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SA 8300HDC Vs Tivo HD

post #1 of 8
4/23/09 at 11:15am
Thread Starter 
OK, Here's where I stand right now.

I have a 32" 1080p Sharp Aquos LCD, and an SA Explorer 8300HDC. I decided that because there was no upfront cost, I would have Wide Open West, (formerly Americast a really long time ago,) provide me with an HD DVR.

I'm planning to evaluate this unit, for a while and make a decision as to wether I want to keep it, or switch to an HD Tivo.

FWIW, If I'm reading the screens correctly, It's running SARA v1.90.5.a116

It does not seem to be recognizing the 1.5TB drive I attached to the Esata port, (A seagate FreeAgent Pro) the drive came pre-formatted as NTFS. from what I can tell, as soon as I plug the thing in the box should ask me to format the drive. but this is not happening... any ideas?

Second, Is Tivo compatible with multi-stream Cable Card? the Tivo units I saw at best by say "2 cable card Slots" so I'm assuming not. Is there news of a multi-stream Cable card compatible Tivo in the works?

If I had a Tivo, does it have two F-type connectors? I ask because there are a couple of PBS stations I can recieve OTA, and both are on the analog programming block, and they have different programming, but there is only 1 each of Fox, CBS, NBC, and CW in the HD block. I also don't have access to the OTA sub channels.

If I get a Tivo and only put one cable card into it, the Tivo still has two tuners, will it still be able to record two channels as long as one of them is either basic analog cable or clearQAM?

Next, regarding conflict resolution, two shows that I really like have been moved into the same time slot, (Chuck, and House M.D. FWIW) If I have both of those set to record, and if a third show comes into conflict with that time slot, will the Tivo, (or the SA box) for that matter give me a message when it gets the new schedule information?

Regarding new content on the discovery networks: at present, Discovery network channels only have half of a prime-time block and air the whole thing twice. it looks like, at present time, I need to choose between only getting new shows only in the first airing, or recording all shows, from the second airing. (frankly, I think instead of a single bit "New" flag we should have a "First Air date" timestamp, to aid in such conflict resolution.) now the question is: Is the Tivo smart enough that if say a new episode of Mythbusters is airing at the same time as new episodes of Chuck, and House, will it be smart enough to see that the description of the later show is the same and record the later one instead?

Finally, my old SD DVR is a ReplayTV 5040 unit, (upgraded to 300GB) and it allowed me to program the guide to "ignore" certain channels. they would not be searched, they would not show up in the program guide, and they would be skipped over if I was using channel up and down on the remote. I programmed my Replay to ignore channels I never watched, including QVC, premium and HD stations I couldn't get and the music channels. Can I do the same with the SA box or the Tivo?

Thanks for your help.
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post #2 of 8
4/23/09 at 12:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

I have a 32" 1080p Sharp Aquos LCD, and an SA Explorer 8300HDC. I decided that because there was no upfront cost, I would have Wide Open West, (formerly Americast a really long time ago,) provide me with an HD DVR.

I'm planning to evaluate this unit, for a while and make a decision as to wether I want to keep it, or switch to an HD Tivo.

I think if you try the TiVo HD, you'll quickly find it to be a lot better.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

It does not seem to be recognizing the 1.5TB drive I attached to the Esata port, (A seagate FreeAgent Pro) the drive came pre-formatted as NTFS. from what I can tell, as soon as I plug the thing in the box should ask me to format the drive. but this is not happening... any ideas?

If you've restarted the unit and it still doesn't see the drive, they may have disabled something at the head-end to prevent you from using external storage devices. If that's the case, there's nothing you can do about it.

Keep in mind that the TiVo HD won't marry this drive either, as it's not on the "verified storage products" list. You'd have to take the drive out of the TiVo, plug both drives into a Windows machine, and use WinMFS to format the external drive as MFS (MediaFS, TiVo's proprietary filesystem) and marry the drives that way. You could just get WD's 1 TB DVR Expander drive instead, as it will "plug and play" with the TiVo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Second, Is Tivo compatible with multi-stream Cable Card? the Tivo units I saw at best by say "2 cable card Slots" so I'm assuming not. Is there news of a multi-stream Cable card compatible Tivo in the works?

