Hard Drive upgrade for Pioneer DVR-520H

[emminem17]

Thanks for the reply, Sean. I actually once frequented the old AVS forums, and I remember you from the "disappearing EPG" thread. I haven't been able to attempt the TV Guide reset method, because nothing shows up on the screen anymore. When I press the "TV Guide" button or the "Timer Rec" button, I don't get an on-screen display. The current date appears in the little display window on the unit, but nothing on the TV screen. The last time anything did show up when I pressed those buttons (several days ago), the OSD was distorted, and you could barely see any instructions on the screen. I've tried a hard reset, and I've also unplugged the unit for many hours and plugged it back in, and still nothing..

[Sean Nelson]

I haven't been able to attempt the TV Guide reset method, because nothing shows up on the screen anymore.

You could try doing it "blind" to see if anything happens. I'd recommend the following keystroke sequences:

Press the "Timer Rec" button
(bypasses TVGOS's initial setup screen if some of the setup parameters are missing)

Press "Down Arrow" 15 times
(goes down to the "cancel" entry for the new timed recording.
Pressing down too many times will not harm anything)

Press "Enter"
(cancels the new timed recording)

Press "Up Arrow" several times
(ensures you're on the TVGOS menu line)

Press "Left Arrow" once
(The "Settings" menu is just to the left of the "Schedule" menu)

Press "Down Arrow" once
(The "Change System Settings" entry is the first one in the "Settings" menu)

Press 7-5-3-1-5-9-8-5-2
(Enters the TVGOS debug screen)

Press 6-5-3-2-7-4-1-4-7
(Resets TVGOS)

[anthonyphua]

Has anyone successfully used the pioneer_service.nrg torrent to upgrade the Pioneer DVD Recorder?

I'm trying to use the DVD burnt from the torrent and got an error "ROM Write NG" Error on TV and "ID NG" on the LCD Display of the DVD Recorder.

My DVD Recorder is DVR-630.

Anyone encountered the same problem before?

Thanks in advance.

[Gypsy898]

Well the 1302 arrived this afternoon. I popped it in my 520 after I put in the codes and voila it worked!

I just want to thank everybody in this forum (especially Håkan) for guiding me through this process.

I went from 80GB Seagate to a 320 GB WD hard drive, and it is soooooo nice!

I'm so glad I got my baby back, going back to VHS, was hell!

[anthonyphua]

Hi everyone

Just want to express my sincere thanks to HKan for helping me with the service disc issue.

I've managed to upgrade my DVR-630 to a 500GB Harddisk. I'm still getting the HDD ERR error after powering on the unit but I'm able to use my recorder with all the functions intact (eg edit, timer record, g-code, etc).

Just for the record, here's something unique about my DVD Recorder :

Region 3 (multi-region)
Firmware Version : 7.27
Year of Manufacturer : May 2006

I had to use the GGV1256 disc instead of the GGV1179. The GGV1179 did not work on my recorder.

I did send in my Pioneer DVD Recorder to the service centre in Singapore due to a DVD Drive fault. I'm not sure if they upgraded the firmware as well.

[emminem17]

Just wanted to publicly thank Hkan, Corona and Sean Nelson for all of their help with my problem. I was successfully able to upgrade my DVR-633H-S from a 160GB HDD to a 500GB HDD. The new drive is whisper-quiet and very responsive. I had to use an IDE to USB 2.0 adapter to connect my new hard drive to my laptop in order to copy the pioneer4.iso file to it. The new drive is a Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKB, and has a 16MB cache. I now get 219 hours in SP mode.

[cougar]

Well, it is now my turn to try and upgrade my Pioneer 420H DVR. After reading all the postings here I still need two items. The first is the GGV1179 service disk which I requested help for from Hkan. Hopefully he will come through for me. The second is some help to use one of my two learning remotes as a replacement for the service remote. Has anyone used either the Home Theater Master MX1000 or a Pioneer AXD7325? Both are learning remotes while the MX1000 allows me to download info to it using MX Designer software. Any help would be appreciated!!

