All about the Motorola DCT6412 / DCT3412 DVR; Comcast Digital Cable
Robert Wolf
I just installed a Motorola DCT6412 from Comcast in Hartford, CT. My model
is actually a new Motorola DCT3412 1 Dual tuner DVR - Digital cable box.
The only differences seem to be some newer rear-panel connections and no
more front panel inputs or code-card slot.
I had a simple Sci. Atlanta cable tuner driving my ancient but still-clear
1986 Mitsubishi 36" tube. When that settop box failed, I noticed that
Comcast offered these far more capable units for the same monthly rental
fee. (They are not currently for sale, but that could change.) The monthly
price delta would be about $9.95 for the DVR 'guide subscription'.
(Actually for the value of using the DVR features; Guide subscription fees
are a marketing fiction.) Handing these boxes out like doorprizes could be
why TiVo, the design originator, is gasping for air. Can you say Netscape?
...3DO? ...SyQuest?
I am quite impressed by the general experience of using this box. The Dual
tuner feature is really nice. (Are they really tuners or is this an
anachronism like cable -'modem'?) You can record two program channels while
watching a playback of a third stored show- all electro-magically. A busy
Barracuda-hard drive that. It has fast enough processors and data flow to
keep most all operations quick and fluid. The image quality is great, even
for obsolete TV's like mine. The menuing is via Microsoft TV Foundation
Edition 1.7. It works fine, but is this all not quite as elegant / advanced
as the TiVO interface / remote control. Like Windows -vs- MacOS, or perhaps,
VHS -vs- Betamax, it's good enough but not inspired. (Paging Mr Jobs... Your
DejaVu is ready.)
Also, TiVO has remote web-page control of your home box over IP! How
terribly modern! You can update your recording settings from that hotel room
in Bankok. There are other differences TiVO-philes will miss, for instance
aural feedback for completed commands. This would be nice! I cannot
believe there are patent restrictions on beeps & boops!
I am just satisfied with the fact that in one box I have a good 80 hour
(SDef) DVR, Analog-local channels + Digital premium channels plus Hi-Def
(as channels slowly deploy), informative- fast, multi-week Guide data that
remains embedded with all stored programming, Video on Demand features,
great image quality, and no hardware investment. When more of those
future-ports are finally supported, I will get more excited. I read that
Motorola & friends are deploying a home- networking scheme over existing
Coax to let you access this DVR's content on remote TV's connected to legacy
era digital cable boxes. And the beat goes on.
Can you imagine the day when really ALL programming is on demand. I'd like
to access the Comcast web page (using my laptop) to queue up any movie or
that second season West Wing episode I missed. Etc. Etc. then have it feed
into the DVR disk for current or later viewing. (May as well store at FTP
speeds, not 1X time) You can already do this to a point viewing QuickTime
video on your PC. (I missed Meet the Press Sunday so I downloaded it from
nbc.com) Is the Motorola DCT6412 not really a full blooded 800 MIPS
PC?! (Its a Mad-Mad, Pod-Cast world.)
Read on for the technical quirks and workarounds I have either noticed
myself or reprinted from other intrepid internet authors. Many of these
features / observations are not mentioned in the owner's manuals from
Comcast or Motorola.
---
Motorola DCT3412 I / 2305
Firmware: 12.22
S/W Version: 71.44 - 1203
Region 0
-) Power Switch causes Motorola DCT6412 to sleep. The video signal drops
out. The H/Disk keeps spinning but the heads park and do not needlessly
flog through the night when nobody is watching TV. With two channels
constantly filling their large video buffers, the old 150GB Seagate is
pretty stressed. This sleep mode solves that problem. (When laptops and
iMacs sleep the Hard Disk can spin-down, saving even more bearing wear.) I
assume this sleep mode also implies lower power consumption. What? No
Energy Star sticker?! Though we DVR renters don' t have an economic
incentive to give this box a rest during the unused hours, it's easier to do
than recycling, and just seems more resonable and energy efficient.
-) When a scheduled program needs recording, the Motorola DCT6412 will wake
up from sleep and the disk heads will activate. When the recording
finishes, the video signal will drop out, the disk heads will park again
and the unit will return to sleep mode. You can wake it manually with the
remote and leave it in 'ON' mode. You can set up the DVR to always display
local time as a default.
