Copying from a DVR to DVD

[HornHawk]

So I bought a DVR (not a TiVO) that allows you to burn directly from the hard disk to a DVD. Now this is pretty cool, because I can load old home movies or VHS's into a connected VCR and then transfer them to DVD. But here is a bizarre twist.

I recently recorded a movie off Starz. I didn't want to keep hogging up hard disk space, so I wanted to transfer it to DVD. When I tried to transfer it, a message came up and said it was copy protected. I thought that might be the case with DVD's and trying to copy off them, but how do they do copy protection in movies shown over Starz? This copy protection is not in the movie if it is shown on commercial tv. Is there a way to bypass that?

 

[Frank the Tank]

Mind if I ask how much a DVR DVD burner combo costs? How many recording hours does it hold? I really would like to figure out how to burn DVD's of my DishNetworkDVR but have not had much luck in finding out how.

 

[HornHawk]

Well, this Toshiba unit I bought cost right about $400 (including tax). It has an 80 GB hard drive. For about $100 more, you can get one with a 160 GB drive. The burner is actually in the unit itself, which is convenient. It has a firewire connection, so you can hook your digital camera right up to the unit and download, or it also has A/V input ability if you don't have firewire.

The only problems I have had with it so far is that I can't get the channels automatically preset with the Dish Network. You might be able to do that with the cable service or Direct TV. I don't know. I have to have the DISH box set on the channel I want to record from if I am doing a timed recording. That's a problem if there are two programs back to back I want to record and they're on different channels.

The other problem is the one I mentioned above about copy protection.

 

[Frank the Tank]

That is a pretty big problem. One of my favorite features is that I simply preset the shows I like to record every week. It even adjusts for scheduling changes. Not having to remember to set the DVR is really convenient and easy. It's great when I am out on Sunday evening and remember that the simpsons will be on in a 10 minutes.

 

[HornHawk]

Well, I suspect you can do it, I just haven't figured out how to do the channel changes with the system. The codes given in the instructions don't work with the Echostar box, but maybe it was made by another company that it would work for.

 

[HoustonHorn93]

Frank -- it's very easy to get your shows out of the DishNetwork DVR onto DVD. I do it all the time. The DVR has several output ports on the back. My first set of outputs goes directly to my tv. The second set of outputs goes to an auxilliary input jack on the back of my DVR recorder. I've also got another set of inputs on my DVD record on the front side that I sometimes hookup my video camera or portable dvd player to.

The just bought a cheap DVD recorder from Walmart. It's an Emerson. I can't read the model number right now but it was only $150. I've had it hooked up like this for several months now without any problems. The primary reason I did it was to clear my DVR of all my kids shows/movies. I'll probably start recording Longhorn football games next fall and edit out all of the fluff time.