First question: right - it's all about the Season Pass priority.

Next, I'm not sure what you mean about the connectors. They're always on the short side, right?

As far as the issues, see this blog post about pixellation:

http://www.wkblog.com/tivo/2008/04/d...rive-or-tuner/

Thanks

Dea Michael,

Thanks for the response.

To clarify the hard drive difference, the exterior of hard drive cases have a distinguishing outline on the surface. For simplicity's sake, let's say it's the figure,"8", with the bottom loop squared off and the top curved. In all previous hard drives that I have received from Weaknees, the electronic ports for connecting the power supply and ribbon connection have been at the bottom of the squared loop. In the Seagate drive, they are at the top of the curved loop, just the opposite.

If you install the Seagate Drive with the same orientation as the one it replaces, it will be backwards and the electronic ports butt into the wall of the unit.

Cordially,
PapaJoe

It sounds like you have the drive oriented incorrectly. On an IDE drive, the connectors are in the exact same place (with very minor variations--millimeters). It is an industry standard. If I'm misunderstanding, maybe put some pictures up online and add links to your post.

Dear Jeff,

I don't want to open the case of the DVR now that I have finished the job, and it is certainly possible that I am mistaken. (I do not know how to add photos to my post. [Blush]). However, I followed the instruction sheet carefully, as I have done in past repairs, and laid out the unit so that it appeared just as the photo in the instructions. Visually, the hard drive that I was replacing had its brand name, "Maxtor", at the head of the unit at the other end from the connector ports. I replaced it with the Seagate drive, also so labeled, although the brand name was much smaller. Both brand names were identically located with regard to the raised outline on the, "lid", of the hard drive. When I had done so, I discovered that the connector ports on the Seagate drive were at the narrow end of the hard drive, "above", the brand name, rather than, "below" it, at the other end, as in the Maxtor, and that they butted into the unit's wall since they were oriented backwards. I had to unscrew the Seagate from the bracket, reverse it, and insert it with the brand name upside down, (if one considers the Maxtor unit to have been, "right side up").

I am not adept at this sort of thing, so I always lay out my workspace carefully and follow the instructions carefully both written and, especially, visual.

Here's another stab at what I encountered. Imagine a sheet of note paper with, "Maxtor", printed at the top. At the bottom of the sheet there is a row of inverted, "Vs", divided into two, unequal sections, representing the electronic connection ports. With the Seagate drive, "Seagate", is printed at the top of the notepaper sheet, but the inverted, "Vs", appear above the Seagate name. That is the difference between the hard drive that I replaced and the hard drive that replaced it. It is as if the, "lid", had be turned 180 degrees before attaching it. The unique raised outline that appears on the top of both new and old hard drives is now 180 degrees different in position in my unit from the one it replaced.

If you are really, really curious about this, I will open up the DVR and double-check it.

Cordially,
PapaJoe

No problem - don't open the unit.

It sounds like the confusion was that the different manufacturers put the labels on the drives in opposite directions.