[keithl1967]

I have a general question, but will provide some quick background:

I have three HD DVR's--living room, basement, and bar.

The one in the living room is an older model with the buttons on the front--the two in the basement and bar are the newer touch screen variety.

Anyway, on Thursday, the living room model would not turn on, and when I tried a reset, it came up as "exceeded temperature limit."

It eventually cooled down and works fine now, but in the mean time, I called D*, and they have shipped me a replacement receiver.

Problem is, I have a ton of unviewed material on the living room DVR--is there any way to move that recorded programming to another DVR on the network (whole home), onto my computer's hard drive, or otherwise back it up to put in on the new receiver?

Thank!

 

[Jerry_K]

Simple answer no.

More complex answer check your PM inbox.

 

[jdspencer]

See http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167440

Have you tried an external fan to keep it cool?
This may allow you time to view the shows.

 

[Jerry_K]

See http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167440

Have you tried an external fan to keep it cool?
This may allow you time to view the shows.

The referenced thread is a method to copy to another hard drive that can ONLY be read in the original machine. Not in a new machine.

If I read his OP correctly, he is going to have to ship that receiver back to DTV. How long do they give you after they ship a replacement?

Will the HR play recorded shows if not subscribed?

 

[keithl1967]

I have 7 days to ship the old receiver back, according to the rep...

 

[keithl1967]

seems to me, this would be a pretty valuable service that D* can offer...I can't be the only one that has run into this, even if just on "upgrades"...

 

[jdspencer]

Try the external fan suggestion and see if you can watch a few shows.

 

[Jerry_K]

I don't think DTV has ever figured out that a DVR is like a computer for many of us. To archive as well as or use on a daily basis. I have never deleted a file on my computers. Why would I with storage so cheap? And I have had many new computers all of which have had access to every file I have ever created, downloaded, saved by any means.

 

[JonW]

seems to me, this would be a pretty valuable service that D* can offer...I can't be the only one that has run into this, even if just on "upgrades"...

Not at all. It just becomes more and more of an issue as DVRs get older, start to fail, and/or new models are introduced that we'd like to upgrade to but don't because we'd lose our recordings.

At best you could attempt to repair the box on your own dime, but we're not contractually entitled to do so because the boxes are rented.

 

[Richierich]

I don't think DTV has ever figured out that a DVR is like a computer for many of us. To archive as well as or use on a daily basis.

I have been Pushing for Archiving for years now and hopefully one day it might happen but I have been told by some pretty knowledgeable Directv Sources that it will Never happen.

There are ways to accomplish it without Violating Content Protection so I hope Directv one day chooses to Allow us the Ability to Archive.

In 3 or 4 years when the HR34 DVRs start to have Hard Drive Failures Directv is going to experience an Avalanche of Vicious Phone Calls to CSRs that the whole family is unhappy that their HR34 died and they will lose All Of Their Precious Recordings and have to start all over.

That will be interesting to watch.

I have 3 Secondary DVRs Backing Up my Primary 4 DVRs. That is their only purpose in Life.

 

[TomCat]

... the living room model would not turn on, and when I tried a reset, it came up as "exceeded temperature limit."

It eventually cooled down and works fine now, but in the mean time, I called D*, and they have shipped me a replacement receiver...

That might have been premature. The above error is not a death sentence, and probably not even a harbinger of impending death.

Consider this; if the DVR starts out at room temp (and you may have to unplug for a half hour or so before it reaches that temp) then at reboot it is still very near to room temp; it will take 10-20 minutes for a DVR to warm up to where the temp ceiling can be exceeded.

If shortly after reboot it throws that error, that can mean only one thing (especially if you can determine that the fan is moving and the chimney holes are not blocked either externally or internally by dust), which is that THE ERROR IS A FALSE POSITIVE. There is no way the DVR could reach that temp from a cold boot in just the few minutes needed for a reboot. Put your hand on it. It might by then be a little warm, but probably still not as warm as it was when you shut it down or when the error appeared, or as warm as another DVR that has been on for hours.

Remember, the DVR is not really reporting what the temp is; it is reporting what it thinks the temp is; and that can often be wrong. If the temp is really not that high, the DVR is not truly at risk.

I have had this happen. It's scary. I unplugged for an hour or two, rebooted, and have not seen the error since. That was over two years ago.

It can be a true positive reporting a real issue. If it comes up when it is obvious that the DVR is not even warmed up to normal temp yet, its an anomaly and means nothing.

With the new DVR coming (and assuming the error does not keep repeating) I would either pay the shipping and send it right back, or add it to the account and keep the other one active until you can burn off the existing content, then send that back. If you explain that to the CSR, they should be OK with that.

 

[harsh]

If this were happening in the Summer, I'd say the OP needs to turn on the cooling system. As it isn't the hot season in any DIRECTV service area, I'm thinking one of three things:

1. The thermometer has failed and is reading high
2. The fan has failed
3. Something has changed recently that is negatively impacting cooling

Of these, only #3 might be addressed. For the first two, a replacement is necessary.

If the receiver is ensconced in a home entertainment oven, re-read the placement cautions in the receiver manual until you discover what the problem is.

 

[JonW]

1. The thermometer has failed and is reading high
2. The fan has failed
3. Something has changed recently that is negatively impacting cooling

Of these, only #3 might be addressed. For the first two, a replacement is necessary.

#2: fan replacement is pretty easy. If DirecTv wouldn't fix it, I'd strong consider voiding my warranty and replacing it myself or taking it to an electronics repair shop before kissing all my recordings good bye.

You could also probably get away with blowing an external fan through the case as a stop-gap - but that would require working off the back log before a permanent fix could be made.