topic Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording. in Other TVs

KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

adam_cr — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:06:03 GMT

This TV is about to go back to the shop!

So the manual says the TV supports usb drives over 32gb for recording. I've bought a 64gb usb flash drive, formatted it to FAT32, plugged it into the telly and registration for recording always fails. No useful messages are displayed, just 'HDD registration failed'. Can someone help me before this TV causes me a breakdown?!

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

macklij — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:24:57 GMT

I don't know if it helps - but I have successfully registered and tested two different Western Digital 500Gb Elements HDDs on my KDL 32W654a (32 inch silver version of the same telly). One was USB2 one USB3. Both very quiet..http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CRZ2MFC for the USB3 version boughtthis week. Fixed to the back of the TV with blobs of blu-tac!

Both fine apart from random 'Subtitle:off' messages after pausing live TV - as mentioned in other forum threads. However, this does seem to have settled with the latest firmware.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

adam_cr — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:28:08 GMT

Hey macklij, thanks for your reply. Do USB flash drives not work then? Does it need to be a proper HDD? Was kind of hoping I could get away with spending £15 on a flash drive after shelling out a lot for the TV! As usual, the manual and Sony website are useless for advice.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

mijewen — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 12:24:05 GMT

I live in the UK, and I have been fighting this battle with Sony for two years, with almost weekly e-mails. To be fair, this is only a small part of the battle I've been fighting, but nonetheless ....

I also used a 64GB USB stick. There are two USB sockets on my TV (a 32" Bravia), and I have to use the lower one. The memory stick worked, but it wasn't fast enough to be playing a program at the same time as recording another, and I replaced it with a hard disk. The manual actually says you should use a "HDD" - though I doubt the average housewife who buys a TV knows what an HDD is. Also, if I plug a memory stick into my PC, it says "Hard disk detected". To my mind, a USB drive3 is a solid state disk, and is, in fact, an HDD device.

I thought of using a USB-3 memory stick to get the speed, but in consultation with Sony support, I was told that the TV has only a USB-2 interface.

Having liberated my 64GB stick from the TV, I wanted to use it in my PC, but discovered that I couldn't. The TV had re-partitioned it into four partitions, and the Windows Operating System is not able to undo what the TV has done. It is possible you would be able to unravel it with Linux, but I don't have it, so I can't be sure. As far as I'm concerned, the USB stick is now a throw-away item. It would be nice if the TV would undo the partitioning when you de-register the stick - but it doesn't.

It is possible to use Windows to undo the partitioning that the TV imposes on a hard disk, but even that is a fiddle. I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I did eventually succeed - with the hard disk, but not with the memory stick.

Most of the problem I have been trying to get resolved is the program titling when you record a program. It is best illustrated by an example. Let's say I want to record Columbo - a detective series with a clever twist at the end. It comes on at 10PM, immediately following Football Roundup. I set up the recording, and look in the "Timer list" It says "Columbo" will be recorded at "10:00 PM". Fine! Great!

The next day, I want to watch Columbo. I look in the Program List (list of recorded programs), but Columbo is not there. Football Roundup is there! I watch the program, and find that Football Roundup overran its end time because of penalty time, so the first 5 minutes of what I see are the football penalties - then Columbo starts, but because it set up to run for one hour, of which five minutes were consumed by the football, the recording stops when Columbo still has 5 minutes to run - so I miss the twist at the end. It's like reading a crime novel with the last two pages torn out.

Why did it use an incorrect title in the Program list? If the TV simply copied the title from the Timer list, that would solve that problem straight away. But beyond that, the TV has a PIC microprocessor in it. As the TV is able to pick up the title of the program that is playing, why doesn't it sample it every 10 seconds till it reads "Columbo", and start recording then? If it did not modify the 1 hour recording timer, it would record the whole program.

I have even asked for the processor source code so I can work out the changes myself, but they won't let me have it, so they won't make the changes, and they won't cooperate with somebody who is offering to make the changes himself. I wish I'd bought from another manufacturer!

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

macklij — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 21:43:50 GMT

@adam_cr:

I haven't tried a usb flash frive.

I have found the the random display of the 'subtitle: off' message when pausing live tv or 'chase' playing a recording on HDD is still an issue with the latest firmware.

This W6 series realy wasnt tested well enough before release!

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

adam_cr — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 11:09:31 GMT

Clearly not. WAY too many problems from what is supposed to be a premium manufacturer. If I'd bought a £300 piece of brandless-tat then I wouldn't be too surprised, but this is just ridiculous!

I can't afford another HDD at the moment (after shelling out a bomb on the TV for my 30th birthday gift to myself!) otherwise I'd test it. Guess I'll just have to wait until either Sony make the TV compatible with more drives or I get the inclination to spend more money on the thing.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

adam_cr — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 20:57:20 GMT

OK I found a 500gb iomega external HDD in a drawer that I had forgot all about. This works fine, luckily, so I'm pleased with that. Now of course I'm getting the 'subtitles off' message appearing all the time on recordings. Oh dear, Sony. Oh deary dear.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

tinewnh64 — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 05:51:33 GMT

http://community.sony.co.uk/t5/Televisions/KDL-47W805A-USB-recordings-show-quot-subtitle-off-quot-on-screen/m-p/1348166#U1348166

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

iagibso49 — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 04:47:29 GMT

Same old story over the past 5 years. Sony simply do not test their products.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

peixuni — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:24:33 GMT

hi!
i have the same tv model and i am about to buy an hdd for it.
can you confirm me if you can record and watch a different channel simultaneously?
i am waiting on your answer to buy the hdd..thanks in advance

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

Nielsen — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 15:15:56 GMT

I'm afraid not. Your requirements are not for the hdd, but for your TV to have 2 tuners.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

Janekch — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 10:10:14 GMT

Hello macklij, you said you successfully registred two HDDs on your KDL 32w654a. I have KDL 42w805a(software should be the same Ihope) and I want to register my Buffalo HDD 500gb, I divided my HDD on two partitions one is FAT16 and one is NTFS. Now my question- will TV register one of partitionsfor itself or format HDD and create new partition on whole HDD.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

macklij — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:35:41 GMT

I'm pretty sure it will format the whole disk into several non-Microsoft partitions. I'm not sure which formats, but they won't be readable by Windows. I think Linux can see the partitions but maybe not the contents.

A Google on 'sony tv hdd format partition' appears promising...

Good luck.

Re: KDL42W653a - USB HDD registration for recording.

tch1946 — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:25:31 GMT

to format the usb stick for the pc after sony has tried to register it insert the stick into your pc, select start, right click computer, manage, and select disk management in storage section, you can then select the stick and format it to fat32, it may take a while but it has worked for me.