Questions about capturing video in PIONEER LX60

[kuba99]

I transfered all my children's vhs cassetes to the HDD of my pioneer dvr-lx60.
after finishing i noticed that the video adjust was "DTV/LDP" and not VCR.
Is it mean that i lost quality?

2. Is there a way to backup the HDD to other HDD?

3. What is the format that the dvr keep the vide files on the HDD?


Thanks

[kuba99]

????

[orsetto]

1. It doesn't mean you lost quality: the difference between these settings is so subtle it isn't noticeable when copying VHS. I have found the DTV/LDP setting gives slightly better results than the VCR setting, if anything.

2. There is no way to back the HDD up to another HDD, it uses a proprietary unix formatting structure that cannot be read or used by computers. With a great deal of effort, you could clone the entire drive for use as a backup inside the recorder, but theres very little point in this. Most video recordings are not permanently left on the machine, and it will not accept the cloned hard drive without the use of very hard to find Pioneer service tools (service remote and service DVD disc). The least expensive way to back up the hard drive is to use a bunch of DVD-R blanks that you format in the Pioneer as VR mode before recording. Copy the titles on the hard drive to these special discs using high speed copy mode. These backups cannot be played on anything but the LX60, but the advantage is the videos can be high speed copied back onto the hard drive at any time where they become "live" and editable again. You could also use DVD-RAM discs for this but they are much more expensive. Note even if the HDD has no videos at all on it, there is no way to replace the HDD in any Pioneer recorder if you don't have the Pioneer service remote and service disc. If you were thinking of expanding capacity, 500GB is the practical limit. The recorder keeps track of the hard drive status in its PRAM chip: if you disconnect the original hard drive it will know immediately. New hard drives have to be "mated" to the recorder using the service tools, because no code is saved on the hard drive: you can't "trick" the recorder by cloning.

3. See above. The videos are recorded on the hard drive in a proprietary file format that is absolutely useless outside the recorder. The videos are recorded as hundreds of very small blocks scattered around the drive using nonsense file names. A very few expert users have manages to piece together a recording from one of these drives using expensive Unix hex editor software, but it takes a very VERY long time to salvage just one recording and its very tedious. Not something to attempt unless the recorder fails and the drive holds the only existing video of your child being born.

[kuba99]

Thank you very mach Orsetto