Official New 8642 PVR from Rogers

[Jake]

It would be best to access the diagnostic screen (hold SELECT for 5 seconds, then press INFO) and press PAGE+ to get to the Drive Info page. It will tell you how large the reserved partition is. It could be that the partitioning is not the same as on a 8300HD. Perhaps there is a another or larger partition just for multi-room access or network access.

[Dobby]

I see the screen with the drive size and it shows it 159GB. I can't see anything about the size of the partition. What page would that be listed on?

[JimBrown]

Jim, just a note that both of the items mentioned in the owners thread (bookmarks, etc) have been rolled out to 8300HD units by Videotron via a SARA firmware update. Rogers may do the same at some point.

Regards,
...jim

[Hooter]

The above feature has always been part of my 8300HD. Although it does not show the time as in the illustration above, you could always return to a show and pick up where you last left off.

[TVGuy68]

I think on the 8300HD you can only resume from where you left off on the current recording your watching, if you start watching another recording & then go back to the first recording you must start from the beginning. It sounds like the new SARA version lets you resume any previously watched recording, is that correct?

[lonetreejim]

Originally Posted by TVGuy68

I think on the 8300HD you can only resume from where you left off on the current recording your watching... the new SARA version lets you resume any previously watched recording, is that correct?

Yes, what you said seems to be the case. Any partially recorded program can be resumed where you left off.

The 8300 will resume the last recorded program you viewed but not previously recorded /partially viewed programs.

[JamesK]

I think on the 8300HD you can only resume from where you left off on the current recording your watching

In my experience with the 8300, you can stop the playback and watch something live, but if you watch another recording or turn the box off, it forgets where you were.

[57]

Tip: If you simply switch to channel 950, you can go back to where you left off on any single recording, even after turning the PVR off.

As mentioned above, it looks like the new unit has bookmarks for more than one recording. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these features on new firmware for the 8300 soon. It's been a long time since a firmware update.

Several posts were moved to this thread, since the other thread is for owners only, as per post 1 of that thread.

[leopard]

There is one post that mentions there is a 160 GB hard drive in there which is highly unusual. After speaking to a Rogers Cable Tech Rep informed me that the new 8642 PVR is a 320 GB hard drive that would be available for rental or swap if you have another older HD PVR rental terminal box. The other one for sale is a 500 GB hard drive.

[Eluder]

The current unit for sale is 160GB, there is a 320GB unit sold by Cisco, but I don't believe Rogers carries this. Only the 160GB and 500GB (very limited availability right now).

[Macos]

I got the 8642HD 500 GB box today. The box works OK but there is a big problem with HD capacity. After recording 2 episodes in HD of 1 hour each (2 hours Total HD) the amount used is 7%.
According to this all I will get on the 500GB drive is about 28 hours. It is written on the front of the box that it is for 60 Hours.
Called Rogers and they opened a Ticket and will respond in 24-48 hours.

I read on this thread that the same problem was on the 160GB box.

[whitbyterry]

I would schedule a bunch of recording tonight and see if you can prove how many hours will actually fill it up. If you can, record two programs, every hour, from 8-11 tonight and then maybe some of the talk shows (Tonight, Letterman, etc) and then some stuff from HD Net.

If you can show that it really only holds about 28 hours, it will be easier to get Rogers to uncover the issue.

[57]

If the HDD is actually 500 GB, then you should be able to record roughly 55-75 hours of HD, depending on the channel recorded since the bitrate varies by channel. Check the diagnostics page to see the size of the HDD - should be around page 30.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719

Record some more hours, as the figures are more accurate the more you record.

[m4x1k5guy]

The hard drive info is on page 28 of 37.
Mine says 499GB.

[slyboy]

Macos, I definitely agree with 57 - check the diagnostics page to see what your hard drive is reported as. My first feeling on what you've written is that you've got a PVR that has had it's box switched with another. That's the simplest explaination. When I bought mine last week there was only 160GB models... previously I had been told it was going to be a while longer before the 500GB model would be available in store.