Hack my DVR...Please!

December 6, 2006 4:50 PM

Can I hack my Comcast DVR for more storage and connection to my network?

I have 'The Wire' and 'Dexter', as well as 'The Daily Show' competing for ever-scarcer space on my Comcast DVR. The unit has a USB and RJ-45 port on it, which make me wonder whether I should just hook crap up to it and see what happens. Realizing that calling Comcast tech support is a dicey proposition (and having done a little homework on the internet), I ask you o great ones....Can I just slap more storage on my DVR by adding a USB disk, or somehow get at my stored programs on my wifi network and stick them on my hard drive (no speculation, thanks)?

posted by nj_subgenius to technology (4 comments total)

What's the model? 8300HD?
posted by geoff. at 5:47 PM on December 6, 2006

A majority of Comcasts headends are Moto, so I'll assume you have a 6412.

To get the video off of a 64xx/34xx, this should help you out. No snark, but that's a grey area I'm unwilling and unable to step into.

Now to answer the rest...

The USB ports are inactive. The RJ-45 ports are inactive. The only active firewire port will only duplicate an active transport stream.

Yes, it's slow (realtime.)

No, it's probably not worth your time.

No, there isn't a practical way around this.

No, you can't pop a new HDD in and expect it to work.

If you ARE in one of the few SA areas, it really doesn't change much. You'll have to find a slightly different set of drivers and go through the exact same hassle.

The firewire ports are not meant to move data, they're meant to display transport streams. That's it, move along, nothing to see here.
posted by onedarkride at 6:34 PM on December 6, 2006

If there's no solution to this problem for you, might I suggest MythTV? I use this, and compared to the lame features and instability of my various friends' Comcast PVRs, it's awesome. It DOES take some effort to get set up; give it 2-3 evenings of your time and you'll be set (er, assuming you have some Linux experience). Once it's working, it requires very, very little care and feeding. If you go down that road, this guide is the de-facto standard for painless installs, and the mailing list probably already has the solution to any problem you'll encounter.

Great community, great open source project.
posted by autojack at 10:39 PM on December 6, 2006

Thanks all.
posted by nj_subgenius at 9:18 AM on December 8, 2006