Cancelled Account: Access to 8300HD PVR

[discorage]

Has anyone had any luck trying this with the Cisco 8642? From a blank screen, I hold select until the envelope appears (flashing), I press list, the "not authorized. To order service please call..." message comes up, and then disappears even while I'm still holding down the list button.

Edit: my own stupidity.

[alexdragon]

So did you got through?
Mine is 8300HD, and i got same as yours too, should I wait until time apear?

[MikeW]

I can't get this to work on one of my pvrs. I own two 8300hd's and recently cancelled my cable subscription. Cables are disconnected on both machines.

First pvr usually displays the clock after reboot (with an inaccurate time), but I found it strange it would display at all considering its unplugged. When this happens, I am able to access the recorded list. It did reboot once with no clock (just 4 dashes), and I could not access the list then.

Second pvr always reboots to a blank display. With the recommended key sequence, I do get the "authorized for playback" message but thats as far as I get. If I press the list button, I get the "not authorized" message. If I press the exit button, as it says to do in the "authorized" popup box, it immediately reboots to a blank display.

Anyone had this problem and know of a fix? Thanks

[MikeW]

I noticed something else. On page 1 of the diagnostics screens, the pvr which I am able to access recordings on lists an inaccurate date and time in the "Last reboot" field but the inaccessible pvr always shows "Never" in the same field. Does anyone know how to change this?

[Jake]

It sounds to me like the PVR was de-authorized while still connected. When I cancelled my account I removed the coax before calling. I did that just in case they were able to disable the off-line viewing.

[Polecatt]

So does anyone know for sure if Rogers can premanently "disable" offline playback? I can't get anything to work other than the not authorized message.

My box was connected to the cable on the day my service expired. Later that day the clock went to 4 dashes. Now it's a brick. Any recommendations?

[alebowgm]

The trick, as discussed on page 2 of this thread is to...

Unplug cable
unplug dvr and reset, power on again
press and hold select button until envelope appears on display of unit
press and hold list button for a few seconds

it should say 'this unit is now authorized to play back recordings when disconnected.

Before that trick was discovered, it was thought that if a unit was connected at the time it was deactivated, it was locked. DHC'er Scottyp99, who was the one who posted the above trick, never did say if he had left his unit connected so that it was deactivated, although it was assumed by many that this was the case. DHC'er MikeW had the same issue and it was never discussed if it was resolved or not. So (speculative) perhaps Rogers has since implemented an upgrade to prevent this from happening?

[Polecatt]

This is exactly what I am trying to determine. I want to eliminate the speculation. I have tried the "trick" with no luck and I was hoping there might be someone for Rogers on here or someone who has this figured out so I know for certain that this trick no longer works due to a software upgrade or something along those lines... Maybe it should be removed from the tips post if it no longer applies.

Thanks.

[57]

As with any of the tips posted on this forum, they may not work two years after they were posted. I have modified post 26 from over 2 years ago to reflect this reality. Post 33 seemed to indicate that the trick was no longer working.

[MikeW]

Yes it seems that Rogers is able to lock us out of equipment that we purchased. I wasn't able to resolve this issue.

Any Rogers or Cisco techs in here that can help us out? Would be much appreciated

[Foxenhimr]

I too have cancelled my cable, and have an 8300 full of stuff I'd like to be able to get off the drive ( in HD, not the "copy to VCR" method ) before I get shut down. Possible ?

[alebowgm]

Your best bet, if you want to view the content, is to disconnect the unit from the coax at least the day before your disconnect is to happen. This way, your box won't receive any disable command from HQ. I would venture to say the first 30 days or so your box can probably play back material, after that, (all) boxes need to be reauthorized. Then you may run into problems as others have recently.

And if your talking about getting the HD content off the box by copying it from the internal hard drive to your computer, that simply can't be done. The drives use an encrypted file system and there is no publically known solution around that. Copying to VCR/DVR is the only method available.

[57]

The copy options (DVD, PC, VCR, etc) are all outlined in the following:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=50162

For HD, see the "Recording HD" FAQ and the links there to the Hauppauge threads in the HTPC forum. Those links are also in the first link above. You cannot "download" only copy in realtime to some device, like the Hauppauge HDPVR.

If you have questions about copying, please use the link above (or the Hauppauge or Firewire threads, depending), not this thread.