Time Warner Cable Navigator - Page 524

I'm sick and tired of both of my TW 8300HD boxes missing recordings every day. I keep getting "Set-top was unable to record this program." I can't depend on them ever to record all my shows for sure. $220/month for this???

I've kept the boxes because I use external drives with them, and I do record a lot of shows. Has anyone been able to solve this problem? What other TW DVR's do you recommend, that also have large hard drives?

There really is no good solution. They have to either ditch Navigator (not gonna happen) or work on tweaking (or re-code) the programming for better stability and conflict resolution. I have no issues with the channel selection as they crush the other provides for my viewing purposes, but Navigator remains the issue. I just wish TWC would allow a third party manufacturer to produce a box for them that featured VOD and full compatibility. I'd pay extra for it or better yet, make that part of the Signature Home package since we already pay a premium.

I just remain at a point of tolerating it while looking at potential other solutions.

If you have the SA-8300 (non-C) box, it is old and you may need to swap it out. You can have a secure chat at the TWC Direct to Tech forum, it is located at the URL below:

It is a secure forum. Describe how long you have had the missed recordings issues. There was a software update to MDN (non-C, no Samsung) boxes recently from MDN 2.5 to MDN 3.0. Additionally, software updates, for MDN boxes, due to their age, is causing strain on the old hardware.

Say at the Direct to Tech forum that you would like a new Cisco or a Samsung box because you need a bigger hard drive, and the widely distributed boxes, the SA-8300 HDC's have the new version of the software called ODN, but only a 160gb hard drive.

The Cisco 8640 and the Samsung 3270 have 320GB hard drives. They generally will not work with drive expanders, but it is likely that if you are getting a lot of missed recordings because your box is dying out.

Signals could be an issue as well. I would request that Direct to Tech set up a truck role to check lines and signal strength, and ask for probably a Samsung 3270 to be requested in the work order as first choice, with the Cisco 8640 as second choice. Say that you do not want an SA-8300HDC because of its smaller hard drive. The Samsungs are faster than the Cisco's or SA boxes anyway.

Here is the TWC Direct to Tech forum:

https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/timewarnerdirect

It is secure. No one else can read it except you and the tech. Good luck!

Jack

PS. The Cisco 8642 and 8742 are 500GB models, however, most divisions only give them out to Whole House and Signature Home Subs. The same is true with the Samsung 3272.

You need to get a new box. The SA 8300 series is a useless piece of junk not able to run the new software. Don't get the Samsung 3090 either. A new Cisco or the Samsung 3270 or above series. I have a Samsung 3272 and it works fine. Think of a PC that is 10 years old, how it would work now, that's pretty much the problem. It took me 5 tries to get a working box. It shouldn't be this way but it is. Time Warner doesn't really care about their customers. Typical American corporation. Only concerned with their profits and not where they come from.(us) Think of the cost of replacing all those 8300's. What are they going to tell their shareholders? A responsible company would update their equipment but they knowingly let us have junk, let them eat cake. Be persistent.

How are the remotes for the Cisco and Samsung 500GB models? Is one brand better than the other, as far as setting them up to work with DVD players, VCR's, etc.?

This is the truth, but also keep in mind that they know many customers are oblivious to technology and that the garbage that is Navigator works fine to them because they don't know any better. Our division still has 2000 Series boxes in circulation. I'd dying to get my hands on an 8742 which should be simple as a Sig Home customer, right?

I have the same remote as I've always had.... It's their universal I suspect. I don't mind it so much. I have it programmed it work on all my devices. On the bottom under their logo it says: UR5U-8780L-TWY

The TWC remotes work with each box accordingly:

All standalone STB=Standalone Remotes

All DVR's=All DVR Remotes.

I have had my original TWC remote for DVR service since we got DVR services in 2007. It works great.

Jack

PS. Having said that, I have not programed external devices to work with it. I have an older Sony DVD Player/VCR combo, for which there was no code in the documentation.

