Hello. I am new here, and {sigh} not very smart.

After reading many reviews I have decided to give the Magnavox 2160 a try. My question concerns whether the recorder must wait through the entire playback in order to record the entire material.

Here is the context.

I have several football games taped on VHS. (An eight hour tape.) Each game takes up approximately 2:30:00 (SLP) of tape. If I were to record the entire eight-hour tape to DVR, would I then be able to tell the DVD recorder to record minute one through minute 150, and have the recorder instantaneously record those selected minutes to the DVD? Or, would the DVD recorder have to watch each and every minute so that actual amount of time spent during the recording process is in fact 150 minutes?

Put another way, can I tag minute one and then minute 150; tell the DVD recorder to record everything in between; and then have the DVD recorder record those minutes, all the while it taking only a few minutes to record the two-and-a-half hours? Is that possible. If not, then I assume I must start the DVD recorder, then return to it two-and-a-half hours later and tell it to stop.

The truth of the matter is that I have dozens of VHS tapes and I would hate to have the DVD recorder spend hundreds of hours recording, and {sigh} my babysitting the process.


I do hope my question is clear. And I sincerely thank this board's wise-men for their insights.


Yours,
Lex

Here's a procedure for copying VHS tapes to the 2160. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298438&postcount=13#RecHDD9)

The DVDR can be "set" to record for a specific time by pressing Rec multiple times, as described in the linked help file.

Thank you for the prompt reply.

By the links you so provided, I understand the answer to my question to be.

"All copying will be in real-time... there is no high-speed copying from external components by common earthlings."
avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298438&postcount=13#RecHDD6

So, the DVD recorder will take 150 minutes to record 150 minutes of program recorded onto the DVR hard drive. Correct?

Correct.

The only "fast-speed" copying is doing a dub from HDD to a DVD.

So, the DVD recorder will take 150 minutes to record 150 minutes of program recorded onto the DVR hard drive. Correct?

We often find that what seem to be the simplest questions are often the hardest to phrase so that we get the answer we're looking for. Just to be absolutely sure what you're asking here, are you wondering how long it will take to copy the VHS tapes to the Magnavox hard drive, or how long it will take the Magnavox to create a DVD after you've copied the tapes to its hard drive?

If its the tape question, yes, you and wajo understand each other. When recording from an external device like a VCR, everything goes in real time: a 150 minute game on tape will take 150 mins to record into the Magnavox hard drive.

If you want to know if it then takes another 150 minutes to make the actual DVD, the answer is no. What you suggested in your first post is indeed possible: you can divide the hard drive recordings into separate games and tell the Magnavox what game you want to make a DVD of. Using its "high speed copy" function, it will then burn a DVD from its hard drive in about 18 minutes. So if your biggest worry was that you'd have to repeat the full 150 minute real time recording twice to make a DVD, you can relax now.:)

What you can do for each eight hour tape is set the Magnavox to record at its 150 minute speed, which would eventually fit one game on each DVD at passable quality. Hit play on the VCR and record on the Magnavox, and go about your business for the next eight hours. When you return, you can go into the Magnavox editing system and divide the big eight-hour recording into individual games. You can enter a specific name or date for each game, and skip thru it at high speed to look for any important moments you want to tag for instant access on DVD. If there are commercials, you can delete them so you never have to see them again. When you're satisfied with the individual game layouts, you can copy each one to a DVD in less than 20 minutes.

Bear in mind eight-hour VHS recordings are not going to look fantastic on DVD: they'll be adequate if played on a regular CRT television but might be severely disappointing on a large flat panel TV. Thats just the nature of digital recording and digital panel displays, they don't hide flaws as well as VHS played on an old-style TV. Tapes you recorded in SP (two hour) mode will copy to DVD better and play better on big TVs than SLP/EP tapes.

I got the answers on the questions I didn't think I'd get answers for, but not on the ones I thought I would, so I'll re-ask #1 & #4:

1) I have a 2160A with the E19 problem. Can one format disks on a 3576h and then use them on the 2160A, saving one the pain of re-entering the timer info each time?

4) I have started recording to the HDD 160GB, but wish to upgrade to a 500GB SATA. If I do this, is there a way to transfer the recorded data on the 160GB to the 500GB beforehand outside the 2160A by cloning, then place the 500GB in the 2160A?

