| reply to Catch228
Re: Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 You indeed can watch the beginning of the show while it's recording the end. A good thing to do is to start recording, or to automatically have it start recording at the beginning of the show, and tune in 8 minutes late for a 30 minute program and 16 minutes late for a 60 minute program. That way you can fast forward through all the commercials.
This hardware isn't polished. It is slow, and quirky. But for the most part, it's done what it's advertised. There are just a few caveats: If you schedule two shows to be recorded at the same time, you need to be on one of those two channels when the second starts recording. It'll automatically record one scheduled show in the background if you are on another channel, but if you are already recording one, and you are viewing another, and you want to record yet another, you would need 3 tuners. Unfortunately, I have found that it doesn't zoom you over to one of the two channels scheduled for recording.
Season pass: poorly implemented. You can only schedule all episodes that can presently be seen by the guide. So, 7 days ahead. Don't expect to be able to go on a 3 week vacation and have it record all your shows.
Timing: The clock is set by the network, but I find that not all TV networks are synced. When you record, you should probably manually give it 2 minutes of buffer before, and possibly a minute of buffer before. After isn't so important, because most shows have credits, or break for commercials, and then come back with the credits. But a lot of shows start right at 00:00, so if your recorder turns on at 00:30, you've missed 30 seconds that won't be recorded. The dual tuner is nice for this. Tuesday nights on Fox at 9pm is 24... at 10pm is The Shield on FX, and at 11pm (on my local Fox affiliate) is The Simpsons. I like to record all of them, so I record from 8:59 to 10:01 on Fox, 9:59 to 11:01 on FX, and 10:59 to 11:31 on Fox. There are overlaps, but show 1 is recorded by tuner 1, show 2 by tuner 2, and show 3 by tuner 1. As long as you don't have a triple overlap, you should be fine.j |
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| Thanks for the info. I have finally gotten a unit myself. Hopefully some of the convenience issues can be addressed with firmware upgrades. The dual tunners is great. I love the flexibility. The way programs that have been recored are listed is also very good. I like the interface.
Video quality on fast motion is not as good as the TiVo though. Also, the TiVo will back up a bit automatically after a fast forward. This is nice since you almost always fast forward partially into the program.
While the unit is recording, how do you automatically view the beginning without having to rewind manually?
Thanks,
Jeff |
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| Does anyone know when Time Warner plans on offering the DVR service in New York City? |
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| reply to MarkJaquith
Does anyone know how to record something just once per week? The two options I have w/ my SA8000Exp are "record once" and "record always" this leaves me with either setting up recording of, say, South Park, every week to get the 10:00pm Wednesday show, or around 7 episodes recorded w/ 9:30pm shows and 12:00am shows recorded too.
Thanks,
Dukie1993 |
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| This is my message to Cox and the response I received:
Dear Mr. Hancock:
Thank you for contacting our Cox Northern Virginia Online Customer Care
Team.
Unfortunately, that is one limitation of the DVR service. If you select the 'record always' option it will tape ever occurrence of the desired show. Please be assured, we are aware of this issue and will hopefully have an upgrade available soon to correct this problem.
If you need additional information on other Cox products or services, please visit our web site at »www.cox.com/fairfax.
We hope that we have been able to provide you with the information you requested. If we have not, or if we can be of any additional service to you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
My name is Kris
Thank you for choosing Cox Communications!
Sincerely,
The Cox Northern Virginia Online Customer Care Team
Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
Form Message
subject: Technical Support
detail: Cox Cable
UserID: dukie1993
Comments: Is it possible to record something just once per week with the new DVR? The two options I have w/ my SA 8000 Explorer are "record once" and "record always" this leaves me with either setting up recording of, say, South Park, every week to get the 10:00pm Wednesday show, or around
7 episodes recorded w/ 9:30pm shows and 12:00am shows recorded too.
submit: Submit Questions |
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| Just got this box today, and I can pick any combination of days I want the recording to take place. You must have old software. |
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| So you have more than just record once and record always. Does yours say, record wednesdays at 9pm, or record wednesdays, or this timeslot, or what? |
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| Speaking of the USB port on the Explorer 8000...for my computer, I have a Microsoft Wireless Desktop (Keyboard and Mouse) I connected the USB receiver to the 8000, and it powered off, and powered back on with a message saying..."External Programming Keypad Connected" "Enter Programming Access Code" it has a box that you enter the code into with the keyboard. So far, no luck in entering the code correctly, but it will allow you to enter it as many times as you like. The box looks like it holds about 10 digits. When I removed the USB receiver, the box powered off and back on to normal mode. Anybody know anything on this one?
