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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This thread is for owners of the Rogers 8642 HD PVR to provide us with their feedback on the set top box and discuss its use with other owners.

See the following post for a list of known issues:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=122118&page=49


To discuss the new firmware/IPG, please use the following thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=150889


We also have a separate Whole Home PVR thread.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=150244


Please Note:

This thread is NOT for non-owners to ask questions about the 8642. If you would like ask questions then please post in the New 8642 PVR from Rogers discussion thread.

Non-owners posting in this thread will have their posts removed.


Check out the following thread for differences between the 8300HD and 8642HD (this is now mostly obsolete as the new firmware/IPG has become available for the 8642).

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=1121780#post1121780



Edit by 57: Does the PVR not report % space properly? Many people have reported the % space doesn't seem correct (internal and/or external), especially if there is not a lot of space used. Record at least 10 hours of HD and then see the percentages - they should then be fine.
 
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#57 ·
I think the firmware is more sophisticated than you give credit. For example, if the HDD is shut down, it'll spin up a minute or two before the recording is scheduled to start (at least it does on my 8300HD). So there's no reason that the recording shouldn't start on time, provided:

1. That the clock is accurate
2. That the programme starts on time.

You may wish to check with a recording of CP24 which usually has a time display, or with different channels because they may be off by a second or two?

If you have both new and old PVR at your home, you could check if there are differences with a recording of CP24.
 
#58 ·
I have already verified the Rogers PVR time is accurate. The best thing to compare with is a Linux box synced to an NTP server (Windows doesn't provide the same accuracy) or the clock on a CDMA (Bell or Telus) cell phone. GSM doesn't have the same accuracy.

BTW, it would be nice if a recording could start a few seconds early and end a few seconds late.
 
#59 ·
I got my 8642 this past weekend (upgraded from the 8300HD) and am quite pleased with it so far. As previously mentioned there aren't a whole lot of new features but the overall speed improvements are great.

Does anyone know when Rogers will enable the ethernet capabilities? I assume some sort of firmware/software upgrade will be required seeing as there are no options for this in the settings menu.

My biggest gripe (yet small in the grand scheme of things) is they moved the exit button to the top of the remote!

I was hoping they would implement a 10 second "fast forward" button similar to the 5 second "rewind" button they currently have. This is beneficial to quickly skip through commercials without having to FF. The Bell PVR has this functionality.

Not sure why so many ppl point to the removal of the Rogers quick menu, as they allowed you to remove that feature on the 8300HD. Simply press guide, from the quick menu select self serve, then select guide order.
 
#64 ·
It appears that none of the news networks have seconds on their time displays like CP24. Perhaps a channel with a "ticker" will help because then you can compare the last words on the ticker. Here are the channels and their numbers (in Toronto)

BNN - 57, CTVN - 62, CNBC - 79.
 
#65 ·
Did another test last night comparing the 8300 and 8642 and indeed the start is later on the 8642 and it records longer. Theory is that the record time is set for 30 mins and since it starts a bit later it records a little longer. The best I could tell is that it is about 300 frames (pause then hit FF repeatedly). If someone knows what the FF frame advance time is we could get an approximate time.
 
#69 ·
The 31% to 33% may have been from 30.5% to 33.5% and depending on the bitrate of the programme recorded, this estimate is not that far off. Record some more/longer programmes and the % will probably be accurate. Here's the link to the bitrate of various channels:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=104501

The lower bitrate channels will use only about 5 GB/hour, so if you recorded mostly those channels, you'd approach 100 hours with 500 GB. If you recorded only the higher bitrate HD channels (about 8 GB/hour), then you'd get the 60 hours.
 
#70 ·
^^^&

Of course, the actual amount of data will depend on what's in the picture. An image with lots of detail will have more data. However, compression tends to average it out. With digital video, there are I, P & B frames. The P & B frames are essentially the difference from an I frame. If there's little difference, they won't have much data.

Video compression picture types
 
#71 ·
Clarification: I don't believe that the link you provide is applicable once the compression has been done from the original material and the signal is roughly 19 kbps (or less OTA) or uncompressed by the service provider. The content is no longer applicable at that stage if a constant bitrate is sent out. Even if they were sending nothing but a black screen, you'd see a constant bitrate at that stage either OTA of full bandwidth service provider.

The exception would be if the service provider is using stat muxing as discussed in my previous link. Rogers compresses some channels, but most are uncompressed.

