Will my ExpressVu 5900 work as a standalone PVR?

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tigercubii

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If I want to cancel my Bell subscription can my 5900 PVR be modified somehow

to record tv as a standalone PVR? As it is now I can't use or even view already

recorded material unless I'm hooked up to Bells system:(
 
You should be able to view previously recorded material though. I have a 5800 that's been disconnected for months. It still has lots of shows and movies on it that I get around to now and then. Any error messages that pop up I just ignore and I'm able to access and play the recorded events.
 
IC ,but mine is a 5900.... and when I tried to watch what I had previously

recorded while connected to the Bell sat, it wouldn't let me unless connected to

the sat input.

I was wondering if there was a way to defeat that feature since I do own this

box and had no idea when I paid over 300 bucks for it that I would be restricted

this way.
 
You can do that? Would you remove the hard drive and stick it in your computer?
 
Just remember that the Expressvu boxes use "proprietary" hard drives (well not really but it it has to be an exact model match which is written into the firmware and are hard to find) so don't get thinking you can take just any hard drive and stick them in the 5900. In other words be very sure you aren't going to use the 5900 again before removing the hard drive to use elsewhere. The 5900's typically have 120gb drives so that's what you would be pulling out...
 
Again, you cannot use the unit as per the question you asked. You cannot use it as a OTA or cable PVR to record shows. As mentioned above, you should be able to get into the menu (if you time it right) and playback shows that you have already recorded, without hooking up to the satellite feed. Alternatively, hook up the feed if you can, you don't need an active account to view recorded material.

You can easily pull out the HDD and use it in a computer (standard IDE drive) but with the cost of drives being so low these days you would be better off selling the selling as a proper working unit and buying a HDD (larger capacity and cheap) if you need a drive.

The 5100, 5800 and 5900 are identical units (although there have been some revisionsa to the MOBO). The only difference is the size of the HDD. 5100=40GB, 5800=80GB, 5900=120GB. I converted 3 x 5100s to 5900s by upgrading the HDD.

vmpv - he is not talking about putting another drive INTO the 5900, he is talking about taking it OUT and using it in a computer.
 
Oh I know but I didn't want him/her or anybody else ripping the hard drives out of the 5XXX series without understanding what they were getting into. And after using them in a computer you usually have to zero the drive and such to get the 5xxx to recognize it again so I kinda wish I had kept my mouth shut to start with...:)
And you are entirely correct that they would be better off selling it as a unit rather than just pulling the drive.
 
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