New Expander required for Gateway's next Code release - Page 2 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

shawsean · 2012-05-16, 07:42 PM

@Jetranger - The folks making the outbound calls will definitely capture any questions/concerns (electronically might I add) and escalate them to the proper channels.

Cheers.

PS - Follow @ShawCareers on Twitter for job updates - might be waiting awhile on that posting though

linz8392 · 2012-05-17, 04:28 PM

So a SHAW tech just replaced my external Seagate drive that I had hooked up to my Gateway. On the phone, the Shaw rep had told me they were going to go to Western Digital since the Seagates were going to cause a problem once the update came for the Gateway.

However, it turns out that the Shaw tech gave me an identical drive to swap out my old one with. He claimed that if you formatted the old drive it would most likely work fine with the new update.

huh?!

He said it affects a very limited number of their customers and that they are just replacing the drives to be nice.

Of course the new drive has a different serial number system on it...but other than that its identical in every way. Weird....

Jetranger · 2012-05-17, 06:24 PM

Did he 'replace' your drive and take your original one or did he just deliver you a replacement drive and leave you with your original as well?

sablefish · 2012-05-19, 10:49 AM

a shaw rep came and gave me a new iomega expander to attach to my gateway. He did not want to take the seagate expander with him. He showed me the work order that said leave existing expander with customer.

Jason316 · 2012-05-19, 08:14 PM

how do i know which one i have?

Jetranger · 2012-05-20, 12:29 AM

Only Shaw knows which ones are affected. They know what expander you have and, if you have one that is affected, they will supply you with a 'replacement' for free and leave you with your original one too. Apparently, once you have watched all of the recordings you have on an affected expander, you can reformat it after your Gateway is running the next code, 7.0.3, I believe it will be, and it should work just fine. It seems they are taking a proactive position on dealing with the inevitable backlash that would come from this problem once they have released the next code.

My guess is this was one of the findings from the Shaw Tester group so I guess they have managed to accomplish something positive. I have no idea if this is the case or not, just pure speculation on my part. I'm still expecting to find problems in the next code and won't be surprised at all when I do.

VIRaiders · 2012-05-20, 06:00 PM

Long time reader first time poster!
It would be nice to have the date of the next firmware update so we know how long we have to clear our old expender?

Jetranger · 2012-05-21, 01:29 AM

That would be the 'golden question'. If you have been following the threads for a while, you will know the answer is; 'Shaw doesn't give much notice'. It is safe to assume it will be about a month but there is actually no 'rush' to watch the content as it will still be viewable with the next code. The problem comes when any recordings with the new code are placed on these certain expanders if they haven't been reformated under the same code. It will mean you should disconnect them until you are wanting to view a recording and will only be able to watch recorded material on the expander when no recordings are being made as they would likely be being placed on the expander rather than on the internal drive. It would be nice to have an option of where to place recordings, either by individual recording or in general(I'd prefer the former).

The easiest thing to do would be watch everything you can as soon as you can. That's what I'm going to try and do. Anyone know of a remotely activated eSata switch?

Jason316 · 2012-05-21, 04:27 PM

watch everything? 40-50% of the stuff on my expander i want to keep

like shows from Oasis and the new HD channel 255

Jetranger · 2012-05-21, 07:18 PM

Like all current PVRs, the ability to record for playback at a time of your convenience is intended to be within a 'short' time frame rather than for 'archival' purposes. If your PVR, or Gateway in this case, ever needs to be replaced you would lose all the content on any external drives as they are 'married' to the original box they were connected to and recorded from.

It's a real shortcoming of the systems out there right now and hopefully one day they will change this so recordings made at home can be watched there for as long as the subscriber wants.

fredkiller · 2012-05-22, 12:54 PM

I agree with Jetranger, PVR content should be keyed to the customer, not the device. It would be nice to have the "personality" of your device stored (or at least backed up) centrally... then when you have a hardware fault, they replace the hardware, restore the "personality" (user preferences, series recordings, encryption keys etc) and you're good to go. Any internal storage would leave with the device, but external storage could be played by the next device running that "personality".

I would like to see the ability to be able to migrate content from internal to external storage... that way if I have a more robust external storage device connected, I could "protect" by moving it to the more resiliant device. Being able to specify storage priority would be nice too (i.e. use external then internal).

maybe I'm just spoiled by VMware virtualization??

