The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 486

Perhaps the HDD sidetrack require own dedicated thread ?

Really.
Process of buying the drives have very little to the DVR's thread.

LenL,

Why don't you try that WD10EARX, and let us all know if it works ?
The power specs look the same as the WD10EADS ( 5V : 0.70A / 12V : 0.55A ), so if it works, it shouldn't overload your power supply.

Thanks, Kurt

Paul,

I would normally agree with you but this process is specific to UPGRADING this DVR which is NO longer made or maintained. Also the drives in post number 1 are either NO longer made or very hard to come by. SO I think it would be of interest to people on this thread to know of my experience trying to upgrade through the whole process of finding a suitable drive and installing it.

You and others can just ignore my post if you don't want to read about my experience.

First, I did contact the Amazon partner who by the way did not include any documentation (packing slip etc) in the shipment so the only way I had to contact them was the phone number on the shipping label. I called and spoke to a customer service Rep who said Amazon's website was wrong to show the W10EADS drive as it is no longer made by Western Digital and has been replaced by the WD10EARX. Also the partner said they had no control over what Amazon showed on their Website. After mentioning repeatedly my displeasure with the bait and switch and not at least contacting me to ask if it was OK to switch to the other drive we got down to using the WD10EARX.

The Rep insisted the drive was accoding to Western Digital an exact replacement, just newer and should work in anything the WD10EADS drive worked in. He asked for the equipment I was using it in and checked (supposedly) with his tech people and came back with the as long as I the PALDVR had firmware F08 it would work fine. So he said to go ahead and open the packaging and install it and if there was a problem he would work with me on a return. This all sounded good and reasonable to me so I went ahead and pulled the 250 GB drive and installed the WD10EARX. I was doubtful it would work based on a previous post here saying the drive did not work.

Now the goodnews. The drive works. The PALDVR was plugged in and the drive was recognized. I did not have to do anything special like format etc. I immediately recorded and reviewed the recordings. I would like to give it more time for recording etc to make sure it doesn't die in the next few days or weeks but as of now it looks like the WD10EARX (not to be confused with the WD10EURX) should be added to post #1 as a suitable drive. By the way it is very quiet. I could hardly hear that it was spinning. At first I thought it was DOA because it is so quiet.

If there is an issue with this drive in the coming days I will provide and update. If other's have successfully installed this drive please comment so we can add this drive to the list.

Thanks for posting your experiences with the WD10EARX drive LenL. I also ordered a so called "WD10EADS" drive from Amazon/BetterChoice on Friday and, from your experience, am now expecting to receive a WD10EARX drive. So, I'll post something on this thread to confirm that it also works (or does not work) in my case.

Regarding instructions on how to remove the DVR cover, is the "What are the instructions?" entry under "Storage expansion" in the first post still the most up to date instructions?

Also, I actually have a CM7000PAL DVR. From what I understand, this unit is exactly the same as the DTVPAL unit, but under the Channel Master brand...

Paul

LenL - yea, thanks a lot for the info. You say it's real quiet, but I'm wondering if it could be more quiet if you ran "http://hddscan.com".
In addition to more quiet, it may also cut some power which could provide higher reliability. But, you already have it installed.
Another thing I remember from this forum is a guy who tried a drive that appeared to work, but after he unplugged it and plugged it back in, there was an issue - you might want to try that soon.
Anyways, thanks again, Kurt

Others can verify they are the same unit. I think from everything I read here they are. So the instructions in the first post should apply unless another poster knows otherwise.

I would also recommend that unless your unit is under warranty or you care about the warranty (which you lose once you replace the drive) I would be sure to break off any of the clips that hold the top cover in place. This way you can easily remove the top cover when you want to regularly clean the dust out from the unit and the fan. Even without the clips the cover sits nicely on the unit. Be sure to unplug the unit when you replace the drive. Goes without saying but just a reminder.

To run HDDscan I would have to connect the drive to my computer. Which means either having spare cables or pulling them from an existing drive. Also not sure Windows would recognize the drive unless it was formated and I would not want to do that. Anyway I really can't see how it could be made any more quieter than it is or if it would be worth messing with it. This drive was designed to run cool and use less energy out of the box. I don't think it needs any adjusting.

WD10EARX so far is working fine in my DTVPAL.

WD EURX install succesful.
Had to reboot (power off button held) and all seems ok - record and play back - 140 hrs HD available - not needed I never ran over with 250 disk..
Going on 4 years with 2 units running 24/7
My wife who hears well can not hear it.
I now have a 250 as a backup if ever needed.
I almost took the case and ran over it with the car to open it. The instructions help but it is still a pain.
Amazon $98 no ship charge
Bernieoc

I am coming late to this thread, I am now looking for an off air dvr. I understand this unit is no longer made, is there another device that is currently available? My elite monitor has no tuner so the dvr must have it's own, preferably 2, and some form of guide.
Thanks, Rob

Channel Master has a unit that has a thread here.

ebay, etc - check for CM7000-PAL or PAL DVR. Best choice.

