Going beyond 70+ hr DVR record time?

[graphitepaddle]

The Motorola DVR that the FIOS tech installed, can only handle about 70 hrs of material.  Since I'm used to recording closer to 80 hrs, is there another option?  VCR compatible w. FIOS?  What about extended the hard drive, by plugging an external hard drive into either the USB Firewire ports?

[TimSykes]

I know people have setup dvd recorders to work with the DVRs. But external hard drives will not work, the ports are not acticve

Message Edited by TimSykes on 12-24-2008 10:11 PM

[Provider7]

I've had one customer with Tivo...Verizon installed 2 cable cards for tuning.  

In another instance one customer had a reciever installed for their computer.  They could watch and record from their computer.

Message Edited by Provider7 on 12-24-2008 11:32 PM

[KenAF]

If you have an HTPC in your TV room, or Xbox360 in your TV room + a Vista PC elsewhere in your home, then the cheapest solution is a ~$50 QAM tuner for your PC.  That will let you watch or record programs from local SD and HD channels to your computer's hard drive, which can then be played back through the Xbox360.  This is known as "Vista Media Center extender" functionality.  Note this solution will not let you record cable channels.

If you don't have a HTPC in your TV room, or don't have a Xbox360 in your TV room and a Vista PC elsewhere, or you need the ability to record more than your locals, then you may want to look at a TivoHD.

The TivoHD is a dual-tuner HDTV DVR that supports all of Verizon's SD and HD channels using a CableCard.  It can be had for about $205 shipped, and for another $120, you can upgrade it with a 1TB hard drive for 160+ HD hours and 800+ SD hours capacity.   The primary advantages of the TiVoHD include superior guide data (which makes for more reliable recording) and virtually unlimited storage.  The disadvantage of the TiVoHD is that it requires a monthly or yearly fee -- unless you want to pay for a lifetime subscription -- and it doesn't support Verizon's VOD.  More information on the TivoHD can be found in this thread.

All programs above are recorded in high-definition.

[KenAF]

To the above, I would add another option.

If you have an off-air antenna, you may want to consider the $250 DTVPal DVR.  You could consider this an ultra-lite version of TivoHD, but it only supports SD and HD from an antenna.  It does not support FiOS, cable, or satellite.  The main advantage of this product is that it requires no subscriptions or monthly fees.

If you've ever used an older Dish Network 5xx DVR, the DTVPal DVR is nearly identical to that, except it's for off-air signals only and it supports HD.  Again, this product does not work with cable or satellite.  It requires that you have an indoor or outdoor antenna.

You can read more about this new product, including reviews and screenshots, in this thread.

[graphitepaddle]

Thanks guys,

Bottom Line on all of your replies: Since I want all of the FIOS cable channels, I either go TiVo or learn to live within the 70 hr recording buffer & wait until a machine w. a larger hard drive comes out.  (The irony is that I have triple the channels that I had w. Comcast, but cannot record as much.<g>)

[TimSykes]

Hell everything I record is in HD, so I only get 20hrs. I wish I got 70.

[Streaker]

I was sold a 120 hour DVR.  That's 120 hours of SD programming.  About 8 months into my subscription the DVR interface/menu/guide/software was updated thereby reducing my DVR capacity to about 80 hours.

I was told by a "customer service" rep that it was a glitch and the DVR would record past 80 hours.

Today my DVR status shows 27 hours of SD prgramming, ZERO HD programming and my DVR is 78% full?

What happened?  I'm paying monthly for 120 hours of capacity and not getrting it.  I'm lucky to get 35 hours now.

Fix this or start sending me checks for the service I'm not getting.