DVR Chatter

That was one of my biggest peeves about the 6412, which I used for more than a year.   Every time I had a momentary blip in the power, the box lost all the guide info, then took 2 days to rebuild it.  Often the box would lose the guide info own its own, randomly.  Every once in a while it would finally get to 2 weeks worth of data, then would lose it again within a day or two.  Tried getting another box, but had the same problems.....until the box simply powered off on its own, and never would start again.  That was the final straw (all the other numerous dislikes notwithstanding) and I got rid of the Comcast dvr for good.

ghoofie wrote:

My guide is doing the same thing since they added OnDemand and bunch of new channels. I used to be pretty close to two solid weeks out, but as G Guy says, it took a long time to re-load. Now I'm lucky if I have a full week.   And then it's spotty after that.   It's Comcastic.

Mine also got the full two-weeks at one point, then, the next morning, it was gone.  How can Comcast say that you'll get a two-week guide, when you don't?  I dropped TiVO for this?

The 2nd week issue has been around for awhile, and appears to be getting worse with the newer software and as more channels are added.

The best guess is a lack of memory. It starts to fill in for awhile, but then memory is reallocated for something else, and it disappears. I wrote this up in the Wikibook, under the bugs section (one hellishly long link!!)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use … nounced.22

From the diagnostics, my 6412P2 appears to have 128M.

What's a 32xx?  If it's a single tuner 34xx, who wants that?

Also, I noticed that the TBA issue with titles may be fixed, at least by me. This Friday evening, I noticed that titles were complete for the full 2 weeks. Even this morning, they pretty much were, except for the very last day, and that has filled in by the afternoon. As far as I can tell, it was NOT rebooted, as my menus were still defaulting to where I had last opened them.

I'm guessing they either reformatted the Guide data a bit, reduced it's memory footprint, or sent some configuration change (maybe reserving more memory?) The box also seems to be more responsive than before.

Wareagle wrote:

andyross wrote:

Wareagle wrote:

What's a 32xx?  If it's a single tuner 34xx, who wants that?

The 3208 is an SD version of the 34xx/64xx series. It will record HD, but can only output SD. At least it has S-Video out for a better picture.

Single tuner?  8GB?  Ugh!   

Think it's 80GB, as a 6412 is 120 and not 12.  I'm not sure it's single-tuner, either.

Frank wrote:

Wareagle wrote:

andyross wrote:

The 3208 is an SD version of the 34xx/64xx series. It will record HD, but can only output SD. At least it has S-Video out for a better picture.

Single tuner?  8GB?  Ugh!   

Think it's 80GB, as a 6412 is 120 and not 12.  I'm not sure it's single-tuner, either.

I meant to type 80.  (8...80...both unacceptable.)  And the Motorola numbering system would indicate it's single tuner.  I can't find anything about it online.  I found a 6208 that's a single tuner: http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/

Minor correction: The SD only-DVR is the 3080, not 3280. The official Motorola page is here:
http://broadband.motorola.com/business/ … settop.asp

It has no digital video outputs, either. Just composite/S-Video/RF. It does have SPDIF/optical audio out.

80G seems small, but since it's not designed for HD, it is more than enough. That is around 80 hours of SD. It does appear to have two tuners.

DCT3080 "All-Digital" Set-Top
The Motorola DCT3080 all-digital set-top combines the extraordinary features of digital cable with dual-tuner, all-digital video recording (DVR) for watch-and-record capability. The DCT3080 supports standard definition output only, and it does not support tuning analog channels on the cable plant. This all-digital DVR SD set-top rounds out Motorola's all-digital portfolio by meeting a service provider's All-Digital Simulcast (ADS) requirements.

