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Thread: SA/Explorer 8300HD SUCKS!!! |
    
New member Username: Hdtvnewbie
Post Number: 4
Registered: Feb-05
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| Posted on Monday, March 07, 2005 - 11:48 am: |
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Anyone know any fixes for the following 2 problems?
1) When you start watching a show in progress, you have to manually rewind it to the start (while looking away from screen). Also, if you don't "catch up" to the live broadcast by the end of the broadcast, the DVR kicks you out of the show when the live show ends. You then have to search for it in the recorded programs and fast forward to where you were. Sucks!
2) On some HD channels (ie NBC and ABC) the sound is not quite in sync with image. Very slight, but clearly noticeable. Strangely, the sound and image on CBSHD and FoxHD are in sync. |
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Relevant Product Info
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New member Username: Geeker
Post Number: 7
Registered: Nov-04
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| Posted on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 03:05 am: |
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it doesnt suck, you just dont know how to use it. |
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| Posted on Monday, May 16, 2005 - 04:48 pm: |
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actually, he's right, the 1st thing does suck, not much you can do about it, i don't think "knowing how to use it" has anything to do with the couple of tricks that people use to avoid having to rewind, such as stopping recording and starting a 2nd recording etc..
so i must say he's right about that one , i have no synch issues though. |
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| Posted on Monday, June 20, 2005 - 11:22 pm: |
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This unit does indeed suck. I have the same issues with it as JS, plus it doesn't resume where you left off after watching recorded content part way through.
This thing needs a lot of work. |
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| Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2005 - 09:59 pm: |
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Please help, I have recently purchased the sony hx900 dvr...I am hooking it up through the rogers digital box scientific atlanta 3200...My problem is I cannot access the on screen tv listings through the sony recorder so I can hilight a listing, and be able to record it...I have tried splitting the cable, one end going into the rogers box, the other going into the sony dvr, still nothing works...Any suggestions would be appreciated... |
New member Username: Hdtvnewbie
Post Number: 6
Registered: Feb-05
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| Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2005 - 02:39 pm: |
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I think SA may have finally caught on and fixed the problem. Yesterday, I went to watch a program that was in progress but recording and I had a new option "play from beginning" even though the show was still recording! I was able to watch from the start and when the live show ended, I did not get booted off. I was able to keepo watching the show, seamlessly, until the end. |
LET A Life Jim Boy Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2005 - 08:01 pm: |
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So who cares...And whats the Point....
O I know, nothing to do so I will post...
BIG DEAL....Get a life....Jim Smith... |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 01:28 am: |
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I have the 8300HD and I actually like it. BUT, the cable company has somehow disabled my DVR functionality een though I had it for 2 days when I got it...anyone know how to get around this? |
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| Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 08:14 pm: |
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I have the 8300HD and I actually like it. BUT, the cable company has somehow disabled my DVR functionality een though I had it for 2 days when I got it...anyone know how to get around this?
Yeah don't be cheap and pay the extra fee for the DVR service. No other options!
xvxvxvx |
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| Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 07:00 pm: |
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I have this box and does anyone know if the audio on the hdmi audio output works? It used to work for me and then suddenly stopped working. Not sure if Time Warner disabled it? |
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| Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 07:00 pm: |
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I have this box and does anyone know if the audio on the hdmi audio output works? It used to work for me and then suddenly stopped working. Not sure if Time Warner disabled it? |
JJ No Sound Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 01:40 pm: |
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I have the same issue with the HDMI audio output not working - I installed it last night and it didn't work. They just told me over the phone that it is not connected. This seems stupid, can anyone confirm this is correct? |
Silver Member Username: Cableguy
Deep in the ...
U.S.
Post Number: 335
Registered: Mar-05
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| Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 09:34 am: |
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JJ,
Can you verify (by looking at the sticker on the bottom of your 8300) what the REV is? 1.2? 1.4? 2.2? or 2.4? |
newbie123 Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 11:15 am: |
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There is a menu option that redirects the audio to HDMI. Cannot recall the exact setting name but it is part of the Settings menu. |
New member Username: Klaus57
Post Number: 1
Registered: Sep-05
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| Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 01:26 pm: |
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I have the same issue as JJ - audio is not working with the HDMI input. It is an 8300HD DVR and the REV is 2.4. When I first hooked it up, I got a message about my set (Sony KLV-S32A10) not being HDCP compliant, but after restarting (not rebooting) the video worked fine. I don't understand the compliance thing; I would think that would be a function of the cable box (me set is HD ready -doesn't have a built in tuner).
