AVS › AVS Forum › HDTV › HDTV Recorders › Cisco Explorer 8642HDC problems
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Cisco Explorer 8642HDC problems

post #1 of 4
1/6/13 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
Cox just switched my 2 old DVRs to their newer Cisco Explorer 8642HDC. While there are definite advantages (broadband, more HD channels, more disk space) the trio software has definite bugs and problems. The installer found that one of the 2 DVRs stayed stuck on "cnfg" and an hour later ended up leaving it that way. He said that he had just installed 4 others of these DVRs and 2 of these 8642HDCs did the same thing. That is a 50% failure rate! Hours later the programmers apparently found the problem and updated the software and my bad DVR came alive.

I've only had the new DVRs for 2 days and already found a slew of unnecessary annoyances or problems.Maybe others have found them too and can help me resolve them. I emailed Cox support but did not hear back from them.

1. The guide info screens does not include the 1-5 star ratings] for movies (*****). This really bugs my wife because she grew accustomed to using it to avoid recording movies that have 1 star ratings and then turn out to be a waste of both time and HDD space. The older DVRs had it and so do Cox's competitors.

2. The cc button on their black remote does not work. This necessitates going through setting's several screens to turn cc on and off. Seems like a programming bug.

3. In the guide screen, the remote's "page+" and "page-" buttons are reversed. The + button takes you to lower numbered channels while - does the reverse. Seems illogical and easy to fix.

4. The text in the guide screens is fuzzy (letters appear fragmented) and difficult to read despite my high resolution HD tv sets.

5. The trio software will not allow the user to delete a recorded program while it is being viewed. This is unnecessarily annoying and was not the case in the previous dvrs.

These are bugs that the programmers should be able to easily fix. Has anyone else noticed them and found solutions for them?

(I will not even mention the absent 30 sec skip ahead button!)

Thank you.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 4
1/6/13 at 11:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coxuser1234 View Post


1. The guide info screens does not include the 1-5 star ratings] for movies (*****). This really bugs my wife because she grew accustomed to using it to avoid recording movies that have 1 star ratings and then turn out to be a waste of both time and HDD space. The older DVRs had it and so do Cox's competitors.

I, too, have noticed this. Perhaps Tribune Media Services does not provide this information in its data package for TRIO. I can't remember if the ratings were present in Passport or not.
Quote:
2. The cc button on their black remote does not work. This necessitates going through setting's several screens to turn cc on and off. Seems like a programming bug.

Cox has stated that this may be addressable in a firmware update, but this person was not sure. He said the more complaints they receive about it, the more likely they may be to address it.
Quote:
3. In the guide screen, the remote's "page+" and "page-" buttons are reversed. The + button takes you to lower numbered channels while - does the reverse. Seems illogical and easy to fix.

It's logical if you think in respect the yellow highlighted channel. Pressing the "up" arrow on the remote moves the yellow highlight up. Pressing the "page +" button moves the yellow highlight up eight channels. The "down" arrow and "page -" buttons move the highlight down.
Quote:
4. The text in the guide screens is fuzzy (letters appear fragmented) and difficult to read despite my high resolution HD tv sets.

I have not noticed this on my 26" or 32" sets. You must have a larger screen size. I have Sony Bravia sets connected with HDMI.
Quote:
5. The trio software will not allow the user to delete a recorded program while it is being viewed.

Had not noticed. I always STOP before I DELETE.

Of more concern to me are two intermittent problems with my 8642HDC/TRIO:

1. About once a month, a program will fail to record. The red circle is present in TRIO suggesting it is being recorded, but the red REC is not lit on the 8642HDC front panel. A quick toggle of the power button on the remote starts the recording.

2. About once every day or two, the audio will stick in the muted state after using the >> or << function. Again, toggling the remote's power button OFF then ON clears the problem. Easy fix, but frustrating.

