Shaw pvr expander - Page 7 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Jimmy Stang · 12-15-2009, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Does anyone know if the drive I noted above will work for sure and if the extra cable I noted is needed?

The drive on Tiger Direct appears not to come with an eSata cable, assuming that their descriptions and photos are correct. All that I can see is a USB one.

Now the big question is the cable. There's a difference between SATA and eSATA, and I honestly can't recall what cable mine had (edit: it was obviously an eSata one, but whether it was M/M, M/F, F/M). I just plugged it in and I was in business. I could check but I won't be home until quite late tonight.

If your heart is set on that drive, I would go ahead and order it as it seems as good as any. An nd then I would take a look at the PVR and HD plugs and go somewhere like Memory Express. The pricing is probably comparable and it'll be easier to take back if you get the wrong one.

Also - and I don't work for them or anything, just thinking of the convenience factor - would be to just get the whole thing at Memory Express or somewhere similar. That way you can just walk in, pick it up, and the friendly geeks there can help you with the cable choice. And I mean "geeks" in a good way.

fundmark19 · 12-15-2009, 12:50 PM

ok so I have been trying to follow along and I think I missed something. I currently have and Motorola Hd box and am renting a pace pvr. Would I be able to use the pvr expander on my Motorola Hd box and make it into a pvr? Or can I just use it to expand the hard drive on my pace?

Burninator · 12-15-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fundmark19

ok so I have been trying to follow along and I think I missed something. I currently have and Motorola Hd box and am renting a pace pvr. Would I be able to use the pvr expander on my Motorola Hd box and make it into a pvr? Or can I just use it to expand the hard drive on my pace?

Is your Motorola HD Box a PVR model or not? If it is not a PVR, then you won't be able to add the expander.

OilKiller · 12-15-2009, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Also - and I don't work for them or anything, just thinking of the convenience factor - would be to just get the whole thing at Memory Express or somewhere similar. That way you can just walk in, pick it up, and the friendly geeks there can help you with the cable choice. And I mean "geeks" in a good way.

Thanks for the advice. I think I may pop into Memory Express since there is one not too far from my house and check them out.

hockeycop · 12-15-2009, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cal_guy

It happens because the PVR run into an error when it tries to record. If you swap to the tuner that's record while this happens you see an error message. Once you "Ok" through the message it'll begin recording but it'll won't stop recording.

I am a tech dumbass... How can I avoid this? I just returned a Pace HD box with external drive because it had this problem on 40% of the shows I wanted to record... I am too lazy to switch to another provider and just want quality HD with a PVR that works. The PVR is mega important, as I am a shift worker and the only TV I get to watch is usually recorded.

fundmark19 · 12-16-2009, 11:34 AM

ok gotcha but I can buy the Shaw Pace HD Receiver (DC758D) and get the expander and it will work like a pvr?

Julio · 12-17-2009, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fundmark19

ok gotcha but I can buy the Shaw Pace HD Receiver (DC758D) and get the expander and it will work like a pvr?

I'm pretty sure you have to have an HDPVR before you can get an 'expander' for it...

BlackArcher101 · 12-17-2009, 07:50 PM

No you don't need a PVR box before you buy the expander. The Pace HD box is considered a non-pvr box as it has no storage built in. When you add the expander however, you can start recording programs and it then becomes a PVR. I believe this only applies to Pace though and Motorola requires you to have a PVR box before adding the expander.

I have the DC758D with shaw expander in order to make it a HD-PVR.

Bean · 03-31-2010, 07:59 AM

Hi folks, I'm not the most technically adept person and thought I'd ask the CP braintrust.

Does anyone have any experience with this unit?
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...1&sku=A3130314

It looks identical to the $200 official version from Shaw but the online reviews I've found have only commented this HD with Tivo machines.

Jimmy Stang · 03-31-2010, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bean

Hi folks, I'm not the most technically adept person and thought I'd ask the CP braintrust.

Does anyone have any experience with this unit?
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...1&sku=A3130314

It looks identical to the $200 official version from Shaw but the online reviews I've found have only commented this HD with Tivo machines.

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. It does look identical to the "official" Shaw one, and afterall, it is just an eSATA hard drive.

