Did you get your XS55 up and running yet? If so, did you have any trouble with the tv guide downloading? That is was caused me problems. Are you using digital cable and what model box do you have.

I was told by Toshiba Sales dept. that they won't work with the Motorola DCTxxxx boxes. If i knew it would work i would order another one. Toshiba tech support was supposed to call me back but never did so i guess i'll have to call them again.

It is actually a XS54 which is almost the same as the XS55. I did find one difference between the two and that being how the XS55 integrates with a satellite STB.

The guide downloaded fine. My STB is a SA8300HD. The Toshiba controls the SA8300HD though the IR blaster with no problems. And I really like the TVGOS. TVGOS is a feature I use on my television so I was familiar with it.

It is actually a XS54 which is almost the same as the XS55. I did find one difference between the two and that being how the XS55 integrates with a satellite STB.

The guide downloaded fine. My STB is a SA8300HD. The Toshiba controls the SA8300HD though the IR blaster with no problems. And I really like the TVGOS. TVGOS is a feature I use on my television so I was familiar with it.

oops, i meant to say XS54. That is what i would get too. When i asked Toshiba what the differences between the 54 and 55 were he told me the 55 had HDMI, i told him so did the 54 and he couldn't come up with any other differences. I'm going to call them again on Monday to verify whether or not it will work with my Motorola box, if they say it will i'm ordering one. I had heard they fixed this with a firmware upgrade but need to confirm it. The short time (5 weeks) i had the first one i really liked the Network Navi.

oops, i meant to say XS54. That is what i would get too. When i asked Toshiba what the differences between the 54 and 55 were he told me the 55 had HDMI, i told him so did the 54 and he couldn't come up with any other differences. I'm going to call them again on Monday to verify whether or not it will work with my Motorola box, if they say it will i'm ordering one. I had heard they fixed this with a firmware upgrade but need to confirm it. The short time (5 weeks) i had the first one i really liked the Network Navi.

There is a firmware upgrade. I read that on here and called Toshiba to find out. The new firmware is 1100. My XS54 was on 1000. So it is on the way. I asked what it was about and was told that it included some guide improvements. Along with other general house cleaning.

I bought a second Polaroid and set both up with the (nextoo) external drive. When I take the drive from the first Polaroid (B) 14 movies and put it in the second Polaroid (K) I get no movies. It shows the 14 inputs but no names and no movies. What am I doing wrong?

There is a firmware upgrade. I read that on here and called Toshiba to find out. The new firmware is 1100. My XS54 was on 1000. So it is on the way. I asked what it was about and was told that it included some guide improvements. Along with other general house cleaning.

That sounds very encouraging. Thanks for the update.

FYI
I still have my notes from when i had my XS54. I think this would probably still work.
To do a complete factory reset press the following keys on the remote:
DVD
DVD TOP MENU
MENU
AUDIO
SUBTITLE

The following takes you into the TVGOS setup info. Got this from TV Guide.
Press on the remote the following:
753159852

Again, i would think this would still work but i can't guarantee it.....

Hopefully you won't ever have a problem

Just a thought, not being completely familiar with forum rules, was this ok to post?

I bought a second Polaroid and set both up with the (nextoo) external drive. When I take the drive from the first Polaroid (B) 14 movies and put it in the second Polaroid (K) I get no movies. It shows the 14 inputs but no names and no movies. What am I doing wrong?

That's a bummer, because i was planning on doing the same. I'll have to try switching drives to see what happens. Are both recorders the same series?

I'm going to call them again on Monday to verify whether or not it will work with my Motorola box.

TVGOS is incompatible with my Motorola BMC-9022 Moxi HD-DVR. Its a bummer. I have TVGOS on my Toshiba DLP and I wanted to use it to force the DVR to change channels for timed recordings to the Polaroid.

Was told the reason for the incompatibility was related to the frequency of the IR or something like that

I've taken one drive from my first one and put in the second with nary an issue. First unit is an 'H' the latest one is a 'E' but a refurb. Strange...

As I said the first is a (B) and the second is a (k). I'll keep playing with it.