[mikema1701]

Hello.

Well, I'm in "waiting" mode on my DVR HDD upgrade (Pioneer DVR533H bought in Canada). I have my Palm IIIx at the ready for the remote control thing (I have a Handspring Visor at the ready, if I need a newer Palm...and I think I also have a Sony Clie somewhere too), but I'm trying to find the service DVD. I looked on some torrents, but I don't often search for these things, and the files I found are likely not what I'm looking for (as they all seem to be CDs, what with them being under 800MB).

Anyway, I see you can order them from Pioneer, which I'm totally willing to do, but my question is this (and I think I saw this asked...but I'm not sure if it was answered): will the GGV1302 DVD work with my DVR? The GGV1239, which is described in the Pioneiro FAQ, is out of stock and expecting shipping times of 60 days (ie. you're never going to get it)....the "replacement" option for it, the GGV1256, is also in the same boat. Just would like to know before I plunk down my credit card.

Also, I was wondering if anyone around here has tried to use the DD command (I used the command under OSX--but it's part of most other UNIX/Linux distros, from what I understand) to duplicate your old DVR HDD onto the new HDD? I've done it, but since I don't have that disc, I can't confirm *what* it did. I'm anxious to know if I can transfer all the shows I have stored on there right now onto the new HDD, since I've got a *lot* of unwatched programs on there. Actually, I'm a bit puzzled that the direct DD didn't work, since I *thought* DD writes block by block...which, if that's the case, should make an *exact* duplicate of my drive (the only caveat would theoretically be, of course, that the new drive comes up as the same capacity as the old one). I was just wondering, since I heard a similar solution is used to put a bigger drive in an Apple TV...

Any help would be appreciated.

(Oh, and I'm relieved that putting my old drive back in brought the thing back to life. As I was reading this thread after I took my old HDD out, I nearly had a heart attack thinking that even if I put my original drive back in, the thing would still need the DVD and remote trick...I mean, the thing's out of warranty now, but bricking something that cost me enough $$ in the first place is not very palatable to me)

[Seeker47]

Anyway, I see you can order them from Pioneer, which I'm totally willing to do, but my question is this (and I think I saw this asked...but I'm not sure if it was answered): will the GGV1302 DVD work with my DVR? The GGV1239, which is described in the Pioneiro FAQ, is out of stock and expecting shipping times of 60 days (ie. you're never going to get it)....the "replacement" option for it, the GGV1256, is also in the same boat. Just would like to know before I plunk down my credit card

I suggest that you get in touch with Hkan -- support@pioneerfaq.com. He'll know exactly what you need, and if he doesn't have it he should know where to find it. He will only ask you for the cost of materials / postage, and even if you throw in a donation to his site (recommended), it will still come to noticeably less than you would shell out to Pioneer, even if they were willing to sell you the service disk, which is doubtful.

[Hoshizora]

Hi,

if you own a PSP and is capable of running homebrew, you can use your PSP to act as the service remote!

After you have installed iR Shell to your PSP, download the pioneer_service_remote_psp.zip file at http://hoshizora.tripod.com/service_remote.html, extract and save the RDF file to ms0:/IRSHELL/IRCODES folder.

From your PSP, execute iR Shell application and navigate to
iR Remote View > Pioneer DVR-520H Service Remote

For more information on iR Shell and related downloads, visit:
http://www.irshell.org/showthread.php?tid=3

I would like to thank BitBasher for making the service hex codes available, for without his hard work, this PSP adaptation would not be possible. Also not forgetting to thank all the ViDEOHelp.com forum users for their contributions in this forum thread.

Cheers!

[Hkan]

Harmony 555 does have the Pioneer Service Remote Control in the database, just put "GGV1381" in the PVR/DVR model field, and that´s it! then upload the changes to the Harmony 555 Remote and you are ready to go!

