SA 8300 HD DVR Recording problems

[GMFreak8]

SA 8300HD DVR Recording problems

As of the last few weeks my HD DVR has been acting strange. I'm thinking Time Warner upgraded the OS, but I can't confirm it. Anyway here's what I'm experiencing...

I've recently been noticing that it has been forgetting to record programs randomly, along with this random forgetfulness, I've noticed that I no longer get the scheduled recording starting in 2 minutes message. It seems this forgetfulness happens more often when two programs are scheduled at once. Now I don't know if it's just my DVR or a new "feature", it seems to forget when I have the DVR on watching a program. If this is a new "feature", it's the most annoying thing I've encountered. It reminds me of when I first got the DVR back two years or so ago, when it would forget and exhibit all sorts of bugs. It's like it's doing me a favor, by not interrupting my current TV show to record something, when in fact it's just pissing me off. If it is a feature, why the hell can't they just display a confirmation message like TiVo does before changing the channel. I mean they do it for their special advertisements, why the hell can't they do it for scheduled recordings...

Anyway, has anyone noticed any similar problems with their 8300? In a way I'm hoping this is just my box and not some stupid feature. At least then I'll have a chance of getting it fixed sometimes in the next decade....

FYI, I'm in the Time Warner Cable Syracuse Division with the SA 8300HD running SARA.

 

[nateman99]

I will never understand why different divisions use different software. I'd understand staggered upgrades (hence different versions), but different software? Here in the Raleigh, NC market, we're using PASSPORT Echo v2.5.048. This is a relatively new version as it was delivered (to my DVR anyway) less than a month ago.

I'm not sure what SARA is, but PASSPORT seems to be getting better all the time. The most recent version now confirms the choice to delete and "marks" programs that have recording cancelled (presumably to reinstate, if so desired). It's not quite TIVO's undelete, but it's a start.

Make sure you email/call them to complain about this recent "upgrade". I would be just as annoyed as you are.

 

[GMFreak8]

I will never understand why different divisions use different software. I'd understand staggered upgrades (hence different versions), but different software? Here in the Raleigh, NC market, we're using PASSPORT Echo v2.5.048. This is a relatively new version as it was delivered (to my DVR anyway) less than a month ago.

I'm not sure what SARA is, but PASSPORT seems to be getting better all the time. The most recent version now confirms the choice to delete and "marks" programs that have recording cancelled (presumably to reinstate, if so desired). It's not quite TIVO's undelete, but it's a start.

Make sure you email/call them to complain about this recent "upgrade". I would be just as annoyed as you are.

I wish we had PASSPORT here, I've seen it in action, and it's 100% better than SARA. The interface is so much more polished too.

I'm going to see if anything changes, if not, I'll call them. Sometimes they work bugs out fairly fast, other times, it takes forever.

 

[mlb]

Do the people in Raliegh have the Dolby Digital output bug? Here in Dayton the DD5.1 just drops when flipping through channels sometimes, forcing you to go into the settings menu and turn it back on.

 

[nateman99]

Are you talking about the Digital Optical (TOSLINK) output? I noticed a problem with it saying it wasn't getting Dolby Digital when it should have been, but TW told me that I was mistaken. I've not had my home theater system set up since I moved, but I will put it back together so I can find out!

 

[mlb]

Are you talking about the Digital Optical (TOSLINK) output? I noticed a problem with it saying it wasn't getting Dolby Digital when it should have been, but TW told me that I was mistaken. I've not had my home theater system set up since I moved, but I will put it back together so I can find out!

Yes, TOSLINK output issue. It is a known issue, TWC is aware as well. Apparently the customer service person you talked to was not familiar with the issue. It is an issue with out current version of the Passport software, but I don't know what version I have off the top of my head (and I'm at work, can't check it out right now).

 

[GMFreak8]

Back to the recording problem.. I think I narrowed the problem down. It seems to occur whenever I have two programs scheduled to record, or if I want to set two programs to record at the current time, doesn't matter if the box is one or off, like I originally thought. For example, on Sunday nights I have it set to record The Sopranos, and Desperate Housewives, both come on at 9PM, but when the time that it should be recording these two programs comes around, it just refuses to record them. I tried it a few minutes ago (12:15 PM) with two other programs, and it did the same thing, only now it adds a little twist... I tried setting it to record the current program airing on HBO HD, and the current program on my local ABC station (analog), when I had it record the HBO HD channel it worked just fine, then as it was recording the HBO HD channel, I switched over to ABC and pressed the record button. Instead of just refusing to record, it comes up with the recording conflict screen, telling me that I can't record three programs at once. Here's the wierd thing though, the two programs that it says will conflict with the new recording were the HBO HD recording I had just started, the ABC recording that I wanted to start, and another show that's not even iin the same time slot or even the same day - it was Las Vegas on NBC which comes on at 9PM on a Friday. It's really wierd, it was working just fine until a few weeks ago, and now whenever two programs are scheduled to record at the same time, it refuses to, and when I want to schedule two recordings at the same time it comes up with the conflict screen, and won't let me record. I'm stumped.

If anyone else who has SARA could try recording two programs at once to see if it does the same thing, I would appreciate it. Also if anyone has expierenced the same thing, I would appreciate it. It's driving me insane.

 

[GMFreak8]

Update:

I do have Las Vegas scheduled to record on Fridays. So I decided to see what would happen if I cancelled the scheduled recording. Well I did it, and now when I try to record two programs at once it'll crash. The first program will start recording just fine, but as soon as I press the record button and confirm the recording on the second program, it freezes, crashes, and reboots. I can't get it out of the cycle, even after the reboot the problem reappears. I guess it's time to call Time Warner, the problem is reproducible, so I have a high chance that they'll actually believe me.

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[GMFreak8]

Another update:

I just got off the phone with Time Warner, and they pushed a software update to the box. It seems to have fixed the problem, but they're sending a tech out Thursday, because they detected low signal strength at the box, which may be causing the software updates to fail.

On another note, I'm so glad I have Time Warner now, than DirecTV, with them it was like pulling teeth, just to get someone to come out and look at it, and so far it's been much more reliable than DirecTV ever was.

Feel kinda stupid making this thread instead of just calling them, but hopefully this may help someone else in the future.

 

[nateman99]

I'm glad to hear that they are going to look at it. It was beginning to sound like your box was having social issues. Let us know if everything works out!

 

[GMFreak8]

Will do!

On another note... I got pleasant surprise this morning when I turned on the TV. It looks they are starting to simulcast some of the analog channels in digital format. CNN headline news is now digital, and a few other channels were off air, so it looks like they're in the process of switching over.

I'm glad to hear that they are going to look at it. It was beginning to sound like your box was having social issues. Let us know if everything works out!