I bought a second Polaroid and set both up with the (nextoo) external drive. When I take the drive from the first Polaroid (B) 14 movies and put it in the second Polaroid (K) I get no movies. It shows the 14 inputs but no names and no movies. What am I doing wrong?

(Shoulder shrug) Huh?

Did you do the IDE fix with the new drive? Remember you gotta shave off that nub on the end of the IDE. Did you power off or connect and disconnect while powered on? You must power off before attaching the new drive. Give it another try and let us know how it goes.

(Shoulder shrug) Huh?

Did you do the IDE fix with the new drive? Remember you gotta shave off that nub on the end of the IDE. Did you power off or connect and disconnect while powered on? You must power off before attaching the new drive. Give it another try and let us know how it goes.

You got me there! Shave off a nub? I didn't do anything to mine, just connected them to the IDE cable and power supply. Jumper is cable select. No problems.

I did do the IDE fix. Power off and power on worked for the #1 drive, thanks. I thought I read that nextoo said you can do a hot change, I guess not. Now the drive from the #2 Polaroid does not work on either machine, go figure.

CAREFULL! I tried a hot swap with some cheap mobile racks and blew out the board in either the rack or the tray or both. When I tried the tray in a new rack, it blew the new rack. Lost a few units before I figured out what was happening. I had to toss all of them out. The hard drives in the trays were OK.

OK. Got everything working. I did loose 14 movies on one drive. I think I lost them when I did a hot swap. Won't do that again.

When I turn My Polaroid on it starts at P7/Ch007, I need to scroll with the input button to R-Comp. How do I set this as the default so it starts at R-Comp?

When I turn My Polaroid on it starts at P7/Ch007, I need to scroll with the input button to R-Comp. How do I set this as the default so it starts at R-Comp?
Setup>>2nd from the bottom (hdd symbol)>>select the input>>on/off

Thanks z3scott, that worked. Now I can get on to the next problem.

I did do the IDE fix. Power off and power on worked for the #1 drive, thanks. I thought I read that nextoo said you can do a hot change, I guess not. Now the drive from the #2 Polaroid does not work on either machine, go figure.

Be careful with hot swapping. I was able to hot swap early on but i have lost my ability to do this. There was a lot going on back then so I couldn't figure out if it was because I was testing the HDD's on my PC and was formatting and unformatting them. Or if it was because I changed drive racks. Not sure. But now when I change drives I have to power down the Polaroid insert the new HDD and power it on.

Is anybody currently successful with hot swapping? DLSDO?

That sounds very encouraging. Thanks for the update.

FYI
I still have my notes from when i had my XS54. I think this would probably still work.
To do a complete factory reset press the following keys on the remote:
DVD
DVD TOP MENU
MENU
AUDIO
SUBTITLE

The following takes you into the TVGOS setup info. Got this from TV Guide.
Press on the remote the following:
753159852

Again, i would think this would still work but i can't guarantee it.....

Hopefully you won't ever have a problem

Just a thought, not being completely familiar with forum rules, was this ok to post?

Great info thanks! I believe it is fine to post. Service menu adjustments and factory resets are discussed all over the forums.

Nextoo,
Same story with hot swapping. Power it down 1st everybody.

Richsale,
Recheck that drive. I experimented alot with hot swapping early on and although it was a no go I never lost material on a HDD.

Burnerbum,
Here is a post about the IDE connection. Are you sure you did not do this? I have tried a direct connection without modifying the IDE and it will not work. This has been confirmed by many others. The post by Nextoo is here...http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9180231&&#post9180231

Nextoo,

Burnerbum,
Here is a post about the IDE connection. Are you sure you did not do this? I have tried a direct connection without modifying the IDE and it will not work. This has been confirmed by many others. The post by Nextoo is here...http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9180231&&#post9180231

Ok, i think i see what you mean. As luck would have it, i used an old 40 pin ide cable that didn't have any nubs on it. When i connected it i just made sure the cable pins were the same. Looked at the red line on the cable and installed it the same.

However, if you look at the cable that came with the Polo, it does have nubs on it. But,,,, they reversed the one end of the cable so it's just the opposite of a standard IDE cable.

