SA 8000HD & 8300HD w/ Passport software (TWC) - Page 3

SA8000HD with Passport software from Charlotte NC TWC...
My question: I do want to archive a portion of a show to a vcr/miniDV camera using the S-Vid or composite either one... I've looked and looked, but cannot find a menu item which actually allows me to "Archive to VCR." How can I do this? Anyone with success? Thanks...
(oh, and a 30 second skip on this would really be wonderful!)

Thanks for the remote shortcuts post. Extremely helpful!

Man this box is quirky!!

Something changed in my setup and I now have the same problem as hall. I have the 8000HD set to output 1080i and 480p. HD channels are fine, they are displayed full screen on my set.

SD channels however are not. They are being output at 480p b/c my TV's stretch modes are available. However I am getting 2 sets of bars on the sides of the picture! It's like the 8000HD is adding bars as well as the TV. If I use the Natural mode the picture is squished way too narrow. If I stretch using the TV's stretch mode only there are still sidebars but the picture is now the proper aspect ratio. If I stretch both the TV and the DVR I think it then goes full screen.

I don't think it was like this when I first switched to 1080i and 480p output.

Can someone tell me how to put the 8000HD in SD mode so the S-video and coax outputs work?

This is not a very scientific observation but in general I think I experience more pixelation and audio dropouts when the 8000HD is using both tuners. For example last night I was recording L&O on NBC HD and was recording / watching CSI: NY on CBS HD at the same time. The CBS HD show kept breaking up with dropouts and pixelation. Pretty annoying.

Haven't spent much time troubleshooting this b/c the box is just so quirky but things seem to get worse as you try to do more with it - makes sense I guess.

Sounds like the box has changed the aspect ratio. Press the # key or go to settings >> more settings >> aspect ratio

I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion about what in my opinion is the most annoying "feature" of the 8000HD w/ Passport - the dreaded gray pillar boxes. I know these are designed to prevent burn in on plasmas and CRTs but on my DLP they are just plain annoying. There should be an option to make the gray bars black (I think you can do this in SARA).

The work-around that I use is the stetch / shrink method. First I have my 8000HD stetch all 4:3 material (under setting / more settings / aspect ratio). Then, since I hate the look of stetched 4:3 material, I have my Samsung shrink 4:3 back to normal by using the 4:3 picture mode setting for the component input (obviously what this feature is called and if it's available at all, is entirely dependent on your TV). This causes the menus to look a little squished but the Samsung inserts black bars for you and the picture doesn't look distorted at all. Only annoyance is that when I switch to a 16:9 program, I need to change the picture mode on my Samsung to Wide.

Yup. I have a CRT projection so this isn't an issue for me, as I want the grey bars, but I was just thinking last night that they really need to add an option to change the color.

Ok. After waiting for several months my new 8000hd is up and running.

At first the technician told me that I could only watch SD programs with the gray sidebars. No explanation of the settings>aspect ratio function.

So, at first I just had the aspect ratio stretch all SD programs.

Then I noticed that the SD programming looked horrible. So I once again go into the settings mode and start playing with the output format. Since I have the sony 16:9 xbr910, I choose 'all' outputs. 480i, 480p, etc. etc.....

Now, my SD looks good, HD is working great, and I can now use all the stretch modes on my xbr910 when in SD programming.

All through the component cables.

Sooooo.... I don't have to worry about watching SD vs HD? My tv adjusts itself automatically to the signal being received?

So far that's what I'm seeing. Any inputs?

What surprises me is just how often I see people complain about the grey pillar boxes . When I'm watching a program, I find it pretty easy to filter those out, whether they're black or gray color. (If they were magenta, I'd probably complain ). Perhaps that's why you haven't seen much discussion of it: maybe, like me, most people aren't bothered by them, or use stretched or zoom mode for SD content most of the time. Much of the SD content that I watch is letterboxed, like "Smallville" (can't tune the KSWB-DT and it's not on my local cable, so I have to watch in SD) and the "Stargate" series', so I watch them zoomed.

I probably wouldnt mind the gray pillar boxes if I wasn't using a DLP projector on an 8ft wide screen. When everything is dark around the 4x3 image except for the sides, it gets a little distracting. Especially since the projector is in 16:9 mode.

My DLP has a black bezel and I do a fair amount of viewing in the dark. With black pillar bars I literally can't even tell that they are there. The gray bars are very noticeable and distracting to me. I suppose that others aren't bothered by them, but I certainly am. If you like stretch or zoom then I guess it's even less of a problem but I don't really like either (maybe my Sammy's picture modes just aren't great) so my only option is the work around I described above. Before someone suggested I do that, I was seriously contemplating returning the 8000HD purely b/c of the gray bars. Now I am happy with it.

