said by cypherstream :

You know, I always wondered why Motorola was the preferred box for digital cable. You can purchase these set tops and DVR's in Canada, legally at BestBuy, and the Scientific Atlanta ones are always a little cheaper than the Motorola. On the flipside, the Scientific Atlanta set tops are much more powerful.

Here's what I like most about the SA boxes (I've used SA SARA, SA Passport, and Motorola I-Guide.)

1. SA HD and DVR's allow for Native HD Resolution Pass through. 1080i channels can come over in 1080i. 720p channels can come over in 720p -- all without powering the box off and going into a menu screen every time you want to change the resolution. The Moto only lets you pick ONE HD resolution.. not both. IE) Convert all 720p channels to 1080i, or convert all 1080i channels to 720p. This triple conversion does loose quality... I've checked and 720p looks better on ESPN,Fox,ABC,etc.. while 1080i looks much crisper on CBS,Discovery,NBC,etc.. So on my TV my box is doing this:

Looks Soft and lost detail (Triple Conversion):
720p channel > Converted to 1080i > Converted to 768p at PDP

Looks really sharp and clear:
1080i channel > Passed through > Converted to 768p at PDP

or when set to 720P...
Looks Really sharp and clear:
720p channel > Passed through > Converted to 768p at PDP

Looks soft and lost detail (Triple Conversion):
1080i channel > Converted to 720p> Converted to 768p at PDP

Even DirecTV, Dish Network, and PACE set top boxes have multiple resolution selections available, allowing you to send the proper broadcasted format to your HDTV, without being touched. I, along with others have been posting this issue with Motorola boxes for well over a year now. I'm surprise no higher ups at various MSO's or even Motorola themselves haven't found these posts on these types of sites, or even through Google searches. The best thing a company can do (Comcast or even Motorola) is to scour the internet and get REAL WORLD user opinions, wishes and complaints. It only can better their products.

2. SA boxes just seem much faster than Motorola's. Not sure if it's because of the different CPU (Dual CPU's) and RAM, or if it's just easier to program for, since the PowerTV OS is heavily documented. My Motorola 6412 constantly freezes when navigating the controls. You have to sit there and wait for it to unfreeze all the time. Remote commands constantly get 'queued' up and executed all at once causing undesirable effects. I haven't heard this issue with SA boxes, and I never experienced it myself.

3. SA boxes support interactive applications. I've seen true Multi-Room DVR, iSubscribe (change services without even talking to a CSR), GAMES (even multiplayer games such as Texas Hold'em poker with other digital cable subscribers), Caller ID on TV, Interactive television, Guided remote control programming, etc. SA has all of this way before Motorola. In fact I've yet to see anything interactive on a Motorola box except for FIOS and Passport DCT 3.0.

4. SA boxes support Picture in Picture. If there's a dual tuner, and both tuners are not recording, might as well give customers this feature. Currently I am limited to analog PIP via my Samsung plasma TV, but many people don't have that ability on their TV, or they would like to have digital channel access in the PIP window.

5. SA boxes have a smaller footprint, therefore take up less room on a shelf or TV stand. I've always liked the fact that the SA boxes aren't as wide as the Motorola's. It's a nice neat little package.

6. SA has been in the cable business for many years. SA has more experience in real world CATV than Motorola. Granted Motorola acquired General Instruments, but SA gear was always superior. Even when I had an SA 8600X interactive analog box... it was way ahead of the General Instruments/Jerrold DPPV analog set tops. Seems like SA is just a few years ahead. Now with networking extraordinaries Cisco purchasing SA, we can expect some great interoperability patents from Cisco making their way into future products.

7. Even the SA SD set top boxes have an S-Video output! It's quite a gamble to get an SD Motorola box with an S-Video port, infact your odds are very slim (at least in the few different Moto cable companies around my area). Let's face it, S-Video is much better than Composite video! My DCT-700 in the bedroom can't use my Toshiba's S-Video port because it doesn't have one! The colors just seem washed out as opposed to when I had a DVR connected to that SD TV. No, I'm not going to pay extra for an HD box just for S-Video for an SDTV. S-Video should be standard, and at least SA got it right.

8. SA boxes have much more thorough diagnostic menus than the Motorola's. This extra information greatly assists cable operators and tech savy people into troubleshooting signal levels, and force tuning by source ID, QAM, PID, etc..

9. SA DVR's allow the user to attach an external SATA hard drive to expand the DVR recording space. It's simple to use and it JUST WORKS. PACE boxes have this ability too. What's up Motorola, need to hire someone to help get this working?

I've just been much more impressed with the SA boxes. From the smaller footprint, better looking box with green LED, and feature packed interactive guides. I've had fun playing games on them, I've enjoyed the cool guide animations (fade in's, out's, slides, zooms, etc..) and even sounds that are emitted from the box. Simple features such as S-Video and Digital audio output on SD Boxes are the icing to the cake. Last but not least native HD resolution ability is included along with a nice HDTV setup wizard is great for videophiles like myself who want to get the most out of their expensive flat panel HDTV's.

If you want an example of interactive programs on SA boxes, head over to Cablevision's site and check out their iO games, caller ID on screen and interactive mosaic channels. Head over to Time Warner or Brighthouse's site and check out their caller ID on screen, interactive channels (pull up sports scores, play fantasy football, card games and more).

SA is the way to go, and Motorola has been nothing but an utter disappointment. I only hope that there's some hidden potential in the Motorola set tops that can be unleashed with some talented programmers and new feature rich creative user interfaces. Perhaps the Gemstar I-Guide is the limiting factor? The Comcast/Tivo doesn't seem to be fairing too well either though... 3-5 minutes to set a series recording? Come on! Hopefully someone hacks the crap out of the Motorola box and firmware, and replaces it with something much easer to program for, and much more feature rich with better performance. Perhaps they are just underpowered though. Not sure how the Broadcom CPU stacks up against a RISC based PowerPC in the SA in a head to head computational battle. Ever use a DCT-2000? God that is just a horribly slow system to use. To think the Tan guide was even slower. Wow, we've come a long way. Let's hope they improve these things in the next few months.

If Comcast had a dual platform CA system here and I had the choice... I would pick up an SA DVR hands down, no questions asked. I know Comcast will never go this route though. But if Verizon FIOS TV became available, I would seriously consider switching because their guide looks so much more visually appealing, along with more features (widgets, games, multi room DVR, PC Media center connections, etc.)