If you're in Calgary (or Edmonton or Winnipeg for that matter), you still might want to consider the hard drive and enclosure combo from Memory Express from earlier in this thread. Maybe a few bucks cheaper, but no shipping or having to wait for it to arrive.

Although you say you're not the most technically adept person, but if you can operate a screwdriver, you'll be able to put the drive into the enclosure and you'll have the same net result.

Either route that you take, I don't why it wouldn't work and you'll end up with a few bucks in your pocket when compared to buying the official Shaw one.

Jimmy Stang · 03-31-2010, 08:59 AM

I just realized that the previous link in the thread is no longer available. Basically, you'll need one of these:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...8%28ME%29.aspx

And one of these:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...2%28ME%29.aspx

Ironhorse · 03-31-2010, 10:25 AM

Does anyone else's "space taken up" counter read as 0%? I added the 1TB Shaw unit to a 160Gb PVR that was about 65% full. Shouldn't it at least read 5 or 6% after I added the expander?

Burninator · 03-31-2010, 11:34 AM

/\ I heard that was a bug that needed to be fixed. I think everyone has that problem.

Rathji · 03-31-2010, 05:00 PM

Mine reads 7% or something.

fundmark19 · 04-28-2010, 09:02 AM

Hey guys I fianlly made the plunge. It was so simple to do any non tech savy person who is on the fence about building your own hd for the expander there really is no way you can mess it up. I now have a new pace hd receiver and 1 tb hd for a total of $ 350! Shaw was great helping me get it going. The box was acting up because it was in a surge protector so it took a little bit longer to get set up. Shaw did give me a month of free movie channels though even though it was not their fault.

Jimmy Stang · 09-11-2011, 12:38 PM

Please excuse the bump (a year and a half later!), but is anyone else who did the "home made expander" from Memory Express having trouble with the hard drives failing now?

I did one for my folks in February 2010, the hard drive has been on the fritz. Problems during playback, and a scan on my PC reveals some bad sectors which is the probably the culprit.

Now mine (that I did in September 2009 I believe) has died this morning. Must have been all of the Rugby World Cup I was recording.

Mine isn't even being recognized by the box anymore, and if I do a reset, the box hangs with the hard drive attached, but not when the drive is disconnected. It is also making some different-sounding clicks, so I'm willing to bet that it is toast as well.

At the time, expanders were $200 from Shaw, and about $120 if you made your own. Now, expanders are $100 (although I got one for my other TV for $50 a few months ago). Oh well - it was worth a try. I'll be out $20 from the original cost from a couple of years ago after I drop $100 on a new one from Shaw. Funniest part is, if I had bought the Shaw version originally, they'd probably replace it for life under warranty.

One thing to note is that the newer, silvery-looking expanders from Shaw have a fan inside them, whereas the Memory Express enclosures don't. The hard drive is spinning a lot, even when you're just watching TV (it records so you can pause/rewind live TV). It looks like the heat took its toll.

FireInTheHole · 09-11-2011, 06:48 PM

No problems with my Mem-X PVR expander. Not sure of the age but it must be a couple of years old now.

fundmark19 · 09-12-2011, 08:57 AM

My expander was working fine. My pace shaw box on the other hand died and hasn't worked all summer and shaw is taking their sweet time to come fix it

GoinAllTheWay · 09-12-2011, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fundmark19

My expander was working fine. My pace shaw box on the other hand died and hasn't worked all summer and shaw is taking their sweet time to come fix it

Why not just take it to them and have them give you a new one?

OilKiller · 09-12-2011, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Please excuse the bump (a year and a half later!), but is anyone else who did the "home made expander" from Memory Express having trouble with the hard drives failing now?

Yup, mine died. Starting making funky noises, so after watching everything we had on there (we were able to at least do that), I unhooked it, even formatted and hooked up to my comp and it simply won't write properly anymore. Tried another format and chkdsk, but that never completed either. The drive is just toast. Maybe we both got a couple of bad drives? Mine ran fine for about 8 months or so, but then starting making funny grinding noises and that's when I unhooked it because I was concerned about losing shows I really wanted.

I have the Shaw Gateway now that comes with a larger internal drive, so not sure what we will do now.