DCH6416 here. Can you shed some more light on how to disable hdmi audio and enable optical only for dobly digital sound? I have a 5.1 system hooked up using hdmi and optical cable. Basically im wanting hdmi for video only and optical for sound only. I do not have that option in the guide anywhere to get optical sound working the way it suppose to.

Of the four audio options available through the guide, only one setting applies to the digital output (both coax and optical), but not to digital sound over HDMI. That setting allows you to select either AC3 or PCM output. That must be set to AC3 to get 5.1 and Dolby sound to work.

All of the other options apply only to analog sound from the red and white jacks. The "matrix" setting is the equivalent of simulated surround sound. This works fairly well if your older model TV does not do its own simulated surround.

The "compression" sounds like a digital term, but it applies to analog only and means something like how wide the stereo field appears to be.

Digital output does not respond to the volume control of the Motorola boxes, so the volume is "fixed", regardless of the setting in the options. The digital output is, however, controlled by the "mute" function of the box.

For the HDMI output only, the digital sound responds to mute, but not to any settings in the guide options. To correctly set up HDMI sound, you must do so in the Motorola options, reached by turning off the box, then pressing Menu. There is an option for "Addiitonal HDMI" settings, where you must select "Auto" for sound format, otherwise 5.1 and Dolby will not work.

I came across this on Charters website. Its the on screen user manual guide for the Motorola boxes. Here is the link. http://www.charter.com/Visitors/GETBINARY.xbin?ID=1937

Take a look at Sec:1 12 under Audio Setup see the Dolby Digital option? I do not have that option at all.

**Edit**

I have Charter cable coming out on Thursday. I talked to a rep online and they told me I was the first person with this issue. They told me its a feature im suppose to have and it should be there.

I came across this on Charters website. Its the on screen user manual guide for the Motorola boxes. Here is the link. http://www.charter.com/Visitors/GETBINARY.xbin?ID=1937

Take a look at Sec:1 12 under Audio Setup see the Dolby Digital option? I do not have that option at all.

**Edit**

I have Charter cable coming out on Thursday. I talked to a rep online and they told me I was the first person with this issue. They told me its a feature im suppose to have and it should be there.

I have the 6416 box with insight cable. the HDMI to tv - optical to rcvr works like it should for dolby digital. Not all channels are DD only the HD channels. Other forums have reported that not all cable companys activate all the outputs on their boxes. As you have the tech coming out perhaps this is the case. your optical out needs to be activated. Hope the tech fixes you up as the sound is very good in 5.1 from the 6416

I was also told it could be defective or like your saying. It needs to be activated. Just curious. Do you have the dolby digital option in your box audio setup settings?

I have the 6416 box with insight cable. the HDMI to tv - optical to rcvr works like it should for dolby digital. Not all channels are DD only the HD channels. Other forums have reported that not all cable companys activate all the outputs on their boxes. As you have the tech coming out perhaps this is the case. your optical out needs to be activated. Hope the tech fixes you up as the sound is very good in 5.1 from the 6416

I came across this on Charters website. Its the on screen user manual guide for the Motorola boxes. Here is the link. http://www.charter.com/Visitors/GETBINARY.xbin?ID=1937

Take a look at Sec:1 12 under Audio Setup see the Dolby Digital option? I do not have that option at all.

**Edit**

I have Charter cable coming out on Thursday. I talked to a rep online and they told me I was the first person with this issue. They told me its a feature im suppose to have and it should be there.



How do I open an "xbin" file??

You just click the link and it will open using Adobe Reader. Takes a few seconds or so to dl the manual. Its actually in pdf format.

How do I open an "xbin" file??

I was also told it could be defective or like your saying. It needs to be activated. Just curious. Do you have the dolby digital option in your box audio setup settings?

I'm not sure if I got this right, but the settings in the box menu under HDMI: submenu "Additional HDMI settings" the audio choices are Auto, L-PCM, Passthrough. My selection is "Auto" as it doesn't seem to make any difference which option is used. My rcvr displays "Dolby D" for the 5.1 source, and PLII for non 5.1. I took pictures of the moto 6416 box menu settings if you think it will help.

After re-reading some of these posts, I see we are talking two different audio menu setups, 1. from the channel guide, and 2. from the Motorola 6416 III cable box setup menus. My comments here relate to the cstb menu audio options. I have never messed with the channel guide options but can report my settings if that is what forum member want. Sorry for my confusion if it created problems.

I came across this on Charters website. Its the on screen user manual guide for the Motorola boxes. Here is the link. http://www.charter.com/Visitors/GETBINARY.xbin?ID=1937

Take a look at Sec:1 12 under Audio Setup see the Dolby Digital option? I do not have that option at all.

**Edit**

I have Charter cable coming out on Thursday. I talked to a rep online and they told me I was the first person with this issue. They told me its a feature im suppose to have and it should be there.



I've not seen this option for TV Guide interface at all - not in previous (non-iguide) versions or in the newer versions. Not that I've seen every version - but across the versions we've used in my market it's not been there.

Generally you "turn off" dolby by setting the box to TV speakers or Stereo - if your on Advanced - Then you're pretty much set to pass on Dolby information to the receiver.

***EDIT****
another source of confusion could well be the Moxi guide -which DOES have an option to turn on the Dolby Digital.

i am connecting a motorola 34XX hd/dvr to it via optical. i notice that irregardless of whether i am watching an HD or SD channel the audio signal registered by the receiver is dolbydigital... which i assume means that the motorola box "upgrades" it as otherwise it would be PCM.... the issue is that

a) on those SD channels with the upgraded sound, the receiver emits a humming noise that you can hear if you don't play the sound too loudly

b) since its sitting on dolbydigital, the various surround equalizer manipulations are "prohibited."

any similar experiences?

Try changing your advanced setting to get rid of the Hum - another trick would be in the settings to hit "optimal Stereo" - frequently if someone has used the volume on the box to turn it up or down this will change the output level - optimal Stereo sets it about 75% volume - which is where Moto prefers for stereo output.

The lock out of Various Surround Equalizer is not universal - I've not had that issue with my KLH or Pioneer receiver - though some systems will not allow specialized settings when you put the system in Dolby mode - experiement with your audio modes depending on programming.

Optical should still carry audio while the HDMI is being used - as should the coaxial and RCA outputs - I've got mine HDMI to the TV and Optical to the home theater and had no problems with the default configuration

1. Cured my HD capacity notice so far by doing a HDD reset. Capacity went to zero like always , but when I start a recording it shows 1%, instead of restarting at 49% like it was. Was in the diagnostic screen before this and it was showing about 1/2 of the HDD occupied also.

So far I am recording (as I type) two HD shows for about 25 minutes and have used up abot 4%. While I was typing this I went and cancelled and deleted one of the 1/2 hours of recording and the capacity went from 4% down to 2%, so it sure appears as though the HDD reset did the job.

Good deal - the TV guide update should fix this permenantly - but if it comes back a power cycle should give temporary relief. I've also found deleting any one program will get it to recalculate availible space - good for dealing with a false 100%.


2. Re: Analog, digital and HD designators.
2a. Still not sure, but on the lower channels the banner displays program rating on the banner and that is it. I do not have my surround system set up yet,but are these in stero/surround 4.1 or what? Cannot tell with just my TV speakers. However there is no indication of stero/surround. Is there a setting in settings or set up that could be changed?

2b. On what appear to be digital channels it shows program rating, then the the Dolby logo wtih the forward and backware D and then the letter "D" apparently for digital??. AFAIK, we only have two digital channels that I subscribe to.

2c. The HD channels show the rating, then the letters "HD" then Dolby logo front and backward Ds and then finally "5.1"

Audio encryption is entirely seperate of HD standards - while HD channels are more likely to include dolby encryption not all HD shows may have HD. The D after the Dolby logo indicates Dolby Digital (the dolby logo without the D is just Dolby) - a good test of Analog Dolby would be "The Simpsons" - that's dolby encrypted from the source and most MSOs should pass that info on if your watching it from a Fox feed.

SD programming is often broadcasted on HD channels - frequently commercials, news and non-prime time shows. - it's digital, so the picture is better, but it's still encoded from the broadcaster in SD.

I also noticed that on one of the HD channels of a local station during a newcast the "HD" was not shown, even those I was on a designated HD channel. Apparently they were not broadcasting in HD digital, but apparently were still digital in 5.1 surround.

To change your audio setup to to the main guide (guide button twice) - guide setup - audio - you'll want to set for optimal stereo sound and experiment with the Advanced settings to see what works best with your system.


3. Re: No channel lock out, yes, I have already set up two favorite categories. HD and non HD. However if I press the "FAV" on the remote it always defaults to the HD favorite. Have not got that one figured out yet. Any feedback?

your first favorite list is your default - I think you punch fav twice or hit fav from the menu to select which Favorites list you want to use at the time - I generally keep one for less confusion - if you keep them on the same list or "category" you'll go seemlessly from one to the other

As far as lock out - you should be able to go into parental controls and require a lock for any specific chanel, any specific ratings or anything that requires a purchase (purchase pin) you can specifically lock out a title - but generally I prefer to lock out by ratings.

4. I think, I might be able to talk the local office into changing me to a Moxi. At least it would improve the channel surfing. But, what would I give up. I think at best it has DVI, but that is not too much of a problem.


6416 VS Moxi

6416 uses a newer tuner - as such it has a much clearer picture - this is particularly noticable on LCD and Plasma TVs - older tubes don't have the problem.

6416 had HDMI Vs Moxi's DVI and sports a 160 Gig hard drive.

Other than that it's all guide interface.

Moxi currently supports HD expansion via USB ports and you can remotely manage your recording schedule via the Charter.net Portal. (remote scheduling is due for 6416s sometime in 8007, no word on USB expansion)


5. Sony seems to do an excellant job of taking an analog 480i signal and turning it into an 16:9 picture. This was the case before I got the DVR, as I had no box. If I set the 4:3 bypass to 480i, the non digital channels seem the clearest. Is the 6416 just passing the 480i signal to the TV (does not seem like it, because the only connection is HDMI cable) I have put a splitter in line and ran test of 480i know analog and 480i through the HDMI from the box and cannot make up my mind if there is a difference. On 16:9 channels I am running 1080i and on 4:3 bypass, I currently running 480i. Any comments, anybody.

This is more common than many think - often the TV handles picture processing better than the box or conflicts with the box setup - generally if you're on 1080i with a 480i bypass you'll pass the picture size as it was done by the feed - but the big question is what did you set the box's aspect ratio to -

HD channels tell the TV it's a 16:9 picture - but if the show is in SD the TV is given the extra info so it doesn't stretch the picture - the result is a floating picture in the middle of the screen - many people switch to 4:3 Pan & Scan to get around this - but that crops widescreen programming.

Frequently people will switch their boxes to 480i and the TV will make lemmonade from lemmons - this can be bennificial with guide issues and picture scaling issues - but if you don't have such issues, I'd recommend keeping it at 1080i so your TV is getting all the information it can about the picture before "grooming" it for you.

6. So it appears that all of the first 80+ channels are still being sent down the cable in an analog format. Is this a possible conclusion? When will they all become digital? Does the Feb 2008 affect this? What type of digital witll the be, SD digital, HD digital, or what?

7. Instruction book for 6416 from Charter says to shut off DVR each night. Lots of opposing opinion, some from tech support. What seems to be main thoughts on this forum?

In paragraphs above regarding digital , analog etc, those are my conclusions, and would like any comments as to whether they seem valid or if I have got it wrong.[/QUOTE]

Imo, the box is crippled then. Because powering off and hitting menu. I am using hdmi and optical cable. Those additional audio settings are for hdmi. I could care less about that since I am wanting hdmi for video and want to by pass the audio part of it for my optical cable. By going into the guide menu. Those settings are just more stereo options and mono options. There needs to be a dolby digital option for a optical cable like it shows in the guide. Like I said. This is the first dvr box I have ever used without a dolby digital option. Rather its a Charter problem or Motorola problem. I do not know. It should be fixed though. I know you did not make the box or anything. But, something this small is frustrating.

I've not seen this option for TV Guide interface at all - not in previous (non-iguide) versions or in the newer versions. Not that I've seen every version - but across the versions we've used in my market it's not been there.

Generally you "turn off" dolby by setting the box to TV speakers or Stereo - if your on Advanced - Then you're pretty much set to pass on Dolby information to the receiver.

***EDIT****
another source of confusion could well be the Moxi guide -which DOES have an option to turn on the Dolby Digital.

Hmmm, am I hearing you right, that using the 6416 optical out to rcvr and HDMI to tv(for video only) you are not getting 5.1? I know I am in that configuration.

Without getting into the details, it is important to keep in mind that a box is not defective just because it isn't designed the way an individual customer might want. There is a difference between whether a box does what it was designed to do, versus the box doing what someone might want it to do.

When its advertised being able to do what it suppose to and it does not. What else is a customer to think? Its not a matter of me wanting it to do something it is not designed for. Its a matter of the box having to do what is advertised. It doesn't mean the box is defective. Your right on that. But is it a matter of false advertising or something that was missed software wise or firmware wise when it was made. Or even like someone else said. The cable company not activating it properly for dolby digital.

Without getting into the details, it is important to keep in mind that a box is not defective just because it isn't designed the way an individual customer might want. There is a difference between whether a box does what it was designed to do, versus the box doing what someone might want it to do.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about that. I think it is just a matter of the box working differently from how you want it to work.

I got the 6412 from Comcast about 18 months ago. As mentioned elsewhere it is sluggish, particularly when going into the "Recorded Programs" and selecting/deleting individual programs.

However, in the past month, two things have occurred:

1) when in the Recorded Programs area clicking on a choice sometimes results in the system hanging for 2-3 minutes; at other times when clicking on a recorded program to get the description, you can watch as individual alphanumeric characters slowly print on the screen

2) When recording programs, the box has shutdown and recycled repeatedly (last night it shutdown 4 times during a single 60 minute recording cycle). This also wipes out the Program Guide listing until it repopulates (and until it's repopulated you cannot select a channel/time/program for recording)

QUESTIONS:
1) Are the above problems the result of the Motorola or Comcast?

2) Does the DCH3412 perform any better than the older DCT6412?

[I'm sure these issues may have been adressed somewhere already, but my search skills are such that I couldn't find the answers]

I'm getting ready to swap the 6412 for the 3416 - so shout "don't do it" quickly if you know of any reason why these two....

Thanks,

I got the 6412 from Comcast about 18 months ago. As mentioned elsewhere it is sluggish, particularly when going into the "Recorded Programs" and selecting/deleting individual programs.

However, in the past month, two things have occurred:

1) when in the Recorded Programs area clicking on a choice sometimes results in the system hanging for 2-3 minutes; at other times when clicking on a recorded program to get the description, you can watch as individual alphanumeric characters slowly print on the screen

2) When recording programs, the box has shutdown and recycled repeatedly (last night it shutdown 4 times during a single 60 minute recording cycle). This also wipes out the Program Guide listing until it repopulates (and until it's repopulated you cannot select a channel/time/program for recording)

QUESTIONS:
1) Are the above problems the result of the Motorola or Comcast?

2) Does the DCH3412 perform any better than the older DCT6412?

[I'm sure these issues may have been adressed somewhere already, but my search skills are such that I couldn't find the answers]

I'm getting ready to swap the 6412 for the 3416 - so shout "don't do it" quickly if you know of any reason why these two....

Thanks,


Have you powercycled it after any of those problems occur?

If that doesn't resolve it may need to be initialized to wipe previous firmware and reload it fresh - that's definitely not normal behavoir - not from Motorola at any rate (and I'd hate to think Comcast could screw up a Moto system badly enough to slow it down that much)

if a powercycle doesn't work PM me and I'll give you instructions to locally wipe your firmware off the box and reload it

What is the proper way to do a "power cycle" Tech support told me to do that to wipe out the ghost memory on my HDD, but either I did it wrong or it did not wipe it out,as I had to do a HDD wipe.

The booklet that Charter gave me with the DCT6416III says to shut off the DVR every night. I have been told by others to leave it on. Anybody know the answer for sure?

When shut off, is it still getting schedule feeds from Charter or is off, off?

As long as it is plugged in (power and cable) it will receive schedule updates.

Leave it on anyway. DVRs in these series often get flaky if you are continually turning them on and off.

As long as it is plugged in (power and cable) it will receive schedule updates.

Leave it on anyway. DVRs in these series often get flaky if you are continually turning them on and off.

Does the hard drive ever spin down when the unit is left on? I know the SA8300HD never spins down the hard drive even when 'off'.

What is the proper way to do a "power cycle" Tech support told me to do that to wipe out the ghost memory on my HDD, but either I did it wrong or it did not wipe it out,as I had to do a HDD wipe.

Generally when power-cycling any equipment you want to unplug the power (or turn off the surge protector that feeds the box) count to 10 then plug it back in.

Powercycling clears all the RAM in the box - which will cause the following

1) Reload of Guide Data
2) Status check on the Hard Drive
3) Re "discover" the data path to the headend
4) Clears memory fragments from VOD usage

The booklet that Charter gave me with the DCT6416III says to shut off the DVR every night. I have been told by others to leave it on. Anybody know the answer for sure?

When shut off, is it still getting schedule feeds from Charter or is off, off?

I'm not sure what they where thinking when they put that booklet out - but apparently they didn't get any input from Motorola or Tech ops -

Do not turn off your DCT / DCH based DVR - It won't record anything while off

Moxi boxes don't even have a "off" - only a reset... Guide data is updated reguardless of if the box is on or off, however if it's off it will not record any programming.


*****Sidenote!******
Previously we discussed the additional functions (like 30 second advance) that can be programmed into the One-for-all Brand remotes - There's a function there for changing Tuners - Which does come in handy for switching between recorded programs ---

WARNING!
The secondary tuner does not have any "buffer" options - you cannot pause, skip, instant replay etc. on the secondary tuner.

I thought I had something go majorly wrong on mine till I swapped tuners and realized I was on the 2nd tuner!!!!

Does the hard drive ever spin down when the unit is left on? I know the SA8300HD never spins down the hard drive even when 'off'.

From what I've seen - the drive does not - it only seems to spin down and stop when the box is not powered.

I'm not sure what they where thinking when they put that booklet out - but apparently they didn't get any input from Motorola or Tech ops -

Do not turn off your DCT / DCH based DVR - It won't record anything while off



With the Comcast DCT3416 and the DCT6412 turning the unit off does not prevent a scheduled recording form being recorded. The unit just turns itself on and does the recording and then turns itself off (standby mode) again.

With the Comcast DCT3416 and the DCT6412 turning the unit off does not prevent a scheduled recording form being recorded. The unit just turns itself on and does the recording and then turns itself off (standby mode) again.

Good to know -
I haven't played with the 3416 - that's the SD version of the 6416 right?
I'd think the 6412 would be an older hardward version, so it's odd that recording seems to be skewed on my 6416s here.

I'll have to play with them and see what happens here - in the past it would not record if powered down. I'll have to set some things up this week / weekend and see what happens - might have to hit up motorola and see if there's a software setting / setup change we can do to keep ours on.

The 3416 is the digital only version of the 6416. There are no analog tuners in the 3416.

Also, with Iguide, you should have full buffer capability on tuner 2. Pause, skip, instant replay all should work just fine. When you swap back to tuner 1, you still have the same capabilities as well.

Yes the 3416 is HD and has an HDMI output instead of DVI. I also have full functionality on both tuners.

Yes the 3416 is HD and has an HDMI output instead of DVI. I also have full functionality on both tuners.

Very odd, I'll have to see if I can duplicate the feature absence on tuner 2 with other boxes.

I was thinking the 3416 was the digital only 6416 - unfortunately our market still has quite an analog presence to go... otherwise my test DCH100 might be worth something *L*

DVI should only appear on the older DCT series - 6208s some 6412s - I've not seen it on any 6416 (DCT or DCH) but then again all of ours here are Phase IIIs

Hi all!

I have comcast digital cable with their Motorola DVR. I'm sure there is a way to do it but I have no clue of where to start so I'm gonna probably ask some dumb questions here... :confused:

Is there a way to transfer the recordings from my DVR to a regular DVD so I can back them up and play them later on my HD DVD player? Or is that what some of those 3-in-1 units do (DVD player, recorder and acts like a DVR)? If it can only be done through 1 unit, will I loose the TV guide feature I have now with my Comcast DVR? I really like that it knows what's on TV. So what's the best option? And what's the cost of being able to do something like this?

Thanks!
Nick

Very odd, I'll have to see if I can duplicate the feature absence on tuner 2 with other boxes.

I was thinking the 3416 was the digital only 6416 - unfortunately our market still has quite an analog presence to go... otherwise my test DCH100 might be worth something *L*

DVI should only appear on the older DCT series - 6208s some 6412s - I've not seen it on any 6416 (DCT or DCH) but then again all of ours here are Phase IIIs

Same over here on Comcast. I just got the DCH 3416, and let me tell you I love it. The buffer thing is on both tuners. This box is the digital only separable security box.

Our area is ADS, so they have the DCT6200 as well for HD besides the DCH3200. As they are phasing out the DCT6200, DCH3200's are becoming the standard issue for HD boxes. The DCH3200 is in such demand that you have to go on a Tuesday to intercept the shipment, otherwise they are all taken same day. It's crazy the rate of HD adoption in my area, probably upwards of 30-50% or higher.

You guys on Charter have the DCH100? I was looking to get that one to replace my DCT700 (overheats even with proper ventilation), but Comcast hasn't rolled it out yet here.

Hi all!

I have comcast digital cable with their Motorola DVR. I'm sure there is a way to do it but I have no clue of where to start so I'm gonna probably ask some dumb questions here... :confused:

Is there a way to transfer the recordings from my DVR to a regular DVD so I can back them up and play them later on my HD DVD player? Or is that what some of those 3-in-1 units do (DVD player, recorder and acts like a DVR)? If it can only be done through 1 unit, will I loose the TV guide feature I have now with my Comcast DVR? I really like that it knows what's on TV. So what's the best option? And what's the cost of being able to do something like this?

Thanks!
Nick


Digital copies of content is a major no-no with the MPAA acting as judge, jury and executioner over all involved in any major attempt to do so - as such most DVRs are designed and maintained by MSOs not to allow any sort of shareing of recorded content.

However this does not mean you're S-O-L.

What I recommend is getting a DVD recorder - it doesn't have to have the VCR options, just DVD recording. Wally wurld generally has them for less than $100 now - run the box in either by RF, RCA or S-Video. Here's one area where the DCT/DCH boxes shine over Moxi - the SD outputs do not disable just because you're using HD - so you can now record off the Analog SDs (HD if you can find a DVD recorder with Component input) and record them over to disk.

Generally I recommend just recording a copy when you watch it back on your DVR or setting up to play back / record while your out or @ work.

Same over here on Comcast. I just got the DCH 3416, and let me tell you I love it. The buffer thing is on both tuners. This box is the digital only separable security box.

Our area is ADS, so they have the DCT6200 as well for HD besides the DCH3200. As they are phasing out the DCT6200, DCH3200's are becoming the standard issue for HD boxes. The DCH3200 is in such demand that you have to go on a Tuesday to intercept the shipment, otherwise they are all taken same day. It's crazy the rate of HD adoption in my area, probably upwards of 30-50% or higher.

You guys on Charter have the DCH100? I was looking to get that one to replace my DCT700 (overheats even with proper ventilation), but Comcast hasn't rolled it out yet here.

The DCH 100 / 200 series will be replacing the old 2000 / 2500s - they are the new SD box. Most MSOs are slow in deploying them and I only got a test one by Motorola's mistake :cool: - However, as the MSOs will eventually *HAVE* to buy more SDs as the old ones die out - these will be the replacements. For now most people are more interested in upgrading to a DVR or HD box, so old SD boxes are plentiful supply. - As I understand it these are the only Non-DVR SD boxes Motorola currently offers.

These are VERY small boxes, about 1/3 the size of a 6416 - the power supply is no longer internal - there's a smaller adapter with an in-line transformer.

The primary difference is the 100 is digital only and the 200 is analog/digital and they have the design features of the DCH 6416 (silver with black front) and *NO* buttons on the front.

Also for those on watch for future features - these *ARE* MoCA compliant.

Boxes are Card based (thus the DCH name) and sport RF, RCA, Svid, Optical, SPDIF / Coaxial Audio - there's one USB port, a small 1/8 in plug in for a serial port adapter and a plug in for Ext IR (IR Blaster)

For pictures and specs hit here

http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dch100_settop.asp

Hi folks,

I put this on another thread but I noticed activity in this one and I'm hoping I can get some guidance. My issue is not new and based on the research on this topic im not sure what to try next.

Hi folks, I'm trying to figure out if I shoudl return my box to Comcast or if there is something I'm missing configuration wise. Based on the comments I've read it looks like i have the right firmware to support HDMI display (16.45) but I'm unable to recognize anything. When I go to diagnostics 11 it shows DVI/HDMI NO for enabled and NO for Active. I've tried to unplug both connections and changed HDMI cables but no luck. Then I tried to go to the menu to see if I get HDMI settings but I do not see anything and scrolling thru I'm unable to land on the blank line underneath 4:3 over ride. Any suggestions? Does comcast have to enable the HDMI port? is it done by just having the right firmware or by changing setings on the cable box? your help is greatly appreciated.

Hi folks,

I put this on another thread but I noticed activity in this one and I'm hoping I can get some guidance. My issue is not new and based on the research on this topic im not sure what to try next.

