Pace CableCARD HD Boxes (TDC779X, TDC778X and DC757X) - Page 13

Lindend,

My DVR has not changed its spindown count in the diag menus for a week. But the external HDD has been spinning down when the DVR is off. The internal HDD reported temp is also cooler when the unit has been off over-night.

I have not seen the square box around the display at power on or the 35 Watts of power consumption (I have a power meter always attached to the DVR.)

My question is if there is a spindown mode of the HDD separate from like a sleep mode of the CPU? The standby spindown count seems to indicate the lower power mode that saves 5 watts (not very low power, must be a non-EarthWatts power supply).

My HDD has 90% free. But my count has been 0 / 0 for a week know. It has never went into the lower power mode with the count being 0 / 0. I know that you indicated 0 / 0 could happen during disk house keeping operation but can it get stuck disk house keeping forever? Can a stuck disk house keeping routine prevent low power mode but still allow the drives to spin down?

lindend:

I'm running 9.65 and the release notes say:

2. Time bar jumps around during trick operations.

Is this supposed to be fixed in 9.65 or is this a known problem as I seem to have problems with the trick buttons (30 second skip and instant replay) losing track of where they are in a show when trying to watch something from disk while it still being recorded (seems to happen when the recording finishes).

Also, the highest fast forward/rewind speeds still don't seem fast enough.

And another question, last night I was watching and suddenly all of my channels seemed to be skipping entire frames every few seconds (on both tuners). Diagnostics didn't indicate anything out of the ordinary from what I could tell. The problem seemed to slowly get better over an hour or two. Any ideas?

Thanks

I think I found a solution to the irritating frame-skipping problem. I change channels to National Geographic-HD at 720p, then switch to a 1080i HD channel. It doesn't occur often, but it annoyed the heck out of me when it did.

It appears for some reason, the PACE box gets confused at times.

Try it and see if you get the same results the next time it happens to you.

That's happened to me twice before, I had to completely power down the system (unplug the power) to fix it.

I'm using the 778X with the Armstrong remote (UEI Atlas OCAP DVR/PVR). Can anyone tell me how to do the 30 sec skip?

If the Armstrong remote doesn't have that function is there another remote I can buy for this?

TIA.

This should do it for you:

30 Second Skip:

1) Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
2) Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
3) Type in the code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice
4) Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button
5) Type in the code 00173 (for 30 second Skip) (on older remotes drop the 00 and just enter 173 - try the 00173 first. Can't hurt anything.)
6) Press whatever button you want to map the skip
(I use the yellow "A" button just under the volume control)

Worked like a champ! Thanks!

Are there any other "secret" codes??

There's a similar routine for creating an "mute/un-mute" button for the cable box's built in mute/un-mute function. Needed that with the Motorola boxes because ti was the only way to un-mute them if you turned on the TV with a scheduled recording in progress. Apparently the Pace box doesn't need this though as adjusting the volume appears to take them out of mute. That's all I had though but glad the skip function works for you. I don't know what we'd do without it. Certainly beats fast forward.

Yes, the 30 second skip is a great feature. I had to use a hack to enable it on my TiVo as well.

I suspect there is some issue with the advertisers and the cable/satellite service providers that discourages the hardware manufacturers from offering it as a standard feature. You see the commercials even when fast-forwarding, but not with the skip!

My Pace DVR had been running for 13 days of System Uptime.
- I noticed that some remote functions were causing two presses. Example channel up went to channels up. One up press in Diag menu caused the selection to move two up. But number presses were fine.
- I went to watch a recorded HD Movie and every two seconds the picture went black and the sound cut out.
- I stopped the show and all the digital tuned channel didn't work and would say they will be available shortly or something like that in an info box.
- The analog channels would work like the recorded movie I tried to watch with going black every two seconds with no audio.
- The system info screen Showed System Free: 1135 After boot it is 1344 and some times up to 1672 KB
- The In Band status looked good with no short term errors for HD digital channels and signal said "GOOD".

- A reboot restored the system to working condition.

My external HDD has not spun down for a 2-3 days and I don't know what is wrong.

The Standby Spindown count is not incrementing but that as not stopped it from spinning down before.
I did notice that the Average Defrag and Max Defrag times are huge again. I have seen this before (when the internal HDD was pretty full). If these times are in milliseconds it looks like the max defragmentation time has been 26 hours???? My 500 GB external + internal (no files) are 26% Full.

