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Scientific Atlanta HD PVR's / HD STB MASTER THREAD: General Posts/Links Here Only !

post #1 of 442
9/18/05 at 6:46am
Thread Starter 
SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA Master Thread for all PVR's/ DVR's and HD STB's

Please post in the appropriate thread by using the links below, OR feel free to post in this thread (by replying to the post) if you are not sure or want to ask a general question Please be sure to specify your LOCATION when posting (add it to your profile if possible)



SA 8000 HD PVR SARA

SA8000HD DVR - - SARA - Setup and Review Guide

SA 8300 HD Tips & Tricks -- SARA

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

Time Warner Navigator

8300HD and External SATA - It Works!!

and here are links to S/A HD stb's: these are not PVR's but they some have firewire ports to facilitate recording:

SA3250 Comprehensive Review Guide - Notes and Setup

SA 8300 HD with HDMI & DVR

Recording to PC from a SA 8300HD via Firewire

special Thanks to DoubleDAZ, hall, and vegggas for their help
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post #2 of 442
9/20/05 at 6:35pm
How to determine your Operating System via the diagnostic menus on all SA STB's:
If you are on a SARA system, you can walk up to the box, press and hold the center "SELECT" button until the mailbox button lights up. Then, press the info button to enter diagnostic mode. Use PAGE UP or DOWN to scroll through pages. Most of them will say SARA within these pages.

EDIT ADDITION
To check for Passport operating system
Quote:


In NYC to get into the diagnostics screen, hold "Select" or "+" and "Exit" at the same time until "Diag" appears on the screen, then hit these buttons again (just once) and you should be in Diag mode. One of the screens lists the software versions.

There are various channels and buttons to get software info in Passport, but they are different on each system and network. YMMV

vegggas
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post #3 of 442
9/21/05 at 6:34am
OK. If you use this thread to rech your intended thread, how do you start at the first unread reply? This overall thread takes you to the first original post.
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post #4 of 442
9/21/05 at 6:44am
This is really only for noobs who are not already subscribed to these threads so they can see that there may already be threads with answers to their questions. I subscribe to the threads I am interested in and they show up in my list when I sign in so I can still get to the last post like I always did.
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post #5 of 442
9/21/05 at 6:54am
veggas: Your instructions to get into DIAG mode work in TW's Western Ohio division too.
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post #6 of 442
9/21/05 at 7:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Impala1ss View Post

OK. If you use this thread to rech your intended thread, how do you start at the first unread reply? This overall thread takes you to the first original post.

just click on last page
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post #7 of 442
9/21/05 at 8:00pm
I just picked up an HDMI cable for my TWC 8300HD DVR and am running into a problem. Not sure if it's the cable box or the TV or me.

I've got HDMI running from the cable box to my TV and an optical line from the cable box to my Dennon receiver. In the cable box set-up (under audio) I can select HDMI or Dolby Digital. If I select HDMI, I get sound out of the TV, but I don't get Dolby Digital out of my receiver (just plain stereo). However, if I select Dolby Digital in the cable set-up menu (under audio).. I get Dolby Digital out of my receiver, but DON'T get ANY sound out of my TV.

My TV manual (Mits 52528) states that it accepts Digital audio, but not multi-channel thought HDMI. I'm wondering if this is causing the problem with the cable box. It would be a pain to adjust this manually every time.

Any thoughts?
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post #8 of 442
9/22/05 at 6:41am
Thread Starter 
note to all

it is OK to post general questions to this master thread: please try to help folks here too either by directly answering the questions or providing a link

Thanks
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post #9 of 442
9/22/05 at 9:34am
cs899,
For your problem with the 8300 and HDMI, you should check the "SA 8300 HD with HDMI & DVR" thread from the first post. It is fully documented many thimes in that thread.

vegggas
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post #10 of 442
9/23/05 at 4:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by markrubin View Post

just click on last page

That doesn't help if there is more than one page you haven't read. This change may have simplified things for the moderators but it made these threads less useful im my opinion.
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post #11 of 442
9/23/05 at 6:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookworm View Post

That doesn't help if there is more than one page you haven't read. This change may have simplified things for the moderators but it made these threads less useful im my opinion.

