[Prepper]

I'm an employee in the New Englad region. I got this in our company e-mail this morning:


"Engineering is pushing a new set of codes out to the digital boxes this morning. See the attached schedule below. This new code primarily allows the available memory on the box to be used more efficiently than it is being used currently with the older code. Other enhancements are some minor changes with the diagnostic menu and enabling the serial port on the back of the box for communication with PVRs. "


Looks like AT&T Broadband customers with Motorola DCT-2000 digital boxes will be able to use the serial port on the back of the unit to connect it to their Replays. I've got 2 at home and I currently use the IR Blaster, but if I get a chance to test this, I will.

 

[Markito]

Wow!! That is HUGE! I would love to be able to do that!


Can you please see if this will apply across this great nation of ours or if it is just a New England thing?


Also, any chance they added the option of getting rid of the annoying "TV Guide" banner that pops up everytime I change my channel?


Please keep us informed! Again, thanks for posting this good news.


~Replayer

 

[alyosha]

Well - maybe it is time to switch back to digital - though I enjoyed paying $12 for just basic, lol.

 

[RandyL712]

Wow, that's great news!!

 

[toots]

Yah, post details.


Speaking as an otherwise happy AT&T cable user...

 

[RandyL712]

Purely hypothetical question, asked for others' benefit (as I get free cable from my job! Weird story there):

Are there DCT-2000 boxes available out there to receive digital signals, similar to all the other analog cable boxes ('descramblers') out there that you can buy from dealers? (See where I'm going with this?)

 

[jtl]

Are there any docs from AT&T or Motorola (or whomever is appropriate) about how this works?

 

[Prepper]

Toots---you live in Bedford, NH which is one of the communities we service so you are all set. The specific info as to how to set-up this feature should be listed in your Replay manual.


If I get any further info as to other markets that will be enabling this feature, I will be sure to pass it on to the group.

 

[EvanH]

OK, I live in Manchester, NH (right next to Bedford) so I assume this should work here also. I plugged the serial cable into the cable box and me showstopper (pv-hs 1000) but I don't know how to switch from IR blaster to serial. I tried to go through the setup again but it automatically goes to the screen where you select the code for the IR blaster. I looked in the manual but all I could find was directions on how to plug in the serial cable (step 1. - connect to showstopper, step 2. - connect to cable/satellite ). Does anyone know how to switch between IR and serial?

 

[RandyL712]

Guys - Replay will need to get all the instructions and then send out an update so our units will work this this I believe!

 

[EvanH]

Doh! I didn't even think of that, I'll try again in a few days.

 

[Lee Thompson]

If I recall the problem before wasn't that the serial port was functional or not; it was the serial port did not have the facility for channel changing.

 

[jarzynka]

Having moved from Manchester to Salem, NH and having used the AT&T RTV3030 (for a year and a half) and now an RTV4040 to control my DCT-2000 this is great news! Although the IR blaster's worked for me about 97% of the time, it would be really nice not to worry about that nagging 3% of the time when there's a dropped digit, etc.


Hey Toots, EvanH and others on ATT Broadband in NH, I'm getting really messed up closed captioning from WFXT when they're in network broadcasting. This seems to be the only channel this happens with as even my digital channels (like Comedy Central - 215) display the CC fine on my RTV4040. Of course, captioning would never work on the AT&T3030 since I always pad my recordings, but I was just curious.


What's interesting is that CC is working fine on local programming through the RTV and does display properly through my analog tuner, even during network programming. Is a slightly weak signal possible. I mean, it's on a standard scanline (I think it's 5) right? And why only network? Weird!

 

[toots]

Yeah, I get hosed CC on that channel, too. I always figured they either had a too-weak or too-strong signal.


Well, last night, shortly after midnight, my two DCT-2000s went through a set of gyrations that I would suspect was a download of new code. I mean, they played a lightshow that I've never seen before, rebooted, then did more light show. I tried hitting the "menu" button on one, but it said "I'm not done yet... come back later" (or something to that effect).


This morning the "message" light was on, but I was too busy leaving for work to see if it was going to say anything useful.


Not that AT&T would bother actually telling their dozen or so RTV users that they just added this serial port control or anything, but I was just curious.

 

[crowbert]

This morning the "message" light was on, but I was too busy leaving for work to see if it was going to say anything useful.


I got tired of the red light. The only messages I ever bothered to look at were advertising pay-per-view events, and I don't need more advertising in my life. I finally got around to covering up the light with black electrical tape.

 

[crowbert]

So what will it take to get ReplayTV to support this? Do they need to update the software, or is it just a database file that is updated separately? If it's the latter, then it is probably the same for all models, so older units can be updated at the same time as the newer models.


Is there anything we can do to encourage SonicBlue to add support for this?

 

[RandyL712]

Quote:

Originally posted by crowbert Is there anything we can do to encourage SonicBlue to add support for this?

YES. First, we need to make sure AT+T has and is releasing this upgrade.


Once they do, I think a bunch of email to SB should help.

 

[toots]

yah, normally I ignore the little red light. It's just that this time, I figured it might actually have something interesting to say.

 

[barmar]

Has anyone heard any more info about this? How can one tell whether their cable box has received the update, and what will it take for ReplayTV to support it?

 

[JustMike]

It will require downloading of new files to the box, but I can't recall if the binary would need to be changed or if it would only be configuration files. Maybe JustBen remembers...