TWC Samsung DVR

[JeffreyC2007]

Please give us a quick review on what you like and dislike about it.

I'm sure many of us here would like to "trade up" and get rid of our SA's.:bang:

Well i picked two of them up this past monday

So far i have yet to have any problems on either box....No freezing, no missed recordings, no reboots....In fact my family members like these boxes better..they appear to move a bit faster than the 8300hd and hdc boxes...However I personally think the menu transitions are a bit on the sluggish side...but not enough to annoy me or make me complain....Other than that and the stretched 16:9 guide's & menu's these boxes appear exactly the same as the 8300's.

These boxes also have both analog & digital audio outputs on the back as well as an ethernet port.  

Dolby digital does not pass through HDMI initially....HOWEVER...There is a way to enable dolby digital through hdmi on these boxes by accessing the diagnostics menu...(THE PASSWORD IS 3090)  Im not exactly sure why its not set up like that by default...

other than that....No complaints so far

Boo!  But not surprised.

Does anyone know if the new Samsung DVR's are also being deployed for Standard Definition?

--greg

Well im sure they will work with standard def tv's......the screen output can be changed to either 4:3 or 16:9...and the output can be changed to 480i/p 720p or 1080i just like on the 8300 boxes...there isn't much of a difference between these boxes and the 8300's other than these boxes appear to have multi-room capabilities that have yet to be enabled.

These boxes are MoCA ready...so maybe TWC is prepping for some type of Total Home DVR like Uverse....that alone excites me.

[amaroq]

Has anyone tried hooking up an SATA drive to the Samsung box?

[LowSignal]

I tried the esata port and nothing happened  It could also be I didnt go to the right option screen. I like it way better then my old 8300HDC. I havent had a missed recording or random blocking and tiling on this box in the two weeks that I have had it.

Here are some pics but they kinda suck(no flash) better ones later.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2691/dscf0061p.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/1082/dscf0061.jpg

[JeffreyC2007]

Has anyone tried hooking up an SATA drive to the Samsung box?

I tried the esata port and nothing happened  It could also be I didnt go to the right option screen.
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There is a diagnostics menu that im guessing u must access to connect a SATA drive...a gentlemen over @ avsforum posted a couple of screenshots of the menu.  One of the screenshots showed a password protected menu that had options to mount a SATA drive...the password i believe is "3090"... I don't have a SATA drive but maybe someone that does can access this menu and find out if it works for them...

here's the link. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16324711#post16324711

[JeffreyC2007]

I tried the esata port and nothing happened  It could also be I didnt go to the right option screen. I like it way better then my old 8300HDC. I havent had a missed recording or random blocking and tiling on this box in the two weeks that I have had it.

Here are some pics but they kinda suck(no flash) better ones later.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2691/dscf0061p.jpg
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/1082/dscf0061.jpg

Did u ever get the Esata port to work with ur external harddrive? if not did u see the avsforum links i posted? I wonder if that will help you. Keep us posted. Im thinking about buying more storage.

[Jack 1000]

The key word was option... it has a 160GB drive.

Interesting,

Because over at the AVS forums, there were reports that the space% used seemed to be almost 50% less than the SA 8000-8300 series, so I don't know what that's about.

Jack

[klwillis45]

What do you get currently of your SA boxes?

On my non-C box, a 1 hour HD show is 4%.

[JeffreyC2007]

What do you get currently of your SA boxes?

On my non-C box, a 1 hour HD show is 4%.

I got about the same on my old SA boxes....and I still get the same on my Samsung box....the space is 160gb on the samsung..

I haven't heard or seen any 320gb in the milwaukee area..but they were giving them out in other divisions such as North Caralina.

[Jack 1000]

What do you get currently of your SA boxes?

On my non-C box, a 1 hour HD show is 4%.

Same for me SA-8300 HD (MDN)

Jack

[JeffreyC2007]

Has anyone gotten one with a 320gb Hardrive?

they were only giving out ones with 160 hd last time i went to the TWC store.

[TPK]

So does anyone who has used both boxes (both the SA and the Samsung) think its worth swapping out the SA for the Samsung??

IF you want to swap boxes, what keywords do you need to use with the customer service rep behind the counter to get them to swtich you??  Can you just say "I want a newer Samsung box" and they will just swap it without giving you the 3rd degree? or do you need to say that you want some newer feature that only the Samsung's have???

