thanks Mach3,

I guess it may have always said error, assuming it is the same experience for everybody - VERY disconcerting to notice this in combination with Shaw so kindly removing the DVR menu option!!!

did you get a chance to check yours Icemann??

Ice Hockey looked quite good last night
(didn't watch too much of it - usual bunch of audio dropouts tho, as well as the 30 second tune-in delay)

m

Oh sorry, forgot to post an update:

I checked the Hard Drive status on my 6208 last night and it also says ERROR.

Since nobody has one other that doesn't show "ERROR", I assume it's normal.

I'll be very keen to know what you and others have displayed in their Diagnostics screens...

I don't know if it ever said INST instead of ERROR (wish I had recorded it somewhere)

I've sent an email to Motorola support directly, but who knows what that will turn up...

OK - Motorola replied with the "we don't support the 6208, your cable company does" line, which is odd considering I emailed the support request from the "support" link on their own broadband 620x DCT web-page

so basically, we have a classic case of mutual finger-pointing and no helpful/knowledgeable/useful point of reference

marvellous - thanks Shaw/Motorola very much...

somebody wrote not so long ago that Shaw was getting the most headaches from the 6208 coz only tech-savvy folks had bought it - all I have to say to that is... shouldn't Shaw know how these boxes work inside and out, and make that effort to provide/transmit that knowledge to its paying customers???

somebody wrote not so long ago that Shaw was getting the most headaches from the 6208 coz only tech-savvy folks had bought it - all I have to say to that is... shouldn't Shaw know how these boxes work inside and out, and make that effort to provide/transmit that knowledge to its paying customers???

And we all were wondering why they took so long to release the 6208 in the first place.... I think they are still regretting it.

Mine also says that error ever since I got it.

If you scroll through some other menu option to do with pvr (can't remember exact menu name) you can press the cursors and go to other pages of menu. I got the impression by reading it that it may support a 2nd internal drive (has some message about number of drives installed). Sorry for being so vague... If you guys need more info I will follow-up exact menu when I get home.

When I plug in my external drive it shows the firewire device as active but doesn't do anything else.

I am so sorry I bought the 6208 - it should be a great box, but unfortunately it is ruined by Shaw's total technical incompetence. What was working originally was broken by a software upgrade that was clearly not properly tested - the resulting delay in tuning HD channels was not hard to spot! But compounding that mistake, do Shaw replace the buggy software with the old, working, software? No, it will be weeks (read months?) before they issue a "fix". That is NOT how you deal with software upgrades....and leaves me with a sinking feeling about their ability to cope with the technology.

I'm not trying to defend Shaw in any way, but once you have a DVR, your viewing habits should change.

You should no longer be channel surfing, you should set the DVR to record all your favourite programming and then watch it at your own convenience.

The DVR will even record new programming while you're watching the stuff you've recorded, so, as long as you have stuff recorded on the DVR to watch, there should be no concern as to whether it takes a few extra seconds to change channels.

I stopped watching live TV over 25 years ago when I bought my first VCR. I know that most people don't watch TV the way I do, but if you don't, why buy a DVR?

I hope you do soon get these issues resolved.

I record what I want to record when I want to record it. It has nothing to do with channel surfing. The software screw up has seriously taken away from the user convenience of the 6208. If you change channel once you experience the degradation in prefomance.....totally unacceptable.

I choose to surf!!!!!!!..........except in HD

I believe the days of channel surfing are slowly coming to an end. I am on cable at home but out at the lake we have a Express view system. I got used to using the guide because surfing was just too slow. The same will happen to cable if we go to an all digital line up you had better get used to the guide. Surfing is only practical on an all analog system. I use my guide, select what I want to watch. I rarely surf any more. Actually since I got my pvr I rarely watch live TV . Even the world cup final. I started watching an hour late. This way I could jump through commercials and the intermissions. By the end of the 3rd period I had caught up to real time. A 3 hour game in 2 hours. Now the only surfing I do is on the web.

I happened to change to the Playboy channel yesterday on my 6208 and noticed that the 30 second freeze was no longer present. I cancelled Playboy so don't know whether it is tuning in properly or not. Can anyone confirm that the 30 second freeze is gone for this channel?

Alan, its still there on Playboy. I'm having a "senior" technician come out on Monday since the last guy had no idea about the 6208 and just replaced it. We'll see. I just want it noted on my account that I've been complaining about it for some time.

I've got my DCT6208 sitting on top of my DCT2000. The idea is when the 6208 is recording I can switch over to the DCT2000 and still watch other digital channels. The problem is they both use the same remote codes so if you change something on one box it changes on the other.

