andya,
I have the upgrade as well. I was watching the football game finish so I was recording 24 from Fox Buffalo. When the game ended I started to watch 24. When the broken recording switched to the second hour I got kicked out to the beginning of the second part. So I had to go to the "list" and select the first hour of 24 and then fast forward (4x) to the part where I was booted out when hour 2 began recording and kick me out.

Is there a comprehensive list of changes between the versions?

Anyone wishing to contribute to the forum, could have easily created this post in about 10 minutes by simply cutting/pasting from the previous posts in this thread. ;) This post will be updated periodically:

1. Font on the channel description bar had changed. There's no longer bold on the date (Mon 5:00pm-5:00am)... instead the text is a bit larger and a bit squished so that the first line of text (program name) will actually hit the second line of text if the program name contains a character with a tail (y, p, etc.).

1.a)Second line of text now includes the show's rating - or at least it usually does.

2. We have 4x FF and REW (Approx 120X, in addition to 4X, 10X, 30X).

3. The "kickout to live" is fixed!

4. Categories (Talk Shows, Sci-Fi) are now shown in the description details of each show so that you can laugh at the fact "SHOPTV" is considered News.

5. Recording future-dated episodes provides options for those wanting to record both "Canadian Idol", "Red Green" and "Rick Mercer":
On this channel this day in this time slot
On this channel at any time
On this channel any day in this time slot

6. Play from beginning option when you select a currently recording program from your program list... though oddly not available when actually on the program (I thought I would be able to get to it by pressing "Stop"... nope).

7. Program description for each show now shows in the upper left corner when the guide on the screen.

8. Program description is now available with the info button while you are watching a recorded program instead of only showing Channel 950 showing.

9. if you block a rating, lets say PG-13, then all references anywhere in the system to any program with a PG-13 rating says "Title Blocked" until you enter the four digit code to unlock the system.

10. Firewire appears to be enabled (for viewing), but functionality still in question for recording. - See firewire thread and discuss there.

11. If you enter a channel number that doesn't exist, rather than flashing ??? in the channel number field and then doing nothing, it instead switches to the next channel above the channel you requested.

12. A small new feature that I noticed is when watching a pre-recorded program, if you press the Live button it returns to the channel you were previously viewing before selecting the recorded program.

13. Firmware MAY now be compatible with HDMI switching receivers. Discuss in the following thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=56732

14. The front AUX input is also now enabled. Just plug in something and press the Video Source button on your remote while in CBL mode. Can't PVR from Aux though...

15. With this upgrade, the DAY UP and DAY DOWN buttons on the remote control (if you have them) are fully operational.

16. If you set up a recording for "On this channel any day in this time slot", the adjustment will be applied to all recordings for that title. ie 8:05, Done "intelligently". (It doesn't work for the All Episodes, This day, or All Episodes, Any Time options. It also doesn't work if the programme is on only once a week)

17. The "A scheduled recording of XXXXXX will begin in 2 minutes" message now stays on for 20 seconds compared to previous 5 or so. I used to leave it, now I hit EXIT.

18. Instead of powering down at around 2AM, the unit now goes into a "screensaver" mode.

19. A new "feature" with the new firmware is that if you see a scheduled recording that is MORE than 7 days "out", this scheduled recording has an "error". Either it's the wrong time, or is an "inconsistent programme title", etc.

For example, if you've set an "all episode" recording and its exact match is not on during the next 7 days, the scheduled recording will be "moved out" to the next potential recording time.

In this manner you can then check your recordings for timeslot changes, or inconsistent programme titles.


The above are "fixes". Here are issues.

A. When switching from live TV to a previously recorded program, the channel indicator does not change to 950. It remains where it was before switching. This might cause some confusion.

B. Issue not resolved (same as before): When you are in FF mode and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to the next higher FF step instead of FF1. When you are in the top step FF and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to Play instead of FF1.

C. Surfing through the IPG (right arrow for example) is slower than before.


I will update this post as more changes are noted. Let me know if I missed any.

1.a)Second line of text now includes the show's rating - or at least it usually does.

How about my post #18 (channel 950 anomaly) ?
I don't know if this a "feature" or a "bug"

I am downtown at King/Yonge and got the update on my SA8000 tonight around 1:30 (Jan 16).

