Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 107
 Buy the SIIG Cable! March 11, 2010
D. Folsom (Somewhere, USA)
I use this with my TiVo HD and it works perfectly (after I used the SIIG cable). Do yourself a favor buy the SIIG cable with your order. As many others have found out, the cable that comes with this thing is worthless. My TiVo would continually reboot/reset on it's own until I replaced the cable. I would get anywhere between 1 hour to 24 hours in between failures, but then it would start rebooting over and over until I powered everything down, pulled the cable and re-inserted it, and the powered everything back up. Since I replaced the cable, the TiVo has not rebooted once!
Otherwise this thing is great, you don't hear it at all.
 Jittery video and sound with my SA 8300HD March 11, 2010
miked998
This DVR did not work very well with my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR. The sound and video would get very jittery every two or three minutes. I purchased the SIIG eSATA cable as suggested in a couple of the reviews and that did not fix the problem.
 Piece of Cake March 9, 2010
PonyMac (California)
Everything works as expected. Couldn't be happier.
Very easy install. A caveman could do it.
Runs quiet and cool. Never even know it's there.
If you have problems, replace the cable March 7, 2010
Roger Steinbach (IL USA)
After a simple installation I had the same problems several reviewers noted with slow response to input (around a minute to change each screen?) and various odd display problems. I was grateful for user feedback because a new e-sata cable fixed everything.
Unlike some reviewers I used a very inexpensive replacement cable and it still did the trick. It looks like Western Digital may have put the priority on inexpensive parts. Even the UL (Underwriter's Lab) certifications displayed on both the box and the transformer appear to be fakes. This is particularly disappointing for the transformer since that's a part that can get hot (and always draws power if an older, slightly cheaper, style). For those unfamiliar with UL, "listed" products have been tested to be sure they don't start fires.
I may be wrong but it looks like WD went overboard trying to save a few pennies.
Alternative storage for DirecTV HD DVR March 7, 2010
Mr. Retropia (Columbus, OH United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The DirecTV website has instructions for how to hook up this external hard drive to your DirecTV HD DVR. However, it's very simple. Unplug the power connector to your DVR; hook up the eSata cable to both the DVR and the hard drive; plug in the hard drive and let it power up; then plug in the power cable to the DVR, and you're done. After about a week's use, it is working great and no complaints.
Here are some tips:
- The external hard drive acts as an alternative storage place; you cannot access the DVR's built-in storage while the external hard drive is hooked up. If you want to go back to view something stored on your DVR, you will have to reverse the installation procedure, then reinstall it when you want to use the external drive again. Nothing is erased on the DVR hard drive, it just isn't accessible when the external hard drive is connected.
- The eSata cable that came with the external hard drive worked fine with our DirecTV HD DVR. I purchased the SIIG cable as mentioned in some other reviews, but it wasn't necessary and I am returning it to Amazon. The cable that comes with the external hard drive is only about three feet long, so you may want a longer cable.
- The guide to upcoming shows, plus your list of shows you wish to record, is stored on the specific hard drive to which you are recording. Thus, when you hook up the new external hard drive, you will need to wait for the guide to populate (it took ours about 24 hours), then you will need to recreate your list of shows to record. This was a minor bother for us, but if you don't want to miss a favorite show, select a down time in between your favorite shows to install the device, let the guide get re-built, then create your recording list.
- According to DirecTV, the shows you record on the external hard drive are somehow linked to the specific DirecTV HD DVR it is physically connected to. Thus, you can't unplug the external hard drive then connect it to another DVR and view the shows remaining on the hard drive. It will have to be reformatted to be used with a different DVR, thus you will lose any remaining shows recorded on the external hard drive.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 107
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