Cox Cable - whole Home DVR Cisco - Page 2

The Harmony database only has Power toggle. I too would like discretes. Also would like Skip/Advance command. Don't know if this is available or not. I think earlier SA boxes could enable with Skip from a code entry. I have added a FFW/FFW/FFW/Play sequence to my Harmony but not as clean as a true Skip.

Cox Orange County, CA - 1/11
http://ww2.cox.com/wcm/en/residentia..._OC_lineup.pdf

Orange County, CA "Plus Pak"	Addt'l HBOs	Addt'l SHOs	Addt'l Starz	Addt'l Cinemax
DIY HD	HBO2 East HD	Showtime Showcase HD	Starz Comedy HD	Action Max HD
The Hub HD	HBO Signature East HD	TMC East HD	Starz Kids & Family HD	More Max East HD
Cooking Channel HD	HBO Family East HD
SWRV HD	HBO Latino East HD

Hi All;;

Does any one in here know of a way to get into a service menu or deeper into the setup menus... i am interested in setting up Native Pass-Through on this box... but am unable to locate the proper combinations of button pushes to access any advanced menus....
On the DCX3400 box i just got rid of it was power and then menu/menu...a dn that was how i was able to setup native pass-through...

Anybody have any ideas???
Also does anyone know if there is a way to enable some sort of screen saver option?? on the old moto. boxes... when u paused a program long enough it used to shrink to a small size and randomly switch positions on the screen.... the new Cisco's just stay paused..... and i don't really care for that...

Interested in advanced menu access for native pass-thru setting as well. I've had the boxes since Friday and am frustrated with aspect control. Any setting you set for default for 4:3 applies to all (e.g. if you set 4:3 to zoomed, then changing to 16:9 channel is zoomed by default as well). The box/software does not seem to differentiate or retain discrete zoom settings for both 4:3 and 16:9.

I have to set mine at 4:3 unconverted so the HDs will be untouched. Then use the HDZoom button. My TVs are smart enough to differentiate but apparently they are sensing 16:9 even on 4:3 programming. Maybe setting native pass-thru will allow me to utilize the TV scaling which I find superior to these boxes anyway. The 4:3 scaling to 16:9 is very poor on the Cisco boxes.

I have even tried getting into the setup wizard using the guide and info buttons pressed at the same time as stated on page 11 in the Cisco manual for this box... but nothing happens.
There has to be some sort of menu access..... i have tried pushing all sorts of button combinations and nothing has worked yet....
Gosh i hope someone can help us out..... i agree with OKcrew..... really need to get into Native Pass-Through.

I have had the host/client boxes for 10 days now and will give it a couple more weeks and give my feedback on the equipment and service...

I had to have a Cox rep out today because the Plus tier channels have bad encoding, audio lag and video distortion. They had to check and make sure it was not the equipment nor my wiring which I assured them it was not. It is a headend issue with their encoding or insertion equipment. The problem is only on the 860Mhz and above channels (those listed in the tables above).

I'll give Cox a little lea way on this as it is new to them and I guess I am an early adopter.

One problem they have already (almost) fixed is the setting for zoom of 4x3 programming was also zooming 16x9 programming by default. After the first few days with the equipment, they either sent a firmware update or they started inserting info into the programming header that resolved this issue. I said almost, because there are 3 or 4 HD 16x9 channels that still get auto zoomed.

I hope they will allow native pass-thru so my TV can do the scaling. Right now, no matter what selection you have for 4x3 programming, the box sends out 16x9 (1920x1080i) and my TV will not scale.

Even if Cox won't fix, maybe someone will figure out access to the advanced menus to enable native pass-thru.

Thanks for the feedback OKCrew;

Yes i hope that we find someone here who can enlighten us to the "secret" advanced menu settings so we can tweak the box till our hearts content.
I have called Cox and Cisco all with no success.... UGGG so Frustrating!!!!

Let me ask you..... have you noticed that the volume level on all channels is much lower then what we had with our old boxes?? Just as an example....in order to listen at a comfortable level now i have to have my TV set to around 30-32....where-as with the old boxes (i had everyone Cox offered) those were all at about a volume level of say 23-25 for comfortable listening. ????
The guide is still slow.. but i did notice that they did do an upgrade as you noted several days after i acquired the new boxes... not much changed on my end... but still nice to know they are doing upgrades...

I have not noticed the volume issue. My TV has a bar to display volume setting rather than values. Also, I went from component video and composite sound to HDMI and would expect there would probably be a difference.

I did hook up component to see if the channel change delay is an HDMI isssue but the timing was about the same. For this to be a flagship box for Cisco/SA, I am not impressed so far. I am hoping firmware and software updates will improve our experience.