The TiVo HD and HD XL units are compatible with M-Cards, and if given an M-Card, can decode streams from both tuners using the one card. They still have two slots for compatibility with S-Card only providers (which is rarer now, since they stopped manufacturing S-Cards). Just make sure to insert the M-Card into the indicated slot (there is a label on the flip-down panel, and a flyer in the packaging, that tell you this).

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

If I had a Tivo, does it have two F-type connectors? I ask because there are a couple of PBS stations I can recieve OTA, and both are on the analog programming block, and they have different programming, but there is only 1 each of Fox, CBS, NBC, and CW in the HD block. I also don't have access to the OTA sub channels.

Yes, it has separate coax feeds for antenna and cable TV, and you can use both at the same time, and record from them at the same time if you choose. You just need to choose "Cable and Antenna" during Guided Setup, and it'll add the local OTA channels into your channel map.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

If I get a Tivo and only put one cable card into it, the Tivo still has two tuners, will it still be able to record two channels as long as one of them is either basic analog cable or clearQAM?

If you were using an S-Card, you'd be limited to one tuner. However, if you can get an M-Card, it's a complete non-concern, as as I mentioned above, the TiVo HD works perfectly well with an M-Card.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Next, regarding conflict resolution, two shows that I really like have been moved into the same time slot, (Chuck, and House M.D. FWIW) If I have both of those set to record, and if a third show comes into conflict with that time slot, will the Tivo, (or the SA box) for that matter give me a message when it gets the new schedule information?

It will notify you when you're creating the recording or season pass. If it happens later, you won't get a notification, it will just record the two highest-priority programs in that timeslot. Recording priority for season passes is determined by their order in the Season Pass Manager.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Regarding new content on the discovery networks: at present, Discovery network channels only have half of a prime-time block and air the whole thing twice. it looks like, at present time, I need to choose between only getting new shows only in the first airing, or recording all shows, from the second airing. (frankly, I think instead of a single bit "New" flag we should have a "First Air date" timestamp, to aid in such conflict resolution.) now the question is: Is the Tivo smart enough that if say a new episode of Mythbusters is airing at the same time as new episodes of Chuck, and House, will it be smart enough to see that the description of the later show is the same and record the later one instead?

Yes, it will. I have season passes for In Treatment on HBO, and the TiVo will pick a later time slot if one is available to allow all programs to record, instead of stubbornly requiring that the first one to air must be recorded.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Finally, my old SD DVR is a ReplayTV 5040 unit, (upgraded to 300GB) and it allowed me to program the guide to "ignore" certain channels. they would not be searched, they would not show up in the program guide, and they would be skipped over if I was using channel up and down on the remote. I programmed my Replay to ignore channels I never watched, including QVC, premium and HD stations I couldn't get and the music channels. Can I do the same with the SA box or the Tivo?

You can with the TiVo, just go into Messages & Settings -> Settings -> Channels -> Channel List, and uncheck the channels you don't want. You can't do this on provider boxes, including the SA 8300 units (or at least I've never seen it allowed on a provider box).
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post #3 of 8
4/23/09 at 10:41pm
Thread Starter 
Awesome. thanks for clearing things up...

couple other things I forgot to ask... It looks like the Tivo remote has "Instant Replay" and "Return to Live" buttons. How hard is it to hack the Tivo and turn "Return to Live" to "Jump 30 seconds forward" like I have on my RTV 5040?

