since there are digital DVRs capable of recording HD material such as movies on HBO HD, would downloading a hd movie i own a dvd for be considered pirating? this seems to be the only option for seeing some movies in hd such as star wars and sin city.

Personally, I think this falls into a "gray area". You're not really taking money away from studios because it isn't available in HD commercially -- and you'd presumably buy the commercial version once it's released instead of hanging on to some crappy download from a TV feed.

However, to the studios -- this ain't gray at all. It's pirating.

I'm not sure what the fair use laws say, but I suspect they side with the studios. DVRs, hard drive, and other storage are probably legal only for time-shifting, not for longterm storage of copyrighted material. Although I'm not sure that the law has even kept pace with the technology.

if you were to sell it.

The 1984 court ruling/decision still stands for recording broadcasts: for private use ONLY. Any form of distribution, for monetary gain or not, is illegal. Enforcing the ruling is another matter.

thanks, i know selling would definitely be breaking the law and is the more cracked down issue. since i will only be doing this for private use i should be okay. that DLNA network stream feature hopefully will make this a reality.

There are no two ways about it, it's pirating! You're downloading something you don't own. Even if you owned a BD copy you'd still have a pirated copy.

Now whether this is immoral or not is an entirely different matter.

It's legal to record the movie onto the DVR for personal use. It's illegal to distribute a movie that has been recorded that, or any other way, unless it is through a sanctioned retail release.