Where is USB External Storage for the 942/ViP622?

[ChetK]

Ain't nuthin' supported at this time. I bet we won't even see this by the end of the summer.

 

[shanewalker]

For those waiting patiently for the USB external archiving, I offer this suggestion (again)...

If you have the $500 and the inclination--Go get the NextCom R5000-HD mod for your 211/622, buy a big fat HDD and get to archiving to a PC pronto! I repurposed the 1TB Maxtor that I bought for the neverending "soon-to-be-released" official Dish solution at the beginning of the year. I only wish I'd done this sooner. It's fantastic.

I only wish I'd not been so tentative...there's a LOT of content I missed out on keeping hold of.

And trust me, 1TB isn't even enough. But, as you all point out...hard drives have consistently gotten bigger/faster/cheaper. It's those exponential improvement trends that make me love technology.

I'll be all over Dish's solution when it ever sees the light of day. Until then, I have a robust alternate solution that actually gives me more flexibility (D-VHS archiving, HTPC playback capability...I can even stream recordings to my XBOX 360). Hope Dish doesn't fully drop the ball on this feature, however, as MPEG-4 complicates things tremendosly.

 

[Smith P.]

Unfortunately, the R5000 will not lasts long - soon all HD channels will be compressed by H.264 [MPEG-4] and all your money ( did it cost you $500 ? ) will be drained to sewage.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Unfortunately, the R5000 will not lasts long - soon all HD channels will be compressed by H.264 [MPEG-4] and all your money ( did it cost you $500 ? ) will be drained to sewage.

AND you have to own your 622 to mod it.

 

[Smith P.]

If you have BGA rework experience, then unmod the R5000 is not the issue .

 

[Airblair]

Unfortunately, the R5000 will not lasts long - soon all HD channels will be compressed by H.264 [MPEG-4] and all your money ( did it cost you $500 ? ) will be drained to sewage.

Is this correct?

Nextcomm's website says they support MPEG4.

 

[Smith P.]

Have you read that page ? They claimed in Feb 2006 (!) it was "MPEG-4 (AVC/H.264) Ready'. Have you seen recent reports ?

 

[shanewalker]

It records MPEG-4 just fine.

It's just that playback on any but the latest fastest PCs is a b****. The PC world is firmly entrenched in VC-1/WM-9, and the software players to handle AVC/H.264 seem to be slow coming. I use Elecard, but it's definitely got issues. By the time I get set up w/ a dedicated HTPC, hopefully some of this will be resolved by faster/cheaper hardware, improved acceleration and graphics card drivers, and better software player support...but none of this has anything to do w/ the R5000. It's the 'state of things' w/ MPEG-4.

The only other real functional downside, you can't archive the MPEG-4 content to D-VHS, which I'm doing w/ some of my MPEG-2-based recordings.

And, yes, you have to own the 622 to have it modded. I own one and lease one. You can also buy a pre-modded 211 direct from them.

Believe me, I don't throw my money away unless I percieve real value--long and short, I'm building a library of HD content. Now. And I'll be able to enjoy those recordings on into the foreseeable future. I feel its money well spent--or I wouldn't suggest it to you fine folks.

 

[Smith P.]

Well, the statement "you can't archive the MPEG-4 content to D-VHS" reveal enough to make your plans with open eyes, Airblair.

 

[John Kotches]

At CES they said you could use any External USB hard drive. I assume you can also use a External USB Enclosure for a internal drive. Check out the CES stuff, there is a video demo.

What do you think an External USB drive is?

It's a Parallel or Serial ATA drive with a USB to (interface) bridge. Some cases are prettier than others though.

Cheers,

 

[John Kotches]

Unfortunately, the R5000 will not lasts long - soon all HD channels will be compressed by H.264 [MPEG-4] and all your money ( did it cost you $500 ? ) will be drained to sewage.

Why, my HTPC does just fine playing back MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 transport streams.

Cheers,

 

[Smith P.]

Please reveal your HW and SW config.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

What do you think an External USB drive is?

It's a Parallel or Serial ATA drive with a USB to (interface) bridge. Some cases are prettier than others though.

Cheers,

Of course. I was just responding to a question.

 

[John Kotches]

Please reveal your HW and SW config.

Core 2 Duo 6600, which is roughly middle of the road these days for Intel CPUs.
MSI Diamond Plus 7600GT with HDMI output.
2GB RAM.

Software:
Media Player Classic
PowerDVD

Nothing terribly exotic to be honest with you.

The key is to get the card to utilize Hardware acceleration at which point I never exceed ~50% Utilization.

 

[Smith P.]

We should make new thread for the discussion, but one more question - did you purchase additional nVidia H.264 SW what utilize HW acceleration ?

 

[dfergie]

Purevideo?...

 

[John Kotches]

The drivers and the software components support HW Acceleration of H.264. I'm using NVidia drivers 93.71 at the moment.

 

[dfergie]

I think thats what Im running on my 6600 GT... I went for latest software last week...

 

[John Kotches]

The 6600GT doesn't support hardware acceleration of MPEG-4/H.264 or VC-1.

Cheers,

 

[dfergie]

Haven't done any Mpeg4...