[jdevlin]

Can anyone tell me which models of HD PVR also have a ATSC tuner in them. Can the PVR record from the OTA ATSC tuner?

Thanks

 

[Pinza]

9200, 9242 & 6141.

The first two can record without modifications and the 6141 requires an External Hard Drive.

 

[hugh]

Thanks Pinza. Some Off topic posts removed. OP asked which Bell PVR's had OTA tuners and question was answered. Lets leave it at that.

 

[jdevlin]

Thanks everyone. Just want to verify I can record from the OTA tuner with the PVR funtions on all units?

I want an HD OTA PVR and this seems like the best/only option I can find.

 

[cascarbob]

I'm not certain but I believe it has to be activated to a BellTV account for the OTA to work.

Also there are no program descriptions, it just comes up as digital service so timers have to be set up manually with a start and stop time like an old vcr.

 

[ScaryBob]

They only need a Bell satellite signal so a dish, not a subscription, is required. To summarize:
1. The 9200, 9242 & 6141 will record digital (ATSC) OTA, not analog.
2. A dish pointed to the Bell satellite(s) is required.
3. No OTA guide data is provided, nor is it available from any source I am aware of.

Considering the limitations, it's probably not worth using a Bell PVR for OTA unless you already have one. There are other solutions, such as a dedicated OTA DVR or HTPC.

 

[Pinza]

I picked up a Sonicview 8000 FTA Receiver to use as an OTA PVR, the advantage is that I have now aimed a Dish at Galaxy 19, so I will get hundreds of FTA Channels as well.

All recorded files on the External Hard Drive are viewable via my western Digital Media Centre on TV's not connected to the Sonicview.

 

[jdevlin]

Thanks for the info. I wil be looking on KIJIJi for another bell unit to add to my sub.

I have a viewsat 9000 but the recording function seems to be erratic. Half the time it doesn't record. Sometimes it records but no sound.

 

[Jaygeetee]

Pinza, I too have a Sonicview 8000 but when I plug the external hdd into my WDTV gen2 player it only plays 1-1.47GB file at a time. When I record a 1 hour PBS HD program it uses 8GB of memory which is chunked out to 5 trp files. Was wondering if you had the same problem or if you used a file joiner.

 

[Pinza]

To be honest I thought they were .ts files (could be wrong) anyway, they just play one after another with a very slight gap between, I can live with that.

 

[Jaygeetee]

My player only sees the first 1.47GB .trp file and never sees or plays the other files. What model WD player do you have?
I've been using 'Simple File Joiner' to make one file and that works okay but time consuming.

 

[SnooPac]

With the vs 9000 you can format it to a Linux file system (ext2 or so...can't remember). And when you do that it records one big file since it doesn't have the fs size restriction.
So *if* your sonicview has the same option and *if* your player can detect that fs and play files from there then that could be your solution