Sony RDR-HXD790 DVD Hard Drive Recorder...

[soneman]

I just bought the Sony RDR-HXD790 DVD Hard Drive Recorder from Argos for £149.99 (reduced from £249.99) a few days ago.

I was just wondering if there is possible upgrade options available with this Recorder? I specifically want to know if I can do a DIY Hard Drive upgrade at some point in the future.

I've been using it for a few days and it seems like a pretty good recorder. It allows up to 348 hours of recording onto the Hard Drive and up to 13 hours of recording on a Single Layer DVD which is fine for the time being.

I was just wondering if a Hard Drive upgrade can be achieved if the factory-fitted Hard Drive should fail at some point in the future. And if so, how easy or difficult is it to do a DIY Hard Drive upgrade because I can't seem to be able to see an Engineer's menu for Hard Drive formatting and diagnostics?

[ramjet]

you wont see any engineering menu as you need a service remote or harmony etc

read this Upgrading the HDD In Sony '90 / '95 Series DVDR's

[soneman]

Originally Posted by ramjet

you wont see any engineering menu as you need a service remote or harmony etc

read this Upgrading the HDD In Sony '90 / '95 Series DVDR's

I've just read that link you posted it seems to be for the RDR-HXD890 model.

I've read the sticky thread at the top of this forum. It says that the RDR-HXD790 is one of the upgradeable models. But it looks like I need a Service Remote to upgrade the Hard Drive.

So where can I get a Service Remote from in the UK?

[ramjet]

most ppl seem to get them from america , so check the other long thread for the x70 range , which is the 770/870/970/1070

the fact I pointed you at a thread saying 890 is irrelevant as they are all x90 models , which includes the 790/890/990/1090 , its only the size of advertised hdd that is different , nothing else

and as I said earlier , you can use other methods as well as the pioneer service remote , namely a pda or laptop with irda , or a harmony like I use on the x70 models

I suggest you read around the forum now I have given you the bare bones of the details you need

I also wouldnt recommend going below MN15 which is ESP mode

[soneman]

Originally Posted by ramjet

most ppl seem to get them from america , so check the other long thread for the x70 range , which is the 770/870/970/1070

the fact I pointed you at a thread saying 890 is irrelevant as they are all x90 models , which includes the 790/890/990/1090 , its only the size of advertised hdd that is different , nothing else

and as I said earlier , you can use other methods as well as the pioneer service remote , namely a pda or laptop with irda , or a harmony like I use on the x70 models

I suggest you read around the forum now I have given you the bare bones of the details you need

I also wouldnt recommend going below MN15 which is ESP mode

I didn't know that the HXD 790, 890, 990, 1090 range were all the same. I'll do a search here then and see what comes up.

I've used MN1 compression and it seems fine. The picture quality using MN1 is comparable to video recorded onto VHS tape which isn't bad I suppose.

One last question, I noticed that this Recorder has 2 USB ports on the front. I've tried connecting up a USB flash drive to it and it only seems to allow me to copy files from the USB drive and onto the Hard Drive but not the other way around.

Is there any way of transferring files from the Recorder's Hard Drive and onto a USB flash drive? I can only see an option to Dub from the Hard Drive and onto a DVD but no option for transferring or dubbing onto a USB flash drive.

[ramjet]

if you check your manual all 4 models should be listed on the front cover and probably inside as well as its also on my page 4 too, they are on my x70 manuals for my 770/870/970 as its the same manual for all the models in the family , so I dont think you have read the manual properly

and no the dvdr wont allow transfer of files to the usb from the hdd , its there for transferring pictures and music to the hdd from the usb , and I think you can view or listed to the same files on the usb as a source, again its all covered in the manual

the times when ppl struggle are when they try to do things not allowed on the receiver and havent checked the manual , or its expressly forbidden in the manual , which is why the manual is so thick

if you do what is stated in the manual you should be fine , its when you try to do more than is allowed when you get into difficulties

[soneman]

Originally Posted by ramjet

if you check your manual all 4 models should be listed on the front cover and probably inside as well as its also on my page 4 too, they are on my x70 manuals for my 770/870/970 as its the same manual for all the models in the family , so I dont think you have read the manual properly

and no the dvdr wont allow transfer of files to the usb from the hdd , its there for transferring pictures and music to the hdd from the usb , and I think you can view or listed to the same files on the usb as a source, again its all covered in the manual

the times when ppl struggle are when they try to do things not allowed on the receiver and havent checked the manual , or its expressly forbidden in the manual , which is why the manual is so thick

if you do what is stated in the manual you should be fine , its when you try to do more than is allowed when you get into difficulties

Yeah I noticed that the manual has other models listed. So I suppose I'll have to make do without transferring to a USB flash drive.

I've just been searching for a Harmony remote, am I right to assume that this is a Logitech Harmony All-In-One remote control? I can buy those quite easily here in the UK. Which model is the correct one for use as a Service Remote for the Sony x90 range? And how does one program it as a Service Remote?

[ramjet]

I bought one from e bay , a harmony H628 and programmed it for this purpose of hdd upgrades on the x70 models , and that thread I linked you to was for the more modern x90 , so you need to read through the x70 upgrading thread which was what started all this off , as it was the previous models where the learning was done , and the x90 thread is a continuation of the same theme but for the newer models

so like I said earlier , its all on here if you go and search it out , but look for x70 threads as the work was all done on those , and has spilled over onto the x90 with the extra details of changing the model number which you dont do with an x70

[soneman]

Originally Posted by ramjet

I bought one from e bay , a harmony H628 and programmed it for this purpose of hdd upgrades on the x70 models , and that thread I linked you to was for the more modern x90 , so you need to read through the x70 upgrading thread which was what started all this off , as it was the previous models where the learning was done , and the x90 thread is a continuation of the same theme but for the newer models

so like I said earlier , its all on here if you go and search it out , but look for x70 threads as the work was all done on those , and has spilled over onto the x90 with the extra details of changing the model number which you dont do with an x70

Okay then. I'll have a look at Ebay for a Logitech Harmony remote (there are plenty of them available here in the UK) and I'll have a read through the x70 and x90 upgrade threads as well.

Thanks for the help.