Offload programs from cable box???

Is it possible to offload (meaning burn to a dvd) programs that are saved on the hard drive of the cable box? Maybe to a computer and then burn it, or hookup an external dvd burner.

I have a couple of college ball games I'd like to save and free up some space. I have a motorola dct 3416 hd dvr box.

Also, my neighbor asked me if I could DVR (in high def) a college ball game this weekend, take my DVR box and hook it up to his tv (he's got a 65" 1080 vs. my 40" 720) and play it. Would there be any issues with doing this? I'm comcast and he's directv. So if I were to bring my cable box over there, would it be as simple as just hooking up the HDMI connections, going to my DVR menu and pushing play, without actually hooking up a coax? I wouldn't think you need the coax, since you're only accessing the hard drive.

Thanks...

Is it possible to offload (meaning burn to a dvd) programs that are saved on the hard drive of the cable box? Maybe to a computer and then burn it, or hookup an external dvd burner.

Yes, you can use a PC with a capture card or use a DVD recorder.

I have a couple of college ball games I'd like to save and free up some space. I have a motorola dct 3416 hd dvr box.

Just be aware that these games will only be in SD, not HD, when you play them back after burning them to a DVD.

Also, my neighbor asked me if I could DVR (in high def) a college ball game this weekend, take my DVR box and hook it up to his tv (he's got a 65" 1080 vs. my 40" 720) and play it. Would there be any issues with doing this? I'm comcast and he's directv. So if I were to bring my cable box over there, would it be as simple as just hooking up the HDMI connections, going to my DVR menu and pushing play, without actually hooking up a coax? I wouldn't think you need the coax, since you're only accessing the hard drive.

Thanks...

Theoretically, this should work. I don't believe the DVR needs to "see" the Comcast network for the DVR functionality to work. But it's a possibility. One quick way to check would be to power down the DVR, disconnect coax from the DVR, power back up and see if you can play a show/game you recorded earlier. If it will play, then you will be good to go.

DeadHead68

Is it possible to offload (meaning burn to a dvd) programs that are saved on the hard drive of the cable box? Maybe to a computer and then burn it, or hookup an external dvd burner.

Limited unencrypted material is easier to burn to DVD.

I have a couple of college ball games I'd like to save and free up some space. I have a motorola dct 3416 hd dvr box.

I have used firewire, as well as svideo to transfer some video to the computer, and burn to DVD. Software is available on the internet for firewire. The easiest thing to do is play it back from the computer. Seems to me you could play back a .ts file in HD from the computer. I do not have a bluray burner. As I pointed out encryption is a b****. Some material may be 1 copy only. DVR, and On Demand would be the 1 copy. Thanks to limited success, I did not do it many time. Using firewire was the only time I burned my own 16:9 anamorphic DVD. Information about firewire is on this web site, and Wikipedia.

So if I were to bring my cable box over there, would it be as simple as just hooking up the HDMI connections, going to my DVR menu and pushing play, without actually hooking up a coax? I wouldn't think you need the coax, since you're only accessing the hard drive.


Perhaps there would be no titles. Perhaps it would work also after it booted up. I was able to do that when I had DirecTV with Tivo. I had 2 Tivo and wanted to copy movies to DVD. I thought Comcast, or possibly the Motorola box restricted the use to where there was a cable outlet. Deadhead is smart. The best thing to do would be to try it.

Thanks for the responses guys....

I guess it doesn't matter if it's in SD vs HD on the DVD, as long the content is there. I guess I would like to entertain the s-video route and my next question would be how to go about doing this. Do I just hookup a s-video wire from the DVR to the computer and use some program that's already installed, like Intervideo WinDVD or Realplayer? Then just burn it as it playing? Or do you have to put it on the computer first and then burn it? Sorry guys...never burned a DVD before, so this is new to me.

Thanks for the responses guys....

I guess it doesn't matter if it's in SD vs HD on the DVD, as long the content is there. I guess I would like to entertain the s-video route and my next question would be how to go about doing this. Do I just hookup a s-video wire from the DVR to the computer and use some program that's already installed, like Intervideo WinDVD or Realplayer? Then just burn it as it playing? Or do you have to put it on the computer first and then burn it? Sorry guys...never burned a DVD before, so this is new to me.


If you're hooked up through HDMI dvd recorder going into the tv, and stb going in as well. Just connect the S-Video into the stb, and then into the dvd recorder.

Make sure you have checked all the things you need to in you dvd recorder, ie: HDMI. You should see the picture on HDMI2. Put in a dvd you have, and if you see it on HDMI 2 you're all set.


Hope this helps.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm49/LIovemykittez/Katlady2.gif

Thanks for the responses guys....

