MSGID: 1:396/45.29@fidonet 06624af6   
   REPLY: 344.canada@1:2320/105 28663f92   
   PID: OpenXP/5.0.57 (Win32)   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   TZUTC: -0400   
   Hello Rob!   
      
   ** On Thursday 02.03.23 - 02:38, you wrote to me:   
      
    RM>> I have a PVR with my satellite TV system that has a 1 TB   
    RM>> hard drive [...]   
      
    RM> [...] The unit will accept an external hard drive attached to it   
    RM> but I'm not sure how it decides what goes where. I'd have to look at   
    RM> the settings.   
      
   My understanding is that the material recorded onto the     
   external drive is encrypted and would only be accessible from     
   another Bell branded PVR (if the encryption and format remain     
   the same between PVRs)   
      
      
    RM> They recently updated their PVR's and told us to just   
    RM> dispose of the old one, which has a lot of stuff on it but   
    RM> only had about a 320 gig drive. It's not really stuff I   
    RM> was keeping other than to finally find time to watch it   
    RM> once.   
      
   A friend of mine who divides his time between two locations in     
   Ontario recently had a similar situation where a new PVR was     
   delivered at no charge (without asking) and the instructions     
   were to send back the old one "for proper disposal".  He has     
   had two other recievers go thru that same process - but he     
   decided to keep the old units over time.   
      
   One salient difference he noted between the one he was     
   currently using and the one they sent in as a replacement/    
   upgrade, was that the new one does NOT support PIP (picture-in-    
   picture) which he had grown fond of using.   
      
      
    RM> [...] the unit Only works with that one company so it   
    RM> becomes just an external drive after that. Hmm.. that   
    RM> said, the drive in it is a standard computer type hard   
    RM> drive so you could open the thing up and pull it to use in   
    RM> whatever you wanted if the video is stored in a standard   
    RM> format..   
      
   Hmmm is right.  I wonder if the HDD could be salvaged to     
   operate independently.   
      
   There seems to be some YT vids that explain the process to     
   salvage.  (I avoid YT vids because most of the explanations     
   take up way too much data to show a single step!)  I try to     
   look for the textual answers.  One of those suggested that the     
   internal drives from Shaw cable PVRs are linux partitions.   
      
      
    RM> I've been with Shaw Digital (Org. StarChoice) for something like   
    RM> 25 years so the problem has never come up before.   
      
   There you go. You can pull the HDD out and have a fine external     
   drive for other storage needs.  You might even be able to     
   access the existing media directly.   
      
      
    RM>> My Stereo is fairly old, so getting digital music into it   
    RM>> is difficult unless I do it through the aforementioned CD/   
    RM>> DVD player which is directly wired into it.   
      
   It doesn't have an AUX/IN ?   
      
      
    RM> [...] What I could do is burn a music DVD and I can run   
    RM> the DVD player through the Stereo. I've done that before,   
    RM> just not used it often.   
      
   Hmmm.. I've never tried putting music files on DVD and playing     
   that.   My TV supports SD card media, but then it has to be     
   photos only. However, an external USB with .mp3 or .wma are     
   supported.   
      
   Unlike your situation, my old stereo only has a CD changer     
   connected to it.  The CD player supports CD-R/CD+R but not CD-    
   RW.  :(   
      
      
    RM>> My system was worth close to $2000 about 40 years ago, so   
    RM>> you can probably triple that for today. It is still   
    RM>> working well, mostly because I don't abuse it at high   
    RM>> volume or use it a whole lot really.   
      
   I've owned three units over 40yrs of my time. The latest has     
   developed a slight static noise when the volume control motor     
   is adjusted with its remote.   
      
      
    AA>> My fine speakers developed the infamous foam rot [...]   
      
    RM> I think mine are still okay. I haven't looked at them too   
    RM> closely in a while. Last time I ran it they sounded fine.   
    RM> It has about 12" woofers and a mid range and a tweeter in   
    RM> each cabinet about 30" high.   
      
   One day, (after NOT playing the stereo for about a year), I     
   noticed that the bass was next to non-existent and there was an     
   odd mehanical noise in the speaker where there ought to have     
   been good bass response.  Peeling off the grill, shock and     
   horror met my eyes when I saw that the rims of the woofers had     
   simply detached.   
      
    RM>> would argue the sound quality is not as good but I'm not   
    RM>> such a music nut and I prefer to wear out a tape rather   
    RM>> than the record. You can always make more tapes or disks   
    RM>> with the right hardware.   
      
   Nut a real audio nut here either, but I always dreamed of     
   having a more advanced set up with a Klipsch pair and dedicated     
   amp (not just a commercial receiver).   
      
   MEANWHILE, I inherited a pair of studio monitors and a matching     
   subwoofer that ought to be awesome.   
      
      
    RM>> Record deal - Was approached to do a record with my own   
    RM>> music [...]   
      
    RM> That was a LONG time ago. Likely it was under his own label that   
    RM> no one would remember today. My music was mostly Folk, anti war stuff   
      
    RM> Sort of Ironic stuff..   
      
   If the voice and instrumentation is good, that can bring new     
   life and an appreciative audience to a cover song.   
      
      
    RM> First few lines..   
    RM> It's been a while now, still I get lonely   
    RM> And the nights go on and on.   
    RM> And now and then I think about you girl.   
    RM> I'd like to send you a pretty flower   
    RM> For each time I've thought of you   
    RM> But there aren't that many Roses in the world..   
      
    RM> It was supposed to be a joke song mocking the really old '4 chord'   
    RM> stuff, but most people into country music really liked it.   
    RM> There's probably a message in there somewhere..    B)   
      
   Sometimes the simplest songs do the best.   
      
   BTW.. did you know there is a Fido sysop in our midst who is a     
   successful recording artist?  Look up Shooter Jennings.   
   --    
     ../|ug   
      
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