Why buy the Expressvu 9242 PVR Plus Receiver $699 when you can buy the much cheaper Expressvu 6141 HD Receiver for $299 and turn it into a PVR for under $100. Let me explain.
During one of the Boxing Day sales I purchased a 46″ Sony Bravia 1080P HDTV and upgraded my Bell Expressvu Satellite receiver to a Bell Expressvu 6141 HD receiver. My choices in Expressvu HD Receivers were limited at the time to the 6141 HD Receiver or for $299 or the or 9242 HD PVR Plus receiver for $699.
While I truly wanted to experience HDTV with my Bell Satellite system and was truly searching for a Bell Expressvu PVR Plus HD receiver, the price of $699 was not attractive. In fact, the $299 price tag for the standard Bell Expressvu HD Satellite Receiver was still a little steep. If I was a new customer, I could have purchased these Bell Expressvu HD Satellite Receivers for $100 less than they were being advertised for existing customers.
Aproximately 1-week prior to my Disney Vacation, Expressvu had a promotion offering $100 off all satellite receivers and I picked up the Bell Expressvu 6141 HD receiver for $199, which included a free dish upgrade. To my surprise, this receiver allowed me to add an external hard disk drive.
I purchased a 500 GB external Hard Drive for $90 and plugged it into the Expressvu 6141 HD receiver and within 10 minutes I had the full function of the PVR Plus.
Turning the Expressvu 6141 HD Receiver into a PVR Plus was easy and I can now record up to 66 hours of HD programming and over 450 hours of regular programming on the external hard drive I had purchased, and all for under $300!
If you are planning on turning your Bell Expressvu 6141 HD Receiver into a PVR, you must purchase an external hard drive that has the following specifications:
- 7200 RPM rotation speed
- 40 GB – 750 GB capacity
- Single hard disk drive in the enclosure (2 drives are not supported)
- USB 2.0
- External AC Power Supply
- No Sleep Mode (cannot power down when idle)
When this drive is plugged into the Expressvu 6141 HD Receiver, the system detects that the storage device has been plugged into the satellite receiver and asks if you want to enable the PVR features of the receiver. It checks for compatibility of the hard disk drive and asks you to format the device.
Once the Expressvu 6141 HD Receiver formats the external hard drive, the satellite receiver reboots and the PVR features are now enabled.
Hi Barry !!
Interesting to learn about that trick with the 6141 receiver … I have a 9242 and love it (got a rental deal for two years free HD dish upgrade )
What I am looking for are specs for an external drive for the 9242 …
Are they the same ?
Thanks ,
Barry
The specs for the 9242 are as follows:
You can connect your own external hard drive to the 9242 HD PVR if it meets the following requirements:
7200 RPM rotation speed
Between 40 and 750GB of capacity
Holds a single hard drive (enclosures holding 2 disks are not supported)
Plugs into an AC power outlet
USB 2.0 connection
No sleep mode (cannot power down when idle)
From what I remember, this is identical to the 6141.
If I add a usb drive, then I decide that I want to add a larger drive, how would I go about doing that??, just turn receiver off, unplug old drive, plug in new drive and receiver will see that new drive as above??
Thanks
Yes, that’s all you have to do. It worked great for me. I went from a 500 GB to 750 GB. You’ll just have to ensure that each drive is formatted. It did ask me once to reformat the drive, but nothing since. It is in EXT3 format and you will lose data on the drive when you plug it in.
Does it HAVE to have a 7200 rpm speed? I just bought a 160GB that has 5400 – think it’ll do?
Doug, I think that a 5400 will suffice, but it has to be powered. The 5400 RPM drive may prove a little slow as the drive becomes full, but it should be ok. Try it, it won’t hurt anything. It does a check for compatibility before it uses the drive.
Barry,
I got an external hard drive last night and plugged it in. I can pause live TV and record shows but for some reason I thought I would be able to record a show and then change the channel and watch something else but as soon as I try to it asks me if I want to stop recording. Have I done/bought something wrong or is this just the way it is?