Attached is a pic of the cable that came out of the Polo, (I hope, this is my first pic post)

Ok, i think i see what you mean. As luck would have it, i used an old 40 pin ide cable that didn't have any nubs on it. When i connected it i just made sure the cable pins were the same. Looked at the red line on the cable and installed it the same.

However, if you look at the cable that came with the Polo, it does have nubs on it. But,,,, they reversed the one end of the cable so it's just the opposite of a standard IDE cable.

Attached is a pic of the cable that came out of the Polo, (I hope, this is my first pic post)

Asked and answered. :)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9179223&&#post9179223

edit - by the way the pic looks great!

There is a firmware upgrade. I read that on here and called Toshiba to find out. The new firmware is 1100. My XS54 was on 1000. So it is on the way. I asked what it was about and was told that it included some guide improvements. Along with other general house cleaning.

I finally got through to Toshiba about the XS54. They said that the guide won't download when using ADC (All digital Cable) box and the way to get around it is to add a splitter and have the cable box go into input 1 and have the split coax go into the coax input and set the recorder up as having a cable box and antenna. He said the box doesn't know that its cable and not over the air and will download it that way. So, i ordered the 54 and will hope for the best. I'll have to check the firmware when it arrives. I'm surprised you couldn't download it through the Network Navi, that's one of the functions it's supposed to do. Or at least download it from their website.

I finally got through to Toshiba about the XS54. They said that the guide won't download when using ADC (All digital Cable) box and the way to get around it is to add a splitter and have the cable box go into input 1 and have the split coax go into the coax input and set the recorder up as having a cable box and antenna. He said the box doesn't know that its cable and not over the air and will download it that way. So, i ordered the 54 and will hope for the best. I'll have to check the firmware when it arrives. I'm surprised you couldn't download it through the Network Navi, that's one of the functions it's supposed to do. Or at least download it from their website.

Cool. I've gone back and forth on how to set it up. I had no trouble setting up TVGOS and getting it to talk to my cable STB - SA8300HD. I use input 1 into the Toshiba via s-video (from the SA8300HD through the Polaroid). Only downside to this setup is there are so many channels - 300. Which is tough to manage with TVGOS. I even have listings for all of the music channels.

The advice you got is correct. I set mine up to include the STB and an antenna. I've got cable coax from the wall into the Toshiba. This must be what is used for downloading the guide.

I have also set up TVGOS to work with just the coax cable input. This reduces the number of channels and actually makes it a bit more manageable. But I lose the ability to control the STB. With my KX50 (XS52) I could easily jump into setup and switch between STB IR control and just cable analog channels. With the XS54 it is not practical to switch between the two. It requires a complete TVGOS reinstallation. So I have found some trade offs. More flexibility with the KX50. But a guide with the XS54. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

I haven't yet decided what the final setup will be. But one thing is for sure. They are both extremely powerful machines.

I haven't yet decided what the final setup will be. But one thing is for sure. They are both extremely powerful machines.

Yes, the XS52 is more flexible when setting up recordings. But having both, we can use either. I checked out the specs on the 55 vs the 54 and the only difference is the 55 controls a sat box, (which i currently have turned off) and the 55 has a 181 channel tuner vs 125 channel on the 54. I was debating between the 2 but with these being the only difference i counld't see paying the difference. I have my receipt from the 54 that i bought last year (and returned) and paid $549.00. Boy, i'm glad i waited, i just hope the refurb is ok. It comes with a 90 waranty and Toshiba is VERY good about warranty, even with refurbs so i'm not too worried. Plus i took the 3 year extended for $17.99. I don't expect to get it until the middle of next week. It's coming from Ca to MI so it will take a week. Im just anxious to get it and get the Network Navi up again.

Yes, the XS52 is more flexible when setting up recordings. But having both, we can use either. I checked out the specs on the 55 vs the 54 and the only difference is the 55 controls a sat box, (which i currently have turned off) and the 55 has a 181 channel tuner vs 125 channel on the 54. I was debating between the 2 but with these being the only difference i counld't see paying the difference. I have my receipt from the 54 that i bought last year (and returned) and paid $549.00. Boy, i'm glad i waited, i just hope the refurb is ok. It comes with a 90 waranty and Toshiba is VERY good about warranty, even with refurbs so i'm not too worried. Plus i took the 3 year extended for $17.99. I don't expect to get it until the middle of next week. It's coming from Ca to MI so it will take a week. Im just anxious to get it and get the Network Navi up again.
I agree on how well Toshiba supports their products. I read through the XS54 thread and there are many examples - especially with TVGOS questions. When I called for the firmware upgrade disc the CS rep was located in Iowa and really understood the machine.

