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Bell 6400 HD Receiver.

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326K views 477 replies 113 participants last post by  jdevlin 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
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#134 ·
6400 for 99 bucks

Just picked one up at FS tonight for 99. They have one more left on shelf. After reading this forum, im thinking i should go pick up the other one. i have never had a PVR and havnt even opened the box yet. Any advice on what sort of external hard drive i should use and how much I should spend on one? Any advice greatly appreciated!
 
#138 ·
So I see the 6400 is on sale at Bestbuy. However just as it was at Futureshop several weeks ago it would seem to be in VERY limited supplies. Could this mean Bestbuy will soon no longer be handling the Bell products as did Futureshop? Don't forget they are both under the same corporate umbrella.
 
#143 ·
has anyone had problems with their 6400 receiver? I returned the first one I got, and my second one is having the same symptoms though less frequent. Occasionally when I am trying to control the receiver, it will not respond to IR commands for about 10-30 seconds then suddenly start working. Sometimes this happens in the middle of scrolling through the guide, and sometimes when I first push guide or other buttons after watching for a while it will not respond.

I have also been having a problem where I am pressing page up or page down browsing through the channels looking for something to watch, when the guide will accelerate and start flying through the channels endlessly. if it's moving downward and you push up or page up, it will go up one screen or channel for a second then continue in its very rapid screen moving down. if i press exit it will close, but go back in the guide and it's still flying through channels.

even if I power off the receiver and turn it back on the guide will still be flying through channels. eventually it will stop on its own, anywhere from 1-5 minutes or so, or if I reset the receiver it will stop happening.
 
#145 ·
There are several reports of this type of behaviour from Technicians and Customers, so far, when investigated it has turned out to be the TV, not the Receiver.

The links provided by 57 will give you lots of very good information.

Chances are there was nothing wrong with the first 6400 and if there was, the chances of 2 having the same problems are very remote indeed.
 
#146 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thank you very much for the information. I will go through both of these posts and will try everything there.

Many issues there I've already examined like my TV is plasma so has no backlight (one of the tv sources blamed), the receiver is 2 feet in front of it and much lower because it's wall mounted, I've tried pointing the remote at walls and ceiling and still happens. Also tried turning the Bell box sideways. I have tried the bell remote as well as my logitech Harmony One, both cause this problem. I have no IR repeaters. My TV is set to movie mode, not vivid or anything crazy bright so it's fairly optimized, though it's plasma like I said so there's no backlight.

My HTPC has an IR receiver but the HTPC is powered off with power cut to it when it's not in use because the kids play with the power and bluray drive if I dont cut power. The HTPC is always off when TV watching.

I do have a wii, though its IR bar fell recently behind the tv and I havent yet recovered it. the wii is off. the other hardware I have in the room is a Yamaha rx-v1900 A/V receiver and a small 4 port wireless router with the wireless disabled.

Also, this was never an issue with my Rogers receiver only with my Bell one, so if it's overly sensitive to IR interference that's a design flaw in the hardware not in my room. I guess I'll have to try and figure out how to accomodate this design flaw.

I will go through the linked posts to find what I havent tried and see what results I get. one of the suggestions was covering part of the IR on the Bell receiver, that will be the first thing I do when I get home.
 
#147 ·
One thing that may be worth trying is to change the Remote Address, although I am not sure it will cure the problem, there is nothing to loose by trying it.
 
#150 ·
I wanted to follow up on my results. I tried a variety of changes and I'm not certain what fixed it but thought I'd post in case I can help anyone reading in the future, my 6400 box has been 100% reliable since. I first tried making adjustments to my plasma TV, but this made no difference.

1. Although my Nintendo wii IR bar had fallen behind the tv sitting on top of the wall mount, I did not realize the wii system itself was actually powered on by my kids. maybe the IR signal was bouncing around the room enough to interfere. turned off wii and disconnected the IR bar's wire in case.

2. At first I had tried a few layers of scotch tape, and that did not help. I now have added a piece of tissue paper scotch taped covering the entire IR receiver to further dampen incoming IR.