[accident]

Hi to all!
Thank you very much for your advice! I followed the guides and instructions and managed to upgrade my hdd from 160GB to 500GB on a Pioneer DVR-720h.

What I would like to ask you is the following, with a little introduction to tha case:
I successfully copied the small hdd to the large one. By the end of that step the large hdd was recognized by the DVR as a 160GB disk with all my existing recordings. When I booted to linux and went through the step mentioning this command "cat > dev/hdc1" then write garbage data and then pressing ctrl-d to save it, the drive was recognized as a 500GB empty drive with all my recordings gone (i.e. successfull upgrade of the hdd to 500GB but with my recordings gone)

I assume that this command messes up the partition table or something, produces a hdd error or CPRM ID error when the drive is connected to the DVR and then re-initializing through the DVR menu makes the DVR recognizing the disk to it's actual size.

What I want to know is: Is there a way to edit the partition table, or any other way, so that the DVR sees my drive as 500GB and still be able to recognize my existing recordings? (after the copy of one hdd to another)

Thank you very much in advance!

[jcuervo811]

Hey all, sometime back I posted on here that I had modified my DVR-530H (US/NTSC/Region1) version with the European region free firmware. Everything seemed to work perfectly until I tried to use the VCR Plus or Timer Record functions on the remote. At that point nothing would happen and my box would lock up and I would have to power off and on the unit. I recently noticed that on Hkan's website pioneerfaq.info, he has a procedure to extract these files from a working unit. Does anyone have these files and can send them to me so that I can transfer them to my unit? Thank you all for all the support on this topic.

Jcuervo811

[Seeker47]

What I want to know is: Is there a way to edit the partition table, or any other way, so that the DVR sees my drive as 500GB and still be able to recognize my existing recordings? (after the copy of one hdd to another)

I'm less than certain about this, so you will probably need to consult someone more knowledgeable about these things than I am, but my strong suspicion is that this is an Either | Or proposition. That is to say, the correct first move is to preserve the content you care about from the original drive. Then get the new drive recognized as 500G. Then find the workable procedure (not sure what it is) to copy that content back to the larger drive. Doing it the way you did it is probably going to trash that content, making it inaccessible . . . or so it seems to me.

Since we don't really have a good handle on how these drives organize or store the content, this would likely be quite difficult, going drive to drive. The most sure-to-succeed method would be to copy off the shows or movies to -RW rewritable media in VR format (so you retain high-speed copy capability), then copy them back to the 500G HDD. While that would work fine for a handful of movies, if you had a full 160G original HDD, it would become a tedious operation, and require a couple spindles of rewritable blanks.

[Seeker47]

Harmony 555 does have the Pioneer Service Remote Control in the database, just put "GGV1381" in the PVR/DVR model field, and that´s it! then upload the changes to the Harmony 555 Remote and you are ready to go!

Wow -- sounds like a great convenience, skipping over several other steps that would otherwise be necessary. (It's a bit surprising that they would cover a service remote.) I'm wondering if this applies to other Harmony models, or other releases of the Pioneer service disks ?

[mikema1701]

Well, I got fairly busy after I completed the upgrade....100% thanks to Hkan!!

I did have to use a PC with the Knoppix live Linux CD to do all the trickery (I guess the BSD version of dd on the Mac is slightly different than the one on the CD, since the feedback from the commands is identical).

Anyway, the end result is that I now have a DVR-533H with a honkin' 320GB Seagate Barracuda (My favourite drive--very quiet and rock solid... I use them in all my Mac servers that consistently run for 24x7...some for as long as 6+ years now). I think I remember seeing 114 Hours on the SP setting...wow. (I could have gone for broke and did a 500GB, but I figure by the time I outgrow this, I'll be changing to HD satellite and needing a different box for this stuff anyway).

One thing I learned in the process was you can't use a Palm pilot with Omni Remote that has the old 160x160 screen... I believe you need the higher res screen. I tried the thing on my old Palm IIIe, and it wouldn't work. I had to load the program onto my grayscale Sony Clie.

