KDL 40CX523 - HDD Recording

[a_squared10]

Hi all

I've recently bought the above TV, and to supplement it, I bought a 500GB hitachi external hard drive to both record off the TV and load movies onto from my laptop, as I'm in the process of digitising all my old vcr tapes to clear out the clutter.

I was assured by those seemingly knowledgable' people in the store where I bought both TV and hard drive that I could actually do this with the hard drive.  owever to my great annoyance this afternoon, having registered the drive with the TV as an HDD recorder, I can now not find, access or save anything at all to/from said hard drive when it's plugged into my laptop!! it recognises what it is, but clicking on the icon simply brings up the properties window for the device!!  Help please!!

[mijewen]

I have a Bravia KDL-32CX523.

I accept that all TV programs will be erased when the HDD is de-registered.

I accept that the TV monopolises the HDD when it is registered, so that no other info can be kept on it.

What I don't accept is that when the HDD is de-registered, it is not left in the condition it was found in at registration.

In fact, the Bravia re-partitions the drive into four partitions, and if you want to reconnect it to a PC, you have to use ...

Control Panel --> Administrative tools --> Computer management --> Disk management...

and then a fairly complicated method of deleting three partitions and reformatting the disk.  The average TV user who uses their PC to send e-mails, would have no idea about this.  I have been able to recover a 160GB hard drive, but I have not been able to recover a 64GB memory stick.

The I-instructions on the TV say that an "HDD device" must be used, but nowhere does it spell out that the device must be a hard disk.  My PC says that a USB stick is an "HDD device", so I bought a 64GB USB stick and used that.  It worked, but it wasn't fast enough to play a program at the same time it was recording another one, so I used a hard disk instead - but now, the memory stick is no longer recoverable for use with the PC.  I know the dev ice is good hardware-wise, because if I re-register it with the TV, it still works, but as far as the PC is concerned, I can throw it away.

I contacted Sony support about it, and the lady I spoke to was very good in understanding the problem and escalating it, but word from the top was that that's how it is - accept it.  Sony support did not accept to simulate the circumstance by plugging a USB stick into a TV, then recovering it for PC use - they said that "HDD device" means a hard disk - but that's a cop-out.  The USB stick works in the TV, and anybody who has ever written a progtram for a processor knows that nothing happens by accident.  If the memory stick WORKS, then some programmer sat and scratched his head over it, and MADE it work.  Don't tell me that it's not meant to work!

I'm writing to BBC Watchdog about it.  If it gets broadcast and hurts their sales before Christmas, that will be more likely to get their attention.  Sony should realise that they are operarting in a competitive marketplace.

Incidentally, that's not the only problem I have with the TV.  Other operations that are concerned only with the TV are also sadly wanting.  I'll write about those in the appropriate category.

Message was edited by: mijewen

[mijewen]

Besides the irrecoverability of USB media that has been plugged into the KDL USB port for PC use (above), I have two other issues in which Sony is showing no interest at all.

1. If I set the TV to record Program-B at, say, 4PM, then if I look at the “Timer recording” screen, it says that Program-B is due to be recorded.  Everything fine up to there.  The TV starts recording at 4PM, but TV scheduling being what it is, Program-A is just finishing at that time, so when I later look at the list of programs I have recorded, it says “Program-A”.  10 seconds into the recording, Program-A finishes, but it was on at the time recording started, so that’s the title that is on the Recorded list of programs, although the program that I actually recorded is Program-B.  I recorded 10 programs, and looking at the list of them, only two have the right titles, meaning that I haven’t a clue what is recorded.  In fact, as the TV is able to read the title of the program that is playing when it starts recording, and knows the title in the “Timer list” of the program I wanted to record, with very little effort on the part of the design department, it could have been made to wait for my program to start before it started recording.  Sony doesn’t care.

2. My TV is in the bedroom, so I would like to use the wake-up timer, but if I do, the TV comes on in analog mode.  There is no analog signal in my area, but there is no facility whereby I can select to have the TV start up in digital mode.   Sony doesn’t care.

[dafarme87]

HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Memory sticks are flash memory

[dafarme87]

HDD Record works similarly across all the manufacturers I believe. The HDD needs to be formatted so that the program recorded can not be shared to other devices or other people. I would believe that is an issue with broadcast rights as TV recordings are only meant for home use and the broadcasters aren't paying for distribution rights. The TV warns you before you use HDD Record that it is going to format your hard drive. I agree it's frustrating but I don't believe Sony can offer the HDD record feature without formatting the HDD that you use.

[Bawmer]

@mjewen Are you to able to provide further detail of the process you went through to restore your drive to Windows format?

Cheers

[Bawmer]

I managed to finally sort it in WIndows disk manager.

[mijewen]

Bawmer,

I see you posted this question in January, so I hope you have figured out how to recover your hard drive after its misadventure with the TV.   Sorry, but I don't remember what I did, but I remember that it wasn't straight-forward. 

What follows is from memory, so use it as no more than a very rough guide.  In essence, I simply played around with the disk till it eventually worked.

You have to go into Disk Management on the PC. 

Press Start --> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Storage --> Disk Management (Local).

A pictorial representation of the partitioning on the drives is shown.  The drive that was connected to the TV will show four partitions, of which the first one (the one that the PC is able to write to) is only 6.2MB.  You have to selelect two of the other partitions and join them (right-click and select from the drop-down menu).  That leaves three padrtitions.  Join the two right-hand ones, leaving two.  Now, you can't simply join the two remaining ones.

