Official AVS Motorola DCX series HD DVR Topic! - Page 111

Not until Comcast changes it.

That's what I figured. Is 22.65 the highest firmware that Comcast offers?

Latest FW depends on your Comcast service area ..... the Portland, Oregon area is one of Comcast's first roll-out areas for new services and SW/FW updates and is currently using your same SW version, but my FW is 22.67 (I also have a 500GB DCX-3400).

Unfortunately, you'll need some window tint plastic to cover the front display in order to dim it.

Well, if the newer firmware doesn't offer any solution to the brightness issue I suppose I am not that interested in getting it quickly. Besides, I'm sure it will be ages before Comcast rolls out the newer firmware to my area (Springfield, IL).

When they do roll it out, it will happen automatically overnight.

You'll know it the next morning, because the unit automatically reboots and the TV Guide will be repopulating over the next day or so.

About 10 days ago I posted the script of a conversation with Comcast online chat service where they said they were aware of problems with the 3400 box and I needed to pickup a new one. I took advantage of their little known "self install" method of getting a new box. For $10 they send it out UPS. Got the new box in 2 business days. In the week I've had it, no "black screen" recordings and no glitches of any kind.
If you can't find the script I posted above, let me know.

...mike

Thanks, Snidely. I'm on box #10, since 2005. This one, though slightly glitchy, has lasted over one year and I'm reticent to swap it out as it is 99% functional. But, if it starts misbehaving, it will be returned, minus my film-fix but including the glue spots!

Was contacted by an Eastlink manager who saw my post on another forum and offered to help.

As it turns out, the DVR's Unit Address (UA) had been entered incorrectly into their system. If you ever have an activation issue it is probably a good idea to ask the CSR to read back the numbers you gave them.

Additionally the Shaw DCX3400 needed a cold boot on this end to download the Eastlink firmware and software. It was accessed by holding down only the menu button while re-applying AC power; then finding the "cold" command with the up/down arrows; then pressing select to run it.

Thank you AVS forum.

tsys

Not sure if this is an issue with the box itself or the Comcast guide but I have one question that I was hoping to get some help with.

When I am watching a program and then bring up the mini guide, that shows just a few channels along the bottom of the screen, and I got to manually enter a channel number to see what is on that channel the zero button does not register as a zero. For example it I want to see channel 24 I would press 0-2-4 and then the guide would go to that channel. Now with this new box when I press the 0 it does not work. I have to enter 2-4 and then wait a few seconds for the guide to change. If I wanted to enter 906 I would press 9-0-6 and then the zero will register the button press. Just not on leading zeros.

My old box let me always put in the leading zero so I am not sure how to fix this, or if I can. Any help would be much appreciated.

I have a DCH3416, not a DCX model, but if the firmware is similar (can't hurt to try), go to Setup, then Guide Setup, and change Channel Selection Method to No Auto-Tune.

You shouldn't need to enter the leading zeros. Can't you just enter the non-zero digits and then push OK, to tune to that channel?

Also, if you press the GUIDE button on the remote, you'll get the complete matrix Guide showing all channels. You can then navigate with the page up/down button a whole page at a time, to see what's on each channel. With the Guide onscreen you can also enter a channel number directly (again, no leading zeroes needed) and push OK, to navigate the Guide directly to that channel's row.

Also, if you set up a "Favorites" list with just your genuinely favorite channels, you can view just that subset of channels in the Guide matrix... by pushing the MENU button on the remote once to get the mini-icon quickbar, navigate to the "heart" icon, push OK, and then push OK again on "Favorite01" or whatever you've called it. Now you're looking only at your Favorites matrix of channels but you navigate the same way.

In fact, that should work no matter which way Channel Selection is set.

Yeah hitting the two numbers and then OK works fine. It's just easier to hit 0 and then the two numbers I need with my remote since the OK button is a bit of a reach from the number pad area. I guess I was just confused on why I could use the leading zero on my old DVR box but not on this new one. Anyways there is an extra unused button near the number pad that I do not use, so I will just program that to be another OK button.

