T&L Publications

Hi all.

Can that port be connected to a compfuser that is showing television stream from the internet and display it also on the TV ? How ? (not on VGA connection)
I can connect the TV USB to a PC USB with the cable, then what ? How do you select on the PC to output the 'video+audio' signal for the TV to understand it ?

And, reverse; will a program being watched on the TV 'from over the air' be sent to a PC to be recorded via USB into its hard drive ? How ?

Or, plugging a hard drive to the TV USB port and recording whatever is on screen; no PC involved ?

As far as I know you can use such USB port to connect a thumb drive and display pictures as in a slide show, but that does not tickle me that much... tell me neat maneuvres that can be performed !
Does it depend on the TV features/brand/model, not just 'having the USB port' ?

Miguel

It depends on the TV. In some instances the USB port is for programming and diagnostics from a computer. In others you can attach devices such as a keyboard (if it is a "smart" TV for browsing). In other instances you can plug in a flash drive with media on it to play pictures, music, videos, etc.

It MIGHT be possible to connect a computer to it to share files. If this is the "flat" type of USB found on the computer then I would say no, you can't connect a computer to it to share files. Typically the flat or Type A is the host device (computer) and devices such as a keyboard, flash drive, etc. are meant to be plugged into it. A "D" shaped USB connector is a Type B and is the client such as a printer, external DVD/CD drive, hub, etc.

in most cases this can only be used to show JPG images in a slide show. I think on those they just grabbed a chip and IP from a digital picture frame. More recently I purchased one that has time shifting (DVR like) capabilities but the file left on the stick is only useable by the TV and all it can effectively do is pause and catch up. How well that works depends on the speed of the USB stick.

I have a Motorola PVR that also has a host type USB connector on the front. I have no idea what it is for either. There is no mention of it in the instruction book. (I was thinking of jamming a thumb drive in there and see if I get more recording space, but I don't want to damage anything.) Maybe it's for setup with a equipment at the factory?

On the Motorola PVR DCT6400 Phase III.
http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/Vid ... 0Guide.pdf
The USB Port seems to be a universal port.
Being that you can connect most any USB device.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

Janitor Tzap wrote:On the Motorola PVR DCT6400 Phase III.
http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/Vid ... 0Guide.pdf
The USB Port seems to be a universal port. Being that you can connect most any USB device.

Thank you for the link Mr. Tzap!

My Motorola PVR is a model DCX3400M. A search at that link found a user's manual that is more detailed than the one from the cable co.
I hope that they have a software upgrade to fix all the idiosyncracies of this box that I have encountered. The list of annoying faults is long....

That Set Top Box (STB) is very popular with many cable companies. While it has a wealth of seemingly useful features, most are disabled by your providor. Each cable company loads that box with their own propriatary (and encrypted) firmware. I have never seen a box where the card reader or the USB is active for any purpose. I suppose Motorola anticipated a wider range of use when it designed a universal STB for the cable general market. Possibly european sattelite companies who have in the past used smart cards to activate channels might have used the card reader but I don't know if that box was exported to those markets.

It sure would be nice to have an external SATA drive to expand the DVR capacity but thats a no go, It would be nice if either USB port worked to save programs externally but no go. It would even be nice if the Ethernet port could substitute for the Cable modem they make me rent seperately (because you can't get the cable modems with telephone modems too except from them). It might even be nice to have the AV inputs on the front to place my own video (say from an internal security CCTV system) so I could watch it on my own TV but no go as well. I have to think that all those features make the content providers uncomfortable since they make it hard as they can to record broadcast into anything but a VCR or DVD recorder. They want to make it very hard for us to perminantly archive any part of the content for personal use or possible dissemination on the internet.

At best, the USB or one of the other ports can be used to upload new firmware but only by the cable company in their own protected enviornment. I dealt with a cable company customer once and they were super concerned with not letting that firmware get out of the company. They practically wanted a device programmer in a safe where the operator could not even access it.

Its a decent box though. Another Motorola model they gave me loaded the program guide much slower and also changed channels a lot slower (HD lock in was >2 seconds, intolerable when channel surfing). That box also overheated and shut down easily. I took it back and got one of these. My Cat loves it most of all as evidenced by him wanting to sleep on it most of the time. I do wish they had an energy star rated replacement DVR, it runs pretty warm even when supposedly turned off

Thanks for the wealth of information Hackesup.

haklesup wrote:It sure would be nice to have an external SATA drive to expand the DVR capacity but thats a no go,....

I recall that my DCX3400M does have an external SATA drive connector, and I was thinking of getting an external drive because my kids just gave me a 46" HD TV for Xmas, replacing my 18 year old Sony CRT. HD recordings take up a LOT more room (~3.5X-4.5X I think) than SD and I'd run out of drive space quickly.

These PVR's are the thing to have! My wife and I never watch commercials anymore, just prerecord everything for a short time delay and FF through every ad. It's a great timesaver. Most every broadcast movie has 30 seconds of commercial time for every minute of program.

I wonder how long it will take them to block that capability.

for cable providers, it would bad mojo to enable any comercial skipping technology that actually worked in equipment they supply. Kind of like biting the hand that feeds you. However third party DVR makers (like Tivo) may have workable features. A 30 sec skip ahead would probably be adequate but cable company boxes sure don't (not sure about satelite). In any case, you can usually rent a cable card to plug into those 3rd party DVRs to get that functionality but there are limitations. A cable card is usually a single channel tuner so if you want dual record you either need a second card or record OTA. Also premium functions like on demand may or may not work

You could always call and ask about higher capacity DVR or if that one can indeed be upgraded with an external SATA drive. I would think it neds to be formatted and partitioned similar to the procedure for upgrading the original Tivo series 1.

haklesup wrote:A 30 sec skip ahead would probably be adequate but cable company boxes sure don't...

As I said, The cable co's DVR (Motorola DCX3400M) DOES enable me to skip through commercials of programs that I have given a few minutes "head start" by recording them, and playing them back while they are not finished recording yet. By the time the program is over, I have "caught up" with the recording finish time by skipping through all the ads.

The net effect is that, for a 60 minute news program, I have saved myself 15 minutes (for wasting in some other activity of my own choosing.)