Well that might explain things. I purchased a Toshiba FTV edition recently to replace my first gen FTV. Pausing worked fine on the first gen.
I wonder if I can use a USB thumb drive for my buffer.
I have to say that I am disappointed to hear that a change - which would "allow for a TON of different, new, and awesome features" isn't really being seriously considered. Your product is great, but make no mistake, someone will come along and build a better mouse trap sooner or later. Please keep innovating!
Just because I said there were no plans for that, doesn't mean we don't have plans for many other things 
Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind... Happy, as always, to beta new features.
Beware the “Why don’t you just ____?” mentality. In software development, almost nothing is as easy to implement as it might seem on the surface. 
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Since moving to Channels from HDHR-DVR, the minimal buffer on my Shield is probably the one thing I feel is a step back. This is because the buffer is not very long. It's only about 15 minutes when I used to have at least 60 minutes. If I pause and leave the room, sometimes it's for longer than I intend and I often hear the program resume playing on it's own once it runs out of buffer.
However, when you say limited to "amount of free space on client", do you mean we're limited to the amount of RAM that the Shield has (3GB) or we're limited to the amount of internal strorage on the Shield. It looks like the Shield has 11gb of usable user storage to start with. RIght now I have 4.1gb available.
If it's the latter, can we point the buffer to utilize additional USB storage or are we only able to use the internal storage?
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Can the Devs comment on this please?
I'd also like to see the buffer for live TV to be on the server for Tuning Sharing clients.
Part of the appeal of Tuner Sharing is having a single point of distribution to the clients: all clients must talk to the server to get their streams. Since the streams are all coming from the server, it would make sense for the server to maintain the live TV buffer, too. This would allow the server to set the size of the buffer, which might mean that the server can hold a larger buffer than the client.
For remote clients, this isn't as much as a problem as the file sizes are smaller. But for local clients, this means that my live TV buffer is only around 30 minutes, rather than the 90-120 minutes I would prefer.
@RockandRoller70 As has been notated in earlier comments, live stream is buffered to the local disk. Although, it is possible to store what you are watching on your DVR drive if you swipe down and hit the record button.
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That is the reason why I seldom use Channels DVR for LiveTV local buffer is just too small. HdHomerun uses the Server for livetv it only uses local buffer if you do not subscribe to the DVR.
SiliconDust's DVR also uses the client's buffer for DRM content from the Prime, since the DVR cannot record DRM content.
This is the reason I am requesting that the server store the buffer when Tuning Sharing is enabled, since it is already storing its own buffer to have available to send to clients. It doesn't make sense for the client to maintain a buffer when the server is also maintaining a buffer of the same stream.
As I always say, to each their own! I personally can't stand the silicondust software.... Way too laggy for me. I figure if my 30 minute or so buffer isn't good enough, how into the show can I be? I can always hit record and buffer that way.
The tuner sharing buffer is held in RAM, and only contains about 15 seconds of video data. I can add that 15s to the recording, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you're looking for.
I use SageTV for live TV If I have to step away or want to keep a show I just hit record and it records it from the point I started watching to the end of the show. If the Show is 3 hours the buffer is 3 hours... Comes in handy when watching something and want to save it to show a family member.
What happens if you started watching before the current show started? Does it only keep the stuff from the current show?
It keeps the previous show for a few minutes ... so you have a chance to mark it as keep if you want to. It splits the buffer by Show with the correct name and metadata.
MythTV and DirecTV only include the current show, even if the buffer has older video.
Ah. Perhaps allowing an extra setting to allow a buffer to be created based upon size or duration would be nice.
Of course, architectural changes like this have larger ramifications, too. (Such as using a server-based buffer to back a smaller resolution stream for PIP, or a small-resolution window to play the current channel while browsing a full-screen guide, etc.j