Washington State - Comcast 6412 w/ MSFT Software - Page 2

At one point in the 'FEQ' it states, "Can I transfer recordings to DVD or my PC? No, this is not supported." Later on in the 'FEQ' it states, "Can I connect a 1394 display or DVHS VCR? Yes, however displays connected over 1394 will not display the user interface."

I'm assuming this means that programming can be recorded live to a DVHS unit, but programming cannot be transferred from the hard drive to the DVHS unit. Is this interpretation correct? Any clarification is appreciated.

So who has actually seen or played with this box?

The Comcast CSR I talked to had just received his 6412 with MSFT 1.7 (that was Monday, 11/8). We scheduled our install for 11/15 in the AM. We're on Mercer Island. Sound like there isn't too much problem with supply, yet (then again, we called for install before the King5 story)? Anyone else able to get their hands on the actual box, apart from Comcast employees?

We do love Tivo... but I'm looking forward to the HD upgrade. Our SD Tivo looks like hell on our new LCD HD screen... and I'm hoping that the HD channels will, at least, look a bit better.

I called Comcast the day after the King5 story-- and my install appointment is on this coming Tuesday, Nov 16th-we live in Magnolia.

I am am an active RePlay TV user- 2 boxes and using DVArchive and 4 PCs on my home network- I have archived over 800GB of shows. But, I recently upgraded my TV to a Panasonic 42" HDTV- and I am not able to time swap any HDTV content (RePlay, as TiVO, converts all signals to analog).

So I will probably double-record most HDTV content- once on a RePlay, and once on the Moto 6412 box. Therefore, if I run out of space to view a show on the 6412 in HiDef and it gets over-written by a newer show, I will still have it available on a RePlay.

Hi Burger,

Your idea of using two boxes is not a bad one. Our Tivo is one of the models with free "basic" service and it might be worthwhile to keep it set up with basic cable for the same purpose. Since it is free... that is. Good suggestion.

My biggest worry with the Moto 6412 is the space -- 14 to 16 hours of HDTV content probably isn't enough... although it will do.

Has anyone seen these Maxtor extra drives for DVRs? If Comcast / MSFT have their stuff together, they will add this functionality to the 6412 ASAP. I'd pay $$$ for extra space... whether buying the hardware or leasing it from somebody...

Maxtor QuickView Expander -- an external drive... http://www4.maxtor.com/en/products/a...w_info_req.cfm

This drive can connected by Firewire, SATA serial or USB.

I have one and it works well. However, my next step is to try and archive. My theory is that this is possible by playing the target to be archived and recording via firewire to the PC using the info in the "How to record via 1394 firewire" thread. This could be done overnight.

Please keep us posted on what you discover!

Is an instruction brochure available supplied with the 6412? It would help ease the changeover.
Somewhere I read how to key in the 30 sec. skip, I'm sure it was on the 6412 but I didn't copy it down at the time, my bad. Anyone know of this??

From the first post:

30 second skip is supported by the core FE platform but most MSOs do not enable it and there is no hidden code to enable it.

My guide on my non-pvr motorola box just switched over to the MSTV guide.

I'm getting the PVR...err...DVR on Monday-but I'm happy just have this new guide layout in the mean time. seeing things 90 minutes at a time and having the cutaway of the show I'm watching is a big improvement over what I was used to (the old tan guide).

Hey Comcast/MS people, can anyone explain how conflict resolution will work with the DVR? Also, how does series recording work?

It looks like the "Smart Series" feature is the same as the Tivo "Season Pass" - the other cool feature of Tivo is the 'Wish List".

Does MSTV have this too?

From what I've heard from the Comcast reps I've talked to, the MSFT guide does not have wishlists. That's fine with me... so long as series recording (aka season pass) works as well as it does on the Tivo.

Can anyone tell us what different bit rates will be encountered in recording Comcast programs? Is there any consistency within types (1080i, 720p, analog, etc.)? Will the SD programs broadcast on the HD channels require the same disk space as HD?

I have heard INHD 1&2 and DHDT and I think ESPN have the highest bitrates (like 30Mbs+)

while the locals have around 20Mbs.....

