Comcast's new DVR services beat satellite

[wmhjr]

Not completely true

I have 3 SA8300HDs. You are correct in that if you start watching a program that began recording earlier, it will start at live, and will stop when it's done recording. It truly is painful.

HOWEVER..... Let's compare it to the Dishnet 921. In the 921's case, you first of all get absolutely no locals in HD. Then, you only one CBS network in HD - assuming you qualify for the "waiver" and install the 2nd dish for the 61.5 bird. Then, you've got to use OTA to get most of your HD - assuming you can get OTA. Then, assuming you aren't restricted because you need to rotate your external antenna to get different stations, you STILL have to reboot the darn thing and put up with it locking up frequently. THEN, you still need to deal with the audio dropouts, and the fact that the receiver is far more sensitive to signal issues than other OTA HD tuners.

So, the 8300HD has a few usability issues where it's not quite convenient. But it has thus far worked without exception, never missing a recording, etc. I cannot say that for the 921 in any case. It was completely unreliable.

So, if the 8300 is a "piece of crap" what would you suggest?

I have an SA 8300.. it's a piece of crap. try watching an earlier part of a show while it's recording. It plays at live, you have to rewind it to the beginning, then if you don't catch up to live before it stops recording... it cuts you off to live again. Then you have to restart and fast forward it to the spot you got cut off at.

Very annoying.

 

[voomster2]

There's a new forum at www.dvrchatter.com that has recently opened its doors with lots of well laid out topics on the 6412. Much better than avsforum.com!

 

[TuxCoder]

In the 921's case, you first of all get absolutely no locals in HD.

Just to be sure, you're talking about "via satellite", right? If so, it's not a 921 issue but an issue with the Dish Network service. I get all my HD locals OTA (as you mention later). Fortunately for me, I'm pretty close to the towers so a good omnidirectional antenna works fine.

Also, fortunately for me, I've not seen any of the issues you described with your 921. Mine does have a couple very minor problems though. It seems some 921s have many more problems than others (which definitely seems true of the 522s as well). Hopefully that's due to differences in hardware and software revisions, otherwise it's just very inconsistent manufacturing/software development quality.

 

[boristhespider]

Here in the Portland, Oregon area - Comcast charges $9.95 for HD and the 6412 DVR STB. That's $9.95 total for both. I just had them replace their 6200 HD STB with the 6412 and WOW! I'm impressed - this 6412 is how they say "way COOL!". Much better than my old DISH DVR and much better than Comcast's old 6200 model - my PQ and Sound Quality both increased with this new unit.

Happy New Year! Michael

How is the PQ for analog channels? I see from Moto's specs that the box has dual mpeg analog encoders. A fair amount of what I watch is analog (channel < 100), so this encoding is critical.

Also, I have not seen anyone here say whether the DVI connector is active for them, or for that matter, whether 1394 are active. I would actually need DVI, or else I need to buy an AV receiver to help manage the connections to my TV.

 

[jeslevine]

well if Voom doesn't make it comcast here I come

though I really hope Voom makes it

 

[jgantert]

I have an SA 8300.. it's a piece of crap.

HAHAHA. You sir need a SA 8000HD box. Now that is really a piece of CRAP.
No DVI, no SD&HD at the same time, can't playback anything with DolbyDigital, etc...

-John