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How to expand the hard drive capacity of your Direct TV satellite receiver or cable box for only $199 |
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In this article, we’d like to expand on the concept and show you how to give your Direct TV satellite box a huge storage capacity boost by pairing it with a specialized external hard drive. By choosing just the right add-on storage solution you will be able to create a super high-capacity television and movie server that can triple or even quadruple the storage capacity of your original cable or satellite box. Before we get started, let's clarify a few technology issues. All cable and satellite boxes use internal hard drives to store things you record. The storage capacity (or in plain terms, how much space there is to record) of a given box is determined entirely by its manufacturer. Usually, the default (or “built-in”) storage capacity of satellite and cable boxes hovers in the 160 to 250 gigabyte range. This amount of space may seem large, but since high-definition broadcasts require a significant amount of storage, drives in this capacity range fill up quickly, especially if you use the box as a movie server or use it to record entire series of television programs. A few high-definition movies or full seasons of popular programs such as American Idol, Survivor, or CSI could surely put a big dent in your hard drive’s storage space!
When your drive is full, you have two options: don’t record or delete some of your recorded programs. In fact, most boxes will automatically start deleting your "oldest" content as the drive becomes full. You can imagine the frustration you or your family might feel if you lost the season finale of Grays Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, or your favorite edge-of-your-seat drama. Even worse, what if your favorite high-definition baseball game or play-off game was missing? Or what if you simply want some storage space for your programs because your spouse and kids have filled up 90% of your hard drive? At some point you will be faced with a compromise of what to keep and what to delete.
Here is the process we followed to upgrade the Direct TV HR20 (also works with HR21, HR22, and HR23):
Now that we had a properly installed massive hard drive we wanted to see just how much real world recording we could do. We immediately went into the guide, filtered out the high-definition channels, and started recording. Since we are planning to illustrate what a great high-definition movie server this box can be we focused on recording HD movies off of HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. We also recorded several 'normal' programs such as sporting events, cooking shows, and some popular TV series.
TV Recording Tip: The new high-capacity hard drive is also perfect for recording weekly TV programming. In fact, you could set-up the DVR to record the entire season of either your favorite program or a new series. Once the entire season had been captured you could watch the individual episodes at your leisure. One of the major advantages of recording in this fashion is if you get really into a program you could watch multiple episodes in one sitting (or within few days) without having to wait an entire week for a new episode. And of course you will always be able to skip through the commercials. After about a week and a half of recording (with the older 1TB model) we had amassed a collection over 65 high-definition movies and shows totaling over 120 hours of HD footage – and the hard drive was only 68 percent full! Our new high-definition movie library included some major blockbuster titles such as Shrek The Third, Night At The Museum, Evan Almighty, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Ratatouille, Spider Man 3, and Transformers. We even had classic and all time favorite movies such as Titanic, Hairspray, Truman Show, 300, Austin Powers, Mission Impossible 3, Bridge To Terabithia, The Patriot, Gladiator, and The Mummy. Since our initial testing the 1TB drive has been doubled to 2TBs! This gives you even more storage for more movies. I currently have over 100 high-definition movies on hard drive with plenty of room to spare. It is estimated the 2TB drive will record up to 250 hours of high-definition programming. TIP: Families with children know how often kids get a movie stuck in their head and they will watch it over and over again, day after day. This high-capacity movie server is a perfect solution as you will have plenty of space to record your kids favorite programs. In addition to our enormous recording capacity, we noticed that the hard drive worked exactly like the standard internal hard drive. We experienced no speed or latency issues. Recommendations and Conclusions
We found that expanding our DVR’s recording capacity to create a massive movie and TV server is an easy process. However, to do so, it is absolutely critical the right hard drive is chosen for the job. We found out first hand that the expansion is not as easy as just picking a random external hard drive. As with most things in life choosing the right tool is critical for the job. Remember, just because you have a 3DTV does not mean you have to wear glasses. The majority of your TV viewing will still be glasses-free in stunning 2D. View 3D as a special event for the big game, special program, or family movie night. For those special occasions make sure you have enough glasses for the group as everyone will need a pair. For the best experience go with the largest TV possible. The enhanced depth of a 3D television can make a good size TV seem smaller. Your best bet is to go with a 55" television or larger. For More Information or to Purchase - Only $199
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