I'm looking for discrete power on & power off codes for a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR cable box, Remote model UR2-CBL-CV04, for a MX-900 remote. The built in database in the MX-900 editor software does not have separate power on & power off.

There are no discrete powers for Scientific Atlanta boxes.

However usually there is a workaround.

In the settings menu, set it so that the box turns on on "Power and Numeric" instead of just "Power". This sets the box so that any number pressed turns it on.

Now, you can simply use

0
EXIT

for on, and

0
EXIT
POWER

for off.

the time warner sa8300 doesnt have this option....depending on who your provider is this workaround might be available... if it is it works great.

If your cable company uses SARA software it has this option. If it uses Passport it doesn't.

Not necessarily Time Warner then...because I have Time Warner and it works. I guess I use SARA and I have TW.

Check your box.

I have Cablevision and that option is in the settings menu.
I have enabled it, now I just need to figure out how to program a Macro to use it.

Hmm..... you learn something new everyday!

Thanks! Works well.

Other posts on this topic missed the important detail of going into the Settings menu and selecting "Power and Numeric" instead of just "Power".

I feel that it's really worth mentioning that there is absolutely no advantage to turning this box off. It consumes the same amount of power whether it's on or off. The "off" state is just for show to placate customers. In fact, even while "off" the box is still outputting a black video signal.

I had this device for years and used all the available workarounds. The net result is that the workarounds create more hassle than they solve. The box is never actually "off," so why wait through several seconds of "off" macros just to change the color of an LED on the front of the device?

That's my two cents, anyway.

Best regards,
Dale

I always leave the box one too.. and as good measure i set it to Auto-Power up every day at 3am... just to ensure it STAYS on after an undate from the cable company.

My coworker, Jeff Wagner, pointed out something that I hadn't considered. Apparently on some cable systems, this box tends to accumulate errors over time, which do get "cleaned out" by turning the box off.

So ultimately, it looks like there IS a reason to turn it off.

My first thought is to have my "system off" macro send the Power command once at the beginning and once at the end. This should suffice for clearing out any buffers that get goofed up over time.

Now, I say "should" because after all, we all know that this isn't an exact science.

Best regards,
Dale

I think the only way to clear those errors out is to do a full power off - ie by unplugging it, or forcing a reboot. Turning it off by remote does little more than shut off the video output (and not even that sometimes) and allow the hard drive to power down.

My boxes get shut off every night - either by me or the cable company at 1:30 AM - but even still every three or four weeks during the "busy recording season" they start to do truly bizarre things and need to be rebooted manually to restore normal operation.