Hard Drive upgrade for Pioneer DVR-520H

[rfoster]

For anyone wondering about other codes you can enter without the remote.
Use same method to enter them as described in another thread, to fix the EPG problem
suggested be Pioneer.

Beast - how do you enter these codes? Which thread are you referring too?

thanks

[Beast817]

Can't remember where I saw it, but here is a copy of the post. NOTE step 3 puts you in diag mode and setp 4 would be where you can enter the other codes. Not all codes will work on
all models try them at your own risk. See the list for step 4 code, its a system reset.


Finally, here's Pioneer's help for TVG problems?
Thanks to "cnetbuys" review Dec 6, I learned that Pioneer has finally come up with some help for TVG problems. cnetbuys called Pioneer for help and got "codes" to enter. You have to ask for "Advanced" CS person. I entered codes, but not sure if it works yet.

For those who want to try this "fix" but don't want to wait on hold, here's the procedure:
1-Go to TVG "SETUP" in top Service Bar ("go to Service Bar" in side Menu, then left in Service Bar to "SETUP").
2. Down arrow once to "Change system settings" and HIGHLIGHT. DO NOT press Enter button.
3. With "Change system settings" highlighted, Enter 1st code with number keys: 753159852.
4. When grey menu screen appears, enter 2nd code: 653274147.
5. Turn unit OFF.
6. Turn unit ON.
7. Redo TVG Setup. Go to SETUP again and, this time, select (Enter) "Change system settings."
8. Select the bottom choice, "No, repeat Setup process."
9. Enter your system/location info. again, even if it's there from before.
10. Turn unit OFF.
11. Wait 24-48 hours for results.
12. If this doesn't work, call Pioneer again and ask for "Advanced" help. They will "escalate" your problem (whatever that entails).

They say this should work for any system set up with RF In connection...direct cable, cable boxes, etc. just not for "satellite" (not sure why not, I don't have satellite). My connection is analog Adelphia cable w/o cable box.




Here's how to find out your Host channel for EPG/TVG.
Here's how to find out which channel is the "Host" channel that sends YOUR EPG/TVG data:

1- Go to TVG Setup (top bar).
2- Highlight Change system settings, but DO NOT press Enter.
3- Enter with number keys the following:
753159852. DO NOT press Enter.
4- Grey menu should appear.
5- Press right-arrow key (NOT Enter).
6- 2nd grey menu should appear. Look down the list of items to find:
VBI Chan: ## (channel number you are tuned to at this time).
Host Chan: ## (this is the channel YOUR EPG/TVG data is sent on).

My Host channel is 10, which is my PBS channel.

When I change my PBS station to the most powerful one in my state (go to PBS.org and find yours), I get excellent TVG data on a continuous basis.

Others on other sites like this report their Host channel is NOT PBS, but this little test will prove what your Host channel is for sure.

[scoobs69]

Hi all...

About a week ago the HDD in my Pioneer 520H recorder died. No problems (I think to myself) - I have experience with computers, this should be as easy as putting in a new HD... Well, as I have just learnt, thanks to everyone here, it's not that easy.

Unfortunately the pioneerfaq.info website is currently giving an over bandwidth limit error, and this thread is now so long and mixed with so many other related questions.

I'm hoping to get a step by step to making this work. I have installed a new WD 160GB hard drive into the 520H but obviously it's not working. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to make this work?

Thanks heaps in advance,
Scott

[cocopugg]

Hello, thanks to Hkan, I am almost ready to try my upgrade my 520H. But I still have a few questions (since I'm a newbie and want to try not to mess it up). First of all, I am still a bit confused about some of the steps in the update procedure. Steps 3-5 says:

"3. Confirmation of the CPRM ID No. as follows: press ESC then STEREO, take a
note of the 9 digit number, you will need it later( same No. is on the back
of recorder), Exit this mode by pressing CLEAR.

4. Deletion of the CPRM ID No.: press ESC+STEREO, input the same number as the
ID number and press STOP (this happens on the LED display, not on the TV).

5. Input of the CPRM ID No. and ID data: press ESC+STEREO, input 9-digit ID
number (again, this is on the LED display) then press SEARCH to register ID,
after this recorder's display indicates "INSERT ID", open drawer with
recorder's OPEN/CLOSE button and insert ID disc, close. After recorder's
display indicates "ID DATA OK" press CLEAR button."

Ok, here's what is confusing to me. Step 3 says "Press ESC then STEREO". Step 4 and 5 says "Press ESC+STEREO. Does this mean in step 3 you have to press ESC, wait a second or 2 then press STEREO, but in steps 4 and 5 you have to press ESC and STEREO together at the same time? If indeed you do have to press ESC and STEREO at the same time in steps 4 and 5, has someone created a macro button that would offer that signal together, instead of having to try pressing both at the same time? It sounds like it would be easier with a macro, no?

