Hard drive "swap-able" recorders?

[hech54]

I remember reading several months ago(I think) about 1 or 2 makes/models that easily accept a hard drive upgrade but for the life of my I can't find the post.

Anyone remember which ones? My wife is on the hunt for a new recorder and WANTS a HDD this time...unlike my old Philips DVDR985.

Thank You in advance if you have a better memory than me...I have terrible luck searching forums.

[mikel]

Greetings Hech54,
I think I remember you from the old +rw forum.

You might look here...It's about adding swappable external drives...
but might be helpful.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=736151

[trhouse]

Polaroid DRM-2001G

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=279460

[The_Knife]

On a related note ... do any recorders allow transfer, or recording, to an external USB HDD ? I'm making the assumption that the OP is looking, like I am, for something better than having to burn a DVD to bring a recorded show from one room to the next. All while still retaining the convience of having all your recordings at your beck and call. DVDs don't have enough storage capacity while HDDs (swappable or USB) do.

FWIW - I have a DRM-2001G and while it has it's "quirks", it does what I intended it do do well enough. I'm on the fence about getting another and then setting the HDDs up (as done on the another forum) to be swapable. I just have to convince "she who must be convinced" that it'll be easy for her to use the end result.

[lacywest]

Good info ... I am going to check into the Polaroid 2001G unit.

Does this unit have some sort of Flex-Record feature like Panasonic uses ??

Where I input the time to record and it adjusts the bitrate automatically.

or ... if I want to record a movie for 2 HR and 20 minutes ... I have to set it to record for an extra 10 minutes ?? and then trim the waste off.

[The_Knife]

Good info ... I am going to check into the Polaroid 2001G unit.

Does this unit have some sort of Flex-Record feature like Panasonic uses ??

Where I input the time to record and it adjusts the bitrate automatically.

or ... if I want to record a movie for 2 HR and 20 minutes ... I have to set it to record for an extra 10 minutes ?? and then trim the waste off.

I'm afraid the answer is no on the FR recording. It records in 1 hr (XP), 2 hr (SP), 2.5 hr (SP+), 3 hr (EP), 4 hr (LP) and 6 hr (SLP) modes. So you'd have to split the recording and delete the end/waste. This isn't terribly hard to do, but deciphering the horrendous manual to try to figure out how to do it, is. :P Read the good and bad info on this unit, both here and at the link above, before you purchase and remember it's a low cost, entry level recorder.

[trhouse]

LG LRM-519

the LG Digital Media Recorder's two USB ports make it easy to plug in a compatible external hard drive of any size to instantly expand storage capacity to however many hours the customer desires.

[The_Knife]

do any recorders allow transfer, or recording, to an external USB HDD ?

LG LRM-519

Gee, now you tell me. Thx for the info, I'll look into it !

[hech54]

LG LRM-519

the LG Digital Media Recorder's two USB ports make it easy to plug in a compatible external hard drive of any size to instantly expand storage capacity to however many hours the customer desires.

Interesting....thanks for the tip.
Now I'll look for the European equivalent.

[hech54]

Greetings Hech54,
I think I remember you from the old +rw forum.

Yep...it's me.
And my DVDR985 is still alive....

[LifeIsGd]

I own LG LRH-780 (80G HDD); I heard that you can simply plug in a big new HDD without all the complicated tinkering. I never tried myself. Can anyone comment? Thanks in advance.

[LCSHG]

Polaroid DRM-2001G

Have seen a number of reports that the Polaroid DRM-2001G will copy CP protected media and will also accept and format a drive to its full capacity [say 250gb]
This would be one excellent machine if it would do this. Unfortunately I find it will do neither. It will not copy truly CP media or format a drive over 80gb as an ilo 04.


LG LRM-519

The specs seem somewhat fuzzy but it would seem that it has two USB ports. Some claim that a USB HDD [ any size] can be connected to these Ports. Can the HDD both read and write while connected to the unit at these ports.
If so why have a built in 160 gb HDD which seems unnecessary with this feature

This feature would be of great benefit if it could truly do this on its own, both record and play back or record to a disk from the USB ports

[next]

Polaroid DRM-2001G

Have seen a number of reports that the Polaroid DRM-2001G will copy CP protected media and will also accept and format a drive to its full capacity [say 250gb]
This would be one excellent machine if it would do this. Unfortunately I find it will do neither. It will not copy truly CP media or format a drive over 80gb as an ilo 04.


LG LRM-519

The specs seem somewhat fuzzy but it would seem that it has two USB ports. Some claim that a USB HDD [ any size] can be connected to these Ports. Can the HDD both read and write while connected to the unit at these ports.
If so why have a built in 160 gb HDD which seems unnecessary with this feature

This feature would be of great benefit if it could truly do this on its own, both record and play back or record to a disk from the USB ports

I have ordered the LG and it should arrive soon. Here's a pc of the Polaroid with a 250GB HDD intstalled. Notice there are 51 titles recorded to the HDD (about 95 hrs) with almost 25 hours remaining on the HDD. You get about 120 hrs of recording at SP with a 250GB drive

[next]

Polaroid DRM-2001G

Have seen a number of reports that the Polaroid DRM-2001G will copy CP protected media and will also accept and format a drive to its full capacity [say 250gb]
This would be one excellent machine if it would do this. Unfortunately I find it will do neither. It will not copy truly CP media or format a drive over 80gb as an ilo 04.


