OK, I have a Dish receiver with the DVR. I also have an external hard drive attached via the USB connector. All of what’s on there was recorded from the HD channels.
I’d like to be able to save some shows off to DVD. The Dish receiver has HDMI and Component outputs with the Component not in use.
I don’t currently have a Blu-Ray recorder, and they seem to be pretty pricey anyway, so I’m wondering if I can transfer the HD shows to a standard def DVD? I don’t think so, at least not without some sort of conversion device. Is this correct?
I found this device that goes between the DVR and a PC. It apparently comes with software to “down convert” the HD signal to standard def.
Anyone have any experience with this? Maybe I should just look for a stand alone Blu-Ray recorder?
I don’t know anything about your DVR, but on mine, it has the HD outputs, but also still has the regular old composite/RCA jack outputs, and those still output an image for all shows, even HD recordings. I would think that at the very least you’d be able to connect those outputs to your DVD recorder and get your shows that way. No, they wouldn’t be in HD anymore, but you probably already knew that, since DVD isn’t HD to begin with.
I’ve recorded shows from my DVR to a VCR, no problem. But your equipment may have different functions than mine, YMMV, etc. There’s also a chance something like Macrovision might be somehow involved and mess things up. They like to make this stuff hard.