Shaw Direct HDPVR 630 Owners Discussion Thread

1009135 Views 3304 Replies 465 Participants Last post by JasperJoe, 1 mo ago

hugh

Discussion Starter · Aug 24, 2010

This discussion thread is for owners to discuss the new Shaw Direct HDPVR 630 when it becomes available on September 1st.

Please post your thoughts and your feedback on this unit once you have it up and running.

For non-owners, you can ask questions about the unit in our New 630 In Pre Order

Edit by 57: Here's a thread summarizing problems, issues, resolutions, workarounds:

Shaw Direct 630 Official Problems / Issues / Resolutions Thread. Read posts 1, 2 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

1 - 20 of 3305 Posts

goalsgo

· #2,497 · Mar 10, 2015

630 PVR smart record not working

Not sure if this was discussed elsewhere but just recently all my programmed recordings disappeared. I tried to re-enter them using the smart record option but that does not work: it's like nothing happens.

Here is what I do: I go to the Guide, select the program I want to record and then select the Smart Record all new episodes. Normally there would be a scheduling bar that appears at the bottom and the program would be scheduled. A little round disk would appear in the Guide showing that the program would be recorded. Now when I follow these steps, nothing happens and the program is not recorded.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

goalsgo

· #2,504 · Mar 11, 2015

goalsgo said:
Not sure if this was discussed elsewhere but just recently all my programmed recordings disappeared. I tried to re-enter them using the smart record option but that does not work: it's like nothing happens.

Here is what I do: I go to the Guide, select the program I want to record and then select the Smart Record all new episodes. Normally there would be a scheduling bar that appears at the bottom and the program would be scheduled. A little round disk would appear in the Guide showing that the program would be recorded. Now when I follow these steps, nothing happens and the program is not recorded.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks GaryE and Diamonds for your suggestions. Before trying them last night, a message popped up on my screen as I was watching a hockey game advising of a firmware update that would run at 2:00 am. I decided to wait for the update before tinkering with the unit settings etc.

This morning when I turned on the PVR, I witnessed a miracle: all the programming schedules that had recently disappeared were back as if nothing happened to them!! Needless to say I am speechless and cannot understand what happened there, but in the end I am very happy with the outcome.

goalsgo

· #2,512 · Mar 13, 2015

Unfortunately not possible. I just lost several hours of recordings on a perfectly good external hard drive because the hard drive on my PVR went bad. Grrrr!

goalsgo

· #2,519 · Mar 14, 2015

Diamonds, I could not agree more with you. I recently had my PVR replaced and I lost all my external hard drive recordings. I posted my displeasure about this in the eSATA thread last month.

Needless to say this is a raw deal for external hard drive owners. The argument about copyright is understandable to a point but there is (in my mind at least) a very simple way to make users happy here. The external hard drive marriage ceremony is probably the result of some software code that SD has written to tie it to a specific PVR.

My suggestion would be for SD to modify that software code to allow the external hard drive to be "divorced" from the defective PVR and "married" again to the replacement PVR once the defective one has been returned to SD. This way, copyright is protected and user is happy. How about it SD???

In answer to your question on how to preserve those recordings, I have the following set-up: I use a Mac Mini with an Elgato Eye TV HD video capture module. I connect the Component (RGB+Audio) output from the PVR to the input on the Elgato unit. Then there is USB connector going from the Elgato unit to the Mac Mini. Once on the Mac, the programs can be edited to remove commercials etc. with the included software. Then a DVD can be written if wanted or simply kept on hard drives that can be backed up to avoid losing them.

There are certainly other set-ups out there and looking to find the best match will require a little homework. Good luck to you and hopefully SD will help out here....(Dream on I guess)

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goalsgo

· #2,572 · Jun 30, 2015

HD 630 acting weird

A couple of days ago, my 630 started going crazy with sudden reboots and not responding to the remote control commands, unable to access PVR list, menus etc. This is a replacement unit sent by Shaw for my previous 630 that died a few months ago.

After the usual front button resets, reboots, power cord and satellite coax-in cables disconnects etc., nothing was working. As a last resort, I unplugged the power cord from the power bar I was using and plugged it into its own power outlet. Voilà, problem solved !!

I remembered what a SD phone rep had told me when the previous 630 died on me: he said not to use a power bar with other electronic components plugged into it. I was skeptical at the time, but now it appears that it is true.

