Official SA 8000HD DVR Users Thread

[Bigdog]

Has anyone noticed an even more grainy picture on the analog channels and tiling/blocking on the digital ones with this HD DVR?  We got it about a week or so ago and have noticed these problems with it. A TW Tech came out and measured the levels at the TV which were (according to the sheet)
02: +13.6;  60: +5;  79: +1.6;  116: -3.4

He said these were "OK" but was going to have their network guys look into it which apparently has not happened or atleast has not improved anything.  Some of the analog channels look worse than an antenna. The tech even brought in his portable 13" TV and could see have grainy it was on it.  Is there something more we can do to improve this terrible picture?

Thanks

[gparris]

Tiling, digital glitches, blocking and a slightly more awful analogue channel picture is what is happening, I did have a tech out already with amp addition and such.

Since we cannot use the S-Video out like the SD DVR on the HD DVR (as I  understand it), the component out does not help with the grainy pictures, only makes it worse.

The solution might be to rent another SD DVR box (shouldn't have returned it) and record from that, re-using my cables and still-set amp and TV inputs from a week or so ago and use that for SD channels and  recording, but that seems a little backwards.:eek:

Anyway, you're not alone!

I have more tiling and pixelation than I ever had with my Pioneer 3510HD box.

Paul S: Keep your box!
Figure out another way to record HD.

[Paul S.]

Originally posted by gparris
Paul S: Keep your box!
Figure out another way to record HD.

I figure setting up a video camera infont of the set during HD stuff will suffice.

[Drummerboy]

I am getting a constant static sound coming out of my sub when using the 8000HD.  I am currently using the coax digital to my receiver.  The static sound is always at the same volume regardless of of what the master volume is set on my receiver.  It may be possible that the static is coming out of all the channels but is most noticable from the sub.  The static will occasionally stop while changing channels.
Anyone else getting this?
I am very sure that this did not occur with the 3100HD I used to have.
I have thought about trying the optical output but don't have the ambition to switch cables around.:rolleyes:

[gb4fan92]

Has anyone else noticed that the stretch zoom or letterbox switching isn't working. I first noticed it yesterday. I tried rebooting the DVR but it didn't help. This is only a problem for me when watching the HD digital channels. Anyone have a solution? Could this of happened with the last upgrade??

[The Law]

Has anyone else noticed that the stretch zoom or letterbox switching isn't working.

Not me.  Absolutely no issues whatsover.  My set did reboot after doing a PIP and holding the scroll button down for several minutes to see how fast I could scroll and if I could time the realease to get the channel I wanted...hehe....I nailed it once - it goes quite fast once it gets going.

Other than that....I must be very lucky - since mine works works wonderfully well.

[Bigdog]

Besides the tiling and blocking and extreme grainyness on the analog channels I have also heard sound drop outs on the digital channels.  The tech that came out was nice but he said it is basically beyond him and so far have not heard anything back from TW about getting this resolved.

[Acrophet]

Is there an ETA on when the DVI output will be working on the SA 8000HD?

[Bigdog]

Does the firewire port on it work?  I beleive my Mits RPTV has a firewire port that I could possibly use.

[Drummerboy]

You would not want to use the firewire port to connect to a monitor.  The primary purpose is for backing up recordings to another recording device (HD-VCR, computer, etc).  I guess the guide does not work through the firewire anyway for other carriers that have the ports enabled.

[J2K]

I got my HD DVR about 10 days ago.  The analog channels, specifically 4,6,12,18 were noticeably worse than with the Pioneer HD box.  I had a tech come out, he ended up rewiring the house and putting in a signal amp.  This has helped somewhat, but the analog channels still leave room for improvement.  The tech said that the channels aren't as clear due to interference with the OTA frequencies... or some BS like that, and the SA 8000HD suffered more than the Pioneer box.

[Joel S]

I think the problem with watching SD on the HD DVR is that watching SD via component cable is crummy compared to S-Vid or just reg cable input.

My TV has PIP so when I watch SD via the cable line input it looks much better than anything I am able to watch with Component cables.  I really wish that we could use the cable out port, s-vid or even DVI on these.

Do any other TWC locations around the country have these active on the HD DVR's??

[gb4fan92]

When I go to the settings: Aspect Ratio menu and select 16:9 tv and Stretch 4:3 it locks in on sidebar. It doesn't allow stretch or zoom.  Therefore I can't change my Aspect ratio. Is there a way to set this directly from the setbox instead of the menu? I found a manual that says to turn off the setbox, leave tv on, and press guide and info buttons at the same time. But I can't get this to work. Anyone?

[gparris]

Originally posted by gb4fan92
When I go to the settings: Aspect Ratio menu and select 16:9 tv and Stretch 4:3 it locks in on sidebar. It doesn't allow stretch or zoom.  Therefore I can't change my Aspect ratio. Is there a way to set this directly from the setbox instead of the menu? I found a manual that says to turn off the setbox, leave tv on, and press guide and info buttons at the same time. But I can't get this to work. Anyone?

Make sure you are not on an HD channel first of all.
Then, use the settings button on your remote control and go to
"other settings" then... make sure that it says 16:9 and stretch 4:3, then push the yellow A triangle on the remote and it works.

In my frustration, I wasn't doing this on a non-HD channel and forgot to hit the A button...try this, see if it works for you.

[gb4fan92]

Originally posted by gparris
make sure that it says 16:9 and stretch 4:3, then push the yellow A triangle on the remote and it works.

 

This worked as far as setting it in the menu. It stayed on 16:9, stretched.  However when I turned on a channel (504) it reverted back to sidebar 4:3.  :bang:   I feel like I'm halfway home now.