Anyone have a Pace HD cable box?

[Mark Strube]

If so, what are your experiences with it? I just picked up an HD box from Time Warner at Mayfair today, and I ended up with one of these.

It's much faster and smaller than the Pioneer HD boxes, and hopefully less buggy than the SA3250HD boxes. However, initial setup was a pain... the included manual didn't have the correct instructions for setting up the aspect ratio and output format, and neither of the settings are in the main settings menu... turns out I had to put it on channel 4 and hold down the # key on the remote until a menu came up. Weird.

It also has an HDMI output, unused component input, unused digital optical audio in AND digital coaxial audio in. Crazy. It has no IEEE 1394 firewire ports, although according to the Pace Micro website, that's an optional feature on this model.

Here's the product info with pictures from the Pace Micro official website:

Next Generation High Definition for Scientific-Atlanta Networks

The Pace DC551 offers responsive High Definition performance with the industry's fastest processing speed plus features including sophisticated run-from-RAM execution, ample applications memory provision and enhanced connectivity.  
Features

-Standard HDMI Connection - crystal clear digital video and audio
-Built-in DVI-D 1.0 with HDCP capability
-Includes component inputs for loop-through
-Optional support for IEEE 1394 (Firewire) connection

[kevbeck122]

Does it have black or gray sidebars?  Is the guide faster than the 3510HD on the HD side?  Have you noticed if the box freezes while in the guide on 720p channels (like the 3510 does)?  If those issues are fixed in this box, I might just have to get one to replace the 3510 on my other TV.

[Mark Strube]

I can tell you the guide is almost if not as fast as the 8300HD... no freezing while on 720p channels, but we have it set to output 1080i all the time (using component). I'll double-check tomorrow and correct myself here if I'm wrong, but I believe it has black sidebars.

When I first got the box activated, it refused to show HBO-HD properly, while all the other channels were perfect... when I tuned it, it would just go to a bunch of artifacts, mixing the previous channel I was on with HBO's picture. After about 10-20min, the problem cleared itself up, now everything's perfect.

[kevbeck122]

Cool.. thanks for the info.  I'll probably get one tomorrow if they have some left.

[oz]

Let us know if they have any left.

[kevbeck122]

I called around 10 this morning and was told there weren't any in stock.

[kevbeck122]

Still haven't been able to get one.

Is the HDMI port active?

[Mark Strube]

Haven't had a chance to test the HDMI port... I'd assume yes since that's only on the newer generation of boxes, and those all seem to be active.

[Mark Strube]

I forgot to mention... if you access the settings by holding down the "#" button on the remote, you can enable the "analog enhancer" which basically gives you a softer, more pleasant picture on all the analog channels (2-99).

Also, I've double-checked... no gray bars for SD content, just black.