Firewire on 8000HD? Does it exist?

[Benjord]

What's the deal with the Firewire port on the 8000HD DVR?  The manual shows one, but in reality there is no firewire port plug on the back of the unit.

Are there other 8000HD DVR's with 1394 plugs out there somewhere?

How in the world are we supposed to save High Definition programs from the DVR to a PC or D-VHS recorder?

Please help.

Thanks!

Dan (in Milwaukee WI)
dblitz@gmail.com

[mhz40]

Originally posted by Benjord
What's the deal with the Firewire port on the 8000HD DVR?  The manual shows one, but in reality there is no firewire port plug on the back of the unit. [cut]

Dan (in Milwaukee WI)
dblitz@gmail.com

No active firewire on any DVR... yet.  Offload to your all-in-wonder card on a PC or VHS deck of your choice?
The DVR product never claimed you could digitally copy content, however there is a firewire capable SA box (non DVR) available so you can record shows directly to HD-VHS.

[Mark Strube]

And also doesn't all content from HBO, Showtime, inHD, and HDNet have copy protection to prevent copying to DVHS or PC with firewire?

My main goal would be to digitally copy movie trailers from inHD or HDNet to my computer. If the firewire-enabled box would allow me to do that, I just might dump the 8000HD for now.

Anyone know?

[Benjord]

Good point>

I was told the other day that the standard Pioneer HD Box from Time Warner does, in fact, have an active Firewire port, however the HD DVR does not (at present).

I'm not 100% sure this information is correct (you always seem to hear something contrary when you ask around).

If there is, in fact, an active Firewire port on the HD Box, then I suppose (in theory) we would be able to record programs as they are being broadcast (assuming there is no copy protection).

So I guess the next questions is: Can we record programming in HD during a broadcast using a D-VHS recorder and a Pioneer HD Box from Time Warner?

Can anybody help?  Thanks in advance.

Dan (in Milwaukee)

[Mark Strube]

I remember once asking how I could get a box with an active firewire port... and the guy on the phone seemed to think that DVI and firewire are the same thing... so yeah DVI is active on the Pioneer box, but I do not think firewire is. Anyone care to confirm?

[Joseph S]

When I got my firewire TWC box, they actually had an internal memo in the package.

Update:
Here's the actual info:
Q6: What about IEEE 1394 support for DVR boxes?
A6: We do not presently plan to specifically provide 1394 support for DVR boxes. There is no legal requirement that we do so. In addition, some of the advanced graphic features of the DVR boxes are not supported over the 1394 interface. Therefore after April 1, 2004, customers who lease a high definition DVR box and request that we replace it with a box with 1394 functionality will lose DVR function.

[PJFW8]

For Charter folks, the next Moxi DVR is set to have Firewire.  It is due this summer according to Moxiguy on AVSForum.  It is intended to allow recording.  5c is the copy protection system.

[Benjord]

What about for Time Warner customers in Milwaukee?   Any info out there on whether or not an HD-DVR will be available with active Firewire Ports?

Also, I'm still not 100% certain if it's possible to record from a normal HD Box (not a DVR) directly onto a D-VHS recorder while a show is being broadcast?

Any accurate information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan B.
dblitz@gmail.com

[mrmike]

Originally posted by Benjord
What about for Time Warner customers in Milwaukee?   Any info out there on whether or not an HD-DVR will be available with active Firewire Ports?

Also, I'm still not 100% certain if it's possible to record from a normal HD Box (not a DVR) directly onto a D-VHS recorder while a show is being broadcast?
 

According to the TWC rep I spoke with the answer to number 1 is "No".  Take that with all the authority that a random office munchkin has.

As for 2, the answer is a qualified "Yes".  Many people have reported 5C issues with recording firewire from TWC boxen, with various degrees of success getting the issues fixed.  They mostly seem to revolve around setting the "Is this protected content" bit to True, but setting the "Record Freely" bit to True as well, which is not a valid combo for most recording devices (I am almost certainly mangling terminology but that's the gist of the issue).  I have personally managed to make a recording off a TWC HD Feed, but I didn't use a TWC box to do it, I used a third party QAM-capable tuner.  They've since changed most of their HD channerls to use encryption, even the non-sub ones.

[Benjord]

Thanks Mike,

I'm not putting much faith in the answer you got from the Time Warner Rep.   We all know if you talked with 5 different reps you could easily get 5 different answers to the same question.  I just dont' trust anything a "rep' has to say.

About recording an HD Broadcast onto a D-VHS recorder, you had mentioned this about a 3rd party QAM Capable tuner (not sure what that is),  "They've since changed most of their HD channerls to use encryption, even the non-sub ones.

Could you elaborate?  Who is "They"?  The third party QAM tuner?  Does that mean you can no longer record?

I'm just trying to find out exactly what equipment I would need in order to record HD Cable broadcasts.   Can I do it with an HD Box from Time Warner?   Will I need to go to TIVO?  Voom?

How is this going to get accomplished?

Thanks a ton.

Dan
dblitz@gmail.com

[mrmike]

Originally posted by Benjord
About recording an HD Broadcast onto a D-VHS recorder, you had mentioned this about a 3rd party QAM Capable tuner (not sure what that is),  "They've since changed most of their HD channerls[sic] to use encryption, even the non-sub ones.

Could you elaborate?  Who is "They"?  The third party QAM tuner?  Does that mean you can no longer record?
 

"They" is TWC.  They were sending QAM channels "in the clear", but they are now encrypting them.  I have a set top box (LG3410) that does unencrypted QAM, and it used to work on some of the TWC channels, but it doesn't anymore (at least not the ones I've tried).  I have it hooked up to OTA now and it's a hassle to change it so I haven't tried in a while.

[mhz40]

'They' still do not encrypt the network HD channels (NBC, FOX, PBS, ABC & CBS).
mrmike may want to try and rescan channels, call 'them' for a free service call or replace a possible bad tuner in his LG3410.
Good luck!:D

[Benjord]

Interesting.  

What about the cable HD stations like HBO, ESPN, INHD, HDNET, etc etc?   Is it possible to record these stations off the Time Warner HD cable box directly onto a D-VHS Recorder while it's being broadcast?

If so, HOW?

This is the $1 Million question (sorry, I can't pay you right away).

Thanks,

Dan (in Milwaukee)
dblitz@gmail.com

[mrmike]

Originally posted by mhz40
'They' still do not encrypt the network HD channels (NBC, FOX, PBS, ABC & CBS).
mrmike may want to try and rescan channels, call 'them' for a free service call or replace a possible bad tuner in his LG3410.
Good luck!:D

I was more interested in ESPN, INHD, HDNET, etc. when I was looking to record.  I can get the networks off of OTA pretty cleanly without too much grief.  One of these days when I have nothing scheduled to record for a couple days I'll swap it over and try again just for yucks, though I'm guessing they're all encrypted now (even the non-subbed ones)

While I had QAM decoding I could stream directly to my D-VHS deck.  I would assume that any Firewire enabled HD STB from TWC would offer the same functionality, but I can't swear to it.

-MM

[mhz40]

Originally posted by Benjord
Interesting.  

What about the cable HD stations like HBO, ESPN, INHD, HDNET, etc etc?   Is it possible to record these stations off the Time Warner HD cable box directly onto a D-VHS Recorder while it's being broadcast?

If so, HOW?

This is the $1 Million question (sorry, I can't pay you right away).

Thanks,

Dan (in Milwaukee)
dblitz@gmail.com

It's the $5 million dollar question.  I don't have an answer.  I guess you need to find a recording device that accepts component inputs.