*** News Flash: as of 04:00 Weds. March 22, 2006, the following video
problems at startup have been fixed. A system update seems to have come
through, (From Comcast Hartford). Powering up from sleep yields video and
audio signal without the 'secret handshake' trick listed below. No
version data has changed in the system infp page... One less problem. ***
-) A design bug many have reported (online) (WAS) that whenever the
Motorola DCT3412 is powering-up from SLEEP, (either manually or via an auto
record session) no video or audio would display initially. If you turn on
your TV, you can view any menu overlays but neither see or hear what is
being recorded or view any live channels. This is the case ANY time you (or
the timers) ) wake up the box from a Sleep state! The workaround is to go
into the [My DVR] menu and start a playback of any stored program (a few
seconds viewing is enough to 'prime the pump'...). That seems to
re-activate the video signal. From there you can use all features of the
box normally. When the timed recording is complete, the DVR will power
itself down to sleep mode, just as your VCR would even if you are present &
watching a live channel. That seems fair.
-) Another software quirk of auto-recording mode (Still in effect) is that
my Motorola DCT3412 wakes up in DVR MUTE mode. This refers to the local
volume setting for the box, upstream of your TV vol. controls or surround
sound box. (White [ mute ] labels are displayed at TOP of your screen)
This auto-mute mode does NOT occur when you power on the DVR manually; only
during a scheduled recording, awaking from a 'SLEEP' state. ( Maybe they
need to go easier on the Jolt cola out in there Redmond, WA... ) Until
Micro-rola issues a fix, we'll have to rely on the workaround for this
problem... Read on...
-) You need to configure the DVR-3 Universal Remote (Comcast) to be able to
control the DVR volume settings (just once) . The remote instruction sheet
describes how to 'unlock Volume control for individual devices'. Normally
the volume / mute buttons are tied to the TV only, which makes it impossible
to reset the DVR-mute setting just described.
1. Press the [TV] mode button at top of the remote.
2. Press / HOLD [Setup] till the TV mode button blinks twice in
rapid-succession
3. Enter 9-9-3, then press the [VOL] button once. The [TV] mode
button will flash four times to confirm.
4. Now, to control the DVR volume / Mute functions, press the [CABLE]
mode button first, then [un-Mute].
5. To control the TV volume /mute settings press the [TV] mode button
as a prefix.
-) The DCT6142 can perform 30 Sec forward commercial skip. You need to
remap the "HD Zoom" button to do this.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4636291#post4636291
The following instructions will re-program the "HD Zoom" button on the
remote control to function as a "30 second fast forward" button. Works
perfectly for skipping through commercials. It will function when playing
programs recorded on the DVR & also when playing a buffered program.
1) Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable
Box control mode.
2) Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
3) Type in the code 9-9-4. The "Cable" button will blink twice.
4) Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
5) Type in the code 00173 (for 30 second Skip).
6) Press the "HD Zoom" button to map the skip or swap function to it.
7) You're done.
Even driving my museum-piece Mitsubishi 36" tube through an old SDef
composite Video RCA jack, this Motorola DCT6412 yields the sharpest, most
stable picture I have ever seen on this screen. There is little dot-crawl
on the two-digit analog channels and less still on the pure digital channels
above 100. It only gets better-- from composite video out- to S-video
connections (SD) and on to component-video RCA jacks (HD) and to HDMI /
Firewire pure digital connections. By the way, please don't pay $150.00 at
Radio Shack for DVI or HDMI connectors! There are tons on sites to buy them
from online for 1/10th that cost.
-) An interesting quirk of the local Comcast Hartford network is that upon
installation of this dual tuner box, ALL premium channels came through for
about 4 days. I did not subscribe to premium movie channels. At the end of
the week, the box sync'd itself to the options associated with my account
and the movie channels were locked out. There must be a 'ping' schedule for
addressing each account's equipment. (There's a new pusher in town, boys
and girls; Your crack supply will be on the house this week!)
