8300HD DVR Discussion Thread

[Skaggs]

Last night, at the start of the Super Bowl, I noticed my audio receiver was not in DD 5.1 mode. It should automatically go into Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 when such a signal is received.

I switched to my OTA receiver and the receiver recognized the DD 5.1 signal, so the game was in fact in DD 5.1.

I switched back to the 8300HD DVR and the DD 5.1 signal dropped out. I then went into the SETTINGS menu of the DVR and made sure the AUDIO OUT was set to DOLBY DIGITAL. I moved the cursor to DD and pressed it to confirm the setting. Immediately, my audio receiver noticed the DD 5.1 signal.

For some reason, the 8300HD DVR stopped outputting the DD 5.1 signal until I did this. So far today, the DD 5.1 signal is still there.

[Skaggs]

Last night, I sat down to watch The Sopranos at 9:40PM. I went into my list of recordings and the Sopranos was red to show it was still recording. I selected it, and a menu came up that allowed me to "watch from beginning". Previously, when you selected the show, it would take you to the point of the show where it was being recorded and you had to rewind to the beginning.

Another helpful thing I noticed is that I didn't get thrown out to the menu when the LIVE version reached the end of the recording.

These features were included in the new SARA version downloaded this past weekend.

[hurnik]

You know what really sucks is that when TW issues these updates, they don't do it at like 3:00 a.m.

Instead, right in the middle of watching a show:

WHAM!

The stupid box reboots and there's the update. Of course, it's even better when it does it while recording a scheduled show.

At least my Tivo is smart enough to not reboot while recording something.

[Deleted]

During the last 2 weeks my 8300 DVR's have dropped 3 recordings - Prison Break on Monday, Invasion on 5/10 and Invasion last night. I called TW to complain but they were clueless. This is happening on 2 different DVR's so I feel its software related. My son also had the same experience last night with Invasion. Also, even though their schedule only goes out a week, my schedule of shows to be recorded occasionally has listings going out 10 or 11 days. These listings are always incorrect showing the show on the wrong day of the week and usually at the wrong time. Wondering if anyone else is having the same problems and if so have you contacted TW? TW acted like I was the only complaint.

[Skaggs]

I have had the same problems with Sopranos and Big Love on HBO. I had the 8300HD DVR set up to record "All episodes on this channel in this time slot". This past week, it did not record Sopranos nor Big Love.

A few weeks ago, I was having the same problem with American Idol. I have given up on calling TWC. Like you said, the Customer Service Reps are clueless.

I'm waiting for the TiVo series 3 or Verizon Fios service.

[Skaggs]

Last night, I sat down with the intention of setting up the DVR to record Entourage. I went to the "GUIDE" for Sunday night and saw that Entourage was already highlighted in red, as if it was set to be recorded, even though I never set it to be recorded. I went to the "Scheduled Recordings" and did not see Entourage listed. I pressed the SELECT button when the Entourage program was highlighted in the program guide and it asked me if I wanted to cancel the recording of Entourage. I cancelled it and then re-scheduled it. I went back to the "Scheduled Recordings" list and Entourage was listed.

I'll bet the crappy DVR displayed Entourage as already set to be recorded because I had previously programmed the DVR to record "all episodes in this time slot" for Big Love, which was in the same 10PM timeslot on HBO.

For those of you who have never used a TiVo, I can make this association:

A Tivo is to TWC's 8300 DVR as the XBOX 360 is to an Atari 2600.

[hurnik]

You are absolutely correct. All the stupid TW DVR is a digital VCR. When you pick "record ABC at 10:00 p.m." what it really does is say: "record ANYTHING on channel X at 10:00 p.m. on such and such a date".

You'd think that with all the advances in DVR technology that SOMEONE (other than Tivo) would have a decent "season pass" algorithm instead of making it be a dumb VCR. Although perhaps Tivo patented that feature.

As much as I love HDTV, I love my Tivo (which hasn't missed recordings) better. (ie, better to watch it in SD because Tivo DID record it, vs. HD when the stupid TW DVR misses it or gets some other crap).

Rumor has it that the PACE software is SLIGHTLY better than the SARA software when it comes to this, but I cannot confirm it.

[chenrikson]

I can't find mention of it, but I notice that the "Video Source" button on the remote now switches to the external (front) inputs. I don't think this has always been the case!

Craig

[bruces]

Has anyone been able to maintain a set-up using the HDMI?

When I try this it works for a while and then I lose the picture, but still have sound.

Then I need to unplug the HDMI cable to use the Component Cables.

Is there any way to keep both the Component and HDMI ports active at the same time?

Then I could just switch to the other source on my Samsung HLR4667W HDTV.

NOTE: I also have the same problem with my HR10-250 HD DVR from DirecTV.

[Skaggs]

bruces said:

Has anyone been able to maintain a set-up using the HDMI?

I have had the 8300HD DVR hooked to my Toshiba 57H83 HDTV via a HDMI to DVI cable for about a year now. When I first got the 8300 DVR, I couldn't get the picture to display via the HDMI output. But, it has worked well for a while now.

[feirstein]

Just switched to DVR today and swapped out my HD box at TW. They told me the 8300HD has been discontinued since we don't need HDMI and they handed me an 8000HD. There you have it.

Richard.

[Skaggs]

Why don't we need HDMI?

All the new plasma's have at least one HDMI. Most have two.

I use the HDMI out on my 8300HD DVR.

[feirstein]

After I got back to the office with the 8000HD I called TW. They told me that they were not happy to hear that the people at their Washington Ave Office were giving out misinformation. The 8300HD is still current. They are holding an 8300HD for me and I can swap it out. Again, the noted that they do not guarantee HDMI or DVI connections but you can try it. They do guarantee their box will work with analog component connections.

Richard.

[feirstein]

I got the 8300HD and it worked to perfection using HDMI. Has anyone tried displaying their video camcorder output throught the iLink/Firewire input on these boxes? I'll give it a try tonight.

Richard.

[Skaggs]

Apparently, we got a new version of SARA a few days ago. Ever since that time, when watching TV via HDMI the screen will go black for a few seconds (while the audio continues). This happens approximately twice every minute and is very annoying. Looks like I'll be on the phone with TWC tonight.