Anyone seen a Scientific Atlantic 8300HD Multi-Room in the wild? They have it on the SA website, but there is very little info about it in use anywhere. I would love to have one of these, save me $10 a month in DVR lease fees.

Anyone seen a Scientific Atlantic 8300HD Multi-Room in the wild? They have it on the SA website, but there is very little info about it in use anywhere. I would love to have one of these, save me $10 a month in DVR lease fees.First, Multi-Rooms have only been deployed in one or two cities, so you won't see them.

Second, it sounds like you want to PURCHASE one. Unless you are in Canada, this won't work. Any unit sold, like on eBay, is likely stolen from a cable company and thus other cable companies won't "authorize" them. They make great paper weights though. :D

I don't see where he suggests that he wants to buy one. Saving the DVR fees likely comes from figuring he can replace multiple DVRs with standard set-tops (though those cost money too .... and worse, the cableco will likely charge a "multi-room DVR fee" that offsets any hoped-for savings).

I don't see where he suggests that he wants to buy one. Saving the DVR fees likely comes from figuring he can replace multiple DVRs with standard set-tops (though those cost money too .... and worse, the cableco will likely charge a "multi-room DVR fee" that offsets any hoped-for savings).That's a different read - and I think it is the correct one. In any event, the only place that I heard that these things (MRs) were active was somewhere in Flordia (Ft.Lauderdale, if I recall correctly). They are rare birds.

I do multi-room DVR by using full house A/V distribution (DIY and its cheap overall).

I do multi-room DVR by using full house A/V distribution (DIY and its cheap overall).Now that you mention it: I do a real cheap version to my office. Just run the RF out from the 8300 to another TV. The RF out has a SD version of whatever is playing. The down-side of this, or your, approach is that you can't be watching one recorded program in one room and a different one in another (and you can do that with a MR).

I believe it's Brighthouse and only in their Florida divisions (and probably a local breakdown even there).

The down-side of this, or your, approach is that you can't be watching one recorded program in one room and a different one in another (and you can do that with a MR).


very true so when the MR is available in florida (north Florida) I will replace my current two DVRs (SA 8300HDs) in my A/V closet.

My solution is still the most robust in the end because I never need to have any source equipment local in any room. I share everything throughout the house.

Yeah, I have two 8300HDs so I was hoping to get rid of one and thus save $9.99 in monthly DVR fees. Plus I would only have to manage my shows in one room instead of two. I don't know why TIVO doesn't do any client boxes to take advantage of their MRV. Also, because of having 2 HDTVs, I want to see my shows in their full HD glory. RG6 cable is a no go. I can't believe they would tack another charge on top of the $10 lease cost. I mean the 8300HDMR is practically the same hardware.

Stiletto,

You realize, don't you, that the HD MR is only HD on the primary set? You might want to go penngray's route.

Didn't know the 8300HD MR was SD on the second set. That does take a lot away from it. Grr. I don't think any of these set top box companies have their stuff together.

You realize, don't you, that the HD MR is only HD on the primary set? You might want to go penngray's route.

did know that myself!

The 8300HDs on ebay seem really high still, I wanted to add another one to my system but Im not paying that much and I hate paying the extra $15 or so per month for one from the cable company.

Didn't know the 8300HD MR was SD on the second set. That does take a lot away from it. Grr. I don't think any of these set top box companies have their stuff together.

I use the component out of my 8300HD for one TV and a 50' HDMI cable to the other. Time Warner says that they don't support the HDMI output, but mine works fine.

I have yet to get a second remote and remote extender.

I use the component out of my 8300HD for one TV and a 50' HDMI cable to the other. Time Warner says that they don't support the HDMI output, but mine works fine.

I have yet to get a second remote and remote extender.Don't count on that working!! This is very dependent on the software that YOUR cable company is using (and can change when they change the software). In general, the 8300 shuts off the component outputs when the HDMI out is in use.

8300HD MR-DVR setup here with Comcast in MN.

I live in Eden Prairie, MN - southwest suburb of Minneapolis, MN.
Main floor has SA 8300HD MR-DVR (server), top floor has SA 2200 (client #1), basement has SA 2100 (client #2). The system supports up to three clients total - I only use two clients.

The server records both HD and SD. The server plays back both HD and SD locally, but SD only on the clients. A little buggy sometimes on the clients - the saved recordings list shows up blank. You need to page up/page down to refresh the list. HD recordings show up grayed out in the client selection list so you can see them but not play them.

I pay $11.95/month to enable the MR-DVR service for the whole house. This is cheaper than dedicated DVR's on each client.

Pros: Three or four TV setup is cheaper with MR-DVR than separate DVR's, SD recordings can be played anywhere.

Cons: HD recordings played back on server only, single recorder fills up fast for whole family.

Cons: HD recordings played back on server only, single recorder fills up fast for whole family.Interesting to hear of a second market with the MR. There aren't many of them.

You ought to be a prime candidate for an external drive. You might want to check out this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=516559). There are far too many posts to contend with but start with the first post and check out the SARA compatibility database (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/main).

If you have any questions about external drives, post them there and make sure you mention that you have a MR system along with your version of SARA (might put that in your signature).

The TiVoHD and Series3 are the only DVRs I know of that support MRV with high-definition content today.

A Series3 will transfer high-definition content from your living room to your bedroom at up to 44Mbps, fast enough to watch any remote recording and skip all the commercials.

If you have 20/20 FiOS service, you can also setup a VPN to support real-time HDTV MRV between your home and your neighbor / friend / relative, although TiVo doesn't condone this.