How to use a Motorola DVR

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This is a How-To book on using a Motorola DVR. It has replaced the oversized Wikipedia entry for the Motorola 6412.

The Motorola DCT64xx and DCT34xx series are dual tuner HDTV DVRs deployed by many cable companies in the US and Canada. The DCT3080 is a variation that contains no HD circuitry. It can record HD, but can only output 480i video.

DCT is the Motorola acronym for "Digital Consumer Terminal", less formally "Digital Cable Terminal". However, it could be debated by those conversant in the complex mathmatical formulae used in digital video encoding, that DCT actually stands for Discrete Cosine Transformation, since it has had "wide-spread deployment in virtually every image/video processing standard...[such as] JPEG...MPEG(s) 1 through 4, MPEG-4 FGS, H.261, H.263, and JVT (H.26L). ^[1][1]

The QIP6416 is a version that also supports IP television and MoCA. It is used by Verizon FIOS subscribers. QIP stands for "QAM/Internet Protocol".

The newer Motorola DVR series, which is briefly touched on in this Wikibook, has the acronym of DCH, "Digital Connected Home". Designed by the same team that designed the Motorola RAZR, it is completely different in appearence compared to the DCT DVR and QIP DVR.

In the United States, the DVR is generally owned by the cable company and rented to cable subscribers.

In Canada, the DVR is generally owned by the subscriber, purchased from their cable company or retail outlets such as Future Shop and Best Buy.

The 64xx and 34xx DVRs can record two channels at once and play back a recorded show at the same time. The 64xx can record two analog, digital, or HDTV channels. The 34xx has no analog tuner, allowing for two digital or HDTV channels. The 6412 and 3412 have a 120GB hard drive giving it an HDTV recording time of 12-20 hours and much more for analog or SD digital TV. The 6416 and 3416 are models with a 160GB drive.

Some areas may still be using the DCT6208. This was the first DVR and is a modified DCT6200 (non-DVR). It only contains a single tuner and an 80GB drive. It's generally used in areas that still use an A/B (dual cable) system. It appears to still be using an earlier version of the i-Guide software.

Most of the software features, such as iGuide usage, will be the same for any Motorola DCT- or DCH-series cable box, and even many non-Motorola cable boxes. Besides the i-Guide, in late 2007, Comcast added a Tivo software option after penning a deal with the widely popular DVR service, on the heels of Tivo being dropped by satellite programming provider DirecTV, in 2006.

The Motorola DCT-5100 and DCT-6200 are basically the same as the 64xx series, but without the DVR features.

On January 3, 2008, Motorola announced the DCX series. They support MPEG4 compression, DOCSIS 3.0, and have 1GHz tuners. The DVR model is the DCX-3400. ^[2] It also further differs in appearence from the DCT and DCH series set-top boxes.

[edit] Major sections

• Identifying your model - How to tell which model DVR you have (updated October 16, 2007)
• Connections - How to connect the DVR to your home entertainment system (updated October 19, 2007)
• Setup - How to configure the DVR for your TV (updated July 23, 2007)
• Using i-Guide - How to use i-Guide software (updated November 10, 2007)
• Using Microsoft TV: Foundation Edition - How to use Microsoft's TV software (updated November 10, 2007)
• Using Passport Echo - How to use Passport Echo software (updated March 10, 2007)
• Using Tivo - How to use Tivo software (updated September 5, 2007)
• Firewire - How to use the Firewire/IEEE1394/i.Link port (updated September 5, 2007)
• Programming the Remote - How to use and program the remote control (updated October 22, 2007)
• Firmware and Software - Past and present Firmware and Software version information (updated November 8, 2007)
• Configuration - Advanced configuration information (updated November 4, 2007)
• Bugs - Known bugs (updated November 5, 2007)
• Boot Error Codes - Ebxx codes displayed if the DVR has a problem (updated July 10, 2007)
• Resets - Procedures to reset the DVR (Use at your own risk!!!) (updated October 4, 2007)
• Online help - Links to web sites with manuals, forums, etc.. (updated October 18, 2007)

[edit] History

This book is an adaptation of the Wikipedia article, Motorola 6412, authored by various Wikipedia contributors.

[edit] Authors

[edit] Original Wikipedia Entry

The first version of the Wikipedia page was based on (and quoted liberally from) a post by frankz1 from the AVS Forum discussion of the 6412.
Aerotive, Andyross, Bluebot, CStyle, Darkcity, Enzo Aquarius, ExDeus, FredipusRex, Gaius Cornelius, GeoWorm, Jaerune, ExDeus, Microbiojen, Mrhsean, Neilc, K1Bond007, Paul August, Pepper2000, Rackroth, Rlw, Tnikkel
And many others only listed by IP address (if you register, you can be known by name!).

[edit] Wikibook Contributors

Andyross

ExDeus

DCTGoddess

[edit] References

1. ↑ The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) Theory and Application, Syed Ali Khayam, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University 2003 March 10.
2. ↑ http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail.jsp?globalObjectId=9066_8995_23 Motorola Delivers Enhanced Viewing Experiences and More HD Content with Next-Generation DVR Set-Tops