Anyone wishing to contribute to the forum, could have easily created this post in about 10 minutes by simply cutting/pasting from the previous posts in this thread. ;)
... assuming this thread contains the collective wisdom on the 1.89 upgrade.


This post will be updated periodically
Thanks for the initiative!

I'm located at Spadina and Bloor, and I'm actually watching the box update as I type this. Looks like hex numbers counting down on the digital display. Kind of interesting.

Upgrade received here in Brampton at 1:15AM on Jan 16/07. Nice!

Issue or Feature? (Carried over from previous firmware version)

When you are in FF mode and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to the next higher FF step instead of FF1.
When you are in the top step FF and hit Instant Replay, then hit FF again, you go to Play instead of FF1.

Got the update at North York (Yonge/Sheppard) this morning, so far so good !!

I also noticed this morning that instead of powering down automatically like before, the audio was still playing and a screen saver displayed a message "Press any key to watch TV". When you press a key you get a message saying something like "Please wait while the hard dirve powers up".

I find that scrolling with the IPG is slower than before which is painful (approx 3/4 of a second per single page up/down). Also, sadly the search by title still only allows you to search the first letter. So you need to scroll through pages and pages of the same thing to get to what you are looking for. I counted 29 pages of SHOPTV and a total of about ** 147 ** page downs to get to what I was looking for - Smart Travel. (yeah I'm sure if would be less if I went backwards and I know I can hold the page down to scroll faster but I just wanted to count).

Although I have not noticed that the TV images is brighter, it does seems as if the IPG is dimmer than before.

Confirm received in South Mississauga overnight.

Received the update here in Mississauga (Winston Churchill/Eglinton) as well.

I find the same as akennedy suggests, the screen refresh seems slightly slower and jagged when changing screens (guide, list, etc...).

Also, I noticed on the PPV channels there is a small yellow (PPV) icon on the infobar, which I don't think was there before.

Glad to finally have the kickout bug fixed. :)

Downtown Toronto King West area, I now have the new firmware. I turned on the TV this morning and noticed that the channel was reset to 01. I tried watching a recording and fast forwarding and sure enough I could do 4XFF.

I can also confirm that the HDCP issues mentioned in these threads http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=50586 and http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=43498 is now fixed and you can now use an HDMI receiver with the 8300HD. I have now hooked up one of my 8300HD to my Samsung HT-TQ85 using HDMI and it works (no longer get the HDCP not compliant message). This is very handy for me as it frees up one of the HDMI inputs on my LC46D62U. It also allows me to have Dolby Digital sound from my 8300HD instead of analog (the HT-TQ85 has only one digital optical input which is already used for the Xbox 360).

Hmm, when I came into my bedroom I noticed that the 8300HD had in fact spun its hard drive down, the first time since the firmware update. However I can't seem to get it to do this when it used to, or when I want it to.

Confirmed in Ajax as well. In addition, my SD box (a 3200, if I'm not mistaken) received new firmware as well.

I'm in the downtown core of Toronto also, at Church + Shuter, and also have the upgrade.

All the enhancements already mentioned are in place, though the info on the program in the upper left corner when in "guide" mode is no different than it always was, you probably can see just a little more because the bolding of part of the text has been taken away.

Like AKennedy, the biggest disappointment (though from previous reports, no surprise) is no introduction of a search feature. No, it doesn't have a bad search feature, it has no search feature. What we had and still have is a "browse" feature. There's a world of difference. If you know what show you want to find, but don't know the day, it's conceivable you would easily have to press 100's and 100's of keystrokes to find the program for which you are searching. It's pretty incredible such a high-end piece of digital equipment lacks such a basic function.

For anyone that cares, sunny Whitby has the new firmware! :cool:

Just noticed that I could FF with 4 arrows (x120) this morning...hence I must have receiveed 1.89 upgrade last night.

I'm looking forward to the best feature/bug fix of this new firmware...not being kicked out to live TV while watching a currently recording program. My wife yells at me for some reason whenever this happens!

Brampton (I'm at Steeles & Mavis) got it overnight as well. I sure wish they had taken this oppurtunity to pretty up the interface a bit!

Steve