Go to the first post and if any of the threads interest you, subscribe to them. They will show up on your "User CP" page whenever there is a new reply in each.
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post #12 of 442
9/23/05 at 7:10pm
Yeah, nothing says you have to use this thread to get to any of the threads that have been unstuck. My problem with this thread is that now folks will post their questions here instead of the applicable thread and now we have yet another thread to keep up with, potenilly with a lot of duplicate informtion. I fully intend to follow vegggas' lead and simply refer folks to the right thread rather than start answering questions here. I don't mind the summary of links ot reduce sticky's, but the threads should have stayed in-use. I'm afraid we are going to end up with mulitple topics lumped into this single thread and lose the audience. Time will tell......
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post #13 of 442
9/24/05 at 3:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleDAZ View Post

My problem with this thread is that now folks will post their questions here instead of the applicable thread and now we have yet another thread to keep up with, potenilly with a lot of duplicate informtion. I fully intend to follow vegggas' lead and simply refer folks to the right thread rather than start answering questions here. I don't mind the summary of links ot reduce sticky's, but the threads should have stayed in-use. I'm afraid we are going to end up with mulitple topics lumped into this single thread and lose the audience. Time will tell......

if you would prefer this thread be closed to posts, that can be done
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post #14 of 442
9/24/05 at 6:38am
No, Mark, I think it's too early for that decision. We'll just have to wait and see how folks react to the "suggestion" in the first post that they try to post in the appropriate thead. Most of the folks already here subscribe to those threads and will continue to post there. Noobs might not take the time and we'll end up with a hodge-podge here, we'll just have to see how it goes. If most of us who tend to answer questions resist the temptation to answer here and instead steer folks to the right thead, this may work out just fine. I guess my biggest concern is that a lot of time and effort have gone into keeping the Guides and Tips&Tricks posts updated and noobs will not take the time to check those posts before asking questions that have already been answered. I guess that's the nature of the beast and we'll all deal with it. If this threads get too cluttered and unwieldy, we can always change it's focus at a later date. I applaud the effort to reduce the sticky's while still tracking the threads that have served us well. As the 8300 moves forward, some of these threads have started getting less use and those that were not already sticky's were starting to head down the list, so putting links in a signle sticky was a good idea. It's just up to all of us to try to keep things somewhat organized into those threads.
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post #15 of 442
9/28/05 at 6:30pm
Hi guys

I have both a SA 8300 DVR and a SA 3250. I have always recorded from the 3250 via firewire to my JVC and it works perfect.

My buddy just bought the JVC and just got the SA 8300. It would not record via firewire. It kept shutting his VCR off so they brought a second unit and same thing. Tonight I tried mine and same thing but my 3250 aloud me to record the same program just fine.

Ok..what gives with the 8300. Are we not aloud to record via the firewire on this. If I record HD to the hard drive I was also hoping to be able to dump to tape via firewire.

Any clues as to whats going on.

Thanks for your help..There is a lot to read in the other thread so hoping someone can save me a lot of reading
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post #16 of 442
9/28/05 at 7:19pm
Against my better judgement, I'll answer this.

Firewire/1394 is NOT yet supported on the 8300. If your friend wants to use Firewire, he/she needs the 3250. When that will change is anyone's guess.
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post #17 of 442
9/28/05 at 8:27pm
Since Alan's question is not easily defined, I'll go against better judgement and post some info too.
The 8300 is scheduled for a new firmware version (released by SA) before the end of the year that will allow firewire recording. This is the software that will also enable start from beginning, stop getting kicked out to live, 4th FF and REW speeds, better MultiRoom DVR support, external drive support, external AV passthrough and other features in a new build.
CableVision has a portion of the code in a large base of (all) their users, but it is considered to be a pre-released version without all the features and some bugs. So much so that all other cable co's are waiting for the final version later this year (hopefully) and opted not to release the current version as an add-on to the old code.

vegggas
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post #18 of 442
9/28/05 at 8:37pm
Thanks Dave & vegggas. Not what I wanted to hear but at least I know its not something I was doing wrong on our end. It will be nice once the FW is finally activated.
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post #19 of 442
10/3/05 at 7:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Gouger View Post

Thanks for your help..There is a lot to read in the other thread so hoping someone can save me a lot of reading

You really should ask in the appropriate thread for your cable provider. People in SARA areas may already have FW capabilities, while those in Passport Echo probably don't. Smaller cablecos though are implementing newer versions of Echo than the big cablecos and might see it sooner.

