I would recommend the Motorola over the Pace.

Having trouble finding this information - if I follow the reset instructions found here (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Resets) for my 6416 iii, will it mark bad sectors and that sort of thing? I'm getting a lot of glitch recordings lately where the DVR won't replay past a certain point, or sometimes it will get through a bad point on fast forward but not on play. I'm assuming there are some damaged sectors on the disk as when I don't delete a few bad recordings future ones are mostly OK.

No. All those do is reset the or reformat the HDD. If you're unit is under warranty you should contact Shaw. If not, then you have a variety of options...

Thanks for the quick reply. My options as far as I understand it:

- buy an external HD, leave all the recordings currently on the DVR there and it should put anything new to the new drive
- buy the external drive and after formatting it transfer it to be the internal drive. Unclear if I can do this with a 1 TB drive
- buy a new unit but it seems like the newer stuff is even glitchier than the Motorola

Anything I'm missing or wrong about?

Hi,
I have a DCT6416 III that has a fan that sounds like it has a split personality. One minute is spinning and then the next it is hyper speed! :eek: Even at regular speed it is quite loud.

1. Is there a way to quiet the fan down?

2. Why does it fluctuate so much?

3. Is it worth replacing the fan?

I bought this second hand and don't know if it is under warranty (I'm am very doubtful that it is)

4. Also, is there any benefit to "registering" this unit with Shaw?? (not sure I can be bothered to sit on hold)

Hooked it up and it was up and running no worries.

Cheers

Either the fan is very dirty with dust, in which case you can try to open up the unit and clean the fan, but you have to be very careful during cleaning because if the fan is "spun" too fast it can cause damage to the fan. The other possibility is that the fan is already damaged, in which case replacement is the only option.

I am not sure what you mean by "registering" the unit with Shaw ... do you mean for them to "activate" it? Because from what I know, the only way for the unit to become functional in your house is to have Shaw "activate" it, otherwise you cannot watch what you have subscribed to, and in many cases you cannot even use the PVR functions of the unit unless they activate it. If it works without calling Shaw, then you are probably using the previous owner's account ... once Shaw realizes this (usually within a week) they will deactivate the unit.

I am not sure if it was addressed in this thread. But if you disconnect your PVR and take it to your cabiny, can you watch your pre-recorded shows?

Service calls are always included at no additional charge for Shaw customers.

With regards to the warranty. Shaw offers a full 3 year warranty from the date of purchase. Should a tech determine the unit is faulty and under warranty he will replace it with a refurbished model and the orignal warranty will transfer over.

For Shaw customers who subscribe to cable, phone & internet Shaw offers an Extended warranty which covers equipment for swap purposes so long as you are a triple play customer. As ytou mention you only have cable and internet so this would not apply but if you did also have phone with Shaw then it would be covered.
If you at any time terminate any of your triple play services, for example disconnect your internet and go with someone else and you end up resubscribing to triple lay at a later date, is your PVR warrantable again?

But if you disconnect your PVR and take it to your cabiny, can you watch your pre-recorded shows?

Nope. You must have a connection to Shaw service or the PVR is a paper weight.

When I moved, I was stuck waiting over a long weekend to get my service hooked up. I could not use my PVR at all. Let me tell you, I was pissed off!

Thank goodness I had a PS3/360 and I borrowed a bunch of movies from friends to tide me over. (I like the back ground noise even if I am not watching. I don't feel so alone. *violins*)

Will we ever see a firmware update pushed to the DCT6412III box for MPEG4 support or is it a hardware limitation?

I'd rather not have to toss away a $700 cable box, and frankly the oddly sized new boxes look out of place on my equipment rack.

Hardware. The old dct units can not do mpeg4.

Your Analog box has been orphaned.
MPEG4 is a hardware limitation.
You don't have toss the box... you just have to watch the new channels in Standard def.

SD, eh? That sort of defeats the purpose ;)

Well if Shaw wants to sell me new channels they'll have to offer me a trade for the box as well. I know it's 7 years old and technology evolves but it's still a little frustrating.

^^ Good luck on that.

I've been trying forever for Shaw to offer me a trade-in or trade-up on my DCT3080 or DCT3416. The closest I've got was last year, when I had the opportunity to trade either of them for an additional portal, if I purchased a gateway and portal at full price. And that offer is no longer offered. If I wanted to purchase an MPEG4 box from Shaw now, I'd have to pay full price.

I see Shaw still sells these boxes on their site. Seems strange that they would be selling outdated practically obsolete boxes. And it costs more than a DCX3400.

http://www.shaw.ca/television/equipment/hd-pvr-160gb/

I noticed that as well. If they choose to still sell obsolete refurbished equipment, they should sell it at clearance prices, at most half the price of the current equivalent. If an HD boxes doesn't have an HDMI port, its price should be cut in half again.

This would price a DCT2500 at $25, DCT6200 (w/o HDMI) at $45, DCT6416 (w/o HDMI) at $88, DCT3200 at $89, and DCT3416/DCT6416 (HDMI) at $175.

None of the DCT boxes can receive MPEG4 channels; the DCT PVRs have smaller hard drives than the current models; and the DCT6xxx boxes (except for "Phase III") lack HDMI ports. The DCT2500 is also obsolete because it's incompatible with Shaw's current VOD platform.

The dct3416 has been at $97 off and on for the past few months, which is quite reasonable.

I'd love it if they'd sell the dct6416 for that price.

does DCT6200 run hot? I am running out of space and may have to put it under a FAT PS3. PS3 won't be running when the DCT6200 is used though. Thanks.

The older DCTs run hotter than their newer DCX brethern. It is really just a matter to make sure there is enough air space between the 6200 and PS3. I have always had my older DCTs under other equipment but always had at least a couple of CMs (1") of space above the DCT by placing blocks (e.g. 1x1) on either end of the DCT that the other equipment sat on. Air flow is key.

I am one of the nutcases that stuck a 1tb drive into a 6412 V111 back in Dec 2009 when the firmware made it possible.

Am a happy camper about it.

I have never used the front inputs and do not know the ropes about how to. Or if you can change setting or even record anything on a Shaw PVR.

Just wondering if anybody has ever just used the audio in stereo pairs to do HDD recording with or without a video input from a camera?

I would guess that you need to switch to the secam channel and hit the red button to make anything happen. As this is the only thing that makes any sense.

I play classical guitar and it would be funny if I could just to hook up my line level outs from my mixer and HDD record stereo audio directly to this device, when I have musical friends over for a jam in our living room or if I am wood shedding at night.

As the motorola dsps are known to be excellent and if it is set to do say 20 bit 48000 dvd quaility analogue to digital that would be really sweet.:cool:
Even if it is only set to 16 bit 44100 cd this is not too terrible.

But if they have it cranked down to telephone quality or something the like forget it. I don't expect it to crank out 24 96000...my good gear does that but requires some setup and my computer DAW software recording interace which is a pita unless I am just recording someone else.

Cheers