Capturing DirecTV

[Crimson Tide]

My first post folks...but I've been hanging around doing some research. Great information here.

What I'm trying to do is capture (and save in a usable format) recordings from my DirecTV receiver. DirecTV has a horrible design that if your receiver fails and has to be replaced for ANY reason, all recordings are lost...even if they are on an external drive. The recordings are encoded to a particular receiver and you can't show them on any other receiver. I could go on forever on how stupid this is and how they could protect themselves some other way, but that's for a later discussion. What is relevant is that the equipment they sell is junk. I am now on my 4th receiver...with the previous 3 failing. So I've last a lot of recordings that I wanted saved. And they flat won't repair your receiver...it's replace only. And you can't buy parts as far as I know. But I digress..

DirecTV has a software program that allows you to watch what you have recorded on your DVR on your PC. It's called DirecTV2PC. I have installed it and it appears to work fine so far. My current video card supports HDMI and that is what I'm using to my monitor. My question is, do you think it would be possible to split off this feed somehow to a capture card and be able to save my recordings? I don't know if HDCP would have to be stripped, but I would assume so. I also don't know if audio is being sent along the HDMI cable to the monitor. Right now, when I play a recording on my pc, audio is being sent to my sound card and to my external amp. But could they strip the audio from the HDMI? My initial thought is it's on the HDMI cable as well. But I don't know for sure.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

[jagabo]

DirecTV has a horrible design that if your receiver fails and has to be replaced for ANY reason, all recordings are lost...even if they are on an external drive.

Pretty much all PVRs are the same in that respect. Hollywood has forced recordings to be locked to the device that recorded them.

Yes, if you want to record the HDMI output of your computer or the DirecTV box you'll need an HDCP stripper. If the DirecTV box has component output you can record that with something like a Hauppauge HD PVR.

My old cable PVR had both HDMI and component outputs but would only output to one at a time. So when I wanted to record something with the HD PVR I had to unplug the HDMI cable to the TV.

This device (and its 1x4 big brother) can strip HDCP from HDMI:

http://www.amazon.com/CVID-BG-520-splitter-switcher-XBOX360/dp/B0089DSLMY/

It's not advertized as an HDCP stripper because it's not legal in the USA to sell a device who's "primary purpose" is to remove encryption.

[Crimson Tide]

I actually bought that splitter...but mine looks a tad different. Mine doesn't have the blue on the cover like that. If you look at the HDCP stripper thread, it was reported that the one you are showing didn't always work. The 1X4 unit I purchased I suspect will work however. I ordered it directly from China. I haven't received it yet, but they won't have the same restrictions as ones sold here. Right now, I don't have a way to test these as I haven't purchased a video card. But once I do, I will be able to test these. But again, I don't know if audio will be on the HDMI cable out of my graphics card. The DirecTV software is splitting the audio off to the sound card. Keep in mind, the recording that is coming from the DirecTV DVR to my PC is coming via CAT-VI. It is then routed to the video card and sent to my monitor on HDMI. Audio goes to the sound card. This will be interesting to see how this works.

[jagabo]

I don't know if audio will be on the HDMI cable out of my graphics card.

That will depend on your setup -- whether the computer is configured to send audio output to the HDMI port or not. If your computer does not have that capability (unlikely) you could use a HDMI/DVI A/V mixing device to add an analog or digital (coax or optical) source to the HDMI signal.

http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Digital-Optical-Toslink-Converter/dp/B0038XNTWW/

That's DVI+S/PDiff to HDMI but you get the idea.

[Crimson Tide]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have one other option. I can spring for one of DirecTV's mini-Genies. What that does is give me remote access to the full features of the base DVR. Plus it is now offered wireless. That would give me an HDMI source at my pc. As long as I can strip HDCP, I'm good. Honestly, that is far and away the best option but it has one draw back...you have to pay a monthly fee for each one of those you have. It's only $6 a month or so, but that adds up after a while...especially if you have a few of them around the house.