Comcast HD DVR Questions.

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do this.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 03:31:44 +0000, Robert D. Courtland wrote:

> I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
> the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
> me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
> the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
> this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
> DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
> will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
> 2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do this.

The ComCast HD DVR is a closed box. Unlike the ReplayTV, you can't
network it and thus copy programs from it to your computer. Also, you
don't own the box. You can't open it and change out the hard drive. We
RTVers give up HD recording in order to get the features you want.

Sorry for the bad news,

Margaret

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Robert D. Courtland wrote:
> I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
> the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
> me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
> the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
> this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
> DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
> will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
> 2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do
> this.

Ok, I won't tell you that Comcast won't let you do this, if you insist.
You'll have to figure it out yourself then.

But I will tell you this, Comcast does not have the tolerence for
end-user hacking that Tivo does. If you want to hack on your DVR,
you'll be much better off with a Tivo DVR. But even with a Tivo you
can't just drop in a bigger hard drive, you'd need to hack it first.

Besides, don't you think the Tivo and replay TV forums are poor places
to be discussing a DVR that is neither a Tivo nor a Replay device?

Randy S.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

In article <AyHze.1185$ZN6.183@trnddc02>,
"Robert D. Courtland" <courtlnd@bellatlantic.net> wrote:

> I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
> the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
> me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
> the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
> this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
> DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
> will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
> 2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do this.

I will not tell you what you asked not to hear, but that is the case.

This is a TiVo group, Troll.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

No it's not. It's a ReplayTV group. (Again proving Jack doesn't know Zhit.)


On 7/9/05 2:20 AM, in article
jackzwick-EE7EB8.02205709072005@newssvr11-ext.news.prodigy.com, "Jack Zwick"
<jackzwick@yahoo.com> wrote:

> In article <AyHze.1185$ZN6.183@trnddc02>,
> "Robert D. Courtland" <courtlnd@bellatlantic.net> wrote:
>
>> I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
>> the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
>> me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
>> the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
>> this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
>> DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
>> will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
>> 2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do this.
>
> I will not tell you what you asked not to hear, but that is the case.
>
> This is a TiVo group, Troll.


_______________________________________________________________________________
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[Jason]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On 9 Jul 2005 14:32:59 GMT, George Kerby wrote:

>No it's not. It's a ReplayTV group. (Again proving Jack doesn't know Zhit.)
>
>
>On 7/9/05 2:20 AM, in article
>jackzwick-EE7EB8.02205709072005@newssvr11-ext.news.prodigy.com, "Jack Zwick"
>>
>> This is a TiVo group, Troll.
>

Hey George, the original post was sent out to both newsgroups,
just like your own. Both you and Jack should turn on the little
'warn when sending to multiple newsgroups' option, if your
newsreaders have it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

You're both right! *cue cheesy infomercial music*

Ken

"George Kerby" <ghost_topper@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BEF54A49.21953%ghost_topper@hotmail.com...
> No it's not. It's a ReplayTV group. (Again proving Jack doesn't know Zhit.)
>
> On 7/9/05 2:20 AM, in article
> jackzwick-EE7EB8.02205709072005@newssvr11-ext.news.prodigy.com, "Jack Zwick"
> <jackzwick@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> I will not tell you what you asked not to hear, but that is the case.
>>
>> This is a TiVo group, Troll.

 

[JiN]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:13:50 -0400, Jason wrote:

>On 9 Jul 2005 14:32:59 GMT, George Kerby wrote:
>
>>No it's not. It's a ReplayTV group. (Again proving Jack doesn't know Zhit.)
>>
>>
>>On 7/9/05 2:20 AM, in article
>>jackzwick-EE7EB8.02205709072005@newssvr11-ext.news.prodigy.com, "Jack Zwick"
>>>
>>> This is a TiVo group, Troll.
>>
>
>Hey George, the original post was sent out to both newsgroups,
>just like your own. Both you and Jack should turn on the little
>'warn when sending to multiple newsgroups' option, if your
>newsreaders have it.