@Tracey,
I was of the same impression first, but found last night that I could not record one channel and watch another. The 6000 series receivers are single tuner receivers, meaning you can watch and record the channel you’re on or one that you setup via timer at some later time. The 9000 series is apparently a dual tuner receiver which allows you to watch 1 channel and record another. I’ll be posting a new blog article shorter on the difference in the receivers.
I was just curious if it is possible to record one show while watching another with this setup? or can you only record the channel currently on? The reason for this question is i was planning on buying a PRV so we can watch one show while recording a different one. If this is possible with the HD Receiver / HD confederation this would be the way for me to go.
Question>>Does the HD Receiver and the external Hard drive both need to be kept “ON” in order to have the hard drive record?
C Fast
The receiver can auto tune via timer and does not have to be left on. The hard drive however does.
Question>>Does the HD Receiver and the external Hard drive both need to be kept “ON” in order to have the hard drive record?
It appears as though my new 6141HD is automatically shutting down overnight. Other than that, I picked up a 500GB external hard drive from Wallmart for $80 and plugged it in – and – I was in business. Very easy—–thanks for your information.
C Fast
There is an ethernet RJ45 at the back of the 6141.
Can I connect it to my network that has a 1T hard disk to record?
Hey Barry,
do you think this drive will work? It says it is powered by an Energy Star adapter, does it mean it has a sleep mode? It’s from FS:
Iomega Select 1TB 3.5” External Hard Drive
Mfr. Part Number: 34579
Average Seek Time Not Provided By Manufacturer
Data Buffer 8MB
Included In Box USB Cable/Power Cable/Manual
Interface USB
Internal or External External
Maximum Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps
PC/Mac PC/MAC
Product Dimensions 11.1(W) x 3.8(H) x 20.6(D) cm
Product Weight 900 g
Rotations Per Minute (RPM) 7200 RPM
Software Included Yes
Storage Capacity 1TB
System Requirements USB
Type of Media External Hard Drive
Warranty 1 Year Limited
More Information
FEATURES:
Easy-to-Use: Simple USB 2.0 interface – just plug and play.
Energy Efficient: Powered by an Energy Star qualified adapter for a better environment.
Stylish & Durable: Available in a design Black finish.
Some people have experienced problems with that particular drive. I’m guessing that the drive has a “sleep while idle” mode which requires it to “spin up” when the receiver tries to access it – causing lags and locking of the receiver.
Plus, it’s 1 TB in size, the maximum supported right now is 750 GB (although I have had a 1 TB drive hooked up and it worked fine).
Hey Barry,
I was just wondering if theres a list of hdd that were installed on the 6141 receiver and that worked. I just want to make sure i buy one that will work.
I was just wondering if it is possible to attach the above mentioned external hard drive to two bell receivers at the same time in order to share the data between two tv’s?
I imagine this would involve using a y-cable usb hooked up to my hard drive..
This won’t work. I’ve tried it earlier this evening. You will need 2 drives – unless someone can tell me how they did manage to get it running.
Can \i use my 9242 to play movies from my cameria if they are copied to a External HDD – I’m guessing not as it sound like the 9242 formats a drive when-ever you plug it in….
Think I need to by an up-converting DVD player to plug external drive into…
No, what you’re asking will not work. In fact, your hard drive will be formatted when you plug it into your receiver.
If you don’t mind me asking what kind of external hard drive did you buy.Thanks Dan.
Hey Dan, I’ve tired 5 different ones, including ones that I built myself. The one that I found works the best is a 500 GB one I purchased at Wal-Mart for $69 – 3.5″ enclosure that is branded as “Retail Plus”. Works like a charm.
My Bell PVR reciever will not record, rewind, pause. etc. I am told by Bell that the hard drive crashed. can I replace the hard drive and will the unit format a new one. If so, what would be the best to purchase?
