Hooking up DVD HD and Tv's to satellite?

[JohnHKart]

I currently have cable and a DVD HArd Drive Recorder hooked up to record stuff. How does it work if I switch to satellite? With cable, I just program in the channel I want to record on the DVD Hard Drive Recorder and can keep watching shows on other channels on my tv, just as it's always been. Can somebody explain to me how all that works with satellite? And one more, no I don't want/have Tivo or the company's DVR, I have my own DVD Hard Drive Recording system.

John

[indyfan31]

Your cable box (and the new Sat box) has to have 2 separate tuners to do this.
Does your cable box have 2 separate sets of video/audio outputs?
How do you have the cable/HD/TV connected in relation to each other?

[JohnHKart]

One VCR is connected to the cable box, and I can only view the digital cable box through the VCR on one of the TV's AV inputs. The DVD Hard Drive Recorder is connected to the outside cable line (no cable box and not digital) and then it is plugged into the TV. Both the DVD Hard Drive Recorder and TV can tune to channels seperately.

John

[dando]

One VCR is connected to the cable box, and I can only view the digital cable box through the VCR on one of the TV's AV inputs. The DVD HD is connected to the outside cable line (no cable box and not digital) and then it is plugged into the TV. Both the DVD HD and TV can tune to channels seperately.

John
Can't do that w/DBS. Gotta have a box to decode the signal. :(

-Kevin

[indyfan31]

Can't do that w/DBS. Gotta have a box to decode the signal. :(

-Kevin
I'm afraid Kevin's right. That Tivo/DVR really is a good solution, it has the two separate tuners built in and the Season Pass option is very cool for setting and forgetting.

[cameraman]

How does it work if I switch to satellite?

I doesn't work.

You can not save the digital signal to any type of external storage media.

The satellite receivers use an HDMI-encoded HDTV digital audio/video output so unless your recorder has the HDMI chip it won't work. And I don't know of a recorder that has the required chip.

You can downgrade the content to SDTV and record it on a regular VCR but you will take a huge quality hit.

The reason is simple, the content providers want to sell you those $24.95 DVDs they advertise at the end of every show. Why would you buy one if you could record the digital signal at home?

The satellite DVRs are the same way. You can store 25 hours of HDTV but when the disk fills up you have to start deleting things. There is no way to get the data off the DVR and onto a DVD.

This might change. The newest DishNetwork HD DVR receiver has a USB 2.0 port but it isn't functional. "†Enabled by a future software upgrade." and don't hold your breath waiting for that upgrade.

[indyfan31]

I doesn't work.

You can not save the digital signal to any type of external storage media.

...

There is no way to get the data off the DVR and onto a DVD.

Does what you're saying above only apply to the HD signal? Because I can take the A/V out from the SAT box and run it into DVD recorder and save it that way.

[KLang]

I'm pretty sure when John said HD he meant Hard Disk rather then Hi Def.

As indyfan31 said, you will need a two tuner satellite receiver to do what you want. I know Dishnetwork make them. I assume someone make one for DirectTV. The trick will be that between the DVD recorder and the satellite box, one is going to have to control the other as far as starting a recording on the DVD recorder and setting the right channel on the Satellite tuner. My Dishnetwork receivers have the ability to control a VCR via IR although I've never tried it.

[Gnam]

The satellite DVRs are the same way. You can store 25 hours of HDTV but when the disk fills up you have to start deleting things. There is no way to get the data off the DVR and onto a DVD.
Most DVR's can connect to a computer through a USB connection. From there you can burn a DVD or store the program on a hard drive.
http://www.tivo.com/4.9.19.asp

[cameraman]

NOT the satellite ones. The current models do not have a USB port.

[indyfan31]

I'm pretty sure when John said HD he meant Hard Disk rather then Hi Def....
I thought so at first but DVD Hard Disk didn't make sense. But if there's no HD involved then my suggestion of running the A/V outs to a regular consumer DVD recorder should do the trick. My DirectTV/Tivo box (R-10) has a "Save to VCR" option that would do the same for a DVD recorder.
Anyway the DVRs you get from the SAT companies DO have USB ports, but they don't do anything. If you connect it to a PC, the computer will "see" it and assign it an IP but that's it, no functionality.
However, from Gnam's link it looks like the Tivo brand DVRs do have the capability to dump to a PC through the USB port.

[KLang]

I thought so at first but DVD Hard Disk didn't make sense.

Just a Tivo type unit with a built in DVD recorder for archiving. panasonic (http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelList?storeId=15001&catalogId=13401&catGroupId=24987&cacheProgram=11002&cachePartner=7000000000000005702)

[cameraman]

Does what you're saying above only apply to the HD signal? Because I can take the A/V out from the SAT box and run it into DVD recorder and save it that way.

Yes but you are taking a quality hit in the process. The A/V out is an analog signal. The DVD recorder is going to convert it back to digital and store it. That digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion process kills the quality of the original digital satellite signal. The degradation is noticable if you are watching the original digital signal upconverted onto an HDTV vs the recording you made. Although on an SDTV you might not notice it as much.

The HDTV you get from a satellite can't be dumped to your computer for storage. The USB ports are disabled at this time. The DVR is a dead end, there is no way to get the data off of the machine. May I add that this sucks beyond words.

Off air HDTV is another matter entirely. You can record the HDTV signal on your computer, store it, burn it off to DVD and play it again using your computer and still have true HDTV at the end of the day if you have something like an EyeTV 500 and a very fast Macintosh with some large high speed hard drives. Now if we could just get CBS and/or NBC to produce the races in HD...

[JohnHKart]

Oops I should have spelled the whole word. It's a Phillips DVD Hard Drive recorder with a DVD burner. So I just want to know if I can record to the Hard Drive and VCR the way I'm doing it now with Cable. Thanks, sorry for the confusion.

John

[cameraman]

I assume your current set up is a coaxial cable hooked to the Phillips DVD Recorder and you are using the NTSC tuner in the recorder to set the channel.

If that is the case you can not do that with a satellite.

The satellite receivers are very much like the old style cable TV set top boxes where you set the channel with the box and leave the TV set to channel 3 or 4.

[Gnam]

The satellite receivers are very much like the old style cable TV set top boxes where you set the channel with the box and leave the TV set to channel 3 or 4.
That's Video 1 to you pal. :p

[JohnHKart]

I assume your current set up is a coaxial cable hooked to the Phillips DVD Recorder and you are using the NTSC tuner in the recorder to set the channel.

If that is the case you can not do that with a satellite.

The satellite receivers are very much like the old style cable TV set top boxes where you set the channel with the box and leave the TV set to channel 3 or 4.

Ok thanks. You guys are confirming, I had pretty much figured what I will have to do is set the satellite tuner by hand than record on the VCR or DVD Hard Drive on Ch 3 or 4. I'm already having to do this with the Digital Cable box. Meanwhile I'll need a separate satellite tuner just to watch tv while im recording, but they do set you up for 3 or 4 rooms so no problem. Ah well it's extra work but I'm gonna save around 20 bucks a month on cable.

John