Anyway, I tried hooking up the other audio inputs, rebooting, etc., nothing seems to work. Also, there is no documentation on how to access the setup wizard I have read about in this forum.
Lastly, I might hear a very faint clicking or popping sound when using HDMI, but I am not certain. Could this be a Dolby signal that might set doesn't recognize - if so, how do I change it? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Silver Member Username: Cableguy
Deep in the ...
U.S.
Post Number: 336
Registered: Mar-05
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| Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 03:29 pm: |
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I know of an issue with the 2.4, depending on what version of SW your cable system is using. The setup wizard is not available on Passport software. If your 8300 is on a Passport system, I'd be curious to know what version of SW you're running. |
New member Username: Klaus57
Post Number: 2
Registered: Sep-05
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| Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 08:44 pm: |
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Re: No sound with HDMI to HDMI problem
I don't know if I have passport. How can I tell (also SW version)? Is there some button comination at startup. I have only had it a day, was not given a manual, and am not that familiar with it. |
New member Username: Ncviz
Raleigh,
NC
US
Post Number: 1
Registered: Sep-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 07:11 pm: |
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I too seem to all the sudden have problems with my audio outputs. The optical output works fine, but none of analog outputs seem to be active? At one time this was not the case. Any help out there??
Mine is 8300hd rev 1.2 |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 03:57 pm: |
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Does anyone know how to switch to the Video input on the front of the unit? |
New member Username: Vanhammersley
Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 08:31 am: |
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rsax, I have the same problem w/ not being able to figure out hwo to switch to the Video input on front of box. Probably a simple thing I would imagine...has anyone been able to do this? |
New member Username: Domer
Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 03:15 pm: |
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I recently upgraded to HD DVR and Time Warner installed the SA 8300HD DVR box. I have a brand new Samsung DLP HDTV, which I connected using HDMI. I ran the SPDIF digital audio to my Denon amp. So here's the problem - when I want to listen to a Music Choice service on my stereo, I turn off the TV. Within 2 minutes, the SA box will reset and lock up during the reboot process until I turn on my TV.
I know what's happening - the SA box is trying to communicate with the TV over HDMI and when the TV is turned off, that handshake fails. But the box should NEVER reset, nor should it fail to boot up.
I cannot convince Time Warner that this is a S/W bug. It took me several days just to get a hold of someone who could spell HDMI, much less understand it.
Anyone else seen anything like this? |
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| Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 09:44 pm: |
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I've been using the 8300HD DVR for quite awhile and still can't believe you can't pick up a recording where you left off watching it. TIVO was much better in this regard. I'm watching the 4 hour version of Dances With Wolves and I'll probably watch it in 5-6 installments. Every time I'll have to make a mental note and fast forward to where I left off which is a huge waste of time, not to mention aggravating. |
New member Username: Ott_gangl
Post Number: 1
Registered: Nov-05
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| Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 11:56 pm: |
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Time Warner cable installed a 8300HD box on my new HDTV wide screen TV and when programs are show in 4x3 there are grey bars on either side whereas with the TV tuner they are black, which I prefer.
The Explorer HDTV setup wizard is supposed to come on when the buttons, Info and Guide, on the front of the box are pressed while the power on the box is off and the TV is on but nothing happens, the box only displays the time, nothing on the TV.
To change the border colors supposedly there is a "Set:TV Borders" lurking somewhere in the 'settings' program but I can't find it anywhere, not in the basic nor in the extended settings program.
I would appreciate any help...
.....Ott |
SomeGuy Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 11:02 pm: |
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I wanted to record some shows off my 8300HD to my computer through my camcorder, but my computer is in another room, so I disconnected the 8300HD from the cable antenna and TV and moved it to the other room. I hooked it up to my camcorder but the camcorder's display is blank, the 8300HD displays "79" and when I press the Info button I see "Advanced services are still not available" in the camcorder screen. Must the unit be connected to the cable input before I can access the shows I've DVRed?
