As of April 1st per the FCC any cable company providing HD service must provide by request only an HD cable box with a functioning 1394/firewire port for the purpose of time shifting and recording HD content.
As far as I can tell the 6200 1394 just spits out the raw bitstream. This can be recorded but requires it be played back using an onboard D/A convertor so the Mits D-VHS will not work leaving you with only the JVC and Marantz products. I have not been able to playback the 1394 into the 6200 and use the D/A convertors in it.
At this time I am feeding 1394 to the JVC and actually watching the content using the JVC which gets rid of about four subtle vertical lines on the left side that my 5100 also had and it is the box not my system. The negative is there is no OSD display in this mode so if you can't see your cable box there is nothing to tell you what channel you are on.
While HD is smooth any SD channels have the 4:3 image shifted to the left and what ever HD channel you were on is frozen in the remaining portion of the screen on the right side.
I have tried various combinations of settings and they have no effect what so ever on the 1394 output.
To do time shift recording requires a Radio Shack "VCR Programmer" remote or comparable product.
It did hang up one time; The screen on the JVC froze requiring a reboot of both products. fortunately I was not recording.
Richard F. Fisher
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Here in D.C., using Comcast cable with a Motorola 6208 box (actually two of them), I cannot record a stable picture via Firewire connection (1394). I have one box connected to a JVC 30000 and another to a JVC 40000 and the image breaks up constantly to either deck. Checking various sites, it appears that either Comcast or Motorola is working on a firmware update, taking the current version, 7.07, to 7.10. But so far no go. So no downloading to my VCRs yet.
I should note that at least the 6208 boxes record on their internal hard drives. But with 10 hours or less in HD capacity per box, I hope that new firmware will permit use of my D-VHS decks soon.
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Mark Alford (Login markalford) Magazine Subscribers
As of Friday
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April 4 2004, 8:42 PM
No firewire on Time Warner in Charlotte yet.
Mark
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Two things here. Don't the cable companies have (or will have) one box solution DVR's of their own rendering time shifting of cable content via firewire to a second unit moot?
And if one does want to record from cable to sat, will the new Directv HD TiVo box have a firewire connection? If so, will it be able to record cable content? With all the acrimony between cable and sat people, it would not surprise me if the firewire connection was somehow designed to prevent a sat based unit from recording it.
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>will the new Directv HD TiVo box have a firewire connection? If so, will it be able to record cable content?>
When info on the DirecTV HD Tivo box first came on the internet, the first thing I checked was " did they include a 1394 output?" Answer "NO". There is only one OTA antenna input for local broadcast digital HD. I would guess cable would not work on this input.
DirecTV (and DBS in general)this was not included in this FCC reg. Why I don't know. There is supposed to be a 1394 on the DISH HD recorder but not activated yet. DirecTV has consistantly resisted all digital recording outputs so far. I am hoping this FCC reg requiring "fair use" for home time shift HD recording will eventually force DirecTV to change as they have to compete with cable. However DirecTV seems to think a hard disk TIVO HD recording meets the test to allow timshift recording. Providing a 1394 for a permanent hard copy is not a requirement and is to be blocked. Keep in mind, with the FCC broadcast flag approval, there are "strings attached" conditions which may be implemented on recording some program content from both broadcast and cable which are not clear yet. For example PPV material on cable may be copy protected and blocked on the 1394 while allowing free recording of other material regarded as low value.
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<When info on the DirecTV HD Tivo box first came on the internet, the first thing I checked was " did they include a 1394 output?" Answer "NO". There is only one OTA antenna input for local broadcast digital HD.>
I believe that info is no longer current; see this link:
If you join AVS forum, you can pre-order & get a discount; they will tell you when your box will ship. (There is no 1394, however, just a USB for some future use.)
regards, billb...
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>>If you join AVS forum, you can pre-order & get a discount; they will tell you when your box will ship. (There is no 1394, however, just a USB for some future use.)<<
Hmmmph! Much as I crave this unit, I feel strongly that I should wait. Hopefully for everyone that does buy early, I hope like hell it works right the first time out of the box. But to plunk down $1000 on a first generation unit that took them too long a time to come out with in the first place? I don't know about the wisdom of that. That's a VERY steep price to pay for a DVR, HD or not. Besides, there's really not much programming to record when it finally does come out. Reruns and baseball. Maybe by the time the Olympics rolls around I'll have a better idea how these gizmos are working.
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<But to plunk down $1000 on a first generation unit that took them too long a time to come out with in the first place? I don't know about the wisdom of that. That's a VERY steep price to pay for a DVR, HD or not.>
Point taken - I think what swayed me is the integration of the OTA tuners and the ability to schedule & time shift OTA as well as sat. There is actually quite a lot of content OTA where I live (SF bay area), and several years of TiVo make lack of time shifting a real hardship. Cable & Voom have lost me largely on that issue. I do hope for more content on satelite as competition ramps up. Also, I have already arranged to sell my Sat-T60 and SIR-T351, which will defer better than 70% of the cost to upgrade. We all have to allocate funds and make choices; I'm just happy we finally have some choices to make.
regards, billb....
