DVR to Mac

I assume there’s a way to download videos (under fair-use) from the cable company provided DVR to a computer. So I tried the obvious: I connected a Firewire from the DVR to my PowerBook. I expected the ‘external drive’ to pop up on the desktop, but it didn’t. So how do I get my computer to talk to my DVR?

It varies from model to model. My DVR has a USB socket and shows up as an external drive when you connect it to a computer. But the one I had before, the only way to get data off it was to remove the hard disk and install it in a PC, and use a third-party utility that could understand the strange file system they used.

And once you’ve extracted the videos, you may find that they’re not in a standard format. On my current DVR they are MPEGs, but with a proprietary header that has to be removed before most video player software will play them.

Worst case scenario, you get a TV adapter (either an internal card or an external USB) and capture the input by the computer. You then record that on your computer. (Have plenty of processing power and RAM available and be ready to play with it some to get the settings right.) Of course, once you’ve done that and if you save it all as an uncompressed file (need lots of hard drive space, of course), you could then encode it to play, for instance, on an iPod.

I looked into this. They seem to have this functionality for Windows machines, and they call it Tivo To Go. For Macs, I think they came out with it, only as a part of a certain piece of software made by some third party, and it costs money, $70 or $80 I think. They do have something called Tivo Desktop for Mac that you can download for free. I haven’t set it up yet but from what I gather, you can use it to transfer files onto your computer and store them there, but you have to keep them hooked up and watch the videos using the Tivo.

A little googling comes up with something called PVRExplorer for various Dish Network/Echostar DVRs. Lists both a Mac and a PC version. I haven’t tried it yet (missing a male-male USB cable) but when I do I’ll post my experience.

I just dealt with this a week or so ago, so it’s still fresh in my mind. The TiVo desktop for Macs allows you to use your networked TiVo to view photos (stored in iPhoto) and music (stored in iTunes) located on your Mac. You can’t do anything with video, be it take it off of TiVo or putting it on TiVo from your Mac.

As you say, you can buy Roxio Toast for too much money and that will let you take video off of TiVo and onto your Mac, and also allow you to burn it. Three minutes on VersionTracker, and I found a free application that is very easy to use AND will convert to different formats.

I don’t know if this will help Johnny L.A., since it sounds like it’s not a TiVo, but a generic DVR from the cable co.

It’s a Motorola from Comcast. So software aside, I think the first problem is getting the Mac to see that there’s an external device connected.

My saved recordings periodically disappear. It’s not my ‘save’ settings; the cable sometimes just goes out and wipes the DVR. Right now there’s an episode of Good Eats that has some good information on olives. I’d like to have it on my computer for reference, as I like olives and don’t feel like writing down the recipes and information. And there are several opportunities for parodies (which also fall under Fair Use) that will be good for playing with my editor.

I’ve done this. I have a Tivo and save video from it onto my Powerbook for editing, then make a DVD out of it. Only for fair-use purposes, of course.

The intermediate step I use is my camcorder. I take the RCA outputs of the Tivo, plug it into the video in of my camcorder, which is a Sony Hi-8 Handicam. It has a firewire output that I plug into the Powerbook. Then I record the video into iMovie for editing, and use iDVD to make a DVD.

I don’t know what percentage of camcorders are capable of this, but I imagine many are. It’s not a new camcorder…I bought it years ago, and chose this one primarily because of the firewire output capability (or iLink, or whatever Sony’s trademarked name is for firewire). There is no perceptible loss in quality during the transfer process.

I mainly use the firewire out of the camcorder to record my kids’ school recitals onto a DVD. Gives them a real kick to have their own disc.

Aha. I do have a 4-pin Firewire on my AG-DVX100A. That could be a possibility. (Though I’d rather just transfer the file.)

Heh, good point…that would be a lot more convenient.