I recommend to anyone joining this thread, that they start from the first post and read all of them.
Many valuable bits have been disclosed already.
Many problems solved.
And as mentioned, quite a number of firmware updates. Very impressive!
Early in the life of the unit, the manufacturer even changed out the remote control!
I think I'm repeating myself here, but I actually use an external Western Digital 60gb USB drive.
It's based on a 2.5" laptop drive, so it takes power from the USB cable.
The receiver seems to set aside a video buffer, which would impact a smaller drive more than a larger one, but I'd say you could easily get 30+ hours on your 40gb.
That'd be with a mix of channels.
If you record very low data rate channels, you would get more time.
The easiest thing is to record ten shows, then scroll through the selection menu.
As you roll the cursor over each show, the size and playing time is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Initial attachment of drive:
- Be sure to have the main power off ,
- plug in the drive,
- power up with the rear switch,
- wait for the drive to be detected (10 seconds?),
- power up with the front switch,
- wait for the drive to power up (10 seconds?)
- go to the menu and format the drive.
For normal use, saving a video, making a DVD, etc...
- just kill power with the remote,
- remove drive,
- copy off files with computer,
- restore drive to Visionsat,
- turn on power with remote.
DO NOT EVER DELETE A FILE off the hard drive with your computer! ! ! -
Make a list if you must, then delete files with the FTA receiver, only.