Firewire's future on DVRs is up for debate
By Richard Lawler 
posted December 11th 2009 6:22AM
posted December 11th 2009 6:22AM
Mandated by the FCC, Firewire ports have been commonplace, and sadly mostly unused, on our HD DVRs for some time, but recent requests by Intel and TiVo to forego their inclusion have brought the situation to a head. Multichannel News reports the 1394 Trade Association is calling Intel's waiver request "too broad" and cited its wide deployment as reasons it should still be included. Beyond some driver hacks to enable transfers of DVR'd programming, it seems like Ethernet and USB are getting the lion's share of use on boxes, while emerging DLNA and MoCa tech makes moving content around even easier, is anyone actually getting a benefit from the extra port on their boxes as we go into 2010?
The 1394 Trade Association doesn't want firewire excluded. I'm totally surprised.
If I'm doing anything nerdy with a DVR, It's with a Media Center.
I have never used Firewire on my Audio/Video equipment.
Firewire is a bag of hurt! ;-) But seriously, I've never even used the Firewire ports on my Mac, much less any AV equipment.
@TraderMike yep...the only time I've ever used Firewire was on my first iPod.
I can't believe there's not any love for FW. Honestly I'd much rather use FW than USB (at least in the 2.0 spec). But I've got a couple of device with non-functioning FW ports so if they're not going to utilize them then there's really no reason to have them.
I used to use firewire on my Comcast DVR, but now I use Windows Media Center.
@(Unverified)
Ditto.
I use it to change channels and record content with my MythTV setup.
Works great....Can even record HBO, Startz, Etc if I pay for it.
I have a SageTV server and use firewire to record off of one my cable boxes. I get about 80% of my HD channels off firewire that way. I use firewire with my second cable box to change channels so I can record the rest of my HD channels using an HD-PVR.
No, because the box makers make it nearly impossible to actually use the Firewire ports for anything useful. Shoot, the one thing I HATE about my TiVO HD, which I love otherwise, is the fact that the freaking Ethernet is like mid-90s slow when there is no reason on the planet they didn't built in Gigabit Ethernet, other than being freaking cheap. And wanting you to not move your content around much.
I'm probably as much of a Firewire fanboy as possible, I mean heck, I still have my 1st generation Firewire and Mac only iPod, but in terms of DVR usage, I can see Firewire going. I don't have a settop box myself, but Leicaman confirmed what I figured, that the provider and/or makers block that port from being useful. It seems like now a days, users need to rely on things like TivoToGo or dedicated Media Centers to be able to transfer their content around. I chose the later and use a combination of EyeTV, Quicktime and FrontRow for my media recording and watching habits.
-Brian
i use the firewire on my comcast box all the time. works great with my computer and the drivers i use
My TiVo HD does not have a Firewire port.
I've used the firewire port on my Comcast DVR once, to record a live HD broadcast of something, I can't remember what it was.
However I no longer have cable, I rock OTA and an old Dell P4 tower as my FreeNAS server, with a PS3 in the living room and an old xbmc xbox in my downstairs. I'm happier than I ever was with Comcast as my entertainment provider- and shit actually gets fixed when it breaks.
I have a couple of systems that have firewire ports, but have never used them in favor of USB, which is more widely supported.
Instead of firewire today, would much rather see devices start supporting USB 3.0