MCBMCB wrote:I've had my X1 box a couple of months and with HD it's recording capability constantly erodes to virtually zero.
On my 2x Directv boxes I've added to each one an external 4TB HDD to supplement their recording capabilty. I know its a lot of recording capacity but it keeps everyone happy :-)
I'm considering switching completely to Comcast and tried the same with the X1 as it has an esata port but the X1 doesn't recognize the HDD (I tried a 4Gb and 2Tb).
I can see from some old posts (+1 year) that this functionality was expected. I called Comcast but both tech and sales couldn't help.
Sales suggested I get the cloud based X1 but as far as I can see that just mirrors storage so I can watch when away, it doesn't actually give any more storage than the X1's miserly 500Gb. regardless it's not available in our area yet. You are correct, cloud doesn't give you more storage, it's only for accessing DVR content remotely. This also goes to show that the sales department doesn't know what they are selling.
I can see that I can network 3 X1's but that doesn't increase the tiny recording capacity for each box, just the networks total, which will not keep my family happy!
So the question is, is there a way of getting the X1 to recognize the external HDD, or barring that some other way of increasing the X1's recording capacity? Sure, there is a way, but only Comcast knows it, and won't tell anyone. I think our best hope is that they start specing new DVRs to have a larger hard drive, especially if they're concerned with competing with the other providers (which all have more storage capability).
Thanks for any and all help, Maurizio