# Anyone have info on the 942s USB 2.0 Hard drive backup feature?



## shanewalker (May 4, 2005)

I was most impressed by this feature as it was discussed on this past Monday's "Tech Forum". The ability to have a 500GB usb 2.0 hard drive hooked up to the 942 upon which to offload/onload HD DVR recordings is fantastic imho. Really goes a long way to circumvent the elimination of firewire for archiving to D-VHS. I've only had my 942 for a couple of weeks and I'm already worrying about filling it up/erasing recordings to keep room.

So, anyone have further details...i.e. the approved HD list the guys talked about, or an estimated date when the feature will be activated via software update, etc.?


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

During the tech forum they indicated it was at least a couple months out. Sounds like a software release and a list of supported drives that you can then go buy and use.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

This is still a little while off. The beginnings of the new features are in beta right now.


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## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

It sounded like the data sent out this port would be encrypted, and keyed to only play back on that particular receiver. I don't think you'll be able to make tapes or DVDs with the USB port.

On the other hand, they did say that this would support larger disk drives, so you could keep more stuff on disk, anyway.


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## shanewalker (May 4, 2005)

No, I understand the data is encrypted and tied to the reciever. Makes sense to me--keeps the MPAA happy, too. Makes sense to keep it AS data and leave tape/DVD out of the picture, too (less crud I have to store somewhere). Archiving to HD makes sense all around, we do it at my work with big graphics/edit jobs...that's why I'm excited about it.

BTW, Mark, where do I sign up...?


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## dparker (May 11, 2005)

I don't understand why they would make it only playback on the original receiver. This would be much more useful if I could play back recordings on any Dish receiver or the future Dishpod. I guess in the future when they have a Home Media Network it would be good to just attach extra storage as you need it and every TV will have access to it.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

Sounds too good to be true to me. I'm thinking that if they figured they could force you to subscribe to locals to get guide data, and they require you to keep your 942 connected to a phone line to avoid a $5 outlet fee.....

I'm guessing they will detect you have a hard drive connected, and dial up on the phone to tell E* you have it, and then charge you $4/mo for it. They can't charge $5, otherwise people would just disconnect their phone lines.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

I'd consider a really BAD design if it were tied to the receiver. Do you want to lose all archived recordings if your 942's hard drive crashes and Dish sends a replacement? How about when you upgrade to an MPEG4 capable DVR? I can understand engineering copy protection to prevent distribution of content to friends or for distribution on the Internet, but it's crucial that I can view my archived content on any 942 or replacement DVR that I legitimately own.


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## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

A better design might be to have a location in the receiver's memory for a customer ID#, that the CSR can write to when a box is activated. 

Then the USB disk could be keyed to that ID#. That way, receivers could be replaced, but the key would still work with a newly activated box. 

Is E* doing anything like that? Got me.


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## Phil Smith (Nov 13, 2004)

Any new news on this?


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