Hi folks, I'm trying to figure out if I shoudl return my box to Comcast or if there is something I'm missing configuration wise. Based on the comments I've read it looks like i have the right firmware to support HDMI display (16.45) but I'm unable to recognize anything. When I go to diagnostics 11 it shows DVI/HDMI NO for enabled and NO for Active. I've tried to unplug both connections and changed HDMI cables but no luck. Then I tried to go to the menu to see if I get HDMI settings but I do not see anything and scrolling thru I'm unable to land on the blank line underneath 4:3 over ride. Any suggestions? Does comcast have to enable the HDMI port? is it done by just having the right firmware or by changing setings on the cable box? your help is greatly appreciated.

From what I've seen from Motorola systems, the base firmware for these boxes enables the port from default (in the past we had to enable serial ports etc, this seems on from the get-go)

however I have noticed several things that can go wrong

1) Encryption
If you have a TV that doesn't support the Encryption handshake or if you're passing through a device that doesn't support it (a non-switching receiver or HDMI switch) it may not bring up a picture

2) Audio - if you use a HDMI to DVI adapter you will lose audio. DVI does not support audio.

3) sync
You may have to power cycle the TV, the Box or both a few times for them to synchronize

#2 doesn't sound like it applies here, so I'd work with #1 and #3

Hi Charter James,

I've tried power cycling both and no luck (although not an extreme number of times each (I have a dlp so don't think continual on/off is good for the tv). Not sure if it makes a difference but I already have an HDMI connection from the same tv to my ps3 and that works like a charm. I'm going straight to the TV so no receiver or switch in between. I'm not sure what else to try and not looking forward to calling comcast to be honest. I'm sure I'll loose a few hours of my life trying to get someone that might remotely be able to help me. Let me know what you think.

Hi Charter James,

I've tried power cycling both and no luck (although not an extreme number of times each (I have a dlp so don't think continual on/off is good for the tv). Not sure if it makes a difference but I already have an HDMI connection from the same tv to my ps3 and that works like a charm. I'm going straight to the TV so no receiver or switch in between. I'm not sure what else to try and not looking forward to calling comcast to be honest. I'm sure I'll loose a few hours of my life trying to get someone that might remotely be able to help me. Let me know what you think.

Call Comcast and request a Cold Initialize - that should force a reload and a reset to default of all settings on the box - if it doesn't come up then then I'd make a local visit to their office - see if a customer service or tech ops manager can tell you if HDMI is working and supported (it should be, however I rarely trust CSRs to be "in the know" when it comes to anything technicial)

If so, then advise them you've tried the settings, you've had your box cold initialized and you've tried multiple cables and you'd like to try a different box - with luck that should work.

If a Supervisor or Manager isn't availible have the CSRs give you their name, number and email - no CSR should balk at this - and take up the issue with them. That should get some action on this for ya!

Above there is mention about switching tuners. I have a 3416 and have not noticed a way to tell which of the two tuners is being used to record/view which program. It sounds like on the 3416 the tuners are identical which is nice, but how do you even know what tuner is doing what?

Thanks,
Guy

Above there is mention about switching tuners. I have a 3416 and have not noticed a way to tell which of the two tuners is being used to record/view which program. It sounds like on the 3416 the tuners are identical which is nice, but how do you even know what tuner is doing what?

Thanks,
Guy

generally there should be no difference on tuners reguardless - usually you stay on a primary while the secondary records programming a a channel you are not actively tuned to.

If you go into the diagnostics - I believe it's tuner status you'll see where each tuner is pointed to.

Usually the only time you'll switch tuners is if your recording a program your watching and you try to tune away - at this point it will advise you that you're recording the program and offer you to switch to the other tuner.

In this mode I've seen no differences in tuner behavoir. However if you use specialized programming on an advanced remote you can often set up a swap button which will force a tuner swap with no dialogue etc - it works alot like hitting last except you're jumping to the other tuner instead of the last tuned channel.

In this mode (manual swap) I was unable to access skip and advance functions, however it may have just been either a result of switching tuners manually or it may just be something screwy with my test box.

Generally the only reason I can see someone wanting to switch tuners manually is in troubleshooting - if you're getting alot of black screens for shows you may want to verify that both tuners are able to view Analog, SD Digital and HD without issue - generally if you notice one type of programming not showing up or alot of bad recordings there might be a harddware failure of one of the tuners.

Usually the only time you'll switch tuners is if your recording a program your watching and you try to tune away - at this point it will advise you that you're recording the program and offer you to switch to the other tuner.

In this mode I've seen no differences in tuner behavoir. However if you use specialized programming on an advanced remote you can often set up a swap button which will force a tuner swap with no dialogue etc - it works alot like hitting last except you're jumping to the other tuner instead of the last tuned channel.

In this mode (manual swap) I was unable to access skip and advance functions, however it may have just been either a result of switching tuners manually or it may just be something screwy with my test box.

Generally the only reason I can see someone wanting to switch tuners manually is in troubleshooting - if you're getting alot of black screens for shows you may want to verify that both tuners are able to view Analog, SD Digital and HD without issue - generally if you notice one type of programming not showing up or alot of bad recordings there might be a harddware failure of one of the tuners.

Actually the tuner swapping comes in quite useful on a correctly functioning box (at least in a Comcast system). Main reason is the recording buffer is not lost when swapping tuners as it is when using the 'last' button. Say you're watching two games & you want to switch back & forth but not miss a play, you would want to use 'swap' for this. You can be watching one game & when it goes to commercial (or you just want to pause it) you can swap to the other tuner & either rewind the show or if you paused it the last time you left it you can just continue where you left off. For watching SD content this works really well being the buffer will hold about 90 minutes or so, but on HD the buffer is only around 15-20 minutes. From reading some prior posts on here some other cable systems may not have these capabilities but in most, if not all Comcast systems this should work.

The DCH 100 / 200 series will be replacing the old 2000 / 2500s - they are the new SD box. Most MSOs are slow in deploying them and I only got a test one by Motorola's mistake :cool: - However, as the MSOs will eventually *HAVE* to buy more SDs as the old ones die out - these will be the replacements. For now most people are more interested in upgrading to a DVR or HD box, so old SD boxes are plentiful supply. - As I understand it these are the only Non-DVR SD boxes Motorola currently offers.

These are VERY small boxes, about 1/3 the size of a 6416 - the power supply is no longer internal - there's a smaller adapter with an in-line transformer.

The primary difference is the 100 is digital only and the 200 is analog/digital and they have the design features of the DCH 6416 (silver with black front) and *NO* buttons on the front.

Also for those on watch for future features - these *ARE* MoCA compliant.

Boxes are Card based (thus the DCH name) and sport RF, RCA, Svid, Optical, SPDIF / Coaxial Audio - there's one USB port, a small 1/8 in plug in for a serial port adapter and a plug in for Ext IR (IR Blaster)

For pictures and specs hit here

http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dch100_settop.asp

How does the DCH100 perform? Any lagging? Same issues of limited distance to change channels like in the DCT700? Overheating?

Since my area on Comcast is digital simulcast I would get the DCH100. I'd really want to swap out my DCT700 for it.

OK here goes maybe someone can help-Insight cable tech isn't able to.---
hardware: Motorola 6416 III (cstb)-Samsung DVD/Rcvr(HTiB)-Samsung LCD 32" HDTV---
current setup: 6416 HDMI out to tv(HDMI1), optical out to DVD rcvr, DVD/rcvr HDMI to tv(HDMI2). This works but have to switch sources back and forth, not cool, shouldn't have to do this.--- Desired(proper) setup: 6416 HDMI out to DVD/Rcvr HDMI in, DVD/Rcvr HDMI out to tv(HDMI1)--- Problem with this is handshake issues or something, the box sez to use component cables because of copy protection issues or something and sets the display to green/blank screen. Anybody got any ideas for a fix?

How does the DCH100 perform? Any lagging? Same issues of limited distance to change channels like in the DCT700? Overheating?

Since my area on Comcast is digital simulcast I would get the DCH100. I'd really want to swap out my DCT700 for it.

Performance as far as guide interactions, speed etc is on par with the 6416 - heat wise I've noticed this unit does put out less heat as the power supply is not part of the box - it has the same venting (mesh top and sides) as the rest of the DCH series.

OK here goes maybe someone can help-Insight cable tech isn't able to.---
hardware: Motorola 6416 III (cstb)-Samsung DVD/Rcvr(HTiB)-Samsung LCD 32" HDTV---
current setup: 6416 HDMI out to tv(HDMI1), optical out to DVD rcvr, DVD/rcvr HDMI to tv(HDMI2). This works but have to switch sources back and forth, not cool, shouldn't have to do this.--- Desired(proper) setup: 6416 HDMI out to DVD/Rcvr HDMI in, DVD/Rcvr HDMI out to tv(HDMI1)--- Problem with this is handshake issues or something, the box sez to use component cables because of copy protection issues or something and sets the display to green/blank screen. Anybody got any ideas for a fix?

Unfortunately the fix would be to get a new receiver. Your Receiver isn't making the handshake required for encryption and all digital content is required to be encrypted. In so far as making what you've got work with HDMI you'd either need to fix or get your receiver updated (some like JVC had some form of firmware patching that allowed for the handshake) - this isn't common or likely.


Your only other fix would be if the Receiver can Upconvert on the hdmi output, in which case you should be able to leave the TV on HDMI, plug the DCH into the receiver by Component cables and let the Receiver convert this to digital from there.

I previously have had five 6412's that had to be returned due to occasional freezing and video breakup during movies(all I watch). These are all SD, not HD. All of the DVR's developed problems after being used for awhile(deletions and new recordings). This last time(several months ago) they gave me a DCH 3416 and it has been far better but it is showing the same symptoms and appears like it's getting worse. Several techs have checked the lines(at my cost!) but only for signal level, not SNR. The lines were OK supposedly and they probably are since I tried a TIVO HD with cable cards for almost a month with no problems and signals levels were showing as in the 90's on it. I did run new RG6 cable to see if it would help- it didn't. Any ideas on what the issue might be or if this is common for the Motorola DVR's? Frankly I didn't care for the TIVO HD(too slow and disruptive when trying to simply manually set up recordings) but I sure get tired of watching over an hour or two of a movie and have to delete it before it ends due to the problems. Thanks.

Craig

I know exactly how frustrating this problem can be. We had similar problems with our DVR - we're on our fourth one. First one kept freezing up during play back, second one would record and play back fine but the audio would occasionally "pop". Third one brought back the freezing during playback, and finally the fourth one is working fine (and has been for over a year, occasional reboot aside). The tech who brought our 4th unit out explained that a lot of the techs let the DVR's rattle around in the door pockets or on the floor, which will ruin a hard drive. He told us that he always keeps his on the seats, and either he's right or we finally got lucky because the one he brought out works great. Heat is also a concern with these units. We used to keep ours in a cabinet with glass doors that we kept closed, but now we keep the doors open and make sure that the cooling fan on the botton has plenty of room to breathe.

I know exactly how frustrating this problem can be. We had similar problems with our DVR - we're on our fourth one. First one kept freezing up during play back, second one would record and play back fine but the audio would occasionally "pop". Third one brought back the freezing during playback, and finally the fourth one is working fine (and has been for over a year, occasional reboot aside). The tech who brought our 4th unit out explained that a lot of the techs let the DVR's rattle around in the door pockets or on the floor, which will ruin a hard drive. He told us that he always keeps his on the seats, and either he's right or we finally got lucky because the one he brought out works great. Heat is also a concern with these units. We used to keep ours in a cabinet with glass doors that we kept closed, but now we keep the doors open and make sure that the cooling fan on the botton has plenty of room to breathe.

Most techs will generally take care of the boxes they get, especially DVRs, not so much because they are delicate, but because they know we don't have many and they don't want to make alot of trips back and forth.

Generally when once the power's been off for at least 2 minutes, the head is parked, from this position only the nastiest treatment should harm the drive.

Pauses, skips and other video issues on recordings can also be caused by signal issues @ the time of recording or an issue with the tuner... Frequenty tuner issues go undetected as it will be on the good tuner when the box is run through the warehouse.

Heat is a definite killer - We used to nickname the Moxi boxes "Fireball 9000"s after an issue with the very first ones caused the heat sink to fall off the boxe's processing unit and one in a lab enviroment was said to actually catch fire. This issue did not make it to wide scale deployment (again, only the EARLIEST moxi boxes) and new rules were put in place about not running a DVR from a verticle position

To their credit Motorola actually uses some decent shock absorbing washers on their HD mounting, I was impressed when I disected a few dead 6208s

Still it could be better... and I've heard enough tales about contractors and MSO employees who should know better to know it's very possible for a box to get some pretty rough treatment.

Ran an experiment the other night. Set up DVR to record a program in future. Shut off DVR. When it came time, DVR turned on, recorded program and shut off again.

Only problem, Charter's clock is slow by nearly 1 1/2 minutes. Who attention do I bring this error to for correction?

My cable system seems to run all analog in the lower70+ channels, and my Sony shows them as "NTSC" input source. (This is not through the 6416 but through the Sony direct)

Continuing (still without the 6416) up into the 80 and 90 there are channels that show up as "480i" as their input source on my TV. The one in the 80s are ESPN and a 24 hour weather channel and the ones (3) in the 90s are PBS channels that are not in our local area. What are these? Are they SD digital chanels? What is the intent of this?

My cable system seems to run all analog in the lower70+ channels, and my Sony shows them as "NTSC" input source. (This is not through the 6416 but through the Sony direct)

Continuing (still without the 6416) up into the 80 and 90 there are channels that show up as "480i" as their input source on my TV. The one in the 80s are ESPN and a 24 hour weather channel and the ones (3) in the 90s are PBS channels that are not in our local area. What are these? Are they SD digital chanels? What is the intent of this?


Those are digital SDs - most systems are migrating some new digitals in the 80 -99 range - they aren't part of any digital tier, just what's slowly becoming "Digital Expanded Basic" - for newer TVs there isn't much change, but for older analog TVs without a box, they would not get those.

As we reach the 2009 deadline for analog transmission more channels will go digital and less will be availilble without some form of Digital receiver.

Ran an experiment the other night. Set up DVR to record a program in future. Shut off DVR. When it came time, DVR turned on, recorded program and shut off again.

Only problem, Charter's clock is slow by nearly 1 1/2 minutes. Who attention do I bring this error to for correction?

Let your local office's technicial manager know - that time is controlled by the "Digital Addressable Controller" (DAC) a server which controls all boxes. Usually the DAC is connected to a Time server which keeps it accurate. Sometimes something might go wrong with the time server or a system may not be correctly set up for one.

I have the DCT6416. What is the difference between it and the DCH model. Is there an extra charge for the DCH Should I ask for a DCH. I did not see that answer anyplace on this thread.

I have the DCT6416. What is the difference between it and the DCH model. Is there an extra charge for the DCH Should I ask for a DCH. I did not see that answer anyplace on this thread.

DCT or Digital Cable Terminal is the model class of the older boxes - these boxes have decryption ability built in to the main board and therefore a no longer markets or sold because of the FCC mandate of 07/01/2007 (also known as the 707 Mandate) which requires all cable boxes to have "Seperatable" encryption.

DCH or Digital Cable Host is the new model which was designed to meet the 707 mandate. While the boxes have a destinctive visual update (it's been said they were designed by the same motorola team that did the popular RAZOR line of phones)

Given the 6416 was the most evolved of the DCT models the only REAL difference you'll find between a DCT6416 and a DCH6416 is that the DCH has a metal guard sticking out of the back that locks in the Cable card it uses.

Operationally the only difference is the card has to be Validated and our billing systems have to manage the Host box and the card as a combined item. (The Digital Addressable Controller really only cares about the CARD as that's where the Decryption of the signal is occuring)


On the other hand people using the older 6200 and 5200 HD DCT boxes will notice HDMI rather than the DVI port on the DCH6200 HD boxes (non-dvr)
and when they eventually start to phase out the oldest SD DCTs, the updated DCH boxes for SD feature more memory and faster processing versus the older DCT 2000s and 2500s.


If you've got a DCT6416, you're not missing out on anything - if anything you've got the most reliable and advanced box out there as far as DCTs go - and until all the bugs are working out of the DCH system - it's a Tad safer


Now that being said I'm sure someone's thinking "What do you means Bugs in the DCH system"

One of the major changes with the Advent of Cablecards is CCI encryption - this allows distributors the ablility to control what a DVR can and cannot copy and (in theory) it's future level of distribution - it may eventually control how long a DVR may be allowed to retain content.

Generally the default setup for all services in the MSO world is "externally supplied" which means if HBO says you can only copy it one time, it can only be copied one time.

In theory I've really never seen this accomplish much, given that that digital copying has been completely disabled - in practice what happens is certain channels and VOD services may not work if a card is not correctly validated.

This is an issue TIVO SIII users have dealt with for quite a while - in a Motorola world you'll have several numbers associated with a box - the two most important tend to be a Serial Number and a Unit Address.

With a cable Card you'll also have a Cable Card ID number. Once the card is paired with a host (a box or TV) a Host ID (which resides on the box or TV) is generated and there is also a DATA ID on the Card

All three of these numbers have to be correctly entered on a motorola system to validate a card.

At this time only the DCH boxes are truely 2 way host boxes - so if they fail a validation it can be pulled through the system at any time by an Admin or operator... on the other hand other host have to be manually validated (which is a pain in the butt!)

If a DCH box fails validation you'll generally get a screen on any CCI protected channel giving you the Card information - With systems that use Encrypted VOD you'll also get a message saying you lack Validation for VOD

Given the number of DCH boxes in use this does not happen often, but can be confusing as most techs and dispatchers are unfamilar with this scenerio.


There is no extra charge for DCH over DCT

Man, am I ever glad to find this thread. I had the Moxi box for about 3 years and about 8 months ago went to the DCT6416 III. With Moxi, I NEVER had the problem of setting a recording in HD and then it being recorded in SD. Once I went to the 6416, this became a big problem. I never had the problem occur on channels that were standalone channels like HDNET.

Let me tell you more about the problem and what I had to do to help fix the problem. I have Charter in Greenville, SC. Here's what happens. When a new HD channel is added to the lineup that is a simulcast of an SD channel, whoever labels the channels on the guide that the 6416 uses for updates will label the channel as with the same name. That's what causes the problem. In my market, this happened most recently with the ABC affiliate, so let me give you an overview.

The local ABC affiliate, WLOS, broadcasts on Charter SD channel# 13. When we finally got the HD Channel, it was added as channel# 783. However, the lable for channel 783 was the same as channel 13, which is "WLOS." So I'd go in my system and set a series HD recording for channel# 783. The problem occurs when the 6416 would look to update the program guide. It sees the channel label on 783 as WLOS and thinks to itself "oh, I'm supposed to broadcast the SD signal on channel 783 because the guide is telling me that channel is WLos." Does this make any sense?

To fix the problem you MUST GET someone to change that channel label. In the case of the problem with the ABC affiliate, they finally changed the label for channel 783 to "WLOSD." I personally recommended "WLOS-HD" but I guess they thought that would sound stupid.

This isn't an easy request to make. First, you get a CSR that you've got to educate. Even so, before they understand it to be a head-end problem they'll insist on sending a tech out or even switching the box. For me, it's always a struggle. But once they correct the label on the HD channel that mirrors the SD channel, the problem is solved. Now, when I tell my 6416 to record the ABC series "Extreme Home Makeover," it's not so much that I'm telling it to record channel 783 as I am telling it to record the show from "WLOSD." If you think about it, cable companies doneed to move around their channel lineup from time to time.

I've had this same exact problem with my 6416 DVR EVERY SINGLE TIME Charter has added an HD simulcast channel of an SD channel. The good folks that set up the grid that Moxi boxes use for their channel guide updates are wise enough to not put the same label on the new HD channel.

Good grief! I would really feel like I did something spectacular if I could get the Charter folks to understand this when they initially set up the new HD channels on their grids. With the HD lineup expected to grow for Charter this year, I expect to continue fighting this battle over and over unless someone on this message board can preach to the unbelievers!

That is a bug in the Guide software. It is a known problem that is scheduled to be fixed early next year.

Man, am I ever glad to find this thread. I had the Moxi box for about 3 years and about 8 months ago went to the DCT6416 III. With Moxi, I NEVER had the problem of setting a recording in HD and then it being recorded in SD. Once I went to the 6416, this became a big problem. I never had the problem occur on channels that were standalone channels like HDNET.

Let me tell you more about the problem and what I had to do to help fix the problem. I have Charter in Greenville, SC. Here's what happens. When a new HD channel is added to the lineup that is a simulcast of an SD channel, whoever labels the channels on the guide that the 6416 uses for updates will label the channel as with the same name. That's what causes the problem. In my market, this happened most recently with the ABC affiliate, so let me give you an overview.

The local ABC affiliate, WLOS, broadcasts on Charter SD channel# 13. When we finally got the HD Channel, it was added as channel# 783. However, the lable for channel 783 was the same as channel 13, which is "WLOS." So I'd go in my system and set a series HD recording for channel# 783. The problem occurs when the 6416 would look to update the program guide. It sees the channel label on 783 as WLOS and thinks to itself "oh, I'm supposed to broadcast the SD signal on channel 783 because the guide is telling me that channel is WLos." Does this make any sense?

To fix the problem you MUST GET someone to change that channel label. In the case of the problem with the ABC affiliate, they finally changed the label for channel 783 to "WLOSD." I personally recommended "WLOS-HD" but I guess they thought that would sound stupid.

This isn't an easy request to make. First, you get a CSR that you've got to educate. Even so, before they understand it to be a head-end problem they'll insist on sending a tech out or even switching the box. For me, it's always a struggle. But once they correct the label on the HD channel that mirrors the SD channel, the problem is solved. Now, when I tell my 6416 to record the ABC series "Extreme Home Makeover," it's not so much that I'm telling it to record channel 783 as I am telling it to record the show from "WLOSD." If you think about it, cable companies doneed to move around their channel lineup from time to time.

I've had this same exact problem with my 6416 DVR EVERY SINGLE TIME Charter has added an HD simulcast channel of an SD channel. The good folks that set up the grid that Moxi boxes use for their channel guide updates are wise enough to not put the same label on the new HD channel.

Good grief! I would really feel like I did something spectacular if I could get the Charter folks to understand this when they initially set up the new HD channels on their grids. With the HD lineup expected to grow for Charter this year, I expect to continue fighting this battle over and over unless someone on this message board can preach to the unbelievers!

toad's right - it's the A24 TV Guide software, It will go aways completely when A25 is released. It's also not limited to channels with the same name - it can happen when there's dramatically different names - mostly commonly with Soaps (local networks competing with Soap net) and some programs that get mulitple plays across networks (Like "Torchwood" on BBC and on HD Net)

You can frequently bypass it by telling it to record on ALL channels (it will usually pick just one and keep to it) or by setting up the series on a different channel...

Here in Hickory we not only have the HD CBS competing with CBS SD, but Spartanburg's CBS as well... and apparently the powers that be don't want to eliminate the extra CBS (ironically if you set a series on that one it works and the HD one will work, but no series on Charlotte's feed!!!!)

Trust me when I say SC/NC Management knows all about this one and we are pushing for A25 as soon as we can make sure it won't cause more problems than it solves.

That is a bug in the Guide software. It is a known problem that is scheduled to be fixed early next year.

Right toad. I've read all 11 pages of this forum. So you can spend a grand or more on an HDTV and wait on the bug to get fixed (as I've noticed some posters from August have been doing) or you can get someone to relabel the channel today and not really care when the bug becomes a priority.

I can't see any problem with a label such as WLOSD on their HD feed. Never was a problem for whoever sets up the MOXI grid.

I have a couple of problems with the "Future Recordings" that you might be able to help with. Maybe this will be taken care of with the A25 software release.

I will go through my future recordings and cancel some of them because maybe it's a rerun or maybe I want a show with a lower priority to record. When the program listing updates it loses that information. It's more of an annoyance when I'm in town. But if I'm out of town and it happens, then it's frustrating. Is there anything I can do now?

Also, when I look ahead to future recordings, sometimes what I see in the time slot is "to be announced." I've noticed that as I scroll ahead through the next 7 days it's always listed. It's only after I go far enough that the recording date goes from a week day listing to a actual date that this occurs. Any way I can fix that?

Thanks for your help.

I will go through my future recordings and cancel some of them because maybe it's a rerun or maybe I want a show with a lower priority to record. When the program listing updates it loses that information. It's more of an annoyance when I'm in town. But if I'm out of town and it happens, then it's frustrating. Is there anything I can do now?

You could try changing the priority level of the series (MyDVR-Series Priorities). You could also be experiencing the 'whack-a-mole' issue, see link.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs#Simultaneous_series_recording_cancellation_problem.2C_a ka_whack-a-mole

Also, when I look ahead to future recordings, sometimes what I see in the time slot is "to be announced." I've noticed that as I scroll ahead through the next 7 days it's always listed. It's only after I go far enough that the recording date goes from a week day listing to a actual date that this occurs. Any way I can fix that?

The above link also explains the 'to be announced' message a couple sections below the whack-a-mole one. Ideally the DVR holds about 2 weeks of listings. After the guide is completely populated the first week should be pretty much intact with show names as well as info, the second week is many times just the show listings with no info, obviously this varies quite a bit. If you've never seen this wiki before it's pretty good reading. And yes hopefully the A25 guide & new firmware version will fix these & some other things (or at least make them better). If all goes well we should see fairly soon as the area I'm in is slated for them in under 2 weeks.

I don't have a long enough HDMI cable to run from my cable box to my plasma so the installer suggested just hooking up component cable from the cable box to the plasma. Is there a noticable difference in PQ if I use this rather than an HDMI cable?

PS I have a 720P panel (Panny 58")

I don't have a long enough HDMI cable to run from my cable box to my plasma so the installer suggested just hooking up component cable from the cable box to the plasma. Is there a noticable difference in PQ if I use this rather than an HDMI cable?