One nice side effect of this upgrade is that my TV Guide is now working. Prior to this, my cable company changed the channel lineup and from that day forth, I could never get the machine to download listings (but I'm still going to use it the old "VCR" way and program times and channels--I missed a lot of great shows the last time the TV Guide went down and I didn't notice).

So, thanks again to Hkan... sending a little eSomething your way right now.

[emil.....]

hi everybody....that's my problem.
i've read a lot of thread here and the great pioneerfaq guide to change hd in my pioneer dvr 520h and all was ok.
but now my original burner that should be dvr 107x crashed down.
then i changed the original one with the pioneer dvr112 dbk because i didn't find the original dvr 107:not in e bay, not in store....just one in california but i'm in europe.
After i changed the burner obviously the dvr 520 h tell me:cprm error.
I did same procedure for the hd (deletion id, reinput the id, service disk etc....) and now i have not the error message and my new dvr 112 dbk burner works but just in playmode.
when i try to burn it tells me insert a recordable disk.
So i displayed the info about the dvr 520 h unit with the command esc+disp and all is like it should be in reference of pioneer dvr 520h service manual except for the burner that reports me not ok but ng! that is a problem of firmware.
So i don't know how to go ahead.
any suggestion?
I can update firmware?
Or change dvd burner model?
Somebody replaced the burner in pioneer dvr 520h with success?
Tnx in advance...and sorry for my imperfect english, i'm italian.

[gshelley61]

Usually you can repair the non-working original drive by replacing its laser reading/writing assembly. The consumer version of the Pioneer 107 uses the same assembly, so it is a pretty straightforward parts swap.

You can't use any aftermarket burner in that recorder.

[Seeker47]

i didn't find the original dvr 107:not in e bay, not in store....just one in california but i'm in europe.

Sounds like it was that online vendor (in Irvine, Calif. ?) who had some leftover 107 stock but wanted more than $100. per unit and wasn't too interested in selling just one or two pieces. Ebay does operate in Europe, by the way. I believe there are -- for example -- German sellers selling to German buyers. I don't know who deals in older model components in Europe, but there must be some such dealers. It may take you awhile, but I think if you keep watching Ebay, you will eventually see some 107s. As I mentioned earlier, I saw a couple of DVD duplicator towers being sold on Ebay, that had 5 or 6 of the Pio 107s inside. I actually considered buying one of these, before I found a used single 107 on Ebay. The duplicator tower might be costly, also because of the weight + shipping, but the multiple 107s would multiply your chances of success. In a situation like that, maybe you could find someone else who needs one of these and share the cost. The trick there would be to find one of these that did not see heavy commercial use, and where the used price is not too steep.

[emil.....]

tnx for the reply gshelley61,
you know wich model has the same read\write assembly of dvr 107?
is dvr 112bdk right?
because is impossible to find a dvr 107,nor in e bay.....
other suggestion?

[gshelley61]

You'll have to find a used DVR 107 on eBay. It's an older model now, so you may have to be patient before one comes up for sale. Try looking for a DVR A07 as well. I think it is basically the same model.

Here's a couple...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-DVR-107D-DVD-R-8X-RECORDABE-WRITER-IN-BOX_W0QQitemZ2701760...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-DVD-RW-DVR-107D-Writer_W0QQitemZ180167743510QQihZ008QQcate...QQcmdZViewItem

[mrmazda]

...the "disappearing EPG" thread. I haven't been able to attempt the TV Guide reset method, because nothing shows up on the screen anymore. When I press the "TV Guide" button or the "Timer Rec" button, I don't get an on-screen display. The current date appears in the little display window on the unit, but nothing on the TV screen. The last time anything did show up when I pressed those buttons (several days ago), the OSD was distorted, and you could barely see any instructions on the screen. I've tried a hard reset, and I've also unplugged the unit for many hours and plugged it back in, and still nothing..