Wow, do I disagree with that statement. As "new" software, ODN is nothing more than OCAP compliant MDN. (And from a technical stand point a 8300HDC does run the new software.) When I first tried ODN two years ago it was a Java lagged, steaming pile of monkey dung. Even now, with ODN and MDN boxes running side by side, I can detect the lag and glitches in ODN. As far as the 8300 HD is concerned, its only flaw was a 160GB drive on a DVR destined to be used recording HDTV. A flaw that was easily overcome with the feature, unsupported mind you, of being able to add up to a 1TB drive. A feature which seems to be intentionally defeated in any ODN box.

From an end user, sit down and watch TV standpoint, there is now very little difference in ODN and MDN. I can't think of a single feature that ODN has that MDN doesn't. Both have VOD and PPV. The menus are virtually identical, except of course that ODN is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to fit a 16x9 screen which I find to be hard on the eyes. I guess it was too much to ask that they actually use the additional space to give us more info.


More like a typical American quasi-monoply operating in an artifical government designed and regulated market.


scnrfrq, I am i the same boat you are. I have a single 8300HD with a 1TB drive that is starting to have glitches. I never have the "couldn't record message" but I get recordings that hang up or are blank. This was inevitable as the 8300s age and fail. You and I and the rest like us are going to have to learn to live with less drive space or pay more to have enough boxes to store what we want. My immediate recommendation is to do what I am doing right now, watch up everything you have recorded that you can't get on demand or through some other source such as Netflix, Hulu, or whatever else you use. There is no way to transfer the recorded material.

$220 a month and you don't even have Sig Home! You must have every last package and upgrade that TWC offers.
The short answer that has already been provided is that the largest drives on the new ODN boxes are 500GB. Cisco 8742 and 8642, Samsung 3272. However, the 3272 does not have PIP if you use that function.
In order to get a TB of storage you are going to need two of these boxes. Getting Sig Home will get you that. However, if you can just get TWC to give you two of them without Sig Home, that might be cheaper since in theory you would pay the same as you are now. As BenJF3 has pointed out, with Sig Home the two boxes don't really act as one. You pretty much have to manage the recordings on each one seperately anyway.
If you could get either Cisco and the Samsung 3272, it might be interesting to compare them side by side. I know the folks who keep up with this thread would appreciate a report.


In my division they now give out the UR5U-8780L for everything, Cisco or Samsung. It is pretty much the same as the UR5U-8400 that came with my 8300 HD.

1++

Boy, do I agree with you on that!! I've had the same 8300HD since they were first available. In 2007 I added an external drive (500MB in my case) and both have been running almost flawlessly since. The only issues that I ever had (besides when they switched from SARA to MDN) was when TW did some sort of bone headed "upgrade" that introduced more problems than it solved (example: with the 3.0 "upgrade" the output resolution drops to the lowest enabled resolution when first powered on. The TWC CSR tells me it is a bad box - which it isn't.) The day TW prys that box from my hands will be the day that I switch to satellite!!

i know it can b frustrating..i went thru a period where practically none of my cbs or fox shows would record. but knock on wood i havent had any issues in a long time.. in comparison my girlfriend has comcast. she is constanly missing recordings and often only gets partial recordings. the dvr will lock up when rew or ff on demand programs..the guide is prety good (shows several weeks out. but has advertisment boxes on it). but the rest of whatever program they are using totally sux. its clunky and slow and requires way to many button presses to navigate. and it has no skip forward/back function when rew or ff. (u miss that when its not there). yeah navigator has its problems i wish they would fix. but if i had her service id take a sledge hammer to that DVr.

I actually like MDN better for its speed and at least up to and including MDN 2.5. liked the box better than ODN. MDN's biggest issue was the small hard drive. My cousin had an MDN box for six years with a Western Digital Drive expander and it works great. Actually, I don't know if he still has it, but MDN's only flaw IMO is the small hard drive.

