SA 8300 HD Tips & Tricks -- SARA - Page 35

good thing i never signed on on this hdmi "train"...i tested my sa8300hd when i got it and it worked ..but i use a barco crt..hense hdmi didnt make much sense ..since i also use a video rrocessor..

anyhow

Martin

I posted this under another heading, but I think it really belongs here:

My 8300HD works fine, but when I go to archive a recording via the "copy to vcr" function, I get jaggies... like scan lines that aren't quite lined up. If I just do a playback and record off of that, there is no problem. Cox cable was useless... they never heard of this, suggested I switch out the box. I did so and the jaggies continue. I've played with some settings but no difference. Any suggestions?

Joxer suggested that it might be a firmware bug problem. Anyone know of this and any kind of fix? Thanks!

Ok, I think I have a workaround. My TV is HD and so I set the box up for an HD signal. If I drop the box to SDTV, then the jaggies go away. Which is a bit of a pain to say the least, but at least it's doable. It's still pretty screwy that the only time the jaggies occur is when the "copy to VCR" function is selected, IMHO.

Steve - I believe the same thing happened on my cable system after an FW update to 1.87.16.1 in March. I don't use the function, but it was reported on a local HDTV forum.

I apologize if it has been mentioned before but does anyone know how to cancel a single episode from a series of episodes ? In other words, I have a 'season pass' of a show but I detected in the recorded list duplicates of the show (airing at 2:00am) and I don't want to record those. When I try to cancel just that episode, I'm only given the option to cancel all episodes matching that description.

Running FW 1.87.14.1

TIA

I don't think that you actually can remove just one show. I've tried the same thing as you and each time I remove the one episode, it removes the "season pass" I've set up. Very annoying.

Thanks for the post. I'm glad I was not overlooking the obvious

DEIfan, thanks, nice to know it's not just me. I guess I can hope they put out a new firmware (someday).

If you choose the "All Programs, On this Channel, in this time slot" you should not get the duplicates and still have the "Season Pass", however, if the program happens to repeat on a different day on the same channel and in the same time slot then you will get the duplicate reocording and not be able to delete it without losing the "Season Pass" feature. This was the case when Enterprise (in my area) would air on Friday and Sunday nights at the same time. I ended up just setting a re-occurring "Manual Recording" on Friday Nights from 8-9pm so that I did not get the duplicate on Sunday Nights. The only drawbacks to the Manual Recording option is that you will get all episodes including reruns since the "First-Run" only option of the "All episodes" feature will also record any duplicates of a show running during the same week. You also will not get the title of the show. It will just say "Manual Recording" when you pull up the "List" and also show the time it recorded. When Sci-Fridays returns on the SciFi channel in July, this will become an issue (with me at least) so I will have to return to the "All Programs.....in this time slot" option for Sci-Fridays. I just hope Sci-Fi doesn't re-air the programs in the same time slot during the rest of days of the week.

I have Comcast SARA SA8300HD. During my plasma break-in period I would like to stretch 4:3 to 16:9 but I can't get the SA to do that. I checked the sticky and it gave options that I can't find. My choices are Fixed, HDMI/DVI, Upconvert-1 and Upconvert-2 from the menu and settings screens.

I'm sorry if this has been covered earlier but I didn't see it.

Can someone help me? Or is Comcast's SARA different than Cox's? I don't know my release number, but this is a new box being tested.

Thanks,

Rich N.

One way is just to zoom the picture by hitting the # button on your remote whenever you are on a channel with pillar bars.

Or, if your TV can be set to automatically stretch a 480i signal you can set your DVR for pass through.

I'm new to this forum so hopefully this question isn't redundant. I just received our 8300HD today and tried testing the DVR feature Record All Episodes, First-Run. What I'm finding is that I can not schedule two different shows with the first-run criteria...the second show just doesn't show up in the list. I tried setting up two shows to record by 'time slot', then changed each one to first-run. It deleted the second show all together. The shows are on at different times/channels. I'm just wondering if I'm missing a setting somewhere.

