eSATA on multi-room DVR

[bwh1]

If I understand correctly, once the eSATA is installed, programs automatically record to it first until full.  Will the eSATA work just like the DVR - can I manage remotely, watch recorded shows in other rooms, etc

[Keyboards]

The external has now become your DVR's primary drive.  It will behave exactly the same as if you were using the internal drive.   The DVR can only use 1 drive at a time and doesn't care whether it is the internal or external from a users access standpoint.

That's not ot say that you can't access whatever is on the internal drive (if anything) as well.

[ScallyWag2]

I have a eSATA on my HD DVR it records to the eSATA  drive, I can NOT watch recorded show on the other TV's they are connected with reg set top boxes is there a way for them to see/acc to eSATA drive? Is there a way to pick which drive to record on? Should I just go back to the HD DVR drive till I need more room?

[jdmaxell1]

Remember that you can only stream 1 hd or 2 sd shows from dvr.  (Limitation is dvrs, not esata drive)

[cesee]

Several people have this complaint, including me, but shockingly, the answer seems to be that you can't watch shows on the external drive from other STBs. Adding an external HD to a MRDVR effectively removes the multi-room benefit. Incredible that Verizon doesn't warn you on their page.

[DaveP3]

I'm glad that I read this thread.  I was getting ready to order an eSata drive on the Western Digital online store.  Incredible that multi-room DVR does not support the DVR extender.  There are other threads in this forum that state that it does, but I'm assuming the techs are wrong based on this thread.

[EJRW]

---

@cesee wrote:

Several people have this complaint, including me, but shockingly, the answer seems to be that you can't watch shows on the external drive from other STBs. Adding an external HD to a MRDVR effectively removes the multi-room benefit. Incredible that Verizon doesn't warn you on their page.

---

Wow. Very helpful. +1 kudo from me. 

[armond_in_nj1]

---

@cesee wrote:

Several people have this complaint, including me, but shockingly, the answer seems to be that you can't watch shows on the external drive from other STBs. Adding an external HD to a MRDVR effectively removes the multi-room benefit. Incredible that Verizon doesn't warn you on their page.

---

I am not sure what issues you are facing, but I am afraid that the conclusions being drawn are in error.  Verizon doesn't warn users about the problem, because the problem itself simply does not exist.

I just finished viewing content located on the external eSata drive connected to my HD MRDVR, on a separate SD STB located in another room.  Provided that I try to view only SD content, the system works as designed.  That is, I can view content from the MRDVR external drive on another STB connected  to my home network.  Of course I cannot view HD content from the external drive on the SD STB.

Unfortunately this experiment and its results do not allow me to help you solve your issue.  My initial guess is that the drive in question is deficient with respect to the required specifications listed by both Western Digital and Verizon Communications.  However the results of the experiment do demonstrate quite clearly to my satisfaction (and that of my wife and my elderly dog) that the statements about incompatibility or inoperability are not correct.

[armond_in_nj1]

---

@DaveP wrote:

... Incredible that multi-room DVR does not support the DVR extender ...

---

I cannot say precisely why the system in question is not functioning.  However it is incorrect to state that adding an external eSata drive removes the multi-room capability.  That is simply not the case.  Please see my post above for details.

One possibility that has not been addressed by the writers above (at least to my knowledge) is whether the drives in question are those specified as suitable by both Western Digital and Verizon.  There is a rather limited range of such drives, although it is true that drives meeting the "AV" specification and of suitable size have been shown to work by many users in the past.  The specifics of such devices have been covered in these forums in extensive detail, as a simple search will easily verify.

[Dreamygemini1]

So when my external drive is full will it automatically switch to the internal drive?