However, some divisions are having problems with the software update to MDN 3.0. Missed recordings from time to time, and the output resolution not holding. TWC has released MDN 3.1, which is supposed to correct these issues. Feature sets are close between MDN/ODN. MDN has the return of expanded Favorite Channel Selection and sort options. (Press "Guide" twice.) I heard that you can also go through your Favorite Channels one at a time, OR have a little pop-up window to browse through them. This was added in MDN 3.0, which all versions of ODN still lack.

Jack

PS. Dave, do you have MDN 3.1 yet?

Yes, I do have 3.1.0-15 and it doesn't fix the resolution problem!

I have learned to live with the resolution problem: I have just 720p & 1080i enabled and when I encounter the problem (most often when powering up the TV or switching the TV's inputs) the 8300 ALWAYS goes to 720p on any 1080i program (live or recorded). The fix is easy: switch to a 720p channel and then back: the box will then "respect" the actual programming resolution.

I had this problem with 3.0 and still have it with 3.1. So anyone who claims that 3.1 fixes the resolution problem is smoking something. The problem is if TW goes to fix this problem they will likely screw up something else. The only real cure would be to go back to SARA or Passport.

I should also add: I record something like 55 programs a week and have rarely had a problem with a missed recording.

And here is exactly the problem with Time Warner Cable.. you say so yourself.

"I have learned to live with the resolution problem: I have just 720p & 1080i enabled and when I encounter the problem (most often when powering up the TV or switching the TV's inputs) the 8300 ALWAYS goes to 720p on any 1080i program (live or recorded). The fix is easy: switch to a 720p channel and then back: the box will then "respect" the actual programming resolution."

You learn to accept bad equipment because they treat you so bad that you have no choice except cancel your service. For what you pay a month you should not have to get used to crap equipment.

READ MY POST CAREFULLY: It is not "bad equipment" it is BAD CODE - there is a difference!! (SARA was perfectly fine)

And yes, TW can get away with poor SW QA (and that is EXACTLY what the problem is) because I accept keeping my MDN box rather than my other choices:

1. Get an ODN box - not acceptable due to slowness & inability to add external drives.
2. Drop TWC and go with Dish or DirecTV - disadvantage of feeding multiple TVs + limited OnDemand capability. Not nice, but perhaps an acceptable alternative.
3. Move somewhere else where there are multiple companies (like Comcrap & FiOS) servicing the public. But there are obvious problems with that too.

+1000! Hit the nail on the head. I would bet that had Aptiv been contracted by TW to write the software it would perform FAR better. The current crop of ODN boxes are more than technically capable to handle a good DVR/GUI. The biggest issue is that Navigator has been evoling for 6+ years and while it is improving, it is still buggy and lacking basic functionality/reliability.

Update - went to my local TW office today and got a replacement 8300HD. Asked about the Samsung and Cisco boxes - they said they never stock them, and the only way to get one is to sign up for Signature Home, or whole house DVR. I'm testing the new DVR now - we'll see......

I got a replacement 8300HD today, and there is no Caller ID listed in Settings, like my other 2 boxes. How do I get it to appear on this box?

The only time I've noticed my 8300HD missing a recording and giving me that message is when I've got something set to record in the middle of the night (early morning). I think they may remotely shut down the box for some kind of maintenance operation at that time, as it will be in the OFF state the next day even though I never turn it off.

One of the "upgrades" introduced in that MDN update back in early December is that now the box will not record scheduled programs when the box is turned OFF. That and the buffer reduction from one hour to 30 minutes means they took away a lot of functionality and gave us nothing in return, that I can see, except slightly better graphics for some of the banners.

Can anyone running MDN confirm these observations?

Can anyone tell me how to get into both the diagnostic areas? (I believe there are two in MDN, no?) Be nice if we could make those instructions a sticky, or at least stuck to the beginning of this thread.

the caller ID takes about a day to kick in, maybe two. I've had the same issue. This always happens when you swap a box.

