ReplayTVBlog

Now that we have the Explorer 8300HD Multi-Room DVR from Scientific Atlanta, DVR users everywhere are going to be exposed to the joys of connected DVR’s.
With the SA 8300HD Multi-Room (MR) and multi-room client set top boxes hooked up to your other televisions, you can watch shows that have been recorded on the 8300HD on any of the other tvs that have mr client set top boxes hooked up to them. According to Scientific Atlanta, up to three shows on three different clients can be played back at the same time while the main 8300HD is also playing back a recorded show and recording two other shows.

Basically, the 8300HD is acting as a “media server” for the client set top boxes and using the cable wiring in the house for it’s network.

While this is a nice new feature for the Scientific Atlanta Explorer series of DVR’s, the ReplayTV has had this fuctionality for a while now and does it better. With two or more ReplayTV units on my home network, I can not only share the recordings that are on both of them, but I can schedule shows to record on both of them. I can even start watching a show on one ReplayTV in one room, stop the playback and restart right where I left off in the other room. I can even use the free DVArchive software on my computers and they appear as additional ReplayTV units on my network that I can archive shows to and stream shows from them to my ReplayTV.

The Scientific Atlanta multi-room clients don’t have any of the abilities of an additional ReplayTV. They are kind of like “dumb terminals”. They don’t have a hard drive to record programs and store them locally, and they can’t schedule recordings on the main 8300HD “server”. Basically, all they can do is control playback of a show already recorded on the 8300HD. They can’t even pause live TV – with 2 or more ReplayTVs, you can do all of these things on every ReplayTV in the house!

Since I have not had the opportunity to use an 8300HD Multi-Room — Comcast does not offer it yet in my area — I do currently have an 8300HD and I am skeptical about the claim by Scientific Atlanta that the 8300HD MR can playback four shows simultaneously (the main unit plus 3 multi-room clients) while at the same time recording two shows. I know with my non multi-room 8300HD if I am recording two HD shows while simultaneously watching a third pre-recorded show, I start to get stuttering and hiccups in the playback — and I have even had the whole unit lock up on me and spontaneously reboot. My ReplayTV has been rock solid when recording one show and watching another.

I guess I’ll have to wait until Comcast offers the 8300HD Multi-Room in my area — as soon as they do, I’ll review it here.

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