Thanks,
Tom |
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| Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 10:54 am: |
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"Must the unit be connected to the cable input before I can access the shows I've DVRed?"
Yes and even then I'm not sure how you are planning on transferring them to your camcorder.
xvxvxvx |
PhishMan Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 07:48 pm: |
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I think the bottom line is that nothing compares with the Tivo interface and usability. I have both (8300hd) and Tivo and there's pluses to each. First, the delay between hitting buttons and the channel change on the tivo (via the IR thing) is soooo slow and annoying. plus tivo doesn't support hd (without spending mucho dinero on an HD Tivo). But, other than those two things the Tivo, IN MY OPINION, DOMINATES the SA 8300HD in every way. the remote is great, the guide is fantastic, the ability to transer to a computer is great, and everything else i can think of. i have so many issues with the 8300hd its not even funny, i have to unplug and reboot every week almost because when i hit the guide button i get a brief black screen then goes back to the live TV. ahhhhh i feel better now |
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| Posted on Thursday, December 01, 2005 - 01:34 am: |
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i would also like to know how to get the front AV inputs on the 8300hd to work? |
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| Posted on Thursday, December 01, 2005 - 11:16 am: |
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"i would also like to know how to get the front AV inputs on the 8300hd to work?"
Not gonna happen, as far as I know every cable company in the US has them disabled with no plans for a firmware update to enable them.
xvxvxvx |
SomeGuy Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Thursday, December 01, 2005 - 11:16 pm: |
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"Must the unit be connected to the cable input before I can access the shows I've DVRed?"
Yes and even then I'm not sure how you are planning on transferring them to your camcorder.
My MiniDV camcorder does analog to digital passthrough conversion. I used it to convert my old analog Hi8 tapes to *.avi files by connecting the Hi8 cam out to the MiniDV cam in, and the MiniDV out to the computer in via firewire. Works just fine with my old camcorder, and with my VCR. I could use it with the 8300HD *if* the units were close enough (or I got some REALLY long cables, I guess). Instead, I'll just record onto MiniDV tapes, then transfer those to the pc; two steps instead of one.
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| Posted on Saturday, December 03, 2005 - 06:04 pm: |
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Bill Richards, if you're still out there... I feel your pain. I try to do the same thing, turn off TV (which is connected via HDMI) and just listen to Music Choice via optical to my receiver. Within 2 mins, 8300HD shuts down. Very frusterating, had a tech out and he replaced the unit and it still does it.
Hope you found a solution, I haven't. |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2005 - 09:06 pm: |
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I also cant get into the set up wizard and my tv is in 6:3 when i hit video source how do i change my tv to 16:9. You can reply to me by email if you want |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 06:36 pm: |
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? Explorer 8300 hd How do you get your recorded movies to computer using USB or any?
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BPlasma Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 11:28 am: |
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I recently got the 8300HD STB for my Pioneer 5060HD plasma HDTV and can not get sound via the HDMI connection ... the media box for the 5060HD has 2 hdmi inputs (#1 and #3) -- I have tried both and only get the video w/o sound ... I have also tried 2 different (new) hdmi cables ... can anyone offer any help? Thanks! |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 09:21 am: |
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Hey,
I have the 8300HD and i tried to use the DVI port to hooks up my new HD TV. It says my television is not HDCP compatible??? What ef! is this? are they that paranoid now that i might record something??? I have a DVR, of course im going to record! How do I get this working? I contacted my television company, (Panasonic) who have assured me that my exact tv is HDCP compliant? Is the box screwed? can i update the firmware/software on the box?? Can someone help please.. Thank! |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 03:47 pm: |
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I have an 8300HD, but am frustrated by the minimal amount of storage space. When I record in HD, I have somewhat less than 20 hours of recording time. Does anyone know how I can burn DVD's from the 8300HD so I can save some shows and free up hard drive space? |
antnukka Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 05:19 pm: |
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homestar i work for time warner cable and all we give out is SA 8300 boxes and hdmi never works... basically b/c hdmi is only an optical cable no sound is ever transferred through. your best bet is to go out and buy a fiber optics cord or a monster component cable to get the best sound quality from your box/dvd player. |
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| Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 11:06 pm: |
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QUOTE:
When you start watching a show in progress, you have to manually rewind it to the start (while looking away from screen). Also, if you don't "catch up" to the live broadcast by the end of the broadcast, the DVR kicks you out of the show when the live show ends. You then have to search for it in the recorded programs and fast forward to where you were. Sucks!
