The day Bell 6141 HD reciever owners have been waiting for is finally here. Last week, Bell TV (ExpressVu) began delivering firmware version 165 to customers. This new firmware, allows customers to connect a USB 2.0 drive to their 6141 receiver and record video!
You now have a HD PVR with nearly unlimited video recording storage, as you can swap drives to allow you more recording time. Please note that once data is recorded onto the drive, you cannot connect the drive to a computer; nor can you connect the drive to a different 6141 receiver. The 6141 can accept a USB drive up to 1 Terabyte in size, giving you a max recording capacity of up to 100 hours of High Def content.
If you have problems getting your USB drive to work, power cycle your 6141 and you should be good to go.
Please feel free to post your experiences in the comments.
apeman DVR, HDTV, PVR, expressvu, home theatre, news, tech, video 6141, Bell, Bell TV, BellTV, expressvu, HD, HD PVR, HDTV, satellite
Is it just me, or has Bell dropped the ball lately with the program guide? Most of the shows I watch have only a generic description and nothing else, causing the PVR to either ignore the event, or record duplicates of the same show. This only started happening a lot at the beginning of October, and has caused me to set all of my times to record “All Episodes” and then manually “skip” the duplicates.
Shaw Cable on the other hand, seems to have their guide together, and it has correct info for almost every show that I checked. Now if only they had the same quality to their HD content that Bell has, and switching would almost be a no brainer.
I am at the end of my Bell contract, and extremly frustrated by the guide, and very tempted to switch now. So my question to the readers of this site is: Have you been having issues with the program guide? If so, please add a comment below with the symptoms that you have been seeing. Bell does read this site, so perhaps somebody will see this and take action!
Rant over.
apeman 9200, DVR, HDTV, PVR, expressvu, rants Bell TV, expressvu, HD PVR, HDTV, Program Guide, Shaw Cable
Today I noticed that my ExpressVu 9200 PVR now has software version V222. Changes besides updating to the new “Bell” logo include:
- HD logo on items in the PVR list.
- Grouping feature to group episodes of the same show together in the PVR window
- HD subtext on the HD channels in the Guide.
- Pressing the “Guide” button will now cycle through “All Sub”, “All Channels”, and “All HD”.
I’m sure that I have missed something here, so if you find something that I have missed, please leave a comment and I will update the list.
If you are noticing any bugs that have cropped up with the new firmware, try rebooting your receiever to see if it helps, as this will load the new fimware. If you are still having problems, please post a comment below and I will do my best to help.
apeman 9200, DVR, HDTV, PVR, expressvu 9200, 9220, Bell, expressvu, HDTV, PVR
ExpressVu HD subscribers will be happy to know that we will be getting two new HD channels that we can subscribe to!
Bell ExpressVu is the first to launch the new Super Channel, and starting on November 2nd, ExpressVu HD subscribers will be the first to preview the new set of stations until November 22nd.
Read more…
apeman DVR, HDTV, PVR, expressvu, home theatre, news, tech
Last week, Bell ExpressVu quitely began shipping the new HD 9242 HD PVR to Bell stores. The new receiver, has been long expected because of ExpressVu’s impending shift to MPEG-4 over MPEG-2.
The new receiver, which has been rumored for several months now has finally shown up, and adds increased HD recording capacity (30 Hours, vs 24 hours on the 9200), its black! (unlike the silver unit in the picture) and it has an S-Video output for TV2.
Right now, there is no reason to upgrade your 9200 to the 9242 unless you are having technical problems, or you really need the extra 5 hours of HD recording capacity. Bell is not expected to begin rolling out MPEG-4 unil at least 2009.
If you have a 9242, I’d like to hear your impressions of the new unit in the comments below, likewise, if you have a question, please post a comment and I will do my best to answer it for you.
apeman HDTV, PVR, expressvu, news
The biggest complaint about the Bell ExpressVu PVR models was finally addressed today, all Bell ExpressVu receivers should now be capable of a 9 day program guide. I can’t confirm if this is the case for other reciever models first hand, but early reports and email tips show that this is the case.
The limitation of a 40 hour guide was by far the largest complaint of ExpressVu 9200 HD PVR owners, and owners of Bell’s earlier PVR models. ExpressVu had been quietly updating the firmware of their receivers over the summer, and just flipped the 9 day guide switch sometime today.
With the addition of the 9 day guide comes 9200 firmware version 150. I have not noticed any new enhancements other than the longer guide, but the extra days of information will be really useful for planning PVR recording timers.
Read more…
apeman 9200, 9220, HDTV, PVR, expressvu, home theatre, news, tech
The much anticipated MPEG4 replacements for the ExpressVu 6100 and the 9200 have been delayed until the fourth quarter of 2007 according to a memo released to ExpressVu dealers. With this announcement, its also been revealed that Bell does not forsee moving to MPEG4 broadcasts until 2009, which means that we are not likely to see a mass upgrade program, and that 9200 HD PVR you just purchased is still going to work for a few more years.
Its worth mentioning that ExpressVu has also stated that the Ethernet port, and the USB 2.0 ports on the two new recievers are to be disabled at launch, reserving them for “future use”.
With all of the uncertainty surrounding the new HD receivers, I’m glad I decided to rent my 9200. I won’t loose anything when the new receivers are finally released, and with the date pushed back, the new units will be available at the same time as my contract is up.
apeman 9200, 9220, DVR, HDTV, PVR, expressvu, home theatre, video
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