Comcast w/On Demand and DVR's

[Michigan Skip]

I have On Demand and the upper channels. I also have the Motorola 6412 dual tuner. I hooked up a Panasonic DVR like it says but It won't find any channels. The way comcast has the Motorola hooked up, they ran the composite video out of the box into the tv (blue, green, and orange) and the two audio leads(red,white) into the tv. I went to comcast's site and found hookups for a dvr and it shows to run the a/v (red,white,yellow) out of the motorola into the dvr and out of the dvr into the tv with a/v or the composite(green,blue,orange) and 2audio leads (red,white). I'm running into a Sony KV-27FS100L tv. Am I missing something or has comcast got something locked ? With the way it's shown to hook all this crap up, it won't even show channels if I turn off the DVR:eek5:

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

Is there a sync cable to run between the 2? The red white and yellow cables only transmit picture and sound. To use an external DVR with a motorola box you need to have a way to get the programming information from the box to the DVR, there is usually a serial or mini port on the back for a sync cable. Honestly though, for what you are trying to do your best bet is to use the built in DVR feature the 6412 has, and use the external DVD burner for permanent backups.

 

[Michigan Skip]

Is there a sync cable to run between the 2? The red white and yellow cables only transmit picture and sound. To use an external DVR with a motorola box you need to have a way to get the programming information from the box to the DVR, there is usually a serial or mini port on the back for a sync cable. Honestly though, for what you are trying to do your best bet is to use the built in DVR feature the 6412 has, and use the external DVD burner for permanent backups.

I don't know about a sync cable. I can look. And as far as using the external for a back up, How would I hook up to do that?
Thanks for the help too!!

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

I don't know about a sync cable. I can look. And as far as using the external for a back up, How would I hook up to do that?
Thanks for the help too!!

Typically only the Tivo style DVRs use a sync cable, yours most likely does not have one. Are you planning on just using this to record shows, or do you want to copy things to DVD and have a permanent copy? The 6412 has a 120gb hard drive built in, thats almost 90 hours worth of standard digital TV. If you just want to record shows that you arent home for, watch them at your convenience and erase them I'd forget about the panasonic DVR alltogether and put it on a TV without a cable box.

 

[mcougar351w]

I am sure the composite and av cables only pull input from the channel the Motorola DVR is on, other wise you would need to use some sort of IR blaster or connect to a split coax cable and catch only analog shows, unless it takes a cable card,

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

I am sure the composite and av cables only pull input from the channel the Motorola DVR is on, other wise you would need to use some sort of IR blaster or connect to a split coax cable and catch only analog shows, unless it takes a cable card,

Thats what the sync cable would be for, to change the channel on the box. But honestly thats a giant pain in the ass since the cable box already has a VERY capable DVR built in.

 

[mcougar351w]

Thats what the sync cable would be for, to change the channel on the box. But honestly thats a giant pain in the ass since the cable box already has a VERY capable DVR built in.

I agree mostly, mine worked fine until they tried to push a new load to it and bricked it, the replacement I received skips allot, oh well,

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

I agree mostly, mine worked fine until they tried to push a new load to it and bricked it, the replacement I received skips allot, oh well,

Is there anything sitting on top of it? Generally when the DVR's start skipping it is because of a heat issue. If you have stuff stacked on top of it, put it on the top of the stack so the vents are clear. 90% of the time this solves the problem. Another thing that helps, look in the vents on the top. If its all dusty in there, use a can of compressed air and blow in there real good to get the dust off, it acts like a blanket on the components.

 

[Michigan Skip]

Typically only the Tivo style DVRs use a sync cable, yours most likely does not have one. Are you planning on just using this to record shows, or do you want to copy things to DVD and have a permanent copy? The 6412 has a 120gb hard drive built in, thats almost 90 hours worth of standard digital TV. If you just want to record shows that you arent home for, watch them at your convenience and erase them I'd forget about the panasonic DVR alltogether and put it on a TV without a cable box.

I'd like to be able to make a hard copy of stuff like PINKS and Inside Drag Racing and burn them to DVD so I can watch them on my laptop at work. those channels only come in thru the Motorola box,otherwise I'd just record them off a TV in the bedroom.
Thanks