753951 · 2012-05-22, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredkiller

maybe I'm just spoiled by VMware virtualization??

No, you are thinking rationally taking into account best customer's interest. That kind of thinking doesn't align well with "increasing shareholder's value".

VIRaiders · 2012-05-22, 04:21 PM

Did anybody ever try to go back and fort with two expanders on one gateway? What I am worried about is when I setup my new expander the gateway will no longer recognizes my old one.

GWNorth · 2012-05-22, 04:36 PM

Regarding centrallized backup of personal settings, why not go further and record all the content on central servers as well as the setttings so there would actually be no need for the PVR (or expander) in the home so no chance of a failed hard drive losing shows. They could stream the recorded content in a VOD manner to any STB in the home so the whole home experience would be covered too. Hmmm, why would we need Gateway systems at that point? Not a big stretch from there to ask, could this let some other players in the TV provider space if they could record shows the customer selects to a central server and then stream on demand to the STBs through internet? A number of companies do this for other content, why not TV too?

Dr.Dave · 2012-05-22, 04:45 PM

@GWNorth, that gets into a grey area of Canadian copyright law - whether someone else can record a record a show on your behalf. Anyone with that business model would need an army of lawyers to defend against the content owners (the big U.S. studios).

2012-05-16, 07:42 PM	#16
shawsean Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vernon, BC Posts: 195	@Jetranger - The folks making the outbound calls will definitely capture any questions/concerns (electronically might I add) and escalate them to the proper channels. Cheers. PS - Follow @ShawCareers on Twitter for job updates - might be waiting awhile on that posting though __________________ Sean - Shaw Community Manager Official Shaw Employee on Digital Home

2012-05-17, 04:28 PM	#17
linz8392 Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 14	SHAW Tech just replaced my ext. drive So a SHAW tech just replaced my external Seagate drive that I had hooked up to my Gateway. On the phone, the Shaw rep had told me they were going to go to Western Digital since the Seagates were going to cause a problem once the update came for the Gateway. However, it turns out that the Shaw tech gave me an identical drive to swap out my old one with. He claimed that if you formatted the old drive it would most likely work fine with the new update. huh?! He said it affects a very limited number of their customers and that they are just replacing the drives to be nice. Of course the new drive has a different serial number system on it...but other than that its identical in every way. Weird....

2012-05-17, 06:24 PM	#18
Jetranger Premium Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Calgary SonyTVs,ShawGateway&6Portals DCX3400, Pace 770D, 5ShawExpanders:3WD,1Sgt,1iOmga Harmony One Posts: 3,331	Did he 'replace' your drive and take your original one or did he just deliver you a replacement drive and leave you with your original as well? __________________ If you want more then ask for it rather than going hungry. If you want more than I have then you should ask. They're going to park their car over there.

2012-05-20, 12:29 AM	#21
Jetranger Premium Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Calgary SonyTVs,ShawGateway&6Portals DCX3400, Pace 770D, 5ShawExpanders:3WD,1Sgt,1iOmga Harmony One Posts: 3,331	Only Shaw knows which ones are affected. They know what expander you have and, if you have one that is affected, they will supply you with a 'replacement' for free and leave you with your original one too. Apparently, once you have watched all of the recordings you have on an affected expander, you can reformat it after your Gateway is running the next code, 7.0.3, I believe it will be, and it should work just fine. It seems they are taking a proactive position on dealing with the inevitable backlash that would come from this problem once they have released the next code. My guess is this was one of the findings from the Shaw Tester group so I guess they have managed to accomplish something positive. I have no idea if this is the case or not, just pure speculation on my part. I'm still expecting to find problems in the next code and won't be surprised at all when I do. __________________ If you want more then ask for it rather than going hungry. If you want more than I have then you should ask. They're going to park their car over there.