There's the TiVo, or you can check out this thread.

Thanks, that gives me a place to start reading, I have a couple of 57h tivos with lifetime subs, I stopped using the last 3 years because I had satellite pvrs. Has anybody ever changed the tivo's internal tuner to atsc?
Rob

Wrong idea.

ATSC is DIGITAL signal, ie producing TS [transport stream after the tuner, not an analog video/audio signal as NTSC tuner.

Can you explain that? I am not an electronics expert. Surely the new tivos have ATSC tuners?
Rob

What he means is that you can't just open the box of an old TiVo and drop in an ATSC tuner chip. If you want a TiVo with a digital tuner either buy an old TiVo HD or a new Premier.

You have a few choices:

Out of production units you can buy used:

1. Channel Master CM 7000 or the Dish DTVPal (basically same unit)
2. TiVo original Series 3 (I would only look at units with lifetime service on them)
3. TiVo HD or TiVo HD XL (I would only look at units with lifetime service on them)

Units still in production that you should be able to buy new or used:

1. CM 7400
2. TiVo Premiere

I think the TiVo Original Series 3 with lifetime service is a great OTA DVR (I have one) and is selling used at a price point where it is a great value also.

Good Luck,

Another option several have mentioned is to build a Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) which is really nothing more than a low end PC with a tuner card like the Hauppauge 1213 kit. You have to have Windows 7 Media Center. I have not built one but I did buy the card and stuck it in my PC and it does work. Since you say you are not an electronics expert you may need help from a friend. Google for HTPC. I think Media Center will support up to four tuners. I think there is a thread someplace on AVS.

The tuner card sounds promising, and if it outputs svideo I could use it with one of my lifetime tivos. More things to read!
Thanks, Rob

Actually any PC ( include not overloaded by your tasks) notebook; just get USB stick like WinTV-HVR 950 and install any DVR software.

There is some question about whether the CM 7000 units available are new or used. CM still has some available sometimes as do several other places. They come with the same warranty as CM gave the original sales. I bought one last March and I would be hard pressed to say it was not new. The only thing is the box is not the same. Everything else looks to be brand new. If you are willing to call CM and/or check about the online search areas I think you may still be able to purchase one new. If you have good TVGOS in your area and you have OTA stations that are available then this is a very good unit. It has a fairly good program guide that has no monthly charge and the tuner is fabulous. I would spend some time looking for a "open box unit" and see what is available. There is also a plethora of information in this thread worth reading even if it takes awhile. Good luck.

Seen CM-7000PAL at eBay today ... $299 for start

Open box units are still available in the Channel Master store for $330 and come with a one-year warranty. I bought my open-box 7000PAL three years ago and have used it daily since then with no issues. I'm seriously thinking of getting another one for a spare. http://www.channelmasterstore.com/HD_DVR_receiver_for_antenna_p/cm-7000palr.htm

I'm asking (again) those who have broken DTVPAL or CM7k DVR - it could be used as a donor or (in best case) fixed, PM me.
Edited by P Smith - 8/28/12 at 4:16pm

My latest wonky behavior

The other day I was rewatching some old recorded shows, about three or four in a row, and with the last one I ran into a problem. I was fast-forwarding through the commercials all along and didn't encounter any issues until the final 20 minutes or so of the last show; I hit the button once and got 4x, but nothing happened when I pushed it a second time. I saw the green light on the unit each time I hit a button on the remote, but it was stuck--the screen showed only the program advancing at the 4x speed with the timer/slider displayed across the bottom.

I did finally exit out of it by pushing the button to view live TV, but I noticed that no information accompanied the picture, i.e. all of the what-have-you that gets displayed in those blue boxes. I couldn't change the channel, I couldn't bring up my recordings, I couldn't even get it to turn off. I therefore did a soft reset, waited through the guide repopulation, and then found all was well again. Just an FYI share as I don't recall anyone ever describing this hiccup before (I've read all of the posts, but that is a lot to mentally sort back through ).

I would take your drive out and read SMART, test its surface and then will go into file system to see if there any damages or perhaps damages inside of your video file.

I had a similar issue. I was fast forwarding and probably hit too many keys on the remote and the unit would not respond to any commands. I could not stop the recorded show from playing nor could I go back to live TV or go to the menu button. The only thing that worked was to hold the power button and do a reset which cleared up the issue.

I don't think it is a HD issue. More like a sofware glitch in my opinion. Let us know if you keep having the issue and I will do the same. I also think it may be time to change the batteries in the remote. It gets such a workout that I wonder if they should have put some kind of low battery indicator on it or the TV display. Would have been nice.

There is one. It was added with F207.