Thanks in advance,

relentlesscactus

So, the DVD recorder will take 150 minutes to record 150 minutes of program recorded onto the DVR hard drive. Correct?

Yes, this is the reality of all dubbing projects.

My selective dubbing project involved a near twenty-year accumulation of around 2,000 home recorded videotapes, six Panasonic DMR-ES30V and DMR-ES35V VHS/DVD recorders, one Panasonic DMR-ES15 DVD recorder and two Toshiba M781 and M745 VCRs. I auditioned each tape to determine title timing, set up Time Limited dubs (sort of "editing on the fly") started the dub and then turned my attention to the next machine, did the same, then turned my attention to the next machine, and so on. I kept dubbing logs so that I would know when each recorder's dubbing would conclude, allowing for a quick turn around so the next dubbing could be initiated. I staggered long and short dubs in order to equalize utilization and brief recorder rest periods. The logs allowed tracking recording hours and maintaining regular DVD Drive servicing intervals. Once the dubbing project was up to speed, usually four and as many as seven of these Panasonics were each recording between sixteen and eighteen hours per day. In all, around 5,200 home-recorded videotaped titles were transferred to DVD over a ten month period.

With a single 2160 your small project dubbing a few dozen videotapes to hard drive, leisurely editing and dividing content and high-speed dubbing to DVD should be fast and painless.

Thank you all for your thoughtful and informative replies. Despite my imprecise wording my question has been answered.

1) It will take the full playback time of the VHS to record from the VCR to the DVR; but

2) Once on the DVR the transfer from DVR to DVD will not take the full playback time (150 minutes, for example); rather, the transfer will take only a 15-20 minutes.

Thanks again.

I look forward to trying out the Magnavox 2160.

It's good to know that when my head feels like it needs scratching, I have some place to go for relief.

Best wishes.

Lex

set the Magnavox to record at its 150 minute speed, which would eventually fit one game on each DVD at passable quality.


Sounds as though you're saying that recording to the HD at 150 minute speed vs at 2 hr speed (SP) there would be a significantly faster HSD option -- even though more content is being transferred? I thought I had read that in the docs ... Up to now, I've been recording direct recordings at SP so I can use HSD -- which admittedly is faster than real time, but not exactly speedy! But for these not-especially-high-quality 6 hr mode VHS recordings, the 150 minute option sounds like a great plan.

I can see I need to play around more to get the right ratio of quality to time for the stuff I'd like to see again (maybe) but not especially critical to archive. I wouldn't have thought the dubbing would be that fast... but then again, the time estimates here are for after the content has been subdivided, so .. maybe it's not THAT much faster after all. Will play .... may end up being easier to just copy (lower quality) vhs tapes to dvd directly in real time (when I'm not around, watching it) since some of this stuff doesnt need much editing.

As for DigaDo's archiving project.... I'm speechless! 2000 tapes , 20 yr archive... :eek: Wow! :cool:

I don't personally have a Magnavox of my own, I'm going by comments owners have made here and my memories of the Phillips 3576 my father has. If I am wrong in my assumptions re the Mag HS dub system, perhaps wajo can post a correction? I was under the impression the Magnavox could make a high-speed dub from HDD titles recorded at any recording speed, as long as they would fit on a DVD. This is how every other DVD/HDD recorder I've used operates. artwire, are you suggesting the Magnavox can only make HS dubs if the HDD recordings are at the SP speed? That seems kind of limiting.

With every other recorder I've used, recording speed doesn't matter, its the size of the title that determines whether the machine will allow HS copy. If a two hour movie is recorded at SP on the HDD, that video file fits a standard DVD and the machine will HS copy. BUT, if I record a 150 minute movie on the HDD at the SP speed, the file is to big to fit a DVD at that SP speed, so the recorder will force a real-time copy while it re-encodes the video file at a 150 min speed to fit the DVD. In other words, as long as I match the recording speed on the HDD to the running time of the movie or TV show(s), it will fit a DVD and be available for high speed lossless copy. I thought the Magnavox also worked this way, which is why I advised lxloco to dub his 150-minute taped games to the Magnavox at the 150-minute digital "speed". The time needed to burn a high-speed dub should remain fairly consistent at around 20 mins, no matter if the recording speed is SP, 150mins, 3 hours or LP, since the file size doesn't change (just the bit rate).

