Ok,
I will get right to the point....are they worth the money?
I just bought a HD TV and have the HD box without the PVR and love the quality of the picture. That said, I would love to record digitally. Would the quality of the pik be the same and has anyone had warranty or quality control issues with these STB's?
Thx
Craig:eek:

1. I've moved this to the appropriate forum.

2. The quality of the picture is identical to the input. It records bit for bit.

3. Thare are lots of threads discussing issues regarding this unit with some people returning units that they are renting. Do a search for *8300*. This is of course typical for this type of forum, where many people come when they have problems. Lots of people don't have an hardware problems with their units. You can always rent...

4. People love their DVRs. (From my cold dead hands....)

I just bought mine form FS. I am wondering what kind of file format the unit writes on a hard disk. In other words if I get external SATA and once I record something hook it up to my PC would I be able to see that files and what extention they have. My guess is it shouldn't be much of a problem to convert that to MPEG2 or even AVI and use for DVD burning.

They files are encrypted. I have never heard of the encryption being broken.

Hey calexicoca, you finally bit the bullet and bought one...congratulations. Have you been renting one prior to your purchase? If not, let me know how life is now with your new PVR?!?! I'm still sitting on the fence on whether to rent or buy. I'm hoping and praying for the price to go down even further ($499.00), but that could just be a dreamers wish...did you get the $100 programming credits applied to your account as well...

Nicholas

The only way to get the (HD) files off the DVR is via firewire, which is not active on any SA DVR so far. See the Digital Home FAQ "Recording HD".

I started with the 3250HD (no PVR) and just loved the PQ.
It took me a while to finally get a PVR... had a hard time selling the idea to my CFO (wifey). Once you get a PVR you wont go back.

The PQ is the same on both boxes. The one thing I did notice is that the PVR runs cooler than the 3250... So far my PVR has been very reliable, moreso than the old box. My 3250 used to reset all of a sudden for no reason (i did have a cooling fan on it even)... so far, the 8300 has not once done this to me.
If you are unsure, then just rent... you can always go back to what you had if it isnt to your liking.

Thanks new-guy...I may just do that (rent first)...especially since Rogers has a promo on the 8300HD PVR:

"Rent an HDPVR before December 31st, 2005 and get 25% off for the first 4 months. That's only $18.71/month!"

Nicholas

They files are encrypted. I have never heard of the encryption being broken.

So they say. Same was true for DVD 5-6 years ago ;). I am just wondering apart from breaking encryption can you actually see the files on the PC?

Hey calexicoca, you finally bit the bullet and bought one...congratulations. Have you been renting one prior to your purchase? If not, let me know how life is now with your new PVR?!?! I'm still sitting on the fence on whether to rent or buy. I'm hoping and praying for the price to go down even further ($499.00), but that could just be a dreamers wish...did you get the $100 programming credits applied to your account as well...

Nicholas

I still didn't activate. Its in the box. Waiting for my HD to come. I might even try it on SD. There shouldn't be a problem getting the programing credit since I'll be taking new programing (HD channels). Renting might be an option but if I had done that who knows when I would have bought it ...

I just recently purchased a 8300 HD PVR. Previously I had rented a HD terminal. I've noticed that the picture quality with the PVR isn't quite as good. I'm in the process of replacing the PVR. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Make sure you have the connections proper and the SA8300HD set up properly (typically it's best to send SD as 480i or 480P (passthrough or upconvert1 and HD as 1080i, your situation may be different).

See the Digital Home FAQ "Tips for SA STBs".

I purchased one just before Christmas, have it set on passthrough and seems to work fine this way.

So they say. Same was true for DVD 5-6 years ago ;). I am just wondering apart from breaking encryption can you actually see the files on the PC?No apparently they are somehow tied to a key that is in the box of the unit. If you hook it up to a PC you will not see anything. There are long threads on AVS on this.