Recording TV programs to PC/DVD

[tempdb]

I have Toshiba 42hp66 HDTV with comcast cable connection near Atlanta.
I generally watch Discovery, National Geographics, Animal planet, food channel, Travel channel.
I would like to record few programs on my PC.
I was reading all sorts of information available on internet throughout the day. Still, I am confused.
Curretnly, I do not have HD-DVR. I may go for it, if it works.

Which way shoud I go?
As I understand from various forums on internet, I have three options.

1) Go for Comcast latest DVR and use IEEE 1394 firewire-- problem with this is these channels "may be" 5c protected (Does

anyone know, if these channels are 5c protected by Comcast?). So I may not be able to record those channels.
Has anyone tried doing this?

Does 5c protection apply to firewire cable only? What if I use usb cables?

2) Go for some sort of DVD-Recorder. Would quality be better than DVR-1394 firewire?
May be, I can hook TV to DVD-Recorder directly and capture video or
May be, I can hook comcast DVR-box to DVD-Recorder and capture video.

If this is the option, which is the best & cheap DVD-Recorder in market?


3) Go for Video Capture/TV Tuner on my PC.
Does the quality good in this case? What happens to '5c protection' in this case?

If this is the option, which is the best & cheap TV Tuner in market?


Sorry for too many questions.. But, this will help me and few others like me.

[edDV]

1) Blocked here for all but local over the air DTV channels (FCC mandate). Mileage varies locally. IEEE-1394 quality is full bandwidth MPeg2_TS for those channels in either 1080i or 720p as broadcast*. Local SD DTV channels are also there at 480i (e.g. local weather, PBS second channel).

2) Works only for 480i letterbox over S-Video NTSC.

3) Works only if you erect an antenna for over the air DTV reception. Some PC HD tuners will also tune QAM clear channels on cable. These would be the same over the air DTV channels offered over IEEE-1394 per FCC mandate.

In other words, forget HD recording Discovery, National Geographic, Animal planet, food channel, Travel channel if your local Comcast chooses to block these channels. The Comcast HD DVR will record them in HD but export depends on the above.


* There may be more or less clear QAM channels available than over the IEEE-1394 port. This depends on local how your local cable system is managed.

[theewizard]

as I understand it very few TV's will pass the video from the TV to the ( insert device name here )

the most used way is to insert the ( DVR-DVD-VHS ) box between the signal source ( comcast box ) and the TV, using best connection available , usually S-video, then use the output of the box to feed the TV

you select the video input on the TV ( recording box ) then you select the channel on the cable box ( just like before )

only the recording box is in the middle and records the video before feeding it to the TV, the only way I know to record the HD signal would be an HD tuner for the PC, with the proper software to record the signal and play it back. HD burning IS available but in it's infancy,

there are NO standalone HD DVR recorders that I am aware of.. although some are probably in development

[tempdb]

Thanks for quick replies.
Actually, I do not mind recording in SD format.
It looks like, there is no way I can record from those particular channels.

[edDV]

Thanks for quick replies.
Actually, I do not mind recording in SD format.
It looks like, there is no way I can record from those particular channels.

Sure there is. Record 480i off the cable box S-Video+audio or composite outputs. HD 16:9 will be letterbox. Audio will be 2 channel stereo.