I haven't had a problem with the failure to get SDV channels (3.1.1 errors) in a few weeks.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 4
1/7/13 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 
The star ratings for movies are essential in my opinion and may be a deal breaker for me. (Have to keep the wife happy!)
I agree that one must assume Tribune does not provide that data, but it should really be requested.
Do you know where would I place such a request?
Quote:
2. The cc button on their black remote does not work. This necessitates going through setting's several screens to turn cc on and off. Seems like a programming bug.

Cox has stated that this may be addressable in a firmware update, but this person was not sure. He said the more complaints they receive about it, the more likely they may be to address it.
Where can I register such complaints?
Quote:
4. The text in the guide screens is fuzzy (letters appear fragmented) and difficult to read despite my high resolution HD tv sets.

I have not noticed this on my 26" or 32" sets. You must have a larger screen size. I have Sony Bravia sets connected with HDMI.
It is the case on both my 32" sets (Samsung and Bravia). Not a deal breaker but annoying.
On the old DVRs the connections were HDMI but now the installer used component cables. I read in the instruction manual that component cables were apparently necessary for some feature. Don't recall which.
Quote:
Of more concern to me are two intermittent problems with my 8642HDC/TRIO:

1. About once a month, a program will fail to record. The red circle is present in TRIO suggesting it is being recorded, but the red REC is not lit on the 8642HDC front panel. A quick toggle of the power button on the remote starts the recording.

2. About once every day or two, the audio will stick in the muted state after using the >> or << function. Again, toggling the remote's power button OFF then ON clears the problem. Easy fix, but frustrating.
Have not yet encountered that but agree that would be more of a problem.
Maybe I should go back to the old DVRs with the Passport software. How long have you had the trio sets?
Do you know if the 8642HDC comes with passport software?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 4
1/7/13 at 2:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coxuser1234 View Post

The star ratings for movies are essential in my opinion and may be a deal breaker for me. (Have to keep the wife happy!)
I agree that one must assume Tribune does not provide that data, but it should really be requested.
Do you know where would I place such a request?

No, but I would flood all of Cox's hangouts (Facebook, DBStalk, etc.) and at cox.com/support, and call their tech support line. Also, there are hundreds of movie review guides available at Amazon. I'd surprise your wife with one.
Quote:
2. The cc button on their black remote does not work. This necessitates going through setting's several screens to turn cc on and off. Seems like a programming bug.

Cox has stated that this may be addressable in a firmware update, but this person was not sure. He said the more complaints they receive about it, the more likely they may be to address it.
Quote:
Where can I register such complaints?

Same venues as above.
Quote:
4. The text in the guide screens is fuzzy (letters appear fragmented) and difficult to read despite my high resolution HD tv sets.

I have not noticed this on my 26" or 32" sets. You must have a larger screen size. I have Sony Bravia sets connected with HDMI.
Quote:
It is the case on both my 32" sets (Samsung and Bravia). Not a deal breaker but annoying.
On the old DVRs the connections were HDMI but now the installer used component cables. I read in the instruction manual that component cables were apparently necessary for some feature. Don't recall which.

I'm not familiar with any such requirement. I'd see if using HDMI cleans up your text.
Quote:
Of more concern to me are two intermittent problems with my 8642HDC/TRIO:

1. About once a month, a program will fail to record. The red circle is present in TRIO suggesting it is being recorded, but the red REC is not lit on the 8642HDC front panel. A quick toggle of the power button on the remote starts the recording.

2. About once every day or two, the audio will stick in the muted state after using the >> or << function. Again, toggling the remote's power button OFF then ON clears the problem. Easy fix, but frustrating.
Quote:
Have not yet encountered that but agree that would be more of a problem.
Maybe I should go back to the old DVRs with the Passport software. How long have you had the trio sets?
Do you know if the 8642HDC comes with passport software?

I don't know if the 8642HDC comes with Passport. Passport is only 4:3, so you'd be stuck with that. And only the very latest firmware updates enables all 500GB of the HDD, instead of just 160GB. I'd ask somebody KNOWLEDGEABLE at Cox. Good luck with that one! smile.gif
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: HDTV Recorders

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › HDTV › HDTV Recorders › Cisco Explorer 8642HDC problems