And YOU shouldn't be crossposting!!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Well. let me explaing about DVR's.. There are basically 3 kinds of DVRs

1: Replay TV.... DVArchive is a free download or two (You need JRE too)
and it does exactly what you wish and much much more

2: TIVO: Recently added that feature, you BUY the software from
Microsoft however, no such thing as a free lunch

3; All the others... Do the lettes S.O.L. mean any anything "(Sorry out
[of] Luck) Sorry, no-can do at this time

Exception... Some of the cable DVR's have a built in DVD toaster and
will toast a DVD-RW... Note SOME

Robert D. Courtland wrote:
> I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
> the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
> me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
> the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
> this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
> DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
> will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
> 2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do
> this.
>

--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"John in Detroit" <Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:40Uze.1807$ER6.1266@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...
> Well. let me explaing about DVR's.. There are basically 3 kinds of DVRs
>
> 1: Replay TV.... DVArchive is a free download or two (You need JRE too) and
> it does exactly what you wish and much much more
>
> 2: TIVO: Recently added that feature, you BUY the software from Microsoft
> however, no such thing as a free lunch

The part of the software you need to buy to use TivoToGo is the MPEG2 codec,
and it doesn't come from Microsoft. There are many sources for MPEG2 codecs,
and if you have DVD playback on your computer, you probably already own one of
them and don't need to buy anything. The software to transfer shows on or off
of the Tivo is free.

You need an MPEG2 codec to play ReplayTV files, too.

Ken

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Since when (TiVo group?)

And we told him what he did not want to hear

Jack Zwick wrote:
> In article <AyHze.1185$ZN6.183@trnddc02>,
> "Robert D. Courtland" <courtlnd@bellatlantic.net> wrote:
>
>
>>I am new to DVRs. I have the latest Comcast HD DVR. I believe it to be
>>the latest Motorola model. The DVR has an 80 gig hard drive. This gives
>>me about 8 2 hour HD programs to record. I want to take the programs off
>>the DVR and transfer them to a computer hard drive. How do I go about
>>this? Also, would it be hard to change out the hard drive in the Comcast
>>DVR with a larger hard drive? Do I just pop in a new hard drive and it
>>will automatically format? What size hard drive is used in these units,
>>2 1/2 or 3 1/2? Please do not tell me Comcast will not allow you to do this.
>
>
> I will not tell you what you asked not to hear, but that is the case.
>
> This is a TiVo group, Troll.

--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Pot----Kettle----Black
"Jin" <jim@notemail.id> wrote in message
news:7830d19uk74lhcscp0cp6jcopa96t356l4@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:13:50 -0400, Jason wrote:
>
>>On 9 Jul 2005 14:32:59 GMT, George Kerby wrote:
>>
>>>No it's not. It's a ReplayTV group. (Again proving Jack doesn't know
>>>Zhit.)
>>>
>>>
>>>On 7/9/05 2:20 AM, in article
>>>jackzwick-EE7EB8.02205709072005@newssvr11-ext.news.prodigy.com, "Jack
>>>Zwick"
>>>>
>>>> This is a TiVo group, Troll.
>>>
>>
>>Hey George, the original post was sent out to both newsgroups,
>>just like your own. Both you and Jack should turn on the little
>>'warn when sending to multiple newsgroups' option, if your
>>newsreaders have it.
>
> And YOU shouldn't be crossposting!!
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able
to save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was
able to play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.

Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source
for the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed
up by Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know

Ken Alverson wrote:
> "John in Detroit" <Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:40Uze.1807$ER6.1266@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...
>
>>Well. let me explaing about DVR's.. There are basically 3 kinds of DVRs
>>
>>1: Replay TV.... DVArchive is a free download or two (You need JRE too) and
>>it does exactly what you wish and much much more
>>
>>2: TIVO: Recently added that feature, you BUY the software from Microsoft
>>however, no such thing as a free lunch
>
>
> The part of the software you need to buy to use TivoToGo is the MPEG2 codec,
> and it doesn't come from Microsoft. There are many sources for MPEG2 codecs,
> and if you have DVD playback on your computer, you probably already own one of
> them and don't need to buy anything. The software to transfer shows on or off
> of the Tivo is free.
>
> You need an MPEG2 codec to play ReplayTV files, too.
>
> Ken
>
>

--
John F Davis, in Delightful Detroit. WA8YXM(at)arrl(dot)net
"Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your business"
Diabetic? http/community.compuserve.com/diabetes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

John in Detroit wrote:
> One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able
> to save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was
> able to play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.
>
> Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source
> for the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed
> up by Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know

It was not necessary for me to purchase any codec to view my Tivo2go
video files, I believe it was included in the free Tivo desktop download.

However, in order to *burn* those files to DVD it is supposedly required
to buy software for around $50. There are several workarounds for that
though.

Randy S.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"John in Detroit" <Blanked@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:V%5Ae.1$Ih7.0@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com...
> One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able to
> save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was able to
> play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.
>
> Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source for
> the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed up by
> Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know
>

SNIP

Yes both he and the magazine have it wrong. You do not have to buy Tivo2Go
you can download it right off the Tivo site. You MAY need to purchase Sonic
MyDVD if you want to burn DVD copies of the programming you've transfered to
your PC.