I have a Bell 9242 reciever that will not record, rewind, pause,etc. I am told that the hard drive has crashed. Can i replace it with another and, if so, which is the best to getÉ
I’ve had a failed hard drive in another PVR, and it was a simple replace. The drive was a 2.5″ drive, same as in a laptop.
Popped it out, put in another and it worked without problems. Was prompted to format it and all was good!
Consult with a local electronics shop, they should be able to direct you in the way to do this.
hi Barry, I know someone asked a similar question but mine is: can you use the same hard drive with two separate receivers (not simultaneously) for example if you record from one receiver, then take it and plug it into the other to watch the recorded program?
thanks!
I have moved hard drives from receiver to receiver. Each time it has recognized it and formatted it. I have had no success moving without having this question asked. All I can say is try it and see what happens. Keep us updated as to your success / failure.
I don’t think this has been asked, but my external hd (lacie750) had worked fine until I got about 600hrs on it know when I try to access it, it reboots the receiver (9242). I’ve tried it on both my receivers and it reboots both of them. Bell had no clue said to asl Lacie, Lacie said ‘Idon’t know, you don’t have it plugged into a computer’ I bought another hd because the unit fills up to fast but I hate transferring stuff fearring I’ll loose it again. the other drive is just sitting there in my hopes they will find a fix for it other then that I’m thinking about sending the hd back. I also wish you could copy onto an external but leave a copy on the receiver. well thanks for your time.
I am thinking that it has to do with the capacity. 600 hrs is probably near full on a Lacie 750. Where the file system is ext3 (Linux based), there are some things that I’ve see with HDD’s on systems that are near full. It locks the system and does similar things.
If the drive powers down or goes into a power save mode as well, when near full capacity, it will do similar things. I’ve seen it on my 500 GB drive.
I was wondering about the Retail Plus hard drive you bought from Walmart. Did you order it online or in store? I can’t find it online. Was it on sale for $69?
Purchased at the store, it was the regular price.
I am to looking for the Retail Plus Hard drive. Which location did you buy it from?
Also was wondering if you have tried this external hard drive out. It looks like it has all the capabilities. Can you shed some light.
Comstar 1TB External Hard Drive
WebID: 10124907
Mfr. Part Number: CO-HDE1-1TB/S
Average Seek Time 8.9 ms
Data Buffer 8MB
Included In Box USB 2.0 Cable, Driver & Utilities CD
Interface USB 2.0
Internal or External External
Maximum Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps
PC/Mac PC
Product Dimensions 3.4(W) x 11.8(H) x 18.0(D) cm
Product Weight 1.0 kg
Rotations Per Minute (RPM) 7200 RPM
Software Included Yes
Storage Capacity 1TB
System Requirements PC
Type of Media External Hard Drive
Warranty 1 Year Limited
Thanks
I live in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. That’s where I found the drive.
The drive specs that you’ve sent look ok, but Bell only publicly
states it supports a 750 GB drive. I have used a 1 TB drive without
any problems, but there’s no guarantees.
As long as the drive as an external power supply and does not have a
“sleep” mode, you should be fine.
ya we don’t have those here in Ontario.
What can you tell me about this drive.
LaCie 1TB 3.5″ External Hard Drive (301304U)
Web Code: 10108631
Mfr. Part Number: 301304U
Average Seek Time 11ms
Data Buffer 8MB
Included In Box See The Features Section
Interface High-Speed USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 Compatible)
Internal or External External
Maximum Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps
PC/Mac PC/MAC
Product Dimensions 11.7(W) x 4.5(H) x 19.3(D) cm
Product Weight 0.95 kg
Rotations Per Minute (RPM) 7200 RPM
Software Included Yes
Storage Capacity 1TB
System Requirements PC/Mac with Built-In USB Interface
Type of Media External Hard Drive
Warranty 2 Years Limited
where can you find if it has sleep mode or not? Manual?
Rory, some people have experienced problems with these drives.
After I record onto an external drive is there a way that I can copy it or write it to a DVD? I don’t want to buy 10 HDD drives.
Lawrence.
