I know that most cable boxes do not have discrete on/off commands (don't ask me why, since almost all other a/v equipment does at this point), but with my motorola boxes I could always seem to find some key sequence that would substitute.

Has anyone found a key sequence that works for either discrete on or off for the scientific atlanta explorer 8300 HD DVR?

in the general settings menu, there is a menu that is for power, you can turn on power and numeric in the menu, which allows you to use the number 0 to turn on the box. so your discretes are:

power on: 0 , exit
power off: 0, power

hope this helps ya out!

I cannot find a general setup setting for power and numeric in the explorer 8300? is the the menu choices you get from hitting the setup button twice? If so, what is the choice called? If not, where are these setup choices you are referring to?

Not all the Boxes have the "power on" option. This is a feature added by the cable company. You should call to request your cable co to add this.

My cable company shuts off my 8300 every night at 2am. Even if I am watching! called to complain and was told they are trying to preserve the life of the hard drives. Fine, but give us the discrete!

You can try to use the timer to turn the box on at a certain time every day.

Thanks............I figured he was either talking about a different box, or it was a feature specific to certain cable operators.