[wikeith]

I am a total newbie in the area of taping into the hard drive of my DirectTV DR15 unit so that I can off load programs to my computer.

Any information and/or links would be greatly appreciated

 

[jonaswan2]

Bottom line you can't, and if there was a way (which there isn't mind you) to view programs from your R15 on your PC we probably couldn't tell you. Somebody would have to PM you .

 

[wikeith]

Bottom line you can't, and if there was a way (which there isn't mind you) to view programs from your R15 on your PC we probably couldn't tell you. Somebody would have to PM you .

Are the hard drives in the R15 proprietary, or could I pop it out and into my computer as a way to remove content.

Let me guess, the HD is normal, but the file structure and format is proprietary, so my computer won't read them.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

The physicall hardware is not propritary, standard hard drive.

But over the last year, many of people have "poped" the drive out and put in the PC... But they are storing the data in an encrypted format, so you don't have access to it.

 

[sheridan1952]

Earl,

Will they EVER enable the USB port?

 

[jonaswan2]

Earl,

Will they EVER enable the USB port?

Now how do you think DirecTV2Go will work?

Now if you want DirecTV on your PC, they did announce that PC tuner at CES. Who know if that will ever surface again though. But NDS also has that USB key/Access Card thingy that allows people to watch VIdeoGuard protected content on their PCs. That will probably never surface on DirecTV either.

 

[sheridan1952]

Now how do you think DirecTV2Go will work? ....

With fries?

Seriously, I was hoping 2Go would become a reality. But, you're probably right.

 

[Wolffpack]

Now how do you think DirecTV2Go will work?

Do you think we'll see DTV2go on the R15?

 

[jonaswan2]

Do you think we'll see DTV2go on the R15?

Well, I don't know of any reason to why we can't have DirecTV2Go on the R15. When DirecTV originally announced the service, they explictly said you plug the compatible portable media player into a Plus DVR. The R15 is a Plus DVR.

 

[Clint Lamor]

Isn't it just supposed to plug into the DVR via a USB port? If so then I see no reason why it would be added.

 

[Wolffpack]

You have to have a USB port that's enabled and the core software to serve up the content. Just considering the current status of the R15 I'm not assuming anything.

 

[Clint Lamor]

I thought the USB where enabled just doing nothing right now? I'm not sure what current status of the R15 you're referring to, am I missing something here?

 

[Wolffpack]

The USB ports have power. When you plug a cable into them you get an ACK. Other than that they don't respond to basic USB inquiry commands. So "enabled" is all relative. The ACK we see could just be the firmware in the USB chip acknowledging the presence of a device. Doesn't mean there's any code on the back end to communicate with any device, let alone download content.

The status that I was referring to is the fact the R15 has been out for a year and even with 10FA there are gaps in the unit.

• First Run/Repeat logic is better but still lacking for many shows/networks that UTVs and DTivos handle just fine;
• autorecord feature is pretty much useless until the "Channels I Receive" problem is resolved;
• showcases have yet to be implemented other than CD USA and other non-interesting DTV produced shows (not that I'm holding my breath on that one);
• there are bugs/inconveniences on the R15 that have been fixed/resolved on the HR20 (400 item TDL limit, HR20 doesn't record partials on purpose, HR20 has a new & improved History screen);
• and Viiv has been added the HR20 but we'll never see it on the R15.

With items like this, and the fact that we probably won't see another update to the R15 until maybe Q2-2007, I just don't see any new features being added to the R15 (like DirecTV2Go). I could be completely wrong here but that's just my opinion. Remember, back in May Chase stated the R15 was completely and successfully debugged. To be honest, I'd be very surprised if the R15 even received the new UI that is suppose to be out sometime in 2007. Let's just get it recording what it's suppose to, when it's suppose to and reliably replaying those recordings.

 

[cabanaboy1977]

[*]and Viiv has been added the HR20 but we'll never see it on the R15.

What is Viiv and why do I want it on my R15?

