Rogers PVR problems

[ronmexico]

does anyone else have problems with their Rogers PVR box?

ie.
1. not recording a scheduled program (when 2 or less are scheduled at same time)
2. some recorded programs fast forwarding or rewinding at a really slow speed..so slow that you can see the pixels

I have the original Motorola HD PVR box (8000 series)

 

[Ayala]

For the first problem, try "rebooting" the box. Unplug it for about 30 seconds and then plug it back in. It worked for me the last time I had this problem.

For the second problem, I think it's on certain channels. TMN, for instance.

Hope this helps. Failing that, I've always found Rogers customer service people to be quite friendly and helpful.

Good luck.

 

[ronmexico]

tried rebooting before. I called Rogers and they said the first problem is not a "known problem. I told them that's BS cause I know other people have the same problem. The problem comes and goes.

I complained today and they gave me 2 months free of box rental once I threatened to cancel the service.

Second problem, I've had it on other channels besides TMN.

 

[Tyler1]

Swap it for the new SA8300HD. Since you are renting this would be no problem.

 

[twizzler2]

8300

the 8300 is a piece of crap as well, mine does exactly the same thing, skips progams it's supposed to record. Even though the program shows up in the list as one it's going to record.


junk, junk, junk.

 

[MixedNuts]

the 8300 is a piece of crap as well, mine does exactly the same thing, skips progams it's supposed to record. Even though the program shows up in the list as one it's going to record.


junk, junk, junk.

I discovered that if a series is spelled differently every other week, it will not record. For instance, I programmed the box to record "My Name is Earl HD". Things were great for a few weeks when it recorded no problem, but one week, Rogers described the show "My Name is Earl" with no "HD" beside the name. As far as the box was concerned, this was another show and skipped recording it altogether. Took me a while to figure this out. Needless to say, I was annoyed. I miss my TIVO!!!

 

[twizzler2]

that could be

I also noticed when the clocks got turned back an hour in fall all of the shows I had set up to "record in this time slot" stoped recording.

I am also annoyed I can only type in the first letter in the name of a show when search for a show name. Then you have to scroll through a huge list to find what you're looking for. If you are looking for something that is on now, you miss the first few minutes of it.

If you are watching a show that you are recording and happen to be behind real time, when the show ends and stops recording it kicks you out of the playback you are watching too. You then have to start the play back over and fast forward to point you left off. Annoying!

Rogers signal is garbage, the HD signal is not HD, not even close, it is upconverted to be 1080i but the original is much lower. My DVDs ( which are 480p ) look way better than rogers HD. Not to mention the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio cuts out frequently which means that my audio system mutes for a few seconds while it changes modes, and then mutes for a few seconds again to switch back to 5.1 when the audio comes back. It makes watching a show in HD annoying at best.

ARRRGGGGG!

 

[Tyler1]

My SA8300HD works great. My only complaint is it boots you out of a program when it ends if your lagging behind while watching it and recording it. But this is a design error/overlook. I record every single show I watch and have never had problems with any recording. One thing I don't do though is set it up once to record all shows. I don't trust the constant programing changes. I just set it up for the night when I get home from work. I've also set it up for a week while on holidays with no problems.
I did have one that had some bugs in it. I got one for a 6 month free promotion that worked great. When the 6 months were almost up, I bought a brand new one but held onto the orginal one just in case. The new unit I purchased didn't work to well. If I shut the power off on the PVR it would stop recording my show. This shouldn't happen. It had a bad video delay while changing channels. I'd hear the audio a few seconds before the video appeared. It had more problem that I just can't remember. Needless to say, I kept the original PVR and returned the brand new one. Everything works great.
As far as a having a bad signal, It's probably your cabling. My HD blows away DVD PQ. My PQ used to be fine in terms of sharpness but the A/V broke up alot. It became more and more frequent to the point that it was unwatcheable. A service tech. replaced every cable component outside my house and ran a new cable and everything is perfect. The original cable installers had a splitter at my house so I was only getting half of what I should have. It was fine for SD but it couldn't handle HD. All these problems have to do with hardware.
I suggest to anyone having problems is nag Rogers until they fix the problem. Roger has lots of problems with, well, everything but if your persistant enough it can be fixed. BTW, I hate that company with a passion.