Fair enough solution.

But you might try creating your own Favorites list, with just the channels you want. Once you use MENU and navigate to the "heart" icon and push OK, the next time you use MENU the cursor will already be on the "heart" icon and you can simply push OK immediately. It's annoying to have your one-and-only Favorites list now appear and you have to push OK a second time (I wish either (a) it would go directly there if there's only one Favorites list defined, or (b) the FAV button on the remote would go directly there if there's only one Favorites list defined or at least present the list of Favorites screen so that you could then push OK, but unfortunately neither happens).

That way you don't have to remember all of those channel numbers of your favorite channels. You can opt to arrange the channel list either (a) numerically, or (b) by channel name. I realize you will soon memorize your most commonly selected channel numbers or range, but having a defined Favorites list and using the MENU button is really the most user-friendly and convenient way to go... and avoid the hundreds of worthless or unsubscribed channels which appears if you use the GUIDE button as well as avoiding the need to pre-know specific 3-digit channel numbers.

Making a list of favorite channels really won't work for me. I tend to just use the mini guide that pops up along the bottom of the screen and shows 3 channels at once. I then use the page up and page down buttons to browse through and see whats on. I never use the full screen guide at all. It would be great if there was a way to set this up to just show a list of favorite channels or channels I only get, but I am pretty sure Comcast wants me to see all that I am missing out on in the hopes that I will upgrade my service.

Well, to each his own I suppose.



Am I talking to the same person here who wrote the above paragraph, and then also wrote this sentence??? I'm confused. Seems contradictory.

I am suggesting exactly this, which you now say "it would be great if..."... that you can create one or more "favorites" list to contain WHATEVER YOU WANT... either the few channels you normally watch, or all the HD channels you subscribe to, or everything Comcast gives you in your subscription, or whatever you want.

Why only look at three lines at a time, paged forward or backward through sequential sequential channel numbers that are irrelevant to your needs? Why not see ONLY those channels you care about... in a larger grid?? You can even scroll not only vertically but also horizontally, a day at a time, etc.

I'm just saying...

Last pitch for your setting up your own "favorites", one or more such lists.

The "Favorites" list can control the miniguide. Just bring up the miniguide, then push the favorites button. The guide will advance to the next favorite channel of the favorites list that was used most recently. The two channels below it will be the next two in numerical order, whether they are favorites or not. But still, you can skip a lot of channels you aren't interested in that way.

I understand what you are talking about DSperber. It's just that I prefer to use the mini guide on the bottom of the screen versus the full screen guide. They both do the same thing. The mini guide just shows fewer channels than the full one. To each their own. I would rather use the mini guide and see extra channels than use the favorites list with the full screen guide.

kjbawc that may be a suitable solution for me. I'll go through and get my favorites made up, and then look into getting my Harmony One remote programed to bring up the mini guide and then do the favorites with one button press.

Probably wants to stay on the current channel and simply view what is on other channels. Actually tuning to the channel will loose buffer of what is currently being watched.

He was referring to using the mini-guide, and entering a channel number for the mini-guide to display. So you're right, pushing OK would NOT be appropriate if he didn't really want to change to that channel.

But whether using full guide or mini-guide, simply entering the non-zero digits and waiting 1-2 seconds causes the guide/mini-guide to change to that channel. The leading zero is still not required.

And "tuning" through the guide/mini-guide this way does not require pushing OK. It just requires 1-3 digits get entered, and then wait 1-2 seconds for the guide/mini-guide to "tune" to that channel for display.

I just checked out the functionality of "Favorites" and the miniguide, and the guide button. Since I use "TV Listings by Channel," I rarely use the miniguide. My previous info is incorrect. There have been changes for the better!

