Milwaukee HDTV User Group

HDTV Forums => Milwaukee HDTV Recorders & Players => Topic started by: Mark Strube on Tuesday Nov 07, 2006, 05:01:38 AM

Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Tuesday Nov 07, 2006, 05:01:38 AM
Last night I picked up a 2nd HD-DVR for the theater room from TWC's Mayfair office. I'll only be recording HD movies and some trailer shows on that one.

I also picked up an external Seagate 300gb eSATA drive... and it works with the 8300HD!

The DVR will say that there's a problem when you first hook it up (make sure the drive is turned on), but then I just did a reboot of the 8300HD. Once that was finished, about 10 seconds later a screen came up asking me if I wanted to format the drive. Works like a charm!!

About the drives: I don't know if any other SATA drives will work on this... I know some of the earlier versions of SATA (back in 2005) didn't work, or you had to buy special converter cables for them... but I know you should be pretty safe with the Seagate eSATA line of external hard drives. (If you're not shopping online, the only local store I've found to have a decent selection of these is CompUSA in Brookfield.)

About the 8300HD: This is a NEW box I picked up (the manufacture date printed on the bottom is this October), so I'm not going to make any gurantees about older DVR's working with this. However,  I see no reason why they shouldn't. As long as they have an open SATA port on the back, it should work - since I believe all the DVR's got the latest software upgrade. (No, I'm not talking about the new blue Navigator software.)

Just in case things don't work out, be sure to save the original box, manuals, cables... everything that came with it, along with your receipt... CompUSA accepts returns up to 21 days for pretty much any reason, as long as everything is included.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Tuesday Nov 07, 2006, 10:48:35 AM
These drives have been available for awhile.

http://www.maxstore.com/qvx/

Will the SATA still be enabled with this new software they are rolling out?

Seems strange TWC isn't marketing this as an add-on for XX dollars a month. I mean they try to separate you from your money any way they can.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Tuesday Nov 07, 2006, 10:57:13 AM
I'd go with the Seagate... in my experience their drives tend to be a bit more reliable than the Maxtor (especially when it comes to large external drives - Maxtor can be unpredictable)... plus, the 300GB eSATA Seagate from CompUSA is $270 before taxes... $30 less than the Maxtor. ;)
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Will on Tuesday Nov 07, 2006, 03:02:40 PM
You can probably put a bare SATA drive in an eSATA enclosure and save some $$$.

See this Seagate 300GB SATA (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4795199) at Fry's (currently $90).  And this eSATA box  (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4741169?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)($60).

It might be worth a shot, considering you would save about $140.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Wednesday Nov 08, 2006, 05:32:42 PM
Here's a link to Scientific Atlanta. It has set-up and general info on adding an external drive.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/4013171.pdf

Hope this is helpful, the relevant info is on page 17.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: aaron on Wednesday Nov 08, 2006, 08:13:04 PM
This is great news. I'm always pushing the limits of what the internal drive can hold, and having to delete stuff I haven't watched yet.

For anyone looking to do this, Newegg has a 320 GB Seagate drive for $95, plus an additional $5 off using the code 5offbarracuda, with free shipping. Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?CMP=AFC-TechBargains&Item=N82E16822148140)

They also have a couple of eSATA cases in the $25-30 range. So for about $125 you can add another 40 or so hours of HD capabilities to your SA8300.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: mhz40 on Wednesday Nov 08, 2006, 08:27:29 PM
I'd advise that people wait for the upgrade to occur on the DVR's before you rush out and blow cash on an external drive.  Ya never know what will be supported on the new code.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Thursday Nov 09, 2006, 12:16:37 AM
Quote from: mhz40;35837Ya never know what will be supported on the new code.

Wow TWC doesn't know what's going to be supported with their own code? :rolleyes:

Not blaming you mhz40... but that's kind of, shall we say, ridiculous.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: RS922 on Thursday Nov 09, 2006, 12:33:38 AM
I think the point is that no one knows if the SATA will be supported on the new guide.  Those of you posting on this thread will be the first to scream if it's not supported, even though it has never been promoted for use.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Thursday Nov 09, 2006, 12:41:17 AM
Well, I need the storage. The whole reason I got that 2nd HD-DVR is to archive movies for viewing in my theater. If they disable the SATA, that box is going back.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Rence on Sunday Nov 12, 2006, 12:38:09 PM
Just to let folks know - we have an older 8300, had it for over a year.  I got the 500GB External Seagate drive, hooked it up as described and its working fine.

I realize that we're taking a risk with the new software update coming out, but we hae other uses for the drive if it stops working with the DVR.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Gadgetguy on Thursday Nov 16, 2006, 12:46:15 AM
Quote from: Rence;35880Just to let folks know - we have an older 8300, had it for over a year.  I got the 500GB External Seagate drive, hooked it up as described and its working fine.

