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Hooking up a usb flash drive to cable box.

140 18 December 24, 2008 at 08:45 PM
I have the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4250HD cable box from cablevision. It has a usb slot on the back. I asked someone who works for the cable company if you can attach a usb flash drive to it and he said that he has heard that its done but doen't know how. Any ideas?
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molongo
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DrewBard
12-25-2008 at 01:07 AM.
12-25-2008 at 01:07 AM.
Most don't support that features. Plus the cable company can enabled and disable ports on it as well. Not sure what you would do with a flash drive hooked up to it anyways. You may be able to hook up a keyboard, and get some functionality of a remote.
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Rebound
12-25-2008 at 03:30 AM.
12-25-2008 at 03:30 AM.
According to the manufacturer [scientificatlanta.com], the purpose of the USB port is to allow connection with devices "such as" USB keyboards, so that you can browse the Internet, send e-mail, and use chat services, where available. (which is probably nowhere).

In other words, the USB port doesn't do jack. It's there just in case, some day, some of Cisco's customers want to create an Internet-over-TV service which requires a keyboard.
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pjfan281
12-25-2008 at 09:52 AM.
12-25-2008 at 09:52 AM.
it's likely also used to flash firmware or something on the box.
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molongo
12-25-2008 at 10:06 AM.
12-25-2008 at 10:06 AM.
Quote from TheSawg :
Most don't support that features. Plus the cable company can enabled and disable ports on it as well. Not sure what you would do with a flash drive hooked up to it anyways. You may be able to hook up a keyboard, and get some functionality of a remote.
What movies that are saved on the flash drive

Remember I said that a person that works for the cable company said he has heard that it can be done.
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Last edited by molongo December 25, 2008 at 10:06 AM.
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Original Poster
molongo
12-25-2008 at 10:09 AM.
12-25-2008 at 10:09 AM.
Quote from Rebound :
According to the manufacturer [scientificatlanta.com], the purpose of the USB port is to allow connection with devices "such as" USB keyboards, so that you can browse the Internet, send e-mail, and use chat services, where available. (which is probably nowhere).

In other words, the USB port doesn't do jack. It's there just in case, some day, some of Cisco's customers want to create an Internet-over-TV service which requires a keyboard.
Thats what they tell us but maybe you can attach an external hard drive and watch movies through your cable box, im sure it can be done.
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DrewBard
12-25-2008 at 12:14 PM.
12-25-2008 at 12:14 PM.
Rumors for someone who may work for the company, doesn't make it true. Plus, you need more then storage to play movies, you need decoders and the such, which cost a lot of money. It would be odd for SA/Cisco to add and pay for that functionality and not make it available or described anywhere.

So, no. It cannot be done with your cable box.
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JinChi
12-29-2008 at 12:59 PM.
12-29-2008 at 12:59 PM.
If you are able to record onto a built in DVR, I heard from some people that you can hook the box up to ur pc (the box/DVR is now a storage device) and with that record tv shows to ur pc for burning to DVD.

Maybe Google can help you. Does ur box have a DVR in it? Good luck
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