HR20 Hard Drive Upgrade

[dfergie]

Gaining 200 gigs though

 

[Jimbo]

Gaining 200 gigs though

:up

 

[slardy]

The FA has no way of knowing when you are going to need to use the buffered portion of the program so it cannot spin down, it has to be recording at all times.
Also, You cannot turn off your DVR without unplugging it, you simply place it in standby mode when you hit you on/off button, otherwise it would not be able to record when your away.

Jimbo

Jimbo, any HD, set for spin-down due to activity, will spin down due to inactivity! To say the the FAP does not know when a buffered portion of a program are needed, has the cart before the horse. An HD, set to spin-down, will spin down. I was not questioning that. What I was questioning is what will happen when the DVR/Receiver calls a spun-down HD for data? Will the HD spin up fast enought, or will the DVR crash?

I am quite aware that the DVR does not completely shutdown when I hit the power button on the remote. The question is, does it continue to query the HD periodically and with what periodicity? Will a HD (or FAP in my instance) have time to spin-down? And what happens when it is called for data?

Slardy

 

[dfergie]

Feel Free to add your Review of External HDD's that work or do not Here !

 

[Jimbo]

Feel Free to add your Review of External HDD's that work or do not Here !

Currently, I KNOW that the Seagate FA 750 DOES work, as I am using it now
Working great btw ....

dfergie, Don't take what I said wrong, I didn't say that the WD My Book would NOT work, I've seen speculation, but nothing concrete. btw, if you have it and it is working, then GREAT , that proved that theory incorrect :up

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo, any HD, set for spin-down due to activity, will spin down due to inactivity! To say the the FAP does not know when a buffered portion of a program are needed, has the cart before the horse. An HD, set to spin-down, will spin down. I was not questioning that. What I was questioning is what will happen when the DVR/Receiver calls a spun-down HD for data? Will the HD spin up fast enought, or will the DVR crash?

I am quite aware that the DVR does not completely shutdown when I hit the power button on the remote. The question is, does it continue to query the HD periodically and with what periodicity? Will a HD (or FAP in my instance) have time to spin-down? And what happens when it is called for data?

Slardy

Good questions which I have no answers for.
I don't know if you tell it to spin down or if it is a setting or something automatic ????

Do we need to go to the particular HD's website and investigate this type of stuff or are we getting to deep into something that we cannot make adjustments to ??

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

I sent an email to D* about PPV's being ordered, I got an interesting reply.
I did not know that if you ordered the PPV online that you were charged right away, I thought you were not billed until you watched it.
Maybe ordering online and thru the remote have different rules.

Also, if you order online and choose your channel and time, that if you want it to record you have to also go into your HD DVR and record it as well..... I thought that when done online that the DVR would automatically record it , I am wrong ...

Email(s) and responses :

Thank you for letting us know your concern about the pay per view you ordered for 12/25/07. I would be happy to assist you with your concerns.

When I reviewed your DIRECTV account, I found that you ordered the pay per view "Hairspray" in HD. It will air on 12/25/07 from 10:00 AM to 11:56 AM ET on channel 178.

Also, yes, you can record it on both of your HD DVR. To schedule the
pay per view "Hairspray" for recording on 12/25/07 on your two HD DVR receivers, here are the steps:

1. Press GUIDE button.
2. Select a Category, press SELECT.
3. Choose the program to record, press SELECT. Use UP/DOWN, LEFT/RIGHT buttons to navigate program guide.
4. Select "Record Once," press SELECT.
5. Select "Record It," press SELECT.
6. Select "OK," press SELECT.

You may be able to find these information by referring to your owner's
manual. If you don't have an owner's manual, you can find a copy on
our web site at directv.com/manuals. Also, you may find some helpful
information at the DIRECTV Technical Help forums. Just visit
DIRECTV Forums - Customers share tech advice on HD..DVR..remotes to find answers to your questions.

Thanks again for writing and for giving us the chance to respond to
your concerns.

Sincerely,

Iza O.


Thanks for writing us. I understand that you have need to clarify some information regarding recording your Pay Per View purchase. I'd be willing to assist you on your concerns.

When you order a Pay Per View movie it will not be automatically recorded on your HD DVR receivers, that is why you'll still have to follow the steps that was given to you in our previous email. You can record the movie using both of your HD DVRs and you won't be charged for it twice.

