Bright House DVR to PC, possible?

[IAIHMB]

Basically, I would like to burn television shows and movies recorded with our Bright House DVR to DVD to be played on our stand alone DVD player. I believe that the process would look like something along the lines of:

While playing the content stored on our Bright House DVR, record it with some sort of capture card. -> Convert the captured content to DVD compatible MPG, author, and then burn.

However, i've got a couple of questions:

1) Could our Bright House DVR even be hooked up to a TV capture card, or would I just hook the capture card up to the TV?

2) Would my computer be able to capturing? Specifications are as follows:

-Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with HT Technology.
-1 GB RAM.
- 123.4 GB of free disk space on my C drive, 47.2 GB of free disk space on my D drive.

3) Would I need a specific type of TV capture card, and what is the going rate for a card that can capture at fairly high quality and saves in an uncompressed or DVD compatible format?

Perhaps i'm talking out of my ass, as I really do not know much about the whole capturing business. Thanks a lot for any information, it is appreciated!

Edit: I'm assuming that this will be the Bright House DVR that we will be getting, notice some of the ports are not active.

http://cfl.mybrighthouse.com/customercare/pvr/pvrwiring_back.aspx

[BobK]

My sister has a Bright House DVR and occasionally records things for me (she also has more channels than me). I use S-Video, but you could use composite (RCA-type) cords. Just plug the video and audio cords into the output socket on the back of the DVR and plug the other end into the input for your recorder/capture card.

Referring to the numbered sockets in the link you gave, you'd plug an a standard RCA plug into number 6 or 7 video socket and 2 audio cables would be plugged into the audio sockets in either 6 or 7 (makes no difference which one). If you use S-video then the audio plugs wouldn't change but the S-video would be plugged into number 3.

The "not active" ports are irrevelant- you don't need them for anything.

Your computer should be able to capture with no problem, but if you don't already have a capture card I'd suggest you buy a DVD recorder instead. If you record to RW disks you can take the disk to your computer and reauthor- then burn to a permanent disk. With the price of DVD recorders as low as they are (and still going down), it probably won't cost much more for a recorder than it would for a capture card.

[IAIHMB]

Thanks for the information, I haven't purchased a capture card yet, i'll definitely take a look at a DVD recorder. Just curious, do you have any recommendations, or will pretty much any one do? Thanks again for the information.

[BobK]

I tried several DVD recorders and returned all but the ones I have now- a Pioneer 420 and a Pioneer 220 (main difference is that the 420 has a hard drive. The 220 has been at my sisters for the last month- I don't use it much so just left it there for a while rather than take it back and forth every week while I'm trying to collect a series of shows).

You'll find all different opinions here on what DVD recorders are the best, or what you should get. I settled on the Pioneer for several reasons and returned the others for various reasons. The ones I returned were:

One Panasonic- didn't like it because it captured at a resolution of 704 X 480 instead of 720 X 480. That wouldn't have been a problem except that I had to re-encode if I wanted to put that video on the same track as other video that I already had- and everything else records at 720 X 480 for full D-1. Also didn't like having to spend the money on DVD-RAM disks which are much more expensive than +RW or -RW. Aside from those two reasons it was okay but still one of the more expensive brands.

iLO- tried several of them from WalMart- all had problems with the audio and some shows the audio was so garbled and had so much noise interference you couldn't even watch it.

Lite-On- tried a couple different Lite-Ons- they mostly had problem with the timer not starting when it was supposed to.

The Lite-On and iLo's also had a little trouble when I edited things out on the computer. After editing the picture would get very pixaliated for a second or two immediately after every edit point.

In addition to not having any of those problems, I liked the Pioneer because instead of just having 3 or 4 quality settings (SP, EP, LP, etc) it has 32 settings- so I can set it to record at the best possible quality that will fit on the disk. I think at least some of the newer Pioneer models have been dumbed down and done have that many settings now though.

I also have a slight preference for +R/RW and the Pioneer is -R/RW, but with the price of disks that really doesn't make much difference to me anymore.

Just as a note- before getting the DVD recorders I was using a Snazzi III card to capture- I paid $160 for it 2 years ago. They now sell a newer version of that card and the new card is still $160. There are a lot of DVD recorders selling for close to (or even less than) $160 now. The picture quality I get with the Pioneer recorder putting 3-hours on a disk is as good as the best quality I got putting just 2 hours on a disk with the capture card.