Rogers 8642 HD (Nextbox) PVR Owners Thread: Read post #1 )

[57]

On our recent firmware update on our 8300 the page-up and page-down button jumps ahead/back 15 minutes - you can see the marks on the progress bar. Yours may be the same.

[zuka]

I recently exchanged my old SD cable box for the 8642HD, and have discovered the PVR is a serious power vampire. Plugged into a Kill-a-watt, on standby it's taking 20-25 Watts. It doesn't take much more when it's "on."

Any ideas why it's taking so much power on standby? It's not scheduled to record anything, and it surely isn't receiving Rogers updates 24/7.

[57]

This topic has been discussed many times on this forum.

Had you used your Watt Meter on your old cable box, you would have found similar results with only 1 Watt difference between on and standby on the STB. The PVR has a HDD and typically uses about 5W more when on.

In standby these STBs must be able to download firmware updates and IPG information, often several times a day, hence the power draw. With better hardware/firmware, it would be possible to design these units to use less power until they need to "wake up" to receive IPG/firmware, however, that would cost money and people seem to want cheap rather than efficient.

In future, legislation will likely preclude this sort of inefficient design, however, the cost of the equipment may be slightly higher, which should be recouped with power savings.

Parasitic Draw thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=35430

[zuka]

Just tried it in an on-demand show, pageup doesn't do anything but pagedown brings up an empty playlist screen, with resume and save/exit buttons.

What's the latest firmware for the 8642HD? Mine reads SARA v1.92.16.2; vodlink is v4.1.2.0

[vanhalen26]

I also lost access to my old recordings on my external PVR. I've rebooted a few times and no luck. They do show up on the index still, but won't play. I'll wait a couple weeks and see if a fix surfaces, but if not I'll just reformat. Its too bad as I had lots of shows the kids enjoyed - saved me in a pinch.

[ScaryBob]

Unfortunately, this is very common with cable and satellite PVRs. I've seen some that take 35w 24/7. I'm just wondering what will happen when standby power regulations become law for electronics devices. IIRC, they are initially required to draw less than 7w in standby and less than 3w at a later date.

[57]

zuka, have you tried pageup/dn on a recorded programme on your PVR? I don't know of anything on the On-demand part since that's completely different functionality.

[MCIBUS]

Has anyone else had the issue of the TV picture pausing for a second or two then going live again by itself?

For the last few days my 8642 has freezes the picture by itself then about 2 seconds later the TV picture is normal again.

I have good S/N & signal straighten so I know its not that?

[jawnlaw]

Hi my new 8642 , i've noticed 1 hd show =17% of the 160gb hd?? does this sound way wrong? what can be done? thanks in advance

[Cybr9]

I just traded in my rented 8300 for a new rented 8642 160gb unit. Seems like it is the same except that I have noticed 2 disturbing issues.

Once a day or so the picture will randomly flicker a different colour- usually pink and temporarily go black when it flickers. This keeps repeating until I reset the box by pulling out the power cable.

Secondly, one time only, watching a movie on the movie channel (Harry Potter), I noticed slight to moderate pixelation at times that I never had before. I know my signal is good as I had Rogers come out and fix it a year ago.

These 2 issues never happened with my old 8300 (why did I "upgrade" lol)

Are these common issues / software glitches with the new box or should I bring back the box for another one?

P.S. I am using an HDMI cable and a Yamaha receiver - never gave me a problem before ...

[Holmes108]

Hi my new 8642 , i've noticed 1 hd show =17% of the 160gb hd?? does this sound way wrong? what can be done? thanks in advance

I had a similar problem. I taped ONE hour of SD content, and it said 15%. Then I had 5.5 hours of SD and it says 25% (which is STILL too much, but was better than 15% for one hour).

I haven't had a chance to actually fill up my PVR and see if I actually get the proper amount of shows on there (about 20 hrs HD / 90 Hrs SD)... but I think there' s just an error in the way space is reported. Particularly when the box is close to empty. Keep a close eye on it.

[57]

i've noticed 1 hd show =17% of the 160gb hd??

jawnlaw I believe this issue was reported earlier in this thread. It appears that the unit doesn't calculate % usage properly. One hour of HD programming should use about 3-5% of the 160GB drive. All we can suggest is to continue recording and see what happens when you go over the "apparent" 100%...

Once a day or so the picture will randomly flicker a different colour- usually pink and temporarily go black when it flickers.

Cybr9 Pink or black screen is almost always indicative of a poor connection. I suggest you disconnect/reconnect the HDMI cable a few times and make sure you have a good connection at both ends. Here's the HDMI Issues FAQ and a list of things to check:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=71112

Here's the FAQ on signal strength and S/N Ratio, etc Perhaps another case of a poor connection?:

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


And here's a post useful for those new to the forum - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

[gzero]

Part of that usage is reserved space for the live TV buffers, EPG data, maybe system software, etc. One recording isn't 17%, but it's entirely possible that one recording + reserved space is.

I don't remember how long the pause buffer is, but you're looking at ~9GB per hour per tuner. And of course, a 160GB hard drive isn't really 160GB -- so it's easy to see where that space has gone.

[57]

The calculation of space used should be based on the free space of the drive and without buffer, so the calculation should be "correct" but it appears there's something amiss with the 8642's calculation firmware. The 8300 works properly.

[zuka]

Thanks for the link; I didn't come across the discussion about parasitic power draw in my search, but was using different search terms. I had never measured just the old digital box by itself, but with everything on standby (old CRT TV, VCR, digital box) except for the 3W speakers, it was just 17W. The new PVR alone is 4W more than this, with the HDD spun down.

Not too terribly concerned, mind you; I know the fridge and other appliances add far more to my bill.