[mark2000]

Is there any expansion storage on the HD PVR? 320 GB is small, compared to my 1TB+ on the Rogers box. This is pretty much a deal-breaker for me because I keep movies on my PVR that I watch over and over again.

Any way atall to connect more storage to that USB port on the HD box?

 

[pshine]

There's been plenty written about attempting to use an external HD with the USB port but it looks like no one has had any luck in making it work.
Info. can be found at the Uverse forums (AT&T) - they have been using this tech. for a while now with earlier versions of the Motorola PVR (VIP1216 and VIP1225) .

 

[Dr.Dave]

Fibe TV which uses Mediaroom software, does not support external storage.

This has been discussed in this forum as well as the MTS TV and Telus TV forums which also use Mediaroom. No need to go searching through the AT&T forums on this issue.

As far as capacity goes, Bell says you can store up to 100 hours of HD programming, while Rogers says their 320GB model only holds 40 hours of HD. That's because Fibe TV uses MPEG-4 which is much more efficient than the MPEG-2 compression that Rogers uses.

PVRs aren't really meant for long-term storage of movies. If you keep your 1 TB drive pretty full, then Fibe TV probably isn't the right solution for you.

 

[Mark Rejhon]

MPEG4 (H.264) can compress twice as much as MPEG2 with the same picture quality. So the 320 gigabytes in Bell FibeTV is roughly the same as 640 gigabytes in a Rogers PVR.

I have recorded approximately 15 shows so far (varying from 30 minutes to 2 hours), and about 90% of my hard disk drive is still free. So the 100 hours of high-definition seems to be an accurate claim, as the Bell high-def video streams don't vary very much in bitrate, appears to be using a consistent 7 megabits per second per HDTV stream. Slightly under 1 MBytes/second. If you're anal about SI measurements, 7 mebi-bit/sec consumes 3.15 gibi-bytes per hour, which is approximately equal to 1/100th of a 320 gigabyte hard disk.

 

[norpan]

I have a Motorola VIP1216 PVR with my Bell Fibe service and would like to replace the 160 GB hard drive with a larger one. What is the largest drive which will work? Is a special drive required or just a SATA PC drive? Will the PVR function OK after replacing the drive then rebooting the PVR? Is there a way to retain the recorded programs on the new drive? Any other tips?

 

[betterthancable]

1216 Hard Drive

If you have a 1216 you are likly not a Fibe TV but a Bell Entertainment customer. In that case you are renting the equipment from Bell, you do not own it. I would caution you not to tamper with it. The ATT boards are full of failed attempts.

 

[norpan]

Yes, I am currently a BES customer but will be transitioning to Fibe very shortly since BES will be dead at the end of January. Bell is giving the VIP1216 PVR free to BES customers who transition to Fibe. My previous questions are for when the transition is complete and I am the sole owner of the VIP1216 PVR. Any answers?

 

[Dr.Dave]

@norpan, first the standard warnings - upgrading the drive will void the warranty, the size of the hard drive is logged by the service provider (Bell) and Bell will be notified if you do a "disaster recovery" format of the new hard drive.

What I have read is that Win CE supports a max of about 500 GB. The only drives that I have heard that work are Seagate.

1. ST3500320AS (7200.11) 500 GB
2. ST3500321CS 500 GB

You may also wish to try the drive used in the VIP 1232 as listed in one of the posts above (320GB Seagate Pipeline) or another drive in the same series.

You may be able to retain your current programming by cloning the hard drive on a PC.

Here's a Telus Mediaroom thread that discusses the same subject.

 

[sigurdson]

I too am about to be former BES client... The 500GB HDD's are hard to find online in Canada.. anyone had luck with using a 500GB in the VIP 1216... can I rename it a 1250 = 500 GB yeah.
If you have done the swap did you have to clone the original 160 drive? Or just slap in the 500 GB and boot?

Thanks... BES clients Unite! it was a good run while it lasted.

Cheers 2011

 

[Dioneo]

I had Fibe installed for a trial period yesterday. The tech who installed it told me they were planning on allowing for external hard drive use some time in Q1.

 

[DoubleC]

The tech is incorrect. Though the usb slot is powered it's not enabled. The best you can do is charge a usb device on the STB.

Unless I'm mistaken, BES customers should be getting a 1232 when they change over to Fibe. That STB has double the capacity of a 1216.

 

[secotton]

Nope. It seems the deal for BES customers is we get to keep the existing 1216 - free and no rental charges for it. Warranty is given on the unit until June / July of 2011.

 

[javed1966]

What is USB connection for?

I have VIP 1232 receiver for my bell tv. It has a usb connection. What is this for? Also, can I connect my computer to TV through this usb connection?

 

[pshine]

A search through this forum will give you the answer.
It is powered but not enabled - you cannot connect it to a PC or HDD.

 

[pmcd]

The tech is incorrect. Though the usb slot is powered it's not enabled. The best you can do is charge a usb device on the STB.

Unless I'm mistaken, BES customers should be getting a 1232 when they change over to Fibe. That STB has double the capacity of a 1216.

I recently got FibeTV and it came with the VIP 1232. I was told by several tech support people that they were planning on enabling the USB port for hard drive use in the future. Maybe it won't happen but it does seem to be the goal. The same for auto-tune, pausing from a regular console, etc ... Basically, the hope is to at least get back to the current functionality of the satellite pvr's. Who knows, but apart from the home wide pvr access the current pvr is nowhere near as useful as my older 1942 Bell sat pvr (or whatever the model number of that was).

Philip