Hopefully a Magnavox owner will see this thread and confirm this for lxloco. My apologies if I gave misguided advice earlier.:o

You are entirely correct Citibear, speed doesn't matter as long as it will fit on the DVD. Oh and unlike Panasonic you don't have to deal with the High Speed bit being set or not, all titles (as long as they'll fit and don't have a CP bit) can be HS copied to a DVD.

I don't personally have a Magnavox of my own, I'm going by comments owners have made here and my memories of the Phillips 3576 my father has. If I am wrong in my assumptions re the Mag HS dub system, perhaps wajo can post a correction? I was under the impression the Magnavox could make a high-speed dub from HDD titles recorded at any recording speed, as long as they would fit on a DVD. This is how every other DVD/HDD recorder I've used operates. artwire, are you suggesting the Magnavox can only make HS dubs if the HDD recordings are at the SP speed? That seems kind of limiting.

With every other recorder I've used, recording speed doesn't matter, its the size of the title that determines whether the machine will allow HS copy. If a two hour movie is recorded at SP on the HDD, that video file fits a standard DVD and the machine will HS copy. BUT, if I record a 150 minute movie on the HDD at the SP speed, the file is to big to fit a DVD at that SP speed, so the recorder will force a real-time copy while it re-encodes the video file at a 150 min speed to fit the DVD. In other words, as long as I match the recording speed on the HDD to the running time of the movie or TV show(s), it will fit a DVD and be available for high speed lossless copy. I thought the Magnavox also worked this way, which is why I advised lxloco to dub his 150-minute taped games to the Magnavox at the 150-minute digital "speed". The time needed to burn a high-speed dub should remain fairly consistent at around 20 mins, no matter if the recording speed is SP, 150mins, 3 hours or LP, since the file size doesn't change (just the bit rate).

Hopefully a Magnavox owner will see this thread and confirm this for lxloco. My apologies if I gave misguided advice earlier.:o

Nope, I didn't mean to suggest that it only records at that speed, but I remember reading something that led me to believe that it was a proportionally faster dub speed at the speed under SP than at SP. 2 hr speed for recording (and dubbing) seemed the best way to get a quality recording on disc using HSD, but I could swear I read a MUCH faster dubbing speed at the next slower rate. Maybe it was just a percentage and I misunderstood what I read -- there's no doubt that the maggy can dub at any speed that will fit -- but the part I was unsure about was related to this: "The time needed to burn a high-speed dub should remain fairly consistent at around 20 mins, no matter if the recording speed is SP, 150mins, 3 hours or LP, since the file size doesn't change (just the bit rate)." I *thought* I read that it dubs FASTER if you select a slightly lower quality recording speed and HSD at that same lower quality to DVD, but I'll bet that's just a percentage.... if it takes 20 minutes to dub 2 hrs at high speed, and the same amount of time to HSD a longer video (say 5 hrs at a high speed (crummy quality) then the rate would change ... I think I mistook that increased rate for 'speed' of the burn, which is what I was asking. * The number 24 x sticks in my head, but I was thinking that higher rate would speed up the burn -- I guess it does, in a way, as you get more (lower PQ) info burned onto the disc in the same about of time. At least I think that's how it works ???


EDIT - I found the passage I read -- still not sure exactly what it means. In the manual on page 52 it says. "If you dub a title recorded in SLP mode to DVD+R/-R, dubbing will be 24 times at the maximum. To perform the high speed dubbing, set the recording mode to "High." Duration of high speed dubbing will vary depending on the recording mode or the title amount.

Since a 2 hr SP recording HSD takes approx 20-25 minutes, 24 x seemed "faster" to me, but math was never my strong suit -- sorry if I introduced any confusion. My obvious mistake reading the above is that I mistook SPP (150 minutes) for SLP (360 minutes).

. . . I found the passage I read -- still not sure exactly what it means. In the manual on page 52 it says. "If you dub a title recorded in SLP mode to DVD+R/-R, dubbing will be 24 times at the maximum. To perform the high speed dubbing, set the recording mode to "High." Duration of high speed dubbing will vary depending on the recording mode or the title amount.

Since a 2 hr SP recording HSD takes approx 20-25 minutes, 24 x seemed "faster" to me, but math was never my strong suit -- sorry if I introduced any confusion. My obvious mistake reading the above is that I mistook SPP (150 minutes) for SLP (360 minutes).