Caller ID can take a day or so to kick in. It will often be up within six hours of a swapped out box This is also true with VOD and Remote DVR Manager. Did you get an SA-8300HD or an SA-8300HDC?

Good luck!

Jack

That is a terrible bug and oversight. Has it been resolved? If not, I would either go to the TWC Direct to Tech forum or fill out an e-mail form and ask that the issue be sent to the TWC Engineering Department at your local TWC website.

Jack

I haven't found that to be the case with my 8300's. The boxes will record whether on or off.

It's an 8300HD, so I can use my external drive.

External drives work fine with 8300HDC.

Has anybody heard anything new about AutoHD? I get that they had issues with its deployment but considering that Cablevision has been able to do this for years now it just seems like it's a low priority for them, much like a guide that looks professional. They'd rather have gimmicks to advertise like Look Back.

No, but I've been waiting for ANY type of Guide Filter since I've had Time Warner! I'm a Sig Home sub and the only thing we have over anyone else here is the Advanced Search. However, for me a robust Guide Filter is my number one priority. With 4 other women in the house scheduling DVR recordings that and a cohesive Whole Home List would alleviate many of the nuisance issues I have like duplicate recordings & SD recordings because they can't or don't find the HD version. Our pathetic channel alignment doesn't help matters. Nothing is grouped logically and the HD channel numbers are completely different than the SD counterpart. I wrote to TWC via Facebook and they gave me a more specific email address to write to concerning Navigator. I'm working on a detailed email with bugs, glitches, and suggestions. I'll post any feedback here.

Agree 100% Mike! Navigator remains the lowest point on the TWC totem pole. Sad when their Digital Phone, and Road Runner Internet are awesome!

I really hope that this is the year we start to see improvements in functionality and features for the Navigator Guide. While it is certainly better than it was six years ago in terms of reliability, TWC does not care enough about the quality of the Navigator Guide in contrast to their efforts with Digital Phone, Road Runner, and i-Pad technologies.

Navigator is not valued by TWC anywhere near as much as their Phone, Internet, and i-Pad services. This is sad and needs to change! For the last six years, TWC Navigator's just a spring board mechanism that the company designed to launch gimmicky applets like Start Over and Look Back. Don't get me wrong, Start Over and Look Back are nice to have, and I really enjoy Caller ID on TV. However, the guide is just so average. It has a very home grown year 2001 technology that would be acceptable at that time, but not for 2012.

Any or all of the following conditions may be true:

1.) TWC does not care enough to make Navigator better.

2.) TWC does not have the programmers with the experience to make Navigator better.

3.) TWC views Navigator as "just OK" , because it is not a money-making incentive for them, or drawing new customers to the cable TV part of their service. (If #3 really is their attitude, it SUCKS!)

4.) General population people don't care about the guide, so TWC sees Navigator as keeping it just good enough to prevent people from switching.

Jack

There you go. About 1-2 minutes/week for me.

In a past interview the CEO essentially said that #3 & 4 were true... that they didn't need to make Navigator "feature rich" because the average customer didn't care (which, unfortunately, is true). He also said that there would be separate "premium" offerings for those that did care. I think many of us here hoped/assumed that meant "Navigator +" with extra features, when in fact it turned out to be iphone/ipad apps and Signature Home, neither of which have yet to address the basic shortcomings (which still include both lack of features and unreliability of its basic functionality) that we are still saddled with.

Besides the above (which is their SOP - proven time and time again that their most important objective is the ability to make at least semi-true proclamations to their stockholders about all the wonderful things they are doing), there is the very real possibility/likelihood that they view Navigator as a dead horse, as they develop new FCC-mandated whole-house gateways with IP distribution within the home. The question there is whether it will become a viable product with useful benefits to the consumer... or if it becomes a nearly useless boondoggle as OCAP/Tru-2-Way has.