PS I have a 720P panel (Panny 58")

For most people there is no discernible difference, the diehard enthusiasts & those believing everything salespeople say will say the true digital connection of HDMI is much better. It mainly depends on the TV, I've seen some that look better with HDMI & others better on component. Some of it's just in how the input is set up in the video picture preferences. I've tried both on my 57" Hitachi & I'm sticking with component, just my preference.

CharterJames, I heard the next version of the guide is A26, not A25. Is there a difference between the two? Also, is there going to be any major overhaul of the interface in A26? I would hope so, the current I-guide interface pales in comparison to Verizon's IMG 2.0.

I purchased a 6416/2300 over ebay. Reset it so showing 0. Contacted Novus in Vancouver - my provider - gave them serial and UA number. When they tried to zap my receiver they got an error saying Serial doesn't match.

They say they cannot do anything from here.

Any thoughts? The serial sticker on unit looks untampered with. Is the unit locked with a certain U.S. provider? If so, any ideas on how to unlock it? Any ideas on maybe using some sort of universal serial number that would work for all 6416/2300 units?

Is there another way to find the serial number of a unit?

Any help would be appreciated.

DJ

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Curious about that myself.

CharterJames, I heard the next version of the guide is A26, not A25. Is there a difference between the two? Also, is there going to be any major overhaul of the interface in A26? I would hope so, the current I-guide interface pales in comparison to Verizon's IMG 2.0.

I have Metrocast Cable and 2 Motorola DCT 6412 STBs.

They record HD content reasonably well, but their capacity is pitiful. This, plus the fact that they auto-erase content to make room for new recordings, or,if you protect the content just fail to record scheduled shows without a warning, make them hard to use.

Is there a modification that will increase HD capacity? There is a USB port on the back, but the Metrocast techs deny any knowledge of its use (for a second HD, for example).

Generally, MSOs aren't enabling any means to increase HD capacity in their provided DVRs.

I don't have a long enough HDMI cable to run from my cable box to my plasma so the installer suggested just hooking up component cable from the cable box to the plasma. Is there a noticable difference in PQ if I use this rather than an HDMI cable?

PS I have a 720P panel (Panny 58")
I have the older 58" Panny as well (technically it's 768p), and, using the Moto 6412 as an HD source I cannot see a difference between HDMI and component.

Generally, MSOs aren't enabling any means to increase HD capacity in their provided DVRs.

Charter has enabled the USB expansion in BMC 90xx series DVRs (Moxi boxes) it's my understanding we'll make it happen on 64xx series once it's set up in a way that appeases the gods of the MPAA.

Bear in mind there's been speculation that Motorola would prefer to use the eSATA link for expansion over USB. So at this point it's not certain USB expansion will ever happen. Firewire is for Digital Video only so good money's on eSATA expansion for Moto DCT / DCH DVRs.

Curious about that myself.

TVG versions are an interesting lot - generally there's about 3 to 4 versions out there, sometimes higher numbers might be reserved for specific systems - for example My market uses a CCOR (formerly nCube) VOD system, as such we've got to wait for CCOR to make an A25 compatible VOD application before we can switch from A24.

A25 is already deployed in some systems (thought I couldn't give any examples) A26 might be specifically geared for say Tandburg VOD systems etc.

At some point I know the Guide and VOD appilcations are supposed to become java based rather than legacy "APL" firmware applications - that may well be the A26 as well - unfortunately I don't have any good leaks @ TV guide ;)

In the past there where different versions with different features (A18, A17 etc) which I believe was changed with the around A20-A23 (I remember A17, I'm not sure if we went to A19 and I believe A23 was the first one we had which was called I-guide, previous guides were just called TVG Tan or TVG Blue) I do remember last year at this point when we first went to I-guide incuring a MASSIVE influx of VOD issues which forced the rapid change to A24 to resolve the bulk of them - but unfortunately had it's own issues.

I purchased a 6416/2300 over ebay. Reset it so showing 0. Contacted Novus in Vancouver - my provider - gave them serial and UA number. When they tried to zap my receiver they got an error saying Serial doesn't match.

They say they cannot do anything from here.

Any thoughts? The serial sticker on unit looks untampered with. Is the unit locked with a certain U.S. provider? If so, any ideas on how to unlock it? Any ideas on maybe using some sort of universal serial number that would work for all 6416/2300 units?

Is there another way to find the serial number of a unit?

Any help would be appreciated.

DJ


Is it Black front with a Silver casing - if so this is a DCH series and it requires the Card Serial (usually starting with MA) stickers should say "MCARD UA" and "MCARD SN"

TVG versions are an interesting lot - generally there's about 3 to 4 versions out there, sometimes higher numbers might be reserved for specific systems - for example My market uses a CCOR (formerly nCube) VOD system, as such we've got to wait for CCOR to make an A25 compatible VOD application before we can switch from A24.

A25 is already deployed in some systems (thought I couldn't give any examples) A26 might be specifically geared for say Tandburg VOD systems etc.

At some point I know the Guide and VOD appilcations are supposed to become java based rather than legacy "APL" firmware applications - that may well be the A26 as well - unfortunately I don't have any good leaks @ TV guide ;)

In the past there where different versions with different features (A18, A17 etc) which I believe was changed with the around A20-A23 (I remember A17, I'm not sure if we went to A19 and I believe A23 was the first one we had which was called I-guide, previous guides were just called TVG Tan or TVG Blue) I do remember last year at this point when we first went to I-guide incuring a MASSIVE influx of VOD issues which forced the rapid change to A24 to resolve the bulk of them - but unfortunately had it's own issues.

From what I know, I think Comcast here uses A24 as well, but we're going to A26. Over on BBR, there was a discussion on A26, and how it's supposed to be released in 08, going to be written in Java, and going to be implemented on all Comcast STBs, from Moto to SA to that mysterious Panny one. It's supposed to have options for 16:9 HD, so the guide would take up the entire screen on HDTV's. Link: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19107718-iguide

2 articles on that page about A26: http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6438864
http://www.itvt.com/wvlao%5Bitvt%5D-htmlissue7.32pt3.html

Charter has enabled the USB expansion in BMC 90xx series DVRs (Moxi boxes) In which local areas?

It's supposed to have options for 16:9 HD, so the guide would take up the entire screen on HDTV's. Link: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19107718-iguide

2 articles on that page about A26: http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6438864
http://www.itvt.com/wvlao%5Bitvt%5D-htmlissue7.32pt3.htmlThe current Motorola STBs only use a 4:3 guide and menus. I would not expect that to change anytime soon.

What will change is the backgrounds. Before long, Motorola STBs and DVRs will have backgrounds that fill the full 16:9 screen, but 4:3 users won't lose anything.

As far as I know, Dish Network is currently the only provider with a full 16:9 guide, but IIRC, the rest of their screens and menus are just 4:3 on a 16:9 background. DirecTV also has a 16:9 guide in the works for 2008.

Is it Black front with a Silver casing - if so this is a DCH series and it requires the Card Serial (usually starting with MA) stickers should say "MCARD UA" and "MCARD SN"

It is a DCT6416/2300 but thank you for your suggestion.

Is it possible that this receiver having possibley originated from Comcast in US - I purchased it over ebay - would be locked so it could not work in Canada and if so is there any way to unlock it?

It is a DCT6416/2300 but thank you for your suggestion.

Is it possible that this receiver having possibley originated from Comcast in US - I purchased it over ebay - would be locked so it could not work in Canada and if so is there any way to unlock it?

Does it say Comcast on the front? Then it was stolen from them.

Nope. No Comcast on front. Any thoughts why it wont work. UA that is on back of console matches diagnostics UA when call up menu screen. When contact cable company with UA and SN and they try to send signal to unit it is blocked. Cable company says they get error report saying SN doesn't match UA but these are the numbers on the unit so have no idea where to go from here or why it is not working.

Hi all-

Quick question for you. I recently went into my local Comcast office to replace my older comcast box for a DCT-6412 (I needed the HDMI output as my old box only had DVI, my Onkyo 705 had serious handshake issues with the DVI-HDMI cable). However, when I got home and started it up, all my channels, except for HD, have two wide black bars on the side. Now I had bars before, but they were on the top, and all I had to do was Zoom 1 (or if it was real bad Zoom 2) on my Sammy 5884. Now 16:9 isn't anywhere close to 16:9, and Zoom 1 and Zoom 2 are no longer available? I have Wide Fit, 4:3, and 16:9, along with Just Scan (which sucks for non-HD material). I went into the menu and made sure my box was set for a 16:9 television, and it was, and it was also set to 1080i with 4:3 Override OFF. The only thing I can think is the 1080i option is the problem, but why didn't I have these big black bars on the side before, with my older model box? Any help, suggestions, or ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks so much!

Tim

Change your 4:3 override to 480I or 480P and it will fix your problem....

Fixed my problem right up! Thanks so much!

I have my DCH 6416 hooked to my surround system through the optical cable. I have all surround speakers working but nothing from my subwoofer. I tried the coax digital auidio and have the same issue. If I transfer the cables directly to my DVD player (no change on input on the surround system) the sub works fine. Is there something I am missing??

I have my DCH 6416 hooked to my surround system through the optical cable. I have all surround speakers working but nothing from my subwoofer. I tried the coax digital auidio and have the same issue. If I transfer the cables directly to my DVD player (no change on input on the surround system) the sub works fine. Is there something I am missing??

The program that you are watching is probably not being broadcast with 5.1 audio. My audio system has a selection that tells me the format of the incoming signal. Check your manual.

I have just started researching the HD DVRs/STBs, and I am definitely a novice. I have Charter bringing out a DCT6412 next week; so the question is, which one is the best? I have read the Charter and Motorola literature; from what I read the DCT6412 has both HD record and HD playback, which none of the others stated. (Of course, according to the 4 different Charter CSRs I spoke with, none of the Motorola DVRs have an HDMI cable hook-up either.)

This is what I am looking for:
1) Motorola HD DVR
2) Largest hard drive/memory
3) HD record (I guess programming the correct HD channel may be an issue)
4) True HD playback
5) Something that will work/connect with my current Toshiba HDD/DVD DVR
(I know, this is probably wishful thinking)

I too have read this entire post from page 1 to here...I agree with previous poster this thread is an HD DVR goldmine! Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Current Info:
Sony HD TV (rear projection LCD) model KDF-60WF655
Charter Communications Service-Metro Atlanta

A relative of mine has a 3412, and while ago one tuner started showing 'To Be Announced' just on one tuner. (It is annoying pressing info., 1/2 time there is TBA, then one has to press Guide, and then Info. again.)

I remember unplugging the DVR, and re-initializing the DVR twice for them; after one or both re-init. the one tuner was supplying info, but only for about a day, then back to TBA. Would re-formating, then re-init. have a good chance of solving it? Or do they need a new DVR.

While they want to fix this, they really don't want to lose all saved programs for nothing. Also, replacing the DVR would be problematic, as the relative is quite ill, and relies on the DVR to watch TV.

I have just started researching the HD DVRs/STBs, and I am definitely a novice. I have Charter bringing out a DCT6412 next week; so the question is, which one is the best? I have read the Charter and Motorola literature; from what I read the DCT6412 has both HD record and HD playback, which none of the others stated. (Of course, according to the 4 different Charter CSRs I spoke with, none of the Motorola DVRs have an HDMI cable hook-up either.)

This is what I am looking for:
1) Motorola HD DVR
2) Largest hard drive/memory
3) HD record (I guess programming the correct HD channel may be an issue)
4) True HD playback
5) Something that will work/connect with my current Toshiba HDD/DVD DVR
(I know, this is probably wishful thinking)


It depends on which ones they carry, DCT 6412 is actually a pretty old model. The newer models (if they use ADS) would be DCT3412, DCT3416 or DCH3416. If they don't have ADS they may just be using the DCT & DCH series 6412 or 6416's. The xx16's are the larger harddrive xx12=120gb & xx16=160gb.
If you record HD channel it will play back HD as long as you have TV on HD input & box set to 720p or 1080i.
Depending on your Toshiba's connections may depend on what you can record.
Good chance you won't be able to choose what DVR model you get though, usually just limited to what's on techs truck. If you want to have more choice you may just want to take what tech has & try to go to local office to try to swap it out there.

I have just started researching the HD DVRs/STBs, and I am definitely a novice. I have Charter bringing out a DCT6412 next week; so the question is, which one is the best? I have read the Charter and Motorola literature; from what I read the DCT6412 has both HD record and HD playback, which none of the others stated. (Of course, according to the 4 different Charter CSRs I spoke with, none of the Motorola DVRs have an HDMI cable hook-up either.)

This is what I am looking for:
1) Motorola HD DVR
2) Largest hard drive/memory
3) HD record (I guess programming the correct HD channel may be an issue)
4) True HD playback
5) Something that will work/connect with my current Toshiba HDD/DVD DVR
(I know, this is probably wishful thinking)

I too have read this entire post from page 1 to here...I agree with previous poster this thread is an HD DVR goldmine! Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Current Info:
Sony HD TV (rear projection LCD) model KDF-60WF655
Charter Communications Service-Metro Atlanta

My understanding is that All Motorola DVRs (non-moxi) should be the 6416 series (We didn't really jump on the bandwagon for non-moxi DVRs till the 6416 came out)

Generally there's 5 DVRs for motorola based Charter Systems - generally a system won't have more than two models total

The BMC9012 (standard Moxi)
9012 Moxi sports 80 gig hard drive and the Digeo Interface (very nice IMHO) it also supports USB expansion and remote scheduling via Charter.net web portal (only if you have a charter.net email on the same account as the moxi box) - these are becomming less common as none have been purchased after the FCC's 707 encryption mandate.

No moxi box has HDMI all are DVI. if a box has a RF output on the actual box and not a silver plate then it supports RF output, most (except for the first phase) have firewire ports. Rear USBs can support 1 hard drive (or USB based RAID/JBOD device)

The Rarer BMC9022 (advanced moxi)
The 9022 Moxi has the same support, except it has an intergrated DVD player and supports one Moxi Mate expansion (which gives a second TV access to your DVR) this box sports a 160 gig hard drive - but because the expansion is handled by analog transmission a special trap has to be on the line to keep your DVR from being shared by anyone else... - these are VERY rare - only 2 or so markets ever launched these boxes at all. - like the 9012 these are not being purchased any more.

In addition to the 9012 features the 9022 can support MP3 playback - it will rip music CDs it it's hard drive or pull them from a flash device plugged into the front USBs - this is supported if the Music application is enabled. Some may also have this functionality with Jpegs (picture CDs and flash) depending on if they have the "photos" application enabled.

DCT 6200 Series
unoffically there are 6208s in circulation - these are 6200 HD boxes with a single tuner which happened to have a 80 gig HD in them - they were being purchased when there was a short supply of 6200s - 99% of the techs, warehouses etc don't really look for them, so if someone has them, it's pretty much a guilty secret that they have a HD box plus limited DVR... and if it breaks or has to be swapped, good luck getting another one!

DCT/DCH 3400 Series
As I understand it the 3400 series is for Digital only systems - last two numbers indicate the hard drive size - generally either 12 (120 gigs) or 16 (160 gigs)

All DCH series sport HDMI jacks, I'm pretty certain the DCT versions do as well.

DCT = Digital Cable Terminal - boxes with intergrated encryption - which are no longer allowed to be purchased under the FCC's 707 mandate (we can continue to reuse the old ones thought)

DCH = Digital Cable Host - these boxes use a 2 way Multi-stream cable card to decrypt the channels. All new boxes after 07/01/07 are DCH.

DCT/DCH6400 Series
Most CHARTER systems will have the 6416 - as most early DVR deployments were Moxi. DCT6416s should sport HDMI

All DCT/DCH boxes have component and RCA output, Optical and SPDIF audio. RF output is optional on many of them and because of moxi, standard DVR setup is to use RCA or Component (we generally do not install DVI or HDMI cables nor supply them - though most installers and techs will use it if you supply the cable.)

So far as I know for Charter, all DCT/DCH boxes are on the Iguide (by TV Guide) platform.

As far as the "Best" DVR - IMHO it's the DCT/DCH 6416 - while the DCH looks a little cooler, there's really no functional difference to the user.

However in the near future Digeo should be launching a new line of 707 compliant moxi boxes - which I hope we'll carry in markets with Moxi already - these boxes should *hopefully* address the hardware issues I dislike in the BMC90xx series - namely the low grade analog tuner (analog picture on a moxi looks HORRIBLE on most LCD or plasma) as well as the lack of signal tolerance by the tuners and cable modems (Moxi guide requires interactive data service, which is in the 9012 is provided by an intergrated cable modem.)

RETAIL versions will also become availible (just add a cable card) and should be comprobable to the TIVO Series III / HD boxes. they will require Ethernet connection to a broadband connection.

Again, no launch or release dates... though they were supposed to hit stores for last holiday season... so I'd hope it would be sometime before end of 2008... then again with analog transimission slated to die in 2009, they may just wait a year and deploy without analog tuners... I know alot of electronics manufacturers will probably be skittish for the next year given the transition from analog to digital.

Thank you (both) for the breakdown and the info on the different cable boxes/DVRs. I am currently comparing the 3400 6400 series manuals side by side to see for myself what the "published" differences are. Right off the bat the 3400 says it does have HDMI and IEEE-1394 DTV connectivity; the 6400 boasts only the IEEE-1394 DTV and DVI connections. (Note, I am looking at the manuals on the Charter website.) I will also be pulling the Motorola versions off of their website to see any other differences.

James, is there any way to definitively verify if both series have HDMI connection capability from your side? (I am assuming here you are Charter connected from your screen name.) As I stated earlier the 4 CSRs I have spoke with @ Charter say none of their HD DVRs are such equipped. It may just be that since Charter will not supply HDMI cables that they have told their CSRs to not even offer or verify that they exist. I do not have an issue
supplying my own cables, have actually already gone out and purchased them.
But with my previous history with Charter Customer Service, I most definitely want to be able to choose which DVR they bring out to me so as to avoid any problems, even if it means I have to wait until they have one in stock.

(Sorry, CSR tangent, will try to keep the conversation and questions on the equipment.) :)

I have just started researching the HD DVRs/STBs, and I am definitely a novice. I have Charter bringing out a DCT6412 next week; so the question is, which one is the best? I have read the Charter and Motorola literature; from what I read the DCT6412 has both HD record and HD playback, which none of the others stated. (Of course, according to the 4 different Charter CSRs I spoke with, none of the Motorola DVRs have an HDMI cable hook-up either.)

This is what I am looking for:
1) Motorola HD DVR
2) Largest hard drive/memory
3) HD record (I guess programming the correct HD channel may be an issue)
4) True HD playback
5) Something that will work/connect with my current Toshiba HDD/DVD DVR
(I know, this is probably wishful thinking)

I too have read this entire post from page 1 to here...I agree with previous poster this thread is an HD DVR goldmine! Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Current Info:
Sony HD TV (rear projection LCD) model KDF-60WF655
Charter Communications Service-Metro Atlanta


Here's a few other pointers -

With moto DVR's here's the general rule for HD usage

1 hr Analog = 2% to 4%
1 hr Digital SD = 1% to 2%
1 hr HD = 4% or more

so generally you can get around 50 hrs of only analog programming - 100 hours of only SD programming or 25 hours of only HD programming - which is why most litature will say 30 hours or more of programming, as it assumes most people will do alot of HD.


If you plan on outputting in High Def to your Panasonic do not expect to use DVI or HDMI for that connection - only Analog Component outputs allow for recording.

As far as compatibility - it will pretty much be like TV/VCR - keep the panasonic on the correct input and use the Moto remote to control the box - unless the Panasonic supports IR blaster and has the ability to control the moto box.

Programming Recorded in HD (Produced in HD on an HD channel) will playback at whatever resolution it was recorded in - mind you, especially local channels will still put out alot of programming in 480i and several channels have a native resolution of 720p (ESPN 1&2 HD particularly)

Thank you (both) for the breakdown and the info on the different cable boxes/DVRs. I am currently comparing the 3400 6400 series manuals side by side to see for myself what the "published" differences are. Right off the bat the 3400 says it does have HDMI and IEEE-1394 DTV connectivity; the 6400 boasts only the IEEE-1394 DTV and DVI connections. (Note, I am looking at the manuals on the Charter website.) I will also be pulling the Motorola versions off of their website to see any other differences.

James, is there any way to definitively verify if both series have HDMI connection capability from your side? (I am assuming here you are Charter connected from your screen name.) As I stated earlier the 4 CSRs I have spoke with @ Charter say none of their HD DVRs are such equipped. It may just be that since Charter will not supply HDMI cables that they have told their CSRs to not even offer or verify that they exist. I do not have an issue
supplying my own cables, have actually already gone out and purchased them.
But with my previous history with Charter Customer Service, I most definitely want to be able to choose which DVR they bring out to me so as to avoid any problems, even if it means I have to wait until they have one in stock.

(Sorry, CSR tangent, will try to keep the conversation and questions on the equipment.) :)

Coming from a Charter employee I'd go with the manals from Motorola over the ones from Charter - I've seen some major innaccuracies in ours - largely because of confusion between the different models.

Unless your in a Digital only (or Analog-Digital Simocase - ADS) system, expect the 6416 if they say a HD DVR... generally a Moxi will get called a Moxi
and most the time call centers will have no idea what's there, they just put in a request for a DVR...

I'd recommend a field trip to the local office and requesting to talk to someone in management (Customer Service or Tech Ops) they should know what boxes are in that system and be able to make arrangements for you to get a specific model.

If you plan on outputting in High Def to your Panasonic do not expect to use DVI or HDMI for that connection - only Analog Component outputs allow for recording.

As far as compatibility - it will pretty much be like TV/VCR - keep the panasonic on the correct input and use the Moto remote to control the box - unless the Panasonic supports IR blaster and has the ability to control the moto box.

Programming Recorded in HD (Produced in HD on an HD channel) will playback at whatever resolution it was recorded in - mind you, especially local channels will still put out alot of programming in 480i and several channels have a native resolution of 720p (ESPN 1&2 HD particularly)

Refresh, I have the Sony, not the Panasonic...but it sounds like that won't make a difference. I was unaware that you could not record using HDMI cable; but now that I think about it DOH! The recording is coming from the cable side, not the TV side...a little slow today. I think I remember seeing that IR Blaster thing in the TV manual...I can doublecheck. Thanks again for the info, great help.

If you plan on outputting in High Def to your Panasonic do not expect to use DVI or HDMI for that connection - only Analog Component outputs allow for recording.

As far as compatibility - it will pretty much be like TV/VCR - keep the panasonic on the correct input and use the Moto remote to control the box - unless the Panasonic supports IR blaster and has the ability to control the moto box.

Programming Recorded in HD (Produced in HD on an HD channel) will playback at whatever resolution it was recorded in - mind you, especially local channels will still put out alot of programming in 480i and several channels have a native resolution of 720p (ESPN 1&2 HD particularly)

Refresh, I have the Sony, not the Panasonic...but it sounds like that won't make a difference. I was unaware that you could not record using HDMI cable; but now that I think about it DOH! The recording is coming from the cable side, not the TV side...a little slow today. I think I remember seeing that IR Blaster thing in the TV manual...I can doublecheck. Thanks again for the info, great help.


The RCA, RF, S-Video and Composite outputs (the analogs) are viewable and recordable by just about anything- PC caputure cards, other DVRs, DVD burners etc. Digital Video outputs (Firewire, DVI, HDMI) tend to be encrypted per the MPAA's preferences.

If you split before you get to the Moto DVR (one line to moto one line to Sony) make sure you use a two-way splitter that supports at least 1000mhz / 1ghz - this should prevent return problems with the box that can affect VOD etc.

Also keep in mind that if your Sony DVR doesn't have a digital (QAM) tuner it's highly likely that it will not be able to do any tuning after 2009's deadline.
There are theorys that Cable companies will all go ADS, and I would hope so, but I have an increasingly bad feeling in my gut that once Broadcasters are shut out of analog, cable companies will shut out their analog as well...

The RCA, RF, S-Video and Composite outputs (the analogs) are viewable and recordable by just about anything- PC caputure cards, other DVRs, DVD burners etc. Digital Video outputs (Firewire, DVI, HDMI) tend to be encrypted per the MPAA's preferences.

Also keep in mind that if your Sony DVR doesn't have a digital (QAM) tuner it's highly likely that it will not be able to do any tuning after 2009's deadline.
There are theorys that Cable companies will all go ADS, and I would hope so, but I have an increasingly bad feeling in my gut that once Broadcasters are shut out of analog, cable companies will shut out their analog as well...

The Sony TV does have built-in QAM; the Toshiba DVR has no internal tuners.

I know I saw a part of this thread earlier where someone was asking why they couldn't hook up and download saved recodings to an external HD. In one of the Charter manuals it has a drawing depicting the connection to an external HD from the DVR, as well as computer and other comp based peripherals from various connectors on the back of the DVR. (Page 29 of DCT3400 manual on Charter website.) Is it a connection issue or a "service not available" issue?

The Sony TV does have built-in QAM; the Toshiba DVR has no internal tuners.

I know I saw a part of this thread earlier where someone was asking why they couldn't hook up and download saved recodings to an external HD. In one of the Charter manuals it has a drawing depicting the connection to an external HD from the DVR, as well as computer and other comp based peripherals from various connectors on the back of the DVR. (Page 29 of DCT3400 manual on Charter website.) Is it a connection issue or a "service not available" issue?

