SA8300HD-DVR resets itself to 480i

[Sherryhj]

Bought a new Sharp Aquos 37DR40U set that supports all formats exc 1080p. Go through Setup wizard on STB, it sets components to 1080i, all is well. Watch TV. Turn off /on TV - no problems. Turn off/on STB, no problems. Sometime in the next 24 hours gremlins arrive -- when I turn on the TV the picture is red and the STB has reset itself to 480i and have to go through wizard again to put back to HD.

What the &^%^@#@ is going on? Please can anyone help? I noticed a thread from Mar 2005 on this but no followup on cause or resolution other than "maybe a bad stb". Any ideas would be appreciated.

I'm using composite cables suppied by Adelphia.

 

[Sherryhj]

Oh yeah, and I have tried selecting various picture formats - pass-thru, fixed, upconvert 1, etc. with same result.

 

[korsjs]

moved to the cable section.

my 8300 did that when i first got it. i can't remember what i did to fix it. i think it had something to with moving it out of pernament SD mode as a DVR and moving it to HD pernament.

 

[korsjs]

try going to the scientific atlantic website and looking at the manual. it shows pictures of setting it to HD or SD. if i remember correctly, you have to use non HD cables when doing the initial set up. we might even have a copy of the 8300 manual posted here.

note, i was using brighthouse and not your company.

 

[minnow]

I had the same exact issue with my new Olivia 537H and the 8300HD dvr. When the TV was turned off overnight, the next morning, the picture would be all red and I had to go into the setup menu on the 8300HD DVR to fix it. However, I can't specifically tell you what it was I did to fix it because I don't know. The day I fixed it(or it fixed itself ??), I disconnected the component cables between the DVR and the TV to wall mount the TV. The Olivia also has a USB slot in the back of the TV so that the end user can upgrade the firmware which I also did that day. I would suggest I guess, that you disconnect your wiring between the DVR and the TV and if you have another set of component ports on the TV(assuming your hooked up with component cables and not HDMI cable) try the different set of ports. The other thing you can try is to reboot your 8300. You could also try calling your cable company and see if they have any advice. They might have had other customers with this same problem. Let me know what you find out as I would like to know what I actually did that fixed my issue. Thanks.

 

[minnow]

try going to the motorola website and looking at the manual. it shows pictures of setting it to HD or SD. if i remember correctly, you have to use non HD cables when doing the initial set up. we might even have a copy of the 8300 manual posted here.

note, i was using brighthouse and not your company.

To my best knowledge, the 8300 is an Scientific Atlanta product and not Motorola.

 

[korsjs]

To my best knowledge, the 8300 is an Scientific Atlanta product and not Motorola.

your correct. i had motorola on my mind at that time.

 

[Sherryhj]

will try tonight

thanks everyone. I had already printed the manuals from the SA website, and didn't find any reference to making it a permanent HD vs SD setup.

I'm going to hard boot my STB tonight in hopes that when it boots back up it applies software updates and somewhere along the line this has been fixed.

I should note that we've had this 8300HD-DVR box for almost two years as it was the only one Adelphia had in stock at the time we got cable, so they "gave" it to us even though we weren't being charged for it as an HD DVR. Soooo, maybe it needs software updates, or maybe it's just an early version of the box that should be replaced.

I read on another forum about this occuring with updates being applied by Adelphia at 2 am nightly -- I just may stay up tonight and see if at that hour it switches over!

Lastly, the cable company says it's the TV. Yeah, right. The TV is not even powered on when this occurs.

 

[korsjs]

using either composite or a svideo cable (do not use hdmi or component when doing this) turn your cable box off. unplug from wall for a few minutes. plug back into the wall and wait until the clock comes back on.

make sure you are on your composite or svideo input for your tv.

with the cable box still turned off, press and hold guide and info button at the same time. the 8300 should click on and the first thing you should see is the question are you using an sdtv or hdtv. select the one for hdtv and then go through the rest of your set up and you should be fine.

 

[minnow]

I'm interested to know why one should not use the hdmi or component when rebooting the 8300 as suggested above.

 

[korsjs]

the only time i can get the option of switching between a SD or HD box is when i plugged in the composite cables. it would not come up when i was using a hdmi cable. when, i switched it to a HD box, i plugged my hdmi back in and all was good.

 

[Sherryhj]

Korsjs,
Thanks for your help. As soon as my husband finishes watching "24" I plan to reboot tonight.
I looked up difference btw composite vs. component cables. I was incorrect -- I have component cables not composite. Is that going to be a problem? If I must have composite or svideo, do I just switch back to component video after setup is complete?

 

[korsjs]

yes, switch back after you get it into HD mode.

we use to have the set up manual here, but can't find it. it shows a picture of what it looks like when it first comes up.

 

[Sherryhj]

Sorry for such a long delayed followup. My problem is resolved! Thank you KORSJS for the suggestion. I did reboot my box, and followed the setup procedure to reprogram to HD mode. This fixed the problem. One note, however. I did NOT have composite or svideo cables, so I used my component cable anyways since that's all I had and this still worked.