I’m wondering what it is that makes HiDef DVRs so expensive, and why there aren’t garage shops making them on the cheap. A typical model costs (retail) about $600 or more, and has 2 HiDef tuners, a hard drve, some software, and then probably some miscelaneous support chips. Right? So why does it sell for so much more than it’s LoDef cousin? How much is “whatever the market will bear” and how much is actual product cost? I kow the tuners cost more, but is it really that much more?
Also, is there a way to copy shows off the hard drive, store them on another medium (blank DVD or computer hard drive) and them play them back onto the DVR? I realize this may depend on the model, but the one I’m talking about is the one used by COMCAST, which I think is made by Motorola. Or at least it’s marketed by Moto-- who knows who actually makes this stuff anymore?
Technically, there is no reason why a digital cable PVR could not record HD programs if it can already record standard def digital channels. The only difference to the PVR being the amount of hard drive space the resulting show takes up. HD programs can be up to 19 megabits per second of data, vs. 4 to 5 Mb/s for standard def.
As for your second question - due to copyright violations, there is not a legal way to do this.
If you’re looking for a way to take your HD recorded content with you, I’d encourage you to look into building your own DVR out of a computer. You could build one for $800ish with 2 HD tuners, get some free software for Windows XP, and set up your own DVR with recorded shows that have no DRM installed. That’s what I did (although not HD, since I have no HDTV).
As has been mentioned, HD tuners cost a little bit more than SD tuners. Also, HD DVRs need much more drive space than SD DVRs. However, both of these cannot make up for the price difference, so I think that maybe the tech companies are trying to make some profit off early adapters.
As for copying programs off the DVR… Well, there are ways to do that with TiVo (although I’m not allowed to tell you how here).
My Time Warner DVR has a “copy to VCR” feature that’s nice and quite unexpected, given how Big Media works these days. Unfortunately, this feature only kicks the DVRs output to a set of composite outputs, so you can hook a VCR, capture card (or in my case, an Archos portable Video Recorder) to the box and do the transfer in realtime… so there’s no way to “rip” the content.
As other have mentioned, you can always build your own too. These days, you’ll find that the single most expensive part is the case - that is, if you want one of those slick cases that look like a receiver or DVR… if you don’t mind a case that looks like a computer, then this obviosly doesn’t apply.
Legal how? As I mentioned in my previous post, the DVR I rent from my cable company has a “Copy to VCR” feature. Surely if it were illegal, the cable company wouldn’t have activated the feature (not all cable companies that use the SA8300 have activated this part of the DVR app).
If it’s illegal, why did they market dual cassette decks? Because millions of us are recording lectures at school or making our own demo tapes? How about the millions of “all in one” stereos out there that can record vinyl or radio? How about VCRs - millions of people copied VHS tapes by simply running the output from one VCR to the input of another. And what about my Archos player? I can cap a show from my DVR (or directly from cable) and copy it to my PC and do whatever with it - convert it to DivX, make a video DVD out of it, etc.
My point is, you seem to make it sound as if something that’s a civil violation (violation of copyright) is being prevented by some technological means, which is clearly not the case.
As to the OP, I just wanted to add that lots of folks with the TWC DVRs use DVD Recorders instead of VCRs, capture cards or portable DVRs. I don’t keep up with that particular market, but apparently they’ve gotten quite cheap these days.
Is your DVR a “Microsoft Moto” box or a standard Moto box? This would help with the troubleshooting.
The problem comes from making digital copies. The legislation involved is the DMCA of 1998 (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). Sending out to VCR is actually converting the signal to a lesser quality analog signal for use with a VCR. Thus the copy is of poorer quality than the original. A digital copy is the same quality no matter how many times it is copied.
These are the views of an engineer, not a lawyer. Here is a good discussion of the legal issues involved.
With my (low-def) TiVo, I can copy shows from the DVR to my PC and back, legally, using software provided by TiVo. Space shifting is fair use, and if you can do it without circumventing an access control (e.g. if it’s a built in feature of your DVR), you should be fine under the DMCA too.