Here's how it works now:

1. Push the center "OK/Select" button, and the miniguide comes up.

2. Push your "Favorites" button. A tab will come up at the top of your miniguide. It will display the title of your first favorites list. If you have more than one favorites list, subsequent pushes of your favorites button will move to other favorites lists, then back to the original 'no list,' complete listings.

3. With the tab for a favorites list showing atop your miniguide, you can push the "Page Up," and "Page Down" buttons to move through the guide. Now, here's the exciting part - only your favorite channels will be displayed in the guide! I don't think we've ever been able to do that before.

If you use the "Guide" button to access the bigger guide, it works much the same way. But, the indicator of what favorites list you are on is harder to spot. It is up at the top, just to the left of the thumbnail.

That is great! I guess I am going to have to go home and set up my favorites again now. Hopefully my box will work the same way. I had set up favorites a few times before but got sick of having to re-create favorites after they got wiped out a couple times and I wasn't using them often. I usually use the mini-guide and have been wanting functionality like this for a long time.

Is the DCX amped internally? I'm wondering why it is much louder than my Blu Ray player input when I switch to it. No that its a bad thing, I find my player's volume to be too low. Just curious.

I doubt that it has an actual amp, but it can be configured to use to adjust the volume, if you wish. I prefer using the volume control on my AVR.

Does anyone know whether a SW update could theoretically be implemented to allow a DCX (or any DVR) to auto-playback a saved recorded series of episodes from a saved Folder (either in the order recorded or random order)?

This would be a life-saver for elder caretakers ...... i.e. for setting my 90 year-old father in front of the TV for 2 or 3 hours to watch his only favorite show (48 minute commercial-free episodes of Gunsmoke from Encore Westerns) ..... without having to check-in every 48 minutes to start a new episode for him?

If not currently feasible via a SW update, it would still be something worthy to consider via future hardware design by Motorola and Comcast (and all other cable service providers) based on future trends in aging customer demograhics.

Yes, programming that would be very very easy. What they should do is come up with a simple playlist feature. I'd have it behave similar to the "DVR Cleanup" menu option on the guide software A28 update used by Comcast and some others.

That interface allows you to mark checkboxes for all the shows you want to delete, which is a lot faster than deleting those shows one-by-one. A slight tweak would be all that is required to create a Playlist option where you could select all the shows to play in one big block.

Here's what the DVR Cleanup menu looks like:

TNO821 .... Thanks very much for the info .... I do have the Clean-Up menu on my Comcast DCX-3400 AnyRoom system. A new AutoPlay Menu would also have to be accessible from the Terminal units (not just the Host unit like in the case of the Clean-Up menu).

I guess I'll mention this to my local Comcast CS dept. and also pray that someone like Brian Roberts, who has the real power to make such things happen, also hears about my plight.

The analog audio output of the DVR is only applicable to the 2-channel L/R-stereo audio output (i.e. the red/white RCA connectors). This applies to the "volume" (of the DCX audio output), matrix/surround processing, compression, etc.

It has zero control over the digital audio output that goes over HDMI or optical, to your AVR system or HDTV speakers. The digital audio is delivered "as-is", untouched. It is the destination audio component which then handles the decoding, amp, output level to speakers, etc.

So when you say "when I switch to it", are you feeding 2-channel L/R-stereo analog audio from DCX to your speakers? If so, then it's the DCX internal audio amp system that is in control. But if you're feeding digital audio from DCX to your sound system, then the DCX is not really involved.


Note that a common complaint is that the audio levels on many channels are not the same, so that changing channels might cause you to turn up the volume if you arrive at a low-level channel. But then if you change channels to a high-level channel, you get blown out of the room.

This is just the way it currently is. Even worse with commercials (especially locally inserted spots), which are often MUCH louder than the surrounding program content.

Thanks for the response. Both the DCX and my Blu Ray player are connected over HDMI directly to my Samsung LCD. I don't have any problems with volume levels changing drastically from channel to channel. I'm just wondering why my Blu Ray player sounds so low and thought it might be the DCX was amplified.