S3 without HD

[ScottEllsworth]

Hi, all.

I am not planning on buying an HDTV until after the Superbowl passes. I suspect prices are going to drop.

Since my S2 is constantly out of space, I decided to buy the S3 now. (The transfer deal did not hurt.)

This means I will have to get CableCards to hook it up, and then I will want to put my output across S-video until I get around to buying the new HDTV. That said, Cox Orange County (CA) has never gotten an install exactly right the first time, so I want to make sure that the HD channels are, in fact, working before the installer leaves.

Does the S3 push a downsampled HD signal across the S-video port?

Failing that, I suppose I can hook up my computer monitor to test it, but if I can verify INHD and Discovery HD, then at least I know things will work when the new TV gets bought.

Side question: as I see it, I will pay $2 for each cable card, and and extra $2 for the second outlet here in OC. I will get back the $5 I am paying for a digital converter. Anyone else here in OC able to verify that?

Scott

[IceStorm]

I hit a doozy of a problem today with non-HDMI output.

My Series 3 has decided that channels with a CCI code of 0x02 cannot be sent over the s-video/composite output of the TiVo. This was working Friday. Today, while at work, I tried to tune BBC World over my Slingbox and got the TiVo banner stating that "Viewing is not permitted using the TiVo Digital Media Recorder. Try another TV Input".

This puts a real spanner in the works. While Cablevision doesn't CCI 0x02 too many channels, it means for me that BBC world, most HBO, all Starz (except HD), and all Encores are unavailable via the Slingbox. This wasn't happening as little as a day ago, and my TiVo doesn't appear to have rebooted overnight.

The only difference I can think of is that the TV was on when I tried the Slingbox last, but the TV was on a different input (Component for an XBOX 360), not on the HDMI input from the TiVo. It's possible the HDMI input on the TiVo was still "active", and thus for some reason permitted transmission of CCI 0x02 channels over the s-video port. If that's true, it's rather... odd.

Meanwhile, my SA 8300HD, attached via RF on the other input of my Slingbox, is showing BBC World just fine...

Being an early adopter sucks. I'm back to considering returning the Series 3 at this point if cutting off CCI 0x02 channels on composite/s-video output is by design and not just a bug of some sort. If Component video doesn't work on my TV without HDMI attached, I have to decide if buying an HDMI switch to test with is worth it.

So to answer your question more succinctly:

- Yes, the Series 3 will downsample HD out the composite/s-video outputs. This is how I view my TiVo in Picture-By-Picture on my Sony KDF-42WE655 TV while playing 360 as the 42WE655 doesn't do dual high def PbP
- You may not be able to view all channels (SD and/or HD), depending on what Cox sets the CCI codes to on your channels.

For the record, all of my HD channels have a CCI code of 0x00, so they all show up on my composite/s-video outputs.

And finally, I just looked up CCI bit values over at www.scte.org (look for document SCTE 41). This is probably a bug on TiVo's part as 0x02 is Copy Once. The other values are Copying Not Restricted (0x00), Copy Never (0x01) and Copying is Prohibited (0x03). TiVo won't troubleshoot with me over my Slingbox as they want to try other inputs, so I'm stuck staying up late to troubleshoot in the AM.