I realize that we're taking a risk with the new software update coming out, but we hae other uses for the drive if it stops working with the DVR.

=======

I've done the same, 500GB Seagate eSATA on an older 8300HD .. Working so far and, if that fails, I'll install the included PCI board on one of my PCs and use it as an external drive.

But ... I do have some issues that are puzzling ..

1. Got a message on the LIST command that one of my recordings would expire in 2 days ... though I had plenty of space after adding the eSATA. It disappeared, of course, after I watched the show. So far, hasn't returned.  Theoretically, I shouldn't get such messages for quite a while.

2. Given that all my new recordings will be to the eSATA for a while since it has more space (that's the protocol), everything I've recorded in the last week should be going to eSATA. When I try to watch something that is still recording, I've had some glitches, including losing the remainder of the recording. I'd be curious if any of you have had such problems. If I wait until the recording is over, there is no problem watching the recording.
Title: Western Digital's 8300 eSATA drive
Post by: BMO on Thursday Nov 16, 2006, 03:52:10 PM
I have had Western Digital's eSATA drive since September.  It's worked flawlessly for me.  They have a drive specifically designed for the SA8300 boxes.   It's a bit pricey for a 250GB drive and its only available directly from WDC.Com but it has worked flawlessly right out of the box.  It's a bit noisy, but ...

Here is a link if anyone is interested -
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=229 (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=229)

In reading on the AVSForum.org site, there were a number of posts that indicated the SA8300's can have problems with drives >250GB.

The port should have been activated with the Pioneer 2.5.1 (?) software revision.

BMO
---------------
Sondy KDL-46XBR3 with a TWC SA8300HD
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Thursday Nov 16, 2006, 04:08:17 PM
I kind of doubt there's anything too special about these eSATA drives allegedly designed specifically for the 8300HD. Since it states that it's designed for streaming video, perhaps it's pre-formatted for use with the 8300HD, so you don't get the pop-up asking you if you'd like to format the drive. The Seagate drive is very quiet, and I haven't had any issues with it even though it's a 300GB.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: LoadStar on Friday Nov 17, 2006, 01:03:37 AM
Quote from: Mark Strube;35998I kind of doubt there's anything too special about these eSATA drives allegedly designed specifically for the 8300HD. Since it states that it's designed for streaming video, perhaps it's pre-formatted for use with the 8300HD, so you don't get the pop-up asking you if you'd like to format the drive. The Seagate drive is very quiet, and I haven't had any issues with it even though it's a 300GB.

Well, the only food for thought is that the drives in question are in Maxtor's QuickView series, which is the series of drives that go all the way back to Quantum. It's said that they're specially designed for use with DVRs... it's the same series of drives that TiVo has always used in their units as well.

What makes them "specially designed for use with DVRs"? I'm not quite sure, to be honest. WeakNees, a distributor of upgrades for TiVo, lists these as the features of the QuickView series:
Quote*  Thermal Control: On board sensors monitor temperature and adjust characteristics as necessary to keep the temperature optimal.
    * Durability: These drives run at 7200 RPM - more than fast enough for every PVR (providing about three times the necessary peak throughput) but not fast enough to wear out sooner.
    * Acoustic Management: DVR-specific drives are specially tuned to run as quietly as possible.
    * A/V Streaming: DVR-specific drives have been optimized and tuned to provide consistent data to the PVR processor. Standard desktop drives can hang while retrying drive reads - QuickView drives know to move ahead and provide more data to keep video smooth.
    * Error Recovery: Desktop drives retry on errors to make sure that your Excel spreadsheet is exactly right - it's imperative. But when watching video, if one block of data is bad, you may not even notice a dark spot on one frame for 1/30th of a second. So these drives are tuned to move past errors faster, putting the stream of data as top priority. Where desktop drives often cause stutters, these drives run smooth.

The 7200 RPM is nothing special these days, nor is acoustic management. (And frankly, if the QuickView drive is what's inside the 8300, the acoustic management needs help.)

As for the A/V Streaming one - I can't find any more details. I'd love to learn just what makes the QuickStream drives better at A/V streaming than other drives. Thus far, just them telling me that it's better is as many details as I can find. The error recovery item is similar - no details, just them telling us "we're better." Thanks. That helps.

Whatever the advantages, Seagate also offers a DVR-"optimized" version, the DB35. Again, very few details are available past "we're better."
Title: USB to eSATA Adapter?
Post by: atanag46 on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 01:50:48 PM
Hello, obviously I'm brand new to this forum, but have been a reader for several years.  Is there such thing as a USB or Firewire to eSATA adapter?  I've got a 160 GB external hard drive laying around that I'd love to hook up to my 8300HD DVR.  Thanks!
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: waterhead on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 03:21:38 PM
Google is your friend.