This is the topic of another thread. IF you wish to discuss further, please do so in another thread.
 
#75 ·
Any good information and/or web links regarding what this additional functionality will include? I'm wondering about the ability to share recordings throughout the house (multi-room features) and whether such functionality will require particular models of digital boxes on the other TVs within the house. I doubt the ethernet functionality will allow the saving of recorded programming on the PVR to files on a PC due to copy protection, but I would hope it somehow allows playback of the PVR recordings elsewhere. Problem I foresee though would be if ethernet is the transfer method, I would expect the digital boxes used in other rooms would also need an ethernet port... yes/no?
 
#78 ·
TV Call Display does not work (yet) on the 8642

I noticed that TV Call Display was not working.
Tuning to channel 975 just produced a black screen.

After about a week of having Rogers run with the ticket, I called them for a status update yesterday and was (finally) told:
- TV Call Display is not yet working on new 8642 PVR
 
#80 ·
Macroblocking during FFWD and Status Bar issue?

Purchased my 8642 HD about 2 weeks ago (500GB) and after watching about 10-15 recorded episodes since then, also noted the macroblocking issue during FFWD just the other night.

It was on a recorded show (can't recall which), but I was recording another episode of something else at the time. And in watching that episode afterward, it was fine - so the issue would appear to be specific to each recording. That's the first time it's happened - and I know I've watched recorded episodes in the past while recording something else, so not sure if it's related.

Also - I've noticed something else that I'm curious if anyone else has experienced. When starting from the beginning of a recorded episode that hasn't yet completed, I see the status bar as expected - green on the left up to the point where it's live, with red the rest of the way. However, as I start FFWD'ing through commercials to catch up to live, I start to see a red status bar growing on the left - so that the bar is now red/green/red. With each subsequent FFWD, the red portion of the bar on the left continues to grow bigger.

I might expect this if it was just buffering a live show that was more than an hour long that I wasn't actually recording - but why would I see this on a recorded show?

And then when I got to what I thought was the end of the episode (as it wouldn't let me FFWD any further and presented me with the Erase/Start from Beginning options) only to realize later that it had 10 or more minutes of recording time left, that I was able to watch when I went back to see if the red/green/red issue occurred after the show was finished (it didn't).

Have been considering exchanging my box for a new one - but it looks like from others experiences, at least the first issue isn't an isolated one...
 
#81 ·
Signal Problem with 8642HD

I purchased an 8642HD (500mb) last week to replace a rented 8300. After hooking it up, 5 or 6 HD channels were completely lost. All I had was intermittent buzzing, and extreme picture noise that would occasionally be replaced by a grey static screen or a uniform colour field. A larger set of SD channels were affected, but much less severely. A rogers tech came by, and checked out the signal. He was able to boost the signal a little bit which brought the missing channels back for the most part, but i would still get occasional picture and audio loss (maybe 5 seconds at a time, and perhaps 5-8 times per hour).

Has anyone else had signal problems with their box? Since these problems never arose with the 8300, I'm assuming that I probably have a faulty unit.
 
#84 ·
I purchased an 8642HD (500mb) last week to replace a rented 8300. After hooking it up, 5 or 6 HD channels were completely lost. All I had was intermittent buzzing, and extreme picture noise that would occasionally be replaced by a grey static screen or a uniform colour field. A larger set of SD channels were affected, but much less severely. A rogers tech came by, and checked out the signal. He was able to boost the signal a little bit which brought the missing channels back for the most part, but i would still get occasional picture and audio loss (maybe 5 seconds at a time, and perhaps 5-8 times per hour).

Has anyone else had signal problems with their box? Since these problems never arose with the 8300, I'm assuming that I probably have a faulty unit.
I am thinking less that its faulty units (unless all 500GB are bad...)
I am on #3 and they are all they same...perfect live...and signal strength is good, all replay islike you 5s at a time, 8-15 times/hour or more...it messes up...and macroblock mess on FastForeward...

I'm curious
Deepnds what you watch the HD hockey is really bad, but HD baseball is pretty much ok (glitches ...30-40 per hour vs 1-2 per hour)
I think its bad software
wonder if anyone has a 500GB that never glitches on playback
wonder if other drive sizes (160GB) also do it?

I really don't want to switch to Bell, but this is likely to not work for a long time....
replacing it with another unit every 2 weeks is a pain...
 
#82 ·
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