Did you ever get yours fixed? I lost my DVR-633H-S's guide, same as described above, and have been searching without success to locate the "disappearing EPG" thread. Anyone know how to find it, or what the actual thread subject is? The nice PDF doc from pioneerfaq that explains how to replace the HD doesn't make mention of EPG problems or their solutions, or where to locate a service remote equivalent, or an iso of GGV1179.

[trhouse]

I lost my DVR-633H-S's guide, same as described above, and have been searching without success to locate the "disappearing EPG" thread

The pioneerfaq.info web site decribes how to replace the hdd. Corona and I originally developed that particular procedure to correct the corrupted TVGos on the hdd of his 531. In the process, it occurred to us that the TVGos operating system and timers were all that were needed to be copied to a new drive rather than the lengthy earlier procedure of copying an entire old drive to a new drive which took about two hours.

We isolated the pioneer4.iso file which contains the TVGos and timers. This takes less than a second of hdd time to install.

[keithec]

I have a Pioneer DVR-510H, I need to replace the 80GB harddrive. I have purchased and IDE 500GB harddrive, is it possible to take the 80GB harddrive out, attach both harddrives to a disk duplicator and copy the contents of the 80GB harddrive to the 500GB harddrive and place the 500GB into the unit?

Thanks

[mrmazda]

Thanks. That worked quickly enough, and got me back my timers. Unfortunately, it insisted on a HD reinitialization, losing somewhere around 56 hours of recordings not yet transferred to DVD..

So at some point, sooner rather than later I hope, I still need the iso and service remote to attempt recovery from the backup HD I DD'd to, which due to the write to firmware issue couldn't be substituted without knowing the secret formula located by finding this forum and your HOWTO on pioneerfaq. It seems even after doing the service DVD and ID routine that I'd probably only reach the same point I just reached - required reinitialization - due to the new guide data that I already copied to the backup HD to try first (unlucky choice I made to try that ). Maybe it would work by DD'ing nulls to the 8000 sectors occupied by the guide at seek=4? Anyone ever tried? If that wouldn't work, could the HD be mounted under Linux, Mac or BSD for recovery via some puter software for managing A/V files?

[guddaddy]

I LOVE it...


I have a Pioneer DVR-640H-S DVD that has a 160g hard disk and I want to replace it with a larger unit - 400+gig?

Before I open up the box does anybody know if this is doable?

Is there a special type of hard drive I need to get?

Is there a limet on the size I can use?

[Seeker47]

I have a Pioneer DVR-510H, I need to replace the 80GB harddrive. I have purchased and IDE 500GB harddrive, is it possible to take the 80GB harddrive out, attach both harddrives to a disk duplicator and copy the contents of the 80GB harddrive to the 500GB harddrive and place the 500GB into the unit?

I believe there is a thread about this here, specific to the 510H, although this thread will also be relevant. And based on my reading of this thread, and the info on Pioneerfaq, I think the answer to your question is NO. That is, not simply by use of a disk duplicator. or cloning. (There is said to be a Linux-based duplication that has a much better chance of success.) Still, as I read this thread, there is probably no getting around the need to imprint the HDD with the Pioneer ID Code that will be unique to your unit, in order for this procedure to succeed, and for that you need an appropriate service disk and either a service remote or one of the remotes that can masquerade as one.

[Seeker47]

I LOVE it...

I have a Pioneer DVR-640H-S DVD that has a 160g hard disk and I want to replace it with a larger unit - 400+gig?

Before I open up the box does anybody know if this is doable?

Is there a special type of hard drive I need to get?

Is there a limet on the size I can use?

