Re: Expanding DVR space?
Vonch
Newbie

I just got off the phone with technical support for FIOS TV.   Basically I was told it could not be done even though I have had two different sales guys in Verizon stores tell me it could be done.  One indicated that he had several customers who have added a hard drive via the USB port and it worked.  The other sales guy indicated it would work through the fire wire port as well.  Both indicated that it did not show up on time remaining, but it did give you additional time.

Has anyone out there tried plugging an external drive in just to see what happens?

Currently I am a Dish Network customer and have 80 hours of HD recording time on one DVR and 40 hours on the other.  Dish Network will accept an external hard drive for a onetime $40 fee.  I have to say their DVR is outstanding but not very reliable.  I probably have had to have one or the other DVR exchanged 5 or 6 times in the last 4 years.  Also there is a recurring problem with voice sync that is annoying.  When trying FIOS TV at a local Verizon store I noticed the menus were much faster and the picture was superior. 

Love my FIOS internet, way more reliable than DSL and FIOS phone has been trouble free.  I really want FIOS TV, but the Motorola DVR limitations need to be fixed first. 

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
KenAF
Specialist - Level 2

@Vonch wrote:

I just got off the phone with technical support for FIOS TV.   Basically I was told it could not be done even though I have had two different sales guys in Verizon stores tell me it could be done.  One indicated that he had several customers who have added a hard drive via the USB port and it worked.  The other sales guy indicated it would work through the fire wire port as well.  Both indicated that it did not show up on time remaining, but it did give you additional time.

Has anyone out there tried plugging an external drive in just to see what happens?


Yes.  It doesn't work.

As indicated in earlier posts, external drives are not currently supported on Verizon's Motorola DVRs.  In fact, no cable company in the United States supports external expansion with Motorola DVRs.   The firmware / software doesn't have the code necessary to use external drives for recorded storage.

Verizon is expected to support external storage expansion on one or more DVRs (not necessarily the existing models) by the end of the year.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
Hubrisnxs
Legend

@Vonch wrote:

I just got off the phone with technical support for FIOS TV.   Basically I was told it could not be done even though I have had two different sales guys in Verizon stores tell me it could be done.  One indicated that he had several customers who have added a hard drive via the USB port and it worked.  The other sales guy indicated it would work through the fire wire port as well.  Both indicated that it did not show up on time remaining, but it did give you additional time.

Has anyone out there tried plugging an external drive in just to see what happens?

Currently I am a Dish Network customer and have 80 hours of HD recording time on one DVR and 40 hours on the other.  Dish Network will accept an external hard drive for a onetime $40 fee.  I have to say their DVR is outstanding but not very reliable.  I probably have had to have one or the other DVR exchanged 5 or 6 times in the last 4 years.  Also there is a recurring problem with voice sync that is annoying.  When trying FIOS TV at a local Verizon store I noticed the menus were much faster and the picture was superior. 

Love my FIOS internet, way more reliable than DSL and FIOS phone has been trouble free.  I really want FIOS TV, but the Motorola DVR limitations need to be fixed first. 


you can always pick up a tivo with a cable card from verizon if you don't want to wait for the dvr upgrades that are supposed to happen by the years end... 

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
Vonch
Newbie

When is the Cisco DVR supposed to be ready?  I have never been too impressed with the Motorola unit.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
Hubrisnxs
Legend

idk,   I know some people are testing the 7232 motorola's right now, so they got those field tests going, but I haven't heard from anyone field testing any cisco's yet.     so I think we will probably expect to see the motorola's out first.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
Bwangster12
Newbie

If and when these new model DVRs come out later this year that double the capacity of the harddrive, will those who already have the DVR be allowed to exchange?  Will these newer large capacity DVRs cost more?  I will be getting Fios in a few weeks and will most likely get a MR DVR.  It wouldn't be cool if they won't let those who already have the DVR to not upgrade.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
10nisman94
Contributor - Level 1

If verizon has 100% Motorola boxes, and new ones in the pipe, why even bother with cisco boxes?

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
Vonch
Newbie

Because all the reviews say the Cisco box is better and faster technology with considerably more capacity for upgrades.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
CStenfors
Contributor - Level 1

@Vonch wrote:

Because all the reviews say the Cisco box is better and faster technology with considerably more capacity for upgrades.


Upgrade capacity? Don't make me laugh. Since when do they upgrade the standard model box once they roll it out? Once it hist the customer pipeline, there's not gonna be upgrades.

0 Likes
Re: Expanding DVR space?
shreco
Newbie

This is the one and only issue keeping me from subscribing to FIOS TV. I Have had FIOS internet and phone for several years now patiently waiting for some news on this issue. I have been with Dish Network since 2006 and my original DVR from that time records 120 hours of SD. My living room dvr records 350 hours of SD and their new one just released does 500 hours. With ability to offload to external hard drives as well for virtually infinite space. Plus the Dish boxes serve two tv's simultaneously one HD and one SD set.

Fair to say I'm spoiled DVR wise with Dish but to be fair verizon is probably level on the playing field with cable service providers like Comcast etc. For some reason cable and verizon all offer sub standard DVR's. Satellite excels here as do third party services like Tivo or Moxi. I can buy a 1TB HD for under $100 as a non-bulk purchase price so I'm not sure what the hold up is for verizon. They charge 19.99 a month for that low capacity unit. Over the 24 month commitment that is $479. I can purchase the just released 1TB VIP 922 for use with Dish for $400 off ebay and I'll actually own the thing and can sell it down the line to recoup some cost.

The savings I could reap by adding FIOS TV to my bundle would come out to about 20 bucks a month when all is said and done however losing all that DVR capacity in my house currently 2.4TB over two DVR's and a USB drive that service 4 tv's is too much to lose. Dealing with inclement weather service interuptions with satellite is much easier when you have a ton of recorded content to consume anytime.

I would love to switch to FIOS for the hardline TV to my house and superior picture but they seriously need to get with the times on the equipment. Dish had this equipment like 5+ years ago. Not sure when Tivo came out but they have been a leader in DVR capacity for sure since day one. Tivo cannot service two tv's simultaneously like Dish btw not sure why maybe some proprietary patent screwing us over. Buying 4 tivos for 4 tv's is pretty high cost wise. If they are truly thinking about adding a 320GB unit as their flagship product I don't know what to say about that really other than they really are not listening to customers. A 1TB unit should be the minimum at the top of the spectrum.

0 Likes