I guess it doesn't matter if it's in SD vs HD on the DVD, as long the content is there. I guess I would like to entertain the s-video route and my next question would be how to go about doing this. Do I just hookup a s-video wire from the DVR to the computer and use some program that's already installed, like Intervideo WinDVD or Realplayer? Then just burn it as it playing? Or do you have to put it on the computer first and then burn it? Sorry guys...never burned a DVD before, so this is new to me.

I have not burned something to DVD from my DVR, but I have taken home movies and burned them to DVD. I have used WinDVD before. I would start playing the movie from the video recorder and capture it to the hard drive using WinDVD. Once captured, I would then burn it to disc. I did that so I could edit the video. Not sure if you can burn it right to DVD while playing.

DeadHead68

If you're hooked up through HDMI dvd recorder going into the tv, and stb going in as well. Just connect the S-Video into the stb, and then into the dvd recorder.

Make sure you have checked all the things you need to in you dvd recorder, ie: HDMI. You should see the picture on HDMI2. Put in a dvd you have, and if you see it on HDMI 2 you're all set.


Hope this helps.



Ok, so if I took HDMI out of the equation. Can I essentially take my computer (has a dvd burner), hook up an s-video from the computer to the DVR and hit play on the DVR? I guess I'm still confused about how it "shows up" on the computer in order to burn.

Ok, so if I took HDMI out of the equation. Can I essentially take my computer (has a dvd burner), hook up an s-video from the computer to the DVR and hit play on the DVR? I guess I'm still confused about how it "shows up" on the computer in order to burn.

Honestly, I think in order to do it from your computer, you need a TV capture card. I can only tell you about my set-up. I also think you will have to get a software program online to convert the codecs/encodes, but dont hold me to that one. If you want to play the dvd in other dvd players other than your own, you may need the software.

PM Loves2 Watch he knows everything HD, and he's a really nice guy.

Circuit City has the Hauppauge HVR 1600 on sale for $30. This video capture card has an analog tuner, digital tuner (clear QAM), and s-video input. You can record from only one input at a time. The card comes with software to capture the video (check on-line for latest version). Works very well to record from the dvr. You can also use a splitter and add a coax connection to the capture card + one to the dvr. Check for clear QAM signals. You should be able to get your locals in HD (assuming locals are transmitting in HD), possibly others (I get FX-HD, PBS-HD, TNT-HD, TBS-HD, A&E-HD, Disc-HD, and both ESPN's plus locals). The HVR 1600 will record the clear QAM programming directly to your PC hard drive in HD (720p or 1080i, depending on the source). Files are MPEG2 format. Excellent PQ on your computer! I also have purchased videoredo suite. This software enables me to remove commercials and transcode the HD stuff to 480i and burn to DVD. It also works with SD material. Give it a try! BTW, I do all this on a 5 yr old P4, 2.4 Ghz box with 768 MB ram running XP-Pro Service Pack 2. HTH! Rick

when you record on the Hauppauge HVR 1600 in HD, does it come as a letterboxed video, or is it truly a 16:9 video on your hard drive? I know when you use S-Video, it's 4:3 with letterboxing when recording from an HD channel on my cable box. can you record HD only from the clear QAM tuner, or from the cable box's DVR too? I'm using a 9 year old Hauppauge TV tuner that's still pretty good on S-Video with Pinnacle Studio 12, but I'm not having much luck recording true HD content (or at least outputting a Widescreen DVD without losing any picture framing)

when you record on the Hauppauge HVR 1600 in HD, does it come as a letterboxed video, or is it truly a 16:9 video on your hard drive? I know when you use S-Video, it's 4:3 with letterboxing when recording from an HD channel on my cable box. can you record HD only from the clear QAM tuner, or from the cable box's DVR too? I'm using a 9 year old Hauppauge TV tuner that's still pretty good on S-Video with Pinnacle Studio 12, but I'm not having much luck recording true HD content (or at least outputting a Widescreen DVD without losing any picture framing)

Clear QAM HD programming is recorded in HD (16:9) format to the computer. As stated earlier, I use VideoRedo to trim out the commercials and then save to dvd. The resulting dvd is obviously in widescreen 480i format. Picture quality is superb and huge improvement over a s-video capture of SD content.

A separate coax feed is required for clear QAM tuning (ie, separate coax from your cable distribution point, does not work with a coax connection from the dvr). An alternative is to use the Hauppauge HD-PVR (captures HD over component output from dvr). Computer requirements are not very steep to record with the HD-PVR. However, playback requires a top of the line cpu, ram, and video card. Several companies are working on software to drive the HD-PVR and its recordings (for example, check out beyond TV or sage tv software).

HTH,

Rick