Re: Sky+ HD Disc recommendations?





"Gary" <g.goodridge@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:9TzEm.28608$cV4.17995@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"James Hession" <jamesb.hession@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:PPpEm.58418$XI.10331@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The subject line says it all. Anyone had any great, good, or more importantly, bad experiences?
Thanks to any and all responders....


What is the question?

If you mean suggestions for a suitable disk to fit to your Sky HD box then I would also be interested to know. Price and availability etc.

Gary

"Bob Lucas" <bob@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:hbuj9p$scf$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You will find helpful information at www.geocities.com/skypluswss/hdd.htm

As an addendum to my previous comments, your installation should use a Consumer Electronics drive, as opposed to a drive designed for use in a PC. I have copied the following advice from the website at www.xtendedplay.co.uk/sky-plus-skyhd-drive-upgrade-faq.html.

'What is the difference between a regular desktop PC hard disk and a Consumer Electronics (CE) drive?

Consumer Electronics (CE) hard disks are specifically manufactured for the PVR market. CE drives are not generally available in retail stores, and can only be purchased through authorized resellers, such as XtendedPlay.

Consumer Electronics drives have a few key differences from normal desktop drives that make them far superior to desktop PC drives for PVR usage:

Better streaming video performance - ensuring that you always get a great picture.
CE drives are optimized for streaming to avoid the stutters and jerkiness that can be caused by repeated error checking that occurs on regular desktop PC drives. Hard disk drives designed for PC applications are optimized for data integrity through enhanced error detection and correction routines. These error correction 'features' on PC drives cause the data flow to be paused until an error is corrected, which causes jerky playback of video and audio.

Minimized operational noise - whisper quiet operation. CE drives use customized firmware algorithms referred to as the silentseek actuator profile. The silent-seek actuator profile slows the trajectory of the seek pattern, which results in quiet seek operations and lower power consumption. The CE drives supplied by XtendedPlay also use the quietest type of motor available: fourth-generation fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) technology. This results in whisper-quiet operating acoustics of 2.4 bels - at the threshold of human hearing.

Reduced power consumption - protecting your PVR. CE hard disks are specifically designed to reduce electrical power consumption. PVR's are particularly sensitive to the amount of power used by the hard disk. The power supply electronics in a PVR have often been designed to operate near their limit and the addition of a larger hard disk can put extra strain on the power supply. Installing a regular PC hard disk can cause the life of the PVR power supply to be dramatically reduced.

Reduced heat dissipation - keeping it cool. CE drives are designed to reduce heat to a minimum. The enclosure of a PVR has been designed to deal with the amount of heat generated by the original hard disk drive. Larger capacity PC drives often create much more heat than the standard PVR drive and can cause reliability problems.'

This advice should not be taken as an endorsement (or otherwise) of XtendedPlay. However, they do supply suitable hard drives (at a price) and they also offer after-sales support.

.

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