So far I am loving this machine. One HUGE note: follow the directions that came with it, not the ones on the Cablevision website. The directions that came with it, made the installation very quick and easy. It is correct that it only adds 62 hours of HD time to your DVR, but still this is a VAST improvement to the limited space the DVR uses now with most channels being in HD. I highly recommend this item. Apricorn DVR Expander II 500 GB Cable and Dish Network Dual eSATA / USB 2.0 Interface DVR Expansion System ADVRE2-500, Black 500 GB
I've got a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR through Cox in Tucson. They recently made the change to that Passport Echo software that removes a number of features the old software used to have. One of those features is checking how much space is left on the drive. Stupid. Just plain stupid... (Note, slowly most of the features have returned except for the ability to record to a DVD recorder while watching other programs. March 1, 2011)
I had already been running out of space before the so called upgrade and of course the only DVR expander that most reviews state works properly with the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD is the Western Digital 500Gb My DVR Expander. Of course that size has been discontinued. Some have reported that the 1Tb version works, but I didn't want to risk it. I saw some reviews of this one with the users stating it worked fine. No negative reviews, so I went ahead and bought it.
I've had the Apricorn unit for several weeks now and can recommend it wholeheartedly! If you have a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR and need more space, you shouldn't hesitate. Buy this one right now. Installation was quick and painless. It was active and ready to go within a few minutes of me taking it out of its box.
My only regret is that I hadn't got it sooner.
Needed more recording space as existing Cablevision/Optimum Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR was extremely limited as most of their programming is now HD (around 20 hours). Would have prefered larger 1 GB expansion drive, but as a Cablevision customer, decided to use "tested" 500 GB model. Powered off both DVR and HD and connected with included eSata cable. Powered up DVR, then HD and a screen for formatting HD popped up on TV. Minutes later, free recording space jumped from less than 10% to more than 80%. No discernable sound in TV room while operating. Has tested successfully under load i.e. started watching show that was still being recorded (time shift) while another separate show was also being recorded. There were no pixel freezes in either the current show or the one viewed a day later. Nicely design and is well constructed. Continues to work fine after 2 weeks. Our teenage uses to watch recorded shows daily with no problems.
Five stars if it works, 0 stars if it doesn't. This product information states that the 500 GB DVR records 125 hours in HD. This is not true. It records 62 hours HD. Go to [...] to verify this information. And, make sure it is compatible with your cable company. I bought a former model of the Apricorn DVR Expander and at first it was fine, then, it lost all the shows that we had recorded. I had purchased a larger capacity storage unit and this may be the reason the shows were lost, however it was not stated that it was not compatible to my cable company. Cablevision is only compatible with the 500GB. Not good as it was the beginning of the new fall lineup and we lost all the shows.
I ordered the Apricorn DVR Expander was greatly impressed with how easy it was to set-up and use. I would recommend this item to anyone looking to expand their recording capacity on the Scientific Atlanta 8300.
I'm so happy I got this. I was really hooked on recording my favorites every day (Rachel Maddow and Last Word!) and was running out of space fast. It's such a pleasure to know that I can pretty much record freely without having to give up something I wanted to save.
The transition was seamless - I didn't unplug my cable box at first so Cablevision set me on the right path and the whole thing took less than 10 minutes, including waiting time. Truly a breeze.
It's one of those gadgets that you'll thank again and again For relatively little money it will give you a lot of pleasure. Enjoy!
I had the original 500GB Apricorn. It worked flawlessly for years until my TV service person somehow broke it (while linked to my SA 8300HD, the SA was stuck in countdown mode). I called Apricorn, they said ship it back and we'll send you a new one, no charge. I now have my new Xpander. I was very happy with the experience.
Got this to increase memory of my DVR. We were only able to keep and record about 12 shows in HD before we purchased this product. Now we can record three times as much. Easy to set up and works great. Highly recommend.'
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