topic Re: Suitable HDD in Android TV

Suitable HDD

spear47 — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 18:31:51 GMT

Recently purchased the Sony ke48a9bu oled tv and intend ditching virgin tv when the contract comes to an end. I'm looking for a suitable usb hdd for recording the odd program, so not anything too big. Had a look at Sony support regarding hdd and read the recommended requirements. I noticed too that they say that they cannot guarantee that they will work. With this in mind was wondering if anyone who has this tv has purchased a hhd that is suitable that they could recommend.
Thanks

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:16:22 GMT

Although I haven't that model of TV there is nothing special about the HDD's that can be used. I found an old (from around 2008) USB2 drive worked flawlessly. USB3 types may run much warmer and you might also be stuck with a much shorter connecting lead.

I have also used good quality USB3 Flash Drives (64Gb) but after extensive use do not recommend that option as they seem prone to random failure (they run hot all the time). The old USB 2 traditional drive is perfect.

On my TV (KD43XD8305) the settings for Film Mode and Motion Flow were important. Horizontal movement on the screen was jerky and others also complained of this. It may well be different on newer models but Film Mode to 'High' and Motion Flow to 'Standard' worked perfectly.

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/usb-recordings-are-jerky-when-played-back/td-p/2271707

If you have any drives then just try them. You have to disable YouView to use the USB record feature

Good luck.

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 21:25:40 GMT

Many thanks for the advice, much appreciated👍

Re: Suitable HDD

daveyh64 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 01:40:37 GMT

Any standard HDD is suitable, make sure that it is formatted as either FAT16 (2GB file size limit),

FAT32 (4GB file size limit), exFAT or NTFS no file size limits.

If the TV only has one tuner you can only record the TV programme you are watching at the time.

When the USB HDD has been set up for recording it can only be used with your TV, that means you cannot take it round to 'Daves' so he can see any programmes you have recorded.

If you are looking for a more flexible way to record and view TV recordings you may want to look into

purchasing a PVR (personal video recorder), these have 2 or more tuners so you can view one channel

whilst recording one or more other channels. Look for models from Humax, Manhattan or Panasonic,

there may be others.

Hope you got a decent discount on your KE48A9BU it is a two year old model and Sony are about to

launch their 2022 models, have a look here,

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/tv/t/televisions

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 09:55:35 GMT

You state to switch off youview, have tried to do this but find that this option is not available on this tv (unless I'm missing something). Seems strange, given that there is a usb port for recording?

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:02:18 GMT

On mine YouView is accessed as follows. I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that yours will also have YouView.

To disable YouView

Press [Home] button on the remote control

1: Go to 'Settings'

2: Go to 'Channel Setup'

3: Go to 'YouView Setup'

4: Select 'Disable YouView'

5: Select 'Yes' to confirm

For yours and for general info:

Help Guide | Recording to a USB HDD device (sony.net)

Hope that helps... if not I'll look a little deeper.

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:05:30 GMT

YouView if you have it will look something like this when you press 'Guide'.

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:29:36 GMT

Hi. Yes, that's route that I took, but under 'channel settings' there's no YouView setup.

I've ordered a hdd so will have to wait until it arrives and to try it out.

I have a 32gb thumb drive and tried that, the tv does recognise it and allows it to be configured for recording. However, when I try to use it, (freeview) it displays 'preparing to record' but then after a few seconds displays message 'recording cannot start'. Could be to smaller capacity.

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:31:03 GMT

Yes, it does have YouView as shown in your post.

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 13:28:37 GMT

Have you tried pressing 'Home' on the remote and then navigating to settings. On mine the settings are on the top line and represented by a gear symbol.

Try this which describes the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HocsIhWPdUY

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:10:01 GMT

Yes, that the way that I'm doing it, home button-settings

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 17:20:34 GMT

And what is happening. Are the options not there? It's difficult without actually being in front of one to try for real.

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 17:54:45 GMT

This is how the channel setup page looks like

Channel Setup

Auto Tuning
Manual Tuning
Streaming channel setup
Advance setting

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 18:59:35 GMT

I would really need one in front of me. The YouView option must be there although your options page will be different to the one I have.

You might have to explore through all the menus to find it. Did you watch the video I linked to? 1 minute 30 seconds in.

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 11:19:06 GMT

Yes, I have looked at the video but what is shown there is different on my TV as it doesn't show the 'YouView' option. I'm expecting a hdd tomorrow, will let you know how that goes.

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 12:49:44 GMT

Everything I read says you go to settings and then channel setup:

https://support.youview.com/youview-on-sony/set-up/enable-disable-youview/

Re: Suitable HDD

spear47 — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:22:42 GMT

After installing the hdd, was able to record without doing anything with YouView. In fact I was able to watch a program on YouView while recording from freeview. I can only conclude that Sony have made alterations to make it work recently.

Re: Suitable HDD

Mooly01 — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 05:33:49 GMT

Thanks for the update. That is interesting because I know the YouView issue caused a lot of problems and confusion. Sounds like Sony have listened and improved things. Being able to record one channel while watching another means you have a dual tuner model, something I can do on mine.

The only other practical issue I've encountered (and maybe this is fixed as well) is that when you set it to record an event it says for example that 20Gb space is needed and yet when you look at space remaining after it has recorded it reports only a small amount of space has been used (say 1Gb). On the earlier models that is a glitch and the figure reported remaining is correct, the space it says it needs to record is incorrect.

Enjoy.