LG LRM-519

The specs seem somewhat fuzzy but it would seem that it has two USB ports. Some claim that a USB HDD [ any size] can be connected to these Ports. Can the HDD both read and write while connected to the unit at these ports.
If so why have a built in 160 gb HDD which seems unnecessary with this feature

This feature would be of great benefit if it could truly do this on its own, both record and play back or record to a disk from the USB ports

Here's a pic of the Polaroid having no trouble with Pirates using a Philips 642 as source.

[next]

One more. The Polaroid recording to an external 250GB HDD in an IDE HDD enclosure. The enclosure is black and to the right.



Additional drive cases for the HDD enclosure.

[LCSHG]

[next]

Thanks for the reply and pictures. Nice Setup. I would like to see your report on the LG

As to the Polaroid
I am not familiar with Pirates but notice other titles that might indicate a further look on my part
I notice in your post and pictures that a referral is made to the 250gb drive, Installed. Below that are pictures of a 250gb drive mounted in an enclosure unit outside the unit.
My concern and question is to a statement that a 250gb drive can be placed in a Polaroid as a replacement for the original 80gb and the unit itself will format the drive to the full 250gb capacity
My LiteOn 5045 [160gb] will format a 250gb but format it 160gb,
My two ilo RHD04 will also format this drive but to 80gb.
I can use a 250gb or larger drive in either of these machines and the Polaroid, but must use a PC. If the proper directories are installed on the HDD I can use the drives to full capacity but must format in the PC. Any full erase and format with the unit will result in the HDD being reduced to the original capacity of the unit i.e. 80gb or 160gb

In the Polaroid Itself
If the Original 80gb HDD is replaced with a larger HDD will it Internally format this HDD beyond the 80gb to the full capacity of the HDD.

PS
I’m not familiar with the Phillips 642. I can record CP media to the Polaroid using the hacked ilo or LiteOn units as a player and in some cases a hacked Apex 3201 player
The Polaroid looks as a feature improved ilo. To me both Polaroid and the LG would seem a good unit but only if used in conjunction with a Non Compliant unit or are they Non Compliant?

[next]

[next]

Thanks for the reply and pictures. Nice Setup. I would like to see your report on the LG

As to the Polaroid
I am not familiar with Pirates but notice other titles that might indicate a further look on my part
I notice in your post and pictures that a referral is made to the 250gb drive, Installed. Below that are pictures of a 250gb drive mounted in an enclosure unit outside the unit.
My concern and question is to a statement that a 250gb drive can be placed in a Polaroid as a replacement for the original 80gb and the unit itself will format the drive to the full 250gb capacity
My LiteOn 5045 [160gb] will format a 250gb but format it 160gb,
My two ilo RHD04 will also format this drive but to 80gb.
I can use a 250gb or larger drive in either of these machines and the Polaroid, but must use a PC. If the proper directories are installed on the HDD I can use the drives to full capacity but must format in the PC. Any full erase and format with the unit will result in the HDD being reduced to the original capacity of the unit i.e. 80gb or 160gb

In the Polaroid Itself
If the Original 80gb HDD is replaced with a larger HDD will it Internally format this HDD beyond the 80gb to the full capacity of the HDD.

PS
I’m not familiar with the Phillips 642. I can record CP media to the Polaroid using the hacked ilo or LiteOn units as a player and in some cases a hacked Apex 3201 player
The Polaroid looks as a feature improved ilo. To me both Polaroid and the LG would seem a good unit but only if used in conjunction with a Non Compliant unit or are they Non Compliant?

This pretty much sums up my CP experience:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8580836&&#post8580836

The picture above that shows a 250GB drive almost filled with 51 titles was installed in the Polaroid. The pic was taken before I moved the drives outside the case. It shouldn't matter anyway because my external enclosure is nothing more that installing a 2 foot IDE cable and then running it outside the case. Here's how:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8651292&&#post8651292

It looks like the Polaroid will accept a Western Digital 250GB with no problems. I did have problems with a 500GB Maxtor drive. It formatted fine and showed 237 hours of storage in SP. But the drive had some erratic behavior. Not sure if it was the size ot the brand. So now I just recommend the WD 250's.

[LCSHG]

Next]

I did see the posts referred to sometime ago and had responded to them, but no reply.
It seems that in your experience the Polaroid [Itself] will accept and format a larger than 80gb HDD and copy All CP media
Unfortunately, I do not have the Polaroid at present but when I did. I could not get it to format over 80gb, except using a PC using the process in my prior post, or copy CP media except using the ili or LiteOn as a player to the Polaroid
I have had no problems with most mfg. HDD in the 250 to 450gb range either IDE or SATA.
Problems with Larger HDD may be in the tweaking of the file size in FAT 32 by the developers.
While I should go back to the drawing board on the Polaroid, I would be most interested with your findings on the LG

[next]

With the Polaroid it is plug and play. No formatting is required. As a matter of fact I would recommend against it. Just put the new drive in and turn on the Polaroid. That's it.