Upgrading the hard disk in a Freesat 4K box

bazzerkap

Standard Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2020
Messages
34
Reaction score
3
Points
15
Age
77
Location
st8 6ry
I may get hold of a cheap Freesat 4k Recordable box soon, with a 500GB drive in it. Is it easy to upgrade the hard disk to a 1TB or 2TB drive? Is it similar to upgrading the old Foxsat HDR boxes?
Cheers
 
500GB will store a lot of stuff, especially if you get into the habit of deleting stuff that you've watched, unless you want to keep it, of course. All of my PVRs have 500GB drive and I'm yet to fill one.
 
Yes, big drives have less use these days, when everything is available in applications.
 
True, but of course all of the UK catch-up apps. are not particularly great quality, stuck at a 720p resolution at best, with stereo audio. The BBC iPlayer does offer some 4K content, but again only with stereo audio. Better to record off-air for the HD channels, especially as 5.1 audio is often up for grabs on BBC1/2/4HD and C4HD, assuming of course, that 5.1 audio is important to you.
 
Assuming!
 
Thanks for all your comments but it really does not answer my question which was physically upgrading of a drive in this box.
 
Thanks for all your comments but it really does not answer my question which was physically upgrading of a drive in this box.
Yes you can. Best to use a decent PVR drive and you can upgrade to 2tb. The box does not see anything bigger than 2tb though.
Its a straight drop-in swap, just replace the drive and power up, the box formats the drive itself.

(NB: I did this on my brand new box before any updates were applied so I say all this only guaranteeing it works on a brand new box with no updates from the first ever)
 
True, but of course all of the UK catch-up apps. are not particularly great quality, stuck at a 720p resolution at best, with stereo audio. The BBC iPlayer does offer some 4K content, but again only with stereo audio. Better to record off-air for the HD channels, especially as 5.1 audio is often up for grabs on BBC1/2/4HD and C4HD, assuming of course, that 5.1 audio is important to you.

AND you can skip adverts which isn't so easy on streaming platforms
 
Thanks Jadzir That's all I need to know. Will experiment with drives now. 2TB will be a nice size. :) Cheers.
 
If you’re using an Arris box, that will be the case, because the software is currently borked. Freesat is supposed to be releasing a fix this month, but with nearly half the month gone it doesn’t look too promising.

If you have a Humax box, then it’s down to settings or ancillary kit, because I get plenty of 5.1 audio from the BBC HD channels when so encoded from my Humax boxes.
 
I want to replace my hdd in my humax arris 4k set top box, how do I know I'm ordering the correct hdd.
Thanks.
 
I want to replace my hdd in my humax arris 4k set top box, how do I know I'm ordering the correct hdd.
Thanks.
What size are you after?
Getting a hard drive specifically for a PVR, especially a 2.5" model is not easy, therefore I suggest a Samsung or Seagate drive of either 500gb, 1tb or 2tb size. Don't go bigger as the PVR can't see more than 2tb.
Do not buy Toshiba, they are utter rubbish!
You just need a 2.5" SATA drive, the same as most laptops. Avoid SSDs as it's not yet been established if they're good in a PVR, because of the constant read/write status of a PVR, some are saying they don't last very long.
Good luck!
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom