rich_is_bored
@rr.com
| reply to wetwillys
Re: Transfer to computer
It's currently not possible to copy the files saved to the DVR to your computer. It may be possible in the future though.
When you push and hold select and info on the face of the box a statistics screen will appear. One clue you can pull from this screen is the hard drive has two partitions. The larger one is in a file system called AVFS and it's most likely that this is where the movies are stored.
If you do a little research on the net you can pull up this page, which is a list of partition identifiers. There appears to be a match...
quote:
e0 Reserved by STMicroelectronics for a filesystem called ST AVFS.
I'm not sure if the AVFS project on sourceforge is related to the file system in question. Hopefully it is but in any case it's a matter of determining the structure of this file system and creating a program or driver that would allow you to mount a partition of this type before copying the files would be possible.
The question then is would the files be encrypted?
At the moment the only way to "copy" the files to your computer is to capture them using a video capture card which will degrade the quality of the movies quite a bit.
You can use the aux RCA jacks in conjunction with the picture in picture screen to perform the captures and retain use of the cable box to watch other programs. The aux jacks will output full screen video and audio for whatever is displayed in the picture in picture box.
However if the PIP display is left unattended for an hour it will disappear and the aux signal will drop. You will also lose signal if you otherwise remove the PIP display from view. Perhaps you can workaround this issue by moving the PIP box to different corners of the screen every 45 minutes?
At any rate the best method is to use the standard output jacks to capture the video. The only problem with this method is you are forced to watch the video on your computer screen and you must sit through the entire capture. |
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phough
join:2004-02-24
Lorton, VA
|  reply to allenke
Leap Year Issues???
I noticed last night that the DVR was not longer recording. I contacted my cable company and they stated there is a software flaw causing the DVR to not recognize leap year and there is no estimated time for a fix. To make things worse, about every 5-10 minutes of watching the box crashes and reboots.:( Has anybody else seen or been told this by their provider? Thank you. |
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allenke
join:2003-08-09
Oceanside, CA |  the same thing here in san diego ca. I had the box reboot 4 time and get the updates the told me that it would take 5 days to fix. but every thing is back to normal.
. |
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gartonhill
join:2004-02-24
Arlington, VA
| I started noticing the same problem too on Monday. I am in Arlington VA on comcast. Guessed it was something to with the first leap year in the new millennium. After rebooting and reformatting the hard drive I managed to get the box to record live programs only. Any attempt at using the program guide makes the box hang and then eventually reboot after 5 minutes or so. What's the chance Comcast will credit me for the time it takes them and sciatl to get this fixed. Must be very embarasing given they now have 260,000 of these in the street.  |
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gartonhill
join:2004-02-24
Arlington, VA | Comcast support report that all Explorer 8000 DVRs in Arlington/Alexandria VA area are broken. A software patch is expected to be downloaded overnight tonight. We shall see. |
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saber11
Check Six
Premium
join:2000-06-09
Clayton, OH
| reply to gartonhill
I posted this over in the cable/satellite forum:
I got it in my email a couple days ago.
As you may or may not be aware, we have a leap year issue affecting the DVR Digital Home Communications Terminal (DHCT), the SA Explorer 8000. If you look at the Interactive Program Guide (IPG) on the DVR you'll notice February 29th is missing, the IPG skips from February 28th to March 1st. This problem is specific to Pioneer's Echo software which runs on this model of DHCT. Pioneer has identified the cause and provided us with a new release of Echo to correct the issue. We will down load this new release to the SA Explorer 8000 DHCT's early tomorrow morning. This is the only manufacturer and model of DHCT that will be affected by this change.
The warehouses should place a number of SA Explorer 8000 DHCT's on their test/staging benches at the end of business today. Any SA Explorer 8000 connected to our network after tomorrow morning will take about five minutes to load the new release of Echo.
Just a point of interest, Pioneer Passport sites got off easy. The SA Explorer 8000 will not currently record any programming at SA SARA sites because of the leap year issue.
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I know what I know, and that's about it. |
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rogerscableuser
@istop.com
| reply to gartonhill
I'm in Ottawa, Ontario (Rogers), and the recent software update (25 Feb) also affected my Explorer 8000. First noticed that the box hadn't recorded anything on the 25th, then that the my 'programs to record' list had gone from 12 to 2 programs... Now although I can watch TV when I try and record anything I get a very long pause (around 1 minute) followed by a reboot... |
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saber11
Check Six
Premium
join:2000-06-09
Clayton, OH | Sounds like you need to swap the box for a new one.
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I know what I know, and that's about it. |
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dlevens
join:2003-12-31
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
| 160GB Maxtor Hard Drive
I got one of the new 160GB models but it appears you don't get to use all 160GB? Can anyone make heads or tails of this info?
Model: Maxtor 4R080L0
FILE SYSTEMS
ITFS
Size: 2097152
Capacity: 1048576
Cluster Size: 2
Free Space: 1026022
Bad Blocks: 0
AVFS
Size: 155889600
Capacity: 33168
Cluster Size: 4700
Free Space: 28163
Bad Blocks:
Software Versions
PTV OS: Fri Feb 20 2004 12:12:06 AM PST v6.0.9sp (11)
Flash: Fri Feb 20 2004 4:46:05 PM EST v1.82.1a35s9 (35) pe
App(s): wink v4.0.35.9
SARA v1.82.1.a35
CPU/Bus: 164/90
Ev Pool: 797
MEMORY
System Heap
Total: 29239296
Free: 19823400
Largest: 18509092
Chunks: InUse=20 Free=4
SARA Heap
Total: 716800
Free: 423016
Largest: 403444
Video Heap
Total: 3672064
Free: 1905024
Largest: 971772 |
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mike_san_diego
@rr.com
| From your Maxtor Model 4R080LO, it appears you have the same 80 GB hard drive as the rest of us... 
