SA 8300 HD Tips & Tricks -- SARA - Page 53

Once again, this is a copyright issue. Tivo owns the rights to this feature and recently reached agreement with others (or they found a workaround that doesn't violate the copyright). The next version of the SARA OS reportedly supports a Start From Beginning option. There is a version of software out there that supports it, but there are too many other problems and I believe only 1 cableco is using that software. Just be patient a bit longer.

Probably can't because of current location or something like that, but you make an excellent point.

FWIW, I've peeked at some 6412 threads and they didn't look very pretty to me.

What so many of these folks don't care to acknowledge is that, unlike Tivo, SA doesn't control the IPG, they only program around it to make their equipment work as well as it does and they have to deal with several different IPGs. They also have to live with the short-sighted restraints imposed by cableco's. Everyone who doesn't like the 8300 for not being a Tivo at cable prices bashes SA and/or the 8300 when it's the cableco's, their lame IPGs, and their reluctance to spend the money to get the latest and greatest in IPG technology.

That's my only point. I simply try to place blame where it belongs, with the cheapo cableco's that won't spring for a decent IPG and related software. Blanket statements about the 8300 tend to bash the hardware, even if unintended, and that presents a skewed picture IMO. Every software update has increased the 8300 functionality and that tells me there is nothing wrong with the hardware itself. If cableco's spent the money on software that Tivo does, I think the 8300 is fully capable of delivering Tivo quality service.

If cable-Tivo's deliver as advertised, I think almost everyone would consider switching, unless the price is simply too high. I know a lot of folks think Tivo is well worth the $12.95 or whatever it costs, but I've yet to see how much Comcast/Tivo is going to charge, so I will defer judgement. Once SARA OS 1.5 comes, I'm not sure what Tivo would offer ME other than a Wish List and 2 week's worth of programming data. I don't use any sort/search features now, probably because they are useless in the current form. I do use TitanTV and perhaps Tivo would negate that need.

Not that I have seen, though it shouldn't be too much longer. From what I understand it is a complete rewrite incorporating all the changes to date and new functions (FF4, Start From Beginning, no more Kick To Live, etc.). Maybe vegggas will see this and comment, if he can.

Paul, don't get so excited.

There were/are a lot of problems with that version and that's why no one else has deployed it. There may have been some fixes for Cablevision, but all other cableco's are waiting for OS 1.5 and don't want to inflict their customers with lost recordings, etc., just to get a faster FF and Start From Beginning option.

If you look back through this thread (maybe serch for 1.88), you will see that all was/in not well with the 1.88.x.x series software. Also, you'll see several of my posts in this thread where I haven't run into a lot of problems that others have. That doesn' mean they don't exist, it just means I use my unit differently or my IPG is more stable, etc. The fact that Remy is happy now simply means he may not have the same experience as others, though it seems to me he originally posted about some of the problems way back when.

Also, I believe Cablevision was the beta-test site for this version, so there is no telling when it was made available to other cableco's, if at all.

If you look at the diagnostics displays for the software versions you will see references to an PTV OS:OS, Home Server Edition 1.4 and Flash:1.87.16.1 or some such numbers. My understanding (and simplistic explanation) is that the OS part is the base coding that is only updated to incorporate a major revision and/or a multitude of fixes whereas the Flash part is all the revision/fixes between OS releases. It really dosn't matter much to the end user because it's all pretty much really one program, it's more of a way for programmers to keep track of things. It's kind of like Windows XP with SP1 and SP2.

That's true, Paul. US West started rolling out TV services before the Qwest takeover a number of years ago. Unfortunately, that whole process has stalled, presummably because Qwest didn't/doesn't think TV services are worth the money/effort. This was before HD, so there may be some technology problems now as well. They still offer services in the original areas, but there is not much, if any, cost savings for the consumer, it's more a matter of the convenience of a single bill and services provider.

Jim,

You're welcome. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that, but I think that gives the gist of things.