WD 1TB My Book AV DVR Expander External Hard Drive - USB 2.0 Storage for Video Recording, Surveillance & Backup - WDBABT0010HBK-NESN

***UPDATE - 1/2/2014 - Uh oh. Recently, while watching cable, I was getting pixilation / stuttering of the video and audio periodically - and the more I watched, the more frequently it happened. I started thinking it was my DVR box (8300HD), then I realized the only thing that has changed in the last month is the DVR Expander drive. On a whim, I disconnected the WD DVR Expander from the cable box... and you guessed it, I was not experiencing the problem anymore. Then, plug it back in, and sooner or later, the pixilation / stuttering would start again - sometimes with an hour, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. But it always comes back - I have been through four iterations of testing, and have reproduced it every time.Then I did a little research of other owners of the WD DVR Expander using a SA 8300HD... I looked here on Amazon, on NewEgg, on the Web in TV forums - and found that definitely were experiencing the same issues. Some say while watching recordings, others saying even during live TV watching (like I am experiencing) but obviously I am not alone and others have experienced. Sad part is, many of these reviews / user reports are almost three years old - yet you can't find any information by calling WD support or Cox for their 8300HD support. So, although you can find the issue from MANY users all over the web, the ones that seem to know the least about the issue are the folks that sell you the product. Typical of what to expect in today's technology driven world - the more products, the more automation, the more integration / compatibility issues that pop up because there are just too many variables / systems / options / testing for all these companies to keep up with the compatibility curve!Anyway, off soap box, I may be returning this drive to Amazon. Want another kicker? Called Cox to see if there is any way to back up the DVR shows on the SA 8300HD hard drive. They say they are not aware of any. Sometimes I wonder if all this technology is making our lives easier, or harder. ;-)***END UPDATE.I have a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR Cable box with Cox Communications as my provider, and I live in the Phoenix, AZ area. I am happy to report that the upgrade to the My Book AV DVR hard drive worked fine!NOTES ON THE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE: The included instructions say to unplug the Cable box, hook up / power up the Drive, connect the SATA cable to the Cable Box, then re-power the Cable Box and follow the on screen instructions. At that point, the drive is supposed to be recognized, and you should be asked to format the drive before use.Well, for my installation it DID NOT work that way - anyone surprised? ;-). I followed the instructions, however, when I repowered the cable box, and it re-booted successfully and started up on Channel 1, the drive was NOT recognized - nothing came up on the screen. I then turned the cable box on / off and again nothing. What DID work - while the cable box was running, I unplugged the SATA cable from the drive (not the power cable), and when I plugged it back in - VOILA - the cable box recognized the drive, and asked if I was ready to format it! After that, the drive was successfully formatted and the dialog box went away.I then went to the DVR List Menu, and checked the DVR Disk Info menu, and the additional storage was included and available, and all my Free Space statistics were updated.I WOULD STILL RECOMMEND trying the installation process as per the included instructions, but if that does not work, consider the procedure I recommend above!!I have only used it for a day, no issues yet, but of course these sorts of hardware / software devices take a little stress testing to see if they really work! So for now - 5 stars - but I will update later if it turns out there are any problems with use!!!Cheers, thanks for reading!!My DISH Network DVR with a 350 hour recording capacity was just about filled up with HD movies and TV shows that I wanted to save. I have a Panasonic DVD Recorder for such a purpose to offload DVR recordings to a Standard DVD disk, but it does not contain an HDMI input; it has only S-VIDEO or component inputs to use (from DVR to Panasonic DVD Recorder) so the movies placed on DVD disk are never as 'sharp' or (in most cases) 'not full-screen' as the original HD DVR recording.After calling DISH Network to find out which External Hard Drive would 'play nice' with their VIP722 DVR, I selected the WD MyBook AV DVR Expander 1TB USB 2.0/ eSATA External Hard Drive. I ordered it from Amazon.com and it arrived unharmed in about a week (in original sealed WD packaging suspended in the Amazon cardboard box by air packets.)Included with the WD External Hard Drive were both USB and eSATA cables for transfer from the DISH NETWORK DVR and an AC adaptor to power the WD External Hard Drive.Connection is easy; You first turn off your DVR; You connect the WD Hard drive to the A/C adaptor and plug it in; you connect the USB cable from the WD External Hard Drive to the DISH NETWORK 'USB' output. You turn on your DISH NETWORK DVR