Also it took me 5 minutes to set up the Net Navi. Very cool. And yes you can update the firmware using the network connection. I was going to give it a try but I needed the serial number of the XS54 to move forward which wasn't handy at the time.

This machine is pretty amazing. I tend to buy behind the curve (price) so although it is a previous years model it's new to me. And the 2007 Toshibas have none of the serious technology and features that went into this one. Very pleased with the XS54 as well as the KX50.

See this post concerning the IDE cable.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...8&&#post8669998
Be careful with power. I used one of these:
http://www.emtcompany.com/products/...CFTzqJAodFjlnAw

Nextoo - I read a lot of ur posts on HDD upgrade of Polaroid; I ordered the 250GB model you had sent a link for, it has not arrived it; however I am a novice and have not played around much with IDE Cables or replacing hard drives even on PCs.

What I want to do is a simple upgrade of the Polaroid HDD from the current 80 GB to 250 GB; I dont want to externalize the hard drive, nor connect a series of hard drives; also I dont want to do the IDE to USB cable stuff etc. for now.

For accomplishing changing the internal 80 Gig drive with the 250 gig drive, do I need to get new IDE cables etc? I presume "no", I can just use the one already inside the Polaroid; but if thats incorrect, please let me know what else I need to buy (ie) the exact IDE cable etc. I read ur other post mentioned above, but could not follow the "reverse IDE cable setting" from Polaroid etc. Is it important for a internal hard drive swap.

Thanks a lot for your help, appreciate it very much.

See this post concerning the IDE cable.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...8&&#post8669998
Be careful with power. I used one of these:
http://www.emtcompany.com/products/...CFTzqJAodFjlnAw

Nextoo - I read a lot of ur posts on HDD upgrade of Polaroid; I ordered the 250GB model you had sent a link for, it has not arrived it; however I am a novice and have not played around much with IDE Cables or replacing hard drives even on PCs.

What I want to do is a simple upgrade of the Polaroid HDD from the current 80 GB to 250 GB; I dont want to externalize the hard drive, nor connect a series of hard drives; also I dont want to do the IDE to USB cable stuff etc. for now.

For accomplishing changing the internal 80 Gig drive with the 250 gig drive, do I need to get new IDE cables etc? I presume "no", I can just use the one already inside the Polaroid; but if thats incorrect, please let me know what else I need to buy (ie) the exact IDE cable etc. I read ur other post mentioned above, but could not follow the "reverse IDE cable setting" from Polaroid etc. Is it important for a internal hard drive swap.

Thanks a lot for your help, appreciate it very much.

If you are doing a drive exchange inside the case then everything you need is already there. It is a simple process to remove the OEM dive and install the 250GB replacement. Once the case cover is off it is four screws to remove the drive with the bracket attached to the drive. Four more screws to remove the bracket from the drive. Piece of cake. Philips screwdriver is all that is required.

I found the following two drives at Geeks.com. The difference in the two is #1 is a
WD2500SB and #2 is a WD2500JB. Does anybody know the difference in SB and JB? The other difference is #1 is Refurbished and #2 is Factory Reconditioned, is there a difference or is that the same thing? This seems like a very good price and I would,nt mind getting a couple of these.


1. Western Digital WD2500SB 250GB UDMA/100 7200RPM 8MB IDE HDD Refurbished $62.99

2. Western Digital WD2500JB 250GB UDMA/100 7200RPM 8MB IDE HDD Factory Reconditioned $58.99

I found the following two drives at Geeks.com. The difference in the two is #1 is a
WD2500SB and #2 is a WD2500JB. Does anybody know the difference in SB and JB? The other difference is #1 is Refurbished and #2 is Factory Reconditioned, is there a difference or is that the same thing? This seems like a very good price and I would,nt mind getting a couple of these.