Yes, you can copy and burn to a DVD, but it’s a useless proposition. The DVDs cannot be played anywhere. The files are encrypted.
I purchased a Seagate external drive for my bell 6141, but the item indicates smart power management and energy-efficient power adapter. Is this the same as sleep mode? I don’t want to take it out of the box and try it if I will likely have problems. Walmart suggests no return is package is opened. Can you recommend a particular drive that will work?
Paul, the key is one that doesn’t have those features enabled. What I have found is the ones at Wal-Mart, the cheap ones for around $60 – $70 are the ones that work fine. The cheaper drives are generally the ones that have the features that work – I’ve found they have used the cheaper drives, with no frills as mentioned. I’m using a Retail Plus one that I bought at the local Wal-Mart here in Corner Brook, NL.
Just bought a drive today. Seems to be working fine.
Western Digital Caviar Blue (WD6400AAKS) 640GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer (OEM) for $70. Already had a case. says it can record 85 hours HD and 635 hours SD. I’m not sure if the drive has sleep mode or not but we’ll see what happens. I’ll update in a few weeks.
Comstar Platinum 1TB 3.5” External Hard Drive With One-Touch Backup (EXOT1TB)
WebID: 10110284
Mfr. Part Number: CO-EXOT-1TB
Average Seek Time 11ms
Data Buffer 8MB
Included In Box Manual/Mounting Screws
Interface USB 2.0
Internal or External External
Maximum Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps
PC/Mac PC
Product Dimensions 3.3(W) x 11.6(H) x 21.8(D) cm
Product Weight 1.6 kg
Rotations Per Minute (RPM) 7200 RPM
Software Included Yes
Storage Capacity 1TB
System Requirements See The Features Section
Type of Media External Hard Drive
Warranty 1 Year Limited
More Information
FEATURES:
1 Terabyte (1000 GB) of storage
USB 2.0 interface allows for speedy file transfers
Hot swappable
One-touch backup
Supports Windows Vista/XP/2000
System Requirements: Pentium 233MHz, Windows Vista/XP/2000, USB 2.0
Sorry for all the comparsions just want to make sure I am buying the right unit.
Rory, I would be cautious with this drive. It is “hot swappable” which probably means that you can remove the drive and insert a different one. Chances are that will lead to some issues as hot swap drives do some things with the power features to allow that.
I may have misinterpreted the “hot swappable” component. It may be how they are wording the ability to remove the drive when it’s plugged into the computer without having to power it down. I have to be careful some times, my geekdom gets the better of me.
So I sold a Lacie 750 to a customer for his Bell non PVR HD receiver and he was not able to get it to work. He spent considerable time on the phone with Bell support without any success except they told him to contact an 3rd party company that did the actual Lacie support. He called them and they informed him that they did not provide support for Lacie… How lame is that eh??? Anyways, he was pretty frustrated and I suggested he bring it to me and I would give it a try on my HD receiver at home tonight.
So tonight I pulled it from the box and connected everything up and turned the power on and bingo, the receiver saw it, said it wanted to format it, I said ok and it did, the receiver rebooted and there Lacie was in all her glory. no problems to record/playback/erase at all. So now I am wondering about his receiver. Has anyone had a 6141 that was somehow defective in that it would not recognize the external drive but everything else seemed to be fine on the receiver??
@Terry Paton
What model of receiver did you try it on, and what model of receiver
did your customer have?
The 6141 is hit and miss with the Lacie drives. I’ve tried several
that friends have purchased and have experienced the same issues
described by your customer on a 6141 receiver, as well as on the 9000
series. Yet, on a second “identical” 6141 the drive was recognized
and formatted. However when it got to near capacity after a few
weeks, it locked up. However, a reboot fixed the receiver and all was
fine again.
I am thinking that there may be different revisions of the receiver,
with slightly different chipsets or something. Yet, Bell will not
comment on this fact.
I don’t think this has been asked, but my external hd (lacie750) had worked fine until I got about 600hrs on it know when I try to access it, it reboots the receiver (9242).
