I am not ambitious enough to reprogram a hard drive for my Pioneer DVR633H. Is there someone that would be willing to program a hard drive for a fee?

I can be reached via email at: pioneer(at)premconsult(dot)com.

Thank you :)

If anyone knows how to do this is would be CitiBear. I'm sure he'll be along soon but in the meantime you can search for his posts in which he's shared detailed information about dealing with the hard drives in the Pioneer 531/533/633/640.

It is a very difficult job with the 531-533-633 series, and the 633 in particular is extremely resistant to repairs: it often rejects the drive again some weeks or months after you replace it. Your best bet in this case is to get a repair estimate from Pioneer Factory Service: since its very likely the unit will fail again shortly after repair, by paying Pioneer to do it you should at least get some kind of warranty for 6 months. Such service will likely run upwards of $150, depending on your financial situation and your country of residence it might be wiser to junk it and look for a new Canadian CostCo model Pioneer 460. This unit does not have the TVGOS feature, which is what goes bad in the 633, so is much more reliable. A newer Pioneer can also use many more types of blank disc. Broken 633s usually fetch $120-160 on eBay, which would earn you almost half the cost of a new unit if you go that route.

DVD/HDD recorders as a rule have a lifespan averaging 3 years- this stinks, but its reality. The 633 usually tanked within a year, it was a gigantic lemon that nearly bankrupted Pioneer, so if yours has lasted 3 years you already got much more use from it than most other buyers did. If you can see some way of upgrading to a newer machine I think you'll be happier. Of course, the TVGOS feature is gone now on most newer units, which is unfortunate if you like it. Ordinarily we would recommend switching to a Panasonic recorder for a more reliable TVGOS, but those are now discontinued and in any case that version of TVGOS seems to be phasing out as we transition to ATSC.

Unfortunately I cannot program a raw drive for you- the TVGOS 633 HDD replacement procedure requires access to the entire recorder for the better part of a day, because the repair often doesn't "take" until the second or third or fourth remove/program/reinstall attempt. The 633 motherboard seems to self-destruct once its hard drive gets corrupt: making it accept a replacement is a very tricky and labor-intensive project. These machines were so resistant to repair that even Pioneer gave up and began just swapping them under warranty for the newer 640 back in 2006. I'm sorry I can't be more encouraging: I do love Pioneers and specialize in repairing them, and I think the 633 is a great unit when it works, but they are the single worst machine Pioneer ever made. Good luck whichever way you go with it, feel free to PM me if you have additional questions.

If someone just could get a hold of a firmware to this DVR, it would be so much easier to install a new HD in it :), or repaire the old one!:cool:

Hi Hkan,
A couple questions, I'm a bit confused:
Isn't Pioneer4(1.30).zip the firmware for the DVR633H?
Are GGV1179 and GGV1239 the same type of disc (one just being a newer version), or do these discs perform 2 different functions?
Thanks!

Pioneer4(1.30).zip is NOT a firmware! This icontains only the nessesary files to make the recording/TV guide to work again!
This files are located on to the HD, sometimes this get corrupted, mainly seems to be a problem for x33 units not the x30 onces.
If we did have a firmware for DVR-x33H, we didnt need to have to work with Pioneer4(1.30).zip as the firmware it self would install this files on to the new HD when we apply the firmware after the HD upgrade!
This is why Region 2,3,4 and 5 dont have to hassle with Linux and stuff, becosue we have firmwares for this machines!

GGV1179 and GGV1239 is the same type of disc!
The lates for this type of disc is GGV1302!
GGV1179 will NOT work if your DVR is manufactured in 2006, then you need a newer disc!

That makes sense. My Timer Record and TV Guide are the only issues right now, this is a big problem with the DVR633H.

Yes, its the USA-spec TVGOS timer software that gets corrupted and its a real bear to install on a new drive. Pioneer is bizarrely inconsistent in how it handles its various global model variations: the European version of the 633 had its own type of TVGOS but for this and other regional models Pioneer makes a simple repair/firmware disc that automatically updates and programs the new HD simply by loading the disc in the recorder itself.

However, Murphys Law being what it is, Pioneer compounded the stupidity of its USA-model design by making it almost impossible to repair easily. Reinstalling the USA TVGOS onto a new drive requires painstaking failure-prone repeated swapping between the recorder and a PC running Linux, PLUS the TVGOS firmware disc, PLUS the service disc, PLUS the service remote, PLUS jiggering the jumpers on the hard drive, PLUS copious amounts of alcohol to dull the pain;). And after all that, the units tend to fail for the second and third time with frightening rapidity. All this could have been avoided if Pioneer had either duplicated the design of their European units on the USA models, or followed the lead of Panasonic and Toshiba by loading the TVGOS into a dedicated hardware chip instead of on the hard drive where it was doomed to get corrupted easily and wear out the drive prematurely.

