With a digital video recorder, you're master of the HDTV universe today, but brought to your knees tomorrow when your DVR fills up and automatically deletes the penultimate episode of Dancing with the Stars before you've witnessed the duel play-out. If you've ever had to chuck an episode of Chuck because there was no space to record anew, you know that sinking feeling I'm talking about.
This is no small problem. While the high-def DVR emboldens us with unspeakable convenience, limited capacity in the typical cable set-top box places enormous pressure on us to play catch-up with our accumulating series before being forced to confront the delete screen, or worse, discovering that the DVR's no-nonsense software has already erased the show to make room for something else.
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The Short Form
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| Price $199.99 / westerndigital.com / 800-275-4932 |
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Snapshot
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| My DVR Expander spells R-E-L-I-E-F for high-def recording junkies with overloaded hard drives. |
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Plus
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| •Simple installation •Transparent extension of your DVR's internal drive •Fan-less and quiet |
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Minus
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| •Can't direct a program to be recorded to a particular drive •Drive is reformatted and programs lost if used with a different device |
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Key Features
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| •500GB hard drive •Stores 60 hours of HDTV or 300 hours of SDTV programs •eSATA cable included •Compatible with Scientific Atlanta 8300 DVR series set-tops, TiVo HD, and TiVo Series 3 •Inputs/Outputs eSata connector, power supply connector •6.78 x 5.63 x 2.23 in (H/L/W); 2.6 lb |
Enter (laughing) My DVR Expander. Western Digital's 500 gigabyte external hard drive plugs into the eSATA port on Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 series DVRs (leased by Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, and many other cable operators), TiVo HD, and TiVo Series 3 models. If you're wondering (and who wouldn't?), the acronym stands for external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, and refers to a technical standard developed for hard drives and other (primarily external) storage devices with super-fast data transfers in mind — just the ticket for HDTV.
In this case, the Expander's promise is the capacity to seamlessly store an additional 60 hours of HDTV content or 300 hours of standard-def programs on top of whatever capacity your existing SA set-top DVR or TiVo already has. But I had lingering concerns upon cracking it out of the box: How difficult would My DVR Expander be to install, and was the Expander truly compatible with my existing gear?
Setup
Since my home theater actively employs two DVRs, including both the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC and a TiVo HD, I chose to install My DVR Expander on the leased cable box first. Before powering off the cable box and detaching the electrical cord, I checked the part of my electronic program guide (EPG) that listed recorded shows to see how much space was occupied on the Explorer's 160GB internal drive. It indicated the drive was 90 percent full. I connected the included but short (38-inch) eSATA cable to the backs of the horizontal SA and vertical Western Digital boxes. The latter looks like a thick hardcover that belongs on a bookshelf; the top of the "book" contains vents, which dissipate heat. I attached the AC adaptor to the Expander. There is no power switch. Then, I reattached the power cord to the cable box.
The cable box took about 10 minutes to boot up, eventually alerting me that an external drive had been detected and, if I'd like to format it, to press the A key on the remote. Shortly afterwards, I was informed that the drive was ready for use. I went back to my EPG and discovered that the storage capacity was now only 10 percent full. Yippee! Or, more appropriately, eureka!
A week after marrying the Expander to the Scientific Atlanta DVR, I pulled the power cords on both and switched the Expander to the TiVo HD DVR. (I'll say more about what happens when you divorce drives under the Performance section.) Again, both the DVR and Expander must be completely powered off before connecting them. It took TiVo a few minutes to boot up. The TiVo service then sent me an Important Message. Subject: External Storage Device Detected. I clicked on Yes. Set up external storage device. I was warned that whatever was on the device will be erased, the process would take several minutes, and the DVR would then automatically restart. As a safety measure, I was instructed to press the THUMBS DOWN button three times, then ENTER to proceed. TiVo went dark on my TV screen, but five minutes later it was back. I immediately went to the settings menu. Before adding the Expander, TiVo HD offered a recording capacity of up to 20 HD hours or 184 SD hours. Now, I was showing a capacity of up to 86 HD hours or 810 SD hours. (Note: TiVo HD's internal drive is 160GB; TiVo Series 3's is 250GB.) I was in for a shock, though, when I tried to play the shows recorded by TiVo before I had connected the Expander. Journeyman didn't play. It was listed, but there was nothing there. Same with Pieces of April, which I had paid to download from Amazon Unbox but hadn't yet watched. Before going into full panic mode, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I pulled the electrical cord and rebooted TiVo again. A few minutes later, I returned to the screen of allegedly recorded programs, and . . . they all played as they should. Disaster averted!
Performance
Unlike adding a computer drive, there's no letter designation for the Expander as in Drive 'D' or 'F.' My DVR Expander simply grows the overall storage capacity, and a viewer can't tell where programs are being saved. According to Western Digital, each program is partially stored on both drives. This makes for a kind of seamless integration, which is fine unless you disconnect the Expander as I did in order to try it with my other DVR. As I discovered, every program recorded on the Scientific Atlanta DVR before I connected the Expander was still there after I removed it. Every program recorded after I'd connected it was gone. Of course, most people will connect the Expander to one DVR and that will be that. As I recorded more and more shows with the Expander, I found absolutely no difference in performance versus using each DVR with its internal drive alone. Cosmetically, the black Expander sat unobtrusively on my rack with two concentric amber rings always lit on its front panel. The top vents were warm but not hot. The unit has no fan and was quiet.
Bottom Line
Western Digital's My DVR Expander is easy to install, and once it's in place you simply forget about it. That said, the Expander goes a long way in solving the common DVR problem of running out of space &mdash particularly acute for HDTV-lovers with dual tuners.
You might feel reluctant to buy an expansion drive to use exclusively with a DVR you rent (as in the SA boxes), but to me spending $200 to double or triple your DVR capacity represents a fraction of what you're likely to already spend annually on digital cable including a handful of premium channels. Considering that — with the possible exception of some satellite services — there's more high-def content (movies, sports, nature programs, dramatic series, sitcoms, and concerts) available from cable than from any other source, why wouldn't you want to keep as much of that paid content available at your fingertips for as long as possible?
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