June 21 HD-DVR update overnight?

[ThomasSampson]

Anyone know if BH did an update on the hd-dvr last night? when I was watching a recorded program this morning, I noticed a "record to vcr" option that I don't recall seeing before. Am I going crazy or is this something new?

[jcpicard]

I also noticed something new this morning. When you try to record All Episodes, you now have the option of recording "All episodes on this channel in this time slot" OR "All episodes on this channel at any time."

[DSquare]

It appears that there was an update done last night. While the unit is off hold down the + button until the mail light flashes, then release and hit info. Once in the status pages move to page 17 and it shows all the version #'s. According the avsforums we got the version of the ati driver that is supposed to improve picture quality. Also on page 18 it will show model# of harddrive, mine shows Maxtor 4R160LO, wich i would think means 160gigs. As far as the dashboard is concerned there is another feature too that was added, it shows % full of hard drive, I have about 6hrs of HD and 1hr of SD and it shows 30% full wich would also lead me to believe it was 160gig harddrive in the unit.

[jcpicard]

As far as the dashboard is concerned there is another feature too that was added, it shows % full of hard drive, I have about 6hrs of HD and 1hr of SD and it shows 30% full wich would also lead me to believe it was 160gig harddrive in the unit.

How do you access this feature?

[DSquare]

How do you access this feature?


Hit 'List' to get into the dvr menu, then hit 'B' for preferences

[jcpicard]

Thanks DSquare! I'll check it out when I get home.

[wallinbl]

According the avsforums we got the version of the ati driver that is supposed to improve picture quality.

SD or HD quality? SD quality is very poor for me (I won't know until I get home if it is any better today).

[DSquare]

I think SD, but I really can't tell a difference since the upgrade. If your interested in reading there is over 60 pages on this 8000HD recorder, goto
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=97fa2c7384832a879b6dc47111704fa6&threadid=352604&perpage=20&highlight=8000hd&pagenumber=64

[CANDY76MAN]

I also noticed something new this morning. When you try to record All Episodes, you now have the option of recording "All episodes on this channel in this time slot" OR "All episodes on this channel at any time."

this is a feature that has been needed badly.....before you either had to set a manual recording or put up with 2 or 3 reruns of some shows being recorded everyday.

[wallinbl]

The dates for all my software versions are 4/16 or before. I don't know what they said previously, so I don't know if they changed. The SD channels still suck.

[DSquare]

The dates for all my software versions are 4/16 or before. I don't know what they said previously, so I don't know if they changed


I believe the dates before were from sometime in 02/?/04

[jaymer]

don't know anything about updates... but the picture quality is awesome on both SD & HD on our units we are testing in Hillsbourough.
jaymer...

[OccamMD]

I just got installed today, but they stopped shipping the HD DVR for some reason even though it was in my work order. I have the HD rcvr, but I guess I will be waiting a bit for the DVR.

[DSquare]

I just got installed today, but they stopped shipping the HD DVR for some reason even though it was in my work order. I have the HD rcvr, but I guess I will be waiting a bit for the DVR.


What city are you in?


I never owned a Tivo or such before so I really can't compare but I'm really happy with the HD-DVR unit. It so far has done everything I have asked it to with out fail. I've recorded 2 shows at once without any problems. I havent tried to record using "All Episodes" cause with so many encore presentations I think I would get duplicates but I dont know. Right now I just go thru in the morning and program everything I want for the day. Only downside is I was hoping it would have a firewire port, maybe soon though.

[OccamMD]

I'm in the Pasco portion of Lutz near 54/41

[wallinbl]

I never owned a Tivo or such before so I really can't compare but I'm really happy with the HD-DVR unit. It so far has done everything I have asked it to with out fail. I've recorded 2 shows at once without any problems. I havent tried to record using "All Episodes" cause with so many encore presentations I think I would get duplicates but I dont know. Right now I just go thru in the morning and program everything I want for the day.

These HDDVRs are nowhere near as nice as Tivo. I probably would like it more if I had never had a Tivo.

Tivo knows the difference between first run and repeat episodes (regardless of night/timeslot), and you can elect to record only first/only repeat/both. This is probably the most important difference to me. Once I had my shows set up, I never had to worry about them no matter what the network did - change the night, change the time (NBC is awful about this), insert a rerun midseason, etc.

