[TheJouster]

A few years ago Telus gave the Scientific Atlantic PVR IPN430MC out now they have the newer Sisco PVR's , I realize they are almost identical but I'm not sure about the storage size for recorded shows.
Can anyone tell me the difference between the 2 boxes?

 

[Dr.Dave]

You may wish to review this thread when Mediaroom (Optik TV) was first announced for any other differences:

PVR stores up to 115 hours of HD or 295 hours of standard definition programming (320gb HDD)

The SA boxes were 160GB. If you don't have Mediaroom there are a lot of improvements.

 

[i6s1]

The hard drive size is the only significant difference. The others, as far as I can remember:

-Plastic is dyed on the new boxes, not painted like the old ones, more resistant to scratches
-Newer HCNA chip in the new boxes
-Black vs silver obviously
-New boxes are slightly smaller
-Power supplies are interchangable between the old 330s/430s, but the black 430s cannot use a power supply from a black 330, not enough power
-Layout is different on the back, the two coax (HCNA in/RF out) connections have been moved beside each other

Telus tech

 

[TheJouster]

Thanks for the reply, do you know the difference in the hard drive size? just wodering if i should call and get it swapped if it holds more shows.

 

[i6s1]

As above, the black boxes have a 320gig HD and the silver ones have a 160gig HD. If you were upgraded from Minerva and you got to keep paying the old (lower) rental rate, you'd have to pay for the upgrade.

 

[hdgeo]

When I upgraded from silver to black PVR I was pleasantly surprised to discover the hard drive stopped spinning (quiet!) a few minutes after turning off the box. The old one never stopped spinning (noisy!). Maybe this is dependent on the type of TV connected by HDMI, I don't know.

 

[TNSF]

When I upgraded from silver to black PVR I was pleasantly surprised to discover the hard drive stopped spinning (quiet!) a few minutes after turning off the box. The old one never stopped spinning (noisy!). Maybe this is dependent on the type of TV connected by HDMI, I don't know.

Agreed. The new boxes are much quieter.

Also, the LED lights are not as bright. The lights on the silver boxes were WAY too bright.

 

[WhosTheBosch]

-Newer HCNA chip in the new boxes

What does the HCNA do?

 

[i6s1]

HCNA allows ethernet over coax cable. I'm not sure what improvements were made from the old to new version, both are reliable.

-Telus tech