-) Another interesting feature of the Motorola DCT6412: It contains an
integrated DOCSIST-compatible cable 'modem' with an RJ-45 Ethernet output
jack. The DVR transfers IP data over Coax data no doubt using this
transceiver to connect to the head end equipment in Comcast-land. This is
how the Interactive program guide is updated and likely your box gets
addressed for VOD feeds etc. I'm sure the 'home office' can also update
your firmware in the dead of night as well as advise your box to display
only the premium channels you actually pay for.
For those, like me, who also subscribe to Comcast Broadband, we COULD return
the Moto-Surfboard Cable 'modem' and save the $36.00 annual rental fee. I
could run a cat-5 cable from the RJ-45 jack on the rear panel- around the
room to my Linksys router. All this makes great sense if only the 'bloomin
Ethernet connector was ACTIVE! But Noooo! I guess I'll have to either buy
my own Surfboard online or hope product development at Motorola continues...
(Department of Redundancy Department...)
-) I plan to connect a Panasonic DMR-ES20S DVD-Recorder to this box to
permit transferring digital video from the H/Disk to a DVD-R. Both have
IEEE 1394-Firewire ports, BUT will they connect? (I read in links below
that FCC regulations now require them to be active. Your Firmware Ver. must
be at least ver7.07 the DCT-6200. ) Are digital copy bits set to
copy-once? We shall see. The alternative is to use an S-Video connection
through the Analog Hole. (Yech.)
Here's how to transfer non-copy protected recordings via IEEE1394/Firewire:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3818890#post3818890
-) Using Firewire to record and view directly on Macintosh. Related Links:
Articles and Discussion::
http://macteens.com/index.php/features/fullstory/how_to_make_your_own_home_theatre_mac_htmac/
Software links:
http://developer.apple.com/samplecode/simpleAVC/simpleAVC.html
ftp://rollernet.us/users/sethm/VirtualDVHS.zip
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
-) One feature that is useful-but-missing: Often you happen across a
program already in progress and not fully stored the display buffer.
Starting a RECORD session will create an incomplete recording. You need to
easily find the NEXT scheduled airing of the show currently viewing. There
could be a software selection to FIND the next full air date of the
currently displayed (Guide) program, but NO. The only current workaround is
to wait till the show ends, and then go into the [SEARCH] menu to look up
the next occurrence of that show up by [name]. That will jump you forward
in the program guide calendar to the nearest air date/time. You can select
[record] in the guide chart then. A clunky manual alternative is to
right-arrow / day-advance through the guide manually searching for the show
title. So, how about it uncle Bill; a convenient [Display Next Airing]
option would be greatly appreciated. Consider this a free focus group...
-) On Hartford Comcast, the GUIDE is generally accurate and useful. It is
also fast and complete for 14 days into the future which is a great
improvement over pokey DirecTV RCA/Hughes displays I have seen. There are
occasional guide errors though which makes for a real crib-note fire-drill
when you want to record a single film from IFC channel across two bogus
timeslots. You need to play back two wrongly named shows from the stored
show menu in sequence. It's something out of Max Headroom...
-) I have seen online complaints regarding the tuner-SWAP command. It is
not very intuitive. It seems to only complete a SWAP request when you are
going from one tuner display to the other. The tuner channel may be paused
or doing chasing playback and it will still swap. If you are in any menu,
the swap command is ignored. If you are in On Demand, the button is
ignored. If you have a recording playback active or paused, you cannot
swap. You need to STOP the playback and [ exit ] to a tuner. (Luckily all
program playback has a resume memory so you never lose you place. Even on
demand shows are pretty good at pausing and stopping and resuming from the
right spot.) Good show.
-) One thing to be mindful of, if you are RECORDING on a given tuner (Red
progress meter), you can swap to the other side and not disturb the video
buffer or the program record. If you try to change channels on the SAME
tuner, you will get an 'are you sure' dialog box, or just lose your video
buffer in the case of any live broadcast you are watching. (Green progress
meter) If you try to set more than two record sessions in any current or
future overlapping time periods, the DVR will point out your conflict, BUT,
sadly, it will not offer you the choice of which original recording to
replace in the schedule. (you need to go into the [ Scheduled Recordings ]
menu to find and cancel the least important show) There is also no
indication of which tuner you are displaying, so it is possible, for
instance to be recording Kieth Olberman on channel 63 (RED progress meter)
and then [swap] tuners to view the same show over on channel 63's evil twin.