Most of my High Speed Dubbing, when nearly filling a DVD with 4300 MB or more of content, is faster than twenty minutes with my original verson 2160 models. Keep in mind that the "writing to disc" portion of the dub may add as much as one minute per title to the total dubbing time. Finalizing a DVD may add as much as three minutes. Original recording speeds, even mixing titles of different speeds, does not seem to affect dubbing times, the total content in megabites does affect the total dubbing time. A dub of 2150 MB will take much less time to dub to DVD than a dub of 4300 MB.

Wajo compared the "24x" passage you quoted with the same passage in the Philips 3575/3576 (and Magnavox 2080) Owner's Manuals where it reads "12x." Those models have 4x DVD Drives. The 2160 models have 8x DVD Drives. The matter that you found confusing is clarified in the Owner's Manual at page 8 where "If you dub a title recorded in SLP mode to DVD+R/-R, dubbing speed will be 24 times at the maximum" i.e., 24x SLP.

sorry to be dense, but can you explain what " 24 times at the maximum" i.e., 24x SLP." means? Does that mean that instead of burning at 8x it burns at 24x, that is to say .... HSD only takes 1/3 as long as regular dubbing, since the 'normal' time for a recording on that drive = 8 x ?

sorry to be dense, but can you explain what " 24 times at the maximum" i.e., 24x SLP." means? Does that mean that instead of burning at 8x it burns at 24x, that is to say .... 1/3 as long as real time, since the 'normal' time for a recording on that drive = 8 x ?

Since the 2160 DVD Drive is only capable of 8x, then "24x" might mean that the high-speed dub of a SLP recording may be up to 24 times faster than a real-time dub of the same SLP recording. With this scenario a SLP recording of six hours in length (360 minutes) could be high-speed dubbed to DVD in 15 minutes, i.e., 360 minutes divided by 24 = 15 minutes.

My interpretation may be wrong.

Perhaps Wajo has explained this earlier on, I don't know.

Since the 2160 DVD Drive is only capable of 8x, then "24x" might mean that the high-speed dub of a SLP recording may be up to 24 times faster than a real-time dub of the same SLP recording. With this scenario a SLP recording of six hours in length (360 minutes) could be high-speed dubbed to DVD in 15 minutes, i.e., 360 minutes divided by 24 = 15 minutes.

My interpretation may be wrong.

Perhaps Wajo has explained this earlier on, I don't know.
This interpretation is correct. We also have "proof" in the HSD help file (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298490&postcount=19#HSD4), where someone HS dubbed a 2-hr SLP title in 10 minutes on a 3575, so 120 /12 = 10 min.

(The 360-min SLP example can't actually happen cuz the HSD limit for SLP is just under 5-hrs, and I mean just under like 4:59:59... won't actually work at 5:00:00.)

sorry to be dense, but can you explain what " 24 times at the maximum" i.e., 24x SLP." means? Does that mean that instead of burning at 8x it burns at 24x, that is to say .... HSD only takes 1/3 as long as regular dubbing, since the 'normal' time for a recording on that drive = 8 x ?
The problem you are having is in understanding the terms used, and how they apply to copying. Here is the story. by definition 1x is a dubbing speed, which amounts to one hour for a full DVD disk. That is (about) 4400Mb of data, in one hour. This is not to be confused with recording quality settings. those are different. Anyway, 2x is twice that speed, so the 4400Mb are transferred in 30 minutes. 4x would then be 15 minutes. 8x and above are not actually not half the previous speed because the drive starts out at 4x (or slower maybe) and then speeds up to the max rate of 8x or whatever.

So, if you are recording in what the Panasonic machines call XP quality, which is one hour of material completely filling the disk, then an 8x dubbing speed would be (about, but not quite) eight times faster than the 1x dub. If you record at SP quality, there are TWO hours of material compressed onto the same 4400Mb, so an 8x dubbing speed is 16 times faster than the realtime copy time of two hours. LP (4 hour) mode would be 32 times faster than realtime, and so on.

The dubbing speed numbers 1x, 2x, etc are only related to how much time it takes to high speed dub material to a blank media. The record quality is a measure of how compressed the material is that you are dubbing.