A quick search found this:
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aau2esa.asp (http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aau2esa.asp)
It's cheaper at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812174001 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812174001)

If your motherboard has open SATA ports, you could use this:
http://www.computervideogear.com/sata/external-sata-esata-adapter.htm (http://www.computervideogear.com/sata/external-sata-esata-adapter.htm)
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: atanag46 on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 03:52:13 PM
Thanks.  I need to go the other direction, though.  My external hard-drive is USB, and want to plug it into the 8300's SATA port.  Can I go this direction?
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: waterhead on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 04:39:50 PM
Quote from: atanag46;36028Thanks.  I need to go the other direction, though.  My external hard-drive is USB, and want to plug it into the 8300's SATA port.  Can I go this direction?

Oh, right. What was I thinking? :blush:

You could get adapters for each end of the USB to eSATA adapter. But there is no guarentee that it would even work.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: waterhead on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 04:57:27 PM
Okay, to redeem myself, I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812240002 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812240002)

It looks like a hub for any kind of storage device. It says it connects to a PC with a eSATA connection.

Paul
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: waterhead on Saturday Nov 18, 2006, 05:00:50 PM
On further review, it says it needs Wndows to work:
http://www.koutech.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=297 (http://www.koutech.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=297)
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Will on Monday Nov 20, 2006, 09:58:26 AM
For those interested:  CompUSA now has the Seagate eSATA 300GB Hard D (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=341416&pfp=hpf3)rive for 149.99 -- good through Tuesday Nov 21 only.  It's 199.99 - 50 MIR.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: captinsano on Wednesday Nov 22, 2006, 09:20:40 AM
Quote from: Gadgetguy;35972=======

But ... I do have some issues that are puzzling ..


2. Given that all my new recordings will be to the eSATA for a while since it has more space (that's the protocol), everything I've recorded in the last week should be going to eSATA. When I try to watch something that is still recording, I've had some glitches, including losing the remainder of the recording. I'd be curious if any of you have had such problems. If I wait until the recording is over, there is no problem watching the recording.

Hey Gadgetguy.  I have similar problems with my 8300HD and a Seagate 320gig in an external enclosure.  Many times a program won't record the whole thing... and this even happens if its overnight and no one is using the box.  Sometimes it wont even record at all.

Any ideas?
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Greg Oman on Sunday Dec 17, 2006, 02:22:10 PM
Does anyone know if you plug in an external drive, what the program content is stored as?  Meaning, if TW did release a new firmware and we lost the eSATA functionality, could the content be recovered by another software tool?

If so, that seems to mitigate the investment risk somewhat.

Greg O.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Gregg Lengling on Sunday Dec 17, 2006, 03:09:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Oman;36612Does anyone know if you plug in an external drive, what the program content is stored as?  Meaning, if TW did release a new firmware and we lost the eSATA functionality, could the content be recovered by another software tool?

If so, that seems to mitigate the investment risk somewhat.

Greg O.
I don't think file formats will be changed.  The updates that TWC is mainly doing has to do with the user interface not with the core system.  BTW I hate new software, it doesn't search worth a damn and at times I'll select a channel and get only audio, no video and I have to use the up/down channel buttons to get the video back.  BAH HUMBUG!
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Monday Dec 18, 2006, 01:46:43 PM
Quote from: Greg Oman;36612Meaning, if TW did release a new firmware and we lost the eSATA functionality, could the content be recovered by another software tool?

I'm 90% certain it gets stored in an encrypted proprietary format, and at this point there's no tools to recover the video files. However, I haven't tried this myself, so that's why I say 90%.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Greg Oman on Monday Dec 18, 2006, 07:50:32 PM
Interesting... I'll try it and see what I can see.  January 2007 Sound&Vision Magazine came today, interesting comment on page 14.. Room to Burn.  Talks about the FCC requiring a functional firewire port to all customer's who request it.  The gist of the response is that you should be able to get a functional port to store more HD content.

Greg O.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Paul S. on Tuesday Dec 19, 2006, 07:03:47 PM
It would be great if this became standard.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: tekdredger on Thursday Dec 21, 2006, 12:58:19 PM
Mark,

Did you lose any DVR functionality after adding the external drive?  I recall when this first became feasible some folks in the AVS forums were reporting trouble with the so called "trick play buffer".  I'm about to pull the trigger but I'm wondering what I might have to give up to get the extra storage space.  One feature I use often and am most concerned about is "chase play", watching a program from the beginning while it is still recording.  Your comments and observations are appreciated.  P.S.  What firmware version are you using?

Thanks
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Sunday Dec 24, 2006, 04:07:49 PM
The only thing I lost is that functionality - rewinding a program while you're watching (not recording) it.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: TPK on Tuesday Dec 26, 2006, 11:19:04 PM
I think I will put together an enclosure with a SATA drive and hook that up to the 8300...