CharterJames can give you better specifics on how some things work in Charter systems but in general there is no way to access the harddrive directly to copy files/shows from the DVR as you would on a computer. Any copying must be done real time by playing back things you have recorded or taping/recording while show is on live. If you want true digital copy the only way I know of is via the firewire port which I believe should be active (I think it was mandated a couple years ago it had to be). The only drawbacks are that only certain channels are able to be copied with this (depending on copyright flag), usually just the local network channels, if you record HD via firewire it makes quite a large file (several gb's) & it can be a bear to set up/get working correctly. If you're interested in doing it though there are a few threads on this forum on how to do it.

Ideally the cable co's would enable the 'eSATA' port on the boxes, which while it wouldn't let you transfer content it would at least let you store more. James quoted that you should be able to store about 25 hours of HD but the most I've ever seen on a 3416 is ~20 hours. Which sounds like a lot but if you set up a lot of series recordings & don't get to watch tv for a couple days it can go quick. However at this time I've not heard of any companies that have enabled this port.

As he said also, the RF, s-video & composite are the 3 guaranteed ways to be able to copy albeit it won't be a digital copy & you'll be limited to 480i resolution. I believe there are veryfew DVD recorders that can record via component.

Side note, if you were thinking about using the ethernet or USB ports..don't, they're not active, the ethernet may give you an IP but you won't be able to do anything else with it & the USB may power some devices for you but you can't do anything else with it.

On the DCH3416 when my brother switches from a normal channel to VOD, the volume shoots up to the point of extreme irritation. Is there at least a way to minimize this? TIA, Danno

The Setup has audio compression control. I use light compression.

Hey All -

I am sorry if this was covered in this thread or somewhere else...

I have a Cox DT6412 and was wondering if there was any way to enable the front or back Video In port(s)? I can only assume that they are one of the "inactive features" of this box, but was hoping there was a way.

Thanks!

Hey All -

I am sorry if this was covered in this thread or somewhere else...

I have a Cox DT6412 and was wondering if there was any way to enable the front or back Video In port(s)? I can only assume that they are one of the "inactive features" of this box, but was hoping there was a way.

Thanks!

Not positive on Cox systems but in Comcast systems they're not enabled & there is no way for the end user to turn them on. They're enabled/disabled by the cable company.

The Setup has audio compression control. I use light compression.

I turned off Audio Compression and it is still irritating...

I am using hdmi and optical myself. Its a deal with it kinda thing. Since there is no dolby digital option within the box settings. The audio is messed up causing this. Light or Heavy does not help either. Like with my 360. I can select dolby digital and sound is all level. Even on low volume. When watching tv. Analog/digital channels are ok but hd channels sound is low. Gotta turn it way up. I dont have to do this using the 360. Then when you leave to a standard channel. It blows you out of your seat. Example on my 360. 10 is plenty. If watching a hd channel. I would have to crank it to 22 to get "decent" sound. They need to upgrade the software. The box can do it properly. Its just the software that is messing it up. Even more confirmation its a box issue. I hooked up the optical cable to my tv and into my receiver. And what would you know? Volume levels are all even. Even on hd channels. But, it can only pass 2.0 dd and not full 5.1

I turned off Audio Compression and it is still irritating...

I turned off Audio Compression and it is still irritating...Turning off audio compression makes the specific situation you're concerned about worse. If it is still annoying with light compression, try heavy compression.

On the DCH3416 when my brother switches from a normal channel to VOD, the volume shoots up to the point of extreme irritation. Is there at least a way to minimize this? TIA, Danno

Go into the advanced audio settings and set audio compression to Heavy - this should reduce the range the volume can shoot up.

In general it will always have a dramatic difference, something about how the VOD streams are set up in just about every situation (we've run 3 different VOD platforms here and that's one thing that always seems to happen - it's either alot louder or alot quieter)

Not positive on Cox systems but in Comcast systems they're not enabled & there is no way for the end user to turn them on. They're enabled/disabled by the cable company.

As I understand it from the motorola manuals the inputs do work, but their are passive only - meaning you've got to turn the box off for them to pass anything along - which is not a good thing on a DVR...

however I've not tested that on a DVR and I don't recall that working on the older HD boxes.

The Sony TV does have built-in QAM; the Toshiba DVR has no internal tuners.

I know I saw a part of this thread earlier where someone was asking why they couldn't hook up and download saved recodings to an external HD. In one of the Charter manuals it has a drawing depicting the connection to an external HD from the DVR, as well as computer and other comp based peripherals from various connectors on the back of the DVR. (Page 29 of DCT3400 manual on Charter website.) Is it a connection issue or a "service not available" issue?

I'm thinking that diagram was probably taken from a motorola manual - Many of the motorola manuals gave generic icons depicting Game Controllers, Hard Drives, Keyboards, etc etc for the USB ports as "possible" items that could be used.

The reality of it is two pronged - at one point most ports had to be turned on or off with commands from the controlling server, however lately with DVI, HDMI, Firewire (and from what I've seen USB and eSATA) those seem to be under direct control of the firmware.

I've not seen any firmware being actively deployed that has enabled this - I know I've not seen any options for "External Hard Drive" on/off - Given the BMC9012 (i.e. Moxi) was also motorola based and this feature was entirely reliant on the box software, I'm thinking it will be much the same on the 34xx/64xx platform.

it's my understanding Moto is leaning towards eSATA with this series and the only things right now I can see standing in the way of deployment is the development of the firmware that makes this happen and the approval (or at least LACK of Disapproval) from the MPAA

In theory the USB should be "Universal" (afterall that's what the U is for in USB) however in reality that port will only support hardware it has drivers and software for - and what's loaded on one box pretty much has to be loaded on all.

However the ports *are* powered - so if you have any USB powered devices, you'll get no problem there. (I've used USB chargers for Cell phones, Ipods and batteries as well as USB powered lamps and fans)

Had a DCT 6412 which was suffering from "select a menu item, wait for 2 minutes while the 6412 is frozen".

Got the DCH-3416. Cable company is Comcast. TV is Pioneer 6010FD plasma. HD looks glorious!!! Problem is: SD looks much worse than it was with the 6412 and a Sammy DLP just 2 weeks ago.

I've tried SD with the 4:3 override set both to 480 and off. In 'off' I've set the 3416 both to 480 and 1080. In all variations the "low" channels (i.e. 4-70) and even the 500-series channels (which for us display lots of movie and non HD premium services like HBO and Showtime) look anywhere from abysmal to mediocre. even the 150-400 channels (BBC America, Discovery, History channel) suffer from rather blocky images with lots of aliasing on image boundary lines (like contrast or color changes between the edge of a person and the background -- hope I made that moderately understandable).

I checked the Comcast box and SNR was about 35 which is "good".

Any thoughts whether this is a Comcast or a Motorola issue?

Has anyone found drivers for the 3416 for Vista x86?

(i wont even ask for x64, as this is a different beast)..

Thanks

Has anyone found drivers for the 3416 for Vista x86?

(i wont even ask for x64, as this is a different beast)..

Thanks

Probably want to hit the Fireware forums on that one - I know there's a few topics dedicated to pulling video from moto boxes via firewire, but it's nothing I've played with as I lack the hardware to experiment (namely a good computer with firewire ports)

I've had 3 techs come out so far and the consensious is "there is nothing we can do".. The problem is my high bandwidth is -5 and low is +11.. Not really sure what that means but they said that is why my internet is slow and my HD programs pixelate sometimes. Is there really nothing I can do??

I've had 3 techs come out so far and the consensious is "there is nothing we can do".. The problem is my high bandwidth is -5 and low is +11.. Not really sure what that means but they said that is why my internet is slow and my HD programs pixelate sometimes. Is there really nothing I can do??

Generally that reading should be as close to 0 as possible, though -5 to +5 should be ok - beyound -10 and +10 you get failure on cable modems etc - as such +11 is a red flag.

"nothing we can do"? - unless you're living in an appartment where we have no right to make changes to the wireing, there's ALL SORTS of things they can do.

If a tech sees a signal problem they can't correct for it's supposed to be escalated to someone who can (generally you have techs who specialize on working the lines in a house, then those who focuse on the lines going to the node, then the fibers and finally the headend proper...)

Now, if it's a house someplace you have the ablility to authorize wireing changes the biggest thing I'd suggest is having a chat with someone in management at the local office - let them know what your seeing and how many trouble calls you've had. If you've got wire maintenance ask if you can get the entire thing re-worked because it's obivious there's a problem and apparently 3 techs can't find it.... if not let the manager know you're tired of paying for channels you can't see and a "Slow speed" broadband connection and this needs to get fixed.

*but the kicker is* you'll get MUCH better results if you go into the local office or have a local contact - call centers just don't seem to get it most the time.

Thanks James. I did leave out the part where the last tech thought it was the cable running from my house to the "hub" about 300ft away from my house! So maybe I will get in contact with my local office and see what can be done.

Thanks again!

Thanks James. I did leave out the part where the last tech thought it was the cable running from my house to the "hub" about 300ft away from my house! So maybe I will get in contact with my local office and see what can be done.

Thanks again!

That drop length could well affect it - but since you can't move the house you might have to see if they would be willing to run a second drop and split the outlets across two drop lines - this isn't cheap - so unless you have wire maintenance or they get the picture that it's going to cost them more for repeat trouble calls than a rework - you might have to keep on them.

With luck a good face to face talk to a local manager should be all it takes

Probably want to hit the Fireware forums on that one - I know there's a few topics dedicated to pulling video from moto boxes via firewire, but it's nothing I've played with as I lack the hardware to experiment (namely a good computer with firewire ports)

The only link i could find was this one... (http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm )

http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/firestb-vistarc1.msi

It claimed to work with the dch-3416.. but when i tried to install the drivers for the missing devices it didnt like the paths.. (based on this site http://www.fixya.com/support/t258742-connect_motorola_dch3416_computer )


UPDATE: never mind.. stumbled onto this link.. this DOES work in x86 Vista for this unit: http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/#_Toc185690661

Now, if it's a house someplace you have the ablility to authorize wireing changes the biggest thing I'd suggest is having a chat with someone in management at the local office - let them know what your seeing and how many trouble calls you've had. If you've got wire maintenance ask if you can get the entire thing re-worked because it's obivious there's a problem and apparently 3 techs can't find it.... if not let the manager know you're tired of paying for channels you can't see and a "Slow speed" broadband connection and this needs to get fixed.

*but the kicker is* you'll get MUCH better results if you go into the local office or have a local contact - call centers just don't seem to get it most the time.

I ask this on forum for the benefit of all. How do we get past the front desk? Seems like I get lots of talk, but cannot talk to anybody who has technical training. Very frustrating. Nothing personal, as I know you are doing all you can to help.

Is there a known issue with the DCT6416 III going bad? right now I am on my 3rd box.

The first one I picked up when they were closing and when i got it home, couldnt get a picture out of it, and there wasn't any hard drive sound.

The second one, had picture, but every time you shut it off it would loose all guide data, and if you tried to use the dvr option it would lock up.

This one has been fine for about a week, but last night i started getting a bit of squeeling and wavey lines when solid white screens where up.. have it right now with the white box status page up. and an hour ago, while the box was off, it started flashing Subt and OFF, then what looked like an error code of 96 followed with what looked like 69 degrees. tho, the status page shows Temp: 102F 39C max temp 117F 47.2C Over TEmP no count 0. I unpluged it as soon as i saw that thinking it was an overtemp, let it cool down for about 5 minutes, and pluged it back in to find all guide data gone.. so.. should i be exchanging THIS bos as well?

This is sitting on top of a computer desk with absolutely nothing on top of it or around it within 4-6 inches, and plugs directly in to my hd tvcard viewing on a 24 hd panel.

When you take power off of any Motorola STB you will lose guide data for a while. It populates about 2 or 3 hours in a half hour or so and gets the rest over a few days.

We're on our third DVR in about two weeks. Insight installed us December 26th and setup a DCT6412-III. Great picture and sound but the 6412-III would lockup once or twice a day only recovery was to pull the plug and reboot. They brought a DCH6416 to replace it on January 5th. Great picture but the sound would glitch out with clicks and pops often loud ones, and dropouts on the digital SD and HD channels. So this past Wednesday they setup yet another 6416. No more sound glitchs but I swear the picture looks a just little bit softer on all channels SD and HD than the previous 6416. All settings on tv and within the 6416 are the same as the previous unit.

Do boxes tend to vary slightly in their picture quality?


Also on the first 6416 the volume control on the DVR remote controlled the TV volume and the DVR volume stayed locked at optimal stereo. On the 2nd 6416 the volume control on the DVR remote (techs did not swap remotes its still the same remote that they left w/ the 6412-III) controls the 6416's internal volume control.

I have a DCH6416 and Charter, and I have a couple of problems I'm hoping someone can help me with.

For about a month I haven't been able to use On-Demand (it worked fine before that). I get the "CableCard Pairing" error (white background, red text). I've tried unplugging/replugging, having the service "hit" by charter, had a tech out who tried a bunch of stuff, but no luck. I also get the same error when I try to view the BBC channel, but that has been happening forever. The tech basically said he didn't know what to do. He wanted to swap out the receiver but he said this model was extremely rare and he didn't have any.

Also, since the Charter tech was here I haven't been able to use the "format" button on the front of the box. He did a reset of all my settings, putting me down to 720p and I want to get back to 1080i. I go to the config page (power off, then select), and I can SEE all of my settings, but it won't let me change anything. I could swear that last time I was in there I could change stuff. I've tried rebooting since then, but nothing...

Any ideas? Thanks!

Also, since the Charter tech was here I haven't been able to use the "format" button on the front of the box. He did a reset of all my settings, putting me down to 720p and I want to get back to 1080i. I go to the config page (power off, then select), and I can SEE all of my settings, but it won't let me change anything. I could swear that last time I was in there I could change stuff. I've tried rebooting since then, but nothing...

Any ideas? Thanks!

It's 'power off', then 'menu' for the screen you're looking for.

It's 'power off', then 'menu' for the screen you're looking for.

Good grief, I didn't even realize there were two different setup menus. Now I feel like a moron... Thanks

I'm having a problem or should I say, my parents are having a problem that I don't feel like driving 900 miles to figure out. They just bought their first plasma and now have their first DVR box, DCH6416. I'll state it very simple, they hooked up the RF cable to the box and HDMI from the box to the TV. No RF cable at all to the TV, so the only video source into the TV is the HDMI cable. Well, turn on the TV and the box and channel 20 ESPN classic comes in clear as vodka. Change the channel to say CH. 6. The front of the box says Ch. 6 and CH 20 ESPN classic still looks great..... See the problem. Does anybody know what's going on here?

Just for grins, have them unplug the box for 15 minutes and then plug it back in. Wait a few minutes to let the box load up. Did that fix the problem? If not, have them call the cable company. Their techs are a lot closer then 900 miles. :)

Is there a known issue with the DCT6416 III going bad? right now I am on my 3rd box.

About 80% of the boxes that get returned to us are more often than not software issues that require reloading or signal issues that were not correctly resolved.

The first one I picked up when they were closing and when i got it home, couldnt get a picture out of it, and there wasn't any hard drive sound.

More than likely with no picture it was never properly activated to your account - though the lack HD sound might indicate some sort of hardware failure - The 64xx series runs on firmwares (as opposed to the Moxi which runs a linux like OS on the hard drive) so even in the event of total HD failure you should be able to tune and get a picture.


The second one, had picture, but every time you shut it off it would loose all guide data, and if you tried to use the dvr option it would lock up.

When you shut it off where you using a switched powersource (power strip, home theater with power plug ins etc) - if the box loses power it will lose all guide information in memory. Generally with DVRs it's recommended they be left on at all times.

This one has been fine for about a week, but last night i started getting a bit of squeeling and wavey lines when solid white screens where up.. have it right now with the white box status page up. and an hour ago, while the box was off, it started flashing Subt and OFF, then what looked like an error code of 96 followed with what looked like 69 degrees. tho, the status page shows Temp: 102F 39C max temp 117F 47.2C Over TEmP no count 0. I unpluged it as soon as i saw that thinking it was an overtemp, let it cool down for about 5 minutes, and pluged it back in to find all guide data gone.. so.. should i be exchanging THIS bos as well?

No, tempature ranges can exceed 55c and still function normally. your ranges are pretty normal there - I've got mine in a stack with 2 other boxes directly on top of a home theater in my office and I'm running at 115f/46c with a max of 131f/55c -

The Subt off occurs when the box is cut off and the INFO button is pressed - this is a shortcut to the Power / Select menu that gives you subtitling.

If Menu is hit while the box is off you'll get the white screen menu - these are all accessible from the remote as well as the front of the box while the box is off.

Again, I recommend keeping the box on and any power-cycling will result in a forced reload of the guide data.

The lines on the white screen may be signal issue or possibly a bad connection between the TV and the box. I'd test it on Analog, SD Digital and HD and see if it happens on all three - I'd also make sure all connections are tight and there's no break in any cabling that might allow for interfearance.

This is sitting on top of a computer desk with absolutely nothing on top of it or around it within 4-6 inches, and plugs directly in to my hd tvcard viewing on a 24 hd panel.

What connection are you using? are you viewing this in a windowed mode?

One thing I'd also do is bypass the box and try a direct connection for that line issue - this will let you know if maybe something in your card's setup might be affecting this.

I'm having a problem or should I say, my parents are having a problem that I don't feel like driving 900 miles to figure out. They just bought their first plasma and now have their first DVR box, DCH6416. I'll state it very simple, they hooked up the RF cable to the box and HDMI from the box to the TV. No RF cable at all to the TV, so the only video source into the TV is the HDMI cable. Well, turn on the TV and the box and channel 20 ESPN classic comes in clear as vodka. Change the channel to say CH. 6. The front of the box says Ch. 6 and CH 20 ESPN classic still looks great..... See the problem. Does anybody know what's going on here?

Per other advice try a power cycle - also try other channels in the 100+ range then back down.

If this is a ADS system one little "trick" that can catch people is when a digital channel was last tuned and it's either interupted or attempted to tune to a channel it can't acquire - it will keep the last picture frozen for an extended amount of time.

I have a DCH6416 and Charter, and I have a couple of problems I'm hoping someone can help me with.

For about a month I haven't been able to use On-Demand (it worked fine before that). I get the "CableCard Pairing" error (white background, red text). I've tried unplugging/replugging, having the service "hit" by charter, had a tech out who tried a bunch of stuff, but no luck. I also get the same error when I try to view the BBC channel, but that has been happening forever. The tech basically said he didn't know what to do. He wanted to swap out the receiver but he said this model was extremely rare and he didn't have any.

Also, since the Charter tech was here I haven't been able to use the "format" button on the front of the box. He did a reset of all my settings, putting me down to 720p and I want to get back to 1080i. I go to the config page (power off, then select), and I can SEE all of my settings, but it won't let me change anything. I could swear that last time I was in there I could change stuff. I've tried rebooting since then, but nothing...

Any ideas? Thanks!

What you need to do is get the card VALIDATED - this is a special command ususally done by someone with access to the Digital Controller or by the warehouse people - usually the local office can have the warehouse do it.

If you want to email me your Name and phone number as it appears in billing I'll be happy to see if I can do this (if you're in the same billing system as my market uses it will work)

The format/Aspect button doesn't work / is not enabled - it can only be changed from the power \ menu options (power\select is diagnostics and power\info is a shortcut to box based captioning)

We're on our third DVR in about two weeks. Insight installed us December 26th and setup a DCT6412-III. Great picture and sound but the 6412-III would lockup once or twice a day only recovery was to pull the plug and reboot. They brought a DCH6416 to replace it on January 5th. Great picture but the sound would glitch out with clicks and pops often loud ones, and dropouts on the digital SD and HD channels. So this past Wednesday they setup yet another 6416. No more sound glitchs but I swear the picture looks a just little bit softer on all channels SD and HD than the previous 6416. All settings on tv and within the 6416 are the same as the previous unit.

Do boxes tend to vary slightly in their picture quality?


Also on the first 6416 the volume control on the DVR remote controlled the TV volume and the DVR volume stayed locked at optimal stereo. On the 2nd 6416 the volume control on the DVR remote (techs did not swap remotes its still the same remote that they left w/ the 6412-III) controls the 6416's internal volume control.


There's a feature called Volume lock - it allows you to choose where you are controlling your volume (TV / Aux / Cable) I recommend keeping the cable box at optimal stereo and using either the TV or Aux (I use a home theater so it's Aux for me)

On the standard silver DVR remote you set this as follows:

Press CBL and OK/Sel together for 3 seconds - CBL light will should come on

Press VOL +

Press the component button you want to control the volume in CBL mode.

Repeat as needed (example TV+ok / Vol + / Aux to make sure you're using the Aux for volume while in TV mode - DVD+ok / Vol + / Aux to make sure you're using the Aux volume while in DVD mode)

For other remotes, check out the remote page for instructions

http://webpages.charter.net/remotes/


PS
There may well be a better quality tuner in the 64xx series over the DCT62xx

I meant to ask. DCH6416 here. I have a Samsung LN-T3253H which is native 720p. Should I leave the box set at 720p where its at now by default. Or should I change that to 1080i? Aren't most HD programs in 1080i?

The answer is in your individual eye. Even if most programming is in 1080I, your TV is native 720P and will convert any signal to that resolution. The key is to look at the same programming in both 720P and 1080I. Whichever looks best to you is the right choice.

I meant to ask. DCH6416 here. I have a Samsung LN-T3253H which is native 720p. Should I leave the box set at 720p where its at now by default. Or should I change that to 1080i? Aren't most HD programs in 1080i?
While the TV may be advertised as 720p, it is not. 720p is 1280x720p, while your TV is 1366x768p, like many TVs are; so, it will scale everything. I have a TV with that res. and have found like some others that 1080i works best, if one doesn't want to keep changing the res. based on the channel; you might find differently.

Hello All, and thanks for this great and useful forum. I am a previous MOXI user and now on the 6414, like many folks here.

Here's my problem: Whilst fast forwarding through a commercial break I accidentally hit the LIST button (located inconveniently directly above the play button) when I am trying to hit PLAY and end the FF-ing through the ads. The result is generally that the list pops up and your recorded program is clearly still FF-ing in the top right corner. Then when you hit the PLAY button again it starts a whole other recorded program from the list! As you can imagine the cussing that results from this mistake is profuse. It ain't pretty, Baby!

OK, so I have decided the best workaround is to program a different button to be also a PLAY button therefore allowing me to hit PLAY w/o sometimes missing the button. I suppose I could also put on a pair of glasses every time I want to FF, but that seems just silly!

I already did your 30-sec skip code macro on the A button, so how can I macro the B button to do the PLAY function?

Thanks!

I already did your 30-sec skip code macro on the A button, so how can I macro the B button to do the PLAY function?

Thanks!

Basically the same way you did the 30 sec skip, just with the code for play instead. Not sure if you got the 30 skip code from here but this lists most of the codes on the remote, including the Play button.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Programming_the_Remote#EFC_list

Hello All, and thanks for this great and useful forum. I am a previous MOXI user and now on the 6414, like many folks here.

Here's my problem: Whilst fast forwarding through a commercial break I accidentally hit the LIST button (located inconveniently directly above the play button) when I am trying to hit PLAY and end the FF-ing through the ads. The result is generally that the list pops up and your recorded program is clearly still FF-ing in the top right corner. Then when you hit the PLAY button again it starts a whole other recorded program from the list! As you can imagine the cussing that results from this mistake is profuse. It ain't pretty, Baby!

OK, so I have decided the best workaround is to program a different button to be also a PLAY button therefore allowing me to hit PLAY w/o sometimes missing the button. I suppose I could also put on a pair of glasses every time I want to FF, but that seems just silly!

I already did your 30-sec skip code macro on the A button, so how can I macro the B button to do the PLAY function?

Thanks!

I set mine up different from the suggestions. I used "help" for skip forward and used "fav" to skip back. I just use the 4 arrow buttons for play, ffwd, rewind and live. I also used the "on demand" to swap tuners. On mine the "B" button is for scrolling back through the guide a day at a time ("C" goes ahead a day at a time) so I left that as it was. That way all the buttons I use the most are all in one place. Once you get used to it that way it works great.

Thank you (both) for the breakdown and the info on the different cable boxes/DVRs. I am currently comparing the 3400 6400 series manuals side by side to see for myself what the "published" differences are. Right off the bat the 3400 says it does have HDMI and IEEE-1394 DTV connectivity; the 6400 boasts only the IEEE-1394 DTV and DVI connections. (Note, I am looking at the manuals on the Charter website.) I will also be pulling the Motorola versions off of their website to see any other differences.

James, is there any way to definitively verify if both series have HDMI connection capability from your side? (I am assuming here you are Charter connected from your screen name.) As I stated earlier the 4 CSRs I have spoke with @ Charter say none of their HD DVRs are such equipped. It may just be that since Charter will not supply HDMI cables that they have told their CSRs to not even offer or verify that they exist. I do not have an issue
supplying my own cables, have actually already gone out and purchased them.
But with my previous history with Charter Customer Service, I most definitely want to be able to choose which DVR they bring out to me so as to avoid any problems, even if it means I have to wait until they have one in stock.

(Sorry, CSR tangent, will try to keep the conversation and questions on the equipment.) :)

All DCH6416's are HDMI based, so far from what's I've seen all DCT6416s are also HDMI based. when it comes to the DCTs and DCTs I haven't seen any DVI ports since the DCT 5200/6200 series HD box.

while I can't be 100% sure as some systems may have deployed the DCT/DCH DVRs before the DCT 6416 Phase III box was widely accepted - I'd say as a rule your going to get HDMI on a DCT/DCH DVR with Dvi being the Exeption.

Unfortunately Moxi only had DVI and given alot of managerial attutide of "A DVR is a DVR" most marketing and customer service will often confuse the two or assume all are moxi or all are DCT etc.

