Media player/recorder 1TB and 500GB

pissed

Decided to stick this up in case anyone is looking for one. Its the cheapest I could find and they are in stock now. Two versions available, 1TB from 7dayshop.com and the 500GB from creativesupplies. Shipping from 7dayshop is £7.95 and shipping from creativesupplies is £15 (I phoned the shop)


http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_5&products_id=105082
£167 incl shipping


http://creativesupplies.co.uk/shop/components/external-hard-drives/so-speaky-pvr-multimedia-500gb-hard-disk-drive-player/prod_793.html
£134 incl shipping

Digler

I think the link below might be a better offer as you can hot swap hard drives and has wireless capability.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Electronics/Media+Players/Hyundai+HDR-350Q+Personal+Media+Recorder?productId=29526

podge3

Digler wrote: »

I think the link below might be a better offer as you can hot swap hard drives and has wireless capability.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Electronics/Media+Players/Hyundai+HDR-350Q+Personal+Media+Recorder?productId=29526

There is no HDD in that one.

butts

I got the Emprex ME1 from Maplins.co.uk which like most of these devices is based on the RTD1261 or RTD1262 chipset. Its very handy been able to record directly to a USB memory stick but for me the recording quality was only really acceptable at HQ which takes up about 4GB per hour. The problem that you run into then is that most of these devices can only write to a FAT32 formated drive where file sizes are limited to 4GB (they can read larger files from NTFS no problem). It's something you might want to checkout if you are going to be doing alot of recording eg archiving stuff off Sky+ box. BTW, the Hyundai is just a rebadged Ellion - in case you're searching for more info on the product.

Tester46

butts wrote: »

The problem that you run into then is that most of these devices can only write to a FAT32 formated drive where file sizes are limited to 4GB (they can read larger files from NTFS no problem). It's something you might want to checkout if you are going to be doing alot of recording eg archiving stuff off Sky+ box. BTW, the Hyundai is just a rebadged Ellion - in case you're searching for more info on the product.

Butts, Similar Boards link here re: Dane Elec So Speaky PVR 1TB. Do you know if it is easy to copy files from the FAT32 Partition to the NTFS partition? The Dane Elec product is divided 50% to HDD (presumably NTFS) and 50% to recording (presumably FAT32). If I don't record much from the TV, can I use the space to store media files from my laptop and play them through the Dane Elec player - i.e. does the FAT32/NTFS division matter much in practice?

butts

Tester46, I'd suggest getting something like a 16GB memory stick (only €20 or there abouts) for recordings and just format the whole hard disk as NTFS. You can then watch the recordings straight from the USB stick or convert these recordings on your memory stick to Xvid or something similar with your computer, after which you can just copy the xvids back onto the hard drive of your media player. This is how I'll be archiving stuff from my Sky+ box in a more space efficent way. Just be sure the firmware updates of your particular product allow you to do the above. In the case of Emprex their firmware updates have sorted out most of the problems people had.

Tester46

butts wrote: »

Tester46, I'd suggest getting something like a 16GB memory stick (only €20 or there abouts) for recordings and just format the whole hard disk as NTFS. You can then watch the recordings straight from the USB stick or convert these recordings on your memory stick to Xvid or something similar with your computer, after which you can just copy the xvids back onto the hard drive of your media player. This is how I'll be archiving stuff from my Sky+ box in a more space efficent way. Just be sure the firmware updates of your particular product allow you to do the above. In the case of Emprex their firmware updates have sorted out most of the problems people had.

Good idea, thanks.

It is possible to re-format the Dane Elec. I was half thinking of re-formatting it as soon as it arrives and leave say 100gb for the Recording and 900gb for the HDD media storage. That way i'd get most of the 1tb for my media storage and playing. Does that sound like a good idea or should I leave it formatted at the 50% / 50% that it comes set up with?

butts

I would imagine that you can. I've vague memories of some users having problems calculating the precentage of disk to allocate. I think that's why Emprex update their firmware so the entire drive could be formated as one partition with the ability to read or write to that partition. Maybe similar updates have been made to the Dane Elec. firmware.

Digler

Quote:
Originally Posted by Digler View Post
I think the link below might be a better offer as you can hot swap hard drives and has wireless capability.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Elect...roductId=29526
There is no HDD in that one.

Missing the point Podge. With this unit you are not stuck with a unit containing a full hard drive. You can swap another in future proofing it.

pissed

Note: format will delete all data, please make a copy at first
Select by navigation, please press “enter” to next step or “ cancel” to exit when highlight confirms.
Operate procedures.
First, FAT32 and NTFS partition: please dispatch FAT32 and NTFS capacity according to instruction information, press “ok” to next.
Second, press “OK” to confirm format
Third, congratulation screen will be out after the format finished

Thats an extract from the online manual, I assume you can choose the percentage to allocate to each requirement. Failing that there is two USB host on the rear so you could always plug in an external drive into those.

The stock level of the 1TB now gone to low :eek:

podge3

Hold the pony lads....

I was just about to pay for the 1Tb unit from 7dayshop when I found this in the T&C:

9. VAT

• If the delivery address for your order is in the United Kingdom, all prices shown are FULLY INCLUSIVE of UK VAT where applicable and all goods are in FREE CIRCULATION within the EU. No further duties or taxes are payable upon receipt of your order - we pay these for you.
• For all deliveries which are made outside of the UK, you may be asked to pay Sales Tax at the correct rate for your delivery country. This may be charged on top of the price paid to us, and is collected by your Post Office when your goods are delivered.
• We cannot discount any of our prices for whatever reason but would like you to note that all items in our catalogue with an individual value of under £18 are exempt from any Sales Tax (VAT).

Whats the story with stuff from Guernsey? Are they not in the EU? I wouldn't like to be hit for Irish VAT @ 21.5 % on top of the purchase price

pissed

Never noticed the VAT thing myself, so fingers crossed. Googled and seen this one on boards
http://pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055238433

and this one here too

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56781949

no mention of anyone caught for anything extra.

podge3

pissed wrote: »

Never noticed the VAT thing myself, so fingers crossed. Googled and seen this one on boards
http://pie.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055238433

and this one here too

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=56781949

no mention of anyone caught for anything extra.

Yeah, you're probably right. I googled around a bit also and cannot find any complaints about VAT.

Time for a purchase methinks

TM

podge3 wrote: »

Whats the story with stuff from Guernsey? Are they not in the EU?

Nope. They're not even part of the UK! Crown Dependency and all that.

norbert64

bumpage

the 1 TB version is now down to £149
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_5&products_id=105082

or if this source is better suited, €159.99 sounds about right, exchange rate wise.
http://www.expansys.ie/d.aspx?i=183668

or if you prefer bricks N mortar, and don't mind a slight increase in price, Reids of Nassau st are doing em for €179

This PVR only records through composite, Fyi

Kristopherus

podge3 wrote: »

Hold the pony lads....

I was just about to pay for the 1Tb unit from 7dayshop when I found this in the T&C:



Whats the story with stuff from Guernsey? Are they not in the EU? I wouldn't like to be hit for Irish VAT @ 21.5 % on top of the purchase price

Those T & Cs are a load of cobblers.If you are not registered for VAT, you pay the price on their site and zilch else. If you are registered, then that is their way of telling you will not get any discount from them. This is illegal on their part. They should not charge VAT if you provide an Irish VAT No.to them