[mythtv-users] HDDs optimised for PVRs

[Marko Nurmenniemi]

Steven Adeff wrote:
> On 4/13/07, Ben Lancaster <lists at benlancaster.co.uk> wrote:
>> Just spotted this on the reg:
>>
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/13/wd_av_hd/
>>
>> Doesn't make much sense to me, do you think they'll be worth the money?
>>
>> Ben
> 
>>From my understanding the "PVR optimized" drives just disable all the
> error-checking and error recovery features of a normal drive.
> 
I had a look at these couple of years back because the DVB "tivo" boxes 
started to appear here.

They are/were fitted with relatively small HD's and you could not even 
purchase a bigger version. So people started to replace those with 
normal PC HD's. I had a look at the drive in my tuner and found it to be 
relative normal looking Seagate but with a type designation of 
xxxyyy-ACE in the name.

ACE turned out to mean Consumer Electronics and is not directly 
available to private customers. Some of the benefits are the same as 
mentioned in the article, low noise (spin and seek), low power 
consumption (4.8 or 5.4K rotation) and low ATA speed. All customised or 
most likely just selected to be enough for a normal SD transmission. By 
cutting the requirements to minimum these drives are able to be 
efficient and naturally low cost. For example the low power need ment 
the difference between active and passive cooling in my PVR...big 
difference.

-M