I haven't been able to find anywhere that mentions how many recordings are possible at a time. Is it still the standard two?

Yes it is still two. The host box must stay on one of the two stations being recorded, but the client box can be on a third different station.

AHHHH my install was delayed.

Has anyone managed to score two of these new whole home boxes in the same house? I understand they're a bit scarce.

EDIT: 2 host boxes, not client. Cox Orange County does allow up to 5 client boxes now.

Well, I can tell you this: I'm in San Diego & I do have a Tivo HD & I do NOT get the new HD channels - Discovery Kids, Cooking channel , Outdoor Life & DIY - I do get them in SD but not HD.

Which I think is BS. I do pay extra for HD service and for the channels mentioned, so why can't I get the HD versions of them. Am I to understand that you have to get their STB & their DVR service in order to get these new HD channels?...is that even legal? I thought that CC's & such were mandated to avoid this kind of crap.

Is this just another example of cable cos. screwing their customers again.

BTW check out the new price list for Cox San Diego...they're going up again on 3/1 - at least the internet fees are.

Have you contacted TiVo to see if the TiVo HD and/or the TiVo Premiere software "Officially" supports frequencies over 860MHz and up to 1GHz?

I was told in an email from Cox Corp in Atlanta that Cox and TiVo were working together on both the Cox VOD integration and the ability for the TiVo to receive the Plus Package Channels. No time-frame was given but they said hopefully later this year.

As for the price increase call Cox to see if your market offers a 24mo Price Lock Guarantee, sign up before the increase and avoid the increase.
http://ww2.cox.com/aboutus/sandiego/...ock-24-loc.cox

Mine was installed this morning; 1 host and 1 client box. The tech that they sent out was super nice and very knowledgeable and when it appeared to him I was fairly knowledgeable about all of it, it put him a little more at ease.

Install took two hours, I had no line issues, but he signal checked all terminals AND also replaced two splitters, installed a filter at the drop and one behind my modem. He also told me he did some line cleanup outside that helped bring my signals in a little tighter.

The initial startup took about 15 minutes on the host box. That's cold to powerup. Subsequent cold starts (not warm starts) took significantly less time. It appears the Cisco software uses Java as displayed by the powerup splash banner (if I think about it I'll add to my Flickr set).

For those interested in seeing Trio, I snapped a few photos of it. The location is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfa...7625795410935/

occasio, when you do get your Whole Home DVR, Test it with an Ext eSATA HDD so you can report back to us and Cox, whether it works with playback to the Client.

Trio Whole Home DVR Available in Kansas and Arkansas but no Plus Package Channels listed at this time.

http://ww2.cox.com/residential/kansa...lehomedvr_1210

http://ww2.cox.com/residential/arkan...lehomedvr_1210

That lag/distortion almost sounds like some of the problems I'm having on 2 of the extra Starz channels. Not all of them do it. I'll likely be calling the installer later this week to let him know. He left me his cell number, which I thought was very professional of him.

And the only extra menu I know of is the 37 page diag menu, accessed by press the front panel power button for 4 seconds until the panel power indicator icon flashes, wait one second, then press power again.

Yep, I have only seen it on the channels above 860MHz. The tech who came out talked to the headend and they said it was known.

It has kept me from watching many shows that I would have. It seems to be more prevelant during primetime. I think they may be compressing too much.

I am going to ask for credit of the Plus package until it is resolved.

Yep- just tossed back my "no home DVR" because of this. Cox San Diego said "no software fix is forthcoming any time soon". They aren't interested. In my case, the 1642 would kill the 8642 on playback attempt. Only way to recover the 8642 was to powercycle it. Wow- this made it to the consumer market?

Are you referring to playback specifically with an eSATA External HDD attached?

Or, playback to the client 1642 in general, with only the Internal HDD?

I think I could live with 500GB, but would like the option of 1.5TB.

From everything I have read out of Cox New England, I don't think I would be happy in it's current state.

eSATA attached. Cox San Diego. You don't know which drive the content is on, so you will randomly nuke the 8642 if you attempt to playback a show from the external. Not ready for primetime, period. They either need to fix this or turn the e-sata port off.

I assume you know Passport broke "new" eSATA expansion on the 8240HDC also.
Only the 8300HD will now accept a new Ext HDD.

Yep. I don't know if Cox San Diego has any 8300HDC's, I've only seen 8300HD and 8240HDC....wish me luck on 8300HD's.