 

[ronmexico]

Can't Rogers write a software fix so that if you are watching a program while recording it and it ends, it doesn't just skip to the live program on the same channel? My friend in the U.S. said his PVR doesn't do that when a program ends recording.

 

[Tyler1]

The problem is that there is not competition for these. Roger's uses 1 type of box. A guy from work was told from a service rep that some other units are compatible though. A fraction of what that asssole Ted Rogers spent on the SkyDome could have fixed the software problem...and kept our rates lower.

 

[badger1194]

I've noticed this recently on my SA8300HD box too (where it will jump to the scheduled recording when you are watching a pre-recorded one). It never did it before. And then when you change the channel .. it stops recording the thing !! Yeah this is a nasty software bug ..

I got an external hard drive for the unit too (Esata port) that added 90 hours of HD. What a blessing that was when the new shows started in the fall. Space usage went from 85% to 22% after adding it.

Nagging the CS rep is wasting your time. It might make you feel better though. Write to their head office or the GM of your area.

 

[timy]

I just give up my cable and box till I get my own statellite soon, just working with a tv antenna for now. cant stand the money I was paying and get crappy tmn movies and rogers on demand never works well and yesterday my cable and box went out and they wanted to send a tech over and I just fed up of their services. so I cancell my services .

 

[Tyler1]

and yesterday my cable and box went out and they wanted to send a tech over and I just fed up of their services. so I cancell my services .

My SA8300HD went out too. All I get is a grey screen. No audio or video. Recorded programs only play. I haven't called them yet.

 

[mac]

Rogers signal is garbage, the HD signal is not HD, not even close, it is upconverted to be 1080i but the original is much lower. My DVDs ( which are 480p ) look way better than rogers HD.

have your signal strength checked since in many cases the signal is not strong enough for HD whcih means that you may have too many other things bleeding from the one cable feed or that there is leakage for some reason. This is a huge common problem and unless you get Rogers to test your cable feed specifcally they will never volunteer to do it on their own.

 

[timy]

well what happen to my cable 2 days ago, I got up and put on the tv to watch my program and the digital station was frozen so I reboot the box and box time came on etc and it worked for like 30 secs and all my stations went blank and give me a 998 error code of network failure for digital only, so I called repair and they said I am the only one with out signal when they test my box and she told me to put on the cable to see if that works and nothing just grains. I become so fustrated after paying so much money I decide to cut the services and buy an antenna till I move I will get my own statellite and then see what happens. right now I have no tv so I am a bit lonely lol.
they told me I need to give 30 days notice before cancelling my services plus I am being charge for that 30 days plus 25 dollars for some fee and I said well I am not goona pay for cable if it not working for my last 30 days is either you guys waive that fee or I am not paying for services that I dont have so they did waive it.

 

[jpf]

The Scientific Atlanta boxes are the worst consumer electronics I have ever used. If only there was some competition...

Another hint about repeated recordings: not only will it fail if the name is different by one character but also if you say record in the same time slot and the time differs by even a minute. In both cases when you look at the channel guide the show will be highlighted so you think that it will be recorded and then get fooled when it isn't.

 

[raven@mirage]

You can only record 2 shows at once one of those you have to be watching. the screen will give you that warning when you set to record

the rewinding and fast forwarding slowing down or freezing is a problem with the rogers signal itself, and sometimes its a warning that your boz is about to over load and crash.

I use to work at Rogers, and I have had my PVR for 2 years now, and those are main issues I have had with my PVR, they are common and that is why Rogers is more then happy to send out a new box because they know that is why most PVR customers are calling in for.

The PVR is sensitive, that should be warning when you get the box.