Need help transferring DVR programming to vintage PocketDish!

[ToyGuy681]

Hello all, new user here.

I own an Archos AV-500E PocketDish recorder that has worked fine in the past (if cumbersome vs. today's technology!), although I have not used it for a few years.

I am about to start a new job with regular business travel, so pulled it out of the drawer tonight to charge it and transfer some programs from my DISH DVR.

I erased all videos on the machine but no matter how small my "send" (even a 30-minute show less than 1 GB) I get the error message that I have selected more than the unit's capacity. This has not happened before.

Is there a fix for this, or is it a lack of compatibility with current recording format? I saw a post elsewhere about an upgrade to Eastern Arc which made current files unreadable by PocketDish, but that was in response to a question about HD vs. SD, not recording capacity.

Help!
(thanks for your advice)

 

[garys]

Are you trying to transfer SD or HD? Pocket Dish is not set up for HD, it may not be set to work with mpeg4 either.

 

[TheKrell]

It isn't! On EA, everything is mpeg4, even SD channels.

 

[gasman882001]

I can still use mine here in Houston but not on EA. Also, I still have a 622 receiver. I think any newer receivers do not include the software to use Pocket Dish(not 100% sure). You could always connect up the cables and record the show, live/slow way. I do that now for anything in HD that I would like to transfer. Just takes longer. I usually just start the recording and then switch to other programing or leave the room and come back later to check on it. Still the best free option for me when on an airplane and too cheap to pay for the internet.

 

[ToyGuy681]

THANKS ALL for your replies.

How do I know if I'm in the "Eastern Arc"? Do I need to call DISH, or should I just assume that since I'm in Massachusetts that's EA territory?

I don't pay for HD programming - so all SD. But I suppose if EA uses MPEG-4 and PD isn't set up for that, it has officially become obsolete! The files don't seem unusually larger than in the past - they just won't transfer.

BTW my DISH receiver is model 625 and has "MPEG-2" in small letters on the bottom right of front panel.

Sorry I don't know the history. Why the file format change in the East? I could understand a capability difference in SD vs. HD (that's why I don't have a Hopper, don't want to pay for HD signal AND all of their extra equipment), but what's the advantage of MPEG-4 with SD programming that looks the same?

THANKS
ToyGuy

 

[ToyGuy681]

Forgot to mention that the interface (firmware) seems to work - the receiver recognizes PD and I can view the files - just can't transfer them.

Unfortunately, recording "live" with PD defeats my purpose - which is to move over some of those things in my 30 filled hours of DVR that I never seem to get to, so I can watch them while I'm trapped on a plane

 

[navychop]

625 is MPEG-2 only, so that would imply you are WA even though in MA. Zip code? One dish only, right?

 

[TheKrell]

If you have a 625, then you are not on Eastern Arc, and the transfer should still work. I think Dish broke something somewhere.

If this is not ever fixed, it's possible to rip the programs off the 625 internal disk and then transfer them by computer to your PocketDish. I did this (when I had a 625) for my Archos 404CC, which was an astonishingly capable portable media player (and camcorder!) in it's day. The later 500 series Archos PMPs had a free Dish plug-in that worked, even for a 622 on mpeg-2 programs... It annoyed the heck out of me that the Archos native format was mpeg-4, yet it couldn't do squat with any mpeg-4 program on Dish receivers. So I never upgaded to the 500 series.

 

[dwarren2]

How many dishes to you ahve on your roof. If 2 it's a mixed arc. EACR is 61.5, 72 and 77 and is a single dish facing more south than south west.

 

[ToyGuy681]

Two dishes on roof (believe I paid for the second to get full range of PBS and some other "fill-in" programming)

How do I take programs off the DVR "internal dish"?
(either a really long extension USB cable, or unplug the whole thing and bring it from the living room into the office?)

quickly becoming not worth the trouble , but I have an open mind.

It always worked well before (even with vintage equipment!), disappointed it won't work now
thanks