[rwag100]

I have one of the early Replay units which I have upgraded with a 125 hour disk. It continues to work just fine.


I am going to install a Sony plasma HD unit so I have some questions.


I want to install a new digital HD STP from Comcast for all my cable services. I previously tried an ordinary digital cable box but it would not accept the IR adapter to control channel changes


Comcast says I should get two boxes. A regular digital box for non HD programs and use the serial ports on the Replay and the cable box for regular program recording. Then attach an HD box for HDTV and close the "eye" on that box with some tape. Sort of a funky solution I think.


A major agenda here is that the entire configuration has to be usable by my wife without a lot of button fussing or else I'm dead.


Any thought would be appreciated. I believe the boxes are from Motorola.

 

[Ace987]

This should be too tough. If your TV has 2 inputs, then I'd go like this:


Cable------>HD Box-------->TV (Input 1)

|------------>Digital Box------->Replay---------->TV(Input 2)


Then all you'd need to do is use the TV as a switch. You might want to get a newer universal remote so you know you can control all your equipment. I have a similar setup with 2 Replays and I've seen people with this type of setup before.


I'm not sure what cable box(es) your getting, but currently ReplayTV doesn't control any of them via the serial port, so your stuck using the IR Blaster.


I'm kinda confused about closing the "eye" on the HD Box. If it's the sensor that picks up the remote commands you'd want to leave that open since the Replay is not controlling that portion.

 

[Jeff D]

comcast is mostly giving out the Motorola 5100 HDTV cable box, that box offers concurrent 480i down convert of HDTV content and HDTV output via the component jack.


Why would you want/need two boxes except to watch and record two different things?

 

[premierht]

I hace two cable boxes so I can watch HD and record non HD since the RTV wont record HD. It works great and I couldn't be happier.


E. J.

 

[theLorax]

I have an hitachi and a motorola HD STB. It has component and composite/RF outs. I have the component going straight into my HDTV and the composites going into the replay and then into my TV. I switch between video modes on my TV. I can also record HD channels this way. While you can't record HD resolution you can record the HD channel and use the TV to zoom into the picture. I actually prefer to record this way because the quality is cleaner because the source is pure digital (at least on my cable companies broadcast).

 

[rwag100]

This is really a terrific resource!


Thanks to one and all for the tips and suggestions. I'm certain one of these solutions will be just right. I also gather that unlike what the Comcast rep told me, I only need the HD STB and it will have the necessary composite (going to Replay) and component (going to HD input on plasma).

 

[rwag100]

One more thing. For Ace987. Is that "schematic" mean a splitter from the cable end?


Thanks.

 

[Ace987]

Yeah, I tried to draw that better, but for some reason couldn't get the format correct. Anyhow, I'm glad you figured it out.