I agree. If they phone call campaign one would assume they are supporting the service. Common sense says its a business opportunity for them to charge to install the drives for the technically challenged
I emailed and text exchanged (2 different ones) and called and posted Cox tech support. they dont know what their left hand is doing. None of them were aware, most said it cant be done and some gave disinformation pointing me to a different service area in Phoenix using the Scientific Atlanta 8300. One maintained that you have to exchange the Motororla 6410 for the 8300 which is impossible in the OC market. Their goal is to get rid of you and claim another successful tech support problem solved.
I eventually I called the Mission Viejo Cox store and while they were also unaware of a phone call campaign, at least they took the initiate to look into it and said they found a internal email that said:
..........there was a COX software upgrade in OC to be pushed out by April 16 that would allow the Motorola 6410 to have an external hard drive attached to the the ESATA port on the rear of the DVR.............................
Cox person confirmed with me that it was ESTATA (NOT SATA, different connector) and that it was for the Motorola DCT6410III. She said there is no web information posted nor a list of compatible hard drives listed in the internal email. Even a google search for the Motorola DVR found nothing on the web for this. (there is info on the SA 8300 back to 2007 that Cox provided to add a hard drive in the Phoenix market)
I bought a "'WD My Book AV DVR Expander 1 TB USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive" to try. It comes with an ESATA Cable. Ill post back next week the results.
Cox strategy I think is to get you to get you to upgrade to the Advanced TV DVR which gives you more HD recording hours and you pay more for it (the 6410III has a pathetic 20hrs of HD). We did that once just to get the additional recording hours but found the user interface and service so difficult to use we returned it and got back the 6410III and been living with the measly 20 hours record time for years now.
Here is response from email tech support.....Sounds like an automated response.......better if they said nothing....shheezz:
Thank you for your e-mail. I understand that you received a voice
message about adding an external Hard Drive to your DVR. I am glad to
assist you.
Unfortunately, we are not allowed to support this difficulty with your
personal device because we do not have the license agreement to support
it. I suggest you contact the manufacturer for a further assistance
regarding this difficulty.
I will provide you a link where you can find more information how to
hook another devices to the Cox cable receiver:
http://www.cox.com/hr/support/dc/diagrams/default.asp
I hope the information above was useful in resolving your difficulty. If
you would like to inquire about other information, do not hesitate to
contact us for further assistance.
Have you tried our customer support site? Visit
http://ww2.cox.com/residential/support.cox
To find answers to many of your Cox High Speed Internet questions FAST,
including "click to fix" automated solutions and LIVE online chat
support 24/7!
Thank you for choosing Cox as your friend in the digital age.
Sincerely,
STP - Gilberto N.