Secondly, as I understand it, Cablecard, and DOCSIS standards were developed concurrently. As such the original cablecard devices were only able to recieve programming from the cable company, but were not able to transmit anything back to the head-end. are devices compatible with mulit-stream cablecards able to transmit back to the head end? All I'm really losing if the Tivo can't communicate back is the Digital On-demand streaming, right?

lastly, if I get a Tivo, should I just take the card out of the SA box and stick it in the Tivo? and shoud I just hang on to the SA box or give it back to WOW
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post #4 of 8
4/23/09 at 11:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

It looks like the Tivo remote has "Instant Replay" and "Return to Live" buttons. How hard is it to hack the Tivo and turn "Return to Live" to "Jump 30 seconds forward" like I have on my RTV 5040?

Pretty simple. The recommended way is to start playing a recording, then on the remote, press [Select] [Play] [Select] 3 0 [Select] on the remote. As of the 9.0 software load and later, once you enable 30-second skip, it will remain on even across reboots, until it's explicitly turned off by doing the above again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Secondly, as I understand it, Cablecard, and DOCSIS standards were developed concurrently. As such the original cablecard devices were only able to recieve programming from the cable company, but were not able to transmit anything back to the head-end. are devices compatible with mulit-stream cablecards able to transmit back to the head end? All I'm really losing if the Tivo can't communicate back is the Digital On-demand streaming, right?

No. The TiVo HD, just like the Series 3, is bound by the terms of CHILA. Therefore it is not allowed to have any upstream communication. And yes, all you'll lose is VOD and impulse PPV - all linear channels (and SDV with a tuning adapter, if applicable) will be available to you. If you have broadband service, you can get Netflix Watch Instantly titles (even in HD, if available) and now Amazon Video on Demand titles in HD as well - and the prices will probably be about the same as your cableco's impulse PPV with Amazon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

lastly, if I get a Tivo, should I just take the card out of the SA box and stick it in the Tivo? and shoud I just hang on to the SA box or give it back to WOW

You probably won't be able to take the card out of your existing box. They're pretty much always behind a locked/bolted plate, and besides, those cards are paired with those units at the factory, so there's no guarantee they'll work. Get a standalone M-Card from your provider. If you think you'll want VOD, you can hang onto their box, or if you just want to keep it around for a few days to be sure you're happy with the TiVo, they'll most likely let you.
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post #5 of 8
6/23/09 at 1:19pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I finally came to a decision.

I have returned the aforementioned cable box, and now have a Tivo HD XL.

I am much happier already. I can't speak for any other version of the Tivo, but with the version I have, when you are fast-forwarding, and hit play, the player actually goes back a couple of seconds so you rarely overshoot the point you are looking for.

On a side note, I'm glad I ran three ethernet lines to my room, as two of them are now routed into my entertainment cabinet.

Thanks for your help everyone.
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post #6 of 8
6/23/09 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

Well, I finally came to a decision.

I have returned the aforementioned cable box, and now have a Tivo HD XL.

Let me guess, one too many failed/lost/forgotten recordings? Whatever the case, glad to have you on board.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

I am much happier already. I can't speak for any other version of the Tivo, but with the version I have, when you are fast-forwarding, and hit play, the player actually goes back a couple of seconds so you rarely overshoot the point you are looking for.

That's a feature of all TiVos. It's definitely a nice touch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdowning View Post

On a side note, I'm glad I ran three ethernet lines to my room, as two of them are now routed into my entertainment cabinet.

Um, that's what Ethernet switches are for... Just sayin'.
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post #7 of 8
6/23/09 at 5:03pm
If you are new to TiVo, be sure to see the Using TiVo and TiVo Tips sections in the AVS TivoHD FAQ.
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post #8 of 8
6/30/09 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
the 160 GB drive was pathetic, and I couldn't get the ESATA connection to work...

Tivo2Go was also a big factor...

The only recording problem I had was that for some reason "Ice Road Truckers" reruns would record the first two minutes... the Tivo has done that as well, so meh...

It was more the fact that the SA box was not very responsive.

I was all geeked about getting my 30-second skip back, but I hardly use it now because of the aforementioned operation of that function.
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