Subj : When everything is digita To : Rob Mccart From : August Abolins Date : Mon Mar 13 2023 10:38:00 Hello Rob! ** On Thursday 02.03.23 - 02:38, you wrote to me: RM>> I have a PVR with my satellite TV system that has a 1 TB RM>> hard drive [...] RM> [...] The unit will accept an external hard drive attached to it RM> but I'm not sure how it decides what goes where. I'd have to look at RM> the settings. My understanding is that the material recorded onto the external drive is encrypted and would only be accessible from another Bell branded PVR (if the encryption and format remain the same between PVRs) RM> They recently updated their PVR's and told us to just RM> dispose of the old one, which has a lot of stuff on it but RM> only had about a 320 gig drive. It's not really stuff I RM> was keeping other than to finally find time to watch it RM> once. A friend of mine who divides his time between two locations in Ontario recently had a similar situation where a new PVR was delivered at no charge (without asking) and the instructions were to send back the old one "for proper disposal". He has had two other recievers go thru that same process - but he decided to keep the old units over time. One salient difference he noted between the one he was currently using and the one they sent in as a replacement/ upgrade, was that the new one does NOT support PIP (picture-in- picture) which he had grown fond of using. RM> [...] the unit Only works with that one company so it RM> becomes just an external drive after that. Hmm.. that RM> said, the drive in it is a standard computer type hard RM> drive so you could open the thing up and pull it to use in RM> whatever you wanted if the video is stored in a standard RM> format.. Hmmm is right. I wonder if the HDD could be salvaged to operate independently. There seems to be some YT vids that explain the process to salvage. (I avoid YT vids because most of the explanations take up way too much data to show a single step!) I try to look for the textual answers. One of those suggested that the internal drives from Shaw cable PVRs are linux partitions. RM> I've been with Shaw Digital (Org. StarChoice) for something like RM> 25 years so the problem has never come up before. There you go. You can pull the HDD out and have a fine external drive for other storage needs. You might even be able to access the existing media directly. RM>> My Stereo is fairly old, so getting digital music into it RM>> is difficult unless I do it through the aforementioned CD/ RM>> DVD player which is directly wired into it. It doesn't have an AUX/IN ? RM> [...] What I could do is burn a music DVD and I can run RM> the DVD player through the Stereo. I've done that before, RM> just not used it often. Hmmm.. I've never tried putting music files on DVD and playing that. My TV supports SD card media, but then it has to be photos only. However, an external USB with .mp3 or .wma are supported. Unlike your situation, my old stereo only has a CD changer connected to it. The CD player supports CD-R/CD+R but not CD- RW. :( RM>> My system was worth close to $2000 about 40 years ago, so RM>> you can probably triple that for today. It is still RM>> working well, mostly because I don't abuse it at high RM>> volume or use it a whole lot really. I've owned three units over 40yrs of my time. The latest has developed a slight static noise when the volume control motor is adjusted with its remote. AA>> My fine speakers developed the infamous foam rot [...] RM> I think mine are still okay. I haven't looked at them too RM> closely in a while. Last time I ran it they sounded fine. RM> It has about 12" woofers and a mid range and a tweeter in RM> each cabinet about 30" high. One day, (after NOT playing the stereo for about a year), I noticed that the bass was next to non-existent and there was an odd mehanical noise in the speaker where there ought to have been good bass response. Peeling off the grill, shock and horror met my eyes when I saw that the rims of the woofers had simply detached. RM>> would argue the sound quality is not as good but I'm not RM>> such a music nut and I prefer to wear out a tape rather RM>> than the record. You can always make more tapes or disks RM>> with the right hardware. Nut a real audio nut here either, but I always dreamed of having a more advanced set up with a Klipsch pair and dedicated amp (not just a commercial receiver). MEANWHILE, I inherited a pair of studio monitors and a matching subwoofer that ought to be awesome. RM>> Record deal - Was approached to do a record with my own RM>> music [...] RM> That was a LONG time ago. Likely it was under his own label that RM> no one would remember today. My music was mostly Folk, anti war stuff RM> Sort of Ironic stuff.. If the voice and instrumentation is good, that can bring new life and an appreciative audience to a cover song. RM> First few lines.. RM> It's been a while now, still I get lonely RM> And the nights go on and on. RM> And now and then I think about you girl. RM> I'd like to send you a pretty flower RM> For each time I've thought of you RM> But there aren't that many Roses in the world.. RM> It was supposed to be a joke song mocking the really old '4 chord' RM> stuff, but most people into country music really liked it. RM> There's probably a message in there somewhere.. B) Sometimes the simplest songs do the best. BTW.. did you know there is a Fido sysop in our midst who is a successful recording artist? Look up Shooter Jennings. -- ../|ug --- OpenXP 5.0.57 * Origin: Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese (1:396/45.29) .