Convenience Features

    * Maintain a personal library of recorded programming
    * Records hours of Standard Definition, Enhanced Definition and High Definition programming. (Please note: HD recorded programming will be stored on the hard drive as HD, but output as SD.)
    * Pause and shift live TV programming
    * Schedule multiple recordings through the Interactive Program Guide (IPG)
    * Watch two programs and switch between them
    * Record one program while watching another
    * Record two programs at the same time
    * Watch a recorded program while recording two other programs
    * Full range of industry-standard outputs for video, audio, and data applications
    * Unswitched accessory AC outlet


Performance Features

    * Supports Standard-Definition (SD)
    * Enhanced-Definition (ED), and High-Definition inputs, creating a Standard Definition only output
    * Dolby® Digital and stereo audio output
    * Digital Video Recording (DVR) services
    * Supports Video-on-Demand (VoD) programming
    * SATA connector for additional DVR capacity with an external hard drive
    * Built-in DOCSIS® cable modem for high speed connections
    * On-screen diagnostics
    * Full feature access from front panel

None of us HD folks would give a hoot about something that outputs only sd, but storage-wise, it does have a SATA connector for additional DVR capacity with an external hard drive.  Deals on sata drives are all over the place nowadays. I got a Seagate 500gig sata drive the other day at Fry's for $119.00, using it mainly for storage for, uh, imported mpg files on my computer, for transfer to my Tivo.  To attach an sata drive to the dvr, you would just have to get an external enclosure.

Georgia Guy wrote:

I got a Seagate 500gig sata drive the other day at Fry's for $119.00, using it mainly for storage for, uh, imported mpg files on my computer, for transfer to my Tivo.

Not to veer too far off the topic here, but:

Series3?  Does this work?  I was under the impression that your first connection of the SATA to the TiVo automatically "blessed" it, formatting it for TiVo and rendering it inoperable when connected to other devices (i.e. the PC).

If you got this to work, I'll friggin' create a Series 3 TiVo forum on this site right now so we can discuss it. My main gripe with the S3 is not the lack of Tivo To Go (getting shows off the TiVo) but TiVo Come Back (shows from the PC to the TiVo).  If I can do that, my TV watching life will be complete.

Frank wrote:

Georgia Guy wrote:

I got a Seagate 500gig sata drive the other day at Fry's for $119.00, using it mainly for storage for, uh, imported mpg files on my computer, for transfer to my Tivo.

Not to veer too far off the topic here, but:

Series3?  Does this work?  I was under the impression that your first connection of the SATA to the TiVo automatically "blessed" it, formatting it for TiVo and rendering it inoperable when connected to other devices (i.e. the PC).

If you got this to work, I'll friggin' create a Series 3 TiVo forum on this site right now so we can discuss it. My main gripe with the S3 is not the lack of Tivo To Go (getting shows off the TiVo) but TiVo Come Back (shows from the PC to the TiVo).  If I can do that, my TV watching life will be complete.

Sorry if I wasn't too clear about that.  No, the S3 won't do transfers yet. I hope it will someday.   The S3 only lets you add huge storage by attaching an external drive, but, as you said, it is "blessed" and can't be used in any other way, for now.

It is possible to use a big drive attached to a computer, and to use a dvd player attached to a tv card to copy stuff onto the drive to mpg, then transfer it to a Tivo S2.  It copies in widescreen and quality is equal to an original commercial dvd, even when played back via Tivo.  So its possible to have a large library to watch whenever one wants.  Also it can be copied onto a laptop for watching on the road.
There is a little black box that one can run the video thru before it gets to the tv card, (which lets the Tivo allow it as a transfer), removing any "problems" as it is copied to the drive.

I expect that the S3 will eventually allow this too, but for now the S2 provides a beautiful dvd-quality picture, with the convenience of a large library that resides on a computer drive. A library that consists of anything you might want.

You have probably already seen something like this yourself.

Wareagle wrote:

I don't understand why the 3080 would even tune HD channels, just to waste its precious storage and output SD.  Why would anyone with HD consider it?

Some HD channels (Discovery, some PBS) are not the same as their SD counterparts and may carry different material. Downconverted HD will probably be higher quality than normal digital SD.

Last edited by andyross (07-16-2007 4:29:29 PM)