We don't supply any cables other than the Component to our techs and installers

Looking at the back of my DCT6416III I see the orange RCA type connector for the digital coaxial output. I see a spot for an optical connection, but not sure if it is a valid connector. It looks like it is blocked off. Or is that what they look like?

So my question, are both types of digital connection available on the DVR or just the coaxial?


I really would like to get two digital out connections without using any kind of a splitter/y connector or what ever they make for doing such a thing.

Why need two? It does 5.1 channel surround sound just fine.

Also, that optical out isn't closed. That's just a cover to protect the delicate insides. You just need to stick the cable into it.

Looking at the back of my DCT6416III I see the orange RCA type connector for the digital coaxial output. I see a spot for an optical connection, but not sure if it is a valid connector. It looks like it is blocked off. Or is that what they look like?

So my question, are both types of digital connection available on the DVR or just the coaxial?


I really would like to get two digital out connections without using any kind of a splitter/y connector or what ever they make for doing such a thing.


Both are availible / active - Usually the Fiber / optical is the prefered method - these are frequently called TOSlink cables and you can often find them at Target for a decent price.

I've not really heard of anyone splitting digital audio - generally it's run into a home theater which then passes it on to whatever other devices may need it or more frequently RCA will be used to the TV for when you don't want home theater and Fiber will serve for the HT audio

Why need two? It does 5.1 channel surround sound just fine.

Also, that optical out isn't closed. That's just a cover to protect the delicate insides. You just need to stick the cable into it.


So that is just a flap covering the input jack, that will turn out of the way? It looks like I need a cable with a square type of plug that is about 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch or so.

Flap yes/no

Square type connector yes/no, reason I ask is that I thought the opticals were round (similar to the RCA connector) but of an optical makeup instead of metallic.

So that is just a flap covering the input jack, that will turn out of the way? It looks like I need a cable with a square type of plug that is about 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch or so.

Flap yes/no

Square type connector yes/no, reason I ask is that I thought the opticals were round (similar to the RCA connector) but of an optical makeup instead of metallic.

yes it's an auto-protect mechanism - alot of home theater equipment will either use those or plugs that sit there - since most people tend to lose the plugs when they put in a cable that's the prefered protection.

if you look for fiber audio cable in stores it will ususally have the squarish (one side does draws down to a pentagon shape -this is usually the bottom )

This specific connection is usually refered to as TOS link

Here's some example cables and technicial details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSlink

The actual connection is round, with a special shaped socket to prevent people from shoving the wrong cable there - there's also some special units that use something similar to a headset jack (1/8 mm) and adapters to convert that to the standard plug. The 1/8 mm style jack is pretty rare, I've only seen it on old Sony Mini-disk players though the wikipedia article indicates it saw usage on Macintosh computers and a few other CD type devices.

Both are availible / active - Usually the Fiber / optical is the prefered method - these are frequently called TOSlink cables and you can often find them at Target for a decent price.

I've not really heard of anyone splitting digital audio - generally it's run into a home theater which then passes it on to whatever other devices may need it or more frequently RCA will be used to the TV for when you don't want home theater and Fiber will serve for the HT audio

Well here is what I want to do:

I do not want to run the HT full time, so inorder to only use the Receiver during movies etc I want to hook up as follows........

DVR to TV via HDMI

DVR to RCVR via digital optical cable (RCVR has no HDMI in/our)

Up converting DVD player to TV via HDMI (TV has two HDMI inputs)

DVD player to RCVR via digital coaxial cable (DVD only has coaxial out, don't know why only coaxial, but that is what I am stuck with)

If I have this figured out correctly I would be able to use TV speakers for either the DVR or DVD via the HDMI and leave the HT shut off

If I want the HT active, I would pass the video via the HDMI and the audio via the digital cables to the RCVR in order to get 5.1 surround

Does this work? Any anticipated problems?

I know this might be a little out of this forum, but the key is whether the DCT6416III had an optical output.

Well here is what I want to do:

I do not want to run the HT full time, so inorder to only use the Receiver during movies etc I want to hook up as follows........

DVR to TV via HDMI

DVR to RCVR via digital optical cable (RCVR has no HDMI in/our)

Up converting DVD player to TV via HDMI (TV has two HDMI inputs)

DVD player to RCVR via digital coaxial cable (DVD only has coaxial out, don't know why only coaxial, but that is what I am stuck with)

If I have this figured out correctly I would be able to use TV speakers for either the DVR or DVD via the HDMI and leave the HT shut off

If I want the HT active, I would pass the video via the HDMI and the audio via the digital cables to the RCVR in order to get 5.1 surround

Does this work? Any anticipated problems?

I know this might be a little out of this forum, but the key is whether the DCT6416III had an optical output.

That should work nicely - you'll switch inputs from your HDMI1 to HDMI2 to change the TV between DVD and Cable. When using the Home theater you'll have to switch there as well.

Sadly alot of DVD players seem to like to skimp on the Optical outputs - I was rather dismayed to see how many with HDMI outputs did not have optical as well. We're actually in a similar boat, except I'm unfortunate enough to only have 1 HDMI input on my TV... So I'm using HDMI from Cablebox to TV, Composite from DVD to TV, Optical from Cable to HT and Coax Dig Audio from DVD to HT. - it's a bit annoying to change both sources, but it really can't be helped until the day I can get a good quality HDMI switching HT and use it full time.

Well here is what I want to do:

I do not want to run the HT full time, so inorder to only use the Receiver during movies etc I want to hook up as follows........

DVR to TV via HDMI

DVR to RCVR via digital optical cable (RCVR has no HDMI in/our)

Up converting DVD player to TV via HDMI (TV has two HDMI inputs)

DVD player to RCVR via digital coaxial cable (DVD only has coaxial out, don't know why only coaxial, but that is what I am stuck with)

If I have this figured out correctly I would be able to use TV speakers for either the DVR or DVD via the HDMI and leave the HT shut off

If I want the HT active, I would pass the video via the HDMI and the audio via the digital cables to the RCVR in order to get 5.1 surround

Does this work? Any anticipated problems?

I know this might be a little out of this forum, but the key is whether the DCT6416III had an optical output.

Seems like it should work fine and yes, that DVR has an optical out.

...I'm unfortunate enough to only have 1 HDMI input on my TV... So I'm using HDMI from Cablebox to TV, Composite from DVD to TV, Optical from Cable to HT and Coax Dig Audio from DVD to HT. - it's a bit annoying to change both sources, but it really can't be helped until the day I can get a good quality HDMI switching HT and use it full time.

Have you thought about getting an HDMI switcher (http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110) to tide you over? These are inexpensive and seem to get good reviews, although they're quite popular right now and most seem to be out of stock :(

TV: Panasonic 58pz700u (1080p native)
STB: DCT6416 connected via component
Cable Co: RCN (Chicago)

1) Is there a way to simply "pass through" the signal and let my TV do the work? I trust my TV to do a better job than the STB. It seems as if you can feed your tv everything 720p or 1080i, but not a mix of both.

2)I'm leaving it on 1080i for now, I set SD to 480p, I'll play around with 720p v. 1080i... but 1080i has looked better in the past on this tv.

3) is there a way to switch between TV inputs using the cable box remote? I see no obvious TV/Video button on the remote... If there is this would pretty much eliminate my TV remote from normal use... my remote appears to be UR5-8400a

http://webpages.charter.net/remotes/IMAGES/thumb/UR5-8400a.jpg

4) I understand there are issues with A24, where can you find what guide version your bx is currently using.... to receive any firmware upgrades does the ethernet cable need to be attached or are they sent over coax?


I will eventually have it hooked up via HDMI to the tv, so far I'm satisfied with the PQ over component, this being my first HD box I feel a bit dirty since I've only used an anetenna or a QAM tuner picking up unencrypted local channels, but I'm sure I'll get used to it :)

Also, thanks to CharterJames for taking the time to start this thread and answer questions.

TV: Panasonic 58pz700u (1080p native)
STB: DCT6416 connected via component
Cable Co: RCN (Chicago)

1) Is there a way to simply "pass through" the signal and let my TV do the work? I trust my TV to do a better job than the STB. It seems as if you can feed your tv everything 720p or 1080i, but not a mix of both.

Unfortunately the Moto boxes do not allow this at this time, you're stuck with the output you select when the box is off.


2)I'm leaving it on 1080i for now, I set SD to 480p, I'll play around with 720p v. 1080i... but 1080i has looked better in the past on this tv.

Depends on the person & the TV for this option, so basically whatever looks better to you.


3) is there a way to switch between TV inputs using the cable box remote? I see no obvious TV/Video button on the remote... If there is this would pretty much eliminate my TV remote from normal use... my remote appears to be UR5-8400a

http://webpages.charter.net/remotes/IMAGES/thumb/UR5-8400a.jpg

I am not familiar with that particular remote but doing a quick search gave me a better view of the buttons on it. According to what I saw there should be a button toward the bottom left labeled 'video select', if this is the case try pressing the TV button at the top & then that video select button. If it works anything like most remotes & is programmed for the TV correctly that may do the trick.


4) I understand there are issues with A24, where can you find what guide version your bx is currently using.... to receive any firmware upgrades does the ethernet cable need to be attached or are they sent over coax?

You'd have to do a little searching for pictures of the different guides but most areas are currently using the A24. There may also be a Chicago thread here on the AVS forum that could tell you a little better what they currently have out there (the search button is your friend). Updates are automatic though & run via the coax to the box. You unfortunately can not pick which version you want. The ethernet serves no purpose at this time.

On my Charter remote, I push TV then use the TV/VCR (Input is printed on the button itself) button to cycle through the inputs to my Sony. On the Comcast silver remote I do the same with the button titled
"Input" prinsted on the remote body with TV/VCR printed on the button

This cycles through the inputs, and I can lock out the inputs that i do not need, so I currently have input 5 receiveing the component from the DVD player, and input 7 receiving the HDMI from the DVR. Perhaps your TV has something similar.

Bottom line is I control the input and the volume of the TV from the DVR remote. If I am running the DVD I control the volume of the RCVR with the remote set in AUX and alos turn the RCVR on and off with the DVR remote.

If you get the silver Comcast remote, you might be able to program some other key to control your TV input?

Can anyone tell me why our 34xx box tends to loose its DVR functionality from time to time? Generally, unplugging and waiting seems to restore (minus all our programs and scheduled recordings) functionality, but this has happened at least 6 times since we got the box last year. When it happens, the box continues to function- it just forgets that it has a DVR in it. None of the DVR buttons on the remote work. When you hit record, it tries to record to a VCR! Any thoughts would be helpful- I can't believe I'm paying $12 a month for this.

I know this has been ask many a time,but does the Motorola DCH3416 support a external hard drive though the usb port.I live in Hartford Wisconsin and just had my moxi swapped with one of these and the tech told my that it did and he plugged the one that I had hooked up to the moxi.He told me he has been doing this with external hard drives when he swaps moxi boxes and that it works.I have now had the new box a couple of days and it seems to be getting full.The external hard drive is 500 gigs and with the moxi held 80 to 100 hours of HDTV.Seems strange that some one who works for Charter would not know this or do i have to do something to make the box recognize the external hard drive.Thanks in advance for the updated information!!!

That drop length could well affect it - but since you can't move the house you might have to see if they would be willing to run a second drop and split the outlets across two drop lines - this isn't cheap - so unless you have wire maintenance or they get the picture that it's going to cost them more for repeat trouble calls than a rework - you might have to keep on them.

With luck a good face to face talk to a local manager should be all it takes

Well I got them to come out and run new cable out to the street.. bad thing is they're not coming until the 28th!!:eek: So now it is layin across the road getting run over for almost 3 weeks..:rolleyes: The road is not a real busy road but still,, do you think that will ruin the cable and if so should I ask them to check it first?

I know this has been ask many a time,but does the Motorola DCH3416 support a external hard drive though the usb port.I live in Hartford Wisconsin and just had my moxi swapped with one of these and the tech told my that it did and he plugged the one that I had hooked up to the moxi.He told me he has been doing this with external hard drives when he swaps moxi boxes and that it works.I have now had the new box a couple of days and it seems to be getting full.The external hard drive is 500 gigs and with the moxi held 80 to 100 hours of HDTV.Seems strange that some one who works for Charter would not know this or do i have to do something to make the box recognize the external hard drive.Thanks in advance for the updated information!!!

AFAIK, no cable company has enabled external storage for the Motorola DCT or DCH boxes. Your 3416 will store less than 20 hours of HD on its 160GB internal HDD.

If you want more space, you'll need to go the TiVo route.

Can anyone tell me why our 34xx box tends to loose its DVR functionality from time to time? Generally, unplugging and waiting seems to restore (minus all our programs and scheduled recordings) functionality, but this has happened at least 6 times since we got the box last year. When it happens, the box continues to function- it just forgets that it has a DVR in it. None of the DVR buttons on the remote work. When you hit record, it tries to record to a VCR! Any thoughts would be helpful- I can't believe I'm paying $12 a month for this.

Sounds like either a bad box or bad provisioning of equipment (system thinks you have a non-DVR STB). Might have them drop/add the box again, making sure they have the right serial number. If that doesn't work, swap boxes.

Can anyone tell me why our 34xx box tends to loose its DVR functionality from time to time? Generally, unplugging and waiting seems to restore (minus all our programs and scheduled recordings) functionality, but this has happened at least 6 times since we got the box last year. When it happens, the box continues to function- it just forgets that it has a DVR in it. None of the DVR buttons on the remote work. When you hit record, it tries to record to a VCR! Any thoughts would be helpful- I can't believe I'm paying $12 a month for this.

Mine was doing that last night, no DVR functions, but only on one tuner. The other one was fine. All I had to do was change the channel and it started working again. I have the same thoughts as you.....I'm PAYING for this? I have to admit though that these newer ones (DCT) work alot better than the DCH did.

Mine was doing that last night, no DVR functions, but only on one tuner. The other one was fine. All I had to do was change the channel and it started working again. I have the same thoughts as you.....I'm PAYING for this? I have to admit though that these newer ones (DCT) work alot better than the DCH did.

sligh correction... the DCH is newer than the DCT

sligh correction... the DCH is newer than the DCT

Thanks.....I took a guess, not being at home when I replied and guessed wrong.

Barry

I'm with Charter and I currently have both the Moxi box and the new DCH6416. I also have a couple of nice 750 GB external hard drives. I hooked one of them to the Moxi and it works great but unfortunately I noticed that they have not opened up the USB ports on the DCH6416 for use of an external hard drive. About all the USB port is good for is powering something.

However, my question is this. The DCH6416 also has an eSATA port on it. If they ever decide to open up a port to accept an external hard drive, and they decide to use the eSATA port rather than the USB port for it. Will I be able to hook my USB external Hard Drive up to an eSATA port somehow? An adapter? A new eSATA cable for my currently USB hard drive? Is this possible or will I have to go buy an eSATA external hard drive?

Thanks for any help here guys. :)

Never thought about checking the other tuner...interesting. Overall, I've found that our old TiVo was a much better DVR, although its picture quality was much worse. I'd get an HD TiVo if I thought the wife would not mind me buying another gadget. I just want the cable one to at least work. Whenever we loose the DVR, we also loose any scheduled recordings, and I've pretty much given up rescheduling them.


Mine was doing that last night, no DVR functions, but only on one tuner. The other one was fine. All I had to do was change the channel and it started working again. I have the same thoughts as you.....I'm PAYING for this? I have to admit though that these newer ones (DCT) work alot better than the DCH did.

I have the DCH3416 and i have a plasma and a projector hooked up. I hook the projector up thru a HDMI switch and every time i do that the settings go back to default. why is that?

Also I can have my plasma hooked up via component and projector hooked up HDMI. since its a dual tuner, can I watch 2 different channels at the same time? I think my friends sat. box can do that.

I have the DCH3416 and i have a plasma and a projector hooked up. I hook the projector up thru a HDMI switch and every time i do that the settings go back to default. why is that?

Also I can have my plasma hooked up via component and projector hooked up HDMI. since its a dual tuner, can I watch 2 different channels at the same time? I think my friends sat. box can do that.


Not sure on the first - you might have luck taking that issue to broadband.motorola.com - there's where I'd take it if one of my customers had an issue with it - generally on my 6416s HDMI pretty much stays where you set it reguardless of what you're outputting it to.

On the second - short answer - no.
You can set up the remote to swap tuners and control where each tuner is, but there's no mechanism in place to output tuner 1 to HDMI and say Tuner 2 to Component.

Here is a new one. Was pretty pissed about it as well. But I will give it a benefit of the doubt since it was the first time. I have wwe monday night raw set to record every monday at 9. Anyways. I went to watch it last nite and a little over half way. It freezes and skips all the way until the end. I cannot rewind or go back. It gets to the same spot and goes right to the end again. What happened here? I chalk it up as a possible glitch but man that sucked! Moto DCH6416 btw brand new when it was installed. Have had it for about 2-3 months now.

CharterJames:
Another question about the UR4U-MDVR-CHD2 remote. In the battery compartment, above the battery, is a 4-pin connector. There's an awesome little program on the Universal Remotes website (see below) called "Upgrade Link2" that looks like it'd be pretty easy to program the remote (vis-a-vis the unused ABCD buttons and the 30sec fast forward).

The only problem is that I have no idea what cable I need to connect it! I don't know what the pin-outs are either, or I'd make my own cable. Do you have one of these cables lying around?

Thanks for all the info you have put up, here, by the way. I especially appreciate the heads-ups for free preview channels!

Here is a new one. Was pretty pissed about it as well. But I will give it a benefit of the doubt since it was the first time. I have wwe monday night raw set to record every monday at 9. Anyways. I went to watch it last nite and a little over half way. It freezes and skips all the way until the end. I cannot rewind or go back. It gets to the same spot and goes right to the end again. What happened here? I chalk it up as a possible glitch but man that sucked! Moto DCH6416 btw brand new when it was installed. Have had it for about 2-3 months now.

I've had that before. More often though, sometimes a recorded program will just be black from the beginning. Fast forwarding/rewinding shows the progress bar, but it doesn't move. It's like the program isn't even there. Weird!

I have the 3416 and when I use OnDemand with Charter STL I see a vertical green bar on the right hand side of the screen. I am using HDMI output to a Olevia 437V. I switched to component last night and the green bar vanished. Any ideas what is bad? TV? 3416? Charter? Thanks!

I have both a DCT6416 & DCT3416 (my DCH3416 from eBay is in UPS' hands).
I routinely turn off both boxes when not in use and do NOT hear the sound of spinning HDDs. Now that I have removed my TiVoBasic DVR whose drive spins constantly I actually have silence when the system shuts off (that is as soon as the DLP fan shuts off).

I have not been able to get the IR port working correctly with my Niles IR repeater hub. I notice in the setup menu D11 it indicated that IR is both active and connected, however under Menu - cable box setup - configuration it says IR is off.

Any ideas ?

TIA

The OPTIMAL STEREO setting is needed primarily for setting the audio level going into the Ch3/4 RF modulator so that the TV audio demodulator can properly extract the subcarrier containing the difference audio (L-R). The main audio channel carries L+R matrixed audio (not to be confused with MATRIXed surround audio, a different concept totally). HTH Doc_Chiron

The DCT/DCH3416 STBs may or may not have NTSC tuners, but the more important issue is that there are NO MPEG2 encoders in these STBs, while the DCT/DCH64xx boxes do have the MPEG2 encoders. Now with almost ubiquitous usage of analog/digital simulcast by COMCAST, TimeWarner, and Charter et. al. both the 34xx and 64xx STBs due to caleco mapping are tuneable only to digital channels. In my area there is only one analog channel tuneable (95? or 99?).
The IEEE1394 outputs contain only the MPEG2 transport stream as sent to the STB by the head end and is the same regardless of whether the program is being watched "live" or played back from the DVR.
BTW: These boxes are NEVER showing the signal as directly received but always include the HDD in the path; that's why the signal is not corrupted in stunt modes (ie pause, ff, rew, etc).
When setting the STB to STANDBY (there is no OFF other than unplugged) followed by OK/Select (within 2 sec) you are taken to the DIAGNOSTIC MENU not the SETUP MENU. That menu is arrived at by pressing MENU any time while in STANDBY.
Also, be aware that pressing INFO while in STANDY displays the SUBTITLE ON/OFF and LANGUAGE settings that apparently have NO effect with the I-Guide installed. say beware because pressing various arrow keys will result in strange characters in the STB front panel display. (Must be some secret techie world known only to Motorola or a few priveleged folk. (Please, I wanna' know, please....) Enough for now... Doc_Chiron

However, my question is this. The DCH6416 also has an eSATA port on it. If they ever decide to open up a port to accept an external hard drive, and they decide to use the eSATA port rather than the USB port for it. Will I be able to hook my USB external Hard Drive up to an eSATA port somehow? An adapter? A new eSATA cable for my currently USB hard drive? Is this possible or will I have to go buy an eSATA external hard drive?

Thanks for any help here guys. :)

No one knows the answer to this? :confused:

The DCT/DCH3416 STBs may or may not have NTSC tuners

34xx series does not have NTSC at all - All digital
Here's the specs etc

http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_dct3400_settop.asp


The IEEE1394 outputs contain only the MPEG2 transport stream as sent to the STB by the head end and is the same regardless of whether the program is being watched "live" or played back from the DVR.

The IEEE1394 does not support overlays - as such you won't see the guide at all in this format. While this port was mandated by the FCC, given the MPAA's ZEALOUS guarding of digital signal it was pretty much doomed from the start. While it works it's the least supported output of them all, especially with HDMI quickly becoming the digital connection of choice.


When setting the STB to STANDBY (there is no OFF other than unplugged) followed by OK/Select (within 2 sec) you are taken to the DIAGNOSTIC MENU not the SETUP MENU. That menu is arrived at by pressing MENU any time while in STANDBY.

Also, be aware that pressing INFO while in STANDY displays the SUBTITLE ON/OFF and LANGUAGE settings that apparently have NO effect with the I-Guide installed. say beware because pressing various arrow keys will result in strange characters in the STB front panel display. (Must be some secret techie world known only to Motorola or a few priveleged folk. (Please, I wanna' know, please....) Enough for now... Doc_Chiron
[/quote]

What your seeing are the Coded information for what options are there - usually the arrow presses are directly related to either a Power/Menu or Power/Select (sometimes even Power/Info)

Interestingly enough the menu sometimes won't show up in all resolutions - particuarly if a TV won't support that resolution - though CHANNELS will even if the resolution isn't supported - just because of the output - SD outputs (RF, RCA and S-vid) are always 480i - but if the box is on 1080, you'll still see everything on these outputs, except for the menus.

Sometimes it won't work correctly outside of the 480i resolution - but when set to the right resolution you should see the full screen menu

When you first do a power/menu you'll see your TV Type (aspect ratio)
if you drop down you'll get your YPbPr Output (Resolution) - if you know what order it is and how to translate the sometimes awkward LCD characters on the box you can change settings even when you can't see the menu.

Other common codes are

DL (followed by a circling line)
This occurs when the box is Downloading firmware - the L is lower case so it's often incorrectly thought to be D1

FLASH (this is very short)
This occurs whenever something overwrites the flash memory - usually an upgrade or complete re-write of the firmwares on the box.


Power/Select gives the diagnostics (D01 - D18 on most of the boxes covered here) Again, compared to what's on the screen it's not much, but it's enough for a warehouse tech or repair tech to get a get the box on a viewable resolution or check for several major issues

I have not been able to get the IR port working correctly with my Niles IR repeater hub. I notice in the setup menu D11 it indicated that IR is both active and connected, however under Menu - cable box setup - configuration it says IR is off.

Any ideas ?

TIA

are you setting up an emitter on the front of the box or plugging directly into the IR Blaster port on the back?

I have the 3416 and when I use OnDemand with Charter STL I see a vertical green bar on the right hand side of the screen. I am using HDMI output to a Olevia 437V. I switched to component last night and the green bar vanished. Any ideas what is bad? TV? 3416? Charter? Thanks!

Powercycle your DVR and try the HDMI output again -

What resolution are/where you using?

CharterJames:
Another question about the UR4U-MDVR-CHD2 remote. In the battery compartment, above the battery, is a 4-pin connector. There's an awesome little program on the Universal Remotes website (see below) called "Upgrade Link2" that looks like it'd be pretty easy to program the remote (vis-a-vis the unused ABCD buttons and the 30sec fast forward).

The only problem is that I have no idea what cable I need to connect it! I don't know what the pin-outs are either, or I'd make my own cable. Do you have one of these cables lying around?

Thanks for all the info you have put up, here, by the way. I especially appreciate the heads-ups for free preview channels!

I've got the program and the little device that connects to computer VIA usb, unfortunately for some reason the default profiles won't work - I've had no luck reprogramming any of the major charter remotes with it :(

I got the program and device by writing to Universal Remotes - I got lucky and the sales person sent me one

I have not been able to get the IR port working correctly with my Niles IR repeater hub. I notice in the setup menu D11 it indicated that IR is both active and connected, however under Menu - cable box setup - configuration it says IR is off.

Any ideas ?

TIA


Could someone tell me what I would use the IR port for. What can I do with it? I think I have an IR cable that came with a TV that had Channel Guide on it. Using that I could use the IR to control the VCR to auto turn on select channel record and shut off.

Question for you 6416 owners that have an AV reciever included in your setup.

I'm thinking about picking up a Sony STR-DG810 AV Receiver, 3 HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. I'd like to use the TV speakers for casual TV viewing and the 810 for sound for sports/movies etc.
If I hook up the 6416 to 810 then to the TV via HDMI and ALSO hook up the component out video/optical audio from the 6416 directly to the TV avoiding the 810 all together.
Will the 6416 pass the signals out via component if the power on the 810(HDMI) is OFF? If so this would allow me to use the TV speakers when on the component input and the reciever for sound using my HDMI input.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Derek

I need help please.

