Motorola DCT 6416 III Dual Tuner Help

[jedi755]

Possibly a stupid question, but I just got the Motorola DCT 6416 III dual tuner. Does it make any difference from a quality standpoint which of the 2 tuners I watch or record? Are the both identical? Thanks!

[Star56]

Originally Posted by jedi755

Possibly a stupid question, but I just got the Motorola DCT 6416 III dual tuner. Does it make any difference from a quality standpoint which of the 2 tuners I watch or record? Are the both identical? Thanks!

No difference. They will both produce the same quality.

[Droddi0]

Originally Posted by jedi755

Possibly a stupid question, but I just got the Motorola DCT 6416 III dual tuner. Does it make any difference from a quality standpoint which of the 2 tuners I watch or record? Are the both identical? Thanks!

both identical and you cannot choose which tuner is used.

[wsbeeler]

Originally Posted by Droddi0

both identical and you cannot choose which tuner is used.

Actually, you can program in a tuner swap button on the remote and swap which is the currently displayed tuner. This is very helpful if you are recording two channels and want to swap between them.

[Blasst]

Just off the top of my head I remember in the old Comcast L.A. thread, where a member showed that one of the tuners was indeed better than the other. DSperber was that you?

[ak3883]

In my old 6412PII box, I noticed tuner "2" had Signal levels about 3-5db lower than tuner "1"(the one that the box turns on to) I never noticed a difference when recording really, but if i was watching a game or something, of course i would make sure it's on tuner 1. I think the reason is that there is an internal splitter just spliting the signal for the 2nd tuner.

3412/16 seems to have fixed it, the levels are equal in the diag screen of my box. Perhaps they amplified that splitter just a tiny bit or something.

[xradman]

What's the difference between this and 6416-2?

[jedi755]

From what I've read, the 12 means 120GB and the 16 means 160GB.

[xradman]

What I asked was the difference between 6416-2 and 6416-III. They should be both 160GB.

[Doctor]

I just got one of these boxes. It's recording a (as in 1, uno) movie at the moment and it won't let me switch channels. It says it will stop recording if I do. What the heck am I missing? Does it have two tuners or not?

[bobby94928]

Use the swap button on the bottom of your remote. That's the only way to switch tuners when you are recoding.

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by Doctor

I just got one of these boxes. It's recording a (as in 1, uno) movie at the moment and it won't let me switch channels. It says it will stop recording if I do. What the heck am I missing? Does it have two tuners or not?

You have two tuners for liveview/recording, plus a third tuner to watch one of your recordings if your other two tuners are busy recording and you actually want to watch one of your recordings (or, start watching one of the currently active recordings starting from the beginning... if you come in late, for example, and want to watch a show from its start that's already got recording for it underway... which requires using the box's third tuner).

But you can't actually change channels on one of the currently active (i.e. currently busy recording) unless you're willing to stop its recording, which of course you're not willing or anxious to do.

Instead, you push the "SWAP" button on the remote [may need to be programmed into the remote] to switch to the other tuner in the box (i.e. the one which is not currently recording) and bring it to the "foreground" for displaying its output on your TV. The other tuner (i.e. the one which is busy recording) will simply move into the "background" and continue recording uninterrupted by whatever you do with the other "foreground" tuner.

Now, if BOTH of your tuners are busy recording and you now want to watch a third thing (from your MyDVR recording list, including either of the currently-in-progress recordings being made), just push the MyDVR button (while watching the output of either tuner in the "foreground") and you will get the list displayed (as well as pushing the active image currently being viewed and recorded into the upper-right corner). Then just select the recorded program you want to watch and you're off and running... USING THE THIRD TUNER, which is now in the "foreground"! The other two tuners will continue their recording, both having been moved to the "background", totally unbothered by whatever you do while viewing your recorded program.

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by Blasst

Just off the top of my head I remember in the old Comcast L.A. thread, where a member showed that one of the tuners was indeed better than the other. DSperber was that you?

Well it wasn't actually me that discovered it... I only confirmed it (to my surprise!) on my 6412-II. Yes, I've read that the problem was addressed in the 6416 and is no longer a problem (but can't confirm firsthand).

I was chasing down a problem where my recordings of local KCBS-DT of "Survivor", CSI: Original", etc., sometimes were unwatchable and totally perfect at other times. I didn't realize at first that the recordings might have been made with either Tuner 1 (the stronger) or Tuner 2 (the weaker), but when that was pointed out to me I did some research and discovered that the signal level on this channel in particular was lower than on all other channels (where I didn't have this problem ever).

Turns out that the signal was poor enough and near-marginal enough so that on Tuner 1 it just barely made it above the critical "it's there or it's not" level and was recordable just fine. However if by sheer chance (i.e. depending on what I might have been doing on Tuner 1 at the time) it ended up being Tuner 2 which recorded these KCBS-DT shows, the ~3db weaker signal was below that critical "it's there or it's not" level, and my recordings were digital gibberish.

