It's getting (a little) easier to add storage to your PVR

It seems like adding an eSATA port to personal video recorders is the thing to do. Enabling that port so that you can actually slap an external hard drive onto your PVR is another story.

TiVo recently issued an update that enables the eSATA port on TiVo HD boxes. But you can't just plug in an external hard drive and expect it to work. Rather, you'll need to install TiVo software on that drive before your TiVo will recognize it. Dave Zatz speculates that this means TiVo will begin selling hard drives under its own brand name soon. Makes sense to us.

At the same time, it seems that a growing number of Scientific Atlanta set top boxes have working eSATA ports. If you got your PVR from your regional cable company, odds are you have either a Motorola or Scientific Atlanta box. WeaKnees has a list of SA boxes that may work with external eSATA hard drives.