Official Comcast 3412 & 3416 STB Discussion

scanpa · 11-16-05, 12:50 AM

The Motorola 3412 & 3416 Digital Only STB should be out soon and available to Comcast customers who have a all digital cable system, or systems that Digitally Simulcast all Analog Ch.

Jim Miller · 11-16-05, 11:39 PM

Any idea what the Comcast rollout plan is? I'm in Baltimore county.

tnx
jim

scanpa · 11-16-05, 11:45 PM

I have heard that the 3412 is now available in some NJ & PA Comcast areas. I will try and find out more on Thursday, I will try to stop by my local Comcast head end office....

Time to get a 3412 or a 3416 if they have one!!!!!

Jim Miller · 11-16-05, 11:46 PM

Other than probably being cheaper to make without the need for analog reception any idea what improvements might be lurking inside?

tnx
jim

scanpa · 11-16-05, 11:57 PM

Nope, Not yet, however these STB are part of the Motorola Media Center system, and allows you to access DVR content from other 3412 & 3416 / 3432 & 6412 / 6416 STB in the same household....

Data txfer via Comcast Intranet addressable STB. Or something to that effect.

marcvh · 11-17-05, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scanpa

Nope, Not yet, however these STB are part of the Motorola Media Center system, and allows you to access DVR content from other 3412 & 3416 STB in the same household....
.

You mean it can do that today, or it "may someday" be able to do that?

I assume they run the same iGuide software?

scanpa · 11-17-05, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcvh

You mean it can do that today, or it "may someday" be able to do that?

I assume they run the same iGuide software?

http://broadband.motorola.com/whms/whm_how.html

dt_dc · 11-17-05, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scanpa

Nope, Not yet, however these STB are part of the Motorola Media Center system, and allows you to access DVR content from other 3412 & 3416 STB in the same household....

The Motorola "Whole Home Media Solution" is the middleware they bought when they aquired Ucentric and it runs just as well on the 64xx series as the 34xx.

shmee1 · 11-17-05, 07:52 AM

I got a 3412 last week...was having problems with my 6412, and when Comcast came to swap it out, the 3412 was what they had.
My comments:
Same iGuide as the rest.
Don't know about dumping the DVR content to a PC...from what I read I should be able to though.
NO DVI out...I was disappointed. HDMI/component only for HD (plus all the regular jacks)
It's quiet, the new fan keeps the unit cooler (I think lack of a fan is what killed my 1st gen 6412).
I'll have to take a closer look, but it appears that the HD pic is not as good as on the 6412. Could just be my imagination or the show I watched, but it appreared to be more pixelated than before. Perhaps that's ADS? Again, perhaps my imagination.
The actual box is about 2 inched shorter front to back than the 6412.
No AV jacks in front (so what).
Other than that, it's the same as the 6412. I'm guessing the famous "mute" feature is still there, but that's not a real problem for me.

smack518 · 11-17-05, 10:16 AM

Does anyone know if the 3412 does direct passthrough of HD signals, or, like the 6412, does all HD content have to be sent to the TV in either 720p or 1080i?

I'd really like to let my set do the de-interlacing...

htrider · 11-17-05, 01:53 PM

I've had the 3412 from Comcast for about 10 days now, and have observed the following two problems:

1. On my 60" Sony SXRD, I will occassionally find a blank 'green' screen. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's right after powering the TV on or after having used the 'pause' button for the 3412. In every instance, the problem was resolved by using the 'swap' button to switch back and forth between the two tuners.
2. When playing back "Troy," about half-way through the movie, the picture would intermittently stutter. It happened frequently enough to be very annoying. The next day, I went back to one of the scenes most affected, and it did not stutter at all, so it did not happen during the recording phase.

Has anyone else seen either of these problems? Overall, I'm very happy with the picture quality of the 3412. My only gripe would be that as compared to the standalone Tivo I used to use before going to HDTV, the pause and play buttons are far behind in responsiveness. There is also no intelligent 'rewind' when you stop a fast-forward to accomodate normal reaction times.

scanpa · 11-17-05, 03:56 PM

The 3412's are now available for Hershey Comcast Users!

I went and picked one up today.

DCT-3412/2305 Phase 1

Brand New right out of the box.

First things I see, are: No AUX RCA Input slots front or back & no smart card reader slot, The STB has the following on the back of the unit:

1- RF Cable signal In:
1- RF Out:

1-SATA II port
1-USB port
1-HDMI port
1-Ethernet port
2-IEEE 1394 port's
1- IR VCR remote control plug

1- RCA-Digital COAX jack
1- TOSSlink Optical Audio jack
1- L/R/V RCA SD output jacks
1- Y PB Pr Component Jacks
1- S-video

1- TV DATA PORT PASS THRU

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Size is aprox 1/2 inch smaller in width, and aprox 1.5 inches smaller from back to front.

The 3412 is lighter then the 64xx STB.

Upon getting home and connecting all cables, & initial power up, the unit was dead as can be, no F/W or S/W or any guide software or settings pre-installed.

Just a blank Baby....

Doing a Factory Install & Boot up of the 3412 STB, it downloaded and installed the following:

S/W Version: 71.44 -1203

F/W Version: 12.22 Date: Aug 08, 2005
Boot Loader: 05.05
Iguide Version: ASTGSC Version: 49.38

John Williams · 11-17-05, 04:03 PM

Scanpa,

Please let us know when you get up and rolling if there is any native-rate output option or if it is the same as the 64xx boxes.

Thanks!

-John

scanpa · 11-17-05, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Williams

Scanpa,

Please let us know when you get up and rolling if there is any native-rate output option or if it is the same as the 64xx boxes.

Thanks!

-John

It is the same as the other Moto Boxes.

power off STB
press Menu

set your HDMI / Component: Y Pb Pr settings

exit

power back on the stb

John Williams · 11-17-05, 04:16 PM

Bugger!

When will Motorola get this right?!?

scanpa · 11-17-05, 04:30 PM

First test of PQ, Color looks softer then my old 6412/2005-P2. Had to set the TV Color to Warm to get it back to what was normal before.

Sound Quality is lower then the 6412 also for both DD5.1 & DD Ch.

Analog Tier Digital Simulcast Ch: 2-100, looks sharper then the 6412.

No remote issues as of yet, STB responds fast.

Fan in bottom of unit is variable in speed, but is very quiet at high speed.

STB Temp is at 97 deg, and has hit a high of 102 deg. so far.

HD has very little noise level!

VOD works very fast durring switchover from reg cable.

Signal strength in OOB & In Band is good with S/N in the 36 - 38 range.

After all of the family's shows record tonight, I will post info on the DVR.

same recording settings as used in the 6412.

scanpa · 11-17-05, 04:32 PM

A new Itam listed in the Diagnostic page, is a address list, to connect all the other 64xx / 34xx series STB addresses.

This is for the Media Center setup.

tall1 · 11-17-05, 05:49 PM

Scanpa- is 30 second skip alive and well? Do you still need to go to user settings to change closed captioning?

scanpa · 11-17-05, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tall1

Scanpa- is 30 second skip alive and well? Do you still need to go to user settings to change closed captioning?

I have nothing recorded Yet. will let you know later tonight.

CC settings are still set in the user menu only accessed with the STB off!