Interestingly, the solution to my particular problem was not a replacement of the box, but rather nothing more than the removal of the cable coax from the connector on the back and a firm and secure re-fastening of it. This was actually accidentally done by chance, as the cable service guy was at my house and had started disconnecting things as part of his "let's just swap the box" solution to the problem, not caring about my 15 hours of unwatched recordings! Fortunately I stopped him and re-scheduled another visit in a week (during which I had planned to unload everything to D-VHS before allowing him to swap the box away). So after he left I had to reconnect things, including re-seating the coax.

Lo and behold, after re-fastening the cable I looked at the tuner signal strengths and miraculously they had BOTH jumped by about 3-4db! So now not only was Tuner 1 100% usable for KCBS-DT, but Tuner 2 was also well above the marginal level. My problem had been "solved".

Anyway, I do believe the problem was in the original Motorola internal 6412 design with the built-in splitter, that apparently delivered less signal to Tuner 2. And it is a true story. It's just that normally the split signal to Tuner 2 is still well above the critical "not there" level (assuming the coax is fastened securely!).

[koolhawk]

Not sure if anyone has experienced this but my Motorola DVR was working fine until recently. I had recorded a High-Definition Golf Tournament and when I returned home a week later I tried playing it and had problems. When I hit "Play" it immediately acts like I hit the "Stop" button and gives me a window asking if I want to erase now or resume playing. When I select resume playing it then gives me a black screen with the correct little time banner at the bottom of screen which displays for a few seconds and then that disappears too leaving a blank screen. I can go back to DVR List and play other shows but not this one. I did have a problem with some other shows but when I deleted a few then the other ones played okay. So it appears to be a space problem. I would hate to delete the golf tournament as I really want to see it. Does anyone know what I can do? I tried rebooting but same problem.

My DVR I got from Cox Communications about 3 months ago so it is new.

Thanks

[wyldtek]

I've had this box from Time Warner in Dallas for a few months, but there is a problem. One of the tuners will not show or record video on SD channels. The audio comes through, but not the video. It happens on the analog and digital version of SD channels. Fortunately, I watch mostly HD. Anyone else had this problem?

[CharterJames]

Originally Posted by ak3883

In my old 6412PII box, I noticed tuner "2" had Signal levels about 3-5db lower than tuner "1"(the one that the box turns on to) I never noticed a difference when recording really, but if i was watching a game or something, of course i would make sure it's on tuner 1. I think the reason is that there is an internal splitter just spliting the signal for the 2nd tuner.

3412/16 seems to have fixed it, the levels are equal in the diag screen of my box. Perhaps they amplified that splitter just a tiny bit or something.

This would actually be more likely a problem with the tuner - Often tuner issues will result in off signal readings - more likely the lower one was starting to malfunction (I've had tuners die on me on boxes)

[CharterJames]

Originally Posted by wyldtek

I've had this box from Time Warner in Dallas for a few months, but there is a problem. One of the tuners will not show or record video on SD channels. The audio comes through, but not the video. It happens on the analog and digital version of SD channels. Fortunately, I watch mostly HD. Anyone else had this problem?

I get about one of those a week - Tuner malfunction - more than likely that tuner is shot. Get it swapped out and make sure the tech knows about it so they can send it off for repair

[CharterJames]

Originally Posted by koolhawk

Not sure if anyone has experienced this but my Motorola DVR was working fine until recently. I had recorded a High-Definition Golf Tournament and when I returned home a week later I tried playing it and had problems. When I hit "Play" it immediately acts like I hit the "Stop" button and gives me a window asking if I want to erase now or resume playing. When I select resume playing it then gives me a black screen with the correct little time banner at the bottom of screen which displays for a few seconds and then that disappears too leaving a blank screen. I can go back to DVR List and play other shows but not this one. I did have a problem with some other shows but when I deleted a few then the other ones played okay. So it appears to be a space problem. I would hate to delete the golf tournament as I really want to see it. Does anyone know what I can do? I tried rebooting but same problem.

My DVR I got from Cox Communications about 3 months ago so it is new.

Thanks

Look at the length of the recording in the menu - it may have only recorded 1 second due to issues with the guide or possibly with the channel at the time. Another issue would be if someone else already watched it to the end - then that would keep happening until you hit "restart from beginning"

I usually answer questions in "Motorola 34xx & 64xx DVR 'Official Thread'" but I noticed this one and thought I'd lend a hand - for more discussion you should check that one out.

[tlaughlin]

Does anyone know if you can connect an rf extender to the ir port on this box? Much appreciated for your collective wisdom, thanks.

[lenjdorr]

Two Questions:
My HDMI signal is going off after about 10 seconds, even after unplugging the unit to reset or turn the power off and on. Is there some HDMI reset?

Can I extend my Recording capabilities by addind a esata hard drive to this unit?

Thanks in advance,
Len