Ripping Video from Cable box DVR

[nutt318]

Alright I was wondering if it is possible to rip or some how copy the files off of the harddrive from my dvr that the cable company provides. There are a few series of programs that I would like to copy onto a DVD.

Basically can I hook up the video out from the DVR box to my capture card on my computer and do it that way? Or could I take out the hard drive from the DVR box and make it a slave and just simply drag over the tv shows ive recorded.

Ive been told that they are in a Mpeg2 format but I also heard that the hard drive is so called "married" to the motherboard, meaning the hard drive has to be plugged into that motherboard because it has a special type of key that makes the hard drive work with the OS.

Just let me know if this is possible and which would be the best way to do this.

[vegas_jay]

Basically can I hook up the video out from the DVR box to my capture card on my computer and do it that way? Or could I take out the hard drive from the DVR box and make it a slave and just simply drag over the tv shows ive recorded.

Depending on what model DVR your cable company uses, running the video out from the DVR to the video in on your capture card should work (it does for my Scientific Altanta DVR). Taking apart the DVR is probably a no-no, even if it does work (since you probably only lease the DVR from your cable company).

[nutt318]

Ok, I was jus making sure what would be the easiest way to capture, I jus wish it was easier instead of unpluggin my DVR from my living room then take it to my office to capture.

Also I have the SA 8300 box, and i get it through time warner. I actually used to work for they back in the day, and the DVRs always crapped out if they got to hot. So I guess I could give it a try and take it apart.

Do you know if the hard drive in the dvr is married to the mother board.

[edDV]

In almost all known cases, the DVR will encode the data on the hard disk and you won't be able to view it.

I have a Motorola 6208 and record off the S-Video port to my Canopus ADVC-100 with very good results especially from the DT-HDTV channels. I get better results recording the program directly from the tuner compared to recording from the disk but the difference is small.

One issue to consider. The S-Video signal will have black at 7.5 IRE. If your capture card does not capture this to digital level 16 you may get grayish blacks and you may need to correct this before authoring the DVD for best results.

[edDV]

Ok, I was jus making sure what would be the easiest way to capture, I jus wish it was easier instead of unpluggin my DVR from my living room then take it to my office to capture.

Also I have the SA 8300 box, and i get it through time warner. I actually used to work for they back in the day, and the DVRs always crapped out if they got to hot. So I guess I could give it a try and take it apart.

Do you know if the hard drive in the dvr is married to the mother board.

The SA 8300 disk data is definitely encrypted. You won't be able to read it. One interesting feature of that box is the SATA data port on the back. SA supports an external serial ATA drive for additional recording capacity. The formatting and data recorded to this drive are proprietary and encrypted. You won't be able to read it on a PC. Also, if you terminate service, you won't be able to read the drive. The only rub, Time Warner (as of January anyway) does not yet support using this port with the software provided. Go to the SA user forums for current status.

The S-Video connector is your only current window for external recording.

[nutt318]

Ok so it sounds like its not a good idea to take out the hard drive because its encryted, i guess that makes sence kinda like the xbox hard is encrypted as well.

Where at is the SA forums that tell about the SATA extra hard drive port, does this work yet, or is it a waste of time because the files will also be encrypted

[edDV]

It will also be encrypted but you get more storage space. Time Warner doesn't yet support this port in its software.

Go to SA site and join the "explorer club" for forums. Also try the AVS forums.

[nutt318]

Thanks for all of the info this helps alot, also do you know of anyone making some type of prgram to read the files on the box?


thanks again guys