Rogers PVR continually humming

[Half-Mad]

I have a new (refurbished?) PVR from Rogers Cable. When it is turned off, and not recording, it is almost always still either running a cooling fan or the internal hard drive is still spinning (I believe it to be the hard drive). I just wanted to know if this is normal. On occasion it will go quiet when not in use, but this seems to be rare. The unit was given free for getting two services with a multi-year contract, so I expect it likely is a refurbished model.

[edDV]

Model number?

[yoda313]

I would suspect it is ok. I assume this is a true pvr that is continually on for a half hour buffer? If so than is doing what it is supposed to. That way whatever channel it was on will have a half hour (or whatever the default is on your model) buffer to backup and watch whatever you want.

[Snakebyte1]

I have had a Rogers Scientific Atlanta HD PVR for about 2 years now, and it does exactly what you have described.

[edDV]

My Motorola tuners are always on even when you press the power button to off. The tuners are still active and the box is ready for recording even in the power off state. About all that gets turned off is audio out and the front LED. You need to pull the power plug to really turn it off. When you do, it must reload the program guide when you plug it back in.

[Half-Mad]

Model is Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD.

Thank you all. Perhaps it's not a refurb unit.

The unit does seem to run the hard drive (or fan), on and off, at all hours of the day/night, long after being not in use. However, I do have it set to record at assorted times day and night... including up until about 20 to 40 minutes before I wake up (depending how many times I press snooze). If it continues for a half hour after an automatic recording, that would explain why I often, but not always, hear it humming when I wake up.