View Full Version : Time Warner NYC: 8300HD Box Firmware/Software Differences?


eieio
12-13-07, 08:44 AM
Gentlemen/Ladies:

I use a Time Warner Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD "box" DVR/cable box combination. i've had it for many months - hard to remember because when one unit freezes up too much or is acting up, I run up to 23rd Street Time Warner's office, stand in line, and had to do an exchange for another box.

My tv is a Sony SXRD XBR1.

When I was at a friend's place a couple of weeks ago, he just got a new Samsung plasma and went to Time Warner to get the same dvr. Oddly, the "Guide" information that shows up on his screen is FAR BETTER and FAR CLEARER and more detailed than mine! i thought it was a matter of Time Warner downloading firmware upgrades to various users over time, and that i might be "next in line" and they might do it late at night, like around 3am or so. After a few weeks, still nothing. Why is it that his cable channel guide/information is SO much better/nicer than mine?

This is a question that the telephone people at Time Warner could not answer as they only care about "no picture" or things like that.

Thank you in advance and hope to hear some good advice from you all. I hope that I don't have to unplug everything and take the box to be exchanged at 23rd Street Time Warner yet again! Oh, one more thing, his remote that he got from Time Warner with his DVR is far newer than mine: it looks spiffier and just generall more fancy. I'm hoping that all this extra info will help give you guys clues as to why my "Guide" pages are so antiquated looking!

Thx!

John Mason
12-14-07, 02:45 PM
From comments in the NYC TWC local forum, it seems they're issuing SA8300HDC boxes these days. AIUI, the HDC variant has a built-in cablecard function, and believe it comes with the latest guide firmware. That may be what's dubbed the "Navigator" operating system and while the menus may appear crisper its performance has received lots of criticism. Maybe they're gradually ironing out the glitches. Some, after getting 8300HDCs, have insisted on getting 8300HDs as replacements.

I'd be more interested if they've devised a method of boosting the effective resolution of their STBs, perhaps linked with rate shaping at head ends, so that subscribers with 1080p displays can read ~1920X1080 lines of resolution from HDNet's Saturday 6:30 am ET test patterns instead of only ~1300 lines (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5175424#post5175424). Someone on a Orlando former-TWC system recently reported measuring ~1920X1080 resolution with a 1080p plasma display. -- John