Transfer video to PC?

[funnel71]

Hello to all,

This site is HUGE, which is why I'm asking a question here that probably has already been asked, and I just can't find via search, sorry.

I'm going to be a DirecTV customer here in a couple of weeks, and I will have the HD-DVR as well as another standard receiver. My question is, can you transfer videos that you record to a PC? I know of the capture method - trying to avoid that. One DTV rep says yes by plugging up a USB cable to your PC, and another drive letter shows up, allowing you to copy the mpeg-4 video files. Best buy says no. Another DTV rep says yes through mediashare, but that appears to be a service for sharing content from a PC to the receiver, not the other way around.

Can someone give me some kind of definite answer? This will tell me if I need to keep my TiVo around or not, which DOES support transfer to PC. TIA.

 

[Neilkn]

I would not think that a USB cable connection would work as the PC will only recognize a hard drive formatted in its own protocol. The computer will not recognize anything formatted outside its own operating system. If you connect a sata drive to the satellite dvr via e-sata, the first thing that happens when you power ON is that the drive gets formatted by the dvr in its protocol. The data is saved in MPEG format, but in the OS of the DVR. Your only option would probably be to have a video capture device or video card that supports an input source that is output by the dvr, such as S-video, component video, composite video, or HDMI. In order to burn saved programs to a stand-alone DVDR, I have the DVDR connected to my D* DVR via S-video and RCA stereo, and must play the video all the way through to capture it.

 

[funnel71]

That is a definite disappointment. I'm not out of the water. I still have a TiVo which I can hook inline to the regular receiver to capture the things I like (special events and "not so normal" broadcasts), but it would sure have made it easier to use the DTV DVR to do it.

I was wondering about that sata slot. Thank you for answering that.

If anyone else has additional info on this topic, would love to hear it.

I would not think that a USB cable connection would work as the PC will only recognize a hard drive formatted in its own protocol. The computer will not recognize anything formatted outside its own operating system. If you connect a sata drive to the satellite dvr via e-sata, the first thing that happens when you power ON is that the drive gets formatted by the dvr in its protocol. The data is saved in MPEG format, but in the OS of the DVR. Your only option would probably be to have a video capture device or video card that supports an input source that is output by the dvr, such as S-video, component video, composite video, or HDMI. In order to burn saved programs to a stand-alone DVDR, I have the DVDR connected to my D* DVR via S-video and RCA stereo, and must play the video all the way through to capture it.