1. Western Digital WD2500SB 250GB UDMA/100 7200RPM 8MB IDE HDD Refurbished $62.99

2. Western Digital WD2500JB 250GB UDMA/100 7200RPM 8MB IDE HDD Factory Reconditioned $58.99

You can get the same one NEW for $65 here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144309

Thanks DLSDO, I put 1 on order.

Is anyone using a 500 GB drive in the 2001G successfully? Nextoo mentioned he had some performance issues with a Maxtor 500 GB drive he tried last October. I know the file list will be pretty long as such a large drive gets filled, but can live with it as a compromise for less drive swapping. I know the 400 GB drives work but they are close in price to the 500 GB drives now so they have very small price advantage.

Is anyone using a 500 GB drive in the 2001G successfully? Nextoo mentioned he had some performance issues with a Maxtor 500 GB drive he tried last October. I know the file list will be pretty long as such a large drive gets filled, but can live with it as a compromise for less drive swapping. I know the 400 GB drives work but they are close in price to the 500 GB drives now so they have very small price advantage.

You know what? I think you might be okay with the 500gb HDD. See this thread here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9788235&&#post9788235

It might be a failure secondary to ATA 133 not the size of the drive. I bet an ATA 100 would work fine regardless of the size ;)

Let us know what you decide!

Is there any chance that the HDD will be capable of being read on a computer or is this a dead issue.

Is there any chance that the HDD will be capable of being read on a computer or is this a dead issue.
Never say never.. a number have tried way beyond my tech capabilities w/o success unfortunately so far.

If someone found that magic key that would be front page news. Here's to hoping. :)

Hi
I'm real new at this DVD recording stuff, I havent bought a recorder yet and have been reading about the polaroid DRM 2001G and was wandering if anyone knows of any other recorders that are plug and play.
Thanks

If by "Plug and Play" you mean being able to add or exchange HDDs, then The Polaroid is the only recent model that I'm aware of.

Don't wait too long to get one though. With the new copying rulings, they will no longer be produced (Panasonic has already dropped their HDD DVRs), AFIK. In the future, you will only be able to get the DVRs supplied by the cable/satellite providers (or PC based ones). You can still get them on eBay, but for more than double their MSRP.

Just for the record, I tried a Seagate 500GB drive (ST-3500641A) in the Polaroid and it seemed to work OK. I didn't test it extensively but did some recording/timeshifting. It showed about 276+ hours at SP+. I didn't leave it in the machine as I bought it for a computer. This is an ATA100 drive.

If I remember correctly the problem that was encountered with the larger drive was related to capacity. When it got to about 80 gb of recorded material it stopped working. Would you be willing to place the drive and let it record for awhile??

Well, the 500GB drive is already deployed so I won't be able to try it out any more in the Polaroid. My calculations showed that I would have to record about a day's worth of HQ content to get past 80GB which wasn't feasible for me.

One drawback of such a large capacity drive is the pages of recorded titles you have to page through if you use the thing anywhere near its capacity. I'm not sure that is practicable with this unit.

Quick update on this project. It looks like a Seagate 500GB drive will work just fine. I tested a Seagate ST3500830A and the drive formatted and I was able to fill the drive with content - no problems. This is different than my experiences with both Maxtor and WD 500GB drives. I'm confident other Seagate 500GB drives will work. I have a different model # arriving Friday that I will test.

As before the installation was plug and play. Also I should note that I installed the Seagate in the external drive rack. I'm sure this would also work if installed directly in the machine - my only concern with an internal installation would be the drive's power requirements. It may be fine but I haven't looked into it. As far as thermal concerns the Seagate runs cooler than the WD 250's based on my unscientific "touch" test.

Quick update on this project. It looks like a Seagate 500GB drive will work just fine. I tested a Seagate ST3500830A and the drive formatted and I was able to fill the drive with content - no problems.

WOW, that's a lot or recording to fill the 500. I've been using the Seagate 400GB drives with no problems too. Glad to hear the 500 works. They are getting pretty cheap but IDE is getting harder to find each day. I guess i'll have to run to my local Micro Center and check to see what they have. That's where i got all my replacement drives for my 3 Tosh recorders. They have OEM's reasonable.

Thanks for the update.