Average Defrag (MS) : 24051725
Max Defrag (MS) : 96206849

Can defragmentation be disabled?
I would prefer user initiated defragmentation like the HDD menu look like you can do but when I have tried it in the past it didn't do anything. (Using replay, list, list, list, live then select DEFRAGMENTATION)

I have a Pace TDC779X that is provided by my cable company. I recently installed it to replace a non-DVR Motorola box. I've recently upgraded my amp to an Onkyo 805 AV receiver so that I can use HDMI connections from my HD DVD and Blu-ray players and the Pace DVR and then output them to a HDMI-capable projector in my home theater. Problem is, I can't get 5.1-channel audio output via HDMI from my Pace DVR. It is only sending a 2-channel signal to my amplifier, even though the cable program indicates Dolby 5.1. When I use the digital optical connection, I get Dolby 5.1, no problem. Does the Pace box support Dolby 5.1 via HDMI? Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Armstrong replaced my Motorolla box with a PACE TDC778X. When I have composite video hooked up it defaults to a 16:9 view when watching an HD Movie channel that is broadcasted in widescreen. When I have the HDMI video hooked up it defaults to a 4:3 view on the same channel, same movie. I switched HDMI cables (as well as HDMI inputs on the TV) with the one I am using for my PS3 and it made no difference. I went into the Power Menu and made sure that the aspect was set to 16:9 and that all formats 480i,480p,720p,1080i were turned on. I have a Sony KDL-52XBR4. Enclosed is a screenshot of the AV Status, HDMI Status, and an example. Any suggestions would be great. Picture and Sound quality is fine it is just that it is in 4:3 mode for 16:9 broadcasts and then even smaller when you switch to a 4:3 broadcast. I should also state that I did a Reset Configuration from the Power Menu (when you have the box off and hold in the menu button) as well as a system reboot (hold info and select) as well as unplugged for 30 seconds

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Play with your zoom/aspect settings on your TV. Other Sony's (like mine) have had some weird issues dealing with the aspect ratios presented by the cable box. If you can't get it working, let us know and I'll dig up what I have my Sony set to do.

[quote=lindend;13171691]What your describing is different than the fix in that release. Is there particular content that this happens on and does it happen all the time or occasionally?

I haven't been able to nail down yet exactly when this happens or not yet. It did not happen the one time I tried replicating it on SD content.

Different time bar problem, any clue to the problem when you pause a show and the time bar says "To Be Announced" even though the Info button presents the right information? Only way to fix it seems to be to power cycle the box.

I can manually force the 16:9 resolution on the sony but anytime I switch inputs it resets, and it does not matter what HDMI input on the TV the DVR is hooked too and no other device (UPConvert Panasonic DVD and PS3 has issues) also the Motorolla box I had before had no issues. The settings on the TV are Full with Normal 4:3 when a 4:3 signal is sent and AutoWide when a 16:9 signal is sent. It is definately something with the box and not the TV, I have ruled out everything except the box but unfortunately do not now how or if there are settings with the DVR I can/should change.

I have tried everything in the posts and nothing resolves the issue other than me manually having to force the aspect ratio on the tv to full zoom (the input still thinks that it is receiving a 4:3 ratio from the box however), is there a firmware update I am possibly missing.

So there is no reason for the cable company to come out and replace the box then, correct. Also do you know perhaps when the firmware will be released?

Hello,

Can users upgrade the firmware on the 779X themselves? or do they have to depend on the cable company to do it?

Have to "depend" on your cable company.

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me about the firmware upgrade for the 779X. In my case I am going to have to depend upon Mediacomm, which does not seem to be familiar with the equipment they have.
Thanks again for getting back to meand have a great day!

Slumpbuster, try these settings.

On the cable box have the Aspect set to 16:9, auto pillarbox turned off, and all resolutions enabled.

In your TV settings (probably under an item labeled Screen), set Wide Mode Full and Auto Wide Off.

Then when viewing an HD channel set your zoom/aspect to Full. Crud, I forgot to check what I have that set to when viewing an SD channel, try the various settings until you get a proper 4:3 picture (black pillars on the sides).

Hello,

Does anyone know if the USB port on the 779X will ever be used? I think that is would be very usefull to plug in a flash drive and/or a digital camera into the USB port and see pictures on your TV.
I talked to the tech support people at PACE and they told me that the software developers (TV Guide, etc) for their box need to create a application that could do this. So, is there a way there a way that the people on this forum could convince the software developers to provide such a function?

Regards,

Dave

I have a series recording of an SD channel that the lip sync has been way off in the last two days (at least). I also have a Motorola 3412 in the house and it has the same recording without any lip sync issues. Watching that channel live doesn't seem to show any lip sync issues and I haven't been around to see it while it is recording. Any ideas on this one?

Quick question, might be dumb but I thought it was worth asking. Is it safe to record for a long period of time? Im talking 10hrs straight (Jaws quadrilogy and a different movie) just wanted to make sure it wouldnt over work the hard drive or anything like that. Thanks for any responses.

Yes it is safe. The CSR at my CC say the leave their PACE DVR's on 24/7. The PACE is alway recording both tuners. If you are recording a show it is no different then watching TV.