With regard to billing, since you ordered online, the movie will be automatically charged to your account immediately. Even if you'll miss watching the movie, you will still be charged since your order has already been processed.

Your recorded movie will not be deleted from your HD DVR's memory unless you delete it yourself. You can watch the recorded movie as many times as you want.

Should you have any other concerns with your service, please feel free to email us back. You can always email us through directv.com/email and we'll get back to you with a response as soon as possible.

For immediate assistance, you may also call our Customer Service hotline at 1-800-531-5000. Our call center is staffed with knowledgeable Customer Service Representatives who are ready to help.

I hope you find this information helpful and thank you again for writing. Stay tuned to directv.com for the latest news and information about our services.

Jenelyn Q.


Jimbo

 

[slardy]

Western Digital My Book Too Expensive

Here is the External HDD I bought, still on sale...

Dfergie,

I purchased a 750 gig Free Agent Pro for $224 shipped. I puchased this HD because forum members had success with it. I have had success with it: it has been operationally flawless so far.

I have heard in this forum that My Books will not work in the HR-20/21, so I would make sure that I could return the HD before opening it. Beside, for another $25, you could increase the external drive capacity by %50.

Slardy

 

[dfergie]

My Book is working fine... I paid $149 for this one and if for some reason it starts acting up with the HR20, I can use with my 622

 

[Jimbo]

If you recall me mentioning all the trouble and pixalation that I had in the last few weeks and last thursday making the Steelers game unwatchable, I called D* and had a tech come out today, of course I did not have the trouble since Thursday and could not duplicate it today.
He looked everything over and decided to replace my AT-9 with the Slimline, I hope that takes care of it, but not having it happen since then, I am unsure, none the less, I am now on the AU-9.

Jimbo

 

[Slick]

"PLEASE HELP" with HR21 Well I have read thru this whole thread and to start I am no computer Wiz so I need your help, but I have a sister in law that has a computer store and she will help me with the install or build of this.. I am tired of dvd's and so forth taking up space in the house so I want all future HD movies I buy thru say pay per view from Direct tv to be stored so I can watch them say for as long as I want because once my HD DVR HR21 gets old I lose all my movies that are on it that I paid for so I am looking into a external hard drive as you all talked about in this thread..

Unless some one knows how to take recorded shows off the HR21 hard drive which I haven't heard of.. Has anyone tried to hook up a external hard drive on the HR 21 yet? By what I have read it sounds like the 750 GB seagate seems to be the the peoples choice.. I also had no clue about how you hooked it up to the direct tv HD receiver, but after review of my manual that I see a SATA port on the back of my HR21, mine is between the HDMI the USB port and I figured this must be how you hooking up the external hard drive would that be a correct assumption?

Well it seems pretty straight forward just reboot the system every time you change between the internal and external hard drives.. It just seems to me that Cd's dvd's are becoming the thing of the past and I want to keep up with the change of the technology for my home theater system.. I also was wondering if I put any of my older dvd's on one of these external hard drives will they play thru my Direct tv receiver? Thanks for all your help and impute, I just want to have all my bases covered before I go out and spend money on this, thanks again.. Cya Slick

 

[Jimbo]

"PLEASE HELP" with HR21 Well I have read thru this whole thread and to start I am no computer Wiz so I need your help, but I have a sister in law that has a computer store and she will help me with the install or build of this.. I am tired of dvd's and so forth taking up space in the house so I want all future HD movies I buy thru say pay per view from Direct tv to be stored so I can watch them say for as long as I want because once my HD DVR HR21 gets old I lose all my movies that are on it that I paid for so I am looking into a external hard drive as you all talked about in this thread..

Unless some one knows how to take recorded shows off the HR21 hard drive which I haven't heard of.. Has anyone tried to hook up a external hard drive on the HR 21 yet? By what I have read it sounds like the 750 GB seagate seems to be the the peoples choice.. I also had no clue about how you hooked it up to the direct tv HD receiver, but after review of my manual that I see a SATA port on the back of my HR21, mine is between the HDMI the USB port and I figured this must be how you hooking up the external hard drive would that be a correct assumption?

Well it seems pretty straight forward just reboot the system every time you change between the internal and external hard drives.. It just seems to me that Cd's dvd's are becoming the thing of the past and I want to keep up with the change of the technology for my home theater system.. I also was wondering if I put any of my older dvd's on one of these external hard drives will they play thru my Direct tv receiver? Thanks for all your help and impute, I just want to have all my bases covered before I go out and spend money on this, thanks again.. Cya Slick

IF these movies are ones you REALLY want to keep,I would find a different solution, you cannot move them off the HR 21 without losing the HD format, but that may not be important to you.

IF you ever need to replace the HD DVR , your existing recordings on the EHD will be lost when you plug it into the new rec, unless I am not understanding the way these work correctly, someone please verify if I an wrong, but I believe when you hook it up to the NEW rec. it has to format to work with the new rec , therefore erasing your info in the process.

Jimbo

 

[vurbano]

My Book is working fine... I paid $149 for this one and if for some reason it starts acting up with the HR20, I can use with my 622

Im confused now. One guy at DBStalk reported that the new 1Tb mybook with power saving tech didnt work with the HR20 and when he called WD they said that it wasnt meant to support DVR's and he needed the DVR expander they sell.

 

[Jimbo]

Im confused now. One guy at DBStalk reported that the new 1Tb mybook with power saving tech didnt work with the HR20 and when he called WD they said that it wasnt meant to support DVR's and he needed the DVR expander they sell.

As far as I can tell, he should be able to use it with the 622 but will lose the content on the HD ...

I hadn't heard about a DVR expander yet, whats that all about ?

Jimbo

 

[Lord Darth Vader]

Im confused now. One guy at DBStalk reported that the new 1Tb mybook with power saving tech didnt work with the HR20 and when he called WD they said that it wasnt meant to support DVR's and he needed the DVR expander they sell.

That is correct. The MyBook drives do not work with DVRs. Try a different drive.

 

[Jimbo]

Im confused now. One guy at DBStalk reported that the new 1Tb mybook with power saving tech didnt work with the HR20 and when he called WD they said that it wasnt meant to support DVR's and he needed the DVR expander they sell.

Sounds like he got the Company line ... They probably aren't designed to do what we are doing with them at all.

Jimbo

 

[vurbano]

As far as I can tell, he should be able to use it with the 622 but will lose the content on the HD ...

I hadn't heard about a DVR expander yet, whats that all about ?

Jimbo

Basically its a My book they sell for DVR's. They have been on the WD website for a long time now but I havent seen the HR20 listed for compatability nor 1TB mobels. I find it strange that it would only work for cable DVRs. My guess is that WD is waiting until D* announces hard rive expansion as an official feature. I for one do not understand the delay. My DVR Expander 500 GB ( WDG1S5000 )

 

[agregjones]

Basically its a My book they sell for DVR's. They have been on the WD website for a long time now but I havent seen the HR20 listed for compatability nor 1TB mobels. I find it strange that it would only work for cable DVRs. My guess is that WD is waiting until D* announces hard rive expansion as an official feature. I for one do not understand the delay. My DVR Expander 500 GB ( WDG1S5000 )

They may be waiting until it can be additional storage instead of replacement storage. As it is now, it only helps new installations and is not an upgrade path.

 

[Xamu]

They may be waiting until it can be additional storage instead of replacement storage. As it is now, it only helps new installations and is not an upgrade path.

Maybe. If my co-worker is any indication of corporate thinking (and I think he is), I don't think they will ever make eSATA additional storage as opposed to replacement storage.


His two favorite phrases:

1. I don't want to do that much work
2. It is what it is (which frankly is not much different than #1)

I would hate to be right, but with all of the other quality issues I don't forsee them putting the kind of effort needed in this direction.

 

[indy1970]

yes , did 2 hr20-700 last night.
I did not care about the sechdule or previously recorded shows.
I picked up 2 1TB western digtal AV-green power drives ($59ea). they run very smooth and whisper quiet.(no more vibration in the entertainment center)
The rear cover screws are the security torx but I had the right tools. Cover very tight slide it back about 1/4 inch then up and off. I tested it first but powering down and unplugging factory 300gb segate I set the new wd on top and plugged it in and powerd up unit.
It did a reciver self check the showed formatting message, it then checked for sattelite signal and did a software up date and it was back on. so powered it down and swapped the drives. (this was the tough part). You have to un hook the from plastic face to get to the 2 torx screws that hold the drive enclosure. Don't remove all the way and watch the ribbon cable on the power button side. unplug the fan and cut the tie wrap unscrew the groung wire and remove 2 plastic lock pins