8300HD DVR Discussion Thread

[adam]

I was looking at my recorded programs last night and it was at 76% full with 37 recorded programs (I've been a bit busy lately), and as I was going through the list I noticed it said Save: 2 Episodes. I have the default set to Save until I erase. I confirmed that it was still on that setting and then went through all 37 recordings and set them all to save until I erase.

Does the DVR do this when it is getting low on space? I've had the 8300 for over 2 years now and I've never had it do this sort of thing before.

Also, ALWAYS in the scheduled recordings list it will have Jericho and Chuck on there around a week away with no info. Jericho was canceled so that's obviously not going to be on again and Chuck isn't on until the Fall. I've had this problem in the past but a reset has always fixed it. I reset it and they were still there so I just deleted them manually.

I'm starting to get a little worried about the thing after the recent problems and all the problems I see that you all have had.

[adam]

I have been watching my mother's house in Queensbury while she is on vacation and I have noticed a problem with switching between resolutions on her STB.

She has an 8300HD and the SD channels are set to show in 480p and the HD resolutions will show in either 720p or 1080i depending on the channel. I have noticed that when switching between SD and HD there is sometimes a problem with the audio on the HD channel. Sometimes it will be a cut out every few seconds and sometimes it will be a complete cutout of the audio except for a few blips of audio every 5 or so seconds. To fix this problem I have to return to an SD channel (switching to another HD resolution won't fix it), wait a bit and then turn it back to an HD channel.

She is using her 8300HD with an HDMI cable to a newer Samsung LCD HDTV. Does this audio problem sound like a problem with the box itself, the HDMI cable or the TV? Resetting the box doesn't seem to help and this audio problem only happens when switching between SD and HD kind of rapidly.

I also have an older DLP Samsung in Albany and when switching between resolutions the sound will be heard a second or two before the picture shows, it is the opposite on her TV with the picture showing 1-2 seconds before the sound. On my DLP TV sometimes when switching too quickly between SD and HD resolutions there will be all sorts of colors and squiggles going crazy on the screen and has to be fixed by going back to SD and waiting. It seems like the same problem just audio vs. video between the two TVs.

I'm leaning toward a STB issue but just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas, sorry that this was so confusing!

[scott]

Does anyone else have more space available on their 8300HD than previously? I noticed on another site, TW customers saying that they had more space on their DVR. I just checked mine and the space used is 85%. It was 90% before I left for work this morning, and I haven't deleted anything. And nothing seems to have been deleted by the box (I have everything set to save until I erase).

Anyone else notice this?

[Skaggs]

Don't know. I use TiVos as my DVRs.

[slayerav]

Has anyone noticed any recent changes to the hard disk "spin-down" behavior in their 8300HD box?

For the last few years, the hard disk in my 8300 unit would spin down a few minutes after either 1. the power button is pressed (off) or 2. a recording finishes. It would "spin up" the hard disk when either 1. the on button is pressed or 2. a scheduled recording is about to start.

The spin up/down is easily heard if in the same room as the device.

In the last several weeks, I've noticed different behavior... after turning the device off, the disk will spin down normally after a few minutes. But, now, 2-3 minutes later, the disk will spin back up and stay on indefinitely (until the box is turned on then off again, and the cycle repeats).

I called TWC and the rep told me "this is normal". I don't see how this is normal myself, since it worked as I would expect for a couple of years previous.

Upon checking, I have SARA 1.89.28.1, which I don't think is recently new so I don't think it's a new "feature". I've tried unplugging for a few minutes but that hasn't changed the behavior.

How the the disk behave in others' 8300HD devices?

[adam]

Aside from the noise, it doesn't really matter when the hard disk spins up or down in terms of power consumption.

I have used a Kill-A-Watt to measure the power consumption of the 8300 when on and off and it uses the same amount of electricity, give or take a watt, whether it is doing anything or not.

[slayerav]

That's not what I would have expected, but good to know nonetheless.