Initially, member ClintonH was helping me out with this issue and told me to try firewire. While the firewire on my STB does work, I found a new hurdle. I'm using Vista x64. From my research, there are no 64bit SA8300HD drivers. This pretty much counts the firewire transferring out. Therefore, do you know of any other way to at LEAST capture pre-recorded shows to the PC? I'm not as concerned with LiveTV as I am with pre-recorded TV.

The only other way I can think of is via a capture card and using the monitor out of the TV, into the capture card. That should record whatever is on the screen, even though it won't be in HD since I'd be forced to use composite cables...Using coax from the cable box to the capture card wouldn't work, would it?

BTW, I'm using the Scientific Atlantic SA8300HDC and Time Warner Cable...

Thanks in advance guys...

The only other way I can think of is via a capture card and using the monitor out of the TV, into the capture card. That should record whatever is on the screen, even though it won't be in HD since I'd be forced to use composite cables...Using coax from the cable box to the capture card wouldn't work, would it?
There are cards available that capture HD via HDMI or YPbPr, such as the Intensity Pro (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/). There are also stand-alone devices that record HDMI or YPbPr, such as the Gefen HD-PVR (http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4306), and those recordings can be copied to a PC. If you can wait, there will be a device from Hauppauge (http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/pressroom.html) that digitizes the YPbPr signal, encodes it to h.264, and sends it over USB to a PC, where it is stored on a hard drive, all in realtime.

There are cards available that capture HD via HDMI or YPbPr, such as the Intensity Pro (http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/). There are also stand-alone devices that record HDMI or YPbPr, such as the Gefen HD-PVR (http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4306), and those recordings can be copied to a PC. If you can wait, there will be a device from Hauppauge (http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/pressroom.html) that digitizes the YPbPr signal, encodes it to h.264, and sends it over USB to a PC, where it is stored on a hard drive, all in realtime.

so can you use one of these options to transfer shows off of the DVR's and then once on the PC burn the show to a BD-R?

so can you use one of these options to transfer shows off of the DVR's and then once on the PC burn the show to a BD-R?
I don't see any reason why you couldn't burn them to a BD-R. I don't have a BD drive, so I haven't tried.

I don't either but before I spend the cash on these products I was hoping that someone had tried and suceeded.

I don't either but before I spend the cash on these products I was hoping that someone had tried and suceeded.
Do you have a BD burner? I could point you to some sample clips to download, if you want to try burning them.

no I don't have one yet, but I'd be willing to purchase one to test out the downloads, please provide the link to the downloads and I will work on getting a BD burner to test.

thanks

There is a link to some clips from the Intensity card in post #5 of this thread.
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=94079

BM_MotionJPEG_59.94_4.2.2_60i_1920x1080.avi was captured using the MotionJPEG codec, and BM_Uncompressed_4.2.2_60i_1920x1080.avi was captured uncompressed. To use these, you first need to download and install the Intensity software codecs, which can be used even if you don't have the card.
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/software/

It's also possible to use the Intensity card to capture as MPEG-2 in realtime, if your CPU is fast enough. There is a link to such a clip in post #1 of this thread.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30607

I have not seen any online clips from the Gefen HD-PVR, but this thread has a link to a 720p clip (named File0200.MOV) that uses the same h.264 video and AAC audio formats that the Gefen uses.
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=583516&forum_id=92

The Hauppage says it can burn HD to DVD to play back on Bluray Players using AVCHD codec. I'll give that a try instead of a Bluray burner thanks for the links though!

The Hauppage says it can burn HD to DVD to play back on Bluray Players using AVCHD codec. I'll give that a try instead of a Bluray burner thanks for the links though!

This one? http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/hd_pvr.html