WOW, that's a lot or recording to fill the 500. I've been using the Seagate 400GB drives with no problems too. Glad to hear the 500 works. They are getting pretty cheap but IDE is getting harder to find each day. I guess i'll have to run to my local Micro Center and check to see what they have. That's where i got all my replacement drives for my 3 Tosh recorders. They have OEM's reasonable.

Thanks for the update.

:) I was rounding up. I probably got it 70% full. But you are right it takes some time. I ran it at HQ for like 12 hour stretches. Overnight etc. There's almost 120 hrs at HQ on a 500GB drive. I got it to something like 80+ recorded hours and said enough - it works.

Great news on the 400GB Seagte. It looks like Seagate from now on for me. I think Seagate makes a 750GB IDE drive. As far as SATA my guess is that the SATA - IDE converters would have a pretty good chance of working. Not sure though.

nextoo,

Which internal 400 or 500GB hard drive would you ultimately recommend at this point?

Sorry guys, I need three posts to link URL's and only registered so I could post to this thread.

2

3 - I had to post 3 times before I could use a URL. Next post is real. =)

I am NOT USING THIS SETUP WITH THE RECORDER, this is just an idea because I use one of these drives at work.

How large do you think you could go with the drive?

I am using a EXTERNAL RAID ARRAY (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111016) at work, which acts as a standard single hard drive. One of the features is a external SATA connection.

You could use an IDE to SATA bidirectional Converter (http://www.cooldrives.com/saidecomisat.html).

Additionally you could use a eSATA to Serial ATA cable (http://store4pc.stores.yahoo.net/estoseatas7p1.html).

Next you could add 5 drives to the handy portable raid box, which you could setup as redundant backup either raid 5 or raid 6 vs raid 0.

It would not be a cheap setup, but it probably would be the max setup for safe redundant storage of your videos. 5 - 500GB drives at raid 6 give you 1.5TB of storage. Raid 5 (2TB) allows you to loose 1 drive and rebuild, raid 6 allows you to loose 2. I know the OS isn't built on a Microsoft foundation; therefore, I don't know if it shares XP's 2TB volume limitation.

As far as speed of the drive, I don't think it would have any hickups. I'm still able to use my array for video capture at work across the USB 2.0 connection (as this is my safe storage of edited video & data). I imagine the eSata would be just fine for the recorder.

So are you asking about a set up like this. or telling us what you are using?
THanks Mike

Hi everybody, newbie here.

I posted on a couple of threads about a friend of mine who wants to record some TV shows and put them on DVD. This sounds like an interesting alternative.

I see that on the net there are still a few opportunities to buy one of these Polaroid units.

I am just in the stage of trying to get my mind around the possibilities and to learn about the various technologies.

OK, so there is a sticky thread about a Phillips DVD Recorder with a HD. Does this Polaroid fall into the same category, or ? ? ?

In another thread a guy says he just uses a line out from his DVR to a free standing DVD Recorder to offload content that he wants to save.

I tend to like stuff to be as simple as possible. What an interesting idea to put the huge HD in this Polaroid, I like this kind of thinking! !

If you're talking about the newest model Polaroid, it seems to have a lot of faults and is generally not recommended around here. So you're probably not gonna get much support on that one. I don't believe you can swap out the hard drive in that one, anyway.

Last year's Polaroid is good and is well-recommended, but it only has a mono tuner.

As far as off-loading DVR content, you can do that with any recorder like you describe. You may or may not run into some copy-protection issues. You can add an aftermarket "filter" if you have that issue, but they're like another $100. Just don't buy a Sony recorder, as they seem to not be able to allow you to record hardly anything. They're "over-sensitive".

The Philips is the best of the current three domestic models being sold. Besides the Polaroid, the Magnavox is the other, but it only has an 80GB hard drive. Depending on any of the three models to use their QAM tuners for digital cable channels is an iffy prospect. They have been known to "drop" channels (disappear), and at least the Maggie (I know for sure) often doesn't even pick up all of the ones it should (it seems to be a bit buggy in other ways, too). Doesn't seem to be any problems at all with the Philips' or Maggie's NTSC or ATSC tuners, though.


