GearBits: Leap Year Possible Cause of Scientific Atlanta DVR Mass Outage

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February 24, 2004

Leap Year Possible Cause of Scientific Atlanta DVR Mass Outage

All those (ahem) "happy" users of the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000, which has been heavily criticized by many users here at GearBits, have been left temporarily (we assume) stranded due to a Leap Year problem with the unit's software.

Time Warner Cable customers who use the Scientific Atlanta dual-tuner digital video recorder (DVR) have been unable to record any programming since yesterday. Reports that either a software update or a problem with programming coming with the February 29 date (or a combination thereof) have locked up the units with no user fix yet available. So, all these users are stuck waiting for Scientific Atlanta and TWC to roll out a correction.

I have to wonder if it really is just a software issue or if TWC is going to have to visit each house and/or require each owner to bring in his/her unit to a service center. If so, my guess would be that the folks at TiVo will be getting a lot of calls from TWC customers if not TWC itself looking for a new DVR supplier.

Posted by Craig | Permalink | TrackBack

Comments

I have the unit in question, and it was out for about 1 day, but it seems to be working fine now (as of last night, it worked fine, but I have not tested it today yet).

I love to be able to record and watch something else. I just wish that ther were some more features... like (at least) the ability to see how much space I actually have left, season passes (without duplicates), etc...

Posted by Bill T at February 24, 2004 01:29 PM

no issues here...

Posted by Jonathan Greene at February 24, 2004 11:29 PM

I noticed it missed an episode of the Simpson's from Monday night, but other than that no problems.

However, the thing is a little quirky and far from perfect, but for $10 a month I can live with it.

Posted by Aaron at February 26, 2004 03:49 PM

I received my unit on Feb. 28 and it worked fine, after that it has not worked since. Will not record or playback. Charter Cable tried resetting it, but that did not work, they have scheduled a technician for Friday.

Posted by Jason at March 3, 2004 05:30 PM

all time warner NYC dvr users had the same problem; mine was out for a few hours starting around 7am on 2/29.

Posted by dr at March 4, 2004 01:27 PM

Have had S.A. Explorer 8000 for about 2 months. It's missed a couple recordings and freezes sometimes when I am attempting to use remote to do things. Does anyone know if this piece gets upgrades over cable line? If so, how often and can I see/list what fixes/enhancements the upgrade brings? I find my the sound on my recordings is noticeably worse than live tv. I'd give the unit/service about a B+ right now.

Posted by Bryan at March 16, 2004 03:41 PM