Questions about new Multi-Room DVR

[BSummers]

I saw that they're starting to roll out the multi-room DVR/home media DVR. From the Verizon website, it looks like this will have a lot less functionality than originally hoped for.

It looks like the multi-room DVR is aimed at customers who only have one 6416 box, and no HD capability. Since each 6416 multi-room DVR works as an independent hub, is there any chance of two or more working together?

Since the multi-room features are supported only on the standard 2500 set top box, is there any way to down-convert HD programs recorded on the 6416 hub to display on the 2500, or are you out of luck if you record anything in HD?

Since the multi-room DVR + 1 standard box price is $24/month, for $2 more a month, you can effectively double the DVR capacity by getting two standard DVR boxes instead. If you have 3 or more TVs, perhaps the pricing seems better; but for 2 TV locations, is there any reason to bother with the multi-room DVR?

Is there any hope for a higher capacity DVR, or the capability to share HD programming between boxes in the future?

 

[jgantert]

Looks like no use to me...

"Does the Home Media DVR support HD programs streamed to the 2500?
No, HD programs can only be viewed on the DVR. "

... since I only have HD programs recorded on my paltry 160GB DVR, and no room for extra SD programs.

Oh well. All talk and no show, just like Blu-Ray.

-John

 

[Ken F]

Since the multi-room features are supported only on the standard 2500 set top box, is there any way to down-convert HD programs recorded on the 6416 hub to display on the 2500, or are you out of luck if you record anything in HD?

The 2500 doesn't have the video processing or memory necessary to downconvert a HD signal for display. There's nothing they can do in software to make the 2500 display HD signals, and there's nothing they can do in software to the 6416 to make it capable of streaming a modified version of the MPEG-2 feed. tThe DVR simply copies the MPEG-2 feed from cable to the hard disk, and then streams it to the 2500 boxes on demand.

MoCA does offer sufficient bandwidth to support high-def streaming to the HD boxes, so that is certainly doable. It's just not ready yet.