The only indication of 'where you are' would be the progress meter showing
in green over yonder. (plus the guide chart would either have a red
recording-dot or not) Also, if you are watching some live channel and a
recording starts, I guess it will just grab any free tuner to employ for
that recording which might surprise you. You need to pay attention to the
front display which would say: [ rEC ] when it is recording. There is
also a RED LED that activates on the right top corner of the front panel
display when any recording is active on any tuner. My head is spinning just
explaining it.
-) The pause is quite stable and clear. Pause-Slow-adv. and
Pause-slow-rewind often will not work. The feature seems to be AWOL about
70% of the time. Eeh.
-) As reported elsewhere, the [LAST] button is very useful. It will send
you back through many previous selections of channels, different tuners,
paused DVR recordings and various menu displays. Nice touch! (If you can
remember that far back in the evening.)
-) There are a variety of manuals from Motorola online that are more
complete than the paraphrased instruction pamphlets from Comcast. To Whit:
A Very good Motorola info page on the DCT6412
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/news_faq.asp#program_remote
DCT6412 User Guide
http://broadband.motorola.com/noflash/customer_docs/user_guides/512659-001-a.pdf
Click here to download the Motorola Remote Control User Guide (PDF, 448 KB).
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/downloads/DRC400-425_UsersGuide.pdf
More useful links:
http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6001819.html
http://www.macroundup.com/article/165062/
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/115294.html
http://home.comcast.net/~brzez2/dctrecord.html
Motorola DCT3412 I / 2305
RF-IN
RF-out
IR blaster connector
S-Video OUT
SPDIF connector (Orange)
Optical SPDIF: Dolby 5.1 sound
RCA Composite Video : Out
RCA AudioWht (L): Out
RCA AudioRed (R): Out
RCA Component HDEF Video Y, Pb, Py : Out
HDMI Digital HDEF Video : Out
RJ-45 Ethernet connector (Inop?)
USB (Inop?)
SATA (Inop?)
Firewire 1394 (2 ports)
TV Passcard port in rear (Not used)
A/C Cord In, A/C plug out.
Seagate Barracude 7200 HDisk
800 MIPS processor: So they say...
Well, this all turned into quite the unsolicited dissertation. I hope it
was of some help.
I will post this note on a couple of special interest web sites and
Newsgroups. I hope the text-bulk is not excessive.
Feel free to respond if the spirit moves you.
Robert Wolf March 2006
nospam-address===rwolf<atsign>pophost[dot]com===end-nospam-address
MTBlood
be aware of. First, if you schedule too many series recordings, say 35-40,
it will cause this DVR to malfunction and it will do some funny things.
Second, if you are recording and turn the box off it will give you a prompt
that continuing the action will result in recording being stopped. If you
hit continue it will shut off but when you turn it back on you will have a
black screen. If you play a recorded program it will play, and when you go
back to "live" programing it will then work. However, once you turn the DVR
back off and on again it will take you back to a black screen. I have
noticed that power cycling the DVR will correct this.Those are the two
glitches I have discovered while doing service on this particular DVR.
Robert Wolf
and other specialty sites.
The main theme of all these is that the unit was rushed into deployment
before all the significant bugs were resolved. The problems are pretty well
known and the workarounds are not too onerous. The systems are quite usable
now and should eventually be improved by revised system software and
firmware updates.
The Firewire ports are active (by mandate) and there are good offerings
online that cover offloading stored video to PC or Mac systems. (How about
to DVD-Recorders? Maybe not yet...)
The systems do power down into sleep mode, and though it can be a minor
nuisance to wake up fully, there are wear benifits and power consumption
benifits to using sleep mode for the many daily hours of dormancy.
Here are a few more resources I missed in my original posting. The
Wikipedia pages are quite complete but perhaps more sterile in presentation
than my original post ;)
--Robert
__________
More good reports on the Motorola 3412 / 6412:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_3412
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6412