I guess two more days and we'll be finding out

Depends upon how it's encoded. If it's constant bit rate, then yes they could broadcast a black screen with no audio for the entire duration of the program and it would still take the same amount of bandwidth as something active. If it's variable bit rate, and it's a 4:3 aspect ratio program (which hasn't been stretched/zoomed), that leaves about ¼ of the picture area unused, which could theoretically allow the encoder to scale the bitrate back a bit (or else provide a better quality picture on that which is active), but not by much. However, if it's a widescreen SD source (or stretched/zoomed), that SD picture has been upconverted to HD and has as many pixels assigned to it as true HD would, so it would take just as much bandwidth.


The maximum ATSC-spec bitrate is 19.363mbps, and on a 256QAM channel, there's just enough room for 2 at that bitrate. 30+mbps would only allow one HD channel per QAM channel, which would be no better use of bandwidth than analog.

I was just going off of what CapDVHS tells you what bit rate its recording at.......

DVHS tops out at 28mbps, but very few sources are available to make use of all that (that being, other DVHS-originals). If it's giving you numbers in the 30's, it's lying to you.

CapDVHS just tells you what's in the MPEG-2 video bitstream sequence header.
You can see values as high as 80 Mbps, even though the actual bitrate is
typically less than 18 Mbps.

Ron

Comcast is at our house right now installing our Motorola 6412/MSFT. Very much looking forward to this box and the HD experience. Now I just have to get all my "Season Passes" transferred over.

Comcast tech was very knowledgeable and seems to be doing a good job. He knew how to hook up the DVI to the LCD, and how to get the Optical cable hooked up to the receiver (I'm not home yet... ugh-work... and my wife wants to watch TV throughout the day).

Mine's up and running. There was an initial problem with not being able to tune digital channels, but this was due to some coding problem in my account for the new box. When this was corrected, the box started working properly.

The tech said the analog channels will look like crap because they are devoting all their efforts to moving them to the digital side in six months. So they didn't spend any time on getting the analog channels to look better.

GOOD for you! BUT - WHERE is your house? Anywhere near any of the rest of us?

TKS Michael

We're apparently having some initial startup box problems, as well. We are getting all the digital and HD channels, but the box is having problems downloading updates. Apparently some issue with grounding? or so the tech thinks. We can't record anything yet... so now we just have a fancy HDTV tuner w/o recording capability. At least we're moving in the right direction.

In addition, there is apparently some issue with HD local channels looking like crap if the show isn't native HD. ("white fuzz" across the top of the screen?). The tech says that it is that way for everyone... Oh well ;-).

Comcast NJ - Union/Verona

Stop the press!!! Wow, the tech was really able to hook up DVI and an optical cable?

No way!

Useless post, I know, but I couldn't resist the temptation.

OK... perhaps I am easily impressed. It did involve removing various panels from the LCD, re-routing optical cables, and messing with various non-Comcast equipment. And based on my prior experience with Comcast... I'm still impressed. I'll be more impressed if they solve the problems that are keeping the box from recording anything.

cyberized

This thread is for those with a 6412 box- but with the new MSTV Foundation Edition 1.7 software. Currently, Comcast is only rolling this out in greater Seattle.

Techs usually just line up the old box with the new and move the cables from the old one to the new one, so they don't get the cables wrong.

My tech commented that I had every single cable connection hooked up, as if that isn't normal.

I tested recording part of the Haunted Mansion on Starz HD, and it recorded fine, complete with the DD 5.1.

I am having mine installed tomorrow morning. I really appreciate the comments of those of you that are having yours installed today-- kind of gives me a heads up on what to watch for.

The non-HDTV snowy channels is an interesting issue. I split my incoming signal- one to the Cable Box, the other to my RePlay Box. I guess that I can watch the non-HDTV channels through the RePlay (which, of course, converts the digital signal to analog). This will only work the the incoming signal is clean- but the cable box is screwing it up. What do you find?

There has been a discussion on one of the other threads about "old" and "new" remotes-- and the swap function. Any issues with this? Is the remote "Silver"?

Ok.. I was the 1st install of the morning and so far, I have to say that I am not impressed by the interface, guide, etc. It feels clunky, the guide doesn't display nearly enough area and you loose a big area of the screen for advertizing. Compared to Microsoft's Dishplayer and Ultimate TV interface, this is a complete let down. I've tried the signal through component and Firewire.. Both have a similar "visual feel" to them. Image quality compared to DirecTV is sub-par.

Thx,
Vidkidd

When you say image quality is sub-par compared to Directv is this on analog or HD channels?