press and hold the Select button on the front of the unit until the Mail light starts to flash, then press the INFO button.
Press and hold the Pause button on the remote until the Mail light starts to flash (around 10-15 seconds), then press the Page Up (-) button. On some remotes, the Page (+) button might need to be used instead.

Disappearing Diagnostic Window. Enter the Diagnostic Mode (see above item). While in this mode you can change the transparency of the screens by pressing the Select button on the front of the box or the "B" button on the remote. It goes from 100% opaque to about 50% opaque to about 5% opaque. You can then use the Page Up/Down button on the remote to cycle through screens. This is useful when changing channels, noting signal levels/PQ, or trying to see levels fluctuate as glitches occur.

Finding SARA Software Version. Enter Diagnostic Mode (see above item) and scroll through the screens until you find the one entitled "Software Versions". The version number will be in a format similar to 1.85.14.3. Also, there are a number of different naming conventions being used and only one is really accurate in the sense that the PTV OS version number can differentiate SARA versions across platforms. For example, both the SA8000HD and SA8300HD run SARA 1.89.18.1. However, the SA8000HD runs PTV OS 6.12.18.1 whereas the SA8300HD runs PTV OS 6.14.81.1. This probably doesn't mean much in the big scheme of things and is offered only for information when viewing the diagnostics screens.

Belcherwm,

Thanks you for the information and the speedy reply.

Seems involved but will give it a whirl.
---Jerry---

OK, either I'm losing my mind (distinct possibility) or something is very different about the software version information on my 8300HD all of the sudden. Was running SARA 1.88 and just tried to check to see if I had 1.89 yet. What I see on the "Software Versions" page does not jive with anything I know about what I should be seeing.
Can someone straighten me out, or tell me what I'm seeing here, if I am in fact looking in the right place? See screen shot below....
Screen Shot (http://home.sc.rr.com/szurlo/graphics/IMG_4741.jpg)

szurlo
On my page 3 of diagnostic mode my software version reads as follows:

PTV OS: OS, Home Server Edition 1.8
FLASH: 1.88.24.2
App(s): Sara 1.88.24.2

Not sure what yours would mean??

The only thing I can think is that its not running SARA anymore and running Compass? which I havent heard of?

What cable provider/location are you szurlo because I've yet to see anything resembling yours.

Question for you all.
My cableco just in the past week or two upgraded us to Sara 1.88.24.2. Will
this version handle daylight savings time change this weekend? Or do we need
to upgraded to 1.89.xx.x??
Cableco is Atlantic Broadband here in south central Pa.

OK, either I'm losing my mind (distinct possibility) or something is very different about the software version information on my 8300HD all of the sudden. Was running SARA 1.88 and just tried to check to see if I had 1.89 yet. What I see on the "Software Versions" page does not jive with anything I know about what I should be seeing.
Can someone straighten me out, or tell me what I'm seeing here, if I am in fact looking in the right place? See screen shot below....
Screen Shot (http://home.sc.rr.com/szurlo/graphics/IMG_4741.jpg)
That's correct.
You are running PTV OS 6.14.x and DVR code 1.5.2.1002, which is the Rom image sent to your machine. The SARA version is just one component of information in a complete patch. Specifically, you will have a complete Rom image for the STB. Included in that Rom image will be a PowerTV Operating System version number (think flavors of Windows OS or Mac OS that keeps incrementing) and a SARA application version (think service pack or bug fix)
Look at your "Component Information" screen page 17 to see all the components that make up the Rom image, including the OS and SARA version.
The Apps listed are just that. Additional apps that your local cable franchise runs on the STB for advanced services like phone, VOD, etc.

vegggas

Question for you all.
My cableco just in the past week or two upgraded us to Sara 1.88.24.2. Will
this version handle daylight savings time change this weekend? Or do we need
to upgraded to 1.89.xx.x??
Cableco is Atlantic Broadband here in south central Pa.
The DST bug is fixed with later versions of the PowerTV OS. The SARA versions just happen to be later versions taking advantage of the new OS.

vegggas

Look at your "Component Information" screen page 17 to see all the components that make up the Rom image, including the OS and SARA version.
vegggas

Ahhh... OK, I was on the wrong page.
Screen 17 does show the SARA ver, which is now 1.89.17.1.

Thanks much for the info.

I think I found a minor bug in the IPG...

Duplication Efforts:
1. Start watching a previously recorded show.
2. Switch to a LIVE show/ch.
3. List, and Highlight the recorded show you started watching earlier.
4. Hit Exit on the remote.
The IPG kicks you into the recorded show (800) at the point you switched to a LIVE show.
I would think that it should "Exit" back to the LIVE show.

I tried highlighting and Exit on any other recorded show that wasn't already "queued" on ch.800, and it behaves as expected... kicking me back to the LIVE show/ch.

Can anyone else confirm this?
Running Sara 1.89 DST patch code - Phoenix,AZ

Question for you all.
My cableco just in the past week or two upgraded us to Sara 1.88.24.2. Will
this version handle daylight savings time change this weekend? Or do we need
to upgraded to 1.89.xx.x??
Cableco is Atlantic Broadband here in south central Pa.

Hi kd3yt. I'm also a ABB customer in central, PA. I was very happy when they finally upgraded our software to 1.88.24.2. I doubt there will be any issue with daylight savings. How long have you had your 8300HD?

I think I found a minor bug in the IPG...

Duplication Efforts:
1. Start watching a previously recorded show.
2. Switch to a LIVE show/ch.
3. List, and Highlight the recorded show you started watching earlier.
4. Hit Exit on the remote.
The IPG kicks you into the recorded show (800) at the point you switched to a LIVE show.
I would think that it should "Exit" back to the LIVE show.

I tried highlighting and Exit on any other recorded show that wasn't already "queued" on ch.800, and it behaves as expected... kicking me back to the LIVE show/ch.

Can anyone else confirm this?
Running Sara 1.89 DST patch code - Phoenix,AZI just did that and had no problem. It simply took me to the channel I was watching. I went back to 800 and resumed watching my recording.