First off I hate this box, it has so few options! Is there a menu other than the one charter shows you?

Second, I have read so many threads on adding an external, but they are all old. Has this been achieved yet? Firewire, SATA, USB, anything? How about hooking it to my PC with 64 bit Vista?

Any tips, tricks or updates you know of I would appreciate!!

oh yeah, I have a DCH 6416

The Motorola boxes do not support any form of internal or external storage expansion.

With Charter, you basically have two options for standalone HD DVRs that can support all channels -- the TivoHD and Moxi. Both support 1TB external hard drives. More information can be found in my signature.

You could get a QAM tuner for your computer like the HDHomerun (http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun_atsc), but that would allow allow you to record local HD channels. There's no simple or affordable way to add tuning capability for cable HD channels (TNT, USA, SciFi, FX, ESPN, etc) to a computer.

Thanks for the advice, we are looking at moving again in a year. I read that the Tivo doesn't do Directv, if that is actually the case then it wouldn't be worth it since the only reason I don't have directv now is because of my location. I am in such a pickle!! Thank you for the reply!

Thanks for the advice, we are looking at moving again in a year. I read that the Tivo doesn't do Directv, if that is actually the case then it wouldn't be worth it since the only reason I don't have directv now is because of my location. I am in such a pickle!! Thank you for the reply!

Supposedly there's a new DirecTV TiVo box on the way late this year (or possibly early next) that will support the new MPEG-4 streams and all the recently-deployed satellites. However, it will *not* be the same as the current TiVo HD/HD XL units, which are only for OTA and digital cable. The only good thing would be that you'd have resale value on your side - you could buy a refreshed TiVo HD for about $200 and get a year of service for $129, and resell the unit later on if you end up going back to D*.

That is a good point, I never thought of that!

You'll find there's more resale value if you go with the Lifetime Subscription option.

Agreed, but I figured he'd be looking for less up front cost.