I just picked up the 3416 box today. I have Charter cable in St Louis. My problem is there are a few channels that seem to be moved around while using this box. For example Headline News has always been channel 39. The built in program guide even lists the channel as Headline News - except it's not Headline News - It's displaying my local NBC affiliate's HD channel instead. And when I go to the channel that the HD NBC is supposed to be on - it has a message saying "channel will arrive shortly" or something like that. There are several channels I can't get anymore - they all show that same message. And then there are like 5 channels that are being replaced with other channels in their place, but the on screen guide (correctly) lists the channels that should be there - but another channel is actually being played instead. Does this make sense?

This becomes a real problem because I can't set the DVR to record a show if the guide thinks it's supposed to be something else.

I have not been able to get the IR port working correctly with my Niles IR repeater hub. I notice in the setup menu D11 it indicated that IR is both active and connected, however under Menu - cable box setup - configuration it says IR is off. Any ideas ? TIA

Yes I do. Under MENU, SETUP, CABLE BOX SETUP is referring to the IR receiver on the front of the STB itself (catches your remote's signals) while D11 is referring to the IR blaster transmitter on the rear.

34xx series does not have NTSC at all - All digital Here's the specs etc...
There is a difference between whether the tuner chipset has NTSC demodulation capability built-in, and whether it is used in the particular STB design. I'm saying that I do not know (or care) if the NTSC VIDEO and FM AUDIO demod circuit is present, but that the more important point is they were able to leave out the inefficient MPEG2 encoders that in the DCx-64xx boxes is required prior to recording (or even just viewing) ANALOG channels when (b4 ADS) the headend channel map make them available for tuning.
The IEEE1394 does not support overlays - as such you won't see the guide at all in this format.
My workaround for this is to use the analog LRaud/Svid STB outputs from both my DCT6416 & my DCT3416 on the otherwise unused HDTV analog INPUTs 1&2. That way I can use SPLIT (aka POP) to watch the STB-generated overlay video on the right hand display which does not allow DIGITAL inputs to be viewed anyway.
BTW: I use the HDTV to control the copying of MPEG2 transport streams from the STB to my AVHD firewire drives (2-40GB, 1-80GB, 1-160GB) for playback on my other IEEE1394 equipped sets! (Mitsu WD-52631 & WD-65731). Otherwise I use the HDMI-1 & 2 feeds from the STBs for regular viewing.
While this port was mandated by the FCC, given the MPAA's ZEALOUS guarding of digital signalS it was pretty much doomed from the start.
Doomed may be an appropriate term for the D-VHS HD/SD/SVID/VID format due to the access limitations of tape vs optical disks or HDDs. (Be sure to rewind that Netlix DVD b4 you return it!)
The mandate was & is still required to allow watching / recording the transport streams unimpeded by STB conversions.
FWIW: The IEEE1394 ports output ABC-HD, FOX-HD, & ESPN-HD1&2 in their native 720P MPEG2 transport stream format, while outputting most other HD program sources in their 1080i transport stream automatically (you cannot change that). They are 5C encrypted, so they can be recorded on D-VHS, AVHD (Indigita) drives and MACs & PCs equipped with appropriate ports and software. But the PC cannot display them itself as only the HDTV has the necessary 5C decoding ability.
While it works it's the least supported output of them all, especially with HDMI quickly becoming the digital connection of choice.
Actually, the HDMI STB digital video & digital audio output can be captured on a Black Magic Designs PCI card equipped with an HDMI input & HDMI output ports. (~$400USD).
What you ARE seeing are the Coded information for what options are there - usually the arrow presses are directly related to either a Power/Menu or Power/Select (sometimes even Power/Info).
Interestingly enough the menu sometimes won't show up in all resolutions - particuarly if a TV won't support that resolution - though CHANNELS will even if the resolution isn't supported - just because of the output - SD outputs (RF, RCA and S-vid) are always 480i - but if the box is on 1080, you'll still see everything on these outputs, except for the menus.
Sometimes it won't work correctly outside of the 480i resolution - but when set to the right resolution you should see the full screen menu.
I'll have to view the STB analog outputs next time i play with POWER-OFF, INFO to see what you mean.
When you first do a power/menu you'll see your TV Type (aspect ratio), if you drop down you'll get your YPbPr [and HDMI or DVI] Output (Resolution) - if you know what order it is and how to translate the sometimes awkward LCD characters on the box you can change settings even when you can't see the menu.
I wonder why the POWER-OFF, MENU and POWER-OFF, OK/Select video is visible on my HDTV HDMI input, but not the POWER-OFF, INFO screen?
Other common codes are
DL (followed by a circling line) This occurs when the box is Downloading firmware - the L is lower case so it's often incorrectly thought to be D1
FLASH (this is very short) This occurs whenever something overwrites the flash memory - usually an upgrade or complete re-write of the firmwares on the box.
Don't forget the ever annoying EAS (Emergency Alert System - I miss the old Conalrad system - that was even before the Emergency Broadcast System).
Those mandatory weekly and monthly tests cause ALL boxes (even on standby) to UNMUTE and switch to a specific channel common to both analog and digital receivers so folk with analog or digital STBs can be reached (Can you believe they switch to QVC here in LA? They used to switch to ch35the oficial LA City channel. Why QVC? Ah, it must be the switchover from Comcast to TWC.) (no STB, no warning? What does Charter do for folk w/o a STB?)
Power/Select gives the diagnostics (D01 - D18 on most of the boxes covered here) Again, compared to what's on the screen it's not much, but it's enough for a warehouse tech or repair tech to get a get the box on a viewable resolution or check for several major issues
My favorite is D06. Show channel details for tuner 1 & tuner 2 (lets you figure out which is in the foreground and which is in the background). I use it to figure out the channel mapping between cable channel frequencies and STB channel numbers. And I get to figure out how many SD & HD programs are crammed together. All 48 Music Choice signals plus 4 SD video programs are squeezed into one 6MHz 256-QAM digital channel. Sometimes over a dozen SD programs are shoe-horned into one channel, while at most 4 HD programs (usually just 3) are force-fit into one channel.
BTW: That squeezing is why the MSOs would love to dump the analog channels, but those STB-less subscribers are important enough to keep, so we're getting switched-digital-video instead, whoopie!
END of RANT Be well. Doc_Chiron

Could someone tell me what I would use the IR port for. What can I do with it? I think I have an IR cable that came with a TV that had Channel Guide on it. Using that I could use the IR to control the VCR to auto turn on select channel record and shut off.
TiVo has an option for ARCHIVING recorded programs to a VCR or DVDR. The recorder's LINE INPUT is connected to an analog TiVo output set (e.g. Svid+LRaud). The TiVo does NOT turn the recorder ON or OFF, but only sends RECORD and STOP (maybe PAUSE too) and will record as many programs as you have selected AND will fit on your media dependant on the manually set recording quality mode.
My guess is that Moto wanted to be sure the MSOs guide software could offer that feature if they wanted to, but they don't - AFAIK.

I need help please.
This becomes a real problem because I can't set the DVR to record a show if the guide thinks it's supposed to be something else.
IIRC: Use the SEARCH A-Z feature to find your desired program and set it to record without regard to the channel it displays. Hopefully, when the time comes to record the program, the STB will select the correct channel to record. If NOT, we can say we tried!! :rolleyes:
HTH Doc_Chiron

I'm with Charter and I currently have both the Moxi box and the new DCH6416. I also have a couple of nice 750 GB external hard drives. I hooked one of them to the Moxi and it works great but unfortunately I noticed that they have not opened up the USB ports on the DCH6416 for use of an external hard drive. About all the USB port is good for is powering something.

However, my question is this. The DCH6416 also has an eSATA port on it. If they ever decide to open up a port to accept an external hard drive, and they decide to use the eSATA port rather than the USB port for it. Will I be able to hook my USB external Hard Drive up to an eSATA port somehow? An adapter? A new eSATA cable for my currently USB hard drive? Is this possible or will I have to go buy an eSATA external hard drive?

Thanks for any help here guys. :)

There are adapters to convert SATA to IDE and IDE to USB... so presumably there would probably be some sort of adapter, but you're probably going to have to look at places like http://www.newegg.com and there's no 100% sure chance it will work because boxes have limited compatibility - unlike computers you can't write drivers for every box type out there, so there may be certain drives, adapters etc that simply won't work with a cable receivers limited compatibility.

Worst case scenerio you should be able to open up your USB hard drive and see if it's SATA or not... chances are if it's SATA you can put it into a eSATA case.

*************NOTE********************
just be warned that opening up your External USB Hd, if it's not a case+Hd will probably void any remaining warranty on your External USB. - Not that silly things like warranties ever stop me from opening up my electronics, but for those who are afraid they will break it or are in any way skittish about such things, you may want to think twice before doing it.

As for me ~I Void Warranties~

IIRC: Use the SEARCH A-Z feature to find your desired program and set it to record without regard to the channel it displays. Hopefully, when the time comes to record the program, the STB will select the correct channel to record. If NOT, we can say we tried!! :rolleyes:
HTH Doc_Chiron

If you do a manual recording it should pretty much always work - it's series that A24 really tends to go FUBAR on ...

TiVo has an option for ARCHIVING recorded programs to a VCR or DVDR. The recorder's LINE INPUT is connected to an analog TiVo output set (e.g. Svid+LRaud). The TiVo does NOT turn the recorder ON or OFF, but only sends RECORD and STOP (maybe PAUSE too) and will record as many programs as you have selected AND will fit on your media dependant on the manually set recording quality mode.
My guess is that Moto wanted to be sure the MSOs guide software could offer that feature if they wanted to, but they don't - AFAIK.

There's no automatic Record / Stop / Pause option - but essentually you get the same basic ability by outputting your RCA, RF or S-vid to a VCR or DVDR and playing it while recording on the other.

I'm assuming that while your archiving all of the TIVO's outputs are showing the same thing ...

now if either (or both) would allow you to enter an archive mode where you could assign different Tuners to different outputs (archive recorded programming on analog while watching something else on HDMI...) THAT would be sweet!

Doomed may be an appropriate term for the D-VHS HD/SD/SVID/VID format due to the access limitations of tape vs optical disks or HDDs. (Be sure to rewind that Netlix DVD b4 you return it!)

Pretty much, especially since the majority of high end users now have DVD recorders and at least half of them have the knowledge to rip encrypted dvd video.

The mandate was & is still required to allow watching / recording the transport streams unimpeded by STB conversions.
FWIW: The IEEE1394 ports output ABC-HD, FOX-HD, & ESPN-HD1&2 in their native 720P MPEG2 transport stream format, while outputting most other HD program sources in their 1080i transport stream automatically (you cannot change that). They are 5C encrypted, so they can be recorded on D-VHS, AVHD (Indigita) drives and MACs & PCs equipped with appropriate ports and software. But the PC cannot display them itself as only the HDTV has the necessary 5C decoding ability.

Actually, the HDMI STB digital video & digital audio output can be captured on a Black Magic Designs PCI card equipped with an HDMI input & HDMI output ports. (~$400USD).

Yep, HDMI is the way to go whenever possible. 5c really wrecked havoc on pc users wanting to use firewire for this home media computers.

Of course the other (PC) alternative is the Card enabled tuners, which so far I've only seen with ATI (and of course require Vista...) Dunno if MAC will see this capability, I would suspect so and of course linux users will hack their way in ;)



I wonder why the POWER-OFF, MENU and POWER-OFF, OK/Select video is visible on my HDTV HDMI input, but not the POWER-OFF, INFO screen?

Power/Info doesn't have a screen, it's really just a shortcut to the Captioning options in the Power/Menu.

Ironically on most these boxes the captoining never seems to work correctly anyway - it's almost always better to use the TV's captoining options.


Don't forget the ever annoying EAS (Emergency Alert System - I miss the old Conalrad system - that was even before the Emergency Broadcast System).
Those mandatory weekly and monthly tests cause ALL boxes (even on standby) to UNMUTE and switch to a specific channel common to both analog and digital receivers so folk with analog or digital STBs can be reached (Can you believe they switch to QVC here in LA? They used to switch to ch35the oficial LA City channel. Why QVC? Ah, it must be the switchover from Comcast to TWC.) (no STB, no warning? What does Charter do for folk w/o a STB?)

Without STB - pretty much nothing - but that will change with the migration to digital (since at that point all digital tuners should be able to receive the force tune commands.

EAS can be a nasty piece of work and it's a pain in the butt - here they used Trinity Broadcasting - a Christian faith network... so you can imagine the complaints... one moment you're watching your movie or whatever the next you're seeing some televangelist while hearing funky audio... We finally got that changed to the local CBS affaliate, but it's still annoying.

I remember when I was in Training at Motorola's HQ in Horsham PA... the instructor was showing us how to configure EAS and giving us a warning about the force tune... Apparently a disgruntled employee had reset it just before quitting so that it would force tune to the Playboy network... then set up for EAS for trip at 8pm the evening after he quit. So you can imagine a cable system with EVERYONE force tuned to Playboy... and a headend scrambling to figure out how to turn off EAS....


My favorite is D06. Show channel details for tuner 1 & tuner 2 (lets you figure out which is in the foreground and which is in the background). I use it to figure out the channel mapping between cable channel frequencies and STB channel numbers. And I get to figure out how many SD & HD programs are crammed together. All 48 Music Choice signals plus 4 SD video programs are squeezed into one 6MHz 256-QAM digital channel. Sometimes over a dozen SD programs are shoe-horned into one channel, while at most 4 HD programs (usually just 3) are force-fit into one channel.
BTW: That squeezing is why the MSOs would love to dump the analog channels, but those STB-less subscribers are important enough to keep, so we're getting switched-digital-video instead, whoopie!
END of RANT Be well. Doc_Chiron

Yep - you can get 10 SD Digitals into the space of 1 analog pretty nicely... more if there's not as much bandwidth used (for example - Music choices Classified channels etc) 3 to 4 HDs is pretty much average - 4 only if there's not as much bandwidth usage (HD Nets, Discovery etc take more bandwidth than locals usually)

D06 also gives you the CI flags at the bottom - this is handy to know if you ever get a Card Validation failure on a DCH! (because only the channels with a CCI value other than Copy Freely - 0x00 - will show up properly)

Could someone tell me what I would use the IR port for. What can I do with it? I think I have an IR cable that came with a TV that had Channel Guide on it. Using that I could use the IR to control the VCR to auto turn on select channel record and shut off.

If it's enabled the IR port is supposed to send command to VCRs to tell them to turn on, record, turn off etc. However I've not really seen any options in the guide to set up the port for a specific make/model of VCR and I know the IR codes are different for different models so I don't know if anyone's really ever successfully used the IR (output) port on a DCT or DCH.

Many VCRs and Pre Series III Tivos used IR blasters to do the opposite - control the cable box through the Tivo or VCR. Most Tivo users opted to use direct Serial connection on older DCTs, however as of the DCT5200 they did away with serial ports on the boxes. The new replacement for the 2500 /2000 series has a serial option - but only by plugging in a special adapter.

Most people today if they use an IR blaster will use it with some sort or RF remote or IR remote repeater, these will usually transmit using Radio Frequency (RF) to a base station, which will connect to small IR blasters you place on each component (which is what I'm assuming the Niles system is being used for here) - in the case of an IR remote repeater, you'll have an infrared (IR) port located somewhere near the TV and the data is sent down a cable to a base station (instead of wireless Radio Frequency)

RF tends to be cheaper, but is suspect to interfearance and requires the usage of a special remote. IR systems can channel the commands from the origional remote(s) and set them to the components which are usually stored someplace out of sight like in a media closet. IR's probably a little more user friendly once it's set up.

There are also IR blasters you can find online that allow computers to control common remote controlled objects.

Well I got them to come out and run new cable out to the street.. bad thing is they're not coming until the 28th!!:eek: So now it is layin across the road getting run over for almost 3 weeks..:rolleyes: The road is not a real busy road but still,, do you think that will ruin the cable and if so should I ask them to check it first?

Well the good news is what you have now is a Temp Drop - it's generally a strong enough cable to withstand a few months of bad treatment - so long as no one chops it with a lawnmower etc ;) (cars usually don't do so much damage)

Once the drop crew (I'm assuming this line will get buried) gets there they usually replace the temp line with a fresh one. If at all possible I recommend asking if they can put the line in conduit - this way if the drop ever has to be re-run it just needs to be fished through the conduit!

are you setting up an emitter on the front of the box or plugging directly into the IR Blaster port on the back?


I connected the phono mini-plug in the back to the Niles IR repeater.
Using the same type of cables that works for my AVR receiver.

regards;

Felipe

I connected the phono mini-plug in the back to the Niles IR repeater.
Using the same type of cables that works for my AVR receiver.

regards;

Felipe

k, and in positioning the IR cable to the front of the DCT / DCH - where is it placed? Generally on the DCTs it will be on the right hand side of the LCD display - usually if you're about 2 inches from the front of it you can see the "eye" for it.

k, and in positioning the IR cable to the front of the DCT / DCH - where is it placed? Generally on the DCTs it will be on the right hand side of the LCD display - usually if you're about 2 inches from the front of it you can see the "eye" for it.


Nothing in the front of the DCT...

This is what I have which is made by Niles see last page for diagram:
http://www.jobsitesystems.com/images/PDF/IR-KIT-MKII_cutsheet.pdf

I have the IR receiver mounted in my cabinet, from there to the IR-CB2 hub.
I have 1 mouse emmiter going to my TV set, another one to the dvd both pasted to the front of the respective device in the IR window. Then to my Onkyo AVR is have a direct cable (mini-phono to min-phono) going to the back of the receiver, nothing in the front. This transmits the IR signal directly to the AVR electrically over the cable and it works.

This is the same type of setup I presume will work with the DCT6412v3. I connected a cable between the back of the DCT to the IR-CB2 hub. However it doesn't appear to work and also under cable box setup - configuration it says IR is inactive (under the "ok/Select" setup screens it shows up as enabled/active).

Perhaps my assumption is not correct that this will work in place of a mouse ir-emitter. I can add that if it works, but it would just be cleaner to have the back connection only. Also I am confused about the VCR control, why would you care about a VCR when you have a DCT DVR ?

thanks...

redrock...

Nothing in the front of the DCT...

This is what I have which is made by Niles see last page for diagram:
http://www.jobsitesystems.com/images/PDF/IR-KIT-MKII_cutsheet.pdf

I have the IR receiver mounted in my cabinet, from there to the IR-CB2 hub.
I have 1 mouse emmiter going to my TV set, another one to the dvd both pasted to the front of the respective device in the IR window. Then to my Onkyo AVR is have a direct cable (mini-phono to min-phono) going to the back of the receiver, nothing in the front. This transmits the IR signal directly to the AVR electrically over the cable and it works.

This is the same type of setup I presume will work with the DCT6412v3. I connected a cable between the back of the DCT to the IR-CB2 hub. However it doesn't appear to work and also under cable box setup - configuration it says IR is inactive (under the "ok/Select" setup screens it shows up as enabled/active).

Perhaps my assumption is not correct that this will work in place of a mouse ir-emitter. I can add that if it works, but it would just be cleaner to have the back connection only. Also I am confused about the VCR control, why would you care about a VCR when you have a DCT DVR ?

thanks...

redrock...

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure you're going to need the ir-emitter on the Moto box. I agree that the ir-blaster on the back would be cleaner/better but it's not enabled & only the cable company can enable it (which sorry to say, chances are they're not going to do it for you :( ).

Tried searching this thread for the answer with no luck.

Here is my set-up:

- 6416III > HDMI > Onkyo TX-SR875 > HDMI > Panasonic PT-AE2000U

By powering off and pressing MENU, my 6416 is set to 1080i out and 4:3 set to OFF.

My Onkyo says NO SIGNAL. I tried by-passing the Onkyo and ran HDMI directly to the AE2000U. Still no signal.

This works:

- 6416 > Component/Optical > 875 > HDMI > AE2000U.

Is there a setting that I am missing on the 6416 so that the HDMI port is "on". I called Shaw Cable (Calgary) and they said there was nothing on their end that they can do.

I may take the 6416 into Shaw to see if they can test the HDMI port. I have tried new HDMI cables with the same result.

I thought their might be something between the 875 and 6416, but ruled that out when running HDMI direct to FP did not work. :confused:

I've just gotten a Comcast Motorola 3412Tivo DVR and aside from the extremely slow response it works OK. However, when paging down a list of shows in the record by channel / time list, it will page down a screen full, then a couple of seconds later jump back one line. This is very annoying.

They're sending a tech out tomorrow, but has anyone seen this?

CharterJames (and others in the know),

I have been reading more and more about MoCA and it seems pretty exciting. Does Charter have any plans to truly implement this? Simply being able to watch a movie in one room, recorded on a DVR in another room would be great. MoxiMate never made it to my area, but I would like to think some day this concept would be a reality for the rest of us. It seems like that would be only the tip of the iceberg and that the cablecos would really have a huge jump on the DBS boys with all that could be offered with this kind on inter-connectivity in the home. What's the inside scoop? Or is this another one of those things that Motorola and others are offering, but the reality of MSOs providing is another story?

Doc or CharterJames would you guys take a stab at my question please.
Thanks, Derek

Question for you 6416 owners that have an AV reciever included in your setup.

I'm thinking about picking up a Sony STR-DG810 AV Receiver, 3 HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. I'd like to use the TV speakers for casual TV viewing(wife/kids) and the 810 for sound for sports/movies etc.
If I hook up the 6416 to 810 via HDMI then to the TV via HDMI and ALSO hook up the component out video/optical audio from the 6416 directly to the TV avoiding the 810 all together.
Will the 6416 pass the signals out via component if the power on the 810(HDMI) is OFF? I know for a fact the 810 will not pass any signals while its powered off. If the 6416 will do that it would allow me to use the TV speakers when on the component input and the reciever for sound using my HDMI input on the TV and I and the wife/kids would be happy.
Any help is appreciated.


UPDATE I just experimented with it and I hooked up both the component and HDMI cables to the TV and it outputs to both at the same time so I can switch between the 2 inputs on my TV. Just FYI for anyone looking to do the same type setup I was looking for.

Nothing in the front of the DCT...

This is what I have which is made by Niles see last page for diagram:
http://www.jobsitesystems.com/images/PDF/IR-KIT-MKII_cutsheet.pdf

I have the IR receiver mounted in my cabinet, from there to the IR-CB2 hub.
I have 1 mouse emmiter going to my TV set, another one to the dvd both pasted to the front of the respective device in the IR window. Then to my Onkyo AVR is have a direct cable (mini-phono to min-phono) going to the back of the receiver, nothing in the front. This transmits the IR signal directly to the AVR electrically over the cable and it works.

This is the same type of setup I presume will work with the DCT6412v3. I connected a cable between the back of the DCT to the IR-CB2 hub. However it doesn't appear to work and also under cable box setup - configuration it says IR is inactive (under the "ok/Select" setup screens it shows up as enabled/active).

Perhaps my assumption is not correct that this will work in place of a mouse ir-emitter. I can add that if it works, but it would just be cleaner to have the back connection only. Also I am confused about the VCR control, why would you care about a VCR when you have a DCT DVR ?

thanks...

redrock...


I'd stick to having the direct mouse emitter on the front of the DCT/DCH box - the port in the back is for the Cable box to control other boxes as I understand it - but I've not seen anything for setting up this feature (I know the port is active in my system)

I've used the mouse emitter types with a Universal Remotes RF w/ir blaster and that worked quite well.

I've just gotten a Comcast Motorola 3412Tivo DVR and aside from the extremely slow response it works OK. However, when paging down a list of shows in the record by channel / time list, it will page down a screen full, then a couple of seconds later jump back one line. This is very annoying.

They're sending a tech out tomorrow, but has anyone seen this?

That is very odd, usually Page Up/Down works pretty quick - give the box a power cycle and see if it persist after reload - hopefully it's just a bad load of guide data

Tried searching this thread for the answer with no luck.

Here is my set-up:

- 6416III > HDMI > Onkyo TX-SR875 > HDMI > Panasonic PT-AE2000U

By powering off and pressing MENU, my 6416 is set to 1080i out and 4:3 set to OFF.

My Onkyo says NO SIGNAL. I tried by-passing the Onkyo and ran HDMI directly to the AE2000U. Still no signal.

This works:

- 6416 > Component/Optical > 875 > HDMI > AE2000U.

Is there a setting that I am missing on the 6416 so that the HDMI port is "on". I called Shaw Cable (Calgary) and they said there was nothing on their end that they can do.

I may take the 6416 into Shaw to see if they can test the HDMI port. I have tried new HDMI cables with the same result.

I thought their might be something between the 875 and 6416, but ruled that out when running HDMI direct to FP did not work. :confused:

(Added in edit -) When you Try the direct connection to the TV - you may have to powercycle the Box & the TV to get the devices to sync up.

Now try the old configuration again - again, you may have to power cycle each device in line.


I know that HDMI and DVI sometimes take a powercycle to "sync" and get the encryption handshake. If you're connecting through some sort of switching device and it doesn't carry over the proper handshake it won't allow a picture because it can't verify digital encryption (this happens more to DVI than HDMI, but it still happens.)

CharterJames (and others in the know),

I have been reading more and more about MoCA and it seems pretty exciting. Does Charter have any plans to truly implement this? Simply being able to watch a movie in one room, recorded on a DVR in another room would be great. MoxiMate never made it to my area, but I would like to think some day this concept would be a reality for the rest of us. It seems like that would be only the tip of the iceberg and that the cablecos would really have a huge jump on the DBS boys with all that could be offered with this kind on inter-connectivity in the home. What's the inside scoop? Or is this another one of those things that Motorola and others are offering, but the reality of MSOs providing is another story?

