PVR compatible with more than 2 TB external hard drive

thanks again, but firstly, it probably won't be advertised if it does exist, as few people have more than 2 TB hard drives, but it doesn't mean that the capability isn't there. Often it may not even say in the manual. This is why I'm asking on a forum! For example, the WD TV live box does seem to support GUID, but it is not advertised at all.

secondly, I'm not asking about TVs, as I already have an answer there (no), only PVRs.

Thirdly, the partitioning system (GUID parition table / GPT) is very much part of the TV/PVR world. Many TVs and PVRs allow you to connect an external hard drive. However, all the TVs, and probably most or all of the PVRs will only work with the older MBR partitioning system, which supports only up to 2 TB. To support more, it would specifically need to support GUID/GPT (something which I don't think would be difficult, it's just that so few people care that the manufacturers aren't bothered, which is fair enough).

If you don't know then don't worry just ignore my question!

thanks a lot,
James

Do you really expect a cable company issued DVR to be compatible with a RAID box(?) First ask yourself that with the knowledge you already likely have about how large companies behave with their hardware/software.



Your GF will have to make an exception and learn how to manipulate the DVR separate from the file serving device.

Hi, sorry I've been away for a few days and unresponsive. About the DVR being compatible with a RAID box being ridiculous, I'm not sure if this applies. I admit that I do not know the answer, but I had been assuming that the RAID element was irrelevant, and that all the box sees is a USB storage drive with 6 TB and GPT (GUID) partitioning. Therefore I thought that it doesn't need to be compatible with any specific RAID box, just GPT/GUID. If this is not the case please correct me, but that's why I didn't think it was unrealistic, as to be compatible with GPT/GUID is not difficult, they just don't seem to do it.

Part of my work involved code review of surveillance DVRs and from what I know, you are being wishful.

Don't wish. Just call the maker and ask if it does this. I know the models that I reviewed code for did not do what you asked.
Bob

thanks, this is making me assume that there is no such thing yet. I think I'll take this as the answer unfortunately.....

I did just think it would be easier to ask on a forum so I could get a response from people with actual experience, rather than calling every manufacturer and probably talking to someone who has no idea what I'm on about.

Hi there James .
Yes I have been doing the PVR thing now for awhile and I using Hard-drives for storage for 2 years or more .
Firstly I tried the TV with PVR recording function and It is okay . but it is slow and you are stuck with having to watch what your recording . So I went down the PVR with Dual HD receivers road ,
I have a Noontec V9s with 1 TB in it ,
it comes loaded or unloaded with hard-drive takes up to a 3 TB 3.5 inch hard-drive internally and has 2 USB ports one of which is USB3.0 and a SD card reader slot .
You ask about " GULD partitions " are you a Mac user ? I am 10.6.8 Mac Pro 1.1
and the problem I found is most drives we buy are formatted to NTFS or Fat32
and the Noontec or the WDliveTVhub will NOT write to GULD formatted drives .
They will read them but only if the file is in a format they can read , eg. .Mp4 , .ts .mov .jpg etc .
Most of the TVs with Pvr only read and write in .ts files .
The Problem with NTFS formatted drives is that the Mac will not read or write to them .
The Problem with Fat32 formatted drives is that there is a file size limit of 4 Gig .
As for the WDLiveTVhub it is a good unit if it is used as a " hub " , as a player it has little gong for it ,
it doesn't have a volume control function on the remote , so your constantly reaching for another remote .
The WDLiveTVhub has a 1 TB internal and 2 x USB 2.0 ports , I have a 2 TB and a 4 TB plugged into mine .
The 4Tb is a little slow at accessing files .
I Network the WDLiveTVHub , the PVR and My Mac Pro , Via Cat5 cables to router .
Now the interest thing here is .
The WDliveTVhub can see the Mac Pro but not the PVR
The Mac Pro can see the WDLiveTVHub but not the PVR .
But the PVR can see the WDLiveTVHub and the Mac Pro .
What I have is
PVR internal 1 TB for recording NTFS format
PVR USB-1 2 TB Current Series NTFS format
WDLiveTVHub Internal 1 TB for Music Clips NTFS format
WDLiveTVHub USB-1 2 TB Movies NTFS format
WDLiveTVHub USB-2 4 TB Archived Series NTFS format
Mac Pro HD-2 1 TB MacOS Extend
Mac Pro HD-3 1 TB Mac OS Extend
Total 12 TB for storage .

thanks for the detail! It's good for to see what can see what. I'm not a mac user though. Everything I have is NTFS and I don't think that that's a problem for anything I do. I probably should have said GPT instead of GUID, as this gets the right result in google (The G in GPT stands for GUID).

Anyway, I ended up getting a WDTV live box (not the hub) and this does connect to my 6 TB RAID box and plays videos fine (this makes me wonder if I was possibly right in my reply to Pepe7?, still not sure though). I'm going to get a PVR separately, and I'll test it with my RAID box anyway and I'll post here if it works (which it obviously won't!).

Thanks for your responses, and assume that unless anyone posts anything that definitely says "yes, here's one", then unfortunately the answer is no.

thanks for all your answers,
James

If I'm not mistaken, the Noontec device mentioned above is for the Australian (DVB television) market. So depending on where you are located, you might not be able to fully utilize that device.

by the way I didn't select that one as the best answer, as it clearly wasn't.... It didn't give me an option to choose it.