To fix this problem connect the external hd to a pc with unix or winxp with an ext3 driver (eg. EXT2FSD). Clear some space on the external hd by deleting some of the numbered folders. This creates some working space on the hard drives that is needed by the pvr.
Lesson learned is leave about 10% free space on the hd.
It has to do with the capacity of the drive and the receiver’s ability to handle the amount of data on the drive. Once you get near capacity, it tends to lock.
jconnor /Barry: I am sadly on my 3rd drive now. The first one worked fine for almost a year, the second for only 3 months. The just suddenly stop recording (even thought it shows hundreds of hours still left). Then I can only playback, but cannot even pause.
Could you elaborate a bit on how to hook the drive up to a PC? I have tried and it recognizes the USB connection but shows no drive.
Thanks,
Daraious
Is there a way to transfer files(recorded programs) from on external hard drive to another?
Hi John, that’s something that I have not tried. Given that the recorded programs are files, that should be possible. I will experiment and get back to you.
Hey,
I bought the Lacie 500 gigs at FS and it does the same thing that happened in the V182. I have 183 and it still stops and cannot read the usb at times. I can store stuff on the USB Drive but if I want it to come back on the PVR, it crashes kinda and is not recognized.
I brought it back to FS and got a new one same and same problem.
It is a 9242 New I got last November. What should I do?
Get a new Drive (I was thinking seagate external 1tb but it sleeps.
Should I get a new 9242 by Bell?
PLEASE HELP!
well, I went to Walmart in Moncton, NB and there was no no brand names left….there were ECD/DVD roms tho.
I went and bought a Free Agent Desk from Seagate 1 TB and it works like a charm for the past few hours. The only thing that is funny is that it goes to sleep and then you have to wake it up so you have to click on it twice but that is no big deal (SO FAR)
Let’s keep fingers crossed.
if any body knws if once the hard dick has been conected to the 6141 still can be used in other divices such my laptop so \i can uset it as well as other media back up
thanks
You connected a hard what?
I bought a Seagate Free agent 1TB, installed on the 6141 receiver, worked great. But the hard drive will not power down after I turn the receiver off. I think this will be hard on the hard drive, may shorten the life on it. To me there’s a software problem with Bell. I unplug the hard drive, but this is a pain going behind my system. Can you give me some incite on this?
Gilberto
I tried it and soon as you plug it into the receiver, the receiver does a complete format, wipes it clean and installs their program. I lost everything on the drive.
Maybe some one can tell you more, that’s what happened to me.
I bought a Seagate Free agent 1TB, installed on the 6141 receiver, worked great. But the hard drive will not power down after I turn the receiver off. I think this will be hard on the hard drive, may shorten the life on it. To me there’s a software problem with Bell. I unplug the hard drive, but this is a pain going behind my system. Can you give me some incite on this?
Thanks
Dave
Dave, that’s the problem with the free agent. They have “sleep mode” or “power save” mode which causes them to power down. Bell doesn’t recommend drives with this feature.
FYI…. the Bell 6131/6141 HD PVR receiver was being blown out at FShop/BestBuy over Boxing day for $99. I added one to my account and a Seagate 500G portable HD. The Bell box formats the Hard drive with Linyx partitioning and can not be used with a PC for transferring files etc. unless it is reformatted for PC use by a PC. Then you lose all data from the PVR. It’s best to use it exclusively for Sat TV. So don’t break the bank on an expensive external HDD unless you spend a lot of time PVR-ing HD content.
Go Canada !!!
K
Hi guys , I just connected my 1TB Seagate hard drive to my Bell HD receiver this morning. I must admit I was quite impressed with how simple the entire process was. Does anyone know if it’d be possible to connect and burn movies with an external DVR?