According to this thread and the Pioneerfaq site, it should be doable . . . but I wouldn't call it easy. There is not a particular make or model of HDD that is required, but I'm close to certain that it must be PATA (IDE), and not SATA. Some who have already done this procedure have cited particular hard disks that they selected, and how it went for them. I know this is a long thread, but you really should read your way through it, and maybe even print out those pages you find most informative, for reference. You can do all this well before you reach the point of opening up the box, and before you acquire any of the necessary "ingredients." In fact, doing so will likely enable you to decide whether or not you wish to proceed. As far as max. size goes, I recall reading reports of success with a 400 gig HDD, but am unsure about anything much larger. It is quite possible there is some upper size limit to what the Pioneer DVDR's firmware will accept, though if so I don't know what it is..

I got a 300G. Seagate a while ago, to be an eventual replacement in my 520, and a 320G Seagate to be used in my 640. I mean, 320 is double what the 640 started with. How much do you need ? In my case, I haven't come close to maxing out the stock 160 HDD, because I can't help thinking that the more stuff that is left on there (without being archived off to DVD), the more stuff will be lost whenever the drive does fail. So I'm more about defensive preparation in the event of HDD failure with this, than I am about sheer drive capacity. The 80G. in the 520 has often been tight, but 160G is a pretty decent capacity. But it's academic, because you can't easily find the smaller drives anymore. I did pick up a couple of the Seagate 160s at Best Buy not too long ago (had to special order them, despite their being sale-featured items), but their being on the shelves at all has become a rarity. These days, it seems like it is pretty much just 400 - 750 size that you find. The thing for us is that Seagate has gone to this "perpendicular recording" technology with their current line of 500G and 750G drives. (Perhaps other mfr.s have as well ?) I must say I don't really know what that involves, but it could be a potential incompatibility, size considerations aside.

We are talking about 7200 rpm drives. I don't recall anyone who has done this mentioning that 8 meg. vs. 16 meg. cache was a factor. Oh, one other thing -- I made a point of avoiding the Chinese-made Seagates. I have a bunch of HDDs that I use in various computers. I made the mistake of buying one that was Made in China, and that one will be the last. It ran very hot, and noisier. Maybe a bad sample, or maybe the quality of their production line -- I don't care. (I heard something about different drive motor assemblies, but can't recall where.) All the Made in Thailand ones I've bought have been fine, without the excessive heat. The Made in Singapore ones should be much better too, but they were always very scarce and I doubt we'll see any more of those.

If you decide to go forward with this, you will probably want to contact HKAN at Pioneerfaq, about the service disk, remote codes, and the Guide(s). I consider this to be fairly major "surgery" -- at least for my modest do-it-yourself abilities -- and not entirely risk-free, so I decided that I would wait until one of the original hard drives begins to show some clear signs of failure, before I do this. By then, any original or extended warranty will be over, and I will have little to lose. While I have seen the occasional glitch, I'm glad to say that time has not yet arrived. But I hope I'm well prepared for it, when it does.

[guddaddy]

Seeker47

Thank you fopr taking the time to reply and in such detail; much appreciated. There is a PDF doc; Pioneerfaq.info that I am reviewing now. Not clear yet as to where I would obtain a 'service remote control' that I apperentally need. As this is 'major sugery' I would wnat to stuff the biggest hard drive I can get in the unit.

[Seeker47]

Seeker47

Thank you fopr taking the time to reply and in such detail; much appreciated. There is a PDF doc; Pioneerfaq.info that I am reviewing now. Not clear yet as to where I would obtain a 'service remote control' that I apperentally need. As this is 'major sugery' I would wnat to stuff the biggest hard drive I can get in the unit.

The actual service remotes are supposed to be for Pioneer service techs only, although HKAN (in Sweden ?) did buy one, and I think someone in Canada did as well. Luckily, there are a number of devices that can impersonate the service remote, by means of downloading certain software that can be found for free on the web. Pronto is one name that came up a lot; I bought a used, early model Palm PDA on Ebay at low cost, as a lot of the Palm models are supposed to have this ability. According to AVSFORUM threads, those who already own one of the Harmony programmable - universal remotes will have it easy. They can apparently just point their browser at the Harmony remote codes database, scroll down to the Pioneer service remote entry, and pick this up straight away.