If it works the way it's supposed to, I think we'll pretty much have to ;)
With an OCAP world unfolding before us, I think it will become less of what the Cable Companies are willing to allow and more of what the Hardware is capabile of doing and what it's designed to work with - For example, I think some companies (TIVO, DIGEO) are probably going to find a way to keep their data between their equipment if at all possible... Personally I hope not... as one way or another I'd like to use smaller boxes (like a DCH 200) in my bedrooms and just one good DVR... Thought now that I think of it I'd probably want to seperate the kid's rooms so I don't tie up the main DVR with cartoons and wrestling *L*

I tried power on/off and no change. I'm moving this over to the Comcast Tivo thread where I should have been in the first place. Thanks

I tried power on/off and no change. I'm moving this over to the Comcast Tivo thread where I should have been in the first place. Thanks

Is your 3416 running a TIVO interfact or the TV Guide I-Guide - if your running a DCT or DCH 3416 you're actually in the right place

If powercycling didn't resolve it, a cold initialization would wipe and repload the firmware applications - this can be done from billing or in a special process called a "three finger salute" I don't post that one publicly as it could be used by kids to bypass the Parential Control Pins (Cold Init will wipe everything except for DVR settings and programming)

PM me if you are running the TV Guide interface and I'll tell you how to completely wipe the box

TV Guide's interface should look like this

http://www.i-guide.tv/

I've got a Pioneer plasma PDP-6010FD and am trying to set-up the Comcast/Motorola cablebox so that I get the best possible picture.

In the HDMI advanced settings in the Motorola DCH-3416 I have the choice of two color spaces: YCC and RGB.

Does it matter which is selected, or does the Pio figure what signal it's getting and somehow adjust automatically?

Hi I posted the following a while back:

"Anyone have these issues and if so is there a fix?

HDTV (channel 770) will occasionally record a black screen instead of the program.

HD channels freeze and you have to either change to a SDTV channel and then back to the HD channel to clear or reset/powercycle the unit.

I've spoken with Charter and they've had me reset the unit and said that they would sent out a new unit if the issue presists. I'm thinking this will be a firmware or software issue. Any suggestions?"

I have since encountered the receiver doing the same on all channels. For instance, I was watching a program on Showtime in standard definition and it was time to record another one of my programs on one of the HBO's(standard defintion). The Showtime program froze. I checked to see if the HBO progam was recording ok and it was. So I managed to get my showtime program unfrozen by changing the channels and then going back. Finished watcing my program and then checked the HBO program. Guess what it froze at the time that I had managed to unfreeze the showtime program.

I had Charter come out and check the lines and they found no issue. They then brought me out another Motorola this week and now it's doing the same stuff. It's gotten to the point where I may get my programs successfully recorded maybe 70% of the time. I never had this much trouble out of a DVR before. Anyone having last suggestions before I give up and go back to satellite?

I've got a Pioneer plasma PDP-6010FD and am trying to set-up the Comcast/Motorola cablebox so that I get the best possible picture.

In the HDMI advanced settings in the Motorola DCH-3416 I have the choice of two color spaces: YCC and RGB.

Does it matter which is selected, or does the Pio figure what signal it's getting and somehow adjust automatically?

Most people never change that setting and are happy - me I always recommend trying it a while on the different settings and keep it a while - see what others think - usually you'll find one that's a preference - I always leave the choice of what's best to those who are actually watching / listening to it in the case of settings

Hi I posted the following a while back:

"Anyone have these issues and if so is there a fix?

HDTV (channel 770) will occasionally record a black screen instead of the program.

Recording a black screen on a channel happens occasionally when there's either duplicate programming on another channel or a signal issue occuring on the channel. I've had this occur on HD channels and more rarely on Analog (Dexter on Showtime HD and Dr Who on Sci-Fi) - generally if it's a duplicate programming issue you can get around it by doing manual recordings instead of a series or modifying your series to record on all channels with duplicates and deleting duplicates and screwups. - This is a software issue with the Guide and should be resolved next version (A25)

If it's a signal issue it will require a technician to check the signal.

HD channels freeze and you have to either change to a SDTV channel and then back to the HD channel to clear or reset/powercycle the unit.

A freeze frame (without pausing) on a digital picture is usually an indication of signal loss, usually it comes back with a channel up or channel down - however it it consistently happens on one channel for all of the same box type (usually it will only affect either the 64xx dvrs or the Moxi, not both at teh same time) it can be resolved by a system admin like me - PM or email me (first name.last name @ chartercom.com) with your name, address and phone number as it appears in our billing systems and I should be able to locate someone who might be able to help you.

I've spoken with Charter and they've had me reset the unit and said that they would sent out a new unit if the issue presists. I'm thinking this will be a firmware or software issue. Any suggestions?"

power-cycling will clear memory issues (frequent cause of VOD errors) and re-load guide data (another common cause of errors) Chances are good if this didn't fix it you're probably experiencing a signal issue a may require a service call.

I have since encountered the receiver doing the same on all channels. For instance, I was watching a program on Showtime in standard definition and it was time to record another one of my programs on one of the HBO's(standard defintion). The Showtime program froze. I checked to see if the HBO progam was recording ok and it was. So I managed to get my showtime program unfrozen by changing the channels and then going back. Finished watcing my program and then checked the HBO program. Guess what it froze at the time that I had managed to unfreeze the showtime program.

Generally it will stop and pause for the menu options to switch tuner (since your switching to the secondary tuner to view what you're recording then back to the primary for "live viewing" - assuming you don't have a tuner swap button programmed - usually unless you're using a SWAP type feature the box will prompt you to switch tuners when it needs to change the channel to record on both tuners. Of course this is only normal if both tuners are in usage by the box - in your case you were recording on one tuner - and switched to the same program and back with the other tuner - this should not have caused any pausing other than the usual few seconds to tune to another channel.

I had Charter come out and check the lines and they found no issue. They then brought me out another Motorola this week and now it's doing the same stuff. It's gotten to the point where I may get my programs successfully recorded maybe 70% of the time. I never had this much trouble out of a DVR before. Anyone having last suggestions before I give up and go back to satellite?

The pauses & freezes are amost always signal issues, though the black screen recordings can be a guide issue - the big problem is most techs tend to only think in terms of not enough signal when quite frequently this can be caused by too much signal.

Hit me with your info and I'll see if I can get a different set of eyes on it, because this person is defintely missing something - you also may have better luck taking it up with the local Customer Service Manager or Tech Ops Manager - they are usually in a position to ensure it's escalated if the first tech doesn't resolve it (whereas the call centers just put in another trouble call and leave it up to field personnel to figure out if it's repeat issue)

If the issue with the recording cannot be bypassed or resolved by service calls, you may find a BMC9012 Moxi DVR might give you better recording performance. IMHO both DVRs have their flaws - the Moxi has lower grade tuners so the picture isn't as good on LCDs and Plasmas, the 34xx /64xx has guide issues (which hopefully will be resolved with the new version)

Hi again. My 6414 wont let me delete one of my programs. It seems to get confused whenever I try to hit the record button (on the remote) whilst the program is a bit behind and not in actual real time. This was the case for the problem program. After this recording the DVR showed 100% full (incorrectly) and didn't record any programs after the false full declaration. When I click to delete the program it gives me an error which states that the program is running and can't be deleted. This is after I deleted a few programs and it already reset to the proper percentage, turned it on and off several times, etc.

I imagine a full reset is in order, however, unlike the MOXI box, there appears to be no reset button. Am I missing something?

Is there some other way to delete a program besides through the regular menu?

Is your 3416 running a TIVO interfact or the TV Guide I-Guide - if your running a DCT or DCH 3416 you're actually in the right place

If powercycling didn't resolve it, a cold initialization would wipe and repload the firmware applications - this can be done from billing or in a special process called a "three finger salute" I don't post that one publicly as it could be used by kids to bypass the Parential Control Pins (Cold Init will wipe everything except for DVR settings and programming)

PM me if you are running the TV Guide interface and I'll tell you how to completely wipe the box

TV Guide's interface should look like this

http://www.i-guide.tv/

Pretty sure he was talking about the new Tivo software interface running on the Motorola boxes up here in New England in Comcast land. There are a few good threads referring to this new guide. Looks to be promising but still has a couple little bugs. Works very differently from the i-guide, more similar to the regular Tivo.

Most people never change that setting and are happy - me I always recommend trying it a while on the different settings and keep it a while - see what others think - usually you'll find one that's a preference - I always leave the choice of what's best to those who are actually watching / listening to it in the case of settings

Refresh my memory, how do I get to those settings, and shouldn't one or the other be the "correct" setting? What are we actually changing anyway?

Refresh my memory, how do I get to those settings, and shouldn't one or the other be the "correct" setting? What are we actually changing anyway?

You can do this from the remote if you want. 'Cable' - 'Power' - 'Menu'. I believe on the 4th line down it should say something about the advanced hdmi settings, highlight that & press the right arrow (or select, I forget which). These settings are only available when there is an hdmi cable connected.

When you Try the direct connection to the TV - you may have to powercycle the Box & the TV to get the devices to sync up.

Now try the old configuration again - again, you may have to power cycle each device in line.

I know that HDMI and DVI sometimes take a powercycle to "sync" and get the encryption handshake. If you're connecting through some sort of switching device and it doesn't carry over the proper handshake it won't allow a picture because it can't verify digital encryption (this happens more to DVI than HDMI, but it still happens.)

thanks CharterJames,

A service "tech" came to my house and we determined it was in fact my box. We tried a new (probably refurbished) and it worked fine.

You can do this from the remote if you want. 'Cable' - 'Power' - 'Menu'. I believe on the 4th line down it should say something about the advanced hdmi settings, highlight that & press the right arrow (or select, I forget which). These settings are only available when there is an hdmi cable connected.

Ok, great, now which setting is the correct one? RGB or YCC?

ok, so I started reading this thread the other day when I was "upgraded" from the BMC9012 MOXI box to the DCH 6416 box because the MOXI box went dark (no lights, no picture to TV, just fans blowing).

I've read every single post, and it all makes me sad. This DCH6416 is not an "upgrade" at all, but a big step backward. Can I say that after 3 or 4 years on the MOXI, coupled with the improvements they added (most notably external hard drive support), this is really hard to swallow. Let me list all the immediate impressions after a week of the new box:
- interface looks horrible
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !!!! TOO SMALL INTERNAL DRIVE !!!
- there is no keyword search (only title search)
- title search only matches from the beginning of title, and not the middle (ex. "goblet" will not find "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire")
- when looking at previously recorded shows, or "series settings", only displays 4 shows at a time --> MOXI used the full height of the screen for this, and so you would get like 8 or 10 shows displayed
- no "clear" or "delete" button on remote to easily delete stuff without going through 10 menus

Now that I'm done ranting, let's rant some more...
- as far as menu funtionality/user friendliness: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>>> I-guide
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER but worse for the customer
- doesn't Charter test this stuff in the real world first? my god, you would have learned so much if you actually listened to feedback -- the people designing the interface need to all be let go, and hire some people who can make a friendly/intuitive/attractive experience
-anything designed to emulate the "TV Guide" format is doomed for failure as it is terrible to begin with...sheesh

Lastly: any "workarounds" or "temporary fixes" or other baloney that people suggest to "improve the experience" just mean that this product is insufficient. The MOXI BMC9012 was lightyears ahead of the DCH6416 4 years ago when I first got the 9012 box!!

Any word on when a new-and-improved box is coming available (DCH, BMC, or other)? I believe this thread or the BMC90xx mentioned a 707 compliant MOXI box might be coming? I will volunteer to beta-test any "improvements" and tell you straight out when they are good/bad because it pains me to hear that this DCH6416 is the main box of choice in the upstate SC/western NC market.

NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE NOW !!!

slappySPG

i just posted a long "quick reply" and it didn't show up.

will try again.

so after a week with the "upgraded" DCH6416, I will now share with you my impressions as compared to the MOXI BMC9012 that we had for 3 or 4 years (can’t recall which):
- interface looks horrible – programming, settings, recordings, etc.
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !! INTERNAL DRIVE TOO SMALL !!!
- no keyword search only title search
- title search only matches from beginning of title (ex. “goblet” will not find “harry potter and the goblet of fire”)
- no “clear” or “delete” button on remote – have to navigate many menus to delete something
- as far as interface and user-friendly experience goes: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>I-guide --> are you kidding me?! This interface is a joke! All the “designers” of the interface need to be let go, and hire some people who can actually make an easy/intuitve/attractive interface
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER although it’s much worse for the CUSTOMER

IMO, there are no excuses here…no “workarounds” or “temporary fixes” accepted…this is a lousy product. Doesn't Charter test these things in the real world first before releasing them to everyone or committing to buying large quantities? I'm sure Charter would have received a lot of constructive feedback on how awful this thing is if they had bothered to ask the people who have to use this stuff everyday. I would be happy to beta-test any new equipment because I think it’s sad that the DCH6416 is the box of choice for the upstate SC/western NC. I wouldn’t want any new Charter customer to see this thing because they would likely be frustrated and highly unimpressed.

Any word on when an updated or improved HD-DVR is coming (BMC, MOXI, DCH, or other)? I think it was this thread or the BMC90xx thread that said a 707-compliant MOXI might be in the works?

Did I mention that it NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT NOW !

SlappySPG

(I'm wondering if my first longer post was modded out, or if I pressed a wrong button? -- either way, had to retype it but it's a little shorter now)

I don't see anything in your message that would remotely capture a moderator's attention in that way. Assume that you simply pressed the wrong button

Also, rest assured that Charter, just like the other cable companies that use Motorola DVRs (it is the industry leader) have fully tested the product, and have found it performing to their specifications. Thousands upon thousands of these DVRs are used successfully by customers, each day. They do what they need to in order to satisfy a great number of customers. Not everyone likes them the same, but the marketplace will be driven by the greatest percentage of consumers, as well as by considerations of cost and profit.

I don't see anything in your message that would remotely capture a moderator's attention in that way. Assume that you simply pressed the wrong button

Also, rest assured that Charter, just like the other cable companies that use Motorola DVRs (it is the industry leader) have fully tested the product, and have found it performing to their specifications. Thousands upon thousands of these DVRs are used successfully by customers, each day. They do what they need to in order to satisfy a great number of customers. Not everyone likes them the same, but the marketplace will be driven by the greatest percentage of consumers, as well as by considerations of cost and profit.
thanks, bicker1 -- first time with this forum function, so I must have brain-farted on the button press. haha :D

maybe Charter did some testing, but my stance stills holds: the DCH6416 is hard and difficult and incomplete. The masses aren't always right -- sometimes they're just ignorant.

though I will be frequenting this thread to hear about any modifications or problems/resolutions that might help me enjoy it more. :) hopefully external drive support...

so after a week with the "upgraded" DCH6416, I will now share with you my impressions as compared to the MOXI BMC9012 that we had for 3 or 4 years (can’t recall which):
- interface looks horrible – programming, settings, recordings, etc.
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !! INTERNAL DRIVE TOO SMALL !!!
- no keyword search only title search
- title search only matches from beginning of title (ex. “goblet” will not find “harry potter and the goblet of fire”)
- no “clear” or “delete” button on remote – have to navigate many menus to delete something
- as far as interface and user-friendly experience goes: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>I-guide --> are you kidding me?! This interface is a joke! All the “designers” of the interface need to be let go, and hire some people who can actually make an easy/intuitve/attractive interface
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER although it’s much worse for the CUSTOMER

IMO, there are no excuses here…no “workarounds” or “temporary fixes” accepted…this is a lousy product. Doesn't Charter test these things in the real world first before releasing them to everyone or committing to buying large quantities? I'm sure Charter would have received a lot of constructive feedback on how awful this thing is if they had bothered to ask the people who have to use this stuff everyday. I would be happy to beta-test any new equipment because I think it’s sad that the DCH6416 is the box of choice for the upstate SC/western NC. I wouldn’t want any new Charter customer to see this thing because they would likely be frustrated and highly unimpressed.

Any word on when an updated or improved HD-DVR is coming (BMC, MOXI, DCH, or other)? I think it was this thread or the BMC90xx thread that said a 707-compliant MOXI might be in the works?

Did I mention that it NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT NOW !

SlappySPG

(I'm wondering if my first longer post was modded out, or if I pressed a wrong button? -- either way, had to retype it but it's a little shorter now)

Well said. Although I've never had a Moxi or anything else that supported an external HDD I agree, it sure would be nice. I often find myself deleting programs I've never watched because either I need the space or I'm having the 100% full problem. Speaking of which, I can't believe that Motorola hasn't came up with a fix for this issue yet. I had the problem on my DCT and still have it occasionally on my DCH.

As far as the search, I agree, it's a joke! I had a couple of different DishNetwork DVRs before I switched to cable and with those you could search the title AND description. I find myself rarely using the search anymore because it's next to useless as far as I'm concerned.

I think the reason the cable companies can get away pawning these off on people is because most people have never had a DVR before so they don't know how good a well designed one can work. If I knew that I could get my distant networks back again I'd probably switch back the satellite.

Barry

I think it is more a matter that they do what they need to as well as many people expect. Managing expectations is really very critical to the receptiveness of any consumer product.

Hey James,

I work in the NOC on 2nd shift. I have a 3416 and on Thursday I had a recording set for the daily show and the colbert report. When I went to watch the daily show it froze about 2 minutes in and then the screen went black. I couldn't rewind or fastforward. Colbert Report wouldn't even play. My DVR settings are only to record new episodes, but it always records the repeats of which there were 4 of each episode. The weird thing is, every recording exhibits the same behavior. I would suspect the hard drive, but the fact every recording of the same show behaved the same points me to think something about the guide data for that show.

Any thoughts?

Other recordings have been acting flaky as well lately.

Thanks,
Denny

so after a week with the "upgraded" DCH6416, I will now share with you my impressions as compared to the MOXI BMC9012 that we had for 3 or 4 years (can’t recall which):
- interface looks horrible – programming, settings, recordings, etc.
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !! INTERNAL DRIVE TOO SMALL !!!
- no keyword search only title search
- title search only matches from beginning of title (ex. “goblet” will not find “harry potter and the goblet of fire”)
- no “clear” or “delete” button on remote – have to navigate many menus to delete something
- as far as interface and user-friendly experience goes: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>I-guide --> are you kidding me?! This interface is a joke! All the “designers” of the interface need to be let go, and hire some people who can actually make an easy/intuitve/attractive interface
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER although it’s much worse for the CUSTOMER

Did I mention that it NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT NOW !

SlappySPG

(I'm wondering if my first longer post was modded out, or if I pressed a wrong button? -- either way, had to retype it but it's a little shorter now)

If you think it's bad now, should've been around when this junk first came out.

External Hard Drive?
I wish that was in the Top Ten issues with MOTO DVR's

Sorry, if you are disappointed now, just wait, your frustration has only begun.

Just be happy you JUST got one, you missed most of the fun.:rolleyes:

ok, so I started reading this thread the other day when I was "upgraded" from the BMC9012 MOXI box to the DCH 6416 box because the MOXI box went dark (no lights, no picture to TV, just fans blowing).

I've read every single post, and it all makes me sad. This DCH6416 is not an "upgrade" at all, but a big step backward. Can I say that after 3 or 4 years on the MOXI, coupled with the improvements they added (most notably external hard drive support), this is really hard to swallow. Let me list all the immediate impressions after a week of the new box:
- interface looks horrible
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !!!! TOO SMALL INTERNAL DRIVE !!!
- there is no keyword search (only title search)
- title search only matches from the beginning of title, and not the middle (ex. "goblet" will not find "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire")
- when looking at previously recorded shows, or "series settings", only displays 4 shows at a time --> MOXI used the full height of the screen for this, and so you would get like 8 or 10 shows displayed
- no "clear" or "delete" button on remote to easily delete stuff without going through 10 menus

Now that I'm done ranting, let's rant some more...
- as far as menu funtionality/user friendliness: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>>> I-guide
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER but worse for the customer
- doesn't Charter test this stuff in the real world first? my god, you would have learned so much if you actually listened to feedback -- the people designing the interface need to all be let go, and hire some people who can make a friendly/intuitive/attractive experience
-anything designed to emulate the "TV Guide" format is doomed for failure as it is terrible to begin with...sheesh

Lastly: any "workarounds" or "temporary fixes" or other baloney that people suggest to "improve the experience" just mean that this product is insufficient. The MOXI BMC9012 was lightyears ahead of the DCH6416 4 years ago when I first got the 9012 box!!

Any word on when a new-and-improved box is coming available (DCH, BMC, or other)? I believe this thread or the BMC90xx mentioned a 707 compliant MOXI box might be coming? I will volunteer to beta-test any "improvements" and tell you straight out when they are good/bad because it pains me to hear that this DCH6416 is the main box of choice in the upstate SC/western NC market.

NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE NOW !!!

slappySPG

Well you know what Slappy - you've already started on the wrong foot with me. I'm more than happy to listen to issues and rants, but quite honestly you need to take a deep breath and relax. This forum is for tricks, work arounds and trying to fix problems, if you're just going to complain, find a complaint forum, they are all over the internet.

Moxi boxes are nice, they have an excellent interface and you'll see many posts from me both here and in the official moxi thread saying as much.
However the moxi is fundimentially flawed in the hardware department. The moxi has a lack of signal tolerance (i.e. it fails to get a channel lock or keep a data signal for it's modem) and is crippled by a lower quality tuner.

Since you've had your moxi so long, I have no doubt you'll remember when they first came out and the guide was extremely slow, fortunately in the last year the 4.1 software greatly increased guide speed, added External HD capacity and allowed for remote scheduling.

Next major software update will be TV Guide A25, which should resolve many of the guide bugs to the 6416 (mostly recording issues) and hopefully dress up the old grid system a little.

Now, the 6416 suffers from software issues. Quite honestly every major wide spread issue I've seen with the 34xx/64xx series is tied to TV Guide and their I-guide.

Do I like that interface, no, I do not.

However after seeing the picture quality of my moxi on my HDTV verses the 6416 - I (and a great number of other people) will take the 6416 over the moxi, at least until the day the new Moxi boxes roll out or until the day the moxi goes retail and I choose to buy my own.

As for your testing and cost analysis I have another scenerio for you

Corporate Labs approx 5 years ago - 6412 and Moxi are tested and analized, despite the higher cost, lower tuner grade and additional infrastructure needed due to the internal modems, the Moxi is selected because it's felt to be an overall better product.

Motorola Press release, approx 2 years ago - Motorola only has two assembly lines dedicated to the manufacture of the Moxi, no plans to increase - orders are backloged.

Charter Release, approx two months later - Because of backlog Motorola 6416 selected as the new DVR coming in.

FCC Mandate on 07/01/2007 - As of 07/01/2007 Encryption functions can no longer be intergrated into the box, as such all NEW boxes purchased by MSOs MUST use a seperate encryption system (CableCard) - this mandate was designed to force MSOs to open up their systems and create customer choice for Cable Boxes.

DCH series was already in production and replaced older DCT series


So you have two major factors that are not "pointy hair boss" type decisions here -

1) Lack of Supply in the face of SERIOUS demand

2) A mandate for a redesigned box (which still hasn't launched for the moxi)

So why did Charter start buying 6416s? Because if we didn't, most of us would not be able to have a DVR at all.

As for guide testing, let's say Charter isn't pleased at TV Guide. The first version of I-guide was worse, and A24 was rushed out to fix VOD issues, but of course that version was plagued with DVR recording issues. :mad: I look forward to A25, however the realist in me knows it will fix the current issues and probably cause some new issues. - But the advantage of the 6416 is the issue is SOFTWARE. Software you can patch easily, hardware is pretty much kept till it dies.

As for capacity, you'll notice your 6416 has TWICE the capacity of your moxi. And if you HAVE been reading these threads, you'll see that yes, HD expansion is out there, it's just not been released. More than likely it will come with the OCAP applications. Again, since you profess to have read this entire thread I won't explain terms like OCAP or MoCA and other features that will really open up this platform. By the end of this quarter we should see remote scheduling, I'd love to tell you when Hd expansion will be there, but I honestly don't know if and when Motorola will give us the tools to make it happen.

Now, that said and done the good news is soon you won't have to worry about this because if you prefer Moxi, Tivo etc you'll be able to buy what you want (and presumable since people will be buying them they'll be more friendly to home upgrades) and use a cable card to get your channels.

Sure, Right now you can do that with TIVO, but soon you'll be able to do that with many other brands. Sometime next month retailers are supposed to start selling digital boxes by FCC mandate. By this time next year we should live in a digital only world with OCAP applications.

Is there a chance it won't happen that fast? Sure there is, but the fact is after years of stalling, it's finally starting to happen and progress is finally happening. If you want to be an early adapter, go for a TIVO, each DVR has it's own ups and downs - for now TIVO's is no VOD. - They've already started production on a USB adapter that should address return issues so they can handle SDV, so I imagine once OCAP vod applications come out they'll be the first to have a working platform for it (though Digeo / Moxi might beat them since they have a foot in the door with their MSO boxes)

If you want your VOD and the best quality picture, keep your 6416. If you Prefer your moxi interface and hd expansion and VOD at the expense of an analog picture, then moxi is the way to go. If you're tired of Charter DVRs, by all means pick up a Tivo SIII or HD.