These 2 items come to about $100 with shipping after rebate:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2268595&sku=TSD-320AS

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427201&sku=M501-1252

For 100 bux to add an extra 320 gigabytes of storage to the DVR, I cannot pass that up...

The only question I have is what cable will I need?  Does just a standard sata cable work?  Or do I need an e-sata cable with a different connector on one end, or both ends??  As far as I can tell, that enclosure doesn't come with a cable (I assume it comes with a power supply of some sort), but with that enclosure, what sort of cable do I need?
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Wednesday Dec 27, 2006, 09:54:44 AM
The sa8300 has an e-sata connector,  so an e-sata to e-sata cable should work for you. I thought I saw them listed on Tiger-direct web site.
 
Good luck, you'll appreciate this added storage.

Mdr

P,S, Good news from the AVS Forum. The first report of being able to use the e-sata with TWC's new Mystro(Navigator)  software was just posted from someone in North Carolina. Best of all trick play seems to work also.:) :)    

"Success !

After the 4th try, the drive was finally recognized and gave me the prompt to format it. The format ran in under 2 mnutes.

I looked in the Mystro DIAG, but it does not show a 'separate drive', it just increased my clusters and free cluster dramatcially for the 500gb drive. The diag menu does not show bytes, just clusters.

Inital tests on recording and playback are without problem.

The ability to also pause, rewind and fast foward live programing appears to work also. I had read on other versions, this was an issue apparently caused by buffering issues.

I will post anything else I find. "
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: LuckySe7ens on Thursday Dec 28, 2006, 05:18:34 PM
I've been reading that the new software "upgrade" will neuter the functionality of DVR.   For instance... when fast forwarding, currently, you hit play, and it rewinds a few seconds to account for human reaction time... this feature, gone.  This was just a short list of the many features that'll be lost with the "upgrade".

If you ask me, AT&T couldn't be offering competition to these morons any sooner.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: TPK on Friday Dec 29, 2006, 12:38:51 AM
Quote from: TPK;36722I think I will put together an enclosure with a SATA drive and hook that up to the 8300...

These 2 items come to about $100 with shipping after rebate:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2268595&sku=TSD-320AS

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427201&sku=M501-1252

For 100 bux to add an extra 320 gigabytes of storage to the DVR, I cannot pass that up...

The only question I have is what cable will I need?  Does just a standard sata cable work?  Or do I need an e-sata cable with a different connector on one end, or both ends??  As far as I can tell, that enclosure doesn't come with a cable (I assume it comes with a power supply of some sort), but with that enclosure, what sort of cable do I need?

As an update (if anyone who hasn't done this yet is interested):

I placed an order for these items yesterday with standard shipping, and when I came home today it was sitting on my doorstep (wow...  thats amazing in and of itself, and worth mentioning)...

Anyhow, the enclosure not only came with a cable (standard SATA cable), but it also came with a SATA to e-SATA dongle which converts one end of the cable to an e-SATA, while the other connector (standard SATA) hooks right into the back of the unit...  The 8300 box takes a e-SATA connector, so I used the dongle to convert the other end for the box...  So I guess I did not need to buy an e-SATA to e-SATA cable, which turned out to be surprisngly difficult to find, and cost something like $25 from an amazon 3'rd party vendor (best price I could find)... I guess that ones going to my cable collection when it gets delivered ;) I suppose I will try to be more patient next time before I go ordering stuff I am not sure I need...

For power, I was hoping to plug the thing into the back of the cable box for its power (and tell the cable box to always power the outlet), but the cable box has a non-grounded plug (the power cable for the unit is a standard PC power cable, which is a grounded plug), and it would not fit into the cable box, even with a 3-prong 'cheater' adaptor...  So I ended up having to route the power cable behind my 'entertainment center', into an available outlet on one of the power strips...

I hooked it all up, and I had to do some futz-ing with the cable box a little bit (a couple of reboots and power cycles to the cable box and external SATA unit) and finally the box asked me if I wanted to format the drive...

Now when I go to the diagnostic menu, and select DVR AVFS screen, its reporting my AV Size at 426.2 GB (I think it was 120 GB before), and the SATA screen is reporting SATA Status: Authorized with what appears to be a log of activities (including 'Drive Unplugged', 'Drive Not Formatted', 'Format complete', and 'Drive OK' log messages)...

Anyhow, the drive appears to be working and it looks like I have plenty of avaialble capacity..

The total cost for this including shipping is $126.97, before a $20 MIR, so it comes to $106.97 after the rebate..

Unfortunately, the live chase buffer is definitely bugged (I can be a lot more specific if someone would like a full explaination of what the DVR does not do that it did before, I  am still trying to figure out what the new 'rules' are myself)...  

Hopefully, this will be fixed in the pending upgrade...   Perhaps not..