I bought and hooked up a Seagate 1TB external hard drive for my Bell 6141 receiver. Worked great for a month and a half but now in playback it freezes up. I just now found in my many searches on the good old internet it doesn’t like sleep mode so I hooked it up to my computer and changed it to never. Plugged it back into the receiver recorded a show to see if that would “fix” it and it still sticks on playback. Help……………
I replaced my 3100 with a 6131, and like you, upgraded to PVR with an external hard drive (and loving it). Here’s my question: I want to be able to attach my hard drive to the old 3100 in order to watch recorded movies, but the 3100 has no USB. Is there an adaptor that would work? Or another way to accomplish this? (I tried using my laptop as a receiver but that didn’t work, due to difference in file types, I was told.
Please keep your answer simple, as I am a tech-dummy.
Thanks!
I bought a 1 TB Ultra Speed brand external Hard Drive from Walmart for $88 +tax and hooked it to my Bell 6131 HD receiver and it works fine. But it does not power down even after the receiver is switched off.
If the hard drive is left ON all the time then this will shorten the life of it. Also there is a ON / OFF switch at the back of the hard drive, is it wise to just switch it OFF from there? Your comments on these issue will be very much appreciated.
You should be able to turn off the external drive without an issue, as long as you are not archiving or playing back from it at the time. A message will come up that a multimedia device was disconnected. Carry on as normal. When you switch on the external drive, a message will come up stating a multimedia device has been found and if you want to access it.
I have been switching my external drive off and on for months without any issues at all.
To answer Gloria’s question, the 3100 does not support PVR which is why it doesn’t have a USB port. As such you cannot connect the harddrive from your 6131.
However, I have a similar question along those lines. I would like to take the HDD w. recorded programs from one 6131 and plug it into different 6131 receiver. Does anyone know if the encrypted content is unique to each receiver? I don’t have a 2nd 6131 but would like to get one if this is possible so that I can watch programs in a different room.
Thanks
Hello,
I am in the process of deciding what to do pvr or external hard drive? I was wondering if it is possible to get an external hard drive that is mac friendly. so I could watch the recording on my computer? Is that even possible? Thank you for your time.
Heather
Can I reformat my seagate 500gig PORTABLE hard drive after it is formatted by my Bell 6141 receiver?
Installed 2T seagate hard drive on my 9241 PVR. I did notice that I had to unplug and replug the power to the drive when I wanted to archive a movie. Worked great until Last night when it started pausing while playing a movie. Then it stopped working altogether on the PVR. I am now getting a No Device attached to USB message.
Thought I would reformat for PC but device manager shows device but no drive letter assigned so I am unable to reformat for PC. Took it back to PVR – got unsupported device message and then no device attached message. Any help or is the drive fried.
WARNING!!! Once you plug in an external hard drive you cannot go back. By that I mean if you unplug your hard drive or if it dies, you will no longer be able to set any timers whatsoever.
What do you mean Michel? Can’t go back to what? I am on my 3rd hard drive now, and each time after I plug it in it does its stuff and then I can record.
john
encrypted content is unique to each receiver, you can not take your hard drive and move it to another reciever, very annoying.
bob
If you really want to go cheap, this is what I found works with the Bell 6131 .I found a hard drive enclosure on Ebay from a company in Hong Kong called tom_tophome.They sell an external hard drive enclosure 3.5 inch that will work with an IDE or Sata hard drive.It comes with all adaptor cables.It has an external power supply.The enclosure has a built in switch for power.It has a very nice case.The price is $12.98 plus $9.99U.S. for shipping.I used a computer IDE 80 GB.drive and the receiver formated it and it ran right away.I think the secret is what chip set the enclosure uses.It is a JM 20337 chip set.These are used in enclosures by other manufactures.So for $22.97 plus $30.00 for a used IDE computer hard drive I had a working system.My 80 gb has about 70 hours of standard digital recording time.Lager drives up to 750 gb can be used.Maybe even up to one terabite.It only took about five minutes to assemble and really looks good.
I have my own extranal hard drive would like to know how too connect it
Can you use external hard drive on computer after it has been formatted for satellite pvr? I have a verbatim external and a 9242 pvr.
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