[PrestonD]

I have the SA 8300HDC here in central FL on Brighthouse and am wondering if any body has any success with recording HD via the firewire ports on this unit? I have heard that some cable outlets disable the ports and am wondering if BHN does. Also if you have, can you advise what steps outside of the other link here in this forum for Firewire recording? I dont have firewire card yet and am curious as to what is ahead of me when it does arrive.

 

[zalahmar]

I've been reading on this for the last week now, and been playing around with it just as long. The bottom line is it's a hit or miss. Trying to get a capture using a PC is messy business. The problem seems related to the Firewire drivers in Windows. In my own tests, I am able to capture video using VLC from prerecorded programs on the DVR, however, there are alot of audio dropouts and video errors. CapDVHS a popular program to capture the stream crashes consistantly when errors are generated.


I did have luck ONCE two nights ago using CapDVHS where I got nearly flawless recordings off my DVR, but when I came back the next day, I couldnt get CapDVHS to record anything longer than 20 secs before it crashes.


I hear the best way to get captures are by doing it with a Mac as opposed to a PC. I am thinking of picking up a mac mini just for this purpose.

 

[PrestonD]

Thanks zalahmar,

I was hoping that Capdvhs was going to be the key....but that looks iffy due to the windows drivers. I didnt consider VLC...I am wondering if that can capture too without displaying. I just want to capture the hi def programming, edit out the commercials and then write to HD-DVD disk


I heard that you dont even need a Mac Mini that some of the older G4 macs do the trick just fine. You can pick up a refurbished G4 for about $300 with 90 day warranty. Not bad...I have been thinking the same way.