If anyone is using the digital audio coax or optical out connections on the 6208 to their stereo could you please let me know if the sound from either of these digital out connections works for all channels or just the digital ones. I wanted to know if I needed to hook up the analogue audio out connections in addition to the digital audio to get sound out of my stereo on all channelss

Thanks,

I am using the digital coax out (spdif) feeding it to my HTIB system and it works for all channels.

Ditto on my system using the optical connector.

I had my 6208 freeze up yesterday when changing to Channel 88, the channel assigned for a local security channel hookup. The cameras have been installed and a signal is supposed to be available shortly. When it freezes the only response is to power the unit off and then on. On powering on the 6208’s display flashes and then indicates it has changed to channel 1. I can then changed to Channel 88 and it says “One Moment - This channel will be available shortly” I believe this message only comes up when there is no recognizable TV signa which I expect there isn’t yet.l. I tried it several times during the rest of the day and it responded okay. Today I tried Channel 88 again when I turned the box on and it froze up again. Powering off and on fixed it. I tried my DCT2000 box and it didn’t freeze.

I called Shaw and was told that there was no known issue like this. I said I’ll wait until the security channel is working and “I’ll call back if I continue to experience problems.

Anyone one else have a Shaw cable box freeze when changing to the security channel, with or without a signal? I am not sure whether it is an issue with the 6208 box or with the 6208 box and the connection to our new security cameras which is not fully enabled..

Recording all episodes of a series or just recording the new episodes of a series is a very attractive feature in 6412. Has anyone heard whether this feature is a likely upgrade to 6208 in the near future?

Is there any way with the 6208 to go to the END of a recording other than FF through the whole thing?

With all the dying 6208's out there, I would like to know how many of you have had no problems? I have had mine since August 04 and it is running fine. Maybe the ones that are dying had a similar serial number? I am getting nervous that mine will soon go...

Fine since April '04.

Mine has been fine as well- only since Nov '04. I too am getting concerned by all the reports of failures. Seeing as it sounds like Shaw will soon run out of replacement units, I fear a long wait if it needs to be sent for repair...

fine since dec 04

Mine has been fine since Dec. 2004. Anyone know how many Shaw PVR's (both 6208 and 6412's) are actually in use?

I've had mine since November with no problems. Seems to me that when you're dealing with hard drives that are constantly on the go, its the moment you bring them down that they fail. My advice, if you haven't tried this or are concerned about your current DVR would be to not shut it off at night or while you're out. Just let it run.

just fyi

I have had mine problem-free since August 2004
until this weekend when I got the 8888

but it's not dead... yet...
just worrisome if it keeps doing this!

I got mine the 2nd week they came out (July/Aug?? 2004). Mine broke down around 2 months ago and was replaced.

Curiosity finally got the best of me...

So I took the cover off my 6208, and did some research on the 'guts' of it.

Highlights:

The signal path starts with a CMOS tuner, which is then passed to a BCM (Broadcom) QAMLink front end, which provides interaction and upstream signals to/from the cable system, as well as DOCSIS modem. Next is the BCM7035 HD Video Graphics Unit. This is one very special item! It takes.ts streams in (HD), and decodes them to MPEG2. It interfaces a standard PCI bus. It has PVR I/O control, with hardware DES/3DES encode & decode. It also accepts MPEG2 streams from the analog side of things by way of a BCM7040 NTSC to MPEG2 encoder. The chip outputs both digtal and analog video, as well as PCM audio.

A Phillips SAA7115 chip is used for video scaling. Audio De-mux is provided by a Sony CXA-2094. DVI output is passed through a BCM7501 DVI transmitter, where HDCP is added to the signal.

General I/O - HDD is handled by an ALi XMHJA70000 chip. Firewire is by TI TSB43AB22 PCI-1394 controller.

Ethernet by BCM4401

The motherboard is labeled as a DCT6200. The BCM7035 VGU supports dual streams, so I'd guess that the 6412 adds an additional CMOS tuner on the front end. The power supply unit (which is completly seperate from the MB) looks abit 'light duty', I suspect that the 6412 will suffer the same fate as the 6208 once the electolytic capacitors on the PSU start to age, dry out, and drift. :rolleyes:

Thanks for that NM. Not sure what I'll do with the information, but it's nice to know it's here if I ever have a need for it. :)

Maybe Northern Man is going to be the first to figure out how to add a second (or larger) Hard Drive to the 6208/6412.

Well, I just found myself impressed with a feature I wouldn't have expected.

Last night we had a rather powerful thunderstorm. Enough so that thunder followed the lighting by less than 1/3rd of a second. Knocked out power for a sec while recording a show, killing the guide and menus as usual.

Now for the good part. The box restarted the recording immediately, losing only about 5-10 seconds of the show! Even without the guide or even the recording options, I was able to continue the recording and lost almost nothing.

The 6208 has two sets of composite+audio input jacks. Is there any known way to make these work?


Wow. I just read this entire thread hoping to find an answer to this very issue. I have this DCT with the front composite inputs. I would like to hook my XBOX up to these inputs and use the DCT as a switcher to my DLP projector. My cable company is NO help on turning these inputs on, and I can not find any way to activate them in any menus. The remote I have (came with my box) is a UR5U-MDVR.

All help is appreciated... thanks for all the research you guys have done.

Wow. I just read this entire thread hoping to find an answer to this very issue. I have this DCT with the front composite inputs. I would like to hook my XBOX up to these inputs and use the DCT as a switcher to my DLP projector. My cable company is NO help on turning these inputs on, and I can not find any way to activate them in any menus. The remote I have (came with my box) is a UR5U-MDVR.

All help is appreciated... thanks for all the research you guys have done.


Sorry for wasting your guys' time, I just found out that I have a DCT6412, and after reading the owners manual for THAT machine, found this:

There are also inputs for a Universal Serial Bus (USB), audio/video jacks and a Smart Card slot. These inputs are for
future applications under development and are not enabled on this unit.


Lame.