My biggest fear is that TWC may decide one day to only allow us to use 'their' external SATA units (for a rental fee of course), as opposed to letting us build it ourselves (bringing TWC no extra revenue)...  Allowing us to do this appears to be more 'open' than the cable company usually is...
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: TPK on Friday Jan 05, 2007, 07:22:32 PM
Today the live chase buffer started working on the DVR, even with the external hard drive attached...

My guess is that the chase buffer works as long as its being recorded on the internal drive...  If the chase buffer hits the external drive, then it doesnt work...

According to what I have read, the recordings go onto whichever drive has the most free space available....   So my guess is that once the external drive filled up, then it started to use the internal drive again...

So now the trick will be to try to keep the internal drive free, while keeping the external drive full, which I guess is sort of possible by forcing recordings to go onto the external drive by freeing up space on the recordings I made when the live chase buffer was not working for making new recordings (I guess I have to keep track of when the live chase buffer works and when it doesn't work)...

If the chase buffer is actually working, and I make a permanent recording on that, then I need to compensate by deleteing some other recording I made when the chase buffer was working...

.. Does this help anyone?
Title: External drive working, now lose Live TV DVR
Post by: Pixelmgn on Sunday Jan 07, 2007, 01:45:45 PM
I have added a 300GB Seagate eSATA drive to my SA 8300HD (mfg date of 11/5/2006).  The recording and playback with the external drive works perfectly.  However, whenever the external drive is attached, the DVR functionality for live TV isn't working.  Normally, the DVR will capture up to 1 hour in it's "buffer" and allow me to pause as well as skip forward and backward within the buffer.  With the external drive attached, there is no buffer for any live TV.  The live TV buffer will work if I don't have the external drive attached.  The DVR works fine for any recorded program (but not during recording) from either the external or internal drive.

I have seen a couple of postings concerning success with the external drive, but some DVR issues.  Two questions:

1. Is my issue described above similar to your experience?

2. Has anyone added an external hard drive and had the live TV DVR work as it did before?

Thanks in advance for your responses.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Monday Jan 08, 2007, 08:45:56 AM
Your right, that's how it works with Passport.

Once you fill up the external drive and have more space available on the internal drive; the buffer will return to the internal drive and the "trick play" features will once again work for live TV. It's all dependent on which drive has more space available.

Thus you might find that it works for a while and then stops because the buffer will alternate between the drives dependent upon free disk space.

The added capacity is worth putting up with this minor quirk.

Record and enjoy:)

MDR
Title: TWC's "supported" drives?
Post by: Movin2Milwaukee on Wednesday Jan 10, 2007, 05:58:38 PM
The instructions for the 8300HD suggest to contact your local provider, to find out which SATA drives are supported/recommended with this DVR. I called up the TWC location @ Mayfair and the person I spoke to said, "we don't support this feature so you're on your own, as far as picking a drive."

How do I find out if I have the right software in my 8300HD to add an external drive? Which ones should I go with, to be safe? Is over 160GB too much of a risk, as it may not work well with the DVR?
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Mark Strube on Wednesday Jan 10, 2007, 08:29:42 PM
If it has the port for it, and it's an 8300HD, it'll work. I think the posts in this thread are a good guide to figure out what works... anything over 160GB is not a risk - I'd recommend the Seagate drive.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: ebrire on Friday Feb 02, 2007, 05:27:44 PM
Sorry if I'm asking you any dumb questions, but I got the same enclosure as yours, the only difference is the HD, I got a Western Digital, 320GB and I can't get this thing to work.

I did pretty much the same: mounted the HD in the enclosure, it seems to be working fine, but I tried to connect it to the 8300HD (Time Warner Cable in Albany, NY) and the DVR never recognized the external drive.

I have SARA 1.89.17.1, and I got my DVR on Jun 12, 2006.

The questions are:

1. Am I supposed to disconnect the TWC coaxial cable?
2. When does the question to format the drive appears? Right after the boot?
3. Am I supposed to press the power button on the DVR or the prompt will appear on the TV if it's not ON? (like what happens when you check the SARA version

I'm getting frustrated, I was all excited to expand my DVR. Am I doing something wrong? I think I tried to reboot the DVR over 10 times and nothing

Thanks in advance for any help.
Ebrire



Quote from: TPK;36722I think I will put together an enclosure with a SATA drive and hook that up to the 8300...

These 2 items come to about $100 with shipping after rebate:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2268595&sku=TSD-320AS

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427201&sku=M501-1252

For 100 bux to add an extra 320 gigabytes of storage to the DVR, I cannot pass that up...

