What is the latest HD-DVR from Time Warner?

[TheeMike]

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My girlfriend has Time Warner cable in Central NC and has an 8300HDC. She has had major latency issues with it and has had to replace the remote twice. I got to looking and see that the 8300HDC has been around for over 3 years (Hell, scientific american was sold to Cisco 3 years ago). This cannot be their latest offering of HD-DVRs.

If there is a newer model, I woudl love for her to try it. Does anyone know what (or if) time-warner is now putting out?

 

[jayn_j]

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My girlfriend has Time Warner cable in Central NC and has an 8300HDC. She has had major latency issues with it and has had to replace the remote twice. I got to looking and see that the 8300HDC has been around for over 3 years (Hell, scientific american was sold to Cisco 3 years ago). This cannot be their latest offering of HD-DVRs.

If there is a newer model, I woudl love for her to try it. Does anyone know what (or if) time-warner is now putting out?

We moved into TW territory in Milwaukee in April. They gave us a Samsung HD-DVR. It worked wonderfully for the first two months, but there have now been a number of updates that have really crippled the box. Killed the favorites list. There are now audio dropouts and macro-blocking that wasn't there. The unadvertised capability to hook up an external drive was disabled and the fast forward has become erratic and very jerky. No joy here.

 

[Islandguy43]

We have the 8300's here also. They seem to be 20th century merchandise when comparing them to Dish Network's 722 or a TIVO,. They recently updated the navigator software and that has made them somewhat more user friendly. However I basically have to choose between TW or Directv in order to get the programing I want. When you bundle with TW it is hard for D* to compete on price when you have to go Directv and roadrunner stand alone.

 

[ncted]

From what I read on other forums, the original 8300HD is the most reliable HDDVR when running Navigator. The 8642HDC has a larger capacity, and may be faster than the 8300HDC at some operations, but is apparently still a bit buggy. A few markets get the Samsungs, but I know little about those.

I am about to switch to TWC in Raleigh, NC. I am going to use 2 Tivos and whatever HDDVR they decide to give me (3 DVRs total). If the Tivos work well with SDV, then I will drop the TWC HDDVR. If not, and Navigator works reliably, then I'll just use the TWC DVRs.

Ted

 

[ncted]

So far, the Tivos are doing well. I've only had on issue where one was unresponsive, and I had to power-cycle it. The Cisco 8640 they brought me isn't too bad, but it is sluggish, and it was 40% full after about 2 days of recordings, so obviously not a high-capacity device. I will most likely return it next week.

-Ted

 

[jayn_j]

So far, the Tivos are doing well. I've only had on issue where one was unresponsive, and I had to power-cycle it. The Cisco 8640 they brought me isn't too bad, but it is sluggish, and it was 40% full after about 2 days of recordings, so obviously not a high-capacity device. I will most likely return it next week.

-Ted

I finally decided to put my toe in the water and start to phase out the TW DVRs. sellout.woot had a deal on the latest TIVOs yesterday, so I ordered one. I considered doing 2 and getting rid of the DVRs entirely, but decided I needed to check this out for awhile first.

I have been very frustrated with how TWC lobotomizes what used to be a good box and have heard mostly good things about the TIVO with cablecard. We will see in about 2 weeks after it is delivered and I can get a tech out.

 

[ncted]

So far, the Tivos are doing well. I've only had on issue where one was unresponsive, and I had to power-cycle it. The Cisco 8640 they brought me isn't too bad, but it is sluggish, and it was 40% full after about 2 days of recordings, so obviously not a high-capacity device. I will most likely return it next week.

-Ted

Just an update. I have returned one Tivo and will be doing so with the other shortly. After the 14.6 update the freezes became very prevalent on both boxes. I am currently using an 8640HDC. It is still sluggish. I am considering switching to DirecTV. My boss is getting his whole-home DVR setup today, so I am curious to hear how it goes.

Ted

 

[jayn_j]

Just an update. I have returned one Tivo and will be doing so with the other shortly. After the 14.6 update the freezes became very prevalent on both boxes. I am currently using an 8640HDC. It is still sluggish. I am considering switching to DirecTV. My boss is getting his whole-home DVR setup today, so I am curious to hear how it goes.

Ted

Well, I hope it isn't that bad for me. FWIW my TWC Samsung HD-DVR is hanging regularly if I try to use FF and rewind too much. Started after the last update.

The only DVR I have really been satisfied with was the DISH 622. Still have tree issues though with the new house.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I've had the Cisco 8640HDC since July 5th when I traded my 8240HDC in for one. The new DVR handels Navigator great. The HDMI switching bug was fixed with ODN 3.2.0_15 and I've noticed no other problems with the box. A few weeks ago we got ODN 4.0.2_4. Channel changing, which has always been fine for me, has got a little faster. The 8640HDC is a great box!

