Time Warner Cable Converter box

2 things, Sony dvd recorders are TERRIBLE at recording
anything Digital.
Second, your cable box is using MACROVISION to
BLOCK your recording. You need to use a cheater box.
Just look at avsforum dot com.
They discuss this very issue.

I've got a similar problem, but worse. I can't get the HDMI output of my Scientic Atlantic box to sync with my Sony TV at all. I had to revert to the component connection. The HDMI output of my Sony DVDP works on all HDMI inputs just fine.

Curious if you guys think I might have a faulty box or are synce issues common?

HDMI is not the most stable standard. Look at the problems people post with Samsung and Motorola DVR's. Seems to be kind of a crap shoot. If you go with component (which theoretically should give be able to handle the 1080i signal) you may want to keep the cable as short as possible and use a decent cable - with video the cable does make a difference.

I went back to TWC and got a Samsung box and now the signals pass through the Sony DVD recorder with no problem.
I hooked it up to my tv using component cables vs the HDMI.
Picture quality is about the same but I still get the "hiccup" when switching between channels. Oh well, I guess I'll have to deal with it. I'm sure the folks at TWC are not worried about perfomance issues vs their security issues.

I had a LOT of problems with my Scientific Atlanta receiver/dvr. I had to take back half a dozen boxes to get one that wasn't buggy. A Google on these receivers will let you know you're not alone if you've got problems. I did manage to find online manuals for Scientific Atlanta receivers that let you into set up menus that the cable companies can't bother to tell consumers about. (It might have been on Scientific Atlanta's website, can't remember now.) In the end, I saw a manager at the cable company and he got me a new unit which works fine (rather than a refurbished one which constitutes most units out there.) My SA dvr/receiver HDMI output works fine with my Sony Bravia, no synch problems at all.