The multi-room portion works great as long as you don't connect an external drive.
[Rant mode on]
Why in the hell would someone connect an external drive on a fresh unit that has 500GB free and then call it a failure because of something they modified? Fill up and use the 500GB first. Hell, Even then, I doubt that most people could ever watch and view that 500 GB of shows. I've also noted that as I record cable shows, the storage space needed is getting less and less and that I can get about 30 hours of HD on the standard 160GB DVR as the data rates seem to be getting lower. With 500 GB, I could foresee over 100 hours of HD storage.
[Rant mode off]
I use an external drive (500GB) to enhance the 160GB in the DVR, as I travel and get busy, but I find it very difficult to ever catch up as I start getting full and eventually just start deleting things I will nevert watch or thought I might watch again (I never actually re-watch things I thought I would). I have also started modifying my behavior to watch more OnDemand, especially the Primetime series that eat up the most space and are easily available in any room (without Multi-room ;-) )

As a reminder, these are DVRs for temporary storage for later playback, not archiving or permanent storage. Face it, you will eventually get burned with external storage, if you ever change out your STB.

veggggas

Something "I modified"?

Here's why:

My decision to switch out my tried and true 8300HD was *based on* Cox saying it was supported. It's called bait and switch. Maybe that's OK with you- it's not with me. I did not modify anything- I used a feature reported BY COX as SUPPORTED BY COX prior to install. Do you have any cables connected to your box? I guess you modified it....

There is a reason there is an e-sata port on the box. Using it isn't "modifying it". It is supposed to work. It is none of your business why I want an external drive. I guess I am the bad guy according to you because I like to use what I pay for....

Are you single? I have a full family here. 500GB is not a lot for 4 viewers with different tastes.

Yes, I will say you modified it and that was not the way Cox provided it to you. They didn't advertise and sell you external storage capability. If you could show me any advertising or marketing about external storage that would be great. The only known mention of the External storage was from a copy-pasted blurb on the internet in one of the Cox markets, that came from from the manufacturer back when it was SA using SARA software when the 8300 was first released (from the original SA user manual). We still don't use the USB and Ethernet ports, although Cox has mentioned that they may utilize the network functions for media support in future versions of software once DRM is accepted.
As for family use, we have and use three DVR's and we now use OnDemand more and more for most of the programming because there is no need to bother setting up a recording, worrying about conflicts, or network issues causing problems. I do question WHY would you attempt to add storage before it was even necessary and not use OnDemand for some of the family members. With only two tuners and a high use of 8 hours of recording a day, it would still take two weeks to fill the existing drive.
For the record, I DO use an external drive(s) and have upgrading DVR hard drives since the day DVR's were offered by Cox in my market (beta tester) and have been using DVR's and modifying them even before Tivo existed with ReplayTV in the 90's. I have sold and installed dozens of the 500GB WD DVR expanders in several markets and MSO's for customers using the 8300, and then the 8240 series of DVRs with the explicit information that it was a non-supported feature that we were taking advantage of and that at any time the feature may not work and they could lose access to anything stored on those drives.
Note that these are my opinions and that I have been reading and catching up on various forums while enjoying, now it seems, several frosty beverages while my dinner was forgotten and waiting to be reheated.

vegggas

Yes, they did. Please read previous posts.

As for why did I connect it before the 500GB was full? Why not? Scenario:

You have an 8300HD with an e-sata drive.

You remove the 8300HD and return to Cox.

You add the 8642HDC.

You saying you'd leave the e-sata HDD, sitting right there, cables ready, unplugged until you filled the 500GB? All after Cox told you it was supported? Whatever.

Connecting a peripheral isn't modifying a cable box, sorry. Connecting a drive is no different than connect a TELEVISION to it. You are simply using features. Keep defending Cox, I think the majority of posters would side with me.

Show me a commercial on Youtube, a marketing flyer on the internet or any public marketing that advertises, or is selling you the ability to add external storage over and above the Multi room function and enhanced guide.
Connecting a drive to a DVR is a lot different than a TV. A TV is simply displaying source material where a drive is integrating a logical volume. It would be nice if that ethernet port on the back of my TV would allow me to surf the internet using the browser of my choice, open my email and edit my Excel files from work, and then Print those files on my network printer, but I realize that it has limited and specific applications and functionality.
I'm all out of frosty beverages...
vegggas

I don't have to show you, aka nobody, anything. I called. Cox rep stated SUPPORTED. The end.

You're being rediculous and argumentative just for the hell of it. The problem is a BUG, plain and simple. The fact that the 8642HDC RECOGNIZES, FORMATS, and USES the storage means it is INTENDED to work. The fact that the 8642 PLAYS BACK content on the external drive means it is INTENDED TO WORK. The fact that the 1642 clients BLOW UP THE 8642 means it is a BUG.