I'm going on 1.5yrs with hd and don't see the quality going down. I started with the SC dsr500 and now have the shaw 6208. As said there is reference stuff like kill bills, lotrs and cbs/mnf football and there is lesser stuff ...softer transfers, sitcoms, west wing (ugh)...stuff with little wow factor. That's just how it was when I first dove in. Shaw doesn't recompress. With something like daytona flip between the sd feed and hd and you'll quickly get the wow back.


Yes but I do believe that if you have to flip back and forth between the
SD feed and the HD feed to get the wow factor maybe that means you have lost the "WOW" factor of HD. Although I honestly still think HD looks pretty damn good especially live sports.

I'm suggesting the flipping for others if they need to see the difference, I don't. I do use this technique to show those who don't understand what hd is about and why it's a big deal. Remember some people still watch a 20" set from across a room and really don't care about picture quality. Anyone with a big screen set who's seen hd is clearly aware of the benifits. BTW cbshd superbowl coverage from past years was more detailed...they offer a superior picture to foxhd on almost all programming. I have a cbs playoff game on dvr and did an a/b during the superbowl...cbs was clearly better.

Comcast (in the USA) started updating firmware in their 6412's last week, taking them from version 9.12 to 9.15. Since Shaw is using 9.12 right now perhaps we can expect a firmware update soon?

Here's what the Comcast users say the firmware update fixes:
- 6412 freezing and/or rebooting while viewing/recording analog channels (also sometimes causes analog scheduled recordings to end early).
- a "this channel should be available shortly" message at power on.

Since this is a firmware update and not an I-Guide software update, it does not address any I-Guide issues.

I'd like to get some feedback from 6412 owners regarding whether to leave it on all the time or shut it off when not in use. My understanding is that if the unit is off, if a timed recording is scheduled that the unit will power itself up. And also the unit will not shut down when a timed recording is running, but will shut down if a manual recording is being done which stops the recording.

I leave mine on all the time. There are a couple of quirks that crop up if you turn it off:
1) If a scheduled recording turns the box on, it mutes the volume on the cable box itself and the remote control isn't set up to unmute it (though you can add that function as explained on the first page of this thread)
2) There have been reports that sometimes when you power it on the guide comes up but no video. To get live TV working again you have to select a recorded program first, then stop it.

Just leave it on. The unit stays warm no matter if you turn it on or off, so why bother with technut's points when you can just leave it on all the time?

I'd like to get some feedback from 6412 owners regarding whether to leave it on all the time or shut it off when not in use. My understanding is that if the unit is off, if a timed recording is scheduled that the unit will power itself up. And also the unit will not shut down when a timed recording is running, but will shut down if a manual recording is being done which stops the recording.


I turn mine off. If the box is left on, it is still recording to disk the current channel which is tuned. Therefore to save on normal wear and tear, I let the hard drive take a break when I am not watching.

Dan

Is there a way to restart the buffer easier than rewinding, or pressing the 15 sec replay button? Sometimes it's up to 30min. long and it takes a little while to rewind it.

Is there a way to restart the buffer easier than rewinding, or pressing the 15 sec replay button? Sometimes it's up to 30min. long and it takes a little while to rewind it.
If you hit record to commit the buffer to storage then you can go into your recording list and start from the beginning. That's the only other way I've found to do it. Usually if I'm interested in watching the earlier part of the buffer I won't mind recording it anyways, so I've found that the method works ok most of the time.

I found myself doing that sometimes too Felgar. It does seem to be the easiest way.

Another Q...but it's brobably a firmware/software issue, but is there a way to change the length of the buffer? Lowering it to maybe 15mins on each tuner would add 30mins HD more recording time on the DVR. Chances are that there is no way, but does anyone know?

(I don't like searching the AVS forum, with all the know-it-alls that are on that site...and I'm not talking about our Canadian participants that use both sites)

I wish I knew Kinstud... There must be a hidden configuration menu; or maybe it could only be changed by the tech's on the head-end (Shaw in our case). I'd actually prefer to lengthen my buffers - I find on analog and digital that I use them more than I thought I would, and I'd like HD to be similar. At any rate, I'd expect this setting as well as analog recording quality would be part of the DCT's configuration. I wish I knew how to change them.