As for locking down this thread, my vote says lock it. Since it's a sticky, people will find it first and if they can, may be more likely to post in it. Since issues with these boxes are sooooo software and provider specific, they really belong in their "local" threads.
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post #20 of 442
10/18/05 at 12:06pm
I have talked to Cox Cable here in Florida and they have told me that they are going to activate my firefire connection on my 8300. I had to get pretty angry with them to do so. They said the guy that's doing it will do so in a couple days because he's really busy. My question is what can I do with it? I would like to stream it to a computer or something. I also have the phillips DVDR with firewire and a sony camcorder with firwire. How can I see if it's activated? Any help would be great. Thanks
Bob
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post #21 of 442
11/10/05 at 5:40pm
I've tried doing some searching but short of reading through 50 page threads I wasn't coming up with much. If the answers are out there I apologize ahead of time, I'm just looking for some quick answers.
Anyway, I have two HDTV's and two STB's from Comcast (SA 8300 HD DVR and SA 3250 HD). The 8300 is connected to a Mitsu 62725 via HDMI and the 3250 is connected to a Sony KV34HS420 via components. My question is, how should these 2 boxes be configured for picture mode (fixed, pass through, upconvert 1/2)?? I appreciate the help, just want to get these configured right.
Thanks
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post #22 of 442
11/12/05 at 11:07am
Is it possible to have the 8300 dump a recorded show via composite video/audio (or firewire for that matter) to a tape deck while watching something else, either recorded or live, on the other tuner at the same time? I don't think so, but maybe there's a method I haven't discovered.
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post #23 of 442
12/11/05 at 4:35pm
Incompatibility with SA8300 component output and older Sony tv going thru; Audio authority 1554A switcher and kds component to rgb converter. I had a problem with component out put to an older sony projection TV The color was all messed up. (no it was not due to connecting the cables incorrectly) from the 8300. No problem with the SA 3250. I didn't see an answer searching here but I did find out the solution. The problem is dc voltage on the green component output. This would mess the picture up even if I bypassed the AA switcher and just went to the kds component to rgb converter. the solution is a $15.00 + shipping video dv blocker filter part 1181 from audio authority. I just got it today and it worked like a charm. Of course the cable company had never heard of this problem. Evidently SA is aware of this according to the tech. at Audio Authority. I know this won't affect many people but I was quite frustrated for a while (switched cable boxes without help). Now if I could just get the firewire to work on the 8300 like it does on the 3250. I have sara version 1.87.23.1 for the 8300 and using JVC 40000. The JVC will recognize the 8300 box and sometimes will run for for a few seconds before it locks up. I have no problems with the 3250. I do have the option of starting at the beginning of a recording which I thought was a part of the new software release which was to activate the firewire. Is the 1.87.23.1 the newest release? Right now I am keeping the 3250 for archiving to the dvhs and using the 8300 for timeshifting. Any suggestions I should give to the cable company that is looking into this problem?
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post #24 of 442
12/24/05 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wookie View Post

Incompatibility with SA8300 component output and older Sony tv going thru; Audio authority 1554A switcher and kds component to rgb converter. I had a problem with component out put to an older sony projection TV The color was all messed up. (no it was not due to connecting the cables incorrectly) from the 8300. No problem with the SA 3250. I didn't see an answer searching here but I did find out the solution. The problem is dc voltage on the green component output. This would mess the picture up even if I bypassed the AA switcher and just went to the kds component to rgb converter. the solution is a $15.00 + shipping video dv blocker filter part 1181 from audio authority. I just got it today and it worked like a charm. Of course the cable company had never heard of this problem. Evidently SA is aware of this according to the tech. at Audio Authority. I know this won't affect many people but I was quite frustrated for a while (switched cable boxes without help). Now if I could just get the firewire to work on the 8300 like it does on the 3250. I have sara version 1.87.23.1 for the 8300 and using JVC 40000. The JVC will recognize the 8300 box and sometimes will run for for a few seconds before it locks up. I have no problems with the 3250. I do have the option of starting at the beginning of a recording which I thought was a part of the new software release which was to activate the firewire. Is the 1.87.23.1 the newest release? Right now I am keeping the 3250 for archiving to the dvhs and using the 8300 for timeshifting. Any suggestions I should give to the cable company that is looking into this problem?

