Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of questions and answers about the NorthQ 7000/7100 DVD Player/Harddrive Recorder that may be helpful:

Is the NorthQ DVD region free?

Mine wasn't when I got it. However, there is a way of making it region free, look at the "Region hack" page for information about this. I have not tried this myself, so I cannot guarantee that this works.

Is the NorthQ DVD Macrovision free?

No, not by default. But someone told me that the "Region hack" also disables the Macrovision protection in the NorthQ. However, I have not tried this myself, so I cannot guarantee that this works.

How large hard-disk can be installed in the NorthQ 7000/7100?

120GB according to the manual. I have not tried anything larger than that. However, I heard from a guy who tried a 160GB disk, but he did not get it to work.

Can a 5400 RPM hard-disk be used?

According to the support people at NorthQ "Yes, but it has to have the ATA100 interface". It does not have to be ATA100, it can be ATA133 too. A 5400 RPM disk does not get as warm as a 7200 RPM disk, so it's actually better to use a 5400RPM disk.
The last thing I saw was that if you use a 7200RPM disk, it should not be larger than 80GB as it would then become to warm.

Is the NorthQ 7000/7100 noisy?

Personally I think it is very noisy! The main source of the noise is the fan in the back of the player. There are two more fans in the hard-drive bay, but they don't make that much noise (compared to the one in the back).

Can I make the NorthQ more quiet by replacing the fan in the back to a more quiet one?

In the tests I have made, this does not help. The original fan is actually very quiet! The noise problem seems to come from the the placement of the fan, rather than from the fan noise itself. For more information about this, look at the "Modifications" page.

Can you recommend a (silent) hard-disk to use?

Personally I have bought a 120GB Samsung 5400 RPM disk. It is the most quiet disk I have found (according to the specification). The specification says 26dB when idle, and 27dB at random read/write.

Can I record TV on the NorthQ hard-disk and then move the hard-disk to my PC and copy the recorded data?

Yes, if you use the NorthQ PvrDiskUtil! It is a Windows tool that can be used to copy files from the NorthQ hard-disk to your PC. Here are some instructions of how to use it.

Without this tool, it is not possible to copy files from the NorthQ, as they seem to violate the FAT32 specification somehow. If you insert the hard-disk from the NorthQ in a PC and run Chkdsk on it, it will most likely give you a whole bunch of errors. Why? I don't know, but if you want more information about this, look at the problem page.

Once you have copied the files, you will probably be able to use them in the PC:

Timer-recordings becomes two files, one small file with the extension .IFP (on a DVD, the IFO files includes information such as chapters, subtitle tracks and audio tracks) and one .ESS-file which is the file containing MPEG-2 data. The .ESS-file can be renamed to .MPG and can then be played in Microsoft Media Player if you have an MPEG-2 codec on your windows system (not included in Windows installations).

Manual recordings becomes a file with a .DAT extension. This file can be played directly in PowerDVD, or you can rename the extension to .MPG and play it in Microsoft Media Player (if you have an MPEG-2 codec on your system).

I cannot play the .MPG files with Windows Media Player, why?

The most likely error is that you don't have an MPEG-2 codec on your system. There are several ways of fixing this, the easiest way is to buy a software DVD-player for your PC, for example PowerDVD from CyberLink. If you want to test, you can download and install a free trial from their homepage! (This trial version has the interesting "feature" that it leaves the MPEG-2 codec on your PC after you uninstall PowerDVD

)

Do I have to format the hard-disk before installing it in the NorthQ?

I believe so, and it says so in the manual. I tried without formatting it, and it seemed to work. But when I removed it and installed it in my PC to copy recorded data from it, the PC did not recognize it properly, so I could not copy data from it.
Update: According to the release notes in the v1.10 firmware (released on 30 October 2003), it is possible to format the drive in the NorthQ player, but I have not tried this myself.

What file system should be used on the hard-disk?

FAT32. NTFS does not work.

Can I use Windows 2000 or Windows XP to format my hard-disk?

As Windows 2000 and XP cannot format FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB (2000 article, XP article), you cannot use 2000 or XP if your disk is bigger than 32GB.

What tools can I use to format my hard-disk before installing it?

I used Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition to prepare my 120GB disk before installing it in my NorthQ 7100. I tried to use FDISK/FORMAT included on a Windows Millennium startup disk, but I got very strange size calculations with it, so I used Seagate's DiscWizard instead.
Update: The Seagate's DiscWizard does not work if there is not at least one Seagate disk in your PC.
Update 2: I tried to use the FDISK/FORMAT from a Windows 98 startup disk (made on a PC with all available updates for Win98), and this worked!
Update 3: There is a freeware tool called H2format, that can format FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. However, I have not tried this myself.

Can I copy DVD-Video's from a DVD to the internal hard-disk?

As far as I know, it is not possible to copy a DVD movie from the NorthQ DVD player to the hard-disk the same way that you can copy MP3-, JPG- and MPG-files. However it is possible to do it another way:

	Insert the DVD into the NorthQ
	Wait until the DVD displays its menu.
	Choose to start the movie so you can see it on the TV screen.
	Quickly press the "REC" button on the NorthQ, this will start recording the movie from the DVD you are watching to the hard-disk.
	Wait until the movie end and then press "STOP" on the remote control.

What you have done is to record the movie from the DVD to the hard-disk the same way as you normally record a TV show. This procedure will of course make the movie quality on hard-disk a bit worse than it is on the DVD, as the NorthQ has to recompress the DVD movie with the specified quality (EP, LP, SP or XP). But at least it is possible to copy a DVD movie to the hard-disk this way!

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