Tutor
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8 Messages
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?
Tutor
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8 Messages
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?
callmeox
Professor
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3.5K Messages
14 years ago
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Kieran_1
Tutor
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33 Messages
14 years ago
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bronskrat
Mentor
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9 Messages
14 years ago
the big problem with enabling this, I was told, is that if it were enabled, you'd be able to order something on On Demand, and keep it since you could connect your computer to the hard drive.
BUT the guy told me the front USB port on the Cisco IPN4320 works. hasn't worked for me yet!
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mibrnsurg
Expert
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20.4K Messages
14 years ago
It only gives power, there is no data capability thru the USB port.
Chris
____________________________________________________________________
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I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more
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fig95
Tutor
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8 Messages
14 years ago
As far as On Demand there are a ton of ways they can stop people doing that. Both of my cable DVRs let you connect an external harddrive and they had On Demand too....
Just more excuses from a company more interested in expanding to new markets then making customers happy....
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mikedamirault
Guru
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363 Messages
14 years ago
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cheer
Guru
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939 Messages
14 years ago
This is somewhat true. USB 2.0 should be fast enough -- the HD streams on U-Verse are ~6 Mbps, which USB 2.0 should more than handle.
The encryption/etc. wouldn't be any different from that used by the internal hard drive.
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mikedamirault
Guru
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363 Messages
14 years ago
"This is somewhat true. USB 2.0 should be fast enough -- the HD streams on U-Verse are ~6 Mbps, which USB 2.0 should more than handle."
That may be, I am used to using firewire for video, so I usually trust firewire more than USB when it comes to real time video transfer, USB 2.0 may be fast enough though
"The encryption/etc. wouldn't be any different from that used by the internal hard drive."
Right, my point to it was that if you decided to share the external hard drive with your computer (either network or USB), the format that the DVR would use would probably not be FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS, which are the only formats supported by Windows, and it may not use HFS+, supported by Mac OS, so if you choose to use it with a computer as well, it should be partitioned, also, for those that think they could use it to back up their shows, the fact that it uses a different format or encryption would stop them from doing that
It's probably not something that at&t thinks is worth their effort to implement such a feature
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SomeJoe7777
Expert
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9.4K Messages
14 years ago
I believe the file system written by the Sigma Designs 8634 chip (used in the STBs) is FAT32 and can be read by ordinary PCs.
However, the data that is saved in the files on the hard drive is encrypted by the Sigma chip.
The USB ports on the STB are USB 2.0 and can easily be used to read/write from a storage device, but the Windows CE Mediaroom implementation in its current form has no USB driver stack, so it will not currently recognize any devices plugged into the USB ports.
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mikedamirault
Guru
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363 Messages
14 years ago
"I believe the file system written by the Sigma Designs 8634 chip (used in the STBs) is FAT32 and can be read by ordinary PCs."
It may be FAT32, I was just saying that it is unknown (at least to me), and their are proprietary hard drive formats made especially for certain devices, so it was a possibility, and if somebody wanted to also use the hard drive on a PC, it could be unusable, of course if it is FAT32, then like you said, it would be compatible with PCs
"However, the data that is saved in the files on the hard drive is encrypted by the Sigma chip."
Right, the question is how it's encrypted, I think I heard something somewhere about the files on the DVR's hard drive aren't based on the recordings themselves but on clusters of files filling the entire drive/partition, that together result in the recording on the DVR and unused storage, given I have never tried connecting the DVR's hard drive to a PC, I have not seen anying firsthand, so I am not really sure how the DVR records or encrypts shows
"The USB ports on the STB are USB 2.0 and can easily be used to read/write from a storage device, but the Windows CE Mediaroom implementation in its current form has no USB driver stack, so it will not currently recognize any devices plugged into the USB ports."
Exactly, that was basically what I was saying, was that the USB ports do work (hardware wise), it's just that they are limited/blocked by software (by not having the proper driver stacks like you said), in which case, a simple update could make them usable, but at&t chooses not to make them usable
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