Comcast To Soon Allow External DVR Drive Storage

I can use a 4TB hard drive!

This way I will never run out of room

If it is a Motorola box then expect that 4TB drive to be limited to 2TB or less. There is some hard-coded crap in those Motorola boxes that limit the size of the drives both internal and external.

Well even 2TB would be a nice improvment over the current 500GB.

Oh, so they are 32-bit boxes eh?

You can use larger drives just fine on a 32-bit architecture system.

Comcast deployment of cable TV upgrades is so fragmented. I'm in a major metro area and I still don't have MyDvr.

Too many people use their DVR's for long-term storage. Presumably there are security codes and encryption on the stored data, and if you change your box, there goes all your recordings.

I also wonder just how much Comcast will charge to enable this feature?

I have heard that about other cable company DVRs that support external drives. a new box formats the drive.

It would have to be encrypted. the Media industry would never allow the feature to be enabled otherwise. If the box just dumped unencrypted Mpeg2 or Mpeg4 files right to the drive the media industry would throw a fit and fire off a full broadside from their lawsuit cannons. Gotta remember the media industry hates technology.

nope, its not encrypted at all, not really. There are easy ways to get it off the drive with some freeware out there, and its just encoded in MPEG2. TiVO has been allowing this for years. The fear is just that, a fear. The companies fear you will save everything and put it on the net. People do that already with capture cards and TV tuners with cableCARDs, so, its just another irrational fear.

No charge to enable.
The drive is a 1 TB drive. If the box is replaced, then the recordings will be lost. Soon as you plug it in to the new drive it will want to reformat it.

This is why I like my Dish dvr. The EHD is registered to your account and not to any individual dvr. So if your dvr dies, the recordings can still be watched on the replacement dvr. And those recordings can be watched on any dvr that is on your account. Makes things so much easier. While Dish only allows this on their HD dvrs, you can still use an EHD with up to 2TB of storage.

Interesting. Did not know Dish did that. Sounds like a good approach.

The "big deal" is - when your dealing with MPEG2 HD recording, it takes up probably DOUBLE the (HDD) space of MPEG4 HD. So IMHO, while a 500G HDD is "reasonable" for, say, either sat provider - it IS simply too small for any (current) cable system - or FiOS for that matter. Even Tivo realizes this, as their cheapest DVR only has 500g; the rest all start at 1TB+.

If/when they transition their HD all over to MPEG4, then it might be a different story...

If this actually DOES come to fruition, then it wouldn't be so bad in keeping their current Moto DCX series of DVR boxes. As long as it has enough HDD space & 30 second skip, I'm pretty happy with any DVR.(as mogamer already posted at the same time I did )
Yes, but you do realize it does NOT have to be that way! DISH Network ties ALL your recordings to your account - & NOT to a specific receiver/access card. You can move recordings freely between external (multiple) hard drives, & even multiple receivers on your SAME account. This IS the way it should be from ANY TV provider.
Unfortunately, DirecTV ties recordings to a specific receiver/access card combo...been there, done that! Considering NEITHER DBS provider - or the other cable co. that offer this feature do, Comcast should NOT, either!

What is that crap?

That was my TV Capture card in Win98 days man, c'mon.

Nobody uses MPEG for anything anymore unless you do sh1t off yer digi cam or do DVD's which is stupid as rewritable HDD storage is actually cheaper per MB. Oh, and now most all units stream off the network...DLNA/Gaming console, etc. anyone?

Oh, and we have better GUI's than you'll ever have.
»xbmc.org/

The Scene groups have officially switched over to high quality MKV/MP4 now. A 40min show is like 130-350MB in damn good qual. Never any commercials, ever.

So, you are saying by default, that pirated is better quality than what you currently are allowed to PAY to DVR?

I LOLZ....

Too bad reality states otherwise. Almost everything in the broadcast world is still using MPEG(2).

Using MPEG4 or H.264 as a codec for scene groups is about reducing the size. Almost everything is ripped from sources using MPEG2 so you're not gaining any quality.

I'd been doing this with a TWC box for several years. Until I got Signature home and the new DVR's didn't support it.

Left SH to go to DirecTV in 2010 and have been running external storage (currently a pair of 2TB drives in a RAID 1 cabinet) since.

Wide Open West has allowed this for many years. I stayed with WOW for a long time because of that.

I can't believe it's taken Comcast so long to do this. Insane. And likely, I assume just like WOW, the HD will be reformatted if/when it's attached to a different cable box. Small price to pay for the added flexibility.

I've been using Western Digital external DVR expander hard drives for like five years now via the SATA port on both my SA8300HD and Cisco R200N out in New Jersey. »www.wdc.com/en/products/ ··· x?id=360

Now personally I'd love to use this WD Sentinal DX4000 network storage. »www.wdc.com/en/products/ ··· x?id=610

Apricorn has been selling their branded DVR expanders for years.
Here's one for D*TV: (1.5TB or 2.0TB)
»www.apricorn.com/apricor ··· ctv.html

WD also listed models for VZ FiOS and Dish Network:
»store.westerndigital.com ··· 21986300

Still don't see the big difference between the My Book AV, the My Book AV for Verizon, and the My Book AV for Dish, except that the original My Book AV is $139 and comes with both an eSATA and USB cable. The one for Verizon only comes with an eSATA cable and is $129. The one for Dish only comes with a USB cable and is $129. What they should have done was just lower the price for the original and be done with it. I dunno maybe I'm missing something. This feels like the same thing where TiVo claims that you have to use a TiVo certified DVR expander to work with their gear when really it's not law. Moxi has said that you can even use this »www.lacie.com/us/index.htm up to 4TB without a problem via eSATA.

Does anyone else think that this kind of stuff shouldn't be at the hands of the cable company? Where are third parties at making devices with the features that consumers really want? I have a feeling that the market is there, but something is keeping it from happening.

In the SA/Cisco STB areas, Comcast has allowed external hard drives to be used for many years. Comcast does not "officially" support this, but it works. The customer has to supply the external hard drive and eSata cable.

They need to break the device cartel. Cable cos shouldnt have any competitive advantage with devices. BTW you could do this with tivo for at least 5 years now. So i guess Comcast figure it might be important. End the device cartel . Carter Box now!

good grief so glad I dumped cable. This was a deal breaker for me 2 years ago...so sad they are just now getting around to utilizing the overbuilt capabilities of the Moto box.