Click here for photos of inverting the Hard Drive and fitting a fan
Click here for photos of updating the firmware.
The 'Twin Record' update works with the PVR160 so I would expect the normal v4.9 update would work too.
Please note that the following photos and instructions are based on the invaluable information found here, and here.
None of the work - except the photographs - belongs to me.
As the update files (Twin Record and v4.9) are no longer available from the original source, I've made them available for download here.
Please note that this update is done at your own risk. You could finish with an expensive brick.
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The serial cable is a 'straight-through' 9-pin cable (pin 2 to pin 2, pin 3 to pin 3 etc.) with a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other. The end with the pins may have fixing screws or threaded bushes which you will need to remove to prevent them
catching on the PVR80 socket. Connect the serial cable between the PC and the PVR80. Leave the PVR disconnected from the mains. Photo shows Opening Dialog of HyperTerminal. To open Hyperterminal in Windows XP, go to 'Start' 'All Programs' 'Accessories' 'Communications' 'Hyperterminal' Type a name and choose any Icon. Click 'OK' |
 | Select 'COM1' if it isn't already selected. Type your area code if requested. Click 'OK' |
 | Select Bits per second: 115200 and Flow control: None. Click 'Apply'. Click 'OK' |
 | Connect the PVR80 to the mains and HyperTerminal should respond. The actual text may be different. |
 | Select 'Transfer' -> 'Send File..' from the HyperTerminal menu. |
 | Use the 'Browse' button to navigate to the .bin file. |
 | Select '1K xmodem' as the protocol type and click 'Send'. |
 | A grey box will appear but there will be no activity. Unplug the PVR80 from the mains, wait 5 seconds and plug it back into the mains.... |
 | ... The grey box should then show activity. Packets transferred and a progress bar. Note: Someone on the forums encountered a problem when doing this upgrade. I would advise unplugging from the mains only when the front panel display (and your ears) indicate there is NO Hard Disk activity. |
 | When the grey box disappears, wait for the main HyperTerminal screen to display the prompt again. (About 30 seconds). |
Screenshots of the twin-record update.
 | The Channels list has a 'Move' facility |
 | The twin-record EPG |
 | The 'search' facility in the EPG. You can search by Genre or 'Name Match' |
 | Results of the genre search are listed vertically |
 | Files can be tagged for archiving to DVD in one 'run' |
 | Play options in the recordings library. |