Upgrade DISH DTV Pal to 1Tb???

[yaz96]

I just got my DTV Pal DVR. Anyone upgrade theirs and have any experiences to pass on?

Do I let it DL the new software first, or put the new HD in and then turn it on for the first time?

BTW, there is a seller on eBay selling them for $199 with FREE ship right now.

 

[osu1991]

The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - AVS Forum

Check the Pal dvr owners thread out on AVS. There is a complete how to in there on upgrading the hard drive. The hardest part is getting the case apart in one piece.

 

[osu1991]

The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - AVS Forum

Here are the upgrade instructions.

 

[yaz96]

Thanks!

Anyone here have any personal experience to report? Especially with getting the case apart. Sounds like a chore to not break it.

 

[BBCInc]

It's been a while but I upgraded mine. Getting the case apart was the biggest challenge. My unit was already at F208, so the firmware update was unnecessary. F208 solves some important issues, though, so if yours isn't at that level yet I'd update before, just to be careful.

The swap itself is just a matter of changing out the hard drive, reassembling, and then powering-on and letting the firmware do its thing.

 

[pabeader]

i hope you love yours as much as I do mine.

 

[osu1991]

I have had mine two weeks and love it except that I have one channel that wont take the TV Guide listings even though my Sony takes the listings.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have one and LOVE it....use it all the time
osu...I have the same issue but its just the TBN mux...oh and the 24/7 weather channel on PBS says "DTV program"

 

[pabeader]

that was one of the biggest issues we had during testing. the PSIP would show different stuff from the TVGOS. It all depends on what info is provided and how it's 'understood'

the sony might be using PSIP and the Pal using TVGOS. I have that with my PBS stations. one will show the sub channels and the other doesn't.

 

[osu1991]

Nah I love the Sony but that is the reason I got the Pal. The Sony cannot do anything with out the TVGOS. If it loses it's clock and the TVGOS goes out, it becomes a boat anchor. It can't receive psip and can't set the clock without TVGOS.

Unfortunately it is my CW (KQCW) local and it's sister station CBS (KOTV) that the Pal is not getting TVGOS for. But I do get 12 hrs of psip from them so it works and I have the Sony as a backup till it wears out.

I will probably upgrade the hard drive in the Pal in a few months when I take time off around the holidays.

 

[yaz96]

Can you drop any 1 Tb hard rive in, or is it specific drives, like if you upgraded a Dish receiver?

I'm looking at some now to buy, and don't want to buy the wrong thing.

 

[navychop]

Nah I love the Sony but that is the reason I got the Pal. The Sony cannot do anything with out the TVGOS. If it loses it's clock and the TVGOS goes out, it becomes a boat anchor. It can't receive psip and can't set the clock without TVGOS.

Won't the Sony work just fine with cable? I have one, guess I need to sell it, or rig my Pal DVR to output analog TVGOS from the digital TVGOS.

Love mine. I use it where we camp. I considered increasing the HDD, but figure it's better if I just learn to limit my recordings. I've gone overboard with EHDs at home, no need to make a similar mistake were we camp - er, "RV."

 

[osu1991]

Yes the Sony works with Cable. I have it connected to both cable and OTA. It works perfectly fine with the Digital TVGOS here in the Tulsa area. I was just afraid of it wearing out and not being able to replace the drive in it, like with the Pal.

Also since the Sony relies totally on the TVGOS for clock, if we ever lose our TVGOS data stream and have a power failure I am screwed too. No accurate manual timers without a clock as the Sony will reset to midnight 2004 if the OnScreen data is not present. This happened back around Christmas. Lots of ice and snow storms and our local PBS had some trouble with the TVGOS data inserter interfering with their subchannel, so they shut it off. Of course we had a power blip and I had a doorstop with a digital tuner for a month till they turned the inserter back on.

yaz96 I think there is a list of drives that are known to work with the Pal in the AVS thread. I think it is part of the post on the FAQ and upgrading the drive.

 

[yaz96]

Found it. Ordered one from Amazon. $79.99