UPC DVR hard drive size.

mickeyzub · 31-10-2008 9:40am #1

Hi all,
I just got the UPC DVR installed. After looking at the box and checking the Thomson website I assume it's DCI6000 series model. UPC documentation doesn't state the size of the hard drive, however Thomson datasheet for that model says it supports 160-320GB, although no mention of the interface type. Does anyone know what size/type they put into the UPC boxes? And second questions: if it's only 160GB does anyone tried replacing it with bigger drive?

Appleblossom42 · 31-10-2008 10:35am

It records 80 hours, double the size of Sky Plus I think. Not sure of size of disc but presume it's around the 160gb.

mickeyzub · 01-11-2008 12:03pm

It is indeed 160GB Seagate UltraATA. I don't know what file system format it has, but I suppose connecting it to a PC might reveal that. If it's just FAT32 then the HDD replacement could be as straightforward as formatting a bigger HDD connected to a PC to FAT32 and putting it into the Thomson box.

Kensington · 01-11-2008 7:07pm

If it's anything like Sky+, the recording files will be encrypted and unreadable by anything other than the Thomson box. Also, the box will presumably freshly format a new drive to it's own file system, after inserting it into the box, regardless of previous file system in use (if any) on the drive.

mickeyzub · 01-11-2008 7:35pm

I'm sure the files are stored on the HDD in an unreadable format. The point I was making was to put in a bigger drive to increase the recording capacity of the box.

With regard to the box automatically formatting the drive at startup if it has unrecognizable format - it's not necessary true. It depends on the software in the box. One of the ways it might behave is if it can't recognize the HDD format the box will start up in a non-DVR mode and live pause as well as recording will not be possible.

jocko4 · 28-07-2009 9:45pm

Has anybody replaced this HDD or confirmed it's disk structure?

28-07-2009 11:10pm

I believe the files are Encrypted and decrypted in the same way as the stream is Via the Smartcard.

Stevo105 · 31-07-2009 9:01am

Appleblossom42 wrote: »

It records 80 hours, double the size of Sky Plus I think. Not sure of size of disc but presume it's around the 160gb.

I got a new Black Thomson installed last month. the engineers told me that it had a 80GB harddrive inside

watty · 31-07-2009 9:19am

Bitrate is lower on UPC, which means more minutes per Mbyte,

It will record raw, so playback decoding needs active card and subscription.

Stevo105 · 31-07-2009 9:39am

still would be nice to able to increase the size of the drive....i have it a month now and im at 13% free

Alun · 31-07-2009 10:01am

They're special drives (Seagate (ex Maxtor) Quickview) optimized for sequential streaming, so you might not get away with chucking any old drive in even if it did allow it. The data sheet (http://www.weaknees.com/pdf/db35.pdf) also says they have built in DRM capabilities, so that may throw a few spanners in the works as well.

The drive in my silver Thomson box is definitely a 160GB model (I've looked!). I've heard though that half the drive is reserved for live pause/rewind, leaving the other half for recordings.

jocko4 · 31-07-2009 12:49pm

Alun, good find, I didn't know that there were special DVR HDDs in the market - are these just a recent creation? I don't think SKY+ DVR uses them, just ordinary disks AFAIK. Are you sure the UPC Mediabox DVR uses them - have you identified it in your box?

Alun · 31-07-2009 1:34pm

jocko4 wrote: »

Alun, good find, I didn't know that there were special DVR HDDs in the market - are these just a recent creation?

They've been around for a while AFAIK.

I don't think SKY+ DVR uses them, just ordinary disks AFAIK. Are you sure the UPC Mediabox DVR uses them - have you identified it in your box?

I can't remember exactly, it was a while back when I opened my box, since it was dying anyway and being replaced so I thought there was no harm. Anyway, I can't remember the exact type, but distinctly remember there being something special about it at the time, there was definitely something on the label that mentioned video streaming or something like that, so I Googled a bit and came up with that link. I can't say 100% that it was a Quickview, but it seems likely. It was very definitely a Maxtor 160GB in any case.

Kensington · 31-07-2009 1:49pm

jocko4 wrote: »

Alun, good find, I didn't know that there were special DVR HDDs in the market - are these just a recent creation? I don't think SKY+ DVR uses them, just ordinary disks AFAIK.

Sky+ does. The special drives are referred to as CE (Consumer Electronics) drives, built to operate far quieter and produce less heat than standard drives.

jocko4 · 31-07-2009 4:24pm

OK, I stand corrected - but these drives can be removed & copied on PC (using special software). Also I've seen reference to people expanding the capacity of their SKY+ by installing an higher capacity ordinary HDD. This may lead to a noisier & hotter DVR but it still seems to be doable?

watty · 31-07-2009 5:53pm

You can copy ONLY FTA stations off a Sky Digibox Drive with special software. Legally. For personal use only.

If you copy off subscription TV channels from Satellite, or ANY cable TV content off HDD for any purpose you are breaking copyright and breaking Irish Criminal Law (Theft of service) as that bypasses the viewing card if you do it successfully.

If you discuss such schemes it is same as discussing theft of Cable TV. You may be banned. Se charter/FAQ/Stickies

jocko4 · 31-07-2009 9:37pm

watty, I'm aware about this & don't want to discuss anything that is illegal - this was simply a reference to software that copied a SKY+ disk on a PC & does not attempt to decode or otherwise breach the cable companies encryption of the signal.

It was meant to point out that the disks used don't have to be special CE types!

watty · 01-08-2009 7:34am

High capacity disks used to stop and do thermal recalibration. Those were no good for Media Recording/Streaming. So they had specific AV drives that either didn't or hid it behind the cache. Generally there isn't an issue anymore.

CE drives are just retail channel drives. Any Electronics sold retail has to be meet CE approval/Mark. A drive fitted by an OEM need not have a CE mark.

[@ jocko4: I know what you were saying, I just wanted to avoid some of the more restless natives extrapolating it to UPC boxes, different rules apply to Cable.]

Kensington · 01-08-2009 5:36pm

jocko4 wrote: »

It was meant to point out that the disks used don't have to be special CE types!

They don't, no, but they may produce noticeable head seek noise (some drives allow you to set the drive to Quite mode via S.M.A.R.T. which in many cases should quieten the drive down)

CE drives do exist though. This isn't to be confused with the EU CE Mark however.

watty · 01-08-2009 6:38pm

Consumer Electronics Storage:
Perfect For

Automotive navitainment, Military/defense systems, Commercial aircraft, Industrial controls/PCs, Mobile surveillance, Marine-ocean transport

Not really a Drive type, marketing category. Hilarious examples of Consumer Electronics?

stevenmu · 01-08-2009 8:04pm

I presume they're simply standard drives set to spin at slower speeds. For general computer use random access times are very important, general purpose computers would typically read and write lots of different parts of different files at any one time, so higher spin speeds help a lot with this. For media playing or recording, one single big file is being read/written sequentially so the disk spinning at a much lower speed will make no noticeable difference in terms of speed, while also being quieter and producing less heat.

UPC DVR hard drive size.

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