Using a high compression rate, putting a lot of time into the 4400Mb of space (time at the expense of quality) and then using a high dubbing speed makes a marketing windfall, allowing the manufacturer to claim high dubbing rates. The numbers really don't mean much.

Very helpful explanations! thanks, guys. I think quality should be the deciding factor. I was just trying to conceptualize how it works and to do the most when I (briefly) get rid of the timer settings so I can format at the same time as dub. Now I'm think dub dub dub and then finalize might be a better strategy. Or maybe watch watch watch is an even better plan ;)

Well, I finally did some dubbing and it was much faster than I'd expected - I decided to leave some empty space on each disc rather than try to squeeze things in, so most of these (SP 2 hr ) took approx 15 minutes (unformatted). When I did add a second recording, it bumped me down to a much slower speed, so I deleted and went with all SP for the discs. Will zap timer recordings and do a bulk formatting session to finalize. (Edit: That went pretty fast, just a few minutes each, so .... doing them in one fell swoop isnt too painful)

I also experimented with lesser settings a bit and I dont think they're as bad as I'd thought -- at least for stuff that you are time shifting but aren't necessarily looking at carefully) LP was definitely ok ... probably on par with VHS playback, and even EP seemed usable for something like a news/talk commentary kind of show where you're mostly listening to what people are saying. Doubt I'll fool around with settings unless the drive gets filled up again, since it's probably good to use a higher quality format (at least SP) for visual fidelity, but the other speeds might come in handy if you're planning a long trip, etc and dont want to run out of drive space). All in all, a happy first mass dubbing experience. (I had tried it out before, but just to test the machine, not full dubs). The more I use these 2160s, the more I like 'em.

I have noticed that one drive takes longer to start up than the other -- It says "load" for about 30 seconds. The picture comes on, but it seems to be doing a self check of some sort - or maybe it's just taking longer to 'load' the previous recordings. Is that normal? The other (non -refurbed) one is ready to go much faster - even though it has a lot more on the hard drive. (edit: Duh! I didnt realize I had left a DVD disc in the drive when I was testing the refurb last week. That's why it was loading... loading... loading at startup. Will leave this testament to my stupidity here, just in case someone else experiences the same thing and cant figure out why it's taking so long to get started.:o

I also experimented with lesser settings a bit and I dont think they're as bad as I'd thought -- at least for stuff that you are time shifting but aren't necessarily looking at carefully) LP was definitely ok ... probably on par with VHS playback, and even EP seemed usable for something like a news/talk commentary kind of show where you're mostly listening to what people are saying. Doubt I'll fool around with settings unless the drive gets filled up again, since it's probably good to use a higher quality format (at least SP) for visual fidelity, but the other speeds might come in handy if you're planning a long trip, etc and dont want to run out of drive space). All in all, a happy first mass dubbing experience. (I had tried it out before, but just to test the machine, not full dubs). The more I use these 2160s, the more I like 'em.
On the lower-quality rec modes, were you recording from a digital/HD channel or analog... really makes an big difference in which rec modes are very good or just OK.

I have noticed that one drive takes longer to start up than the other -- It says "load" for about 30 seconds. The picture comes on, but it seems to be doing a self check of some sort - or maybe it's just taking longer to 'load' the previous recordings. Is that normal? The other (non -refurbed) one is ready to go much faster - even though it has a lot more on the drive.
The titles on the HDD aren't part of the Loading process, just HDD startup which takes ~16 sec for the 3575/3576 and their Seagate HDDs, and the search for a DVD in the tray.

HDD titles aren't "accessed" until you press the Title button.

30 sec IS longer than I see on any of my 3575's and original 2160. I don't think it's anything to worry about but it's "interesting." If it were my machine, I'd love to do some tests (my favorite passtime) with at least a SKIP 079 Self-Check... might be a loose connection, but it might not show up in the Self-Check, but one person had persistent problems with DVD playback for months and found a comm. problem with that test. He opened the case and removed the DVD drive, turned it over and the cable fell off, so it was loose and not making good connection!

I'd prob. NOT do a SKIP 013 HDD Factory Check since it wipes recorded titles from the HDD and save that test for times when problems crop up, like a freezing playback. One of my refurb'd 3575 has spots on the HDD that freeze when playing HDD titles back, ending with a System Error and requirement to shut machine off to recover. SKIP 013 found the initial HDD Media Read finds bad spots and throws a "NG" message and quick shift to subsequent tests.

It was the DVD that 2160 was trying to access .... I forgot it was in there. Start up is now around 10 seconds or so without the DVD in the tray. Dumb move, but I learned something! :)

The quick tests I did were on digital PBS, not analog stations. I was just doing some quick recordings at various settings, to see if I noticed much of a difference on text, color, etc -- I did, but I could live with it if I had to - it didn't get all smeary like a bad VHS tape. I'd rather record at the best quality, but in a pinch, LP would definitely be adequate for longer content that you don't want to split up on DVD, and. EP might be usable for stuff you're more or less just listening to while it's on (e.g sunday AM weekly news shows, etc) for a throwaway timeshifted recording.

Need to play more, but I was definitely impressed that the SP recording and the SP dub to disc of the National Parks PBS series looked identical -- I know you guys said it would not degrade, but ... you honestly couldn't tell if you were watching a DVD copy vs HDD recording. It even filled the screen - I thought it might be reduced to letterbox but it wasn't. I'm happy.

079 says

DVD connect ok HDD connect OK HDD power on 66 (I've been busy!)
HDD format start ENTER Power off: Power

Well, I just screwed up something.... lost recordings.... Ack!!! Guess when I pushed return and nothing happened to get me out of the screen, I hit ok and poof. Guess that's what it meant when it said HDD format start= ENTER.

Now what, reset everything? Rescan.... Fortunately, nothing critical on the drive except a lot of time spent getting some on demand back episodes copied. THAT was a lesson and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pay attention and don't just click something. We learn by doing, eh?

On the plus side, guess I dont have to worry about running out of room for awhile............

079 says

DVD connect ok HDD connect OK HDD power on 66 (I've been busy!)
HDD format start ENTER Power off: Power

Well, I just screwed up something.... lost recordings.... Ack!!! Guess when I pushed return and nothing happened to get me out of the screen, I hit ok and poof. Guess that's what it meant when it said HDD format start= ENTER.

Now what, reset everything? Rescan.... Fortunately, nothing critical on the drive except a lot of time spent getting some on demand back episodes copied. THAT was a lesson and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pay attention and don't just click something. We learn by doing, eh?

On the plus side, guess I dont have to worry about running out of room for awhile............
I knew that would happen someday... sorry it happened to you!

Other people who read this can learn a good lesson: if you use SKIP 079 and DO NOT want to reformat your HDD (which wipes it clean), just turn power off... DO NOT PRESS OK!

The procedure says that but sometimes we get in a hurry or the instruction isn't there at the machine for ref. and double-checking.

I knew that would happen someday... sorry it happened to you!

Other people who read this can learn a good lesson: if you use SKIP 079 and DO NOT want to reformat your HDD (which wipes it clean), just turn power off... DO NOT PRESS OK!

The procedure says that but sometimes we get in a hurry or the instruction isn't there at the machine for ref. and double-checking.

Yes, I was doing it while reading the post, not while reading the instructions.... feeling confident since I had previously done it when I first got it, then thought I remembered to click RETURN but it's actually POWER OFF. The instructions are right there - but I wasn't right there! Nobody's fault but mine.

It's a little gut wrenching to see it all go, but fortunately, I've been double taping some live stuff, so still have that, and I lost a few shows that may be available on demand.... will try to grab those again. Still ....:eek::eek: Back to resetting everything. It happened so FAST I honestly didnt think anything had happened (and it started up again REALLY FAST... no wonder... )

I guess a reminder to me and others who recommend the SKIP 079 procedure to make sure and caution, in the post, on the proper way to exit w/o Formatting the HDD! ;)

Well, guess I've learned a fast way to clean up! :)

Actually, the thing that was kind of scary was that it was just a click and not any sort of reformatting time -- I would have expected some kind of PROCESS to start, so when nothing seemed to be happening I turned it off... then turned it on.... I had no idea what I had done... It's funny, they say ARE YOU SURE? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DELETE? so many other places, you get lulled into a false sense of security. For something big like this, here's no warning and it was done instantly.

Well, the designers never intended us peons to even find the SKIP codes, so maybe they got lax and not envisioning extremely curious and adventurous types! :D

If they had, they would have put up a large RED message: "Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you want to DELETE all your HDD titles, or have we scared you enough to just turn power off instead!!!"