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How to turn my Bell HD receiver into a PVR

How to choose the correct external hard drive to use with my HD receiver

To turn your 6131, 6141 or 6400 HD receiver into an HD PVR , you'll need an external hard drive that matches the specifications listed below.

Many major brands of external hard drives are compatible with the Bell 6131, 6141 and 6400 HD receivers. The minimum requirements are as follows:

  • 7200 RPM rotation speed
  • Between 50GB and 2TB of capacity
  • Holds a single hard drive (enclosures holding two disks are not supported)
  • Plugs into an AC power outlet
  • Has a USB 2.0 connection
  • Has no sleep mode (cannot power down when idle

How to connect an external hard drive to my HD receiver

To connect an external hard drive, follow these simple steps:

  1. Using the USB connection cord provided with the external hard drive, plug one end into the USB port on the external hard drive and the other end into the USB port on the back of the HD receiver (shown below).

    USB port on the back of the HD receiver

  2. Once connected, the on-screen guide will appear on your television and it will guide you through the set-up process. Simply follow the prompts as they appear.

Note: The external hard drive can only be connected to one receiver.

In some cases, the HD receiver will not recognize the newly connected external hard drive. This can happen if the external hard drive was used previously with a computer. You'll need to refer to the external hard drive manual or contact the manufacturer for instructions on resetting the hard drive to its factory defaults.

Learn more about all the features of your HD PVR and how to manage your recordings.

Note: You can only turn HD receiver models 6131, 6141 and 6400 into HD PVRs using an external hard drive. Other models are not compatible.