TiVo writing to network drive

[ruttmeister]

I can't seem to find anyone talking about this, so I'm afraid it's just not possible. Here's (basically) what I want to do:

Set up a raid controlled array of HDDs on my wired network (eliminating the probs associated with wireless connections)

Install a small, high-RPM HDD (~8GB, 10K RPM) in each TiVo to store individual unit to store OS and DB info.

Instruct each TiVo unit to write and read all video files from the "one" network drive.

Basically, this is it. Each TiVo would act as an individual unit, except that it would read/write only the video from one network drive. I'm sure this isn't exactly an easy procedure, but I'm trying to find out if it's possible. You can see my hardware/software setup below, and it works great, but it would be even better if I had one big (2-3TB) storage unit. Anyways, if anyone has any ideas or can reference any current discussions, I would be much obliged!

[BTUx9]

While getting a tivo to write content to a network drive may be POSSIBLE, I doubt it'd be worth it... AFAIK:
1) each tivo would need a fixed space allocated for storage (no sharing)
2) You'd be able to pull shows off locally, but I doubt it'd speed up the loading of shows onto the tivo much at all
3) On your DT, if you were recording 2 shows and tried to watch a 3rd, your tivo would probably perform miserably (might not be able to handle recording 2 at all, and a good chance it'd cause a reboot)

The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages, IMHO (and the 10K rpm disk on the tivo is a pure waste in addition to throwing out extra heat)

Archiving to a central server and pulling off as needed (whether compressed or kept as .tmf) via tivoserver, pytivo, or other is a much better idea, IMHO.

Someone's even working on getting tivoserver running on a buffalo linkstation, so it doesn't require much if you're serving up .tmfs

[ruttmeister]

Well, from what you've said here, it certainly wouldn't be worth it. if the different TiVos couldn't share the same drive space, then there is no point, as that was really the main objective. Thanks very much for your input!!

[mattack]

3) On your DT, if you were recording 2 shows and tried to watch a 3rd, your tivo would probably perform miserably (might not be able to handle recording 2 at all, and a good chance it'd cause a reboot)

I'm almost positive I've done what you suggest.

I *think* I've even been recording two shows, doing network transfers BOTH ways, and watching a show on one of the Tivos. (The weird way I have things hooked up to my two inputs on my TV, only one of the Tivos is 'always' there... so I end up transferring stuff back and forth fairly often. It's virtually all at basic quality though... I got the S3 + TivoHD because of the lifetime transfer deals.)

I would LOVE to be able to do what the originator requested.. I'd pay $$$ (one time fee) for that too.

Having a huuuuge server and relatively small local drives + cooperative scheduling is the ultimate PVR, IMHO.

[BTUx9]

You took my quote out of context... I was saying that doing that (recording 2 and watching a 3rd) using non-local storage (a network share) would probably not be possible (in reference to the OP's query)