Steven |
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vsg
join:2003-05-09
Charlotte, NC | reply to dukie1993
I've got my Explorer from Time Warner Carolina. Looks like they have newer software.
In Series Recording (their 'Season Pass', press 'List' then 'C' on remote to get there) you have multiple recording options:
- record 'New Episodes' or 'All episodes'
- record show on 'All channels' or a specific one
- record 'All times' or a specific one
- record on particular day of week, weekends or workdays
"Don't expect to be able to go on a 3 week vacation and have it record all your shows."
This is not true. It will record all shows from now on until you cancel series recording. It'll display the episodes to be recorded in 'Scheduled recordings' only for the next several days. But every time the IPG data is updated, next episodes are added to the schedule automatically. |
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vsg
join:2003-05-09
Charlotte, NC | reply to Catch228
To get to the beginning of the video being recorded without rewinding go to the list of records. Then select the show (with a red mark next to it indicating it's still recording) and hit 'Play' button.
Another trick to resume a show from the middle without rewinding. If you watched some record for a while and want to finish viewing it later, don't stop it using 'Stop' button. Instead switch to a different channel. Then if you go to the list of recordings and select this show again, you will have an option to 'Resume playback' from the moment you switched to diff. channel.
About the video quality. I don't care much about fast motion, but the recording quality could be better. I would like a 'quality' option added to the recording settings. Something like 'Standard', 'LP' or 'SLP'.  |
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 ChizepPremium
join:2002-04-07
Concord, NC | Hello vsg  ! Welcome to BroadBandReports.com!
You and I are neighbors. I live in neighboring Concord, NC and am very curious about the TW PVR. I've already got digital cable and am pretty happy with it.
How long have you had your PVR? Has it crashed any? I know channel tuning is a little bit slower than the Explorer 2100 boxes (what I have now.)
I'm curious to hear from someone who lives near me and is on the same cable system and I presume would have the same equipment. |
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| reply to vsg
N.C. user here also. I've had the Explorer for about a week now and I've been using the heck out of it. I love it even though I've had a few problems with it so far. Like just a minute ago I went to check on a show it recorded and for some reason it only recorded the first minute of the show. A few days ago it only recorded 20 minutes of a 30 minute show. I can't figure that one out.
Also is anyone having the problem of it NOT recording "first-run" eps only when it's set to do just that? |
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vsg
join:2003-05-09
Charlotte, NC | reply to Chizep
I've had it for a half a month. Have not crashed on me yet. Sometimes it freezes for a second or two when switching from recording to live TV. But I don't mind it.
Channel tuning is even slower than my old digital box. One reason is that it always records current channel to support rewind/repeat (I am a little worried about constantly working hard drive J). So every time the channel is changed it has to remove old file and start a new one. But I don't usually surf channels, instead I surf IPG, which is fast enough.
Haven't had any problems with recording yet, i.e. all my programs (including first run episodes) were successfully recorded.
Overall it's worth trying. It takes five minutes to exchange the old cable box to a DVR in TW office. |
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| reply to shogun77
First run not working for me either. TW EC says they are looking into it. |
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| reply to shogun77
Same problem here. ALso would like to know how to record multiple shows from different channels concurrently while beeing able to start each show 2 minutes early and end it two minutes from end time.
THanks for your comments and help |
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ChizepPremium
join:2002-04-07
Concord, NC | Ok then. I think I'm going to patiently wait for them to work out the bugs! That's what I needed to hear. Thanks fellas (and/or ladies.) |
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| reply to MarkJaquith
That's silly. I have one of these, and YES you CAN program it and be gone for three weeks. As soon as more guide data comes down, it is evaluated against the "season passes" you have chosen and your programs are marked to record. It works just fine....calm down. |
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| I have TiVo and got the 8000 from Oceanic here in Hawaii and I am torn. On one hand, I love being able to record more than one thing, but has anyone noticed that if you go to watch something that has started recording but hasn't finished and you get forwarded to the current live view? Do you really have to rewind ALL THE WAY back to the beginning? I can't seem to figure out jumping back to the beginning like TiVo does....
At any rate, TiVo definitely wins the usability contest! |
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| Here are a couple of interesting features available on my Explorer 8000 and TW Cable. Tune the Explorer 8000 to channel 611 and scroll down to DVR AVFS page to see free space on hard drive. To activate digital audio on channels not normally providing digital audio press the instant replay then live key. Digital audio continues until channel is changed. |
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| reply to Chizep
I live in Durham, NC.. I have had the 8000 for 2 weeks.. It does tune slow, and the record qual is not top notch, but it works like they say, I'm happy with it. |
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