1080p External Capture Card Recommendations For Macbook Pro?

[SM26]

Hardware: Macbook Pro (Retina Late 2013)
Capture Source: TV + DVR

I'm looking for an external capture card that would allow me to capture DVR'd movies at 1080p. There are certain on-demand programming that are offered in 1080p instead of the usual 1080i or 720p for live broadcast. I would like to be able maintain that quality during capture. Can any recommend any good cards or hardware that would allow me to accomplish this?

[LMotlow]

Those 1080p movies are broadcast as 24fps progressive. Does your TV support 24p playback? If it doesn't, the TV likely applies 3:2 pulldown during playback. Some TVs that claim to support 24p do the same thing internally. I don't know of any TV with a 24p mode that actually changes its refresh rate for 24p. Maybe they exist.

The broadcasts are also HDCP copy protected.

[Brad]

First you will need to buy an HDMI splitter that strips HDCP as a side effect. (Most don't.)

I captured a Blu-ray in 1080p24 using the HD PVR 2 on Windows, even though support for 1080p24 isn't listed in its specs. I have no idea whether this would work with the third-party Mac software.

I'm assuming you care about 5.1 audio. The other options I'm thinking of don't support AC3. A few Blackmagic Design devices support HDMI audio capture up to 8-channel in uncompressed format; you would have to re-encode the audio or leave it as enormous LPCM.

I don't know of any TV with a 24p mode that actually changes its refresh rate for 24p. Maybe they exist.

There are plenty, but you certainly have to be careful. They use frame repetition to show even multiples of 24, like 72Hz and 120Hz: http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-1080p24/

[usually_quiet]

I suggest you buy the movies.

If these movies are rentals, talking about recording them violates our warez rules.

If they aren't rentals there is only one OS X-compatible 1080p capture device that hardware encodes video to H.264 and captures 1080p, the Elgato Game Capture HD. However, it captures 1080p60 and 1080p30. 1080p delivered at 24 fps or at 23.976 fps is not included in the manufacturers list of supported resolutions. Since the manufacturer's software is the only software that works with this device, I think paying attention to what the specs say is wise.

Blackmagic Design makes some OS X-compatible devices with a Thunderbolt interface that capture 1080p video delivered at 24 fps and 23.976 fps, but they are for professional use. Unless you are a video professional who already owns the professional editing software to work with the formats they capture to, I don't think you would want them.

[Edit]I forgot that Hauppauge's HD-PVR 2 does work with HDPVRCapture on a Mac, but the specs say nothing about 1080p24
http://www.hdpvrcapture.com/wordpress/?page_id=1118