Pace CableCARD HD Boxes (TDC779X, TDC778X and DC757X) - Page 10

Got the nexstar 3 Monday, popped a 200 GB seagate in it I had laying around, and have not had a single issue yet. Seems to be working fine, knock on wood.

I just received the TDC779X from Mediacom and I cannot get the PIP to work. This box has that capability doesn't it (it's listed on the specs for the box on Pace's website), and there is a PIP On button on the Mediacom remote that came with the cable box. Could the cable company have deactivated the PIP for some reason? Is there some special setting that I might not have set? I didn't see anything about it. When I press the PIP button on the remote, nothing happens.

I have the box connected through component cables to my TV. Is there anything I could try?

Thanks!

Also, is the HDD size on this box 160GB like the Pace 775 model? I didn't see it listed in the specs.

Thanks a lot. That sucks about the PIP though. Thanks!

My TV doesn't have a CableCARD slot, so I don't know much about that technology, but I thought the CableCARD's purpose were to replace cable boxes? So what is the CableCARD functionality on a cable box like the 779X? I guess I just don't get what the CableCARDs do then.

Hi:

I have Pace 778X for a couple of weeks. Everything was working fine until two days ago. It stopped displaying guide - saying info not available. This also stopped all DVR functions. I called the tech a couple of time. Power cycling down dows not help. He can not even update the box from his end. They will send tech to my home sometimes next week. Meanwhile, is there anything I can do to get the Guide and the DVR function back.

Thanks for any help in advance.

jhaveri

New problems with my replaced box, if some of you remember I had my pace dvr replaced because it was squeaking. But now I am having re-occuring problems with the new one. First problem is sometimes (not always) if I rewind live tv watch a clip, then return the live tv the picture constantly has colored pixels and I have to change the channels to fix it (not very nice when watching sports). Second problem (which is happening right now) is there will suddenly be some sort of frame rate issue, the picture will jitter about every 3 seconds and I have yet to find a fix but it goes away eventually, still a nuisance.

Does anyone have any experience with the Slingbox Pro and the TDC779X ? I've searched the forum at Sling Community and this was the only concentrated thread of PACE users. Sling works fine getting video out to my remote computer stations (I have 3), but can't seem to find the IR codes. Sling setup has a couple PACE DVR models, but none of those work. I am an experienced Sling user, this is just a new setup with this DVR (previously was slinging with a Moto box). Anyway, with the PACE, I've moved the IR transmitter around on the front screen thinking I was missing a "hit" but if someone knows where the lens is that might help (but in general I think there should be another set of codes that need to be transmitted).

Happened here, the frame rate thing, on the first 778 Armstrong gave me after 1 week. When I tried rebooting it locked up and just kept trying to format the drive. You probably need a new one.

I dont have a clue what firmware im on, could you tell me how to find it? and i figued out a "fix" i have to completely power down the box (unplug from wall) then it will work fine, but then my guide takes forever to retrieve all the data again.

I picked up the 778X this weekend to replace my Moto DVR so now I have 2 775's and the new 778X. I seem to be having the same issue that BillKen posted about a while back in post #12 on this thread. It seems that spontaneously I'm losing the premium channels (anything other than basic cable). It's happened twice yesterday after setting up and activating the box. I had to pull the plug on the box as it was frozen on the blank screen with the message that "You are not authorized for this service - Contact your cable provider".
I searched through this thread and didn't see a resolution. Sorry, but didn't write down the SW version. I can get that tonight. I'm on Buckeyecablevision out of Toledo Ohio if that helps. Thanks.

Got my 750 GB external Seagate HD replaced. This time I mounted it in a cooler location with a direct SATA connection to avoid overheating. I think the Nexstar 3 enclosure is fine for smaller / low-power disks, but don't want to take the chance of burning another one up in that enclosure. Since the enclosure only provides power and a direct eSATA connection anyway, I found another solution to do that with better cooling.

I still feel that this is not the best choice for a disk for this type of add-on to storage for the Pace CableCARD HD boxes, but right now do not have the change to try out other drives, like the Hitachi CinemaStar low-power streaming-optimized ones that I think would be a better choice. In any case, it would be nice to have the option of migrating files directly from one drive to another for purposes of being able to change out the disks without losing content. Lindend, can this be a feature request for a future firmware update?

Finally, it seems that the disk is very frequently written to, at least with some series recordings programmed in. With a plain-vanilla SATA drive like this, I hear the heads move all the time, and it is pretty annoying. It would be better if this were controllable, or if the Pace boxes had some sort of buffer to cut down on this type of head movement, as it can't be good for the drive at all (optimized or not). What options can we or you pursue to reduce head movement due to TV Guide updating, series recording checking, etc.? This noise happens even when no other activity like recording or playback is happening on the Pace box.

Thanks for your attention.

Software version is 9.65 if that helps.

I guess even Lindend is stumped. I was hoping to find some help on this forum but that doesn't appear to be the case.

A solution might be to change some of the logic used to select the destination for recording. Most people add an external disk to gain recording capacity. Right now you direct all traffic to the disk with the largest amount of unused space, I believe. An optimization that might work for most people would be to always use the internal disk for TVG, and use the disk with the most unused capacity for bulk recording.

How about this idea similar to, what?, ReadyBoost? on Vista-equipped computers..

Have a place where you can plug in a 2 or 4 GB memory stick to handle the repetitive disk-thrashing work.

Ok either my Pace DVR is possessed or my provider is doing some sort of maintenance because my box just turned off and on itself about 6 times :|

Any takers?

I'll take this one:

You need an eSATA cable. This is essentially just a SATA cable with keying and shape arranged to plug in to an external connector. If your external disk is also in an eSATA enclosure, it is likely that this cable came with the enclosure.

Now for this:

You only get the channels included in your cable provider's package, no doubt, but what I think you are saying is that you'd like to suppress listing of channels not of interest to you. Whether or not you are saying that, I would like to have this feature also. (I don't want to see listings for certain channels that have programming I never watch.)

I get listings for all channels the Cable company has whether or not I pay for them. It really sucks having to scroll through all the channels that I don't get. When you select them the Pace tells you to press info to get ordering information. My SONY DVR with cable card lets me hide channels that the Cablecard detects so I don't have to deal with them.

I second the feature request to let the user hide channels or at least auto-hide all channels that the user is not authorized for.

I also agree this would be a nice feature.

One way to accomplish this might be to add a favorites group within TVG and only include channels you want to see (or in this case the ones you subscribe to). I don't believe there is a quick short cut on a remote to get to a specific favorites list. If you have a fancy programmable remote, you could probably program a macro to get you to the list in one button press.

You are correct. I only want to see those channels I select. I'll let my cable company know my vote for this feature.

Also, thanks for the eSATA cable reply. I'll try it out.

Is there a way for us to upgrade the firmware on the 778X ourselves, or do we have to replace it through the cable company?