Saving Shows From DVR to DVD/Hard Drive

[Spot's Meow]

I have the entire run of a beloved series of mine on my DVR. This show is not currently available on DVD and they seem to have no plans to make it so. It's about 50 episodes in total, all in standard definition.

So what I am trying to find out is how I can save these shows onto DVD or my desktop for later viewing. My DVR is from AT&T Uverse if that makes any difference. It would be nice to find a way to cut the commercials out of the episodes, but I would be fine leaving them in if it's necessary and/or cheaper.

I tried to read up a little about this through my own Internet searches but I didn't really find that many great answers. Would it be necessary to have a DVD recorder? They seem so expensive, I definitely can't afford a $100 device just to record this show...if I DO need one, do you know where I could find one cheap? And what if I just want to save the episodes to my computer?

Keep in mind that I care very little about picture quality...as long as it's slightly better than VHS quality I would be happy. Because that's my other option if this is too expensive - taping all of the episodes to VHS, which I really don't want to do!

Any advice would be very welcome.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'm sure you must be able to obtain a cheap USB video capture device for less than $100 - perhaps second-hand on eBay. I'm sure people can offer a torrent of other suggestions.

 

[farmkid]

Yes, just get a video capture device for your computer and record them. I personally prefer internal PCI or PCI-E devices as opposed to USB, but USB is certainly easier to use. Doing it this way also gives you the ability to cut out commercials, make DVD menus, make video/audio adjustments if desired, etc.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

..I'm sure people can offer a torrent....

LOL

 

[Spot's Meow]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I guess I am totally out of the loop on audio/video stuff because I had never heard of these video capture devices. After researching them a bit I'm surprised they aren't more prevalent, they seem awesome! And not that expensive either. This will probably be the route I will go.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

As farmkid suggests, you can put a card in your computer if you have a spare slot (remember to power off, of course, and take precautions against static discharge and mains shock), but I've found USB devices to be nearly as powerful and also convenient.

 

[Saquist]

can't these files just be transfered over to a computer with a USB?
My Dishnetwork DVR has a USB but 've never tried it.
What file format would it likely already be in and is it something that could be played?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Ah, but would that be a USB master or slave port? Usually, there are a couple of master ports for accessing external data drives. I have seen media players with both types of port where file transfer from the internal drive was possible, although I assume the file system type on the DVR would have to be one for which the computer had the correct drivers. In addition, some DVRs might encrypt the data on the drive to prevent copying.

 

[farmkid]

I suppose trying the USB port is worth a shot, but I wouldn't bet on it working. Admittedly, I don't have much experience with DVRs, as I've never had a dedicated DVR unit, only a PC set up to work as a DVR. But, in my experience, if the USB port is on the back, it's likely just a service port to allow technicians access to the system; users can't do anything useful with it. My brother was trying to figure out how to do this with his DVR a couple of years ago. He even took the drive out of the device and hooked it up to his computer. It turned out everything was in a proprietary format that only the DVR could read. The only way he could get get it off was to play it and record it with another device (DVD recorder or PC). Of course, that was a few years ago, and that was only one device (from Comcast as I remember), so that may not be universally true.

 

[Spot's Meow]

can't these files just be transfered over to a computer with a USB?
My Dishnetwork DVR has a USB but 've never tried it.
What file format would it likely already be in and is it something that could be played?

There is a USB port on the front of the DVR (and many other cable/satellite companies' DVRs), but it is totally useless. The company claims it is there for possible "future use," but it does nothing.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Unless it says you can do it in the manual, the functionality probably either does not exist or is unsupported. Google searches can throw up ways that boxes can be modified, especially if they're running Linux under the hood. Any modification might invalidate your warranty, of course.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The Hauppauge card I have is good. I did some VCR to file transfers. It has RCA, S-Video & coax inputs.

Those RCA to USB things are lower quality from what I've heard.

As far as the files on the actual DVR, they're encoded/encrypted and not even visible to your computer if you put them on an external HDD.
I've heard people say Linux can "see" the files, but it never worked for me.

The USB port on the DISH DVR is only for transferring stuff to an external HDD, and then only if you paid to have it activated.

Comcrap disables the USB ports on their DVR's. Not sure about DirectTV.