New Samsung Boxes in Milwaukee?

[nick3092]

A friend of mine told me a co-worker of his went to get a new HD cable box from time warner this week, and he got a Samsung. He didn't know the model number, but there have been rumors that TW was going to be rolling out the new Samsung boxes to replace the SA8300 series. Anyone else get one recently? I'd be interested how Navigator works on it compared to the 8300HDC.

[Iwant2playNOW]

I was at the TWC Southridge store on Wednesday and they were still handing out the 8300's....though from what I noticed, they were taking in more boxes than they were giving out...lots of unhappy customers.

[aaron]

I went in last weekend for a new non-DVR HD box and got a Samsung SMT-H3050. I haven't used it enough to have much of an opinion yet.

[Jack 1000]

Someone over at the AVS forums claims that their Aunt got a non-DVR Samsung box and that it had a major bug:

The channel banner when changing channels does not go away! According to TWC, you have to press Info twice. The user tried just pressing Exit once and the banner went away.

Just to reiterate, this was a non-DVD Samsung box. This is a bug that cannot be ignored.

Jack

[Paul Pavlik]

I just traded in a Pace DC551P for a Samsung SMT-H3050 Non-DVR Box. The Samsung works OK. No problems using HDMI link.

However the SD PQ is not quite as good as the Pace SD.

FWIW, the Samsung always puts out 480p on SD channels. (I have all resolutions enabled).

I had many problems with the Pace. HDMI didn't work at all on SD. Also changing from a 480 channel to a 1080 one didn't always change the resolution, had to switch back to the 480 channel and back to the 1080 to get the resolution to change.

[Jack 1000]

I just traded in a Pace DC551P for a Samsung SMT-H3050 Non-DVR Box. The Samsung works OK. No problems using HDMI link.

However the SD PQ is not quite as good as the Pace SD.

FWIW, the Samsung always puts out 480p on SD channels. (I have all resolutions enabled).

I had many problems with the Pace. HDMI didn't work at all on SD. Also changing from a 480 channel to a 1080 one didn't always change the resolution, had to switch back to the 480 channel and back to the 1080 to get the resolution to change.

Question:

On the new Samsung box, is Navigator shown as 16:9 or the traditional 4:3 screen setting when the guide button is pressed? The newer boxes next year are supposed to have an option that will display the IPG in 16:9 format.

Jack

[Andrew]

The newer boxes next year are supposed to have an option that will display the IPG in 16:9 format.

That would be awesome

[Paul Pavlik]

Question:

On the new Samsung box, is Navigator shown as 16:9 or the traditional 4:3 screen setting when the guide button is pressed? The newer boxes next year are supposed to have an option that will display the IPG in 16:9 format.

Jack

Depends on the Aspect Ratio Setting. 4:3 results in a 4:3 guide and 16:9 results in a 16:9 Guide.

HOWEVER, If you set the A/R to 4:3, it will change to 16:9 automatically when you select a HD channel. Then, it will STAY at 16:9 even if you select a SD Channel.

Thereafter, the Guide will STAY at 16:9 even when viewing a 4:3 Channel.

At least, that's the way it works with my Sharp LC-65SE94U.

Note: With 16:9 selected (or forced), viewing a SD Channel FORCES my Sharp to change View Mode to STRETCH Mode. The Resulting STRETCH Mode displays a 4:3 Display with SideBars and a 16:9 Channel Guide.

If I then change the Sharp View Mode back to SideBar, the Picture has double sidebars and the Channel Guide is displayed with single sidebars at 4:3.

I am using the HDMI connection to the Sharp.

[aaron]

I had to reboot the Samsung box last night, and while it has performed just fine so far it takes around 5 minutes to boot up. Way too long for an impatient ADD guy like me.

[nick3092]

I had to reboot the Samsung box last night, and while it has performed just fine so far it takes around 5 minutes to boot up. Way too long for an impatient ADD guy like me.

Welcome to the wonderful world of OCAP/true2way.

[Jack 1000]

Depends on the Aspect Ratio Setting. 4:3 results in a 4:3 guide and 16:9 results in a 16:9 Guide.

HOWEVER, If you set the A/R to 4:3, it will change to 16:9 automatically when you select a HD channel. Then, it will STAY at 16:9 even if you select a SD Channel.

Thereafter, the Guide will STAY at 16:9 even when viewing a 4:3 Channel.