The only question I have is what cable will I need?  Does just a standard sata cable work?  Or do I need an e-sata cable with a different connector on one end, or both ends??  As far as I can tell, that enclosure doesn't come with a cable (I assume it comes with a power supply of some sort), but with that enclosure, what sort of cable do I need?
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: LoadStar on Friday Feb 02, 2007, 06:43:07 PM
Quote from: ebrire;37440Sorry if I'm asking you any dumb questions, but I got the same enclosure as yours, the only difference is the HD, I got a Western Digital, 320GB and I can't get this thing to work.

I did pretty much the same: mounted the HD in the enclosure, it seems to be working fine, but I tried to connect it to the 8300HD (Time Warner Cable in Albany, NY) and the DVR never recognized the external drive.

I have SARA 1.89.17.1, and I got my DVR on Jun 12, 2006.

The questions are:

1. Am I supposed to disconnect the TWC coaxial cable?
2. When does the question to format the drive appears? Right after the boot?
3. Am I supposed to press the power button on the DVR or the prompt will appear on the TV if it's not ON? (like what happens when you check the SARA version

I'm getting frustrated, I was all excited to expand my DVR. Am I doing something wrong? I think I tried to reboot the DVR over 10 times and nothing

Thanks in advance for any help.
Ebrire

Well, Milwaukee region is running Passport, not SARA, so for that major reason, I'm not sure how much help we'll be able to provide.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Detritus on Saturday May 05, 2007, 04:49:13 PM
Just hooked up successfully with:

Western Digital WD5000AAKS (500GB).
Kingwin KH-350SE-BK (that's the eSATA enclosure without USB) from MilwaukeePC.

I had previously tried it with an Azio ENC211-U41 (eSATA + USB), but the 8300HD kept saying the drive failed and that the cable was unplugged. Somehow it didn't like the controller in that enclosure (the disconnection message would re-occur and the diagnostic log was full of it). That enclosure worked fine with my Laptop's USB port.

Don't have much mileage with it, yet. So far trick-play seems to work fine.

Also worth nothing is that both enclosures came with the necessary cable (actually using the cable that came with the Azio enclosure right now, since I didn't want to open up the plastic of the new one)
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Detritus on Saturday May 05, 2007, 06:28:24 PM
Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Passport eSATA Database:
http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport

The link above is a compatibility database that's being maintained by somebody from avs. Enter your own experiences.

So far everything's dandy... Recording 2 shows simultaneously while watching a third not a problem. Trick play (rewinding/pausing live tv) is not a problem, either.

So all in all, my storage capacity quadrupled :) I went from about 135G (formatted) to 594G (formatted).
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Detritus on Wednesday May 16, 2007, 10:45:53 PM
Well looks like trick play doesn't work, after all.

Experience so far has been ok, though.

There are more glitches in recordings than with the built-in drive, but they're rare and short. A HD specifically designed for streaming applications such as the WD5000AVJS would prolly prevent that.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: markd on Friday Jul 06, 2007, 06:39:46 AM
Has anyone experienced weird HDMI issues when attempting to connect a second drive?  After more than a year of problem free use, I bought a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB External (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8294008&st=seagate+esata&type=product&id=1172277308372) from Best Buy yesterday and a eSATA cable from Milwaukee PC.  After connecting the drive, I not only did not get an drive formatting message, I lost my picture through HDMI :eek:

I have a second 8300HD box (connected upstairs via component).  I swapped the boxes (taking the external out of the picture for a minute) and had no problems with the "dead" box via component upstairs nor box #2 downstairs via HDMI (so I know the cable is still fine).  After more than 20 hard boots and crazy cable trickery, I cannot get HDMI working again on box #1.

Has anyone ever heard of such weirdness.  Did my HDMI port on the 8300 just mysteriously "die" at the same time I connected a second drive!?

Also, fwiw, when plugging the drive back into box #1 while connected via component to upstairs TV (I was too scared to connect it to box #2 while connected to HDMI downstairs), I just got error messages and no option to format.  When unplugged, it would say that my external was diconnected and to reconnect it but I could never get it to format.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Friday Jul 06, 2007, 11:13:23 AM
Check out this AVS forum.  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=516559

I seem to recall reading the Seagate Free Agent Drives don't work with the SA8300.
They have a data base of good and bad drives available on the first page.

As far as the HDMI goes, haven't heard of that one. Have you tried  disconnecting and unplugging (power and HDMI) everything. Basically go back to day one and treat as a new install and go from there.

Good luck
MDR
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: markd on Friday Jul 06, 2007, 12:28:29 PM
Quote from: MDR;39942Check out this AVS forum.  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=516559

I seem to recall reading the Seagate Free Agent Drives don't work with the SA8300.
They have a data base of good and bad drives available on the first page.

Yeah, I found that out after the fact.  I remembered hearing that Seagate drives were working and the Free Agent drives are all the B&M stores seem to be selling for Seagate these days.  I guess I'll just put my own together.

QuoteAs far as the HDMI goes, haven't heard of that one. Have you tried  disconnecting and unplugging (power and HDMI) everything. Basically go back to day one and treat as a new install and go from there.