2012-05-21, 01:29 AM	#23
Jetranger Premium Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Calgary SonyTVs,ShawGateway&6Portals DCX3400, Pace 770D, 5ShawExpanders:3WD,1Sgt,1iOmga Harmony One Posts: 3,331	That would be the 'golden question'. If you have been following the threads for a while, you will know the answer is; 'Shaw doesn't give much notice'. It is safe to assume it will be about a month but there is actually no 'rush' to watch the content as it will still be viewable with the next code. The problem comes when any recordings with the new code are placed on these certain expanders if they haven't been reformated under the same code. It will mean you should disconnect them until you are wanting to view a recording and will only be able to watch recorded material on the expander when no recordings are being made as they would likely be being placed on the expander rather than on the internal drive. It would be nice to have an option of where to place recordings, either by individual recording or in general(I'd prefer the former). The easiest thing to do would be watch everything you can as soon as you can. That's what I'm going to try and do. Anyone know of a remotely activated eSata switch? __________________ If you want more then ask for it rather than going hungry. If you want more than I have then you should ask. They're going to park their car over there.

2012-05-19, 10:49 AM	#19
sablefish Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: campbell river, moto 6412, moto 6200, samsung pn58a550 Posts: 25	a shaw rep came and gave me a new iomega expander to attach to my gateway. He did not want to take the seagate expander with him. He showed me the work order that said leave existing expander with customer.

2012-05-19, 08:14 PM	#20
Jason316 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: North Vancouver, BC Posts: 273	how do i know which one i have?

2012-05-20, 06:00 PM	#22
VIRaiders Rookie Join Date: May 2012 Location: Nanaimo BC Posts: 2	Long time reader first time poster! It would be nice to have the date of the next firmware update so we know how long we have to clear our old expender?

2012-05-21, 04:27 PM	#24
Jason316 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: North Vancouver, BC Posts: 273	watch everything? 40-50% of the stuff on my expander i want to keep like shows from Oasis and the new HD channel 255

2012-05-21, 07:18 PM	#25
Jetranger Premium Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Calgary SonyTVs,ShawGateway&6Portals DCX3400, Pace 770D, 5ShawExpanders:3WD,1Sgt,1iOmga Harmony One Posts: 3,331	Like all current PVRs, the ability to record for playback at a time of your convenience is intended to be within a 'short' time frame rather than for 'archival' purposes. If your PVR, or Gateway in this case, ever needs to be replaced you would lose all the content on any external drives as they are 'married' to the original box they were connected to and recorded from. It's a real shortcoming of the systems out there right now and hopefully one day they will change this so recordings made at home can be watched there for as long as the subscriber wants. __________________ If you want more then ask for it rather than going hungry. If you want more than I have then you should ask. They're going to park their car over there.

2012-05-22, 12:54 PM	#26
fredkiller Rookie Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Airdrie, AB Posts: 8	I agree with Jetranger, PVR content should be keyed to the customer, not the device. It would be nice to have the "personality" of your device stored (or at least backed up) centrally... then when you have a hardware fault, they replace the hardware, restore the "personality" (user preferences, series recordings, encryption keys etc) and you're good to go. Any internal storage would leave with the device, but external storage could be played by the next device running that "personality". I would like to see the ability to be able to migrate content from internal to external storage... that way if I have a more robust external storage device connected, I could "protect" by moving it to the more resiliant device. Being able to specify storage priority would be nice too (i.e. use external then internal). maybe I'm just spoiled by VMware virtualization??

2012-05-22, 04:21 PM	#28
VIRaiders Rookie Join Date: May 2012 Location: Nanaimo BC Posts: 2	Did anybody ever try to go back and fort with two expanders on one gateway? What I am worried about is when I setup my new expander the gateway will no longer recognizes my old one.

2012-05-22, 04:36 PM	#29
GWNorth Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: GVR Posts: 225	Regarding centrallized backup of personal settings, why not go further and record all the content on central servers as well as the setttings so there would actually be no need for the PVR (or expander) in the home so no chance of a failed hard drive losing shows. They could stream the recorded content in a VOD manner to any STB in the home so the whole home experience would be covered too. Hmmm, why would we need Gateway systems at that point? Not a big stretch from there to ask, could this let some other players in the TV provider space if they could record shows the customer selects to a central server and then stream on demand to the STBs through internet? A number of companies do this for other content, why not TV too?

2012-05-22, 04:45 PM	#30
Dr.Dave Moderator Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Winnipeg Posts: 4,698	@GWNorth, that gets into a grey area of Canadian copyright law - whether someone else can record a record a show on your behalf. Anyone with that business model would need an army of lawyers to defend against the content owners (the big U.S. studios).

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