Tivo requires fewer button pushes to accomplish most tasks.

The pause/rewind/fast forward are clunky on the HDDVR. This was very smooth on the Tivo.

The Tivo also had an automatic rewind when you hit play from fast forward because when you saw your show come back from commercial and hit play, you had missed some of it, but it backed you up automatically.

Tivo would remember your location in all of your recorded programs. The HDDVR only remembers where you were in the last one you were watching, so if you start watching program A, then start watching program B, when you go back to program A, it starts you back at the beginning.

Yes, I loved my Tivo, but I'm not paying the $900 for the HD version.

[DSquare]

Tivo knows the difference between first run and repeat episodes (regardless of night/timeslot), and you can elect to record only first/only repeat/both. This is probably the most important difference to me. Once I had my shows set up, I never had to worry about them no matter what the network did - change the night, change the time (NBC is awful about this), insert a rerun midseason, etc.



Wonder why this couldnt be implemted into the HD-DVR boxes, don't think it would be that hard to do. Also it would be a nice feature if it would show the episode number for the recorded shows, ie The Jury S01E03

[jaymer]

yes, all those things are true about Tivo - i've had one for 4 years.
its INSTANT when it comes to fwd/rev display on the screen... sometimes on the SA box, I hit REW and I'm not even sure it received the command (maybe its cause my brain works at 10x of the normal human, so that 1/10th of a second just seems like 1 second) <G> so your term "klunky" is about 100% spot on.

except for the season pass thingy (i believe something they have patented), the other stuff should be able to be done. it might just come down to the engineers being too busy on the real bugs and not able to do the "wish list" things just yet.

but when people talk about $1k for a HD Tivo... hehe, no way senior!
am happy to stick with this.
jaymer...

[bdraw]

I disagree, ever since I have been using the BHN DVR, I have been seriosly considering a HD Tivo. It is well worth it.

If the HD Tivo didn't require a home, phone or if I could pick one up at Circuit City and try it with my vonage, I would have one.

I am waiting till I can buy one at a store with a liberal return policy, and if it is everything I think I will be happy to have it.

I wish I could have a HDReplayTV, but I have all but given up on it. I may wait for 3rd party CableCard DVR's before I spend the 1k.

The BHN HD-DVR is better than nothing, but it isn't better than a Tivo or a ReplayTV.

[CANDY76MAN]

I'm happy with mine....it's actually been much more trouble free than the regular dvr was for about the first 3 months I had it, it hasn't dropped a scheduled recording yet...of course my regular dvr hasn't done that in several months either so they must have fixed whatever was causing that to happen.

[jaymer]

gimme a break bdraw.
you might want to qualify that stmt...
either you have an extra $1k around and don't mind blowing it, or because of your high technical level, you want to hack the tivo or extract video from it via firewaire, etc.

95%+ people don't need more than the SA8000 HD recorder. this isn't a tivo vs. sa8000 thread, but i'll gladly rent it (for 2 or 3 yrs) and let them worry about hardware problems/support and I'll still come out ahead.

bottom line is it records HD & SD (even 2 channels at once) just fine.
and as you pointed out, should still have some headroom in there to improve the technology as they tweak the internal software. and the UI will get improved cause its only software.

jaymer...

[pilotbob]

So, is the HD-DVR generally available in Hillborough now? How much does this add to your bill over the standard HD box? I assume it has a DVI output?

Thanks,
BOb

[DSquare]

How much does this add to your bill over the standard HD box? I assume it has a DVI output?"


Over in Pinellas it is 9.95/month for the service and 6.95/month for the box rental wich you pay already now for the pace box. It does have a DVI connector on the back but not sure if its active or not.

[jcpicard]

I assume it has a DVI output?

I emailed BHN about DVI and this is the 2nd reply I got. (The 1st reply said that DVI was already active for the HD-DVR.)

"My name is Kevin in Digital Support for Bright House Networks. I am here to assist you with your inquiry regarding DVI on the HD DVR.

My apologies for the incorrect information. The DVI port on the HD DVR is NOT functional. This will not be operational until the next hardware version of this box. Unfortunatly even at that time we will not support that particular output on any of our cable boxes until after 1 July 2005.

