Official SA 8300HD DVR Users Thread

[Mark Strube]

You'll lose all your shows and series recording settings... so catch up on everything before you trade it in. From what I've seen, pretty much all the major glitches are fixed. As long as you have a good signal (no errors on non-DVR boxes) this should perform close to flawless. Although, there's no guarantee, as with any new technology.

The 8300HD is HDMI, so you'll be able to use it if that's an HDMI cable, or an HDMI -> DVI cable, depending on what connector your tv has. $100? Try eBay. I have an HDMI -> DVI cable on its way for $10 (and that's including shipping). And yes, they work, I got a DVI cable for the same price, works like a charm.

[yaderhey]

Thanks for the quick reply.  I just picked mine up from the MLK Time Warner office.

Damn, that company is clueless. First, the rep at Mayfair told me the unit has twice the storage (apparently untrue).  Then the customer service rep on the phone told me the units are not available and are in "taste testing mode" (her words, not mine).  Finally at the MLK office, the woman told me that the unit is exactly the same, but smaller, and doesn't have DVI.

Opening it up, I see that new port, so I may buy that converter on eBay.  Now my real question ... when I had the first TW box, my DVI cable (yes, it was $100 at Best Buy) made switching channels a two-second operation.  It was painfully slow.  Will that be the same situation with the new box and DVI?  Is their a difference in PQ between component and this new-fangled DVI thing?  I couldn't tell the difference last time, except for in the speed of changing channels.

Thanks.

--Andy

[shimmer11]

Mark, which type of HDMI > DVI cable do I choose?  Female, male etc?  Which ebay seller did you buy from, if everything works out I may look into buying from them also.

Andy

[Mark Strube]

I couldn't tell you about channel changing speed or picture quality, since my cable is still on its way in the mail. However, I would assume it shouldn't change any speeds. That's part of the reason the Pioneer HD boxes aren't recommended, and the Scientific Atlanta are.

Shimmer11, you'll need a HDMI Male to DVI-D Male cable. (This is assuming your tv has a DVI port and not an HDMI port.)

This is the seller I bought from... however I HAVEN'T received the cable yet, but I'm confident it will work just fine. (I'll let you guys know.)

http://search.ebay.com/hdmi_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQfrppZ25QQfromZR10QQsacatZ-1QQcatrefZC6QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsadisZ200QQsellerZ1QQsassZauction4pcQQfsopZ3QQfsooZ1QQcoactionZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQcoentrypageZsearch

[Paul S.]

HDMI->DVI cables can be found at pacificcable.com 28 for the adapter, or 32 for the hdmi/dvi cable.


Never spend 100 for a dvi cable! There are better quality cables for much cheaper than Monster!!!!

[Paul S.]

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZauction4pc

Looks good to me!

[Mark Strube]

Of course, I still wouldn't be able to record Smallville in HD, since TW still does not have channel 18 in HD...  :mad:

They're currently up to season 2 on HDNet. I never watched it before so this is my chance to catch it from the beginning... and in HD!  :rock:

I modified my link above to show only the HDMI cables from that seller (since they're selling hundreds of other items). Here it is again:
http://search.ebay.com/hdmi_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQfrppZ25QQfromZR10QQsacatZ-1QQcatrefZC6QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsadisZ200QQsellerZ1QQsassZauction4pcQQfsopZ3QQfsooZ1QQcoactionZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQcoentrypageZsearch

[summerfun]

Just picked up my 8300 at Mayfair mall. Not sure if the PQ is better, but I LOVE the new search function in the menu. Channels seem to change faster as well. I am going to hook up both the 8000 and 8300 side by side to check on the PQ for sure. I will post my findings.

The live S-video output will be nice when I want to make a tape of something as well, but I don't do that very often.

[Mark Strube]

I can tell you from experience that the PQ is MUCH better. At one point I went from the 8000HD -> Pioneer HD -> 8000HD... when I went back to the 8000HD, the picture was SO much softer I almost dumped it, but it was still worth it to be able to record in HD. Now the 8300 is just as good as that Pioneer was... the PQ was a big problem for me so I'm glad they corrected that.

[LuckySe7ens]

Heh... chill... this probably has something to do with the service maintenence I mentioned in this thread: http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4885

Simply call customer service and let them know, all they have to do is reset your box. This is a common ocurrence when swapping or getting new boxes.

I guess if its a common occurance, then they should make it a non-common occurance.  If the 8300 hadn't worked so well, I'd be switching to sat.  The 8000 was junk.

[Mark Strube]

The problem was fixed pretty quicky, correct? If you had gone to satellite I'm sure you'd switch back to cable when it goes out for an hour in a bad rainstorm, right? Every [new] technology will have its issues, these boxes especially... you can't be so reactionary with something like this.

[Paul S.]

Is there a way to see a pic of the backside of this baby?

[Mark Strube]

If nobody beats me to it, I'll snap a picture of it when I need to install my HDMI cable in a day or two. I'd do it sooner but it's kind of a hassle to hook/unhook everything.

[sp44again]

See if this works.

linky

[sp44again]

What I want to know is if the SATA connection works.