Hope this helps others with the same issue.

goalsgo

· #2,667 · May 3, 2016

Has anyone experienced 630 receiver powering on by itself? This has been happening to one of mine lately.

goalsgo

· #2,670 · May 4, 2016

Both my remotes have a different address. I have tested repeatedly to see if that could be the reason and I was never able to power on the receiver with the other remote....

goalsgo

· #2,672 · May 4, 2016

Thanks for the responses. I will try that but I need to restate the problem: both 630's (units A and B) are in our house (no friends or neighbors). They are in different rooms so no direct line of sight. The two IR remotes have a different code (I said address but I meant code) and I am not able to turn on unit A by using the remote for unit B and vice versa.

Unit B will turn on by itself for no reason and we can't identify some kind of pattern.

goalsgo

· #2,674 · May 5, 2016

Thank You.

goalsgo

· #2,739 · Nov 27, 2016

630 PVR can't find Hard Drive

In the last few weeks we have come across a glitch with one of our 630's. We get a notification telling us the receiver cannot locate the hard drive. When that happens, we cannot access the PVR menu. This has happened 3 times. Only one of our two 630 receivers is affected.

The receiver has an internal hard drive, no external one.

A power cord disconnect solves the problem.

Has anyone else been affected by this problem? Any ideas as to possible cause and permanent fix?

goalsgo

· #2,741 · Nov 28, 2016

Thank you Rural Router. I am kind of thinking the same thing but what puzzles me is that a power cord disconnect corrects the problem.

When a previous hard drive failed for me a couple of years ago, it was sudden and total: no access to anything at all.

I do have the warranty so I'll report to Shaw.

goalsgo

· #2,744 · Nov 30, 2016

Thanks I will try that

goalsgo

· #2,758 · Mar 16, 2017

Question on Internet connection via Shaw PVR

Not sure where to post this but yesterday I saw a message onscreen from my PVR 630 that talks about connecting the receiver to the internet to access many programs.

My questions are:

1- has anyone tried this connection?

2- what channels or programs does one have access to via that connection?

3- would the connection work if the receiver is located outside Canada?

goalsgo

· #2,760 · Mar 16, 2017

Thank you LONsat.

goalsgo

· #2,828 · Jan 19, 2018

630 PVR pixellation and recording problems

For the last several days, one of our 630's has started acting strange with recordings:

* It has not recorded a couple of programs that were scheduled to be recorded

* It has recorded only part of other programs that were scheduled to record

* A lot of pixellation when playing back recordings.

Any insight as to what could be happening here would be appreciated.

goalsgo

· #2,830 · Jan 20, 2018

Thanks LonSat. I tried all your suggestions and everything was up to spec. Then I tried a reboot but the problem was still there.

Finally I disconnected my external hard drive and tried a recording. When I replayed it, no issues of pixellation or missing sections. So it looks like the 5 year old drive is on its last legs and will need to be replaced. I'll report back here when I replace it.

goalsgo

· #2,834 · Jan 27, 2018

TheHans said:
If the reboot that @LONSat suggested didn't work, I'd suggest a couple of other steps before replacing your hard drive. You could try unplugging the unit for five minutes and then seeing the results. As another more aggressive step, you could try a factory reset as outlined here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/2531833-post2551.html

I can tell you from experience that all of these steps have fixed problems for me, even ones that seemed unfixable.

I tried those steps for a reset and it did not resolve the issue for me. I purchased a new external HD and it has worked without any glitches. I just hope this is not one of those intermittent problems .

Thanks to all for your suggestions!

goalsgo

· #2,837 · Jan 28, 2018

RuralRouter said:
What make and model did you buy - external power? :nerd

It's a 2 TB Western Digital Red Pro. Comes with 5 year warranty.

The enclosure is a Vantec NexStar 3 with external power.

Reactions: 1

goalsgo

· #2,841 · Feb 5, 2018

tvmaster said:
Did you try replacing the drive?

Can it be assumed that when a 630 fails, it's the hard drive that goes? If the hard drive is replaced, then Shaw does not send a "free" replacement and the user has to buy another drive.

And if there is an external hard drive connected, would changing the internal drive make the external one unplayable?

Is there something else involved?

Reactions: 1

goalsgo

· #2,907 · Oct 26, 2018

Yesterday I tried selecting channel 98 (Classic TSN 5) on my 630PVR and I had no picture. I tried other TSN channels (1-2-3-4) and they came in fine. I then tried 98 on my 830PVR and it came in just fine. Again this morning I have the same issue.

On the 630, I have the same signal numbers for channel 98 as I do on the other TSN channels as well as on the 830.

Any idea what could be causing this?

1 - 20 of 3305 Posts