Dish & Hard Drive

[aggie1997]

With some dish network receivers you have the ability to plug in an external USB hard drive and record programming or transfer programming from the DVR. My question is, does anyone know if I would be able to take that hard drive, connect it to my computer and watch the programming from my laptop? I spoke with someone from dish network and they said I wouldn't (however, they didn't really give me a lot of confidence that they knew what they were talking about). They said the first time that I plugged the hard drive into the receiver it would format the drive (and that is supposedly why I couldn't view the programs on a computer). They also said it recorded in MPEG format. Which is why I believe I would be able to watch/edit the programming on my computer. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[hmiles619]

no idea on this one. I tried to do this with our suddenlink dvr, and was told that the feature on the dvr was disabled

[Pflugerville Ag]

I believe the answer is no, but I'm not sure. I think they prevent you from doing that so that you can't record the shows onto DVD's. Not sure what their problem is since you can do that with the new Tivo's.

Does anyone have Directv? If so, do their receivers have the ability to control multiple TV's like the ones from Dish Network? I saw that over the next month or so, Directv is adding something like 75 new HD channels and it will far surpass what Dish offers. However, I think their receivers are not as good. The way my house is set up, I pretty much have to have a receiver that can control multiple TVs.

[Dustin00whoop]

I believe the answer is no, but I'm not sure. I think they prevent you from doing that so that you can't record the shows onto DVD's. Not sure what their problem is since you can do that with the new Tivo's.

Does anyone have Directv? If so, do their receivers have the ability to control multiple TV's like the ones from Dish Network? I saw that over the next month or so, Directv is adding something like 75 new HD channels and it will far surpass what Dish offers. However, I think their receivers are not as good. The way my house is set up, I pretty much have to have a receiver that can control multiple TVs.

Why would that matter? I can take the programs from my DVR & record them onto DVD through my DVD recorder.

[aggie1997]

I believe the answer is no, but I'm not sure. I think they prevent you from doing that so that you can't record the shows onto DVD's. Not sure what their problem is since you can do that with the new Tivo's.

Does anyone have Directv? If so, do their receivers have the ability to control multiple TV's like the ones from Dish Network? I saw that over the next month or so, Directv is adding something like 75 new HD channels and it will far surpass what Dish offers. However, I think their receivers are not as good. The way my house is set up, I pretty much have to have a receiver that can control multiple TVs.

How do they prevent it? Is there something in the formatting of the drive that could prohibit me from doing this?

[Pflugerville Ag]

Why would that matter? I can take the programs from my DVR & record them onto DVD through my DVD recorder.

Because that is what they told me when I called a few months ago and asked about hooking up my laptop to my DVR to get programs off of it.

[aggie1997]

Why would that matter? I can take the programs from my DVR & record them onto DVD through my DVD recorder.

Because that is what they told me when I called a few months ago and asked about hooking up my laptop to my DVR to get programs off of it.

If Dustin can record to a DVD recorder, then shouldn't you also be able to record to a computer? Would they essentially work the same way or am I missing something.

I am just asking, because I also called, but did not feel the person I talked to really knew what they were talking about. I do know that I can buy a system that will connect to my satellite receiver and computer, giving me the option to record to my hard drive. Just thought the external would be a much cheaper option if possible.

[Pflugerville Ag]

If Dustin can record to a DVD recorder, then shouldn't you also be able to record to a computer? Would they essentially work the same way or am I missing something.

I am just asking, because I also called, but did not feel the person I talked to really knew what they were talking about. I do know that I can buy a system that will connect to my satellite receiver and computer, giving me the option to record to my hard drive. Just thought the external would be a much cheaper option if possible.

All good questions that I have no idea how to answer!!

[Dustin00whoop]

I know nothing about any of this stuff. I'm just simply stating that I have no clue why they would prevent you from hooking it up to a computer with the sole purpose being to keep you from recording it, when I can just simply wire my DVD recorder through the DVR & put every Aggie game I want on DVD.

[whitelightnin_23]

I'm pretty sure there is a way (with TiVo I know) to hook it up through a wireless connection.

A co-worker of mine has his internet & dvr set up on a wireless network...he sits on his couch w/ his laptop...downloads his DVR & watches them in the airport...

I wish I was that cool...:sad: ;)

[Dustin00whoop]

Why don't you just get a slingbox?

[aggie1997]

Can you save programs to your computer using slingbox?

[Dustin00whoop]

no, but you can watch programs on your laptop that you have on your DVR.