Also, I was wondering if someone can tell me a little about the kind of drive you all upgraded to...What make and model? Has it run quieter or louder than the original drive? Is there a limitation to the size of HD you upgrade to? Has anyone tried installing a 500 or 750gig drive? If so, did the 520H see the complete size of the drive after running the service disc? Also, what difference do you notice if you install say, a Maxtor DiamondMax instead of a QuickView (which I know is made specifically for DVRs)? Do you notice any slowdown in video image with a DiamondMax as opposed to the QuickView? I'm sorry for all the questions, but this is the first time I've ever attempted something like this and I want to try and do it right. Thank you all for this great thread, it's been extremely useful...And special thanks to Hkan for the tip on where to find the service disc!

[Seeker47]

Unfortunately the pioneerfaq.info website is currently giving an over bandwidth limit error

Still the case. Has anyone been in touch with Hkan, or know what's up with that ?

[siratfus]

Can you upgrade the 420hs model with these same steps for the 520hs?

[Zytec]

FAQ is working now, and is a common issue if it has a monthly bandwidth quota, that runs in the calendar month..

Still trying to find out a bit more before I try upgrading my HDD.. No one seems to have or know my model though DVR-RT601H-S (uk spec), however it seems pretty much identical to my sisters DVR-530H-S in function, other than mine has the VCR and the remote has one extra button (VCR)

I could assume it will therefore be the same procedure, (using the Linux copy to transfer the EPG & video plus data), but would be happier before starting the procedure if I could be sure how to check that the service disc will have the required data on it for my "oddball" or "rarer" unit, (I'm assuming the service disc image I have is GGV1179)..

Is there really no way to test this disc out before getting halfway through the swap out with no way back??? It just seems very hit & miss having to use a disc image you can't read or check, is there no app to check it or know what models it applies to or version it is? all I have is a 2gb nero image file called pioneer.nrg??

[Hkan]

What I know there is no way to test the disc, sorry.
It seems that you got the right one, NRG is Neros image file system.

As for the FAQ it has a monthly bandwidth quota, that's for the moment is 21GB.
I shall se if I can take the acount up one level that would be given 50GB in monthly bandwidth quota.

[Zytec]

Thanks Hkan I'm impressed with the knowledge in this topic that's enabled many to swap their hdd's out. I did try contacting the uk company that swaps drives you mention in the FAQ with details of my DVR, but never got any reply. I'd rather do it myself if possible anyway and I'll probably end up doing it soon whatever, but just wish I could be sure on the service disc first though.

It will likely be fine, but I'm worried as mine seems an odd model, and so may no be covered by the disc?. I wonder has anyone a real pioneer service disc and if so does it come with a manual or list of models covered??

[Hkan]

I only have original Pioneer Service Discs and they do not come with a manual! All you get when you buy it, is a DVD. The Service Manuals tells you what Service Disc to use!

Dont ask whats on the discs I never got any answear on that, but they are bloody expensive!

[Seeker47]

(I'm assuming the service disc image I have is GGV1179)..

Is there really no way to test this disc out before getting halfway through the swap out with no way back??? It just seems very hit & miss having to use a disc image you can't read or check, is there no app to check it or know what models it applies to or version it is? all I have is a 2gb nero image file called pioneer.nrg??

I'm assuming the one I got from a fellow VH member is the right one also, complete and in good working order . . . but, as you say, there seems to be no way to be sure in advance. (Unless the real Pioneer ones have no title or printing on the disk -- and that seems unlikely to me -- this one can't have been sourced directly from Pioneer. And that does concern me.) Do we find anything revealing on it with a sector editor ? Haven't tried that yet.

It would be nice if there was a sure way to preserve both the original HDD's contents and its integrity in terms of being readily returnable to the Pioneer, without it losing recognition by the DVDR and starting to return errors -- in case the replacement procedure does not succeed. I know how to make bit-level images of partitions, or whole hard drives, but that is probably not enough in this case. Ideally, you always want to have a fallback, a proven path of retreat, so if necessary you can at least get back to where you started.

[Hkan]

This is the DVD disc for GGV1256:

[billj497]

Since the disc cannot be read once it is burned, the only way I can think of to check is to check the md5sum of the NRG image before burning. If someone can post a md5sum from a known working NRG image, that would be a good sanity check.

[Zytec]

well I've tried 30 or so apps of all types and the only one that could see there was a disc with a file on was Iso_buster... It would make a tao file, took quite a while though but if the result is looked at with a hex editer it shows all zero's.

I'll happily admit to being out of my depth here but what does it mean? surely there has to be some 0 & 1 coding on the disc at some level, even if we can't see the file structure the raw data should be viewable? (perhaps someone can explain it in simple terms )

md5sum sounds promising, but do we know how many versions of GGV there are?

I have the pioneer_service.nrg file size 1,907,745kb and I assume this to be GVV1179, (but can't be sure). Should also have a GGV1253 soon, a later one closer to 4gb in size, and I'm sure I seen other GGV numbers when browsing As Hkan's disc image shows vol 4.1 there could be many others so comparing images might be unreliable unless the version it came from is known for sure..

[billj497]

I did some experimenting with Nero and found that I could copy an NRG image off of a burned copy of the pioneer_service.nrg and the md5sum of the copy is the same as the original used to create the disc.

Here is what I did. I am using Nero 6.6.0.18

• - put the pioneer service disc in the your DVD drive on the computer
  - start nero burning rom
  - cancel the New Compliation dialog if it appears
  - on the Nero main menu, pick Recorder -> Choose Recorder -> Image Recorder -> Click OK
  - on the Nero main menu, pick Recorder -> copy disc
  - the New Compliation opens to set up the image copy
  - set the copy to DVD Copy on the left side (the only choice for DVD)
  - Click the Copy Options tab choose on the fly and set the source drive to the DVD drive on your computer
  - click the Read Options tab and choose Fast Copy Settings = Data DVD
  - click Burn tab and check the box for enable write
  - click the copy button on the upper right side
  - Nero prompts for the image file name. Set the directory to save the image and give it a name. Then click Save
  - Nero will copy the contents of the disc

The md5sum of the copy image matches the original pioneer_service.nrg

So, it appears to be possible to verify the burned disc using md5sum. The missing bit of info is the md5sum of a known good nrg image. But, as Zytec states, it could get complex to track the md5sums if there are different versions of the GGV1179 floating around.

The only other information we seem to have is that posted by Andreotti on 18-Mar-05 about the "#### SHEEP ####" and "#### DEEP ####" strings inside the nrg file. I looked at the nrg with a hex editor, and it does have those strings.

[Seeker47]

but do we know how many versions of GGV there are?

I have the pioneer_service.nrg file size 1,907,745kb and I assume this to be GVV1179, (but can't be sure). Should also have a GGV1253 soon, a later one closer to 4gb in size, and I'm sure I seen other GGV numbers when browsing As Hkan's disc image shows vol 4.1 there could be many others so comparing images might be unreliable unless the version it came from is known for sure..

Now that billj497 has shown md5sum ident to be workable, can we compile a sticky (or something for Hkan's site) listing the Pioneer Service Disks (1179 or ____ ), the rev. # if possible, file size & date, the md5sum it returns, and any identifying string(s), like the one just mentioned ? We already have everything except for the md5 for one of these disks, in p. 17 of this thread, and that's a start. The one I have is obviously a copy made onto a blank disk, and already de-archived or expanded, so I'm not sure how I might obtain the file size & date, but I can run md5 on it and report the result, plus have a look for any sign of those strings.

[greenock_lad2000]

As this thread is all about creating a maximum sized HDD for our DVD recorder wouldnt it be nice if we could not only store songs on the jukebox but also store DivX files on the HDD as well and play back a from the hdd rather than digging out that dvd woth the film you want on it,

wow this would be a motivating driver behind increasing the storage size of our recorders,

So here is the big Q, does anyone know how to copy divX files from a DVD and put them onto the HDD.

[Seeker47]

So here is the big Q, does anyone know how to copy divX files from a DVD and put them onto the HDD.

Wouldn't do you much good, even if you could find a way: the 640 (Pioneer's current and apparently last DVDR model) is the model that has some support for Divx playback; the model 520 does not.

[greenock_lad2000]

I have the 440 / 540 model and it does support DivX, only problem though is that it will only play DivX files that are on the disc root and not in a tidy folder.

[fkrueger2007]

fkrueger2007:
You need to install a firmware on your unit.
Send me a PM with what region your DVR are for aand I'll se if I can help you.

How that I make to verify the region of my device? The model is the DVR-530H-S. In the cover it has a label indicating “Republica Argentina”.

[Hkan]

How to check for what firmware version your DVR has do the following:
Via the remote, from the Home Menu, go to Initial Setup, then select Audio Out, select Digital Out, highlight the "On" setting (i.e. don´t click enter just make sure it is highlighted), then press the Angle button, the firmware versions are now shown

I think Brazil (South America) is Region 4, The only firmware I got that's region4 is for Australia/New Zealand. This uses G-Code as I think you do in Brazil? How ever I do not know what languages the OSD menus can be set on in this firmware. This i'll know tomorrow. Otherwise you have to take your old HDD, read this document: http://www.pioneerfaq.info/filer/DVR-630/pioneer_file_extract.pdf and then PART4 in this guide: http://www.pioneerfaq.info/click/click.php?id=45 OBS! You shall NOT use the Pioneer4.zip

[Hkan]

The region 4 firmware I have has the OSD languages: English , Italian , Spanish , Portugese and Chinese, i've been told this so its no gurantee that it is so. How ever it is most importent that you have the G-Code system on your DVR if you should use this firmware.

So if you want the Region4 firmware send me a PM!

[fkrueger2007]

Hello all,
I am new here...

I had replaced my DVR-530H with a WD3200JB. Now it has 140hr of storage for SP mode recording.

However, every time I power up the machine, it shows "HDD ERR" in the LED display, and "Hard disk drive info is incorrect" in the screen. But the timer recording, disk navigation, ... all features are functioning as before. I tried to repeat the steps, but the "Disc Setup > Initialize HDD" option never show up again.

You it obtained to decide the problem with dvp-530h? I also have an equal recorder to its and am with the same problem. Mine it is region 4.

[hosentraeger]

Hello folks!
Thanks to this forum, and especially thanks to Hkan and his www.pioneerfaq.info, I could reanimate my DVR-5100 by replacing the original (but defective) DVD drive DVR-106XA with a DVR-111D. I used my Sony CLié PE-NR70V/E with OmniRemote 2.15 and the pattern file "ServiceFix90" (see above in this forum). The only (but not for me) problem is: the DVR-111D is not equipped with a SPDIF output - so the optical digital output is dead ...
The next step will be: replacing the 80GB HDD with a 400GB drive.

Thanks again!

Hosentraeger

P.S.: For all who profit from this forum as I did: please don't forget to help that this kind of Internet culture can survive!

[alanza]

Hi everybody, I'm back !
I'll never end to thank HKAN for his unvaluable help in my road to upgrade my dvd recorder (www.pioneerfaq.info is an excellent resource of information) !
I'm willing to replace the internal HDD of mi DVR-520, but I'm a little bit confised about which is the best choice for the new HDD.
I have made a search on found various models (Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital): all of them have a ATA interface. First question: is ATA/100 interface ok ?
Second question: what's the maximum supported size ? Seagate makes models with ATA/100 interface up to 750 GB (which means up to 170 hours at FINE quality !!!)...
Third (and last question): what drives did you use for replacement ? Are they silent enough for the use in an HDD recorder (at least as silent as the original ones ) ?? Are they affordable ?

Thank you to all who will have the patience to read and answer my questions.

Ciao !

[joe_tex]

Hello,
due to the nice information mentioned here, I managed to get all needed resources. The only thing which is not cooperative is my palm tungsten t3. omni remote works, but it seems not to be compatible with the service.ccf (converted to .pdb) on this platform. if i teach the palm codes of the genuine pio remote (the customer version of course ), the buttons work properly. The buttons of the converted ccf-file are looking good as well, but there is no effect on sending the needed codes (ESC,...) to my DVR 5100H (german version)

Has anybody fixed this problem?

Thanx alot in advance - joe

[cocopugg]

Is there a way to confirm whether the .ccf signals imported to my Universal remote will work on my Pioneer DVR-520H? I mean, is there a way I can transmit the signals to my Pioneer in a way that it won't damage the information already stored in it, but I can verify that each button works the same way the service remote would?

[Hkan]

You can transmit:

Press [ESC] then [STEREO] to acces the service menu.
This will take you to the ID set up. here you should find a setting that you can compare your ID #. You can always exit by using [ESC].

Other stuff you can find out here: http://www.pioneerfaq.info/filer/DVR-630/Service_Mode.pdf
or you might want to get the service manual to find out even more service remote commands.

[dogtag]

Hi Guys
Looking to finally upgrade the HD on my DVR720 - tried to get a Service disc from Ebay and got stitched up! Anyone help me out there? Already read all this long long post and am almost ready!!!
Mike

[joe_tex]

Hello,
due to the valuable help of HKAN, I managed to pimp my pio DVR-5100H with a 400GB Samsung HD. Works like charm and installation process is without any trouble.
About 100h in 'fine' resolution now.
Only problems I had in the first place were, to make my palm operational. Omni remote failed on my Tungsten T3, but novii remote runs perfect (with the right database file 8) Thanx to HKAN!). Only buttons layout and button text is slightly different:

original -> novii remote db
ESC -> EXIT
STEREO -> F1
SEARCH -> F2
STOP -> black square button (regular STOP icon for any players)

Service dvd was that 1.8 GB piece.

Next project will be to find out, whether the DVD-Drive is 'pimpable', because 4xwrite and single side only DVDs sucks

Greetz - Joe

By the way, has anybody succesfully upgraded the DVD-drive (faster, double layer) without any negative side effects? Hints would be appreciated.