Cable out?

OpossumQueen wrote: Mine was reprogrammed (I was watching tv and it just went off and all kinds of crazy stuff was on the screen of the box) last week. It didn't erase any shows (this time) but everything is different and it thinks all showings of my shows are new first runs and records them all! If I watch and erase a new show, it then records it again the next time it's on.

My on screen menus and navigation are all different now and I'm annoyed that it no longer shows as much info on the programs.

When I got my HD DVR a few months ago, we hated the new interface so much that I drove all the way to the Queens Mall to get a box with the older interface. I also got upgraded last week, and although this version of the UI is better, I miss the older one. I thought it was just me this was happening to.

do you know the model of the new and old ones? mine says Scientific Atlanta Explorer

I believe the green diamond means "keep until intentionally erased".

Flexichick wrote: do you know the model of the new and old ones? mine says Scientific Atlanta Explorer

I can't go into my living room right now. Having the floors refinished and living in Beirut. PM me and I'll email you back when I can get in there. It's something like 8300HD I think.

ok...will do....am wondering if they are going to update mine

The old version you could set the porgram to only record the first run of a show. Now, for some damn reason, they will record all of them. So I am getting four Daily Shows and Colbert Reports every day. Kind of a pain to have to keep erasing. And they take up space.

Still no change for me. Which model box(es) are we talking about?

I think there's an option (well, there was in the old version anyway) when you're recording First Run Only to select just the one show. For example, if you want to record first run of the Daily Show, there should be an additional option of "11 p.m. only."

Anyway, I HATE the new format so far. It doesn't provide as much show info, you can't press any button to see how much time has elapsed without pausing, the fast forward and rewind are MUCH slower and it's erased all the shows that are currently off the air (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Ugly Betty and others) from my "subscription" list. The only thing I DO like is the percentage tally of how much space you've used.

ah, well, I might have the "new" version already, since I have always been able to see how much space I've used.

hmmmm.......

Here is what y screen looks like:



I have to check to see if the recording options are different on The Daily Show, as that might explain the green diamond


this is the box - Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC

The green icon is for shows you've selected to keep and erase manually. Those without a green icon will be deleted automatically if space is needed to record a new show -- you'll get a red icon when this is about to happen.

ok, thanks...that still doesn't explain why it keeps adding multiple versions of The Daily Show

Also, is my screen shot what people are calling the "old" version or the "new" one? Because mine has been like this since I got the HD DVR at Christmas

LongTimeSloper wrote: I feel like I am the only person in the world who doesn't have DVR. Just a plain old DVD recording machine

i don't have a dvr, or whatever that other thing you said is . . . i have the vcr and tv my parents gave me when i graduated from high school. i watch dvds on my five-year-old laptop. no cable, even. every time i move and call the cable company to set up my internet connection, they try to sell me on a package deal, and when i refuse the service agent says, "but . . . what about t.v.?" as if they had offered me a kitten and i had said, "feh, kittens." but everything i read on here makes it sound like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

Also, is my screen shot what people are calling the "old" version or the "new" one?

It's a new version for me but I have a non-HD DVR.

thanks, YS.

Subject: rebooting hell

Hi, I'm brand new here, so please be gentle. I've been trapped in reboot purgatory since Tuesday. I turned on my TV at 6PM and there was a message:

Your old settings and recordings are being converted to a new format.

DO NOT POWER OFF YOUR BOX

If this message persists for more than 30 minutes, please call Customer Service.
(at the bottom it says "Converting recordings")

After a while the DVR started the reboot process and the message again appeared at the end. After a few hours of this vicious cycle I finally resorted to calling customer service. They said the rebooting started at 10AM and should have taken 20 minutes. After trying some remote hocus-pocus which involved my unplugging the DVR there was no change and he said I'd need a service visit and the earliest they could schedule was Friday. I scheduled a visit for Saturday. I also have a DVR extender box plugged in and asked if that might have caused a problem but he said no. Today things were the same so I tried disconnecting the extender but after several more reboots nothing has changed.

Has anything like this happened to anybody else?

I think you can set it up now to record the first/new episodes of a program and not evety time it comes on now. We will see anyway. I think it is part of Time Warner's effort to get me to buy a bigger TV because I can barely read the screen now.

Has anyone figured out how to do a keyword search and record on this system? For instance, on TiVo and the old DVR system, I could type in Brad Pitt or herpes and it would record every show that had to do with Brad Pitt or herpes (or Brad Pitt AND herpes). With this new system, you seem to only be able to input names of specific shows...

Subject: Re: rebooting hell

couchpotato wrote: After trying some remote hocus-pocus which involved my unplugging the DVR there was no change and he said I'd need a service visit and the earliest they could schedule was Friday. I scheduled a visit for Saturday. I also have a DVR extender box plugged in and asked if that might have caused a problem but he said no. Today things were the same so I tried disconnecting the extender but after several more reboots nothing has changed.

Has anything like this happened to anybody else?

What the tech will likely do is replace the box or your modem. If you have time or prefer, you can just take them into a service center (in Brooklyn it's on 5th Ave and maybe 27th St, across from the cemetery, with car and bike parking). I've never waited too long there. They should just give you a new one.

Maybe you should call them back to ask if that is an option if you can go in and don't want to play the waiting game on Saturday. When you're calling, the quickest way to an actual person, I kid you not, is to yell profanities into the phone. I find a nicely yelled "f--k", loud and angry lets me skip right to the que for a person.

I have not had that exact problem but I've been through many over my years with TWC and they usually just end up replacing the modem and/or the cable box.

the quickest way to an actual person, I kid you not, is to yell profanities into the phone

Heeheehee. It's funny 'cause it's true.

susanderavish wrote: Has anyone figured out how to do a keyword search and record on this system? For instance, on TiVo and the old DVR system, I could type in Brad Pitt or herpes and it would record every show that had to do with Brad Pitt or herpes (or Brad Pitt AND herpes). With this new system, you seem to only be able to input names of specific shows...

So how many shows about Brad's herpes did it record?

PIP is now only one size only instead of two size options (i have older 4:3 480i TV, not HDTV).

Boo!

Hmmm, my system hasn't switched over yet. It looks exactly the same (interface and box) as Flexi's. I really, really want to see the new UI. Can someone take a pic of it? I despise the TWC interface so much, anything would be better.

Actually, it appears that I've been on the "new" interface for months now. The pic that Flexi attached is of the new interface. Strange. That is the same one I've had since we upgraded to HD back in October-ish and I HATE HATE HATE it. Hate it so much. So incredibly slow. Takes forever to respond when I press my remote. Hate so much I almost took the box back and asked for an older model.

Here's a summary of the "new" changes:

http://selfishmom.com/2009/07/14/time-warners-mystro-update-explorer-8300hd-dvr/

I think some of the HD boxes have always had that UI. At one point they switched us to the newer boxes and I think they looked like that. But after 3 or 4 of those boxes being duds, we demanded the older kind.

the box IS slow as hell to change channels, but I always got the impression that was an HDTV thing in general. Hard for me to tell because I got the box and the TV at the same time. Anybody have HDTV with the old box?

In 2009, nothing should be slow to do something as simple as change a channel.

I ask because my mom lives in PA and has the same problem with her giant TV (which has a totally different brand box and is on Cox cable)

I hate the new format. It's way too slow. I also hate when TW cuts out for a few seconds 3-5 times during one show.

Mine doesn't cut out at all.