==========================================
Also, on my 8300HD, I can ONLY rewind for 1 hour for a show that's currently recording. This is really frustrating when you want to watch a football game 90 minutes after it started.
Another problem is when a recording starts, it always fipls to that channel. If you happen to be watching something in the buffer (delayed) but not recorded, when that switch happens, your buffer is gone and you miss the end of the program!
I really wish they fix some of these ridiculous shortcomings!
And why in the name of goodness can't they give us more navigation instead of 3 lame REW/FF speeds (how about "skip to middle", or "skip ahead 10 minutes", or "skip to 25%", etc.?)?
These things are extremely annoying and seem so funamentally basic that I don't feel guilty about whining about it! |
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| Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 11:23 am: |
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"homestar i work for time warner cable and all we give out is SA 8300 boxes and hdmi never works... basically b/c hdmi is only an optical cable no sound is ever transferred through. your best bet is to go out and buy a fiber optics cord or a monster component cable to get the best sound quality from your box/dvd player."
Aloow me to correct this post above: HDMI is a digital spec, the cable does indeed pass digital audio however the 8300 has not yet been configured to use the HDMI out by many cable companies. He did make a good suggestion to use a separate digital audio cable to output the sound to your AV receiver.
xvxvxvx |
antnukka904 Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 09:25 pm: |
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thank you fx for clarifying that for me |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 03:00 pm: |
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I think we all agree that the DVR functions of the 8300HD is well behind TIVO,Replay, PC apps etc. Has anyone ever heard whether SA has any plans to improve the feature set? |
gladwish Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 10:02 pm: |
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anyone know how to fix a major audio lag over optical cable? all of a sudden one day the audio started lagging... especially on recorded content. We have to keep rewinding a few seconds then trying again. After doing this 3-5 times the audio stream finally synches up. Next time we fast forward or rewind, we have to go through the sync process all over again.
This started a few months ago, suddenly stopped over the Christmas break, then started again yesterday...
Any suggestions? I'm on Time Warner in NYC. |
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| Posted on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 06:27 pm: |
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So all in all I do not get the impression this is a very good solution if the user wants to transfer the recorded shows from the unit to DVD as no one has offered any input on how to accomplish this. I guess the best thing to do is go with Apple as they have the BEST solution for this usage |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 08:24 pm: |
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I have an 8300HD on Adelphia in NH and while watching live TV or recorded TV, we get a black box that takes up most of the screen, leaving a 2" border of video all around the centrally located black box. and sometimes bits of closed captioning text appear in the box, sometimes [ffff] (just like that), sometimes some other gobbledygook... the only way we got around it was to put the box into a different aspect ratio mode. connected to my 27" 9-year-old Magnavox TV via composite video cable and stereo audio. it was working fine for two weeks and now, this is happening... and it only happens in the "normal" aspect ratio mode. any ideas? |
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| Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 04:35 pm: |
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Does anyone know how to update the sa 8300 software? |
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| Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 10:44 am: |
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"Does anyone know how to update the sa 8300 software?"
Only your cable company via a firmware flash from their headend. There is nothing you can do personally to either speed up or initiate the process. They try to have the major bugs worked out before releasing any new software updates to thier regular customer base before making any changes. Many cable companys have specific test markets where they choose beta testers for both new hardware and software updates. For COX this is the OKC market, other campanies use some of their own employees as beta testers.