If at all possible, sell your broken 633 and switch to a newer model.

If someone just could get a hold of a firmware to this DVR, it would be so much easier to install a new HD in it :), or repaire the old one!:cool:I have a working 633, is there a way to extract the firmware from it? Or are you talking about an official Pioneer service CD/DVD?

Hkan actually does already have the extracted TVGOS files available on his website, due to the efforts of some incredibly dedicated and inventive Pioneer fans. The problem lies in getting those files properly loaded onto a replacement hard drive: its the task from hell. For reasons that still remain unclear after three years of wrestling with this problem, Pioneer has been unable to engineer a simple firmware install disc that the recorder can use directly to update a new or corrupted hard drive. Instead, the best one can do is follow the very tricky, difficult procedure outlined on Hkans site and hope for miracles. Again, Pioneer itself found it easier and more cost effective to offer exchanges for the later 640 model, rather than attempt to repair 633s under warranty: that should tell you how difficult this is to fix. Strangely, the European version of the 633 is able to re-install its PAL version of TVGOS (called Guide+) from a simple Pioneer Europe firmware update disc: no muss, no fuss. So it seems there is just something intrinsically weird in the North American TVGOS that puts it beyond the software loading capabilities of the recorder itself.

The USA repair stubbornly requires a Linux PC, the skills of a computer geek, and the patience of a saint. If anyone can figure out a way to auto-install the files via the recorder's own OS, I'm sure Pioneer would reward you handsomely (as would Hkan and the rest of us):).

Hkan actually does already have the extracted TVGOS files available on his website...Yes, I'm very glad to have been able to obtain the files and service manuals from him for my 633 and 640 machines against the possibility that I may need them some day. Haven't had to give them a try yet. I've kind of wondered from time to time if cloning my 633 drive before it fails might be a good idea...

I've kind of wondered from time to time if cloning my 633 drive before it fails might be a good idea...

That's probably a VERY wise strategy if you can manage to do it. I haven't looked into the cloning possibilities for a long time so I'm not even sure if this works with the USA version (the TVGOS is so ludicrously steeped in black magic I believe it even resists cloning, fer chrissakes...). There is some info on Hkans site on how to do this for the Europe and Asia models but not North America.

Since installing the TVGOS on a new drive is so difficult, I have attempted on several occasions to create and stockpile two or three "pre-programmed" drives while I have my PC open and running Linux. Unfortunately this trick never works: the drives still get rejected by the recorders until and unless they are re-programmed "in the moment" and transferred between computer and recorder several times (perhaps explaining why Pioneer gave up repairs and began exchanging 633s for 640s). Honestly, whoever came up with this neurotic Pioneer TVGOS engineering should be locked away in a windowless cell...

Hkan - many thanks for your assistance. I have successfully reprogrammed a larger drive in my DVR-633H. I wanted to summarize the tools I used in order to perform the task, as I had to make some assumptions and take bits and pieces from different posts in order to do this.

Tools I used:
*Knoppix Linux Boot CD
*Computer with the ability to put an IDE Master and Slave Drive in.
*New 250GB Seagate Hard Drive (also a "CE" model - Consumer Electronics).
*Logitech Harmony 520 Remote (this was one tool I was very unsure about, many of the posts were unclear on how to get something that would emulate the Pioneer Service Remote GGF1381). I had to reprogram a couple of buttons to coincide with Service Remote keys, namely ESC, CLEAR, SEARCH and STEREO. This was easy, and peformed with the Logitech software.
*Pioneer GGV1179 Service DVD

I followed your instructions on the Pioneer FAQ site. The first time around after performing the updates it said "Wait a moment" after powering the DVD Recorder back on. This stayed on the screen for about 14 hours, and I got impatient and figured something went awry. After powering back on I had the TV Guide and Timer Recording functions, but I had no option to "Initialize drive". In addition, I only had about 39 hours of recording time in SP mode. Obviously something didn't work. I tried doing the same steps over again, but I kept getting only 39 hours of record time each time I did it. I decided to use Symantec's GDISK utility to rewrite "0's" on all sectors of the drive, and I started all over again. This time after doing the Linux write, and then using Pioneer Service Disk 1179 I was in business. I brought up the menu, did an initialize drive, and now have over 109 hours of record time in SP Mode with full functionality - AWESOME
:-)

I decided to use Symantec's GDISK utility to rewrite "0's" on all sectors of the drive, and I started all over again.That's a great tip, thanks for taking the time to post and let us know about your exprience. And congratulations!