If the episode you are trying to set up the 'new first run' option with is not flagged as a new first run it does not set up the recording.

That's probably it! Thank you so much!

Be careful with the 'first run' option. Most guides do not provide this info. To ensure your shows are recorded, just record all episodes and delete as needed after they are recorded

Thanks, Bill, I'll try that.

Rich N.

He just posted that this update will start to be pushed to us next week. Can't wait, I'll report back when I get it.

I've been gone from this forum for a while, so sorry if this is a repeat. My SA8300 works fine on pass through using componenet cables. I'm wondering if HDMI may make my PQ even better, but a while back people were having problems with HDMI cables and the box. Any current issues/concerns with this, and should I expect any PQ improvement?

Supposedly it should make your picture quality better. With HDMI, your digital signal never undergoes any conversion (it always stays as a digital signal from cable co. to box to TV). Component would have to convert the digital signal your receive from your cable co to analog, then your TV would reconvert it back to digital to display it, but I haven't done a side by side comparison

Sorry just read the HDMI info on the last page. I'll be a little more specific this time:

a. Has anyone actually experienced a noticeable PQ improvement on a fixed panel (i.e. plasma or lcd flat panel) display using the HDMI cable?
b. Should I anticipate any problems getting the HDMI to work on Adelphia cable?
c. Will trying this out risk re-setting the box so that it doesn't work correctly in the current modes? (I read reports of this happening a while back).

I tried the HDMI once and reverted back to component cables. I bought a Monster Cable HDMI to DVI adapter because the Monster Cable DVI cable that I bought over a year ago to use with the SA8000 HD DVR has never been used because they never activated the port. I hooked everything up and I was not happy with the PQ. I tried this about three months ago and I returned the adapter the next day. I am in a Time Warner market using 1.87.19.1

A lot of the difference in PQ will depend on your display. If your display immediately converts the digital HDMI/DVI bit stream to analog then you are less likely to see an improvement. If your display maintains and processes the digital bit stream you are more likely to see an improvement.

The 8300HD does a better job of DtoA conversion than the 8000HD. Thus the PQ on component of the 8300HD is better (than the 8000HD).

There have been other issues with HDMI that are very display dependent:
1) HDCP compatability - has been a real problem for some.
2) Digital Audio (Dolby 5.1) to separate surround sound systems (only an issue with 8300HD to displays with HDMI inputs).
3) Few (older) DVI displays were really designed for computer input and user does not have some picture controls (Brightness, Color, etc.)

IF you don't have these issues the HDMI/DVI connection will likely result in an equal or better picture quality.

By #2 do you mean that it will be a problem if I wish to run the HDMI connection from the 8300 to the TV for video and a seperate component or optical out from the 8300 to my receiver for sound?

30 Second skip on the SA8300HD using the MX-800 with SARA

I had found a program for the MX-800 to get a 30 second skip, but apparently it was for Passport software and didn't work properly for SARA. The following coding gave approximately a 30 second skip on SARA

FF
0.02 second delay
FF
0.02 second delay
FF
1.0 second delay
PLAY

The 0.02 second delay was what was recommended for the Passport software. On my MX-800 when I enter it, it shows up as a 0.0 delay. Perhaps it's really 0.02 and the display is just truncated. In any event it works.

The same programming also works for approximately 1, 3, and 15 minutes skips, if only the final delay is changed as shown in the table.

Delay -- Skip

2 seconds -- 1 Minute
6 seconds -- 3 Minute
22 seconds -- 15 minutes.

Simply changing the FF to RWD gives backward skips of the same durations.

I made a macro for my MX-850 for a 1 minute skip:

FF
FF
FF

Play

I found the 1.8 second delay to give me the closest to 1 minute. It is not perfect but better than trying to do it manually. With the built in replay I can back it up pretty quickly if it happens to go a little farther than needed.

