I am trying to figure out a way to get shows off of my DVR to my computer. My cable company has disabled the usb and sata ports on their dvr's. Is there any way of hooking up the dvr via an hdmi cable to the computer so I can capture the show?
Does your computer have any video inputs? You can get video cards with various inputs available -- HDMI, standard composite, RGB, s-video, etc. and they will capture video to a file. You just have to choose any video output from your DVR and match it to the same type of video input on a video card.
Not that I have any use for this, but an interesting question. I would guess you will need something higher end to be able to capture HD.
Well it is amazing what you can find on the interwebs. Did a search the other night and didn't find anything really pertaining unless I wanted to buy a capture card. Now tonight I did the same kind of search but worded a bit differently and got a hit that indicated I can use my firewire connection to get live broadcasts from my dvr, and a possibility to get the recorded material off as well. I am now off to Best Buy to get a longer firewire cable and see if it works. And this is suppose to work for HD (720i/p and 1080i) broadcasts too!
Do you mean that your dvr has a firewire connector? Your computer may be able to handle it if it has the proper firewire device drivers and software. HDMI connection requires an HDMI interface on the computer side, i.e. a video card.
Yes, my dvr has firewire out. I know for sure I can get live TV out to my computer and can capture that. Now all I need to verify is whether or not I can get recorded shows to copy.
It will depend on the copy protection in your dvr. It might not allow firewire streaming for any recorded material, or block individual programs that are flagged with DRM. The only foolproof way to make a copy is to do a video capture from one of the analog outputs.
That's what I need to check, the extent of the DRM. I didn't want to have to get a new card, so was trying to find a way around that. Haven't gotten my firewire cable yet, Best Buy didn't have one long enough.