just wondering it you buy the box, or do you just get the box and pay every month to use dvr and just have a box that stores 80 hours of sd and 20 hours of hd.

12/3/2007 11:42:29 AM

It's a monthly fee and they suck horribly. They gave me 4 different ones (same model -SA8300HDC) that all failed within a few days of being hooked up.

12/3/2007 11:54:28 AM

same price as normal dvr box - like 7 dollas a month?

12/3/2007 11:55:04 AM

I've had 3 different ones of the same model and never had a single problem. The latest 2 I have had for over a year now with no issues. I surely wouldn't say they suck horribly.

12/3/2007 11:55:51 AM

weird, i haven't had any problems with either of the hd dvr's they've given me. 1 was an upgrade...

12/3/2007 11:55:51 AM

Yeah, the boxes aren't great, but they aren't the complete disaster some people on here would have you believe. They recently went through some growing pains with the new cable card boxes, but I think a string of firmware updates have fixed most of those problems. You'll probably still end up going through a box or two before you land one that works right, but once you get all that sorted, they generally do what's asked of them.

12/3/2007 11:59:04 AM

Quote :

"I've had 3 different ones of the same model and never had a single problem. The latest 2 I have had for over a year now with no issues. I surely wouldn't say they suck horribly."

The technician who came out would disagree. He told me that he saw about a 25% failure rate among the ones he was bringing out- due to the fact that most customers don't get new boxes but poorly done refurbs. If you got a new box that is seeing service for the first time your experience would be completely different.

My uncle who works at SA- the people who make the boxes- would also disagree with you. He told me that they've been having massive quality control issues and that the refurbs were particularly bad.

12/3/2007 12:02:04 PM

I mean I never claimed they have a 100% success rate or anything, I'm just saying I've had good luck with them. I just didn't want the only opinion shown to be one of complete disaster. even a 25% failure rate means a 75% success rate, you know.

12/3/2007 12:07:19 PM

Yeah but generally that's considered a product failure. You can only get away with that kind of thing when people don't really have a choice. 25% failure rate of NEW product is pretty fucking disgusting.

12/3/2007 12:10:45 PM

i've had the same one for about two years now with no problem whatsoever

12/3/2007 12:13:46 PM

I've had mine for going on 3 years now. an 8300 for about 2 of those years. no probs at all.

12/3/2007 12:16:16 PM

8300HD=\8300HDC

Two different machines. If you've had it for more than a year now or more than a year ago, you're probably not talking about the same model. The problems are with the 8300HDC not the older 8300HD. New customers will receive an 8300HDC unless they're really lucky.


[Edited on December 3, 2007 at 12:23 PM. Reason : ]

12/3/2007 12:21:50 PM

i have my old 8300hd modified with a 500gig e-sata drive but i don't know if its possible to do anymore.
(i have 30 or more hd movies recorded and still never see hourglasses show up i keep it pretty clean though cause a list of 100+ things gets annoying to scroll through

i am unaware if you can do this to the hdc but i bet avsforum would know

[Edited on December 3, 2007 at 12:25 PM. Reason : .]

12/3/2007 12:24:47 PM

Yeah, we had one of the old boxes and never had a single problem with it. We moved into the new house and got new boxes and they're awful. The tech had trouble setting them up, I overheard him on his phone talking to the main office about what pieces of crap the new boxes were, and we've had multiple problems with our two boxes. We'll call them and they'll 'send a new signal' and it'll work fine for 2 days and then stop working again. We're pretty close to just asking them to swap our boxes out.

12/3/2007 12:27:58 PM

what is the difference between the 8300HD and the 8300HDC? Aside from possible reliability issues, am I missing any features by not having the 8300HDC?

12/3/2007 4:12:44 PM

No, the 8300HDC was a model that was created in accelerated development to meet the deadline to have cable card DVR's. Feet were dragged and it's the result.

12/3/2007 7:40:13 PM

Quote :

"i've had the same one for about two years now with no problem whatsoever"

12/4/2007 1:26:50 AM

Someone told me the TWC HD box only records in 480p, is this true? the recordings don't look quite as good as the live broadcast, but I can't believe it's as low as 480p.

12/4/2007 2:12:44 AM

That isn't true.

12/4/2007 9:26:39 AM

they give you one and you 'rent' it and the service, mine's been flaky on and off, sometimes it works flawlessly for weeks then others it needs to be reset b/c it stops recording (plenty of space on disc left) for some odd reason, or something else gets odd...

Quote :

"Someone told me the TWC HD box only records in 480p, is this true? the recordings don't look quite as good as the live broadcast, but I can't believe it's as low as 480p."

false, recordings are the same as broadcast (digital both ways so why would it degrade?)

records up to 1080i

12/4/2007 11:37:07 AM

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/products/consumers/new_explorer8300HD.htm

That's the DVR we got from TWC when we had digital cable installed about a year ago. Haven't had a single problem with that box.

12/4/2007 11:49:40 AM

If only that were the one they were still using. I asked to have my 8300HDC replaced with an 8300HD and they told me that if I stopped by the service center in cary every day I might be able to "catch one" but that they couldn't reserve or specify a particular model for my replacement. Since the 8300HDC is the current model they're actually buying, that's the only one they had any quantity availible for replacement.

I had used an 8300HD when I lived with my old roommate, and it worked fine of course. It's mostly the cable card ones that suck.

12/4/2007 12:56:12 PM

do you have to pay separate monies for dvr service and a hd digital cable box now, or would renting this one box cover all of that? how much does it cost a month? also, does anyone have the hd suite, and how would you rate it?

12/5/2007 8:47:13 AM

dvr whether it is HD or not is the same price. it was something < $10 last time I got one..

12/5/2007 8:52:55 AM

but i remember long ago i have to pay a monthly fee for dvr, AND when i wanted and hd box (which i got when i got an hdtv, i had to pay more money to get the box. i am just saying if i get this box will i just pay for dvr service and be able to recieve my hd channels without paying an an extra fee?

12/5/2007 8:57:17 AM

hd upgrade is free but i think dvr is something like $8 more per month

12/5/2007 9:08:21 AM

ok, so i pay 8 bucks a month for this box and i can also receive hd channels without paying anything extra?

12/5/2007 9:11:34 AM

yes.

[Edited on December 5, 2007 at 9:25 AM. Reason : only a few HD channels (like local shit and a few others) for a shit ton of HD you do pay more]

12/5/2007 9:24:55 AM

Haha, shit ton? You've got a cable provider who uses switched digital video I'm guessing, because TWC does not offer a shit-ton of HD by an stretch- about 20 if you don't count the SD secondary channels. Luckily for people around here, it's supposed to be active in the Raleigh/Durham area by the end of the year. Then it should expand to about 100 so they can compete with satellite. Right now though, if you're in this area, the TWC HD lineup is pathetic compared to satellite or other markets where cable has SDV up and runnning.

12/5/2007 10:21:44 AM

these are ALL hd channels that twc offers

[Edited on December 5, 2007 at 10:48 AM. Reason : dstfh]

12/5/2007 10:43:26 AM

Wow, I thought it was more than that...ah well.

12/5/2007 10:55:14 AM

Yep, and the on-demand channel is mostly pay-per-view and 2 other channels are premium channels. Also, the on-demand and premium HD channels are listed twice- but they're the same thing.

[Edited on December 5, 2007 at 12:12 PM. Reason : ]

12/5/2007 12:11:34 PM

yeah, i agree they seriously need to up the number of HD channels...

12/7/2007 4:04:14 PM

damnit NO SDV

i want my tivo series3 to keep working

12/7/2007 4:15:06 PM