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Time Warner is trading out my Scientific Atlanta 3100HD cable box for a Pioneer HD box with active IEEE1394 connections on April 15 at no cost.
Initially, after seeing the forum input about cable availability of IEEE as of April 1, I sent an email to my local Time Warner system. They replied that they have Pioneer HD IEEE cable boxes and I should phone customer service. Customer Service knew nothing!. A second email to TW got a phone call from a regional rep who set up the appointment. They are not sure of compatabiity of Pioneer's IEEE with various TVs and VCRs...so I guess it is trial and error. I currently have a Sony 34 in. HD set with IEEE connected with a JVC HM-DH30000 HD VCR which has IEEE. I use the VCR for analog recording and playback of HDTheater prerecorded tapes. I also have a 73 in. MItsubishi with a Promise Module which includes IEEE and a Mits HD VCR with IEEE. I currently use the Mits VCR to record OTA HD and analog cable. Neither TV nor VCR has DVI connections!
On a related issue, after repeated communication with the customer service dept of Mits in nearby Irvine, CA and giving them a HD Theater Tape, they have determined that the JVC 30000 coupled with a Mits HD TV will NOT play HD theater tapes.
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Steve...if it's any consolation, the HR10-250
[aka HD-DVR250] was a 2004 CES Innovations Award winner...I doubt there will be any problems with it...Plus...Directv is too big to release a unit without fully testing it...BTW...they came in this week at value electronics and are being shipped in the order that the orders were placed...(I'm eagerly awaiting mine...
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>>Steve...if it's any consolation, the HR10-250
[aka HD-DVR250] was a 2004 CES Innovations Award winner...I doubt there will be any problems with it...Plus...Directv is too big to release a unit without fully testing it..<<
LOL! Dream on. I've been to all kinds of audio and home theater shows where they debut $40,000 mono blocs that go off like Roman candles. There's something perversely funny about watching a mega buck product melt down in front of an audience of (somewhat) snobby audiophiles.
But hey, I hope it does work right, I want one too.
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JVC HM-DH30000U HD VCR and D Theater tape playback
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April 7 2004, 10:19 PM
Richard Fisher
I was surprised by your comment that the JVC HM-DH30000U HD VCR was not supposed to play DTheater pre-recorded tapes with a Mits TV with IEEE 1394 connectors. I thought the JVC HD VCR 30000 was supposed to work with any HD TV with a IEEE1394 connector. The JVC VCR plays D Theater tapes fine with my 34 in. Sony integrated HD TV which has a IEEE 1394 connector.
What TVs are compatible with the JVC VCR playing the DTheater prerecorded tapes?
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The 1394 will work with ATSC bitstreams, DTV, on any product. D-Theater is supposed to require component only but as you see this is not consistent. It also is not important since either way it is being turned back into analog for the display.
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Cablevision (New Jersey-Morris)just started to release their High Definition cable box with firewire. I was so glad to receive it, so I could mate it to my JVC 30,000. Well, I received a firewire signal along with a message (copy protected will only show 480I). This defeats the whole purpose of having firewire! and I still can not record High Definition!! Are other cable companies doing this? Any ideas??
Don Deignan
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I will be very interested in your experience as you are one of the first to test the new digital copy rules as we see how the industry actually impliments them.
What HD channels have you tested? I don't have HD cable yet, but hope it comes soon.
As I understood the plan there will definitely NOT be unrestricted HD digital copying permited, but controlled HD copying is to be allowed depending on the type of material and the requirements of the copyright holder. In the version I read you should be permited to make one copy of a program from a monthly subscription channel like HBO HD, but not copy PPV or video on demand at all. A copy of CBS HD should not be restricted. But this may not be the way you are getting if of all HD channels are down rezed.
I am guessing, but it seems that to impliment a sometimes "yes"/sometimes "no" HD recording and to control "only one copy", the STB 1394 and and the HD recorder are goingto need a software handshake chat over the copy rules. This may be an early software issue on either or both your STB and recorder.
Keep us posted.
Don
This message has been edited by donshan on Apr 14, 2004 3:44 PM This message has been edited by donshan on Apr 14, 2004 3:31 PM
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>>Well, I received a firewire signal along with a message (copy protected will only show 480I).
It is their problem; Probably software. You might want to try AVS but sounds like a cable problem.
Richard F. Fisher
Have you been calibrated? ISF and HAA Trained
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
Factory Authorized Service
Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL
Lumagen Scaling and Bravo D1 Dealer
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I was having a HD signal problem and now that has been solved. I think Cablevision is still ironing out the kinks. When the signal does go into my JVC 30000 it is great! The High Def. signal on the channels that allow it record like the original. Now I have to figure out how to time shift. Richard, how does a VCR programmer work and will it work with the JVC 30000?
Don Deignan
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