How to get video off of DVR?

Help? I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR. I have several small news clips I want to download, ideally to a laptop. The above has a USB port, as well as a SATA port. Can I just hook a laptop up via the usb and drag and drop?
Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks
Bill

Help? I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR. I have several small news clips I want to download, ideally to a laptop. The above has a USB port, as well as a SATA port. Can I just hook a laptop up via the usb and drag and drop?
Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks
Bill

You can't just hook up a laptop and transfer the shows like you would a document or file. You will need to play the news clips and capture the output. If your laptop has a video capture card, that would work. Or you will need to connect a VCR or DVD recorder to the DVR. Press record on the DVD/VCR and then press play on the DVR.

Help? I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR. I have several small news clips I want to download, ideally to a laptop. The above has a USB port, as well as a SATA port. Can I just hook a laptop up via the usb and drag and drop?
Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks
BillIf you want the video to be HD, you will need one of these: Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR Video Capture device (http://www.highdefinitionblog.com/?page_id=331)

If you have to have high def quality then Rbinck's suggestion is the way to go. Just make sure in advance that your laptop is powerful enough to support the specs required for that device. He could tell you better than I could but I think you have to have at least a dual core processor for it to work properly.

If you are okay with regular definition then there are plenty of good quality USB based capture devices available at much lower costs. They are available in just about all electronics stores. Prices range from about 25 bucks to 45 bucks depending on whether you want extras such as video editing software included.

Personally I use the VC500 and it works fine. This particular product does not have video editing software included but the manufacturer does offer a VC600 model with video editing software included. The image quality is good in my opinion and you can use this device with a lower grade computer. I have used it with an old pentium 4 processor from dell(2.4 Ghz processor) and also a new netbook with an atom processor. It is very easy to install and use. Here is the link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FAE8MA/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000VM60I8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DD4QEPF4B01NSDEFFGW

TC