From my DVR to my Computer?

[75Manson]

How can I transfer the programs recorded on my DVR to my computer? My laptop is running Vista Home Premium 64 bit... if that makes a difference.

Here's pictures of the inputs/outputs on the DVR.

And I included the remote, I dunno, maybe someone will know what buttons to press

I really appreciate it guys.

 

[panchoman]

the most obvious would be to use VIVO (on ati cards) or use a tv tuner card to record the info.

you can see if the usb does anything, but i doubt they will let you rip off your dvr'ed videos..

 

[JrRacinFan]

Actually, there should be an eSATA port on the back to add external storage. AFAIK, that is the only possible way besides the obvious that is pointed out by pancho (great suggestion btw!). The problem being here though, does your laptop have an eSATA port?

 

[jbunch07]

ok sorry to highjack thread but what format does dish dvr record in?

 

[JrRacinFan]

Ygpm J!

 

[pjladyfox]

Unfortunatly the particular box you have, a Motorola DCT6416, is locked down pretty tight by the cable companies so you have only two options open to you to transfer your recordings:

1. Get a VIVO or TV tuner card, connect the composite or S-Video (S-video is preferred due to better video quality) outputs to your capture card, and using the software that came with your card capture the video real-time.

2. You can use the firewire port on the back of your box to try and transfer the recordings. You can find the steps to do this here: http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/

The easier of the two would be to use a capture card since some recordings may be encrypted in such a way that they'll prevent you from transferring via firewire. It's the method my husband and I use with great success, using an ATI TV Wonder 650, and the only challenge we found was finding a software suite to edit the video. We wound up using a combination of Adobe Premier Pro 2 and Easy Media Creator 10 to get the best overlap of tools.

Also, just as a side note, in regards to the eSATA port on the back of your box they've probably been disabled. When we tried to use an external drive Comcast advised us that they were locked out from being used but, hey, you may get lucky just make sure that the eSATA drive you get you'll be able to use for something else if it does not work.

Hope this helps!

 

[bud951]

Are the recordings in Hi Def? I used a Western Digital DVR expander which is just an external Harddrive via eSATA. The movies I have downloaded to my DVR are encrypted so no digital transfer is possible. I just expanded my recording capability. Lucky for me my eSATA port on my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD was not disabled. I was able to ad another 500gb to my DVR which is great. If you are just looking to record standard video then S-video to a capture card is the only way I think.

 

[iStink]

I made an account just to answer your question lol.

If you do a google search for avs forums, you'll find answers to questions like this. I was trying to do this a few months back, and basically how it works is, instead of transfering already-recorded files to your pc, you schedule the dvr to record something, connect it to your pc via firewire (and install special firewire drivers and software) and you can't view it while its recording, but it gets saved as an avi file. This is how people transfer things like Lost and My name is Earl in HD to torrent sites.

Hope AVS can help ya lol.

 

[bud951]

I made an account just to answer your question lol.

If you do a google search for avs forums, you'll find answers to questions like this. I was trying to do this a few months back, and basically how it works is, instead of transfering already-recorded files to your pc, you schedule the dvr to record something, connect it to your pc via firewire (and install special firewire drivers and software) and you can't view it while its recording, but it gets saved as an avi file. This is how people transfer things like Lost and My name is Earl in HD to torrent sites.

Hope AVS can help ya lol.

Nice.. or you can just download the torrents if you have the speed.

 

[iStink]

Nice.. or you can just download the torrents if you have the speed.

yeah exactly. I mean, these days for TV shows and stuff I either just go to the website or download torrents, but every once in a while there's something on TV I record that I wish I could transfer to my phone to watch at work lol.