Time Warner HD DVR

Tim Jin · 10-24-2004, 11:02 AM

Time Warner has a HD DVR out. It actually works. The HD recording is very clean.

Has anyone else tried it?

When are they going to release a firmware to fix the bugs?

Keith Plucker · 11-03-2004, 08:04 PM

I was just notified that they are now available in Torrance. I will probably pick one up tomorrow.

I am interested in any bugs you discovered. Could you give a brief list of any that come to mind?

Thanks,
Keith

Tim Jin · 11-03-2004, 08:14 PM

There are a lot of bugs, but the recent one that I had is the series recording. I had to redo my shows to record in a daily/weekly basis.

Overall, it does the job, but nowhere close to a Tivo.

The SA8000HD does the job.

Tim Jin · 11-03-2004, 09:04 PM

Yahoo Groups has a pretty active listserv on the SA8000HD. Try searching for "explorer_8000".

Keith Plucker · 11-03-2004, 10:56 PM

Thanks Tim I signed up for the yahoo group. I also discovered there was a Hidef PVR section over on AVS that had some good information. Apparently TW is starting to roll our a new model, the 8300. I am not sure what they are offering in Torrance yet but I will report back.

-Keith

**HTF Ads**

Tim Jin · 11-03-2004, 11:05 PM

During the first quarter next year, Time Warner is going to offer another HD DVR box from Pioneer. That is what they told me when I called.

Keith Plucker · 11-04-2004, 09:19 PM

Well, I went in today and tried to pick up a unit. They wouldn't do it. I was told the setup process is too complex so they require an installer to come out. The person I spoke with said when they rolled out the boxes on the east coast, 90% of the people couldn't get it working correctly. This required a repair tech to go out and since repair techs are more expensive than installers, they decided to require installation by a TW tech.

After my eyes rolled back to their correct position, I asked what model the unit was, he didn't know. He also didn't know if it had DVI/HDMI out. Well, at least I got the first 3 months free. The install is scheduled for the 13th.

-Keith

Tim Jin · 11-04-2004, 10:17 PM

Quote:

After my eyes rolled back to their correct position, I asked what model the unit was, he didn't know. He also didn't know if it had DVI/HDMI out.

They also told me the same thing. It's just a box swap, easy as that. I don't know what is the big deal. Whatever...

The SA8000HD has DVI out, but the port isn't enable yet. The only useful ports are, component and the audio. The s video port is pretty worthless because the box doesn't output in 480i at the same time as HD. You can set the box to output in standard def via s video, but you have to switch the box to do SD and than back to HD for high def.

Ken Chui · 11-05-2004, 01:09 PM

Quote:

It's just a box swap, easy as that. I don't know what is the big deal.

Swapping wasn't the hard part; getting the HD service activated was. It took two days of phone calls to set things straight with TW; with everything in order, I'm mostly satisfied. Still no ABC or FOX in HD (apparently TW is still in negotiations with both), but I do receive 120+ additional digital channels and my cable bill was also lowered by $6 per month.

It would be nice if the HDMI port was made active eventually, for no other reason than to free up one of my component inputs.

Tim Jin · 11-05-2004, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Still no ABC or FOX in HD (apparently TW is still in negotiations with both)

Really?? I didn't know that Time Warner were negotiating with ABC and Fox. I still get both of them.

How long has this been going on? I haven't read anything with Time Warner and the networks.

Back to the HD DVR bugs. If you are going to use it in your bedroom, I would think twice because you can hear the hard drive ticking in a quiet room. It's much more annoying than a wall clock ticking through the night.

Picture in Picture is nice, but I've only used it once. It does the job, but its glitchy and I much rather prefer recording a show and watching another.

With the dual tuners, you can record two different shows at the same time or you can record one show and be channel surfing, which is nice.

If you have more than a handful of shows that has been previously recorded, it is very hard to manage. I wish that the software would divide each show in their own folder or directory.

The program guide is not always correct. Often times, if a show goes over its time frame or start a few minute earlier, the DVR won't catch it. So, if you don't manually set the recording to start 1-10 minutes sooner, you will miss the beginning. If you don't set the DVR to record 1 minute to 2 hours longer, you may miss the ending.

This is not a problem if you only watch regular channels, but its a problem when you want to record a show on HBO.

The box has like a 1 hour buffer. In a way, it is constantly recording. For example, you are watching a show like ER of the live feed, and you were 40 minutes into it, but something happened that you miss the last 20 minutes. You can tell the DVR to record that show and it will capture whatever it has in its buffer and record the rest. Or rewind and watch the buffer.

Flipping through channels is not smooth. Its jumpy. When you turn to an HD channel and back to a SD channel, it takes a second of two for the picture to adjust.

It is very much like a Tivo, but not as user friendly.