Hdcp stripping / Capture (bit-4-bit)

[themaster1]

I bought this nice sony dvd/hdd recorder (kinda old) with hdmi output and i'm trying to find a way to extract the videos from the hdd to my pc. (i've already tried to remove the hdd, mount it onto my pc, copy videos.. it's a real hassle but possible)

It seems to me hdmi would be the simplest way. I understand hdcp block protected HD content but what about non protected SD content ? I want to avoid the analog <-> digital convert step, only bit for bit
This dvd recorder support output 480i/p ,720p,1080p amongst others through hdmi

Assuming it's possible i'm looking for a cheap capture card (pci, pcie or usb)

[netmask56]

https://beyonwiz.com.au/accessories/hdmi-splitters/ This one would work for you. I'm sure you would be able to find one in Europe or order one from Hong Kong via eBay. The T4 and U4 are PVR to either an internal disc or external or network etc and has an HDMI capture record input to 1080p. It takes care of HDCP, works well with Chromecast as well.

[Cornucopia]

Nothing is guaranteed. Use at your own risk. The way HDCP works, even devices that work now could very well not work in future (e.g. hd fury).

Scott

[themaster1]

https://beyonwiz.com.au/accessories/hdmi-splitters/ This one would work for you. HDMI capture record input to 1080p. It takes care of HDCP

What about 480/576i, it's what i'm most interested in actually.
On the PC side i'd need a hdmi capture card aswell what do you recommand, same for the software to grab the streams.

dvd recorder (hdmi out)-> splitter (hdcp stripped) > pc (hdmi in) + tv (hdmi in)

[jwillis84]

There is software on GitHub for "salvaging" recordings from

Pioneer 520, 633, 545, 550

Sony HXD995

Here > pioneer-rec

Its not an easy thing to do.

You have to remove the drive and attach it to a PC.

The recovered recordings will be reconstructed and copied to a drive other than the original which the PC can normally access.

Also removing the drive may trigger a maintenance procedure that requires a very hard to obtain service remote to reconnect the drive to the recorder.

The OPs original recorder model was not mentioned, but many later Sony recorders were based on the later Pioneer models.

The recovered files should be bit for bit accurate with the original recordings and not experience generation loss or upconversion.

A different option is to burn an optical disc, preferrably a DVD-RAM if that model supports that disc type and copy that to the PC. There will be generation loss in the conversion to DVD standard MPEG2 and the results will depend on the originals recording quality and "speed".. also only 4 GB chunks of a large video can be copied at a time and would need to be rejoined afterwards on the PC.. but it could be done. VideoRedo is software that specializes in unique formats that other software may not support and could be useful in this case. the DVD-RAM format is mentioned only because it has a far greater read/write cycle lifetme than DVD-RW although both are fairly long.

Game "strippers" that neglect to reproduce the hdcp signal on the duplicated hdmi outputs are unreliable to find because the manufacturers are required to upgrade their models for sale to remove the unintended feature. There also tends to be quality loss in the signal.

DVD Recorders are at their heart SD not HD signal devices, the best signal is probably s-video out if file salvaging is not possible. Good s-video capture devices that produce PC files for output are becoming more rare. However I have had good luck with the Magewell Pro HDMI capture card.. it (can) capture HDMI output (with sound) without hdcp copy protection, but more importantly it has a DB9 input with a breakout cable for s-video, component and composite inputs (with sound).

Perhaps more importantly about the Magewell cards however is their drivers for Windows, Linux and MacOS if you go

Here > Pro family Specs

And scroll down you can page through many device driver option screens to see the depth of their feature support for DirectX

These are not cheap cards, but can be occasionally found for 100 usd used. The drivers are not shipped with the cards but are made available for download from their website. They can capture in full YUV lossless format or in various MPEG assisted lossey formats, combining the audio capture with the video capture in one place also reduces the chance of interferance and lip sync loss. (as with most capture cards) AGC or susceptability to macrovision or blanking levels interference leading to "bright flashes" in the overall image is possible.. I haven't the experience with this card to state its resilience to this problem, but the driver option pages lead me to think the manufacturer put a lot of thought into this product and would try to compensate for it.

One thing to be aware of is driver support for Windows starts at Windows 7 and goes up through Windows 10. And these are PCI 2.0 Express x1 cards, not PCI "legacy" 2.x or the older AGP interface cards. USB dongle versions of these cards are available at a higher cost and come in a metal shell. I do not have any of those USB versions, but the metal shell helps with heat removal. Even more expensive cards have multiple capture ports per card, and multiple capture cards can be inserted into the same PC, the device drivers enumerate the cards in the Device manager screen on the PC by the hexidecimal rotary switch on the individual cards.. it can be changed for additional cards.. and this helps with selecting the exact card being used in the device name. For example VLC will properly display a specific cards name by its assigned number in all of its drop downs. VLC is also a cited supported application for these cards. VirtualDub is also a cited supported application for these cards.

For all these Capture cards design and support however, there is no denying a good input signal to them is needed. A good playback source may still have signal degradation that could be interpeted as Copy Protection or interfere with Black levels and White levels. Digitial Signal Noise Reduction and Line or Frame time Base Correction will help. A Digital blanking interval "Corrector" can also help to stablize or reset Copy Protection indicators so they are not misinterpreted. A Proc Amp can help with frame level issues but does not take the place of these other devices since it is not a "Noise Reducer" or "Corrector" and can only superficially "mask" underlying signal problems.