HD DVR won't hold many programs

[diamond@vnet.net]

I can't believe that I'm the only person with this problem:

For the past three years my DVR and HDDVR will only hold a minimal amount of programs. Right now if I have more than three hours of​

recorded programs then the DVR starts telling me I have 2-3 days left
till it erases them. If I have six or more hours of recorded time on my
DVR then it tells me that I have less than a day left of recorded space.

I have had two different technicians out to tell me that either it's a
DVR problem or there is nothing they can do. This has happened on all my DVRs (5-6). I told the technician last time that I think it might be a cable problem but my husband's DVR upstairs is holding 30 hours worth of recorded programs and isn't threatening to delete any of them. When I talk to the TWC people on the phone all they do is send out a technician who simply replaced my DVR and then the problem starts again.

I tried telling the technician that since my DVR (we have three total in the house) is the only one affected maybe it's the connection coming into my part of the house (the initial cable to the room wasn't long enough so they added extra length). That doesn't make sense, I know, but it's the only thing I can think of.

I contacted TWC via email and they answered my questions twice but after the second time they no longer answered any more of my emails, i'm sure because they couldn't explain it. We had a technician coming out because all of our DVRs have had blips in the reception frequently but he never showed, probably because he thought he was going to have to look at my DVR complaints again.

Last night my HD DVR showed that i had from 2 days to over one week left on the seven recorded programs, depending on when the programs were recorded. During the night two more programs were added to be recorded tonight and i have about maybe five total to be recorded for the weekend and one of my earliest recorded programs is set to be removed by the DVR in less than a day. Sure, I can make all of my recordings to be only erased by me but then the DVR won't record anything more.

Am I the only one experiencing this problem?

Thanks, Diane

 

[GeorgeL]

Diane,

No, you are not alone. I have 3 TWC DVRs and only the 8300HD has the issue you are describing. I got tired of the lack of answers from TW and added a Western Digital DVR Expander external hard drive. Problem solved.

George

 

[diamond@vnet.net]

Western Digital DVR Expander external hard drive

How do you go about adding a Western Digital DVR Expander external hard drive? This is the first that I've heard of that possibility. I'm surprised that it would be possible to add outside equipment to TWC's but if it can be done it'd be great!

Thanks,

Diane

 

[GeorgeL]

Diane,

First go to the diagnostic page of your DVR, it should be channel 999 and scroll down to the SATA page. If SATA is authorized you are good to go. I got my drive from Best Buy, it is called the My DVR Expander. You have a port on the back of your 8300 labeled SATA (or eSATA) plug the drive power supply into the wall and into the drive. Connect the SATA cable from the drive to the 8300. you should get a message on-screen saying "The external drive is not formatted, do you wish to format now?" Say yes. In about 30 seconds to a minute you will be up and running with expanded record capability.

note: These are my directions, NOT the direction that came with the drive. Those directions did not work for me. You may wish to follow the included directions first, then when those don't work follow mine.

Hope this helps,

George

 

[stevenl]

Well the DVR only holds about 50hours of standard and even less of HD programming. The "Time left" is based on what you have + future recordings so you will always have free space for new stuff. Anything you really want feel free to choose "Save till manually erased" and it will keep it till you want to get rid of it.