[Jack 1000]

So does anyone who has used both boxes (both the SA and the Samsung) think its worth swapping out the SA for the Samsung??

IF you want to swap boxes, what keywords do you need to use with the customer service rep behind the counter to get them to switch you??  Can you just say "I want a newer Samsung box" and they will just swap it without giving you the 3rd degree? or do you need to say that you want some newer feature that only the Samsung's have???

Many moons ago, I had a conversation with a TWC tech who seemed to know what he was talking about.  His advice was, "If your box is working well, DON'T SWAP IT OUT."  He believed that you don't know what the quality of the next box might be, who had been using it in the past.  Even take into consideration the issue of today with those Samsung boxes being so new, they might have bugs.

You will lose everything.  EVERY THING on the box if you swap it out.  All saved recordings will be gone, all settings will revert back to factory defaults.  Ask yourself and check things like the cable wiring and the proper cable.  Do you have the right cables installed?  Are they secure?  If you have an HD TV, do you have an HD box and either HDMI or Component Cable properly hooked up?  Do you have the settings on the box the way you want?

Swiping a box out just for new features I would have to agree is not recommended unless your old box is going bad and you have tried all the steps to save it. (Including unplugging it for several hours and doing a cold reboot.)  Newer is NOT always better.  For 3 years the Closed-Captioning on my box never worked.  Got a new HD TV connected to my HD box with HDMI cable and it works like a champion.  Have cable come out if you are having problems, in which case, they will probably replace the box anyway.

However, AFAIK, other than a Stretched Navigator Guide regardless of Aspect Ratio/picture settings on the Samsung box, the differences are minimal.  There's a few menu settings added on the new SA-HDC boxes and Samsung-HDC boxes.  But if your current box is working well, keep it.

If you do want to exchange your box, I have heard people just say, " I would like to exchange my SA-box for the newer Samsung model."  I am not sure for a self-install how you activate the box for Premium Channels and VOD.  There used to be a number you could call, but I am not sure if they still have that.

Note also that if you are a Caller ID subscriber with Digital Cable and Digital Phone, it can take a day or so for the ID screen for incoming calls to show up on your new box.  I think that is done by where you are in the query for the day and is on a first come, first serve basis at the head-end.  Not sure about this though.

Jack

[barreaud]

I plugged in a Western Digital 500gb "My Book" and fiddled with the diagnostics screen.  Nothing worked in the first couple tries but a few hours later and a few reboots I suddenly got the "do you want to format the hard drive" command off the samsung box.  I did and was good to go.  Power outages mean I have to reset the external hard drive but other than that... very happy.  FINALLY, can watch my shows in peace and not have to worry about running out of space.

Thanks for this thread's help.  Would never have managed it without you.

-Danica

[JeffreyC2007]

I plugged in a Western Digital 500gb "My Book" and fiddled with the diagnostics screen.  Nothing worked in the first couple tries but a few hours later and a few reboots I suddenly got the "do you want to format the hard drive" command off the samsung box.  I did and was good to go.  Power outages mean I have to reset the external hard drive but other than that... very happy.  FINALLY, can watch my shows in peace and not have to worry about running out of space.

Thanks for this thread's help.  Would never have managed it without you.

-Danica

OMG!!! THANKS...WHAT IS THE MODEL NUMBER OF WD My Book Drive? im gonna go purchase it today....Ive been waiting for someone to confirm esata working on the samsung for the longest. lol

keep us posted please!

[amaroq]

I swapped out my glitchy 8300HD for a Samsung box today (I just went to the Mayfair store and asked if they had any of the new Samsung boxes that I could exchange it for, and the rep said sure).  It seems to be a little faster than the 8300HD, and it sure looks a lot more like a modern piece of electronic equipment.  I hooked up my eSATA drive (which is just an old 500GB drive inside a generic eSATA enclosure) but haven't been able to get it to work yet.  The diagnostics always say "Fail To Check HDD!! Please Check Your STB!!" under the eSATA Info column.  If anyone's got any suggestions I'm all ears.  Otherwise, hopefully it'll magically start to work at some point... otherwise I'll give one of those WD MyBooks a shot.  160GB just doesn't cut it for me.