Charter Communications DVR

[JackSpadesSI]

I?ve got an old rented DVR from Charter Communications. Because of its small HDD storage space, I?m going to swap it out for one of their newer models.

My DVR has many ports on the back (such as USB and eSATA), but they?re deactivated to prevent adding an external HDD for expanded storage. I?ve heard, however, that Charter has stopped deactivating rear ports.

Does anyone know if this is true? If so, which (USB vs. eSATA? or both) are active now? I need to know for sure because I?d like to buy an external HDD for the new DVR but I?d hate to buy one only to find out I can?t hook it up.

Charter customer service is full of brain-dead morons, so unfortunately I can?t ask them (they wouldn?t even know what USB is).

Thanks, in advance!

 

[nsafreak]

Kindof need to know what model DVR you have. I will say this much. I have heard that for some providers it is possible to use the USB ports on a Scientific Atlanta SA-8300 box although I'm not sure if Charter is one of them.

 

[Modelworks]

About 6 months ago the ports were DOA , all of them . Don't know if that changed as I have directv now.

 

[JackSpadesSI]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Kindof need to know what model DVR you have. I will say this much. I have heard that for some providers it is possible to use the USB ports on a Scientific Atlanta SA-8300 box although I'm not sure if Charter is one of them.

Not sure what model I'm going to have. Like I said, I already know my DVR's ports are deactivated (some model of Motorola's) so I'll be swapping it out on Friday for a new DVR.

Again, Charter's customer service is so poor that they don't even know how to tell me what DVR models they have available. They don't even understand hard drive storage in terms of GB's - they can only quote the hours of TV storage.

 

[nsafreak]

If it's a Motorola then in all likelihood all of the ports will be disabled. I have not heard of any cases with a person using a Motorola DVR with any provider being able to get those ports to work for additional storage. The most that you can hope for is that the firewire port is still enabled and if that's the case then you can do realtime transfer of non 5C encrypted content to your PC. Your other option would be to get a CableCARD capable DVR unit such as a Moxi or Tivo unit which will let you upgrade your hard drive.

 

[Tifababy]

I have a MOXI DVR from charter and the rear USB ports are active. I just hooked up a new 500GB USB HDD last night.