[Ron Hirsch]

I have a question re the Scientific Atlantic Explorer 8000HD DVR cable box.


I have read and studied the manual, and am very familiar with the unit. I have a question on a protocol when playing back recorded items.


I also have a Tivo, and know that when I play back a recorded program, and then have occasion to stop the playback, when I return to that item, it "remembers" where I stopped the playback, and continues from there


I thought the Explorer 8000HD had this same capability, but I've been unsuccessful in finding it. I have asked Adelphia, my cable supplier, and they know far less than I do about the unit.


Does anyone know the answer to this? Is there a way to have a "bookmark". and be able to pick up where one left off?


Ron Hirsch

 

[dt_dc]

The SARA units remember 1 "bookmark".


For example:

- Watch recorded show X

- Stop mid-way through

- change channels ... turn unit on/off ... do anything EXCEPT watch another recorded show

- When you go back to show X, it will still be at your bookmark

- However, if you start to watch recorded show Y, your will loose the bookmark for X.


Not sure how Passport handles this ...

 

[miniz]

The 8000HD is extreamly outdated and annoying to use. The least you could do is trade it in for the new 8300HD.

Hopefully SA will add this important feature to future software versions. I have no idea why the stupid thing can't remember where you left off when you have two or more programs stopped....

 

[Ron Hirsch]

Thanks - I now understand the protocol to use a bookmark. Too bad it isn't as good as the TIVO setup.


Adelphia does have the 8300HD. But I've been unable to find anyone there who knows what the differences really are. And, no one knows if the hard drive is larger than the 8000HD, etc..


Some of the info I've tried to get includes


1. Is the hard drive bigger? All I can find out is that there are different versons which have larger drives


2. Is the USB port active, and can it take an external drive?


Some things I wish SA would add.


A. Speed up the fast forward to match the TIVO, esepcially at the fastest speed.


B. Add a readout scale in minutes to the time bar to make things easier to know where you are in minutes.


C. Provide some info on possible firmware updates, and if and when available. Adelphia doesn't even seem to know what firmware is.


Can anyone offer a quick list of where the 8300 is different/better than the 8000.


I had downloaded the manual for the 8000HD from SA, and printed it out last year. After studying that, I was much more knowledgeable about the unit than Adelphia techs were. I'd love to be able to access a "good" tech to answer some of the questions above.


I also downloaded the 8300HD manual, which is now a common manual with the 8000HD. I didn't really spot much different - did I miss something?


Ron Hirsch

 

[hourglass]

Ron Hirsh- Not exactly what you want in "B" but, if you hit STOP, the Playback Status Screen comes up and tells you where you are in minutes in the program. This is useful when archiving out to DVD-R (or VCR) since you can see in minutes where the true end of a program is, then adjust your recording legnth on the DVD-R accordingly.


--hourglass

 

[Joxer]

The changes between the SA8000HD and the SA8300HD include a faster CPU and more memory and a smaller cabinet. This provides faster channel changes and the SA8300HD has simultaneous SD and HD outputs where the SA8000HD can only output HD or SD not both at the same time.

 

[Panth1]

I have a couple 8300HD's from Adelphia and they both have 160 GB hard drives.


Not sure about the usb port, I doubt it's enabled. I'm sure SA and Motorola will make some proprietary addon drive to expand capacity and allow the cable companies to make money off of that as well.


SA issues firmware updates to their cable company customers but it's up to the cable company to test and release the updates to their setops. SA really has no need to post information about it since the public has no control over what version the cable company uses.


Adelphia uses channel 800 as you know to view recorded programs and it will hold the spot you paused it for a while but once you view another recorded program it will be forgotten. I'll have to go mess with it some more as I haven't needed any other features then it already has.

 

[Bill Paul]

There seems to be some differences in the OSD between cable operators on the 8000HD. In San Diego, we have Cox cable and Time Warner cable. Cox seems to have an older OSD that has much more simple graphic overlays. The 8300HD Cox offers has the same OSD graphic overlays. Time Warner has only the 8000HD at the moment, and the graphics overlay are much more 3D like, rounded edge graphics, several different font sizes, overall much nicer looking. I believe the Time Warner overlay has the time ticks to indicate where you are in the recorded program. The Cox simple interface has no ticks, and it is never clear what the full bar graph indicates, 30min, 60min, 120min, etc. You just know you are about 1/3 through what is recorded, for example. As Panth1 said, Scientific Atlanta has made many changes to the firmware, but the cable operator won't roll it out until they have fully tested it in their environment. And they won't roll out changes just for the heck of it, there has to be a large number of complaints to warrant the upgrade.


Some other differences between the 8000HD and the 8300HD:

*The 8000HD had some playback stuttering issues which are resolved on the 8300HD.

*Composite, S-video, and component outputs all active on the 8300HD

*Fireware. Whether or not it is activcated is up the the operator. Cox is doing this by special request only. Not sure why, maybe just that they don't what to answer tech support calls on it.

*HDMI output.

*SATA (Serial ATA). This may allow the end user to supplement the harddrive with an external one. The installer, a contractor to Cox, said it is activated. But he is the last person I would expect to have accurate information on that. All I can say for sure is that there is a jack on the back labeled "SATA".


Even with all these neato features, it is still inferior to the usability of my 4 year old series I Tivo. But it does record HD...

-Bill

 

[Ron Hirsch]

Thanks to all of you for your info. I guess the bottom line is that I will swap in my 8000 for the 8300, as there certainly are some plus features in the newer model.


I also have a Tivo from a number of years back. But while it does have some minor features that the SA 8000HD/8300HD lacks, having the dual tuners and the larger hard drive in the SA, along with the ability to record HD, makes the SA unit a far better unit.


Now, if Adelphia will only get their high definition channels expanded, and reliable, that will help. It took them over 8 months to get NBC HD working right. NBC HD was a disaster for a looooong time. When it was malfunctioning, it used to silently crash the 8000HD with a weird problem. The 8000HD lost all sound for recorded material, and and digital channels. The only way to restore normal operation was to power down the 8000HD, and then power it back up to reboot.


After I discovered this, I reported it, but Adelphia never acknowledged it. It happened to me about 8-10 times before I realized what was happening. Just dwelling on that HD channel for a few seconds could cause the crash. But the effects weren't noticed until one switched to al digital channel, or channel 800 for recorded items.


Ron Hirsch.