I think I formatted the larger partition, and was able to join the two after that - but it's a distant memory.

[mijewen]

You said " HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Memory sticks are flash memory"

Well, you're right, and you're wrong.  You're right technically - but the sale of Sony Bravia TVs is not limited to the technical competent.  The on-screen manual does not specify that a hard disk must be used - only that it accepts an HDD.

Do you suppose that the average user who knows enough about computers to send e-mails, browse the net and connect to FaceBook, and record films and music to his USB drive thinks that a memory stick is not an HDD?

Would you expect the TV not to work with an SSD?  After all, that's not given the title HDD !

In fact, though you are correct that the internals of a USB memory stick depend on flash memory, it is generally accepted as an HDD device.  When I plug a memory stick into my PC, it says "HDD detected" - so even Windows XP calls it that.  The internal storage is simply that - storage.  How it presents itself to the outside world is another matter.  If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a duck, and to a PC, if it can't tell that the device is not a disk, then it's a disk, and will be addressed and used as one.  It's an HDD device.  A USB memory stick (AKA Flash drive) emulates a hard disk pretty closely.  It accepts a file system such as FAT or NTFS (or any other you care to use with it), and stores computer files in a way that other storage mechanisms (eg. cassette tape) cannot.  Consequently, they cannot be called HDDs.

I Googled "HDD memory stick" and discovered many adverts selling "HDD memory sticks" or "USB Memory stick HDDs"  The online definition of the English word Usage is : "The way in which a word or phrase is normally and correctly used."  If the term HDD has become a usage in the English language, then when the instruction on my TV tells me that an HDD can be used to record programs, it is not unreasonable to believe that a memory stick of the required size can be used.   Many terms come about through humour.  The metal rail around the front ot a yacht is called the Pulpit, because it vaguely resembles a church pulpit in shape - so the metal guard-rail around the stern became the "Pushpit" - almost certainly born of perverse humour.  In liked manner, "Hardware" used to be the stuff you bought in a hardware store - shovels, taps, plumbing materials - but when computer people needed a word for the physical parts of a computer, they humourously referred to it as Hardware, and the term stuck.  Then the non-physical part became "Software" by the same whimsical perversity - then when embedded programming appeared, the term Firmware was coined.  The meaninhgs of words change, and as new meanings become generally accepted, people have to abide by the generally accepted version.  My dad once asked me what "digital" was all about, so I started by saying that there werer two systems - analog(ue) and digital - but he said "Hang on - that's not what analogue means - and got out his 1940 dictionary to prove his point.

Nowadays, I think it's fair to say that the term HDD encompasses anything that appears to be a disk drive - and that includes memory sticks / flash drives / pen drives / - call them what you will.

[mijewen]

Memory sticks are flash memory"

Well, you're right, and you're wrong.  You're right technically - but the sale of Sony Bravia TVs is not limited to the technical competent.  The on-screen manual does not specify that a hard disk must be used - only that it accepts an HDD.

Do you suppose that the average user who knows enough about computers to send e-mails, browse the net and connect to FaceBook, and record films and music to his USB drive thinks that a memory stick is not an HDD?

Would you expect the TV not to work with an SSD?  After all, that's not given the title HDD !

In fact, though you are correct that the internals of a USB memory stick depend on flash memory, it is generally accepted as an HDD device.  When I plug a memory stick into my PC, it says "HDD detected" - so even Windows XP calls it that.  The internal storage is simply that - storage.  How it presents itself to the outside world is another matter.  If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a duck, and to a PC, if it can't tell that the device is not a disk, then it's a disk, and will be addressed and used as one.  It's an HDD device.  A USB memory stick (AKA Flash drive) emulates a hard disk pretty closely.  It accepts a file system such as FAT or NTFS (or any other you care to use with it), and stores computer files in a way that other storage mechanisms (eg. cassette tape) cannot.  Consequently, they cannot be called HDDs.

I Googled "HDD memory stick" and discovered many adverts selling "HDD memory sticks" or "USB Memory stick HDDs"  The online definition of the English word Usage is : "The way in which a word or phrase is normally and correctly used."  If the term HDD has become a usage in the English language, then when the instruction on my TV tells me that an HDD can be used to record programs, it is not unreasonable to believe that a memory stick of the required size can be used.   Many terms come about through humour.  The metal rail around the front ot a yacht is called the Pulpit, because it vaguely resembles a church pulpit in shape - so the metal guard-rail around the stern became the "Pushpit" - almost certainly born of perverse humour.  In liked manner, "Hardware" used to be the stuff you bought in a hardware store - shovels, taps, plumbing materials - but when computer people needed a word for the physical parts of a computer, they humourously referred to it as Hardware, and the term stuck.  Then the non-physical part became "Software" by the same whimsical perversity - then when embedded programming appeared, the term Firmware was coined.  The meaninhgs of words change, and as new meanings become generally accepted, people have to abide by the generally accepted version.  My dad once asked me what "digital" was all about, so I started by saying that there werer two systems - analog(ue) and digital - but he said "Hang on - that's not what analogue means - and got out his 1940 dictionary to prove his point.

Nowadays, I think it's fair to say that the term HDD encompasses anything that appears to be a disk drive - and that includes memory sticks / flash drives / pen drives / - call them what you will.

[davhoyes1]

On a similar subject, does anyone know if it is possible to access the recordings on the HDD recorded with a sony TV using a computer and convert them to .avi for example?

[davhoyes1]

On a similar subject, does anyone know if it is possible to access the recordings on the HDD recorded with a sony TV using a computer and convert them to .avi for example?