The 80 buried in the middle of the model number is the size. What made you think it was 160 GB? |
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dlevens
join:2003-12-31
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
| It is 160GB. I confirmed it here:
»www.maxtor.com/en/support/produc···ndex.htm
and also just look at:
AVFS
Size: 155889600
But that is beside the point as even if it was an 80GB it appears from "Capacity: 33168" that it is not even using 80GB.
Dennis |
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kloogee
@fuse.net
| "But that is beside the point as even if it was an 80GB it appears from "Capacity: 33168" that it is not even using 80GB." I disagree, I would say that it is using it all.
Size = Capacity * Cluster Size
155889600 = 33168 * 4700
------------------
Size: 155889600
Capacity: 33168
Cluster Size: 4700 |
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dlevens
join:2003-12-31
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Interesting. I missed that. So would you agree that the drive is using a full 160GB? Seems like I can record close to 60 hours if that is the case.
Dennis |
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mike_san_diego
@rr.com
|  Like I said, you have an 80 GB hard drive, just like the rest of us. You need to dig a little deeper into the website you supplied to find that your model number, Maxtor 4R080L0, with 80 in the middle is an 80 GB hard drive. See
»www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/···pecs.pdf. The 4R160LO is the 160 GB model. Note the 160 in the model number.
Let us know if and when you ever get a real 160 GB hard drive in an SA8000.
The 80GB model holds between 30 and 45 hours depending upon the channels recorded. All digital channels take up less than analog channels, which must be digitized by the box in a less efficient format than Time Warner digitizing at the head end. Most likely, the largest capacity recognizable by the Linux operating system would be 137 GB, like with the TiVo, regardless of the size of the drive above that put into the unit. |
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dlevens
join:2003-12-31
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
| That makes sense now. It appears the maxtor website is screwed up, cause when you select the 4R080L0 it shows you the 160gb drive. Also what threw me off was the cycles since on an 80GB drive is is 158,000,000 making you think that is size i.e. 158GB.
Thanks for clearing it up. 80GB is plenty for me anyway since I typically have stored around 16 hours of recordings.
Dennis |
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mike_san_diego
@rr.com
| Happy to be of service.
Actually the Maxtor website works just fine. It's the user. You have to carefully read the fine print. A search under 4R080L0 brings up multiple options, all of which clearly state "Capacities of UP TO 160 GB" [emphasis added]. The links all then take you to pages, where the various capacities are to be found, based upon your specific model number of that type of drive.
What threw me about your post originally is that in July of 2003 Time Warner claimed an HDTV version of the SA8000 was soon to be available with a larger hard drive. It has yet to materialize. A call to them yesterday revealed they have no knowledge of any larger hard drives than the 80 GB being available now or in the near future.
Don't rely on the device not to erase expired recordings unless they are needed for a show to be recorded, like a TiVo manages to do. The SA8000 has a VERY aggressive deletion algorithm which wants to keep upwards of around 10 to 15 GB of free space at all times, whether it is needed or not, and will delete recordings (unless marked keep until delete) at will to maintain it. If you mark everything Keep Until Delete, it simply won't record anything more, or starts deleting shows immediately after recording them. Pretty dumb box.
Press and hold the PLUS key and EXIT key at the same time on the box (NOT on the remote) until you get a "BONG" sound and "diag" appears in the display. Then select channel 611 and scroll down to "DVR AVFS" to see your available hard drive space under the label "AV Free Space". "AV Capacity" and "AV size" on the same screen will show your audio video partition size which should read 74.3 GB each, again proving that you have an 80 GB drive. To get out of it, press the LAST button on the remote to be returned to your channel in the buffer. You can toggle back and forth at will, once you have it set up, with the LAST button. However, if the box shuts off, you will need to repeat the procedure.
Happy DVR'ing and when you get frustrated with this device's buggy software, supplement it with a TiVo which works the way this box should, with a much more comprehensive guide so you don't record shows you have already seen because of a lack of detail, and catch all the ones you haven't and manage to keep all you have recorded and even know WHY things didn't or won't happen as you expected with a Recording History file! »www.tivo.com
I have 3 SA8000's and 3 TiVo's. The TiVo's actually work better with the regular digital box (which saves $10 a month), as that way you never record a whole show with a DVR error message plastered over the entire screen about shows the SA8000 doesn't have space to record! |
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dlevens
join:2003-12-31
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
| Your + exit trick works but you have to press info on the box after to see the info on a SARA box. You must have the other software. 611 brings up nothing as the channel does not exist, nor does 211, 311 all the way through. But as soon as I press info I get the 22 pages of text.
Dennis |
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vragecolumbusrrcom
@rr.com
| interestingly i was just messing with my 8000.... i found 3 channels of interest.... 841.... weird pioneer echo stuff, 842 -- that big menu thing with all the information, and, 825 which is labelled by time warner as VIDEOCONF and is a black screen with static.... i think later today i'm going to run an ethernet cable down to the box and fire up a dhcp server on one of my linux boxes see what i can earn from a little nmap-action ;] anyone have an idea about what VIDEOCONF is for? if these things have cameras unbeknownst to us then i will be both scared and outraged ;] |
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vragecolumbusrrcom
@rr.com | also, i found this page VERY interesting....
»www.scientificatlanta.com/custom···4400.pdf |
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MapleGuy
join:2004-02-06
Maple Heights, OH | reply to JeffWilson
Re: Adelphia's DVR (Digital Video Recorder) Statio
I have a theory.
The F1 and F2 buttons are for the Firewire ports. That might trigger something. I dont know anything though.
There are 2 Firewires and there are F1 and F2. |
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