Thank you for being a Bright House customer. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any additional inquiries you may have. Have a great day!"

[DSquare]

This will not be operational until the next hardware version of this box.


Interesting statment. Wonder if they will be staying with Scientific Atlanta?

[bdraw]

Bottom line is it records HD & SD (even 2 channels at once) just fine.
and as you pointed out, should still have some headroom in there to improve the technology as they tweak the internal software. and the UI will get improved cause its only software.

Well Jaymer I think the difference is that I don't think SA plans to fix these problems, if they do when? This unit has been out in some areas of the US for 6 months, most of these issues were pointed out early also existed in the SD version of the 8000. They either don't care or can't fix them. You can read the super long thread over at AVS of people who have these since day 1 and still most of the problems have not even begun to be addressed. I just don't have much faith in SA overall based on all of their other boxes. When it comes to digital STB's I think that SA ranks at the bottom of the heap.

The fact that you can choose your own box is one of the strongest points about D* service, which might change soon, since D* is changing their STB structure.

There is hope though, since CableCard devices will start to be supported July 1st 04 and most manufactures of TV's have already gotten on board, with any luck we will see high end cable STB's with or without DVR within a year so we will have a choice. Believe it or not I actually have one friend who refuses to buy digital cable just because he dislikes the SA's boxes so much. He currently subscibes to basic cable and D*.

[Max_Gator]

There's a super long thread on AVS about just about anything. Valid criticisms are made there and here regarding all of the technologies.

Heck, if you listened to all the criticisms of various displays over there - you could never buy one. I love my dlp and am willing to accept some of its real and perceived limitations.

I think Jaymer's point is the same thing - there are clearly limitations on the SA HD box, but right now it is his opinion that for the money you are paying at this point in time, the SA box is pretty good. (I tend to agree with that statement - and it is clear to me that the HD version of the box is superior to the SD version.)

It has many shortcomings and I'm certain that as competition comes on line, and as prices for those independent options come down, they'll become more prevalent.

For now, I'm keeping the pace box until they turn on the DVI on the HD recorder. I'm not crazy about the extra expense but it is clear that component just can't deliver the same signal.

I wish that there was something better out there, that SA was a bit quicker and more responsive - but it appears to be the best option for me at this time.

[pilotbob]

Has anyone tried the LG LST-3410A with BHN? I believe it is supposed to support CableCard... is BHN going to support CableCard? I've seen this using on e-bay for about $800 with is not much more than I paid for my SD replay TV.

However, I don't understand how you select the shows to watch if there is no schedule information service that you hook up to?

Thanks,
BOb

[bdraw]

Unfortuanatly the LST-3410A doesn't support Cable card only QAM which my TV supports anyways, which basicly means you can record the same thing you can record OTA. In other words, no HBO, Shotime, HD.net, INHD, TNTHD or discovery. It doesn't leave much. Many people are axiosly awaiting the first CableCard DVR.

Max_Gator
Good point about there being bad things about everything on AVS.

I guess I am just really disapointed in the SA DVR and expresing that here. The SA is not worth $6 or $12 depending how you look at it. But when considering the alternatives it looks alot better.

[CactusJack]

I assume it has a DVI output?

I emailed BHN about DVI and this is the 2nd reply I got. (The 1st reply said that DVI was already active for the HD-DVR.)

"My name is Kevin in Digital Support for Bright House Networks. I am here to assist you with your inquiry regarding DVI on the HD DVR.

My apologies for the incorrect information. The DVI port on the HD DVR is NOT functional. This will not be operational until the next hardware version of this box. Unfortunatly even at that time we will not support that particular output on any of our cable boxes until after 1 July 2005.

Thank you for being a Bright House customer. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any additional inquiries you may have. Have a great day!"
Taken literally, this statement is incorrect: "Unfortunatly even at that time we will not support that particular output on any of our cable boxes until after 1 July 2005." I currently have my Sammy DLP set connected to my Pace HD box through DVI.

Jack

[Max_Gator]

DVI is enabled on my pace box as well and hooked to my sammy dlp.

It appears that I will have to keep my pace box in addition to the hd dvr.

The PQ is clearly better on the sammy is better via the dvi port on the pace than through component on the 8000.

Not sure why they would not enable the DVI port as they have done with the pace. There are a large number of DLP owners out there.