Is there any way around this? I've got a Philips Pronto so I can program whatever's necessary....just don't know what.

Have one unit "on" while the other is "off". Then when you press the power button, they will be the other way around - no interference.

Thanks 57. That doesn't really work. Even with the 6208 "off" if you hit Menu or select it launches the 6208's set up menu. The 6208 also turns itself on automatically when it starts recording so that messes things up too.

Sorry, that works without difficulty on the SA STBs.

If the SA STB is off, it doesn't "hear" the remote. Also, the STB doesn't come on to record, it just records.

Time to get out the electical tape to cover up the "eye" for the remote on the STB...

There is no way around this unless there is some sort of software upgrade...I know the bell receivers have a option to change the infrared channel on the receiver, then you program the remote with the change..I have the same problem with a 6208 and dct 2500, I just gave up and now I don't really care if the dct2500 is on, off or on channel 999.. :-)

I have had a 6208 in place now for 1 week, and have used it to do just about everything (live TV functions, scheduled record, unscheduled record, watch recorded while recording new, etc.). Overall I've been quite impressed as it's my first DVR, and first HD experience. I've been reading these forums since just prior to the purchase and wanted to share some of the issues I've encountered during my first week - mostly confirmations of previous posts.

Delays:
Huge delay (sometimes greater than 5 minutes) when tuning to HD channels and when launching an HD recording. Setup / Audio / default-language-switch, works when tuning to HD channels but not when launching an HD recording. No noticeable delay on any non-HD channels or recordings.

Recording:
Messing around during the Ryder Cup over this past weekend resulted in the box constantly "recording" whatever channel was tuned in. No listings in the My Recordings menu, but always got the warning message during channel changes and power-off. HDD space was also getting eaten up. Resolved by powering down, unplugging, and allowing box/guide to refresh itself. Now the issue is two scheduled recordings that I've never scheduled and can not delete - get the previously reported error message to contact customer support. I'm waiting to see what happens with those. One of them was for Bourne Identity last night at 9pm. It was still listed at 12:30am under "scheduled", long after the show had ended. Interesting though that no red dot "record" graphic appears with these mistaken schedulings in the guide or listing.

Commercial Skip and Remote:
Used advanced code 173 for skip on the STB, and applied it to the * button. Works like a charm. Have had an easy time getting the remote to do all required functions for all my equipment - with the frustrating exception of the Aspect function on my Panasonic TV (can't find an advanced code for that).

Picture Quality:
HD is better than I had expected, but am somewhat dissapointed in so much broadcast being 4:3. Non-HD quality is definitely poorer than previous, so often use TV tuner direct for those channels that are available through that route (and for watching X while recording Y).

That's about it. I believe for Shaw to sell these units to the masses who are perhaps not as patient as I, there will have to be significant improvements, and soon. I'm looking forward to some of the bugs hopefully being cleaned up over the next while.

Commercial Skip and Remote:
Used advanced code 173 for skip on the STB, and applied it to the * button. Works like a charm. Have had an easy time getting the remote to do all required functions for all my equipment - with the frustrating exception of the Aspect function on my Panasonic TV (can't find an advanced code for that).


Can you elaborate how you did this to make the commercial skip work? Did you need to use a JP1 interface or can you enter a special code into any button?

I have a Pronto and never really paid much attention to the original remote.

Can you elaborate how you did this to make the commercial skip work? Did you need to use a JP1 interface or can you enter a special code into any button?


I'm not too knowledgeable about JP1 (not enough time in the day), but I've done some messing around with advanced codes, as found at hifi-remote.com. No JP1 interface required. The following is essentially from the advanced codes section on that site.

Here's the quick and easy way to put the skip function onto a button on the original Atlas remote (shipped with the 6208).

Press the device key (Cable)
Press and hold SETUP (wait for two blinks)
Enter 9-9-4 (wait for two blinks)
Press SETUP (don't hold it)
Enter the 3 digit code (173, for skip)
Press the button to be assigned (I used *)

I assigned to the * button because it did not appear to be used for anything already, and because I couldn't seem to assign it to anything closer to the 'replay' button that was not already in use - such as the 'help' button right above 'replay' - that would have been ideal.

Skip seems to work very well if you kick it off at the right time. Multiple presses will get you through the corresponding number of commercials provided they are of standard length (approx. 30 seconds).

Note that with the appropriate codes found on the site mentioned above, this also works for other functions (I have the day+/day- assigned to Cable device PIP channel+/-, for example).

Hope that helps.

Shawguy, you should likely add this (and anything else recent that's useful) to the first post...