I guess all I am saying is that having an option to set the color of the pillar bars would be ideal. Seems easy enough to do and SARA users have it.

What workaround? Stretch the 4:3 with the box and use the picture modes on the projector to shrink/stretch it back?

Yes. See a few posts up on this page.

hall - if you're still here, i think you should edit your first post to explain to people how to determine whether they have SARA or passport so that we can keep SARA people out of here and keep the discussion more focused. I'm afraid a lot of SARA users will wander in here and confuse things by accident.

btw, those of you asking about diag mode, i've found that if i just tune to channel 999 i get right into diag mode without any extra tricks. and of course this can all be done from the remote.

TWC Staten Island w / Passpoert Software.

I have had the SA8000HD for about 2 weeks now. The first week the pixels and audio breakups were numerous although the box did record the shows as scheduled and I was able to watch them. This past week I had no audio problems or pixels so I assumed their must have been a software upgrade. Well last night all hell broke loose. Not only were the pixels and audio dropouts back but a new problem arose. Every time I try to watch a recorded show the box locks up and re-boots. It did this 3 times, and during one of the re-boots switched to SD mode! I was finally able to watch a recorded show but I tried again today and the same problem occurred. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure now if this is a software issue or the box has become defective. By the way my software version is 1.5.151 with a date of August so there obviously has not been a recent upgrade.

The stars indicate what you have marked as "Favorites". For me, I just have all my HD channels marked as favorites, so thats what I would see...maybe you did this too.


Ok, heres MY problem, and I cant believe Im the only one having this, but I posted in the original 8000HD thread and got only a few responses, eventually thought the problem was solved, but now its back. The DVR chops off recordings. For example, I recorded tonights Clemson @ Virginia game on ESPNHD, from 730-130AM (extended 3 hours to catch everything + Sportscenter). So I get home about 1AM and the red light is on, indicating its recording. Now, I also cant play a currently recording show from the beginning, so I screw around until its done. So I go back, and what do you know, the recording is only from 730 to 817! Now, when I play it, the timeline indicates the show is 6 hours long, but the green part indicates that the majority of the 6 hours is missing.

This happens way too often, and I have yet to figure out anything that causes it...it appears to be completely random. It has happened on recordings from ABCHD, TNTHD, HDNet, ESPNHD, NBCHD, etc etc...so its not a problem with a particular channel or video format. It doesnt seem to coincide with if another HD channel is in the PIP either...is ANYONE having this problem too? TWC replaced my DVR once and obviously it has done no good. Thankfully if I miss a TV show, I know where to find those on the net, but with sports its not that easy...especially when youd prefer to watch in HD. Im happy with everything else about this box, but this just makes it very unreliable.

On our local TWC system, channel 998 will get you a system status display, about 10 lines long, including the Passport version number. It is not, however, the full 20-some-odd page diagnostic mode, which is mostly incomprehensible, but does have a page with HDD size and free space. (It may also have some fields with adjustable values--it's really intended for service people).

Is the single-page status what you're seeing on 999?

I'm using Passport ver 1.5.15 and don't have the problem of playing back a recording from the beginning.
I've recorded movies over 2hrs long and been abel to watch from the beginning when it is almost done with the recording.

Maybe this depends where you live?
I live in NYC.

Hey EndContra, I think the problem you are having is probably the one i was seeing last night. It appears that sometimes the HD program will start recording and then for some reason TW drops the signal but the DVR does not realize there is no feed. Happened last night w/ the apprentice was there to catch it but i and had to watch it in SD as the NBC HD channel was a gray screen.

Well I live in NYC as well, have v.151 and am definitely experiencing the problem. I tried it out last night. Was recording Without a Trace from 10-11 on CBS HD. Tried to watch the show from the beginning at like 10:35 and it initially started at the live point when I selected "Play" from the Recorded Shows list. I could back up approximately 30 minutes to 10:06 (I'm guessing the size of the HD buffer) but no further. Went back at 10:58 and now I could go back to 10:29 but no further. At 11:01 I could watch the show from the beginning.

Seems like it affects people "randomly". Perfect.

that is weird considering that the live buffer is 1 hr.
Eric, how big is your live buffer?
If you are watching live tv, how far back can you go?

Will check this weekend. But for HD I'm not sure it's 1 hr. For SD it definitely is.

Is pixelation more of a problem with the HD box?

I have noticed more pixelating on the SA8000HD than the regular SA8000.

Also, a few more audio dropouts than before.