The Philips is available at www.circuitcity.com. You might also still find it at a Walmart or Fry's store if you're lucky. But CC has it the cheapest. The Magnavox is also available at some Walmart stores and through their website.

Hope that helps.

You guys are great, that's why I like this forum so much.

Thanks for the informative post.

Is the advantage to the ones with the HDD that they can stand in for a regular DVR box from the cable company, and also burn the DVD as well? I am guessing that is the reason for the tuner? And in that case it would need a digital tuner since the US is going to all digital?

So if you got a stand a-alone DVD Recorder, then I am reasoning that you wouldn't absolutely need it to have tuner or HDD if you were using the cable company DVR as your source? (Not that both features wouldn't be useful.)

Burnerbum:

You may want to see my post here, about getting a DVDR which uses Gemstar/TVGOS to work with a digital cable box. This assumes the DCB has some analog equivalent channels.

See here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=461639&postcount=9


Shplad



I finally got through to Toshiba about the XS54. They said that the guide won't download when using ADC (All digital Cable) box and the way to get around it is to add a splitter and have the cable box go into input 1 and have the split coax go into the coax input and set the recorder up as having a cable box and antenna. He said the box doesn't know that its cable and not over the air and will download it that way. So, i ordered the 54 and will hope for the best. I'll have to check the firmware when it arrives. I'm surprised you couldn't download it through the Network Navi, that's one of the functions it's supposed to do. Or at least download it from their website.

Has anybody tried, or thought to try, upgrading the DVD burner drive with and Blu-ray burner? Would this work fine though the IDE interface? Come to think of it, are there even IDE Blu-ray burners or are they all just coming out as SATA?

Anyone tried trasnfer recorded shows to pc? i don't wanta burn them to dvd first... anyone figures out what filesystem they are using? i can't mount them in vista/xp...

Anyone tried trasnfer recorded shows to pc? i don't wanta burn them to dvd first... anyone figures out what filesystem they are using? i can't mount them in vista/xp...


I bought a new larger hard drive and also looking for a way to transfer the data from the stock hd to the new one.

I tried connecting it to Windows XP, but it won't recognize it.

z3scott
Good to hear that I shouldn't have to worry about the sony AW-Q170A-B2 burner. Just a little info, that burner is based on a Sony/Nec(optiarc 7170A) burner. I would like to know how your other Nec works out. The other burner I plan on getting Samsung SH-S182D is used in the Sony DRU-830A, another good burner. As I said earlier, I"ll test it out with the poloroid and see how it does. How fast is the 170 at burning/finalizing disc? Any problems with +R/RW disc as reported on CDFreaks? What brand disc do you use? I suspect + disc work good with this machine. Thanks

Magic
Hello, I am wondering if you were successful changing the DVD burner for the Polaroid DRM2100G. If so, which optical drive did you end up using? I'd appreciate any help on this issue because I have been searching for hours but in vain! Thanks

Calling all Polaroid users!!!

Hey guys...are all Polaroid DRM 2001Gs the same or did they modify the machine thoughout its production run? The only one I have ever seen with the Component Inputs is the dark faced one. I seem to see both a shiny silver faced model and what I take to be the original one with the dark face. Is this apparent difference just photographic stuff? Do all Polaroid 2001Gs have the Component ins?

Thanks,
Paul

Calling all Polaroid users!!!

Hey guys...are all Polaroid DRM 2001Gs the same or did they modify the machine thoughout its production run? The only one I have ever seen with the Component Inputs is the dark faced one. I seem to see both a shiny silver faced model and what I take to be the original one with the dark face. Is this apparent difference just photographic stuff? Do all Polaroid 2001Gs have the Component ins?

Thanks,
Paul

I have the shiny one and it has COMPONENT inputs

Thanks Agent :)

Have you compared the PQ differences if any between the Components and the S-Vid? Currently I use a Tosh XS32 and am limited to S-Vid only (although it looks very nice when the Black level is adjusted properly).

With regard to the "evolution" of this unit over time - relative to different serial number runs - you may want to refer to this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=675487

As a general rule, however, I understand that all of the 2001G's came with component inputs. My two (both "B" series) units did. I've externalized HD's and DVD drives for both, and have been very pleased with the results.