 

[ncted]

While the 8640 might be a great box from a purely hardware point of view, Navigator on it is mediocre at best. After a few weeks, I am ready to switch back to Dish or try out DirecTV. Navigator is sluggish and I have lost a couple of recordings due to buggy behavior while watching recordings that are still being recorded. Tivo wasn't much better from a reliability standpoint, but at least it was responsive.

Ted

 

[jayn_j]

I've had it with what they did to my Samsung boxes. Folks, it isn't the box. It is what TWC is doing with their navigator to intentionally cripple the things.

I am so fed up with it, that I picked up a TIVO. Was supposed to be installed today, but the installer just called and said they are out of cablecards. Typical.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I can’t say I’ve had any major problems or complaints. Navigator is awesome! While SARA was always reliable for me, it looked like something out of the ‘80s and lacked a lot of the features the DBS providers have had for years. Be it SARA or Navigator, I’ve never had a missed recording or a recording screw up in my 4+ years back with Time Warner. Only problem with responsiveness was when we first got Navigator, the box would hang up when surfing and you came across channel you didn’t subscribe to. I subscribe to just about every channel on the system, so it wasn’t a big issue for me, but it was fixed in ODN 3.2.0_15. The HDMI problem that would occasionally happen where the box would forget the output resolution settings was also fixed with that update. And with Navigator bringing in more advanced features like RemoteDVR and Multiroom DVR, the future looks bright!

With 4.0.2_4, everything is a little snappier now. I wouldn't trade in this box or the software it's running for anything. I'm at my uncles house all the time and he still has Dish Network, bless his poor soul, and I cannot stand using his 722. Thing is awful! Plus it misses recordings all the time. It was good for about 8-10 months then this past week he was complaining it missed both criminal Minds and CSI:NY. You'd have to pry my 8640HDC out of my cold dead hands before I give it up, that is unless MultiroomDVR becomes available in which case I'll gladly trade in my 8640 for an 8642

Navigator has added so many wonderful features over SARA, and I'm looking foward to what the future brings

- The speed of OnDemand

- Nearest Tune, I missed this so much after leaving Dish Network 6 years ago

- Current Time displayed on the channel banner, this should have standard years ago

- Program information is now expanded to give the original air date, and mentions if a new episode of a show is season premier or season finale

- Recording Prioritization

- Much better search functionality, not just having the on screen keyboard, but having some very specific categories and a very intuitive menuing system. I also love the fact the individual OnDemand titles are integrated into the Search. Very cool!

- The User Interface, very clean and modern looking, nice to have all the channel logos present and current

- Having the time progressed on the info banner when playing a recording. I’d prefer to have the opposite, the time remaining, but whatever.

- Bookmarking! Finally!!! And there is no limit on how many recordings you can have bookmarked. With the DirecTiVo you could only have one.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

I can’t say I’ve had any major problems or complaints. Navigator is awesome! While SARA was always reliable for me, it looked like something out of the ‘80s and lacked a lot of the features the DBS providers have had for years. Be it SARA or Navigator, I’ve never had a missed recording or a recording screw up in my 4+ years back with Time Warner. Only problem with responsiveness was when we first got Navigator, the box would hang up when surfing and you came across channel you didn’t subscribe to. I subscribe to just about every channel on the system, so it wasn’t a big issue for me, but it was fixed in ODN 3.2.0_15. The HDMI problem that would occasionally happen where the box would forget the output resolution settings was also fixed with that update. And with Navigator bringing in more advanced features like RemoteDVR and Multiroom DVR, the future looks bright!

With 4.0.2_4, everything is a little snappier now. I wouldn't trade in this box or the software it's running for anything. I'm at my uncles house all the time and he still has Dish Network, bless his poor soul, and I cannot stand using his 722. Thing is awful! Plus it misses recordings all the time. It was good for about 8-10 months then this past week he was complaining it missed both criminal Minds and CSI:NY. You'd have to pry my 8640HDC out of my cold dead hands before I give it up, that is unless MultiroomDVR becomes available in which case I'll gladly trade in my 8640 for an 8642

Navigator has added so many wonderful features over SARA, and I'm looking foward to what the future brings

- The speed of OnDemand

- Nearest Tune, I missed this so much after leaving Dish Network 6 years ago

- Current Time displayed on the channel banner, this should have standard years ago

- Program information is now expanded to give the original air date, and mentions if a new episode of a show is season premier or season finale

- Recording Prioritization

- Much better search functionality, not just having the on screen keyboard, but having some very specific categories and a very intuitive menuing system. I also love the fact the individual OnDemand titles are integrated into the Search. Very cool!

- The User Interface, very clean and modern looking, nice to have all the channel logos present and current

- Having the time progressed on the info banner when playing a recording. I’d prefer to have the opposite, the time remaining, but whatever.

- Bookmarking! Finally!!! And there is no limit on how many recordings you can have bookmarked. With the DirecTiVo you could only have one.

You think the 722 is awful? That guy is the best DVR on the market!