 

[Wolffpack]

It's a method of playing music and displaying pictures from a PC on your TV. One of the latest releases of the HR20 software enabled the network connection and enabled Viiv. Would you want it? Some do, some couldn't give a hoot. There's more discussion in this thread:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=73751

 

[Clint Lamor]

Well I don't know what code is back there, has anyone tried any USB devices (network, keyboard, HD) with the newer releases of the code? DON'T read anything into that statement I'm just wondering if they snuck anything in there like they did with RF.

Well many didn't think that this release would see the light of day but it made it out. Hopefully whatever caused the long delay with this release has been taken care of and we will see some more quick releases like we did for the first many months of the boxes life.

As for the comment he made well it is what it is. We all know it's not perfect the developers know it's not perfect, their managament knows it's not perfect so in the end to me thats what matters.

As for never seeing ViiV support on the R15 I once again have to ask do you know something I don't know? Same question for the update release schedule.

The USB ports have power. When you plug a cable into them you get an ACK. Other than that they don't respond to basic USB inquiry commands. So "enabled" is all relative. The ACK we see could just be the firmware in the USB chip acknowledging the presence of a device. Doesn't mean there's any code on the back end to communicate with any device, let alone download content.

The status that I was referring to is the fact the R15 has been out for a year and even with 10FA there are gaps in the unit.

• First Run/Repeat logic is better but still lacking for many shows/networks that UTVs and DTivos handle just fine;
• autorecord feature is pretty much useless until the "Channels I Receive" problem is resolved;
• showcases have yet to be implemented other than CD USA and other non-interesting DTV produced shows (not that I'm holding my breath on that one);
• there are bugs/inconveniences on the R15 that have been fixed/resolved on the HR20 (400 item TDL limit, HR20 doesn't record partials on purpose, HR20 has a new & improved History screen);
• and Viiv has been added the HR20 but we'll never see it on the R15.

With items like this, and the fact that we probably won't see another update to the R15 until maybe Q2-2007, I just don't see any new features being added to the R15 (like DirecTV2Go). I could be completely wrong here but that's just my opinion. Remember, back in May Chase stated the R15 was completely and successfully debugged. To be honest, I'd be very surprised if the R15 even received the new UI that is suppose to be out sometime in 2007. Let's just get it recording what it's suppose to, when it's suppose to and reliably replaying those recordings.

 

[Clint Lamor]

It's a method of playing music and displaying pictures from a PC on your TV. One of the latest releases of the HR20 software enabled the network connection and enabled Viiv. Would you want it? Some do, some couldn't give a hoot. There's more discussion in this thread:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=73751

I actually like the ability to play music, I used it all the time on my SA Tivos as I have ripped almost every CD I own to MP3 and have them stored on my server and I just stream them.

 

[cabanaboy1977]

Thanks, I wasn't even sure what it was. I think I'm somewhere in the middle on that. It's nice but I don't care that much. Might change my mind if I used it or if I didn't have one of my pc's connected to the TV and stereo.

So Viiv is more a program that says this device works with that device (from what Earl was saying in that post) than anything. Does WinXP have that already loaded or do you have to install another program.

 

[litzdog911]

I am a total newbie in the area of taping into the hard drive of my DirectTV DR15 unit so that I can off load programs to my computer.

Any information and/or links would be greatly appreciated

There's always the "old fashioned" way ....

Connect your DVR to your PC's video capture card like you would connect to a VCR or standalone DVD Recorder. Capture (record) your DVR's programs onto the PC using its video capture software. Then you can edit or burn DVDs as desired.

 

[ApK]

I actually like the ability to play music, I used it all the time on my SA Tivos as I have ripped almost every CD I own to MP3 and have them stored on my server and I just stream them.

I've had a networked SA Tivo piped to every room in my house for years, I've had my entire music library on my network for over a year, and I only realized last night that I could put the two together.

It's REALLY cool.

If the R15 got this capability, it would be one incentive to put it in place of my SA Tivo and save some money.