I have a bunch of ISU football & basketball games on my Directv DVR that I want to keep but don't want them taking up space on my DVR. If I buy a DVD recorder will that be able to record HD games off of a DVR? I don't need the games to be HD. Or are there better alternatives?
Copying games off DVR
- Thread starter A-town Cy
- Start date
Me too. I've read about how you can hack your dvr to get the content off of there and onto a computer (I have mediacom) but they don't like that too much.
Yes it will work but imo discs are becoming a thing of the past. Do you have a laptop or can you get your DVR close to your computer? If so, I would suggest you get a capture device like Avermedia and save it on your computer or to an external hard drive.
HD-PVR
Newegg.com - Hauppauge HD PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder USB Port
It's a 200 dollar device but it looks like it's on sale right now.
I got one and I absolutely love it for recording all the games. Once you get it set up and get the software installed on your computer you basically just re-record it to your computer in a more flexible format that can be transferred to any hard drive or media device you may have. You can always burn it to a dvd later if you want as well.
Newegg.com - Hauppauge HD PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder USB Port
It's a 200 dollar device but it looks like it's on sale right now.
I got one and I absolutely love it for recording all the games. Once you get it set up and get the software installed on your computer you basically just re-record it to your computer in a more flexible format that can be transferred to any hard drive or media device you may have. You can always burn it to a dvd later if you want as well.
That's a lot of jack but it seems like a good unit.
I got the Avermedia usb tuner and my home pc (not a laptop) is about 10 feet from my bedroom tv. I got an RCA cord long enough (don't care about backing up in HD) and ran it into the front usb port of my pc. From there there are a ton of different programs you can use to capture the video. I save the videos in mp4 format on my hard drive and then I can watch them on any TV in my house via Windows 7 media server and bluray players. You have to jump through some hoops to set it all up but it's totally worth it and not terribly difficult.
An HD PVR is how you make YouTube videos. That's why labontefan has YouTube videos. It's very expensive, and I'm not sure I could figure it out.
Thanks for posting that. We've been looking for something like this in our office and didn't know what I was looking for. Looks like I've found it.
I've been looking for something like this. So you hook this thing up to your computer and dvr to get recordings onto your computer?
That is right. I assume your DVR has the component outputs which are the red green blue ones and the red and white audio outputs. Just hooks those to the back of the device and a USB from the device to your laptop or desktop and hit record on the capturing software and play the recording you want to capture. Note that this will record it as you would see it on your TV so I wouldn't be going to your guide or doing any fast forwarding or rewinding while recording.
Check to see if your DVR has a firewire (IEEE 1394) port. I know that cable providers are required by law to provide cable boxes with firewire ports upon request. Cable boxes usually have firewire, but DVRs don't always. If yours does, you'll just need a firewire cable to capture your TV shows in HD. It will probably be a 6 pin connector that looks like this (but could be a different size and shape).
There are free utilities for both windows and mac that capture video over firewire and this is by far the easiest way to get video off your DVR. This will transfer files in real time.
The next best option is to see if you can network into your DVR and transfer files over ethernet to your home network or directly to a computer. This will probably be something you'll have to lookup online with your specific type of DVR. I use this method to transfer files from TiVo, but I don't know if you can log on to every DVR over LAN. Depending on how your DVR is set up to network, this could be faster than real time.
If you have a digital camcorder, check to see if it has AV/DV passthrough. This essentially allows your camcorder to function as a capture device for analog video (Your HD shows will be converted to analog by your DVR). This function is actually available on a lot of inexpensive (and somewhat old) camcorders. You'll basically take the 1/8 to red, yellow, white composite RCA cord that is normally used to view your camcorder on the TV and plug the red yellow white into the output of the DVR and the 1/8 into the camcorder. Then plug the camcorder into your computer using (probably) firewire (or maybe USB, depending on your camcorder). Turn on the AV/DV passthrough mode and capture the video on your computer like you normally would from your camcorder. (The end result of this method is going not going to be HD, but if you're capturing from an HD source, 480 anamorphic widescreen video does not look bad at all.) This will transfer files in real time.
If none of the above options are available, you'll probably have to look into getting a capture box such as one from Hauppauge, Blackmagic, etc.
An alternate route would be to ditch the DVR, get a HTPC with a cable card tuner, and use that as your PVR. IMO, this is really the best option, but the most expensive to purchase. (Would probably cost minimum $1000 for a good HTPC and cable card tuner.) However, it could save you money in the long run without the monthly cost for a DVR.
There are free utilities for both windows and mac that capture video over firewire and this is by far the easiest way to get video off your DVR. This will transfer files in real time.
The next best option is to see if you can network into your DVR and transfer files over ethernet to your home network or directly to a computer. This will probably be something you'll have to lookup online with your specific type of DVR. I use this method to transfer files from TiVo, but I don't know if you can log on to every DVR over LAN. Depending on how your DVR is set up to network, this could be faster than real time.
If you have a digital camcorder, check to see if it has AV/DV passthrough. This essentially allows your camcorder to function as a capture device for analog video (Your HD shows will be converted to analog by your DVR). This function is actually available on a lot of inexpensive (and somewhat old) camcorders. You'll basically take the 1/8 to red, yellow, white composite RCA cord that is normally used to view your camcorder on the TV and plug the red yellow white into the output of the DVR and the 1/8 into the camcorder. Then plug the camcorder into your computer using (probably) firewire (or maybe USB, depending on your camcorder). Turn on the AV/DV passthrough mode and capture the video on your computer like you normally would from your camcorder. (The end result of this method is going not going to be HD, but if you're capturing from an HD source, 480 anamorphic widescreen video does not look bad at all.) This will transfer files in real time.
If none of the above options are available, you'll probably have to look into getting a capture box such as one from Hauppauge, Blackmagic, etc.
An alternate route would be to ditch the DVR, get a HTPC with a cable card tuner, and use that as your PVR. IMO, this is really the best option, but the most expensive to purchase. (Would probably cost minimum $1000 for a good HTPC and cable card tuner.) However, it could save you money in the long run without the monthly cost for a DVR.
I use a stand alone DVD recorder that I patch my dish box through. I can cut out the commercials and create chapters for each quarter/half, etc. Bought my recorder used off of eBay for $35 and it works great. It is a Samsung DVD-R135 and has HDMI connections. The only downside is you have to commit yourself to re-watching the enitre game (unless you don't care about leaving the commercials in) but I think it is nice to be able to watch great games again - after all, that's the entire reason we want to copy them right?
I didn't get this because I don't have a desktop at the moment just a laptop which was only $200 so I don't think my laptop would be able to use any of these devices (i.e. doesn't have the components to do it). Need to get a desktop I guess and figure out how to do this. My dvr is nearing full status, and I need to stop recording stuff via vcr. I'm technology impaired.:sad:
