New DVR comments

[elder]

Is this unit compatible? Amazon has it for less than $100.
Seagate ST305004FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

[elder]

Is this unit compatible? Amazon has it for less than $100.
Seagate ST305004FDA1E1-RK FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB 3.5" USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

The reason I ask is that this and similar drives indicate operating systems requirements and some mention ease of backup (one-touch and such). I just don't understand all the lingo as to whether it impacts DVR usage.

[RedSavina]

The "One Touch" back up and other features are basically there to provide a customer with an 'added value' and to distinguish the product from others on the market. That's great if you are buying an external hard drive to use with your PC or Mac, but absolutely meaningless for use with a DVR.

Your DVR simply needs an external hard drive with the correct interface (USB in this case) - the rest is meaningless fluff!

The one feature you may want to consider is whether the unit is fanless or not. Most units are fanless (and marketed as "silent"), but a few offer a fan to provide additional cooling. If you search the forums, you will find some vocal posts about the need of a fan to prolong the drive's life.

[Glorystar1]

We have found a few drives that will not work due to the USB controller used by the manufacturer of the enclosure.

Examples:
Western Digital 500GB My Book Essential Edition USB 2.0 External Drive

Unit has an automatic sleep power saving feature that cannot be deactivated. Unit repeatedly cycles through mounting and disabling. External formatting with SwissKnife made no difference as this power saveing feature is part of the USB controller. Spoke with Western Digital Technical Support and this feature cannot be disabled.

Acomdata 500GB Hard Drive Combo USB 2.0 / Firewire - D500UFAPE5-72



Unit appeared to be formatted by the DVR1100c and the C// drive shows in the menu. Unit would initiate a recording, bwould not finalize a recording.

Reformatted FAT32 with with SwissKnife. No change in operation when connected back to the DVR1100c. Unit works file with all PCs. Acomdata Technical support had no solution. Believe that it is a USB drive incompatibility.

[elder]

I am stuck for the time being anyway. I recorded a movie on my flash card, but can't get the computer to play it. I went to videolan.org and it was a 9MB download a bit much for dial-up. Also, I don't want to just view the movie on the computer I want to burn a DVD. VideoReDo has a trial version on its site but is 13.2MB also a bit large for dial-up. I guess I'll have to wait on the trial version that is to come with the DVR or try a late night down load.

Has anyone burned a DVD yet? If so how about posting some info on how you did it.

[elder]

I am stuck for the time being anyway. I recorded a movie on my flash card, but can't get the computer to play it. I went to videolan.org and it was a 9MB download a bit much for dial-up. Also, I don't want to just view the movie on the computer I want to burn a DVD. VideoReDo has a trial version on its site but is 13.2MB also a bit large for dial-up. I guess I'll have to wait on the trial version that is to come with the DVR or try a late night down load.

Has anyone burned a DVD yet? If so how about posting some info on how you did it.

OK, an update on my situation. I recorded a movie on a bargain flash-drive (Dane-Elec 4GB). When it wouldn't play on the computer (did fine on the DVR) I did a late night down load of VideoReDo TV Suite. It took me around two hours to download due to dial-up drop-out and slow rate. The free trial version is limited to 14 or 15 days which should be time enough to check it out. I was able to easily delete lead-in and trailer info and any other announcements to the frame. Burning the DVD was a bit slow as it took a long time to volume and mux, no real problem as I don't do this every day. I am going to get a USB extension cable for easier access to the USB port on the DVR.

Now if I just had an up-converter so I could get network programming into the mix . . . . .

[elder]

Gospel Music TV often has very low audio. I had the volume way up just to hear it and mistakenly hit the signal strength button on the remote. The beeps took out my right channel speaker before I could hit exit or the blue button. I wish signal strength came up silent and one had to push the button to get the beeps.

[elder]

Several times I have experienced a minor glitch after using a timer. After the timer action is completed I cannot change channels. I can turn the DVR off/on with the remote or front panel, then all is well again.