I recently purchased a SA 8300HD, allegedly brand new. I already have(Comcast)their hd services on a standard motorla box. However I like this one better, mostly cause this has the DVR features. I checked with comcast before i bought this box and they said it would work. I followed the set up instructions in the manual. however as soon as i plug in the power plug i get :er 67, then goes to h with rotating numbers in an ascending order. I called comcast to tell me what that ment and they refused to tell me. they then tried to ping it which obviously wasn't successful due to it not being "activated", I told them I bought the box new and that was as far as the conversation went. They kindly accused me of stealing the box and since the "serial number" was'nt in their system they wouldn't help me because they could not confirm where the box actually came from even after i gave them the serial number. I recited the title 47 speech to which they flat out ignored and told me they would not touch the box, but if i wanted, i could rent another of theirs. Anybody had this error on the box or similer experiance? If so how did you overcome it and get the box going? Thanks
Can't speak for Comcast, but in the TW system I work in, your converter would not work either. The numbers are loaded onto the controller from SA, and only those converters will work.
Not sure what title 47 says about purchasing SA converters, but I don't know of any system that currently allows customers to use privately purchased converters, with the exception of the new TivoS3 using Cablecard(s) to authorize.
The "H" is hunt mode, and it is searching for the data carrier and the current operating code to download.
If the Comcast system you are in is using Motorola operating system/controller, an SA converter would never work there. 2 completely different animals.
IMHO you got hosed by whatever website sold you this thing, but I have been wrong before. Good luck.
sounds like you're right on the money say... No cable system will authorize a non-leased piece of equipment to work in their system other then CableCARD devices (and the cablecard is leased). As for the error message it is displaying it is trying to load code for the stb, but can't because it is not authorized to do so. Mike, you got hosed. You are allowed to own a converter as long as that converter is not illegally decrypting channels. Since that law was written back in the day with antenna TV's in mind that were incapable of tuning CATV signals, the only thing you can do is try to get your money back from whom ever sold it to you.
Thats what i was afraid of. I have had the hdtv service for sometime so the box was'nt for free cable, merly for dvr. Anyway the title 47 stated in brief that consumers can have their own equiptment as long as it hasn't been tampered with from the factory and it can't harm the system on which it is placed to leagally obtain cablecos services. I guess the federal standards really don't apply. Does any cable com sell boxs? Thanks for the info guys.