Recording from the hard drive

Any external USB hard drive that uses a 3.5" hard drive (the larger drives they use in desktops) will work. These all come with an external power adapter you must plug into the wall.

The external hard drive units that use the smaller 2.5" hard drives are the ones they use in laptops. These require much less power, and can be powered by the PC's USB port although some do come with an optional power adapter. However the Dish receiver does not send enough power to its USB port to power the hard drive, which is why the tech told you to get one that has an external power supply.

Even then the DVR uses a drive format that your computer may not recognize. I don't know if there are tools out there that will let you connect a hard drive from a DVR, read and convert the TV shows stored there.


Another option is to buy a DVD recorder. This is like a VCR, only it uses a DVD disc and not a video tape. Connect the DVD recorder to the outputs on the DVR, and then set the DVD recorder so it will record from its input. (on my DVD recorder this is "IN2")

Put a blank DVD into the DVD recorder, start playing a show on the DVR, and hit record on the DVD recorder. When the show is finished, hit stop on the DVD recorder to stop recording. The advantage here is you can then play this DVD on any DVD drive. The disadvantage is DVD recorders only record in non-HD. You can still play a show in HD, but the recording you get won't be in HD. Also, the show has to record in real time. So if it's a 60 minute episode, it will take 60 minutes to record.

You can also check this steps:

hello,,

you said you have p/n 280751-B21 , this is 16X DVDROM Read only -- this cannot do anything buit read DVDs.. it will not record anything, it is not capable..
if you give me the computer modsl and S/N , i iwll advise which CDRW/DVD youc an install in it (computer) to record and write CDs and DVDs

let me know

Just had the same exact problem today.

If you have a computer with a dvd writer, there is no need to use an external DVD recorder to copy discs. The DVD software on your computer will have a way to temporarily record a disc to hard drive then allow you to insert a blank disc for recording.
A consumer DVD recorder will not have this capability. There is usually no way to output digital files; the machines are intended for playback to a TV.

Default password for DRM-2001g is: 3308

You will have to split the title and record on more than one DVD. The default speed is SP, that is 2 hours of recording. If you want to record longer programs, go into setup and change the default record speed to one of the other settings, for example: SP+ which is 2 1/2 hours or one of the other longer record settings. This DVD burner will only record at the same speed as you recorded to the hard drive. You can also edit out the commercials by using segment. Go to the title you want, press the right arrow, scroll down and select segment. When you want to start your edit, press enter. when you want to stop the edit, press enter again. You can use your right arrow to skip forward 30 seconds and your left arrow to skip back 10 seconds if you went too far when editing. You will see where your edits are on the screen by the darker color. Do this through the whole program. When you record to DVD, the commercials will not be recorded. Hope this helps you.

Check file extensions of files on your recorded cd's. Add file extension to Roxio, Windows Media player and check your drive settings.

It is true that the manual says it can record 100 or more hours...but that is at the lowest resolution. You can go to the menu screen and from there go to the recording properties and play around with different recording resolutions that best fit your recording needs. Also, the DVR uses a Hard Drive just as any computer does and within' time it becomes fragmented... that may cause it to record less hours even if you delete recordings. You can format the internal hard drive by going to the main menu screen and press and hold (for about 10 seconds) the OPEN and PLAY buttons on the unit (not the remote). At this time you should see the words FORMAT on the LCD screen and the unit will shut off. Keep in mind that formatting will erase everything on the hard drive so make sure you back up to DVD whatever you want to keep. Hope this helps.

You need to post edit the recording;
First unprotect then do a split before the commercial
than split after, then recombine the parts without the ad.
Cumbersome, but it works

I think the DVD player /recorder unit in this model is suspect. I have had this problem as well as many others and I think that it judy does not like certain brands of DVD's I might buy 100 or 200 blanks only to find that after 50 or so I start having a lot of record failures. Most of the time when I change brands the problem goes away for a while. It is as if the machine gets tired of one flavor and wants a change. I have found more trouble with -R's than +R's.