Wow, this is a remarkably informative post, and I'm hoping that this is the problem I've run into with my DVR. I'll order this product and give it a shot ASAP. Yet another great example of what a valuable tool this forum is for laydoofuses like myself. Thanks, wookie.
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post #25 of 442
1/21/06 at 2:12pm
I have the optical digital output from my 8300HD box going to my
Integra receiver. However, on my receiver I can't send digital audio
to my "Zone 2" speakers. So I tried hooking up the analog audio
outputs from the 8300HD to another input on the receiver (with the
digital hookup still active), but the analog outputs don't seem to
work. Does anyone know if this is possible? If so, is there any
trick to get it to work?
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post #26 of 442
1/21/06 at 10:04pm
Your analog volume is controllable. Walk up to the STB and press and hold VOL+ until it's all the way up. If that works, go into settings and set your volume control to fixed for constant level output.

vegggas
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post #27 of 442
1/25/06 at 7:43pm
I haven't seen this mentioned so I just want to put it out there for others to see. I upgraded from the Explorer 4200HD to the Explorer 8300HD PVR w/SARA. I noticed the signal output through component is markedly cleaner. Nearly free of mosquito noise and dark level crawl. I was impressed. Switching resolution is much faster as is channel changing with up/down button. Disappointingly though it takes longer for the numeric buttons to register. By the way the PVR operating tips were much appreciated...Thanks.

Kevin
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post #28 of 442
1/31/06 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wookie View Post

The problem is dc voltage on the green component output. the solution is a $15.00 + shipping video dv blocker filter part 1181 from audio authority.

My 8300 suffers from this (or should I say my 6 year old (!) mits rptv does).

The bad news: AA is replacing the $15 1181 with a $36 1182. Available for pre-order.

The good news: I read how someone routed the component cables through a component switching receiver. My 5 year old receiver doesn't do component, but routing just the "green" through the composite video jacks works!
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post #29 of 442
2/16/06 at 1:39pm
I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem (and even better if anyone knows a fix). I have a SA 8300HD hooked via HDMI cable to an LG plasma. My provider is Comcast (Prince William County, VA). The digital (SD and HD) channels work great - good picture and sound. However, on the analog channels (< 100) I get a picture with no sound. I borrowed the component cables from my DVD and the sound works fine on all channels. It appears that the NTSC tuners (I tried both of them) do not output the sound to the HDMI output. I called Comcast and after a lenthy delay (I assume to call SA) they came back to say that since the HDMI is a digital output it does not work with the analog stations. I might believe this if the picture didn't work either. The picture and the sound are both analog so why should one work and the other not?

My kids watch a lot of Disney, which is only available in analog, and they're not too happy that it doesn't have sound. I can go with component cables but I paid $$ for the HDMI cable and would prefer to have only 1 cable instead of 5.

I've played with the sound option in the settings. It works as described for the HDMI setting, and not at all for the Dolby or Other setting.
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post #30 of 442
2/22/06 at 10:10pm
I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD Digital Cable Box/DVR and a Sony KV-27FS100. I have optimized all the settings for the TV with Avia and gone into the service menu to fix all the other issues (red push, 16:9 oversqueeze, etc.) and am really happy with the picture quality, especially with anamorphic DVDs in 16:9 enhanced mode. I really want to be able to use the 16:9 enhanced mode with my digital cable movie channels because many times the movies are broadcast in widescreen format or OnDemand gives the option to view them in widescreen. I was wondering if anyone thinks this is possible and how I might go about doing it. I have already tried to do it once but the picture was really depressed vertically in comparison to when I use 16:9 enhanced with DVD's.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to explain myself fully. Also, I just wanted to let everyone know how much I enjoy this site. Thanks in advance.
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