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830 PVR Discussions

41369 Views 253 Replies 41 Participants Last post by  P2B
This morning I connected my brand-new (not refurbished) 830. I got a 60 Hz slight hum from my TV set after I powered up the 830. I have never had that problem with anything I've connected to the TV. I guessed that it was a ground-loop problem so I plugged the TV into the same power bar as the 830. End of problem. Shaw Direct may wish to consider that if a customer calls in with that problem.

I expected drama, based on my previous refurb 630 problems. Nope, the activation went without drama. :) I really like the new guide that provides show Season# and Episode#.

My only little quibble is the connection instructions that came in the box. It says not to press any buttons until the "blue light" goes off and the 830 restarts. It never happened; all it needed was a refresh.

As a side note, the problem with my now going-to-the-dump 630 was that only WGN acted as if it was not subscribed although I have always been subscribed. My 600 continued to receive WGN. I went thru hoops with Shaw Direct and finally most of the channels on the 630 disappeared. That's it! Warranty or not, I don't want to fool with another 630 refurb so I ordered the 830. Glad I did.

Another side note, the online MY ACCOUNT does not show WGN as being subscribed. My wife told me NOT to call or CHAT Shaw about it. Don't fix what ain't broke.
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I can't answer your eSATA to USB cable question, but I just wanted to remind you that any recordings on the external hard drive are tied to the 630 hardware and there's no way to transfer them to the 830. There's a discussion earlier in this thread: 830 PVR Discussions
@Dr.Dave Same topic but do you know if it's possible to view recordings from the internal drive of a 630 that has been decommissioned?
Yes, the 830 does record and is a little quicker to respond than the 630. However, the nice items like clock, lack of signal indicator and recording lights have been removed. The overall appearance is a cheap box. As to the larger storage, I did not have a problem with the 500G SSD that I put in the 630. The only positive that I see is that I now can repurpose the SSD.
So, for me it is not an upgrade. I appreciate that it did not cost me anything, probably because I have been with Shaw Direct since 1992 (Starchoice when they promised satellite Internet access) and have had 3 PVR630 and 2 600 units at one time. I expect that this is typical of progress these days and I am just too old to see the 'positives'.
Yes it's hard to see how removing the clock, signal and recording lights on the from panel is considered an "improvement". Agree the 830 is quicker and larger capacity. But why remove those other features? To save a couple of bucks?
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Appreciate all of the feedback given, thanks everyone! You can implement a signal status for the front panel, it's just a bit more obvious than the old red light on the front - go into Settings > Preferences > scroll down to Hardware Settings > Change "Signal Status LED" to "Enabled". This will cause the front panel light to blink when there is no signal.

Hope that helps a bit!
@k801809 Thank you for the tip. Now can SD send us a tape over clock we could stick on the front panel? ;););) Sometimes the"old" is better than the "new". I know because of all my "new and improved" Apple devices.
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