Now that I've had my counter rant, as an employee of Charter Communiations, I appologize that you are unsatisfied with your 6416 please PM me with your information (Name, phone number on the billing account, address) and I will be more than happy to see if I can contact someone in your area to see if we can get another moxi in your hands, or if you prefer, please feel free to contact your local Customer Serivce or Technicial Operations manager and let them know your disatisfaction with your 6416 and your request for a Moxi.

Hey James,

I work in the NOC on 2nd shift. I have a 3416 and on Thursday I had a recording set for the daily show and the colbert report. When I went to watch the daily show it froze about 2 minutes in and then the screen went black. I couldn't rewind or fastforward. Colbert Report wouldn't even play. My DVR settings are only to record new episodes, but it always records the repeats of which there were 4 of each episode. The weird thing is, every recording exhibits the same behavior. I would suspect the hard drive, but the fact every recording of the same show behaved the same points me to think something about the guide data for that show.

Any thoughts?

Other recordings have been acting flaky as well lately.

Thanks,
Denny

Hiyya Denny,

I've seen some of that, generally a black screen or going to a black screen is an indicator of either a signal issue or a possible tuner failure. Though given A24 guide issues, it could be tied to the duplicate programming bug (which usually tends to prevent series recordings from even happening if there's a program that has the same metadata ID tag)

On the recording the repeats, another thing to check is the guide data - unfortunately some channels are really bad about putting NEW on a show during the entire first week etc of it's run (Showtime was bad about this) Though at the same time if you've got one with the same data already in recordings, it should realize these are dupilcates and not record (unless duplicates are turned on)

If you cold init the box, that will force a guide reload, just to make sure hasn't been some sort of corruption of the guide application or data. It's odd, it seems to happen more to some channels and shows more than others. I've gotten black screens on my 6416 when I tried to record Dexter in HD as well as Dr Who on Sci-fi, but on other HD, Digital and Analog programming it works well.

While Dexter fits the profile of multiple showings on multiple channels Dr Who is only on Sci Fi I believe.

rest assured that Charter, just like the other cable companies that use Motorola DVRs (it is the industry leader) have fully tested the product, and have found it performing to their specifications. Thousands upon thousands of these DVRs are used successfully by customers, each day. They do what they need to in order to satisfy a great number of customers. Not everyone likes them the same, but the marketplace will be driven by the greatest percentage of consumers, as well as by considerations of cost and profit.

True Dat!

There are those who are very passionate about 6416, alot of the high end users want the HDMI output and picture quality hands down, so much so I've even been asked why the heck we didn't just start off with the 6416.

Of course it doesn't take too much digging to know why Charter rolled out more moxi boxes than anyone else... Just connect the dots

Charter... Paul Allen... Digeo...

Which is probably also why Charter picked the Moxi despite the higher cost ;)
(and is why I fully expect to see the new "host" moxi boxes at Charter when they launch)

OK guys, did some searching on AVS, the Motorola site and Google and just can't find any info on where the IR receiver on the Mot DCH3416 is. I need it for my IR expansion. I did see that someone posted that its about the "+" button on the right side of the box, but doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone see a diagram from Motorola with the front panel layout? Anyone know exactly where it is?

Thanks,

Bud

OK guys, did some searching on AVS, the Motorola site and Google and just can't find any info on where the IR receiver on the Mot DCH3416 is. I need it for my IR expansion. I did see that someone posted that its about the "+" button on the right side of the box, but doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone see a diagram from Motorola with the front panel layout? Anyone know exactly where it is?

Thanks,

Bud

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9590/6416lv0.jpg

The little circle to the right of the main number display

Great! Thanks!

Bud

I just picked up a DCH-6416 this weekend, for my new Panny 58" Plasma. I had a Phase II 6412 for several months last year on my F-P home theater, and got really exasperated with the 20+ second "penalty box" delays for doing something with the remote, like trying to display the guide, etc. I replaced that unit with a TiVo HD, and an OTA antenna. That combo is working just fine in the media room.

I have the Panny downstairs, away from the OTA antenna, so I took my standard digital cable box back, and luckily they had some seemingly new DCH-6416's available.

Here are a few early comments:

1. The DCH does not punish me nearly as often or for as long a time when I use the remote. Those long delays are shorter, and less frequent. More like 3 or 4 seconds now, much less annoying.

2. HDMI output is just fine to the Panny. The default settings send 1080i to the tv, unles the progam is SD. Then is sends 480i. The TV is clever enough to zoom the 480i, and display the 1080i in full width.

3. The box has some SD outputs. I hooked up the composite video and stereo audio outputs tp a frequency agile modulator, which I route to other SD TVs in the house. That works perfectly. On all SD content, I can see all the menus, and operate the box with my IR repeaters. That lets me check or set up recordings from any TV without having to power up the Plasma.

Still the same old guide recording problems as mentioned many times. But much more responsive and less buggy now than the 6412. It does a good job for the money, and as my area will be switching to SD soon, I think. I can safely roll with the punches on that.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks for all the good info on this forum!

SteveG

We also just had our Moxi & Moxi Mate replaced with 2 DCH3416's. Mainly the remote not working due to IR interference from our Plasma TV. And, yes, it costs more per month for more or less the same functionality. We don't like the interface either. We noticed the lack of search features within a few minutes. But, my wife suggested that it will just take some time to figure out how navigate around. It's all we can do, outside of switching to satellite or buying a Tivo and hoping we can get cable cards. Either option would cost a lot more.

I found that you can do a keyword search across all of the available programs on the charter.net site. It doesn't search the VOD programs, but it's the closest you can get to what the Moxi did. You can search for shows on a partial name on site too. According to some posts on this thread, eventually we will be able to schedule recordings from their website with the new DVRs, just like you can with the Moxi's now.

I don't understand the need for adding additional capacity to what is already available. We use the DVR to stop/rewind live TV and to record shows that we can watch at our convenience. The thing can store 20+ hours of mostly HD content, even more if they are SD programs. That's more TV than anyone in our house watches concurrently in a week. With what was available on the Moxi, we would reach a point where we would have more shows recorded than we could ever watch.

Finally, I think the DHC3416 is a great from a hardware perspective. It's the software that is running on top of it that is the issue. I read the specs on the Motorolla site before they pulled my Moxi, it can do everything a Moxi could and more. I was really looking forward to the new DVR, only to be disappointed that most of the good features are not used. Which is not the cable providers fault. It is just the lack of options/competition with STB software. Hopefully, the features I'm looking for will get enabled with software updates.

DD

ok, so I started reading this thread the other day when I was "upgraded" from the BMC9012 MOXI box to the DCH 6416 box because the MOXI box went dark (no lights, no picture to TV, just fans blowing).

I've read every single post, and it all makes me sad. This DCH6416 is not an "upgrade" at all, but a big step backward. Can I say that after 3 or 4 years on the MOXI, coupled with the improvements they added (most notably external hard drive support), this is really hard to swallow. Let me list all the immediate impressions after a week of the new box:
- interface looks horrible
- NO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE SUPPORT !!!! TOO SMALL INTERNAL DRIVE !!!
- there is no keyword search (only title search)
- title search only matches from the beginning of title, and not the middle (ex. "goblet" will not find "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire")
- when looking at previously recorded shows, or "series settings", only displays 4 shows at a time --> MOXI used the full height of the screen for this, and so you would get like 8 or 10 shows displayed
- no "clear" or "delete" button on remote to easily delete stuff without going through 10 menus

Now that I'm done ranting, let's rant some more...
- as far as menu funtionality/user friendliness: TIVO > MOXI >>>>>>>> I-guide
- my company does this all the time: this DCH6416 must be cheaper and easier for CHARTER but worse for the customer
- doesn't Charter test this stuff in the real world first? my god, you would have learned so much if you actually listened to feedback -- the people designing the interface need to all be let go, and hire some people who can make a friendly/intuitive/attractive experience
-anything designed to emulate the "TV Guide" format is doomed for failure as it is terrible to begin with...sheesh

Lastly: any "workarounds" or "temporary fixes" or other baloney that people suggest to "improve the experience" just mean that this product is insufficient. The MOXI BMC9012 was lightyears ahead of the DCH6416 4 years ago when I first got the 9012 box!!

Any word on when a new-and-improved box is coming available (DCH, BMC, or other)? I believe this thread or the BMC90xx mentioned a 707 compliant MOXI box might be coming? I will volunteer to beta-test any "improvements" and tell you straight out when they are good/bad because it pains me to hear that this DCH6416 is the main box of choice in the upstate SC/western NC market.

NEEDS EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE NOW !!!

slappySPG

I didn't read this entire thread so forgive me if this as already been answered, but how do I get the STB to record the HD version of a show I find in the search. If the show is on 3 (SD) and 803 (HD), my 3416 always seems to record the episode on channel 3 not 803.

Thanks...Josh

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9590/6416lv0.jpg

The little circle to the right of the main number display

On mine at least, it's not the small circle to the right of the numbers display. On mine it's right above the + channel button. I use a remote extender and that's where I have to attach it to get it to work. If I take my hand and cover the area above the channel buttons, leaving the area by the number display uncovered, I can't get any response from my remote. If you take a flashlight and shine it at the correct angle in that area you can see an approx. 3/4" X 1/2" oval area that is the remote sensor....at least on mine.

Barry

hey, CharterJames -- you are truly a superstar, an asset to all of us, and a gracious gentleman. I have read most of your posts on this 34xx/64xx thread and the BMC90xx thread as well (before my MOXI died). So I appreciate your taking the time to read and address my concerns. You are probably the only way some of us can learn some of the inner workings of cable and Charter specifically, so I find that information fascinating.

We are likely to stick with the DCH6416 for a bit and see if it grows on us, though I greatly appreciate the offer for assistance in tracking down a MOXI. If we get to that point, we would probably follow your advice and just visit the local branch and talk to someone in person.

The only part I disagree with you about is the purpose of this thread. I see it as the repository for learning about the respective cable boxes. So in that view, questions and calls for help are equally as necessary as user experiences, especially sharing experiences with other systems. To view this as only a pro-64xx thread would be unfairly biasing the information. My wife is still in shock about how clunky and difficult the I-guide is. And if she decides it's too much, we can it.

We use the component signal to our Sony Wega 36" CRT (boy that's heavy!) and notice no difference in picture quality from the BMC9012 to the DCH6416. Maybe we would if we had both boxes connected and we could compare side-by-side, but that's not the way it went down, so it remains that both boxes give us stunning HD pictures.

So if the 64xx boxes are super-duper technology with supposedly superior picture quality, maybe that frees up some time to improve the interface? Which is mostly driven by the software, right? which in turn is the element that people are saying is the easier part to update? Just spend some time using a TIVO or MOXI, and add some things to make it easier to use. That's all we're asking. The picture is already fine -- move over to the parts that are lacking. I don't know who actually is doing that work, of course -- what with Motorola's name on the box, but TV Guide's name sort of on the interface, and Charter providing the service. But as end users, that is our feedback to whoever will listen.

again, thanks for the dignified responses. You're all to be commended.

I think people will complain no matter what, and I do agree that there are other threads for that. Incidentally, they've already put the TiVo software on these boxes. And guess what? Complaints! :rotfl: So, no, it isn't always a user-interface issue. Sometimes it is simply a user issue.

hey, CharterJames -- you are truly a superstar, an asset to all of us, and a gracious gentleman. I have read most of your posts on this 34xx/64xx thread and the BMC90xx thread as well (before my MOXI died). So I appreciate your taking the time to read and address my concerns. You are probably the only way some of us can learn some of the inner workings of cable and Charter specifically, so I find that information fascinating.

We are likely to stick with the DCH6416 for a bit and see if it grows on us, though I greatly appreciate the offer for assistance in tracking down a MOXI. If we get to that point, we would probably follow your advice and just visit the local branch and talk to someone in person.

The only part I disagree with you about is the purpose of this thread. I see it as the repository for learning about the respective cable boxes. So in that view, questions and calls for help are equally as necessary as user experiences, especially sharing experiences with other systems. To view this as only a pro-64xx thread would be unfairly biasing the information. My wife is still in shock about how clunky and difficult the I-guide is. And if she decides it's too much, we can it.

We use the component signal to our Sony Wega 36" CRT (boy that's heavy!) and notice no difference in picture quality from the BMC9012 to the DCH6416. Maybe we would if we had both boxes connected and we could compare side-by-side, but that's not the way it went down, so it remains that both boxes give us stunning HD pictures.

So if the 64xx boxes are super-duper technology with supposedly superior picture quality, maybe that frees up some time to improve the interface? Which is mostly driven by the software, right? which in turn is the element that people are saying is the easier part to update? Just spend some time using a TIVO or MOXI, and add some things to make it easier to use. That's all we're asking. The picture is already fine -- move over to the parts that are lacking. I don't know who actually is doing that work, of course -- what with Motorola's name on the box, but TV Guide's name sort of on the interface, and Charter providing the service. But as end users, that is our feedback to whoever will listen.

again, thanks for the dignified responses. You're all to be commended.


The biggest flaw in the moxi's PQ shows up on LCDs and Plasmas, and some of them groom the signal well enough that it isn't so much a problem. I loved my moxi (very dearly) until the day I switched from a CRT to a LCD... at that point programming I'd watched before was blocky and pixelated

I've been hoping TV Guide would clean up it's act for ages now, I think 5 years ago they bought up DIVA (which was one of the best VOD platforms I've had the pleasure of working with) and I was really hoping they'd use some of DIVA's technology in their software... unfortunately it looks more like they bought them up to kill off something good. :(

With OCAP applications around the corner I'm thinking TV Guide will have to update and impliment better interfaces because it won't take as much for people to switch.

I've had people on all sides of the fence, When we rolled Moxi out we had people who complained to no end they wanted GRID based menus... Many prefer Moxi, others prefer Tivo... Each has their advantages, each has their annoyances. I'd love to see a world of choice... pick your hardware, pick your software (I'd kill for a 6416 with Moxi Interace *L*)

I didn't read this entire thread so forgive me if this as already been answered, but how do I get the STB to record the HD version of a show I find in the search. If the show is on 3 (SD) and 803 (HD), my 3416 always seems to record the episode on channel 3 not 803.

Thanks...Josh

There's a guide bug that doesn't like duplicate programming - what happens is wherenever a show is on more than one channel at a time (like in SD and HD feeds) and uses the same metadata ID tag, it confuses the box, so often if you set up a series on such a channel it will bomb.

There's several things you can try

1) Set the series up on 803 and see where the record markers show up - if they switch to 3, try setting it to record on all channels - you might get some duplicates - SD & HD - but most people would rather delete off extras than miss the origional.

2) go through the listings on 803 (use the day buttons to move through faster) and manually set up your recordings every other week

With luck this should get resolved as TV Guide A25 is rolled out

We also just had our Moxi & Moxi Mate replaced with 2 DCH3416's. Mainly the remote not working due to IR interference from our Plasma TV. And, yes, it costs more per month for more or less the same functionality. We don't like the interface either. We noticed the lack of search features within a few minutes. But, my wife suggested that it will just take some time to figure out how navigate around. It's all we can do, outside of switching to satellite or buying a Tivo and hoping we can get cable cards. Either option would cost a lot more.

I found that you can do a keyword search across all of the available programs on the charter.net site. It doesn't search the VOD programs, but it's the closest you can get to what the Moxi did. You can search for shows on a partial name on site too. According to some posts on this thread, eventually we will be able to schedule recordings from their website with the new DVRs, just like you can with the Moxi's now.

I don't understand the need for adding additional capacity to what is already available. We use the DVR to stop/rewind live TV and to record shows that we can watch at our convenience. The thing can store 20+ hours of mostly HD content, even more if they are SD programs. That's more TV than anyone in our house watches concurrently in a week. With what was available on the Moxi, we would reach a point where we would have more shows recorded than we could ever watch.

Finally, I think the DHC3416 is a great from a hardware perspective. It's the software that is running on top of it that is the issue. I read the specs on the Motorolla site before they pulled my Moxi, it can do everything a Moxi could and more. I was really looking forward to the new DVR, only to be disappointed that most of the good features are not used. Which is not the cable providers fault. It is just the lack of options/competition with STB software. Hopefully, the features I'm looking for will get enabled with software updates.

DD

tv.Yahoo.com also has this functionality - I used to use that before someone finally created a good charter portal :)

Remote Scheduling is supposed to be availible by the end of this quarter and it's definitely one of the things I've been pushing for. (IMHO alot of issues with Moxi VS 6416 would be resolved if the 6416 had external expansion and remote scheduling)

On mine at least, it's not the small circle to the right of the numbers display. On mine it's right above the + channel button. I use a remote extender and that's where I have to attach it to get it to work. If I take my hand and cover the area above the channel buttons, leaving the area by the number display uncovered, I can't get any response from my remote. If you take a flashlight and shine it at the correct angle in that area you can see an approx. 3/4" X 1/2" oval area that is the remote sensor....at least on mine.

Barry

Thanks Barry, I've only got 6416s here to look at and while the front panels appear the same the only IR sensor I could see on the 6416 in my office looked to be near the LCD number plate :)

I have the 6416 box from Metrocast here in Southern Maryland since October and have been happy with it. Other than a couple of issues with the 100% full errors and the TV Guide stuff that I have read on here I have had no problems. Just got a Samsung 4065 last week and the HD content looks incredible. Wonder when Metrocast will push out the upgrade for the TV Guide to fix some of the little quirks going on.

I think people will complain no matter what, and I do agree that there are other threads for that. Incidentally, they've already put the TiVo software on these boxes. And guess what? Complaints! :rotfl: So, no, it isn't always a user-interface issue. Sometimes it is simply a user issue.
You simply don't get it, do you?

You are not always right, and your view is not always the best view. It's your opinion so you are entitled to it. But other logical and rational opinions exist, and people are equally entitled to those opinions.

My opinion is that the user experience associated with the DCH 6416 as it stands today is lousy, based on my above statements made here already. I will not discount your opinion that you might like that box and the way it works, but that's the nature of opinions.

You simply don't get it, do you?

You are not always right, and your view is not always the best view.

You obviously haven't been around these boards much & read bicker1's posts... he IS always right. :rolleyes:

Thanks Barry, I've only got 6416s here to look at and while the front panels appear the same the only IR sensor I could see on the 6416 in my office looked to be near the LCD number plate :)

Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned which receiver I have. It IS a DCH6416. On mine the small dot you're referring to James looks to me to just indicate that the box received a remote command. In other words it lights up with every remote command.

Possibly they moved the sensor at some point?

Barry

I "kinda" got a picture of it. See the dark red/maroon oval? The only way I could get it to show up halfway decent was to let it take an out-of-focus shot. Kind of deceiving because the pic makes it look like it's to the right of the + button but in reality it is directly above it.

Barry

http://mrmaico.smugmug.com/photos/249528112-L.jpg

I have a Motorola DCT3416 for my HDPVR needs.

I also have a Motorola DCT2500 that I want to set almost directly above the 3416 in my equipment rack. The reason for this is I want to use my DCT2500 c/w a modulator to provide whole house video/audio and the 3416 would provide as my main video source for my HT.

The 2500 would be controlled via IR emitters from different floors of my house.

The 3416 would be controlled via IR directly. I am trying to find out how I may control the 3416 without affecting the 2500.

My question is specific to, is it possible to uniquely set ONE remote to communicate only to the 3416 and ONE remote to only communicate to the 2500?

Or is there another way to control only one at a time without having one turned off.

You simply don't get it, do you?Actually I do get it.

You are not always right, and your view is not always the best view.The problem is that you resort to personally attacking people who express perspectives you don't like instead of keeping to the topic. Post your perspective. Let me post mine. Don't attack me and I won't attack you.

It's your opinion so you are entitled to it. But other logical and rational opinions exist, and people are equally entitled to those opinions.In which message did anyone actually say that you are not entitled to your opinion? Let me know so I can reply to that message in opposition to it.

...it isn't always a user-interface issue. Sometimes it is simply a user issue.
I read that as your assertion that I was the problem, not the box/interface. Like saying I didn't know what I was doing or talking about or didn't know how to use the 6416 and its functions.

That's the statement that nerved me. If you didn't mean it that way, well, then we've both learned something.

Regardless, I'm done stirring the pot with downer opinions on the 6416 -- I didn't really mean to get everybody angry...was just sharing our experiences. Sorry for the difference of opinion.

I imagine new 6416 developments will get discussed here, so I will keep my eye on the postings to learn about any news.

I read that as your assertion that I was the problem, not the box/interface. Like saying I didn't know what I was doing or talking about or didn't know how to use the 6416 and its functions.No not at all. My comment was general, and in agreement with your earlier statement, "The masses aren't always right -- sometimes they're just ignorant."

That's the statement that nerved me. If you didn't mean it that way, well, then we've both learned something.Indeed -- sometimes agreement sounds like disagreement.

Never thought about checking the other tuner...interesting. Overall, I've found that our old TiVo was a much better DVR, although its picture quality was much worse. I'd get an HD TiVo if I thought the wife would not mind me buying another gadget. I just want the cable one to at least work. Whenever we loose the DVR, we also loose any scheduled recordings, and I've pretty much given up rescheduling them.
I'm sure you have already checked this, but make certain you have the "Cable" button selected when trying to use the DVR. The DVR functions will not work unless Cable is selected. If it starts the VCR when you hit Record it may be because AUX is selected instead of Cable.

No not at all. My comment was general...Indeed -- sometimes agreement sounds like disagreement.ok, cool man. I felt there was something awry, and we weren't really arguing but just got our signals mixed up. Well, now that we're past that mess...

is there a way to find out why a show wasn't recorded on the DCH6416 (or other unit that has a similar interface)? Meaning, after a show is missed, other systems (e.g. MOXI-based) have a section that indicates that a show did not record because it was a repeat or there wasn't room or some other problem -- and aids in fixing settings for future broadcasts. Does the 6416 tell me something like that somewhere?

separate question: I think it drops a paused show if it ends while the system is paused. Example: 5 minutes left in a show and the phone rings...I hit pause and talk for 10 minutes, and come back to find the last 5 minutes of the previous show are gone and I can only rewind to the beginning of the current show. Is this right?

ok, cool man. I felt there was something awry, and we weren't really arguing but just got our signals mixed up. Well, now that we're past that mess...

is there a way to find out why a show wasn't recorded on the DCH6416 (or other unit that has a similar interface)? Meaning, after a show is missed, other systems (e.g. MOXI-based) have a section that indicates that a show did not record because it was a repeat or there wasn't room or some other problem -- and aids in fixing settings for future broadcasts. Does the 6416 tell me something like that somewhere?

separate question: I think it drops a paused show if it ends while the system is paused. Example: 5 minutes left in a show and the phone rings...I hit pause and talk for 10 minutes, and come back to find the last 5 minutes of the previous show are gone and I can only rewind to the beginning of the current show. Is this right?

On your first question: not that I'm aware of.

On the 2nd question: If you're paused you shouldn't need to rewind, otherwise, no it shouldn't make any difference. It should take you back to the beginning of the pause buffer, as long as it's all on the same channel obviously.

Barry

separate question: I think it drops a paused show if it ends while the system is paused. Example: 5 minutes left in a show and the phone rings...I hit pause and talk for 10 minutes, and come back to find the last 5 minutes of the previous show are gone and I can only rewind to the beginning of the current show. Is this right?

This is a "quirk" I've experienced with the DCT6416 from time to time as well. Not necessarily at the end of of show but anytime. It's sporadic and unpredictable. Most of the time you can hit pause and it will hold for a long time. Never really tested to see how "long" is, but most of the time it doesn't matter. However, sometimes it just stops pausing and won't rewind beyond the time it is on now. I have never really looked to see if a recording is happening on the other tuner when this happens or if there is an identifiable reason like that, but I guess that is something to consider. Anyway, if I know my pause might last awhile, I'll hit record just to make sure I can pick up where I left off.

I note that this is a new DVR for you. Make sure you power-cycle it every month or so because all of these units start acting wonky every now and then; similar to the need to re-boot your PC from time to time.

DocCasualty,

By "power-cycle" do you mean just turn it off with the remote, or unplug it?

TIA

On your first question: not that I'm aware of.

On the 2nd question: If you're paused you shouldn't need to rewind, otherwise, no it shouldn't make any difference. It should take you back to the beginning of the pause buffer, as long as it's all on the same channel obviously.

Barry
ok, so maybe it was an isolated incident that happened to my wife on the paused show thing. I tried it last night on an HD channel, paused with 5 min left, waited 15 min, then pressed play, and everything went as it should. I could rewind and FF across the show change, so that other event must have been a freak.

By "power-cycle" do you mean just turn it off with the remote, or unplug it?
'Turning off' the DVR with the remote, just stops A/V output, and puts the DVR in standby. The only way to power cycle the DVR is to unplug it.

Hello, I have a question. I just got the 6416 box today, in the diag menu (d11) i noticed dvi/hdmi under enabled it says 'no'. Does this mean hdmi wont work or will it enable once a cable is inserted? If that is not the case, how would I enable it?

I plugged a thumb drive into the usb port on the back and it saw it just fine. Does this mean an external hd will work just fine?

Thanks.

You will need to have an HDMI cable plugged in to enable it.

The external HD will not work although it will be recognized as well.

How much power does the above draw. I suspect not much, but do not want to overload my power strip, since I installed a surround system.

I will give the hdmi cable a shot. I called my cable company, they said the external hd would work just fine. Is there any sure way of testing this before buying one?

Thanks.

Just as an FYI to those getting new HD boxes. Some providers do carry HDMI cables and will give them to you for free with a box rental.

I have a 6416 which I have set to leave on all the time. You think I should at least turn it to standby when I'm not watching TV? I leave it on all the time because if I turn off with my universal remote and it is recording something it will not turn off right away. Then if I go to power everything back on it actually turns it off since it should be turning it back on. Anyway, if that makes any sense.