[nemo0075]

Just rehit my account from Belltv.ca and got message on my TV: PVR Feature has been activated.

 

[jbutt_mcse]

Getting setup with PVR function

I noticed the 165 and plugged in a drive. It told me to call BEV to get teh PVR enabled on my unit. So I did..... Tech told me I needed v182 not v165. TRied to get it to update to 182 but it wouldn't. Tried to get latest firmware, but it didn't. Will try again after work. Apparently the 182 is supposed to allow auto connect without reset "hit" from BEV.

What options in the menu have people been using when they call BEV. The guy I got didn't seem to know what was going on.

On another track, I have a logitech harmony remote, has the settings for that been set to allow PVR functions in a Bell 6141 ?

Please advise.

 

[Westvu]

I called the Technical department and had no problems and yes they do send a hit to activate it and I have V165 firmware version.

 

[spun14]

Tech told me I needed v182 not v165

v182 is for the 9242 reciever, v165 is for the 6141 reciever. Apparently half the techs decided to call in sick on education day.

 

[thegoodz]

Just installed mine, it says I need to call Bell to activate it.

Not sure if anyone else had this or not, but that's what I just got.

 

[Lorenzo1000]

I went on to my bell account online and synchronized my programming. That was all it needed. PVR function works great. Thank you Bell....finally!

 

[junkmale]

Are Comstar drives like this one any good....

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10107370&catid=

Does anyone have this type of drive or know if it would work?

 

[Brooker]

My reciever is still at 164....Not sure what else I can do right now. I held the button down, then i tried unplugging, powering off with remote....nothing.

 

[cmacs2k2]

call bell and ask them to send a "hit" to it.

 

[always_learning]

I had to call Bell twice but now it is working fine. The first person I talked to did not know much about the upgrade. When you get a request to format the drive, you are 10 minutes away from success. I have 100 hours of HD recording with a LaCie 750Gb.

 

[kandkt]

Total lack of CSR training

Talk about frustration. I just wasted amost 2 hours of my time arguing with tech support at BTV.

I installed an external hard drive to my 6141 (WD 640GB installed in a USB Hub type enclosure). Receiver recognized hard drive and then told me to call BTV to active the PVR feature. That is where the fun began.

The first tech told me that you could not add a EHD to a 6141 receiver. I told him that there was updated software as of today that allowed you to do this. Once we got past this hurdle, he then wanted to know what type of hard drive I had. I told him and he said he would not activate it because it was not a Lacie HD. I told him that I was using the exact same hard drive on my 9242. That didn't matter. He said that he would not activate the receiver if I didn't have the Lacie HD. I told him that the BTV website suggests the Lacie, but it is not necessary. He still would not activate it as he said I could damage my receiver with any other HD. I told him I would call back and try to get someone who knew something about this feature.

My second call was just as good. This rep insisted that this feature was not available on the 6141, I would have to have the 6131 to get this feature. We argued about the 6141 having this feature for quite some time. I told him the message on my receiver about calling to activate the PVR function. At this point, I lost it and told him I would be calling tomorrow to cancel my account. I also told him that I was sorry for taking it out on him, but BTV obviously did not train their people on this functionality.

After I insisted on talking to a level III tech, he put me on hold to talk to them. He had me disconnect the satellite input, remove power and the EHD and re-start the receiver. He then send an authorization (I believe a re-hit) to my receiver and within two minutes ... success!!!

I read post 195 about the syncronizing of the receivers, but I had done this a few days ago for the HBO problem. You can only do this yourself once a month (why, I don't know).

Anyway, everything seems to be working fine with the PVR functions.

 

[Telecaster]

WoW, Very Happy!! I dug out my old 350GB Comstar external hard drive which gives me 42hrs of recorded material
Thanks guys! I now have a PVR

Tele

 

[jbutt_mcse]

6141 PVR success!

When we last left our hero (me) I was trying to get the HDD setup with my 6141. I called back tonight and this is what I found.

In my earlier post I indicated that I was told that I needed v182. This seemed wierd and infact the CSR was incorrect. v165 is all you need.

The drives lock to the unit so if you upgrade your drive at the moment you need an authorization from BEV.

turning off the HDD requires a restart of the 6141 receiver same for turning it on. Moral of the story is leave HDD on.

I'm using a WD 80Gb drive in a nexstar enclosure thatI had kicking around

BEV does not appear to be charging for the authorization hit but may do so in the future. (guess that kind of makes up for crappy Cust Service)

Now to confirm that My Logitech Harmony 550 will do every thing I want.

Cheers all

 

[Brooker]

Working here now too...I called also. Great feature to have for sure. I am using a Maxtor 160G drive with no problems.

 

[GTI]

Did anybody know why the harddrive needs to be 750GB or smaller ? Plan to buy an external harddisk, but if 1TB works, no point to get a 750GB... Please advice...

 

[supergenius]

If its anything like the 9242 you should be able to use 1TB.

 

[blackspidey]

No issues here either

Connected a WD 500GB in a "slightly" modified Acomdata enclosure (un-hybrid-ed), self-serve hit via the Bell site, reformatted the drive, and instant PVR!

Thanks for all the posts with the tips.

 

[jbutt_mcse]

Picture going green

My picture goes green after about 40mins (happened twice) is anyone getting this or is it the possiblilty if a bad connector in my External HDD exclosure?

 

[mx21]

re: picture goes green after 40 min

pic goes green for me too after 40 min. but im testing the pvr with an external harddrive without an external power source, maybe this is the problem. what kind of external hard drive are you using (with or without power source?). tried to connect hdd to pc but pc no longer recognizes it because of the reformat by the receiver...

 

[Dags]

Glad to see everyone so excited about the new DVR feature on the 6141.

If you do not have the new firmware simply turn off you STB via remote (You do not have to hold down the FP power button, that simply resets the receiver). Your STB will also automatically accept downloads via update feature found in the menu options. By default this is set to 3:00am (this looks for new updates and downloads a fresh guide)

As Drewsat mentioned in his post (#195)
----------------------------------------------------
" You may need a representative to send an authorization "Hit" to the account if you plan to try the feature out in the next few days. You could also send yourself a "Hit" or re-synchronization on bell.ca or the phone systems self-care systems.

After next week, this step won't be needed for anybody connecting a drive

Drewsat
----------------------------------------------------------------

Here is just a few helpful facts

• Support is up to 1T. Most drives will work but as always with hard drive there are so many flavors out there, you may get poor performance out of cheap ones
Note (I am using the Lacie 750GB and WD 1T with a NexStar 3 enclosures with no issues to date)
• STB will reset when removing and adding the EHD. This allows the STB to go from standard mode to DVR mode
• Adding the EHD you also get additional functionality
- Name based recording and VuPass
- 9 Day EPG (Electronic program guide)
• You can share EHD's with multiple 6141 in your home/account (security measure prevent passing it to other home/accounts so don't try it and stop being so greedy)
- All DVR timers set attached to the EHD drive, so if the drive is not connected or powered on, will not see those timers in your menu

Additional things to note:

No USB hubs are not supported (You could use a powered USB hub but the STB will only read the first one powered on
notebook drives (2.5") are not supported (yes I know they somewhat work on the 9242 but very poor performance do to power ect... (trust me I've tried)

I'm sure there will be lots of questions but as usual I will not be replying. So have fun exploring this great new feature and enjoy it.

Thanks
Dags