Yep.  I've swapped the boxes (between upstairs and downstairs) twice.  HDMI is no longer working on one of my boxes.  This loss of HDMI mysterioulsy happened right after connecting my Free Agent drive.  I'm not saying that this caused it (I'm a computer geek and this is hard for me to believe) but it's just weird and has made me a little scared to try another drive on my other 8300 for fear of losing HDMI on both. :(
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Friday Jul 06, 2007, 01:13:51 PM
A little clarification. I meant unplugging the TV and SA8300HD. Both power and interconnect between the two and then reconnect and start from scratch, If you search further on AVS you'll find there are a few members who aren't big fans of HDMI. HDMI can be a fickle bugger and I'm only reaching for straws. It should only take a few minutes and couldn't hurt and should help be sure everything is reset.

I followed the thread on a particular TV brand and there was a problem where tech support said unplug the TV at the wall outlet and not from the back of the set. Why this would matter; who knows but it actually made the difference in solving the problem. Others scratched their heads as to why this made a difference but it did:confused:  But you can't argue with success.
MDR
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: markd on Saturday Jul 07, 2007, 08:46:32 AM
I did unplug the HDMI from the TV too but never the TV power :confused:

I have my boxes swapped at the moment still but will try it at some point.  The TV where the original box "lost" its HDMI functionality is a Panny plasma (fwiw).

I know HDMI can be "fickle" but I already have a fatty going into a wall, under a floor and up through another wall so it's a real PITA for me to switch to component.  When my parents got a new XBR LCD, we simply could not get it to work with an HDMI cable (trying three different ones too; though all cables were from Monoprice).  We couldn't escape the on screen error message about HDCP compliance. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the thoughts though!
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: misterjensen on Sunday Jul 08, 2007, 07:56:09 AM
Okay. I've read through this thread, have done several searches, have looked at the compatability site, and keep getting more and more confused. Are there ANY external SATA drives for an 8300HD running Passport that when connected will allow the SAME FULL functionality of the DVR similar to if it did not have an external drive hooked to it (no bugs or loss of features)? If so, which drive models? Thank you for your time and help :)
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Sunday Jul 08, 2007, 09:43:32 AM
Quote from: misterjensen;39956Okay. I've read through this thread, have done several searches, have looked at the compatability site, and keep getting more and more confused. Are there ANY external SATA drives for an 8300HD running Passport that when connected will allow the SAME FULL functionality of the DVR similar to if it did not have an external drive hooked to it (no bugs or loss of features)? If so, which drive models? Thank you for your time and help :)

NO!
You lose the "trick play" capability on Passport units dependent  upon which drive has more free space. It doesn't matter what kind of enclosure or drive you use.

MDR
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Bigdog on Tuesday Oct 23, 2007, 09:33:21 PM
I picked up a 500GB SATA drive at Bestbuy and installed it in an external sata case from monoprice and have not been able to get my 8300 to see it at all. I have unplugged both drive and box numerous times and it never sees the new drive. The box is connected to the TV via an HDMI cable....

Any ideas?

Thanks
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: MDR on Wednesday Oct 24, 2007, 11:58:07 AM
Your lacking in details. Try these links.

http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport

http://www.peparsplace.com/html/22.html

If you have a lot of time you can check out all 197 pages on the AVS thread where these links are from.

Good Luck

MDR
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: jfultz14976 on Wednesday Sep 24, 2008, 06:47:25 PM
OK so I followed all the useful information on this thread and I can now record to an esata drive with no problems!!

Now 2 Questions,

1:  Now that I have my shows on my esata drive can I access them from my PC?  I tried just plugging into my PC but Windows justs shows the format type as "Unknown" Was curious if there was a program that could assess the drive or if anyone knows what format it is.

2:  I have noticed with drive plugged in it is constantly being recorded to (I know it is so I can pause "live" TV) has anyone had any problems with this? (ie, burning up their drive)

Thanks in advance,
John
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: WITI6fan on Thursday Sep 25, 2008, 10:02:45 PM
Quote from: jfultz14976;483452:  I have noticed with drive plugged in it is constantly being recorded to (I know it is so I can pause "live" TV) has anyone had any problems with this? (ie, burning up their drive)

Having researched external enclosures and their problems recently, I have discovered that:

- Cheap enclosures with fans tend to keep your drive cool and safe from burning up... until the fan goes bad.
- All-aluminum (or other metal) enclosures where the drive touches the metal keep drives the coolest because of heat transfer.