Turn the box off, and within 2 seconds hit select on the front panel, or select on the remote. That is where it tells you the signal strength (for digital channels only), HDD status, etc. The MPEG setting is in one of the screens near the bottom of the list.

Thanks. This appears to work on the 6208 as well.

How hot is your 6412? When I go to Off/Select, d13, page down:

I get 106°F. This is in an 18°C room with the box about 6 feet above the ground. I keep reading about posts saying the box is really hot to the touch. But I don't find it's much different than my 6200 box was.

How hot is your 6412? When I go to Off/Select, d13, page down:

I get 106°F. This is in an 18°C room with the box about 6 feet above the ground. I keep reading about posts saying the box is really hot to the touch. But I don't find it's much different than my 6200 box was.

Mine is 111 F in a 20 C room, it seems not very warm to the touch to me. Mine is about 4 feet off the ground and is totally out in the open.

I've done a little more testing and my conclusion now is that you only get the recording conflict message when there are actually two recordings scheduled (so both tuners would be busy already), but sometimes the conflict message only lists one of the two scheduled recordings, making it appear that there should still be an available tuner and no conflict.
.

I was hit by something like this last nite on my 6412. Had a series recording previously scheduled and tried to select a show in the guide for recording at the same time, but it insisted there was a conflict even though there was no recording scheduled for the other tuner. So when the start time came, I was able to watch the show live and even pause it, so the other tuner was available. But it still insisted there was a conflict when I pushed the rec button.

So I stopped the series recording and then started it again as a new recording. Then swapped over to the other tuner and the rec button started a recording, picking up everything in its buffer. Kind of an annoying bug, but should be easy to work around.

I had a program appear on my PVR that was 0 minutes long, and was recorded on 12/31/1989. I tried everything to get rid of this program but everytime I tried to delete it just screwed everything up and Shaw had to reset the 6412. They could not fix the problem and told me to bring in the box and exchange. After one last search of the internet I found out how to erase the hard drive. It appears to erase the hard drive completely (including this phantom recording). You have been warned.

Make sure the cable box and tv are on.

1. Press cable on the remote.
2. Press Power.
3. Quickly press the select or ok button.
4. The diagnostics page should appear on the tv screen.
5. Press the 15 second rewind button once. (left of the green list button).
6. Press the Green List button three times.
7. Press the Live button once.

This should clear the hard drive and you will then have to wait for the software to download again.

Thanks woofers, I have seen that solution elsewhere too. It is my understanding that it also wipes out all your settings on the box (eg. favourites, series scheduled recordings, etc).

Just wanted to be sure everyone is aware that you essentially are starting over with a fresh install when you do this. None of your personalization is retained.

I have a 6412 and a Sammy HLN4365.
I am currently setup as Type: 16:9; DVI:720; 4:3 Override: Off.
On my HDTV on DVI my available aspect ratio are Wide(TV), Wide(PC) & Normal.

Can anybody tell me what should be my best setting? I taught I should be using 480p for my 4:3 override but whenever I am viewing SD it is strecthed and I don't like it, the same thing is happening if I choose 480i. I also would like to watch SD that is in letter box to be zoom1 (because it does not distort). :(

Sorry - didn't see the other post on this subject. Never mind.

Technut, (or anyone else)

did you ever figure out a fix, workaround, or way to avoid having your 6412 completely hard lock anytime after modifying the "series priority" list?

Without fail, my box will completely hard lock any time I click "confirm" after modifying the "series priority" list. This will happen after deleting a series recording or or changing the priority of one show over another.

This is a consistent, and reliably demonstratable problem.

The only way to get it fuctioning again for me is to unplug the box and plug it back in which completely sucks when it takes FOREVER to download the guide again.

(PS: great faq on the X1 btw, came in really handy after my x1 purchase. thanks!)