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DVR with more hard disk space...when?

Hi all, and Happy New Year.

Anyone know when a replacement for the 7216 will be out? All I've heard is "sometime in 2009". Having a non-upgradeable, non-expandable 160 GB hard drive is a deal killer for me. It's like Verizon's not really trying. C'mon, a 1 Terabyte disk can be had for about $100 these days!

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Keyboards

@Zoinks wrote:
Hi all, and Happy New Year.
Anyone know when a replacement for the 7216 will be out? All I've heard is "sometime in 2009". Having a non-upgradeable, non-expandable 160 GB hard drive is a deal killer for me. It's like Verizon's not really trying. C'mon, a 1 Terabyte disk can be had for about $100 these days!

The blame actually goes to Motorola for hard coding the system to not utilize anything over 160 G. Yes there have been rumors of a 320 G drive and / or the enabling of the E-SATA port on the QIP-7216, but that is all they are, RUMORS. Verizon has made no commitment or statement of time regarding a larger hard drive or external drive support. There are currently no Motorola boxes that support an external drive from any TV provider.

Yes, Verizon also needs to share blame for not putting sufficient pressure on Motorola and not realizing how quickly HD expansion would occur to put the puny disk capacity to shame Smiley Sad

speedo123

Keyboards wrote:

Yes, Verizon also needs to share blame for not putting sufficient pressure on Motorola and not realizing how quickly HD expansion would occur to put the puny disk capacity to shame
I don't really care if Verizon shares the blame or not. What I'd really like to see them do is share the solution - with us!
This problem has been with us for years with nothing but rumors rather than answers from Verizon. If Motorola won't give Verizon a solution, than Verizon needs to get a new equipment supplier (and maybe the threat of talking to another vendor will prod Motorola to act!). Can you picture Verizon's superior distribution technology coupled with TiVo's superior equipment and Guide - that would be awesome! Verizon would then be the Number 1 company. With happy(ier) customers willing to pay for this! What more could they want?

KenAF

@speedo123 wrote:
Keyboards wrote:

Yes, Verizon also needs to share blame for not putting sufficient pressure on Motorola and not realizing how quickly HD expansion would occur to put the puny disk capacity to shame
I don't really care if Verizon shares the blame or not. What I'd really like to see them do is share the solution - with us!
This problem has been with us for years with nothing but rumors rather than answers from Verizon. If Motorola won't give Verizon a solution, than Verizon needs to get a new equipment supplier (and maybe the threat of talking to another vendor will prod Motorola to act!). Can you picture Verizon's superior distribution technology coupled with TiVo's superior equipment and Guide - that would be awesome! Verizon would then be the Number 1 company. With happy(ier) customers willing to pay for this! What more could they want?

Verizon issued a RFP for new equipment last year and you can bet that external drive expansion will be among their requirements.

Unfortunately, the results of this aren't going to be seen overnight (or even a year). Companies submit their bids, Verizon picks the winner, more communication follows, and then the company goes to work on the STB/DVR design. The process can take 12-24 months from design to manufacturing, and more time may be needed before the firmware / software and supporting infrastructure is ready.

It's not easy to design a stable/reliable, cost-effective HD DVR platform while navigating all the requisite patent and licensing issues. That's why so few of them exist.

Message Edited by KenAF on 01-07-2009 05:28 PM

speedo123

KenAF wrote:
It's not easy to design a stable/reliable, cost-effective HD DVR platform while navigating all the requisite patent and licensing issues. That's why so few of them exist.

So if Verizon struck an agreement with TiVo, wouldn't that eliminate problems with design, patent and licensing issues. Might save some time on getting us bigger disks, problem resolutions and requested features too.

And the RFP you reference was put out in 2007. It's now 2009! You would think that there might have been some progress by now that could be conveyed to us lowly customers. Nah, just keep us in the dark. Why let customers know what's going on.

Message Edited by speedo123 on 01-07-2009 06:09 PM

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