Channel Master TV CM 7400 HD DVR - OTA, Clear QAM, Internet Content - Page 46

I was seriously considering buying this unti I came across the news today that tivo is bumping up HDD space to 500gb for the premiere. Of course that comes with the caveat that the price of the hardware will also go up by $50. Shame though. If they'd let it stay as is at $100- I would have pulled the trigger and gone with the lifetime service right away. As it is- I'll have to wait.

What's the consensus on the 7400? Has it improved any/ much since the last firmware update?

I was seriously considering buying this unti I came across the news that tivo is bumping up HDD space to 500gb for the premiere. Of course that comes with the caveat that the price of the hardware will also go up by $50. Shame though. If they'd let it stay as is at $100- I would have pulled the trigger and gone with the lifetime service right away. As it is- I'll have to wait.

What's the consensus on the 7400? Has it improved any/ much since the last firmware update?

Why the double post?

Call them. They have phone specials. Since the last update it now receives lunar stations. [joke]

The phone special is $99 for the 500. Ignore Amazone.

Personally, I'd go with the older model and wait until the 2TB drives drop further... they are getting close to under $100. Four times the storage and much more valuable in the reseller market if you decide to punt.

Sorry my internet has been very laggy today.



Do you mean the Tivo HD XL?

Right now TiVo is the only mainstream DVR with the functionality to transfer a recording to or from a PC over a network. You would then use Video Redo to edit.

Very Good! It shouldn't be difficult to delete the root password - depending on where the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files are stored. If they are on the hard drive, no problem. If they are on Flash or EEPRom it becomes a bit tricker. The smaller Asian manufacturers usually do not make it difficult to jail break their equipment. They tend to be more interested in selling product than making things difficult for their customers. In many cases the manufacturers will support 3rd party software development. (e.g. There are presently two 3rd party developed operating systems available for my AZBox equipment).

Jim

That's not a TiVo-exclusive feature. The TViX DVR is also capable of transferring files to and from a PC over LAN, WLAN, and USB. Recordings are saved as raw MPEG-2 Transport Streams, rather than in a proprietary transocoded or encrypted format.

TIVO is limited to LAN transfer only. The TVIX also supports USB transfers doesn't it? A LAN transfer might take 30 minutes, where a USB would take less than 2 minutes. Being able to transfer via LAN is nothing to boast about!

I've generally avoided TIVO because of DRM and subscription issues. I haven't looked at TIVO products in many years.

Can TIVO be operated like a VCR without paying for a subscription?
What is the TIVO recorded file format - Do they alter the transport stream by adding DRM or use their own proprietary format?

I've used Video Redo for editing. It's the best video frame editor that I've found. The only thing I didn't like is that it only handles one audio stream. Many of my DVB-S/S2 recordings contain multiple audio streams.

If the TIVO files can be edited by Video Redo, it doesn't sound like the file format is proprietary.

Jim

I did say mainstream DVR.

Ask your questions in the TiVo threads where you will get the most informed answers. People in this thread get pissy when there are two posts in a row that have the word "TiVo" in them.

It's in NAND. This time they added some additional layer of protection - you could boot in CFE mode, modify shadow, but after that is mandatory reboot, it will restore it.

Can someone tell me their experience using the 7400 with an indoor antenna and QAM cable hooked up to an RF A/B Input switch. I've seen posts regarding one or the other but not both at the same time. Thanks!

Doesn't an A-B switch imply you are not using both at the same time? Given one rf input, and one channel scan, I doubt you will be happy. The frequencies beyond vsb 13 are not the same either.

http://support.channelmaster.com/att...User_Guide.pdf

Page 11.

Yes, and considering the CM 7400 is a non-mainstream TiVo alternative, TiVo's position of market dominance is irrelevant to this topic. It's misleading to claim that a feature is unique to the "mainstream" TiVo DVR when posting in a topic devoted to a competing device. The CM 7400 doesn't allow the user to offload recordings while the TViX does, and since they are both non-mainstream options, the comparison is relevant to the discussion, while TiVo's status as the only "mainstream" DVR is not.