3. I realized the lamps in my living room are using compact flourescent energy saving bulbs. I think those are probably giving off some IR of their own, so maybe covering the sensor with tissue paper is helping.

I am now happily using my Harmony One remote without adjusting its delay settings or changing the remote address.
 
#151 ·
@Bman72s, it seems to me that most people these days are renting their receivers. I'm assuming that Future Shop and Best Buy have stopped selling them because it wasn't worth their time/money to have them in stock and advertise them. In the last few months I think I've only installed 3 or 4 receivers that weren't rental.

Before Bell introduced the Rental Choice Program the incentive to buy over renting was that you paid for it once, and it was yours, as opposed to renting it and paying for it for the rest of eternity, and it never being yours. Now you pay for it for 36 months, and it's yours, and it costs the exact same amount as buying it and it's covered under warranty for 39 months, instead of 12 if you bought it outright.
 
#152 ·
Hi JoeLouie. I know about the rental choice as I have 2 6131s that way. The problem is I am in the market for another receiver and if I go the rental route I get charged for an install. The line is there and all that needs to be done is hook it up and activate it. I recognize it is Bell's policy on a rental unit to do this but I believe it will cost me $99.99 to do this. I already paid to install the first 2 and really don't want to do it again. That is my reason for sourcing a place to purchase the receivers. If you have an alternative solution I would appreciate hearing it but this is how I understand things. $99.99 to install a $200.00 receiver when all you do is unscrew the old one and screw in the new one seems excessive. I do understand they are protecting their equipment as until the rental period is up the unit still belongs to Bell.
 
#154 ·
6400 problems

I should have paid attention to this thread when I first looked at it many moons ago. I didn't rush out and buy a 6131 and that appears to have been a boo boo on my part.

I recently decided it as time to upgrade my son's receiver (as a Christmas gift) from an old 3100 to a new HD unit. Couldn't find any 6131 units so purchased a 6400 at The Source after I found they wanted $75 to install one if I did the rental (I was going to get two of them in fact and also replace the old crock in my den - 5900 also owned).

Registered the 6400 on the web and everything seemed OK.

Now the problem. When I connected it to his TV it worked fine with the three RCA connectors - yellow (video) and red and white (audio). Then connected via HDMI and the picture was terrible and there was a pink haze right across the screen. Impossible to use.

I then moved it to my den (where the 5900 is located) and tried it on that TV. Same thing. Both TV's are LCD ProView.

I then took the 6131 I have on a Panasonic 42 inch Plasma and tried it on both ProView units with HDMI - WORKED FINE. Well, logical thing then was to connect the 6400 to the Panasonic. WORKED FINE. So, why doesn't the 6400 work on the ProView sets.

I would really like to solve this issue because of a problem with the 42 inch Panasonic. 18 months ago we took a lightening strike and it knocked out the hard drive on the 6131 as well as one of the HDMI ports on the TV but teh 6131 was spared. Our 9242 on a 50 inch Panasonic plasma was untouched except for the power booster on the incoming line. (we lost a lot of other things and had a sizeable insurance claim. Lost a DSL modem and a Time Capsule as the surge came through the phone line as well. Cordless phone system was saved as we have an alarm system and it must have a surge protector built in. Now we have surge protectors all over the place and I'm still thinking of a central unit on the breaker panel.

I didn't hit the insurance company for a new TV, even though the guy they suggested I use for the claim thought I should. The second HDMI failed just like he said it would. So I'm now using the gaming HDMI. If that fails then I've got to fall back to the RCA plugs when I'd prefer to use a component connection for better quality - but that is not possible with the 6400.

I'd love to put the 6400 on my son's TV so I can get the 6131 back on the 42 inch Panny. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this PINK HAZE. Could it be a defective 6400? But it works ok with the Panny and the 6131 works OK with the ProView.

I'm now wondering if I'm going to have to dump the ProView units (they are a PITA as they don't have codes so we have to turn them on separately and can't control volume from the Bell remote either.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

GR125

ps. One final note - like some others I think the new guide format SUCKS. It reminds me of a 1981 Visicalc spreadsheet on an Apple II.
 
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