Thanks for this info. I know some people with SD sets and HD boxes, (because that's what they had on the truck at the time of the install. This also applies to my case.)

I still have an SA 8300, but have this question to be answered for future reference:

Let's say you have a Samsung box and an SD TV set and you are channel surfing, going to the 500 HD channels and the guide changes to 16:9. I take it than, using the box, if you are on a SD set, you would have to go back and change to 4:3 under Settings manually, correct?

Jack

[Paul Pavlik]

Thanks for this info. I know some people with SD sets and HD boxes, (because that's what they had on the truck at the time of the install. This also applies to my case.)

I still have an SA 8300, but have this question to be answered for future reference:

Let's say you have a Samsung box and an SD TV set and you are channel surfing, going to the 500 HD channels and the guide changes to 16:9. I take it than, using the box, if you are on a SD set, you would have to go back and change to 4:3 under Settings manually, correct?

Jack

If I use the S-Video connection to my set (I believe that this would be the equivalent to a SD set), the banner and guide are the same width as the picture.

[Jack 1000]

If I use the S-Video connection to my set (I believe that this would be the equivalent to a SD set), the banner and guide are the same width as the picture.

Thanks Paul.

Jack

[samsung46]

I have a SA8300HD and am wondering if TWC is handing out the new(er) Samsung boxes, are they still handing the SA's out or is there is different box being handed out. The box I have is a DVR but I am open to a non DVR if it solves my "channel not available" problem and as long as the HD quality is just as good.

[kevbeck122]

I hear the picture quality is noticeably worse on the Samsung boxes. Wait til the Samsung DVR comes out.. maybe it will be better.

I wish TWC would just stick with Cisco/SA boxes.. they're perfectly fine. It's the crappy software/lack of channel capacity that screws everything up. I'm sure they're going the cheapest route though.

[Danno321]

Welcome to the wonderful world of OCAP/true2way.

Wait until your watching that critical HD Brewer game and it reboots in the 9th. That's progress!

[Danno321]

I have a SA8300HD and am wondering if TWC is handing out the new(er) Samsung boxes, are they still handing the SA's out or is there is different box being handed out. The box I have is a DVR but I am open to a non DVR if it solves my "channel not available" problem and as long as the HD quality is just as good.

Check DIAG Menu (press SELECT until Mail Icon displays, then press down arrow) page 5 (or 7) for SDV Registration. If it is set to FAILED, that is your problem and tech visit is necessary. My guess is a signal booster is necessary.

[aaron]

I'm having a new problem with the Samsung box. I have it connected to a Hauppauge HDPVR for recording, and the STB is keeping the channel info box open after switching channels, so my recordings have that blocking the bottom 3 inches of the screen. It is not a HDPVR problem, since all that is doing is capturing the stream from the STB via component. A reboot of the STB seems to fix it, but eventually it starts doing it again, and I don't notice until I try to watch something, at which point it may already have recorded a handful of shows that way. Very annoying, as soon as I have time I'm trading in this box, hopefully they still have some SA boxes left.

[Jack 1000]

I'm having a new problem with the Samsung box. I have it connected to a Hauppauge HDPVR for recording, and the STB is keeping the channel info box open after switching channels, so my recordings have that blocking the bottom 3 inches of the screen. It is not a HDPVR problem, since all that is doing is capturing the stream from the STB via component. A reboot of the STB seems to fix it, but eventually it starts doing it again, and I don't notice until I try to watch something, at which point it may already have recorded a handful of shows that way. Very annoying, as soon as I have time I'm trading in this box, hopefully they still have some SA boxes left.

What is the model of this Samsung box? Thanks in advance.

Jack

[aaron]

What is the model of this Samsung box? Thanks in advance.

Jack

It's an SMT-H3050

[Jack 1000]

Sounds like the Hauppauge HDPVR is causing the channel banner conflict. If you try to disconnect it and just use the box as a stand-alone, does the problem subside?

A guy at the AVS forums reported this issue with a non-DVR Samsung, but did not have it connected to any third-party hardware.

Jack

[aaron]

I read the thread on AVS, sounds like a software problem to me, not a problem with the HDPVR. I haven't disconnected the HDPVR because I don't have a TV in that room so I'd have no way to view it, but I tried using the box manually (i.e. changing channels myself instead of having the IR blaster change it) and the problem persisted. I'm pretty sure the HDPVR couldn't be affecting anything, it just takes the component out from the box.