What I meant to ask was if the channel master records seamlessly between QAM cable and antenna. For example can you record a QAM cable channel and a normal OTA channel utilizing both tuners at the same time? How about watching a third live channel while doing this? Or does it record only dual OTA channels (while watching a live QAM cable channel) or dual QAM cable channels (while watching a live OTA channel?)

I'm just trying to figure out the best connection method as my samsung HDTV has only one RF input and I want to utilize both OTA and QAM. I'm considering a tivo or the 7400 and I keep going back and forth over the two. Add the A/B switch to this mix and it starts to get confusing to someone who's a novice like me.

I know of no TV, DVDR or DVR that records/views seamlessly between OTA and cable. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, just that I never heard of it.

To my knowledge, none of the scenarios you've proposed are possible. Having two tuners means you can record one show while watching another, record two shows at once while watching one of them (or switching back and forth between the two), or record two shows at once while watching a third show that was recorded to the HDD earlier. There's no way to record two shows at once while watching a third program live on a dual-tuner DVR, since that would require three tuners. You can only accomplish this by watching the third program using the tuner in your TV, since that one isn't busy while you're recording with the DVR.

Joe.. I can name two. The Sony DHG and the TiVo Premier. There may be others as well.

Why not? You can use a remote controlled A/B switch like this one and watch OTA and cable back and forth by changing inputs. Maybe adding a DVR to the equation might not work but I'm trying to find out if otherwise.



My bad. That third tuner can only work from the tv but my question still stands. Can you record 2 QAM channels and watch live tv using the tvs tuner? How about recording 2 OTA channels while watching live tv using the tvs tuner?

I can only speak for the Sony DHG and the TiVo Premier, since I have no experience with the CM7400. With both the Sony and the TiVo you can record either 2 Cable channels or 2 OTA channels simultaneously, or 1 Cable channel and 1 OTA channel simultaneously. You can watch a third channel from your TV tuner, or play back an already recorded show while you're recording one or two channels as described. I would guess that the CM7400 works the same way.. maybe someone can confirm.

You know I have the highest respect for you, but neither device will do what is needed. That assumes I read his post right. Three things at once is hard with two tuners. Yes, the "T" can do two recordings at once while watching another recording, but the post indicated he wanted:

"How about watching a third live channel while doing this? Or does it record only dual OTA channels (while watching a live QAM cable channel) or dual QAM cable channels (while watching a live OTA channel?)"

I didn't bring up HTPC, where I'm sure this can be done with enough hardware.

The Sony has two single tuners and you can't be watching OTA and have a cable recording start. I have never seen that work or don't know why it fails for me.

Many devices, like the 7400, can record a channel while playing back a recording (I think I read that). But I think more was required. That's why I hoped someone else could suggest a solution to the goal. I don't have the experience, or OTA.

I suspect that with an A/B switch you'd have to have the 7400 rescan channels each time you flip the switch.

There are RF 'splitters' which can be used in reverse, as combiners. For some reason, sometimes a diplexer works better for signal combining than a purpose-designed combiner. Diplexers were designed for satellite systems cuz they allow one 'leg' to pass DC voltage from a sat receiver out to its dish's LNB to power it up. They're usually used in pairs or in conjunction with a multiswitch to combine the incoming sat signal with an outdoor antenna.

I've been meaning to give this idea a squirt just for kix & giggles, but so far my Master Procrastinator Algorithm has prevailed. Hell, I haven't even tried the 7400 with my outdoor antenna yet -- too busy watchin' de daggum TV.

No A-B switch needed for that, just a splitter. My thought was you wanted to do all the viewing through the 7400. Any dual tuner device can record two channels (OTA or QAM) while the tv uses its own rf input. I do it every night.

Of course, like the man just said, ch 16.1 cable is not the same as 16.1 OTA.

I'd be truly surprised if any existing DVR could record an OTA channel through one tuner and a QAM channel through the other at the same time.

Prepare to be amazed!!! That phenomenon been happening in my house since 2006!

Device?

Configuration?

Signal sources?

I was waiting for you to reply.