and let it boot up for several minutes. It will come back with a screen that will recognize the external hard drive as you will answer the prompts on the screen that DISH NETWORK provides.Follow these steps to save your DVR recordings to the WD External Hard Drive:1) On the DISH NETWORK remote controller press the 'DVR' button one time only, and then select 'MY MEDIA',2) Select 'EXTERNAL USB DEVICES'/(My Media is prefilled),3) Select 'SEND TO DEVICE'4) Select one or more recordings from your DISH NETWORK DVR recordings list, and then5) Select 'TO ARCHIVE' to initiate the transfer of your DISH NETWORK DVR recording to the Western Digital MyBook AV DVR Expander.Although I'm thrilled to now have a way to 'get back' many available recording hours for future recordings on my DISH NETWORK VIP722 DVR (by transferring them to the WD MyBook AV External Hard Drive), my only disappointment is with the DISH NETWORK VIP722 DVR itself having ONLY a 'USB' output, (which is a slower 'transfer' alternative than if the DISH DVR also had an eSATA output...then these archive 'transfers' from DVR to Hard Drive would be much faster, since the Western Digital MyBook AV DVR Expander 1TB USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive came equippped with both USB (slower) and eSATA (faster) ports and cables. (There may be newer/faster/better DISH NETWORK DVR models out there that contain eSATA output ports since my DVR's are now about 2 years old, but I can only comment about how the Western Digital MyBook AV External Hard Drive works with my DISH NETWORK VIP722 DVR equipment). Also DISH NETWORK claims you can now use a 2TB External Hard Drive to connect to their DVR's but also state it must be a 'single platter'. Since I wasn't sure at the time of ordering the MyBook 1TB Model if the 2TB model contained more than one platter, I stuck with the recommended 1TB size just to be safe...but that doesn't mean that you could research this on your own to be sure). Thank you!I wasn't sure if this was going to work or not on the Series 5 as I could not verify compatibility from the literature. I am using the legacy (old) operating format on my Tivo and it was easy to set up and works great. Unplug the Tivo and connect eSATA cable (included) to the unplugged Tivo and unplugged expander. Connect the power cord to the expander and wait approximately 15 seconds for it to come up to speed. After the expander has come up to speed, plug in the Tivo. Tivo will start up and detect the drive, and then ask you if you want to connect it. Online instructions are also available on various Tivo sites.When I bought my new Shaw PVR I found out about adding an expander. A friend has a similar unit and my experience with Western Digital drives convinced me to buy this one. I've had this drive for about six months and have had no issues at all. It installed very easily and works exactly as it should, and it is very quiet. I've been able to record and watch a different program at the same time and I've never experienced any loss of data (picture and sound). Because it is in a vertical stand, it takes up very little space beside the TV.If I ever fill this drive with TV shows and movies, I will consider buying a second one, but the most space I've used so far is just over 60%. I do recommend this unit to anyone who has a PVR that is capable of using such a drive.While the specifications stated that this item would work with my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD PVR, after numerous attempts, I was unable to get it to work and returned it. I believe that the older 8300 series PVR is unable to recognize the 1 TB hard drives. I subsequently found a 500 GB WD hard drive that I used to replace the defective one in my Apricorn DVR Expander. It formatted properly and is working as required. I was very pleased by the customer service at Amazon as they quickly sent instructions on how to return the unit and promptly credited my account upon its return.Works perfectly, very easy to install & runs cool. Rogers Nextbox (in Canada) only works with certain eSATA drives and this is one of them. It is designed to operate inside warm equipment cabinets, whereas many others aren't and often prematurely fail as a result.FYI: The Nextbox (Cisco - formerly Scientific Atlanta - 8642HD) accepts eSATA drives up to 1.5TB if anyone is wondering what to buy.Western Digital have proven to me over the years that they are the best.Plugged in to a Motorola HD PVR satellite receiver to (substantially) increase available PVR recording time.Out of box, plugged in to receiver, receiver auto formatted, and there it was... fully operational in less than 2 minutes. And it works...Attractive looking device, no flashing lights or whirring sounds to distract.Nice... but too bad it can't be had as a 2TB version.I purchased this SATA drive to augment the Shaw Direct High Def Satellite Receiver. It comes with all the proper cables and set up is simple. Step one detach Satellite from power. Step two attach Expander to Satellite receiver with SATA cable. Step three attach Expander to power and make sure it spins up. Step Four reattach power to Satellite receiver and turn on. Step Five turn on TV and follow the onscreen prompt. No trouble at all.