[topgun80]

Hi guys, I'm brand new and this is my first post. I'll be getting a new HD-dvr setup soon and have a couple of questions. Actually the installers showed up today with obsolete equipment and I sent them away, hopefully it will be the right stuff next time around. Assuming I'm going to be getting an HR21, can anybody summarize the difference in the series I.E. -100, -200, -700? Also can I hook up an esata drive and switch between the 2 by simply unplugging it? Thanks.

 

[Michael D'Angelo]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk!

The only difference between the -100, -200, and -700 is the manufacture and the layout of the inside. Other than that they all have the same features and function the same.

The eSATA drive can only work on one unit. If you connect it to another unit the drive will be reformatted. It will work on that unit at that point but you will lose all recordings.

BTW what obsolete equipment did the installer have?

 

[topgun80]

Thanks for the reply. On the external drive I meant can I turn it off and use the internal drive and turn it back on when I want to record something I want to save. The obsolete equipment they had was an old "side car" dish which would have required running 6 cables to my 3 dvr's instead of just 1 with a swm-8.

 

[Grentz]

You will not get a SWM-8 as a consumer (they are for commercial/MDU installs only).

You could potentially get a SWMLine LNB (which is the SWM built into the dish LNB), but they are still being rolled out and are not fully being used in all areas yet.

I am shocked the installer had a sidecar dish, it will give you the same functionality as the slimline and requires the same number of cables (4 from dish to multiswitch, 2 to each DVR/1 to each receiver), but it is bigger than the slimline and was phased out awhile ago.

 

[bobbyv]

The eSATA drive can only work on one unit. If you connect it to another unit the drive will be reformatted. It will work on that unit at that point but you will lose all recordings.

Why is that? A buddy at work has Dish and he doesn't have this problem. Why can't a D* receiver have the same flexibility?

 

[topgun80]

You will not get a SWM-8 as a consumer (they are for commercial/MDU installs only).

You could potentially get a SWMLine LNB (which is the SWM built into the dish LNB), but they are still being rolled out and are not fully being used in all areas yet.

I am shocked the installer had a sidecar dish, it will give you the same functionality as the slimline and requires the same number of cables (4 from dish to multiswitch, 2 to each DVR/1 to each receiver), but it is bigger than the slimline and was phased out awhile ago.

If I refused the sidecar and don't get a SWMline, what is normally installed?

 

[russdog]

The eSATA drive can only work on one unit. If you connect it to another unit the drive will be reformatted. It will work on that unit at that point but you will lose all recordings.

If the eSATA drive is spinning up to speed when the HR tries to connect with it, it will not reformat the drive and lose recordings. You can move an eSATA drive between two HR's, and the recordings from both will still be there. However, each recording is tied to a specific HR and can be played only when connected to that HR. So, while you can see a listing of recordings from multiple HR's, the only ones you can watch are those recorded from whichever HR the drive is currently connected to.

 

[russdog]

Thanks for the reply. On the external drive I meant can I turn it off and use the internal drive and turn it back on when I want to record something I want to save.

Yep. The way to swap between internal and external drives is to pull the power plug from the HR, then have the external drive either on or off, depending on what you want to do, then restore power to the HR. If you want it to see the external drive, be sure to let that drive spin up to speed before restoring power to the HR. It's important enough to have the external drive spinning first that I would be sure to have a UPS to prevent issues if the power blinks on and off.

Also, HR21's are especially picky about which external eSATA's they will work with. (HR20's not so much.) There are numerous threads about this, but no brief up-to-date summary. So, if you have an HR21, it's best to spend some time here nosing around and reading stuff before you get an eSATA that won't work. Short answer:
* Antec MX-1 enclosure with WD drives installed seem a safe bet.
* Mixed reviews about using Seagate Barracuda's inside the Antec.
* Seagate FA-Pro's do not work with the HR21.
* Prelim reports seem to indicate that the new Seagate FA-Xtreme's may work with HR21's but evidence is slim.
* There's a Cavalry external eSATA that works too, but I forget which one.
* The list of external drives that don't work is longer than the list of those that do. Nobody knows why.

 

[topgun80]

Thanks a lot for the info guys.