xvxvxvx |
hurricane24x7 Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 02:28 pm: |
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Received second 8300 HD-DVR from TWNYC, connected it to a new HP 5880n DLP via HDMI to HDMI....But I get no signal...no visuals, let alone . What could be the problem? |
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| Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 08:13 pm: |
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Got an SD 8300HD DVR from Time Warner. Hooked it up and the pos burned my rear projection tv. The box resets itself from 4x3 strech to 4x3 sidebar on its own. The menu and info bar will only show up in a 4x3 ratio. When changing channels the screen goes black in the entire 4x3 area. The original box I had froze up and re-booted on me 3-times within a week. I called Time warner 3-times befor i fianlly got someone who spoke english and agreed to send a tech out to take a look at what I have going on. Each time I called I explained that the box screwed up my tv. Finally got a tech out to my house and he agreed that it wasnt right. When he put the new box in it worked fine for about 30-seconds. Then as he claimed it got the hit from the main office sop that is why it went back to doing the same thing. The sad thing is I no more about their equipment and the way it is suppose to work then they do. Anyways I filed a damaged equipment report and i was suppose to get a call back within 3-days. Today is day 7 and still no call. I emailed their corprate office and i recieved an email back that it takes time to look into these situations and I should just be patient. Has anyone else had these problems or heard of such a thing. My tv is only 2-years old and now its basically shot. I had no problems until I hooked up time warners junk. Any ideas? |
Raphoon Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006 - 01:47 pm: |
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All I want to know is how to burn a DVD from this stupid box |
New member Username: Soupatech
Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-06
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| Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:06 am: |
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****All I want to know is how to burn a DVD from this stupid box****
Here is what I do...
1. Record to the 8300
2. Use the "copy to VCR" option to send the file from the second output (back of the explorer 8300)to the video input of my WinTV card (I use external USB)
3. Use the software that came with WinTV to create an .mpg on my PC. I can control the quality and do any editing/cropping I need.
4. Use Nero to burn the .mpg to DVD.
I can watch tv or movies while I copy to my PC.
Hope this helps. I suppose you could use any video capture device, capture software (wiblows movie maker works well for noobs), and any DVD authoring software. |
New member Username: Uranus435
Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-06
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| Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006 - 01:10 am: |
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quick question guys,
I bought this unit from someone who had Aldelphia. Is it possible for me to use this same unit on my Time warner Cable system. |
New member Username: Bratch
Bonita,
Ca
Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 11:48 pm: |
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QUOTE:
"homestar i work for time warner cable and all we give out is SA 8300 boxes and hdmi never works... basically b/c hdmi is only an optical cable no sound is ever transferred through. your best bet is to go out and buy a fiber optics cord or a monster component cable to get the best sound quality from your box/dvd player."
HDMI is NOT optical and the specification for it does include digital sound along with the digital video. Go do some reading about HDMI and go look at some images of an HDMI cable. The connector has copper or some other metallic contacts, you cannot pass an optical signal through this.
In my case, on the SA 8300HD from Cox, with the HDMI cable, I get sound on channels 1-99, but no sound on any channel above 100, but the PQ is great (on channels above 100, below they are all analog). I called them and explained that I was using an HDMI cable and had to inform the rep that checking if the color coded cables were plugged in properly was useless, I said HDMI, not component. They said they would refresh the software and to check back in an hour. |
New member Username: Stl
Post Number: 1
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Thursday, April 06, 2006 - 12:32 am: |
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I've had the SA Explorer 8300HD for a few days now and it'll hang and reboot itself every few hours of TV viewing. Not sure what is causing this...any one else having this issue? I'm in NYC Time Warner Cable. Thanks. |
New member Username: Scifiguy
Solana Beach,
CA
US
Post Number: 1
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Monday, April 24, 2006 - 11:55 pm: |
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I record from my 8300HD directly to a DVD recorder (they only cost a bit over $100 now a days) but I avoid using the DVR to VCR feature as it dumbs down the signal to VCR quality which looks absolutely horrible. Instead, I connect the 8300HD component video outputs to the DVD recorder and am able to preserve an almost HD quality recording on the DVD. However, one thing you have to be careful of is that the DVR will go into power saver mode and shut itself off if it doesn't "see" a TV out there. So, you can't just set up the recording and shut everything down but the DVR and the DVD recorder and go to bed. I've talked to customer support at my cable co. and they don't know how to turn off this riduculous "feature". As a result, I have to keep my TV on while recording anything to DVD even if I'm not watching it (and this "feature" is supposed to save energy????)
If anyone knows how to disable power saver mode, I'd love to hear about it. |
New member Username: Scifiguy
Solana Beach,
CA
US
Post Number: 2
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 02:38 pm: |
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Update on the power saver mode: leaving on the TV doesn't help. If the DVR doesn't "hear" a remote control command for an hour, it automatically turns itself off (after a 5 minute warning that screws up your recording, of course). No way (that I know of) to adjust the timeout period or disable it. Stupid. |
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