GearBits: Scientific Atlanta DVR Not So Hot

GearBits: Scientific Atlanta DVR Not So Hot: "A friend of mine just got the relatively new Explorer 8000 from Scientific Atlanta. The 8000 is a DVR (digital video recorder), much like TiVo or ReplayTV. It has some neat features, including an 80 GB hard drive, dual tuners, and a cheap, cheap price -- it's less than $10 per month from your local cable company (if it's like Time Warner is in our area). There's one big difference between the 8000 and your run-of-the-mill TiVo, however -- it appears to suck big time.

In the roughly 72 hours he's had the 8000, it has reset itself on him about half a dozen times, refused to quit recording, recorded the wrong show, and recorded several copies of the same show (even though it was set to ignore repeats). What's more is that he got no instruction manual or anything when he picked up the 8000. If it were so intuitive that you didn't need a manual, that would be one thing, but this unit's interface is far, far from intuitive."