Record TiVO (Actually DVR) to DVD

[MNBridge]

On my DVR one option is 'Copy to VCR'.

I don't own a VCR (Or an 8 track player). Is there a way to record this stuff to DVD? I do have a DVD burner.

(The DVR is straight from the Cable company, so not sure that buying a DVR with burner is an option) Or is it?

[hardinda]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

On my DVR one option is 'Copy to VCR'.

I don't own a VCR (Or an 8 track player). Is there a way to record this stuff to DVD? I do have a DVD burner.

(The DVR is straight from the Cable company, so not sure that buying a DVR with burner is an option) Or is it?

Some DVR's (or atleast TIVO's for sure) are built in the same machine as a recordable DVD player, that's your best bet. Pretty soon, they'll make it much easier to connect your DVR with your computer, then you can just rip the file on to your computer from you DVR and then burn it on to DVD. There are programs and hardware for your computer right now that allow you to turn your computer into a DVR. I have a TV card and BeyondTV (DVR program) on my computer and I love it.

[MNBridge]

Originally Posted by hardinda

Some DVR's (or atleast TIVO's for sure) are built in the same machine as a recordable DVD player, that's your best bet. Pretty soon, they'll make it much easier to connect your DVR with your computer, then you can just rip the file on to your computer from you DVR and then burn it on to DVD. There are programs and hardware for your computer right now that allow you to turn your computer into a DVR. I have a TV card and BeyondTV (DVR program) on my computer and I love it.

Does stuff come in High Def from that?

[erosewater]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

Does stuff come in High Def from that?

There are hi-def TV tuners for your PC, but they only receive OTA broadcasts (so just your local channels). The only way to get hi-def conent on your PC is to use the firewire port on your cable box. If your box does not have a firewire port call your cable company and request one, the FCC mandates that they give you a box with an active firewire port. The catch is that they encrypt most of the channels anyways, so you would still only be able to get the hi-def content from the local channels (they can't encrypt those) onto your PC. It depends on where you live, in some cities the cable company has not bothered to encrypt the channels and people can get all of the HD channels on their PC. Be aware that hi-def video will be anywhere from 5-8 GB per hour, so you need a lot of space.

If you want to burn to DVD, you can buy a standalone DVD recorder, connect your cable box to it, and record that way. You'd have to do it real-time, and the content will be downgraded to DVD resolution (720x480, compared to 1280x720 or 1920x1080 for hi-def conent). For standard-def TV this will not matter. You can also do the same thing with a TV tuner card for your PC.

This line:

Pretty soon, they'll make it much easier to connect your DVR with your computer, then you can just rip the file on to your computer from you DVR and then burn it on to DVD.

is not 100% true. The content owners are doing everything they can to prevent you from using the content however you'd like, because they are afraid of piracy. If anything they are making it MORE dificult to do what hardinda described. The exception is that with the release of Windows Vista you'll be able to get CableCard enabled PC's so you can more easily get hi-def content on a PC-based DVR.

[hardinda]

Very true Erose, they don't want people pirating, so they are making it difficult in that sense. I still think there is a standard coming up where your cable/tv/computer will all be one. I guess that is what I meant when I said you could record on to your computer.

Once it gets on to your computer, they'll have trouble keeping you from copying it to your own personal DVD's (or whatever the new "disk" will be in those days), b/c as soon as a new copyright feature comes out, something else comes out to breakthrough the copyright feature. It's a never-ending battle.

[hardinda]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

Does stuff come in High Def from that?

Right now, I have a hi-def card and like Erose said, I can get all local HD channels and copy all local HD Channels. They do well copied on to the computer, but would not do well burned on to a DVD.

[erosewater]

I'm sure DVD Jon is already working on cracking the new HDDVD encryption and/or HDCP, so it's only a matter of time. One thing to remember though, is even though he cracked CSS in 1999, it took a few years before there were user-friendly programs for copying DVD's. I wouldn't expect it to be easy to circumvent the new copy-prevention schemes for quite some time.

For now, it's easy enough to get near HD-quality TV on Bit Torrent if you want it on your PC. As long as you are paying for cable, I don't see anything wrong with it.

[hardinda]

Yeah, I like Bit Torrents, but they are definitely not the most user friendly of programs.

[erosewater]

Originally Posted by hardinda

Yeah, I like Bit Torrents, but they are definitely not the most user friendly of programs.

Really? What software are you using? I use utorrent, and it's pretty straightforward. The popular torrent search engines also have RSS feeds so you always know when new stuff is available.

Many of the more popular shows (24, Lost, etc) are on Bit Torrent in 960x540 resolution, which looks great on my HDTV, pretty much as good as the original HD broadcast.

[hardinda]

I guess I just don't have good links to the best torrent sites. I'll try that utorrent software, any threads on here for good sites?