Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HDC questions

vtc200

anyone successfull in attaching a 500 gig external drive to the scientific atlanta HDC runnig Mystro? I did, but have to reboot the cable box every morning....

texasaggie94

I too have the WD My DVR Expander and have discovered (after going through 5 8300 HDC Boxes) that the DVR Expander is not compatible with the 8300 HDC Box. It did work with the older 8300 HD Box running "sara" software. I have yet to find someone that has made this work. My box would shut down by itself, or would boot up with out a picture daily sometimes even while watching and it wasn't until I removed the DVR expander did the box work properly. All seemed well, the box would identify and format the DVR Expander each time, but consistently failed on 4 different 8300 HDC boxes. So, as for now I guess I'm out of luck. Anyone out there with success?

smthomas66

It's nice to know others also experienced these issues that TWC basically denied existed to me. I have had two of the 8300HDC boxes and the resolution issue is very annoying. When I turn the TV on each time I have to go directly to the output resolution menu and tell the box only to choose 1080i although it's already set up that way. After a couple trys it will finally set it and then I'm okay for the rest of the night. I also had awful pixilation and had to have a tech come out to the house. The big fix was giving me component cables. At first I looked and the picture was just as good but without HDMI my sound dropped from dolby 5.1 to stereo. I don't have an optical audio port in the TV so I have to use the HDMI to get the better sound. I thought to myself you know what....I shouldn't have to spend money on more cables anyway. I really hope a fix for this is in the works this month or I may flip to Directv.

kwakhd

I have exactly the same problem. I'm going to take the drive back to BB soon if no joy. Any solution?

Frank123

There is a USB port on the box. But, I don't know if it can be used to transfer programing from the HD on the box to your computer's HD.

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Strikefoley

I posted this in another thread. The 8300 HDC is only HDMI 1.1. If your TV is HDMI 1.2 or higher you need the SA RNG200. It's HDMI 1.2 and 1.3 compliant.

mfabien

Owners/Users of SA8300HD use the Firewire IEEE 1394 to archive HD programs to a Firewire enabled computer. To enable this, one uses the "Copy to VCR" function after selecting the recording and instead of a composite or S Video connection, the 1394 takes over the transfer.

Be aware that the DTCP protocol applies and the recorded program will have one of the following 3 flags:

Copy Free
Copy Once
Copy Never

The USB port cannot be used to transfer recorded data.

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als1626

Could someone tell me how to figure out what software my SA 8300 HD is running? I have comcast and am in palm beach cty., fl. thanks.

mckenna797

If your on Comcast you will not have Mystro is Time Warners in house software

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floppydisk

For those who are having difficulties with the picture format on DVR startup, have you tried the "setup wizard" in advanced mode? The procedure is not exactly straightforward, but you can review the whole thing in the "8300HD Setup Wizard.pdf" that you can download from either your cable provider or Scientific Atlanta. Basically you are asked to include or exclude each of these formats: 480i, 720p, 480p, and 1080i. If your HDTV does automatic upformatting, you might wish to exclude one or more formats.

Strikefoley

Hold the Select button until the Mail icon flashes, then hit info.

mulciber

>Hold the Select button until the Mail icon flashes, then hit info.

This, of course, does nothing on the HDC box. The HDC hardware may be just fine. The unmitigated disaster here is only Time Warner Cable's complete POS firmware, afaik.

DGI

Slobahonnis

I have the SA 8300HDC connected via HDMI to Sony 46V2500. Cable provider is Comcast (formerly TW). I have the same problem with all channels defaulting to 480i every time I power off-on either the TV or the DVR. The only workaround I have right now is to turn on the TV and bring-up the DVR set-up wizard with the DVR powered off. I toggle through the format options until I get to the one for 1080i. I remove it, then re-set, exit and power-up the DVR . This allows me to see 1080i capable channels in true 1080i format and SD channels in 480i format automatically. But I have to follow this routine EVERY time I turn-on either device. (The fomat option is missing from the quick settings menu, so I can't change it there while watching TV. )

Does anyone have a simpler workaround? Also, is this an inherent problem with every 8300HDC box or will a replacement box solve the problem?

mfabien

We've had that problem, early last year I believe, both for Rogers and Videotron clients and it was resolved with a firmware update (SARA software) in mid year.

If I remember correctly, I had to change "Set Picture Format" in General Settings to "Fixed". Then, upon Power On, I pushed the Settings button of the remote and changed 480i to 1080i.

__________________
Samsung LN52B750, SA8300HD, Energy speakers, Yamaha RX-V540, SVS PB12-ISD, Harmony 880, HD-A1, BDP-1400, Oppo DV-970HD, Zektor HDS4.1

peppers

I'm so glad I found this forum. I thought that I was going crazy. I just got the 8300 HDC from Bright House this past Friday, and it has been driving me nuts ever since.

I, too, have been experiencing the 480i vs. 1080i problems. I set it to 1080i, and it says "If you can see the image, all is fine" or something like that...then it instantly reverts back to 480i.

The biggest problem I have noted is that while playing back a program I have recorded, when I hit the "Info" key on my remote, it is showing the name of the program that is airing LIVE on that channel (instead of the name of the program I recorded). It does not even show me where I am in that program when I press the "Info" button or when I fast-forward or rewind. That is EXTREMELY irritating.

I called Bright House, and the lady told me that this was the way it is now and how much BETTER this is. Yeah, right. How can it be better to no longer be able to see where you are in the program you are watching?

I used to have a regular DVR running Passport before "upgrading" to HD. I used to be able to extend recordings 3 hrs...now they have limited it to only 2 hrs.

Someone had posted about how you can no longer have it set to record a program once (that airs at multiple times). I usually record E! News, and it wants to record it 5 times a day instead of just the 7 p.m. time slot...grrrrr.

Another thing that bothers me is when I am playing back a program I have recorded (that is still continuing to be recorded, but I started watching it late), in the old days, when I would hit the "LIVE" button, it would go to that same program LIVE. Now, it is going to a completely different channel. The only way to see the program LIVE is to enter the channel number.

If I say I want to record a series, in the old days, there was an additional option to choose to have a series delete when space is needed or keep until manually erased. Now, that option is gone. I can either tell it to keep the last few episodes or not to delete them. Then when you look at them in the list of "upcoming recordings," none of them are set to keep until manually erased. I have to go through each one individually and tell it to do so.

Again, I am relieved I am not the only one having all of these problems. I am going to try to exchange the unit tomorrow at Bright House. Even it means giving up the HD channels, I would be thrilled to have my old DVR back. This is simply ludicrous.