If your enclosure has a power switch, you could turn it off during extended periods of not using the drive, that will extend it's life.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: GoofyJeff on Saturday Oct 31, 2009, 05:52:01 PM
I just bought a 1TB Western Digital "My DVR Expander" drive for use with my TWC SA8300HDC  

For whatever reason, it doesn't appear to be working.  I have power-cycled both the DVR and the external drive multiple times to no avail.  It still shows that I am 41% full.   :(

Any advice would be most appreciated.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Nov 05, 2009, 11:41:33 PM
Quote from: GoofyJeff;53846I just bought a 1TB Western Digital "My DVR Expander" drive for use with my TWC SA8300HDC  

For whatever reason, it doesn't appear to be working.  I have power-cycled both the DVR and the external drive multiple times to no avail.  It still shows that I am 41% full.   :(

Any advice would be most appreciated.

The research shows that the external drives (E-SATA) work better with the non-C MDN boxes with based on what I have read and heard about a 75% success rate.

The C-boxes run ODN and only have about a 25% chance of success with E-SATA drives.  However, a TWC HDC box user in Charlotte North Carolina posted on the AVS forum that he got past the typical "We don't support E-SATA drives" and needed one for his HDC box.  A higher level tech said that "they" were testing E-SATA drives with the new HDC boxes.  However, it is unclear whether or not he meant testing at the corporate level or testing in that North Carolina division.

Anyway, shockingly, the tech e-mailed the user a list of compatible drives with the HDC boxes.  This is what the user told the AVS forum:

**********************************

Just wanted to let folks know what I was just told- I called TWC tech support about transferring a TIVO lifetime subscription and when the tech asked why I stated that I was dissatisfied with the storage of the 8300hdc. He stated,"You know you can add an external hard drive..."
I told him that I had heard other wise and he said that they had been testing drives, and were still testing drives, but had a list of compatible external drives, and that he would email that list to me.
He did. Here is the list he sent

Seagate models: ST3160801XS (160GB) and ST3400832AS (400GB)
Maxtor models: Quickview P01K160 (160GB) and J01M300 (300GB)
Western Digital: models: WDG1S5000 (500GB), WDXS1600JDNN (160GB) and WD2500JD-56HBC0 (250GB).

*********************************

That's all I know.  Good luck!!!

Jack
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: amaroq on Friday Nov 06, 2009, 08:32:39 AM
Has anyone had any luck getting eSATA working on one of the Samsung 3090 boxes? I had an eSATA drive hooked up to my 8300HD and it worked great, but when that box went on the fritz they replaced it with a Samsung and I've never been able to get it to work.  I've been into all the diagnostic menus and enabled eSATA and soforth and it still won't recognize the drive.
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: Jack 1000 on Friday Nov 06, 2009, 10:42:58 AM
Quote from: amaroq;53875Has anyone had any luck getting eSATA working on one of the Samsung 3090 boxes? I had an eSATA drive hooked up to my 8300HD and it worked great, but when that box went on the fritz they replaced it with a Samsung and I've never been able to get it to work.  I've been into all the diagnostic menus and enabled eSATA and soforth and it still won't recognize the drive.

Not sure,

But for reference purposes, did you go to a service center and swap the box, or did they bring out that Samsung on a service call?  Did you request a Samsung box?  Or did they bring that on a truck trip?  Because I heard that you had to specifically ask for a Samsung box and if you don't, you get another SA-8300 HDC.

I heard that some divisions are still giving out SA-8300 MDN boxes.  You should also check the info on the model number of the Samsung box.  The new Samsung 3090 runs the exact same software as the SA-8300 HDC.  There is another newer Samsung box, the Samsung 3270 that has a bigger hard drive, BUT does not run PIP.  But I think in Wisconsin all they are giving out now are SA-8300 HDC's and Samsung 3090's for DVR boxes.

Jack
Title: TWC 8300HD DVR eSATA port is now active! (external hard drive storage)
Post by: amaroq on Sunday Nov 08, 2009, 10:54:04 AM
I went to the Mayfair store and asked for "one of those Samsung boxes" and they brought out a 3090.  That was my third time replacing an 8300HDC and I figured the Samsung couldn't be any worse.  I had an 8300HD that worked great for a long time with my eSATA drive but it eventually died and I got stuck with a C box.  The Samsung has been working great for me so I'm hesitant to replace it but the lack of eSATA is driving me crazy.
Title: Apricorn 1TB Expander?
Post by: dgolombowski on Friday Nov 05, 2010, 03:31:17 PM
I have an 8300HD DVR and had the Apricorn 1TB Expander in use for a year and a half.  All worked fine until the drive failed.  I received a new 1TB drive under warranty from Apricorn and have had nothing but trouble since.  I have exchanged the DVR three times now each time getting a 8300HD.  Whenever I install the drive the DVR skips scheduled recordings.  I have attempted installing it several times now and eventually it will skip recordings.  I have formatted the drive on my PC and run numerous checks.  The drive checks out OK so I am wondering if there is an issue with TWC's software that is now not compatible with the the 1TB drive?