In the setup wizard, disable the 480i/P widescreen formats and enable 480i/P standard. That's probably the source of your error. I know it's counter-intuitive.

i tried doing a search on this and found nothing..

last wednesday i wanted to tape ALIAS while i was away.. i set the 3250 to the HDABC channel and then started taping. I then turned the TV off and left... now when i checked the tape it looks like taping started ok, but everything after the time i turned the TV off was replaced with a box that said that my tv was not HDCP compatible or something like that...

here is how i have the setup hooked up.. cable into 3250 and out to VCR. DVI to HDMI to the TV. I also hooked up composite and red and white audio to VCR (to record better quality). When i programmed the VCR i told it to record off the auxilary input (composite)...

so... why did this happen? and how can i record something while i am gone and leave the TV off??

If you use an HDMI or DVI connection, the STB will not tune to a channel, unless it gets a "handshake" from the TV. Either leave the TV on (to maintain the handshake), or use component video cables, or swap the STB for an SA8300HD.

I have noticed my 3250 will all of a sudden reset and then display something like 6680 or 6650. I will turn it on and all i get is a blue scientific atlanta screen..
I need to cycle the power (pull the cord) in order for it to work again.... it has done this to me a couple times within minutes of turning it on.....

Then last night during the super bowl, it did it again except this time it did not come back again... i think this time it was too hot (it is in a cabinet on top of my receiver).. i had to leave the door on the cabinet open for it to cool down and come back to life.... is this a known issue?

Heat is an issue with all STBs. Same for Receivers. They should both have proper and adequate ventillation. Never, put one on top of the other. Enclosed areas are also not good unless adequately ventillated.

do you have a good suggestion for ventilating an AV cabinet???
I am starting to think of ways to build my own fan system and how to install it.... but if someone knows of an off the shelf solution that is not too pricey i would like to know.

Please start a new thread on this subject in the home theatre section, so as not to hijack this thread. If you search for "venting" or "fans" you may find some solutions already.

I cant remember if this info was in this thread or not...
I mentioned I had my 3250 reset once in a while when I start watching TV.. well last night was no different. I turn on the box and boom, its dead.. so i unplug and plug it in (this usually fixes it)... I had to do this like 4 times before it was good.
Then after an hour or so it stops sending digital audio over coax (my optical input is used for the DVD)... i checked my connections and everything was fine... so i turned off the box and then back on and it was back to normal...
Are these things "normal" (does everyone else see this)????

Rogers was sending out new firmware to some STBs last night. This may have caused your problems.

Whenever a STB is resetting, give it time afterwards to download all of the IPG information, etc.

This issue may continue for a while as many STBs get new firmware.

When my 3250 resets, why does it say "6680" (maybe it was 6650)...???
is this some sort of code?

Hey all,

Just discovered this great forum! What a valuable resource of information. :D

Anyway... I recently upgraded my ancient 2000HD box (anyone remember that model?) to a brand new 3250HD. Alas, I'm not as happy as I should be. :(

There are two very annoying issues that were not present on my previous box.

1. Black levels are crushed on the composite/S-Video SD outputs. Noticable on both the analog (800-series) channels and digital channels, although it's more severe on the digital channels. I even hooked up a waveform monitor and it clearly showed the levels were below 7.5 IRE. (Hopefully there's some video-savvy people here who know what that means!) It's annoying because I have to adjust the picture controls on my TV depending on whether I'm viewing the Rogers box or some other source like my DVD player. (And before anyone asks, no I don't use the HD outputs all the time. I have an HD projector that I use occasionally for movie nights, but for regular viewing I use my old standard def TV.)

2. Very frequently no program descriptions are present. In other words, I press "Info" twice and all I have is the title name. No description. Now admittedly I have seen this before on my last box (the 2000HD) but not anywhere near as frequently as I've been seeing it on the 3250HD. It's literally about 50% of the time. Pressing "Guide" then "Info" causes title information to be downloaded, but an hour or two later it's usually gone again.

Anyone have any comments?? I tried calling Rogers but they weren't able to help.

Thanks much in advance!!!

Alex

How long have you had the box? It could be that it's been sitting in a closet for a while and does not have the latest firmware. The crushed black level issue was fixed a while ago with an automatic firmware upgrade. The guide info also takes time to download, and will take longer if your box is turned on. Leave your box off overnight and see if both issues improve.

You can check you current firmware version by accessing the diagnostics screen. Press and hold the PAUSE button on the remote for about 10 seconds until the mail icon light on the box flashes, then press the PAGE UP key on the remote. Use the PAGE UP/DOWN keys to scroll through the screens. I don't remember which page the firmware version is on, but it listed as SARA version.

dc,

I've had the box only five days. Picked up fresh from a Rogers store in downtown TO. Firmware version is: SARA v1.52.11.2.

As for the program guide, well I'm comparing it to my 2000HD which I never had to turn off. It was pretty good about keeping the guide up to date. So is it now a requirement on new SA models that you have to turn them off when you're not watching TV just to get the guide updated?? Surely that's not true since it wasn't necessary on the 2000HD...??

Thanks,
Alex

The guide info downloads faster if the unit is off. This usually happens in the early morning. I've also had "no info" on my SA3250HD on occasion. Goes away the next time I look.

See the Digital Home FAQ "Tips for SA STBs" if you haven't already.

Asheffie, try the DVI output. My SA3250HD also crushes the Black levels on all its outputs (component, composite and S-Video) except the DVI.

SA3250HD also crushes the Black levels on all its outputs (component, composite and S-Video) except the DVI.
Thanks for the tip jlet, I'm going to try this - I've been dealing with black crush since the very first day I got my SA3250HD (it got slightly better once with a firmware update but still not as good as other boxes) and never thought to use DVI. Maybe I'll buy a DVI to X converter (where X is something I can use, such as RCA, s-video or component)

M23

Hi,
...well Videotron finally fixed my DVI no-sound-tv-off with a new firmware version 1.57.11.a7. At first they were saying it was my tv shutting the stb down.
Panasonic took this seriously and tested this particular behaviour (at their shop in Japan according to reply) and couldn't duplicate the problem with other DVI devices. Also, other users with diff boxes or diff firmwares didn't have problems. I litteraly had to fight my way to the 3rd level techs to get someone to listen....

Darn, shouldn't we get paid to be beta testers?

...think this will be fixed in Rogers land? My SARA ver is 1.52.x.x., so I guess we are a bit behind Videotron...
Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Anyone have digi out sound when TV is off? I'm using the coax out to my receiver.

This is probably not a high priority issue. There are probably not that many people who require the digital sound from the STB when the TV is not on.

The firmware probably needs a simple re-write to shut down only the video, instead of all signals when DVI doesn't get the "handshake".

Reallyman,
I use the DVI connection and I get digital sound when my Sony TV is off. My SARA S/W version is 1.52.11.2. I think this problem is TV and/or SA3250HD vintage dependent. The DVI interface works but is not officially supported by Rogers.

So getting back to the discussion of crushed black levels...

I see by the posts on this forum and on other forums that this is a known problem, but not something that's causing a huge uproar in the customer base. Does this mean we can forget about a fix from Scientific Atlanta? (If that's the case, looks like I'll be downgrading back to my 2000HD box!) It's very frustrating that a company that is supposed to specialize in digital video products doesn't even understand some of the basic concepts relating to video levels.

Alex