This is a feature that should really be in SARA software though.

Ok, Cablevision pushed out SARA 1.88.6.2 last night.

I think the news is mostly very encouraging.

Here's what I can tell so far:

1) Kicked to live but is FIXED! I can't really tell exactly what they did and I don't remember exactly how it worked before, but something is different. I think if you are recording live TV and are watching live, you watch on the channel the show is on. As soon as you are recording behind live, you switch over to the DVR channel. If you hit LIVE, you go back to the regular channel. Either way, it's fixed.

2) 4th FF/RW speed at 128x. It takes about 1 minute to get to the end of a 2 hour show.

3) Play from beginning option. If you go into LIST and select a show currently recording, you have an option to play from beginning. If you tune to the channel you are recording in the middle of the show and hit stop, you don't get an option to play from beginning. I think you should there too.

4) Browser bar has the day of week, start and end times of the shows now.

5) I think the screen blanks after a while now if you pause your DVR.

6) Supposed to be some change in the overnight poweroff being replaced by a hard drive spin-down.

7) Front inputs are supposed to be active now. Haven't tested that.

Some things that haven't been fixed

1) When you are in FF3 mode and hit instant replay, then hit FF again, you go to FF4 (the next FF step) instead of FF1. It's always been like that, but I don't know why they can't fix it.

2) Can't manually edit the end time of a scheduled recording (i.e. for sporting events, you can't program it from the guide and then manually add an hr to the end).

3) I haven't checked the bug that didn't allow you to schedule 2 different all episode (in this time slot) recordings of a show with indentical names.


If anyone wants me to test anything tonight, I'll be happy to do so.


Hopefully, bookmarking and better conflict management is next.

For me, the updates in this SARA pretty much get the box to be about 95% of what I want. The rest is pretty much gravy.

I think you'll all be really happy. Call your Cable companies and push for this update!

Thanks for the update.

Features to test:
1) Firewire
2) Firewire
3) Firewire
Etc.

Even if you don't have a Firewire component ... looking at the diagnostic sreens might give some hints ...
Amen to conflict management (personally I don't really care about bookmarking).

Lexluthor,

Do you record to DVD or VCR from the SA8300?

I would like you to find out if they fixed the Copy to VCR bug. If you didn't know, the problem is that if you select a program that you recorded in the LIST menu and then the option "Copy to VCR" for a recorded program (press "A" after that to start playback to the DVD-R/VCR), the resultant recording on the DVD-
R/VCR has very poor quality with noticeable "Jaggies". You don't really have to record anything just plug your monitor into the "Copy to VCR" outputs on the back of the STB and start playback of a recording using the method I explained above and check if you still see the jaggies. It is easily noticeable around the network bug of the show you are playing back. Our current workaround is to just playback a recorded program normally (as if you were watching it) and just capture the video/audio from the standard line outputs on the back of the 8300. The problem with that is that you are locked into watching the program again cause if you turn off the STB or change channels then you capture that as well onto your new recording. The Copy to VCR option let's you do your recording in the background while you can surf, watch a different channel or just turn off the STB. I want this convienence back! I just hope enough people complained about it when they broke it in the last upgrade so they could have incorporated the fix in this new release.

Thanks!

Sorry, I've never used the copy to VCR feature.

Does this mean you won't try it?

It's really just a matter of getting some cables and connecting the Copy to VCR outputs on the back of the SA8300 and plugging the other end into an available input on your TV or Monitor. Choose the "Copy to VCR" function on one of your recordings and then switch your TV or monitor to the corresponding input. Once you have confirmed the existence or non-existence of the "Jaggies" then you switch back to the normal input on your TV/Monitor (Component or HDMI) and then go back to your list of recordings, choose the program you had copied to VCR and then choose "Stop Copying to VCR". That's it! Pleeeeaaaasseee!