Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HD Cable Box Questions

ibookowner2

ibookowner2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 29, 2005
147
0
Why does my box have usb 1.1 ports and firewire, any ideas. I looked in the manual it came with and nothing I tried to google it also nothing.
 
it probably something that the providers can use or possibly to connect to the computer to download the videos but i assume that the providers are disabling that for a reason ... just call them im sure they can give you an answer ... unless its time warner, then you neeed to fight with them.
 
ibookowner2 said:
Why does my box have usb 1.1 ports and firewire, any ideas. I looked in the manual it came with and nothing I tried to google it also nothing.
Click to expand...


Mine has a SATA, USB 2.0, and Firewire port (front and back) but they are all disabled by my carrier. Most carriers in fact disable them for some reason, my best guess to why would be to keep people out of any I/O ports that could lead them to tamper with the device or move the video/media to their computer.

I have a Motorola DCT 6412 III the III is important as its the lastest revision to the line and has none of the previous bugs that the I and II had, along with a HDMI output. http://broadband.motorola.com/catal...eries III Product Data Sheet 524553-001-a.pdf

Ed
 
Most providers cripple those ports up so you can't move the content to another machine (easily). That's just another way for Cable providers to secure the Content a little bit better to those boxes I believe.

I guess the Media Giants would go nuts if those boxes shipped with working firewire ports and you could move videos,movie's to any system you wanted to. :cool:
 
Your cable box really has a SATA port? :confused:

Also you should call your provider and ask them to enable the FW ports. They are required to comply. Of course, if you aren't interested in using it, you can choose not to.
 
Counterfit said:
Also you should call your provider and ask them to enable the FW ports. They are required to comply.
Click to expand...
Why are they required to comply? Not that I don't believe you, I just never heard such a thing. I'd love more info.
 
The FCC requires cable companies to do so. A lot of them still don't have them enabled, but if you call them up they should enable them (it's just a firmware update on the box).
 
Cfg5 said:
The FCC requires cable companies to do so. A lot of them still don't have them enabled, but if you call them up they should enable them (it's just a firmware update on the box).
Click to expand...


That is some good news. Can you transfer data back and forth with this enabled firewire port or just use it to stream your own content onto the tv?
 
on my cable box SA2200 you can connect a usb keyboard and push F-somthing ( i forgot) and it will take you to a unixy environment. Also you can change the channels using the number keys.
 
bursty do I need to have developer tools installed, and also I cannot find SDK 18 it now says SDK 20.
 
Check out this page. I'm not sure if your box is supported or not, but mess around on there and see if you can get it to work.
 
On one page it says I need a samsung 165 and on the other it says I don't. Which one is it, I'm trying really hard to get this and I keep hitting obstacles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back