New Shaw Gateway Experience

[GoinAllTheWay]

Gateway, by no means, needs to be a multi tv setup. The benefit is there with one tv or 6. You can by additional portals as the need comes up. Just the 6 tuners alone is worth the upgrade. First world problems and all that but don't know how we managed with a PVR per TV setup.

[Chill Cosby]

Ok, that doesn't sound too bad. You can only connect a TV to a portal right? So in my living room I'd have to have both the Gateway and the Portal under my TV? Or could I just connect the TV to the Gateway and not use the portal? Sorry if the questions seem dumb, sometimes I am just dumb.

[Hockeyguy15]

You need a gateway and poral for the initial set up, and then just add another portal for each other TV you add.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

Ok, that doesn't sound too bad. You can only connect a TV to a portal right? So in my living room I'd have to have both the Gateway and the Portal under my TV? Or could I just connect the TV to the Gateway and not use the portal? Sorry if the questions seem dumb, sometimes I am just dumb.

The Gateway will likely be in the basement near your electrical panel or something. You hook up the portal to your TV. So in your case, you will need one of each.

We like ours, and I would expect we'd probably go for the set up even if it was just for 1 TV. No more trying to juggle my wife's PVR recordings with my desire to watch sports.

[Chill Cosby]

Well that was weird. I called Shaw today and the lady told me that the Gateway wouldn't work without two TVs, and that it was pointless to get it otherwise. Is it not true that you can record 6 shows at once with just one portal? Because she seemed to suggest I needed two TVs to even get that functionality out of it.

Usually Shaw is excellent for helping me, but now I'm confused!

[Hockeyguy15]

The portal doesn't record and store anything, that is what the gateway does. The portal accesses the saved information from the gateway. The lady at shaw has no idea what she is talking about.

[Chill Cosby]

EDIT: Never mind. Talked to one of their online people and they explained everything to me properly. That lady definitely didn't have a clue!

It was definitely weird having a cable company NOT want my money. Maybe she was just trying to save me money, and that's sweet I guess.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

Well that was weird. I called Shaw today and the lady told me that the Gateway wouldn't work without two TVs, and that it was pointless to get it otherwise. Is it not true that you can record 6 shows at once with just one portal? Because she seemed to suggest I needed two TVs to even get that functionality out of it.

Usually Shaw is excellent for helping me, but now I'm confused!

Wow.....you managed to get a very uninformed CSR. As stated earlier, the portals are simply that, a portal to access the gateway that has all the recording tuners. Technically you don't need a portal at all to record TV.

When I go on holidays, I turn off the breaker switch on the surge protectors on all the tv setups in the house that shuts off power to the TV, Portal, xbox etc leaving just the gateway running in the basement.

Still records just fine.

[corporatejay]

I called shaw and they no longer sell PVR expanders. I'm assuming there is a third party drive for this, anyone have any pro-tips?

[CubicleGeek]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

I called shaw and they no longer sell PVR expanders. I'm assuming there is a third party drive for this, anyone have any pro-tips?

You should be able to use any eSATA drive.

[GoinAllTheWay]

They finally gave up that cash cow, did they?

Far as I know, any drive enclosure with any regular drive (no green drives) and the appropriate plug (is it USB? Been a while since I looked) and it will work fine.

Think they can handle up to a 5 TB drive?

[CubicleGeek]

Gateway supports up to 6TB for a total of 6.5 inc internal drive.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by CubicleGeek

Gateway supports up to 6TB for a total of 6.5 inc internal drive.

Huh...I heard it was on 1TB that could be added on. Well, might have to swap out my purchased 1TB drive and put a larger one on my case. Nice.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by CubicleGeek

You should be able to use any eSATA drive.

Quick word of warning, all eSata may work but not all setups are made equal.

What I did was scan the end of the thread on digital home to find a setup that was tested by someone else. It has word flawlessly for 4 months now.

Just google "digital home gateway external hard drive"

My setup is a Vantec USB 2.0 esata and WD Red 2GB. I find that plenty, but yes WD just released their single 6GB Red drive if you want max storage in simple form factor.

Also I made sure to order exact specs and model numbers recommended. Looks like the Vantec usb 3.0 has issues and 2.0 does not. Also WD Green drives have issues.

Anyways total cost was about $130 with shipping.

EDIT:

My exact setup. I just plugged it in formatted and worked.

Vantec Nexstar CX 3.5in SATA to USB 2.0 and eSATA External Hard Drive Enclosure

Western Digital WD AV-GP 2TB 64MB SATA 3.5in Internal Hard Drive OEM

[GoinAllTheWay]

I'm assuming the gateway looks at its internal dive and expander as a "drive pool'? If you ever wanted to upgrade your expander, it would be kinda nice to know in advance what you are going to lose so you could either watch it or delete it before upgrading the drive.

Has anyone had any success using a PVR expander on their Gateway?

I know shaw sells their own (1 GB and 500 MB) but I would like to use a larger one. Seems it may be a little hit and miss with which external drives will work.

Any suggestions on brands, etc would be appreciated.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Has anyone had any success using a PVR expander on their Gateway?

I know shaw sells their own (1 GB and 500 MB) but I would like to use a larger one. Seems it may be a little hit and miss with which external drives will work.

Any suggestions on brands, etc would be appreciated.

I was going to purchase one of these but for whatever reason I never get around to it. I believe this one works with the Gateway;

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX30315

[Fuzz]

I put a 2TB drive in a Vantec enclosure, something like this:
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX45589
It is so nice not having to worry about space. If you want I can give you the exact items I used, I'll have to check at home tonight. I know you don't want a USB3 enclosure, something about issues with the chipset. I think you can go to 3TB, not sure though. 2TB seams lots.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Has anyone had any success using a PVR expander on their Gateway?

I know shaw sells their own (1 GB and 500 MB) but I would like to use a larger one. Seems it may be a little hit and miss with which external drives will work.

Any suggestions on brands, etc would be appreciated.

You can buy an esata case. This is the one I have. Same as fuzz.
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/374

Most people recommend the Western Digital AV-GP type drives. They are specially designed to be always on.

Never had any problems with it.

[CubicleGeek]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I put a 2TB drive in a Vantec enclosure, something like this:
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX45589
It is so nice not having to worry about space. If you want I can give you the exact items I used, I'll have to check at home tonight. I know you don't want a USB3 enclosure, something about issues with the chipset. I think you can go to 3TB, not sure though. 2TB seams lots.

You can go up to 6TB if you're willing to build/buy a USB RAID enclosure.

EDIT: Wow didn't even realize the sell 6TB drives now so you can just buy a simple enclosure with one of those bad boys and away you go...