fig95's profile

Tutor

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8 Messages

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 12:21 AM

External Hard Drive

I have done some searching and I know that you can not add a external hard drive to the DVR.  I have seen post as far back as 2008 wishing for this.  Anyone know if this is in the works?

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

10 years ago

My first post to this forum 4 years ago was to confirm what I had read on this forum--you can't--which contradicted what I had been told by an AT&T chat rep (you could).  Nope, still can't use an external hard drive.

 

I'm not sure that the USB ports that are on these boxes were ever intended to be used for anything other than power.  It could also be that the hardware platform would have to spend too much time managing the USB interface for it to be effective.  I don't think we'll ever know.

 

Tutor

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8 Messages

10 years ago

It is absolutely amazing that Uverse does not provide a basic function most providers have had for a couple of years. Every day I see the competition match or exceed Uverse functions. They do not have an app for windows phone8, which I purchased from AT&T wireless. Uverse please wake up or customers will move on.

Teacher

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14 Messages

10 years ago

Up until about a year ago I had Dish Network.  Qite happy with it, but looked to save some cash. Only switched because I could save some money with Uverse/Internet. I had 2 Western Digital DVR expanders hooked up via USB port.  As I recall, with On Demand, whether on the Dish Receiver or the DVR expander, you were still limited to a specific amout of time you could watch. After that just as well erase them.

 

I agree that ATT should get the External DVR concept working.  My concern, no matter how large the drive on the Uverse receiver, what do you do if the receiver needs to be replaced?  I am not aware of a way to save any important recordings.  I have a VIP 2250.

Tutor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

How is it possible that this form was posted in 2010 and now it is 2014 and you still cant connect external a HDD to uvese 

Tutor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

Anyone know of another service that does let you use a extrnal hard drive?

We are going on a trip in a few months, and I need more space.

I cannot afford to take off more days just to watch what is on the DVR.

Besides most of it is her stuff, that " I CANNOT erase! " ( she tells me in a mean voice )

So if we switch, she is going to have to watch what she wants, and I can get plenty of space.

We pay over $300 for our services, and nothing has changed over the past 5 years.

well except the wireless reciver, that I do not even use.

 

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

since my uverse and internet are the same box does this allow me to connect an external drive and have access to it via my home network? 

Expert

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23.3K Messages

10 years ago


@Chuck797 wrote:

since my uverse and internet are the same box does this allow me to connect an external drive and have access to it via my home network? 


At this time, no it doesn't.

Teacher

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17 Messages

10 years ago

I too am very disappointed that the U-Verse box does not let me connect and use an external hard drive to extend the space of my DVR's recording capacity.

 

I just switched over from DISH where I had no problems at all attaching a 2 Terabyte Hard drive to record and play back programs.  The Dish drive is NOT propriety formatted, as some folks think, it is a basic Linux formatting, but even after you copy the files to your pc you still can not play them because they are encrypted and I have never found a way to decrypt them.

 

The point is I could use an eternal hard drive to play and record any programs or move the programs back and forth from my external hard drive to my internal hard drive.  The DISH unit that did this is 3 year old, 2011 technology - there is no excuse why AT&T could not implement external hard drive support.

 

 

P.S.  The other ting I don't like about u-verse s no quick one button click to bring up my favorites in the guide, again DISH is generation ahead in support.  On Dish hit guide twice and you select which list you want the guide to show - any one of my favorites I set up, all channels I GET, all HD channels I GET or all channels. 

 

Another neat Dish feature which I don't know if U-Verse does or not is that when you have a free weekend preview of HBO etcetera, the channels automatically pop up in the guides while they are active and automatically disappeared when the free weekend is over.

 

Why did I switch?  Contract expired and the usual game all these providers play of only giving new subscribers a good price, so if we want the best price we have to change providers every year or two.

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

Hello all,

Im too have been trying to connect a External HDD or USB Drive but it seemd the USB ports are not enabled so; I just called AT&T Uverse support and they informed me the USB ports are not enabled on the DVR or the receiver units at this time but did assure me that is a planned upgrade. However from the looks of this forum I dont think I will hold my breath... I will just use my DVD player it works for now.. Good luck Guy's and Gals.

 

As to  the why did I switch comnment I can tell you why I switched simply its $$$$ I saved about 100.00 USD swtiching my internet and Satelite TV from Dish and comcast. And got more channels so I am happy with the service so far. But to be fair it is frustrating not to be able to expand the storage capacity or connect a USB drive to whatch a downloaded movie. So I agree it is a big negitive and this should have been updated a long time ago... in my opinion.. 

Dino...Smiley Frustrated

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

10 years ago

The very first thing I learned on these forums was that the Chat operator lied to me when they told me I could connect a USB drive to the DVR.

 

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