Connecting an external drive to a DVR

I have it with NTFS.  Before I reformat it to FAT32, please answer this; a) I was under the impression that FAT32 limited the amount of GB per file so, will FAT32 allow enough room to record a two hour movie.?  My intent is that once I have a movie recorded on the eSATA external drive, I want the ability to watch the movie on my computer by connecting the external drive to the computer.  Will I be able to do that? Thanks

I think the recording time depends on the disk capacity, not file transfer limit of 4G of FAT32. In this question, I would like to see if the eSata disk will be recognized first, to make sure there is no error of hardware or else.

Download and use the tool in the link below so you can format the large capacity disk in FAT32:
http://www.compuapps.com/download/Swissknife/swissknife.htm

Okay guys.  Problem one.  I downloaded the software that Punky suggested and reformatted my drive but instead of reformatting the entire drive to a FAT32, it split it up into two partitions.  The first one is 429 GB of FAT32 and the second one has 502 GB of unallocated space.  I have tried to make the entire drive FAT32 but the software I downloaded won't let me.  Callandor, do you agree that it has to be formatted to FAT32? - When I connected it to the box the screen went blank.

From my research of how these machines work, they are not quite PCs, though they have an OS and hard drive.  I think the external hard drive has to be supported by the software on the box, which needs to be updated to allow eSATA drives to be connected.  Once detected, I think the 8300 will format the drive in its own format - these recordings were not designed to be used on computers, so I would not be surprised if they have little in common with the file structure.  In addition, they explicitly say you can't play the recordings on a PC, so what are you going to do with them?  The external hard drive only acts as incremental storage, not a way to transfer recordings.

If the recordings you want to make are not of encrypted shows, there are ways to build a box that will let you do what you want.  I built a video server that acts as an HD Tivo and records over-the-air HD programs which I can then play on any machine on my network or archive it.

Callandor: Thanks for your reply.  You seem to have an extensive knowledge in this area (certainly more than anyone at Comcast that I have talked to).  What you did is exactly what I want to do that is ; have the ability to record content and view it later and/or archive it.  Is it very difficult to build a Server like the one you built?

It isn't very difficult - you basically need a PC running WinXP that has an internet connection, an HD tuner card that will handle the cable broadcasts you are watching, lots of hard disk space, and software like BeyondTV to manage the scheduling.  The files saved can be copied anywhere and watched using free software or BeyondTV.

Callandor:
This is exactly what I am looking for.  Before I proceed,  let me ask you one last thing.  My laptop model HP Pavilion zd8000 came with XP/Media Center and a "HP Dual TV Tuner/Digital Video Recorder" (separate component) which I have never used.  Would this do the same thing as Beyond TV?  In other words is the HP tuner only available for viewing or can you record what you see on the recorder?  I am really

Yes, you have all the equipment and software you need to implement your own DVR.  That particular device has two tuners, so you will be able to record two channels simultaneously.  Media Center should let you schedule recordings like BeyondTV, though I myself have not used Media Center.  The only downside is that laptops tend to get hot after being on for a while, so make sure you have plenty of ventilation and that the vents are kept dust-free.  Otherwise, you could build a dedicated server and network it.

Callandor:
I went ahead and hooked everything up using the HP Dual Tuner and it quickly brought up all of the TV channels and allowed me to select which ones I wanted listed in the guide and it even let me set up a recording for 1 pm today but when I went to view TV I got a message that said: Decoder Error; The video decoder has either malfunction or is not installed.  I remember now that when I initially got this computer I connected everything and was able to see the TV on my computer screen but I disassembled it because at the time I didn't think I needed that set up so I know that at one time it was working just fine.  Another message I am getting when I initially open Media Center says;Media Center was unabled to start Windows Messanger. Make sure it's installed. What do you recommend I do to fix the problem?

You may need to reinstall Media Center, if that is an option; the decoder error is saying that you don't have the right software for it (if your hardware is working as when you first got it).  Basically, the tuner is compressing the video in hardware and since it doesn't have a hardware decoder, you need to decode it in software when viewing TV.  If you don't have an option to reinstall it, you may need to get a codec like FFDShow.

The second problem you should be able to fix by installing Windows Messenger, which is available on Microsoft's site.  I'm not sure why you need it to make it work.