Cox vs. Dish/HDMI vs. Component Out

VictorB

I have Dish Network for my 52" Sony but decided I would do a head up comparison to Cox Digital HD. I signed up for a 30 day trial for $33(including DVR and HD programming) for the upstairs 32" TV in the bedroom. Got free installation and the installer started connecting the tv with component cables. He said" oh, this DVR does not have HDMI out. I did not have another model, but I prefer Component over HDMI output. anyone agree? the picture looks great especially since TV2 using Dish's dual 722 receiver was SD unless I wanted to purchase another DVR. We'll see how things go. I was told that eventually if I decided to leave Dish, the two TV's, two DVR's plus their premium HD lineup ("80 viewable channels" plus music lineup) would be $80.89 less $10 for six months compared to $76.10 for Dish, one DVR and SD on TV 2.

There is no doubt the 722 DVR is far superior. I think I have about 8 hours of HD programming recorded and it says 80% full. It also looks like the DVR "manually erases programming" after a period of time and you can't record any of the Showtime or HBO programming except series.

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Loves2Watch

I prefer component connections for cable and satellite boxes. It is much more reliable, gives as good as if not better picture than HDMI and doesn't have the HDCP associated lag time when changing channels.

Now for the area of your post I quoted, that does not sound right at all. With a Dish ViP722 you should get many more hours of HD (80 or more) recording than that and anything that is on Showtime and HBO should be recordable. I would contact Dish ASAP.

I like dish much better than any conventional cable offerings as well.

Hope this helps.

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Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.

Sooner Al

From the FAQ at...

http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/support/prod_faq.html

I have a SA 8240HDC DVR from Cox here in the OKC market which has a 160 Gig hard drive. The numbers quoted are pretty close in my experience. What Cox DVR do you have?

I had no problems at all in the near past recording anything I wanted to off of any of the premium movie channels I had, ie. HBO, Starz, etc, before I dropped them from my service.

Here are the manuals for the Scientific Atlanta boxes Cox supplies in case your interested...

http://www.cisco.com/web/consumer/su..._set_tops.html

Some Cox markets use Motorola equipment so if that is your case check Cox or the Motorola site for manuals, etc.

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"When all else fails, read the instructions..."

Loves2Watch

This has to do with a Dish Network ViP DVR not cable nor anything Motorola makes.

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Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.

VictorB

Thanks - the recording limits are the Cox Cable DVR deficieny. Cox technician says he "thought it was a 128 gb dvr." One major plus for the Dish DVR (35 hours of HD or 300 hours of SD - that's a DVR!)

__________________
Sony KDL52XBR4
Sylvania Blue-Ray
Onkyo Surround Sound Receiver
Bose speakers

deadhead68

Actually, the OP is was comparing the Cox HDDVR with the Dish 722 in the first post.

DeadHead68

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Sooner Al

Some folks add an external hard drive to the Cox set top boxes for added storage. The downside is if you have to replace the set top box the recorded programs on the external drive can not be read on the new replacement set top box.

http://www.satasupply.com/satasupply.pdf

Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD Manual And Setup Guide

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"When all else fails, read the instructions..."

Loves2Watch

I get 35 hours of HD on my ViP 622. The 722 has a hard drive twice the size, hence my previous comment about 80 hours of HD.

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Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.