HOW TO Use PVR on the 250sm

[arboristman]

c/p:

HOW TO Use PVR on the 250sm
Orignnal post date 5/15/08....credit to trckr..thanks

The PVR files for the 250sm allow you to use the receiver as a basic PVR (aka DVR) when connected to an external USB storage device. This will allow you to time shift (pause live TV) and just recently an option was added to allow you to set a wake up and record time for a specific channel.

The simplest solution is to use a USB thumb drive. Simply plug the thumb drive into the USB port located behind the front cover of the STB. Enter the USB menu that is used for upgrading your software and format the drive.
Once the code and channel back up folders appear, the formatting is done.

You can also use an external HDD. Be careful of the power requirements for HDDs that do not use an external power supply. I would recommend purchasing an external drive that uses an external source to avoid any potential problems. The external drive can be formatted using the same method as the USB thumb drive, but may take quite some time depending on the size of the drive. Your best bet would be to connect the external drive to your computer and format to FAT32.

Keep in mind when you are making the decision to purchase an external storage device for the PVR function, 1 hour of SD television will use approximately 1 gig of space. Unfortunately, the FAT32 file system limits file sizes to 4 gigs or approximately 4 hours of recording per file.

Once a recording is made, it will be stored on the external drive as a .TS file. This file can be watched using the 250sm or the HDD can be connected to your PC, where you can watch the program or convert and burn the file to DVD. There is a variety of file conversion programs on the internet for download and I am sure members will be more then happy to give recommendations on which programs to use.
Pansat USA supplies the following program for watching the .TS files on your PC, but again there are a variety of different programs you can use.



The addition of the PVR function has opened all kinds of possibilities for this receiver. For example I use mine as a basic media center. Using a variety of different folders I have loaded all of my mp3 backups and DVD backups or downloads (the VOB, MPG, or AVI files need to be converted to .TS), onto an external 750 gig drive. With the 250sm connected to my TV and home theatre receiver, I can listen to music or watch any of my movies by pressing a couple buttons on the remote. It sure beats having a pile of DVDs/CDs lying around. I have also recorded assorted televison shows, movies, and music videos; edited out the commercials and such, and then burned them to dvd for friends and family.

Attached is a user document from Pansat's website with more details on how to use this feature .




Some info on the time record feature:

To access go to MENU --> USER SETUP --> TIME
Scroll down to TIMER
Turn to "on" and press ok
This will bring you to the sub menu.

Timer - allows you to program up to 8 different recording sessions
Timer Mode - Allows you to set a recording session as a daily occurance
Wake Up Time - The time for the reciever to power on
Wake Up Satellite - The sat (from your installed list) the receiver turns on to
Wake Up Channel - The channels the receiver turns on to
Sleep Time - Shut off time. If no time is set, the receiver will turn off after 1 hour
Record Option - turn to "on" for the receiver to begin recording at wake up time and shut off at sleep time