TC

 

[Sam]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 09:27:24 -0400, "Randy S." <rswitt@NOSPAM.com>
wrote:

>John in Detroit wrote:
>> One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able
>> to save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was
>> able to play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.
>>
>> Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source
>> for the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed
>> up by Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know
>
>It was not necessary for me to purchase any codec to view my Tivo2go
>video files, I believe it was included in the free Tivo desktop download.
>
>However, in order to *burn* those files to DVD it is supposedly required
>to buy software for around $50. There are several workarounds for that
>though.
>

Are they really requiring you to buy a special spftware package, or is
that just what they're selling and you could use any DVD authoring
software?

>Randy S.

--
Mark Lloyd
has a Replay 5xxx
http/notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The idea that there is an invisible being who
created and still runs this old universe is so
childish, so obviously contrived, that it is hard to
believe anyone with even a modicum of education can
still fall for that scam."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"Randy S." <rswitt@NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:dar7ns$a6u$1@spnode25.nerdc.ufl.edu...
> John in Detroit wrote:
>> One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able to
>> save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was able to
>> play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.
>>
>> Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source for
>> the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed up by
>> Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know
>
> It was not necessary for me to purchase any codec to view my Tivo2go video
> files, I believe it was included in the free Tivo desktop download.
>
> However, in order to *burn* those files to DVD it is supposedly required to
> buy software for around $50. There are several workarounds for that though.

There are two issues here. To *play* TivoToGo files, you need to have an
MPEG2 decompressor (often called a codec, but that's not technically accurate,
since a CoDec is a Compressor/Decompressor, and most "MPEG2 codecs" are just
the decompression half). This is something that is not free, but you may
already have, because all DVD players need an MPEG2 decompressor, and many
people have DVD players on their computer.

To *burn* a TivoToGo file as a DVD, you need an MPEG2 decompressor *and* an
MPEG2 compressor (the Tivo video is stored in MPEG2, but it is not the right
resolution and format to be put directly on a DVD, so it must be decompressed,
processed, and recompressed). DVD authoring software includes an MPEG2
compressor. You do not need to buy the Tivo specific DVD authoring software,
but if you buy another one, you should check http/www.tivocommunity.com/
first to see if people have had good luck getting that software to take tivo
files as input.

Ken

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

"Sam" <ssam@dont.spam> wrote in message
news:k34bd1dbi5j04qiqs5d2omsd726or0mmk4@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 09:27:24 -0400, "Randy S." <rswitt@NOSPAM.com>
> wrote:
>>John in Detroit wrote:
>>> One of my co-workers has a TIVO, he has the interface card and is able
>>> to save TIVO shows to his hard drive. He was imnpressed that I was
>>> able to play my REPLAY saved shows without buying additional software.
>>>
>>> Now, personally. I only know what I'm told about TIVO, and the source
>>> for the need to buy TiVo2Go was one of the computer magazines. Backed
>>> up by Eric (My Co-Worker) Perhaps he has it wrong, I don't know
>>
>>It was not necessary for me to purchase any codec to view my Tivo2go
>>video files, I believe it was included in the free Tivo desktop download.
>>
>>However, in order to *burn* those files to DVD it is supposedly required
>>to buy software for around $50. There are several workarounds for that
>>though.
>>
>
> Are they really requiring you to buy a special spftware package, or is
> that just what they're selling and you could use any DVD authoring
> software?

Tivo isn't the one selling it, Sonic is. And while I've heard of success
using a number of different DVD authoring programs that aren't designed
specifically for Tivo, the Sonic product actually claims support, which means
if it doesn't work, you can complain and expect an answer. Other products
that use DirectShow based input (and don't mind that your file has a ".tivo"
extension) should just work, but if they don't, you may or may not get help
from them.

That said, my personal experience with Sonic MyDVD on Tivo files was that it
produced a rather poor looking DVD (it was very jaggy on my progressive scan
DVD player). I've heard of people having good results with Nero, but I
haven't tried it myself.

Ken

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

>>However, in order to *burn* those files to DVD it is supposedly required
>>to buy software for around $50. There are several workarounds for that
>>though.
>>
>
>
> Are they really requiring you to buy a special spftware package, or is
> that just what they're selling and you could use any DVD authoring
> software?

Well, it's not a complete sham, the program needs the ability to remove
the encryption of the .tivo file prior to burning it to DVD. But others
have pointed out that the capability isn't proprietary, I think the
application needs "Directshow" capability (somebody correct me, I don't
think I'm too far off), and there's at least one other program that can
do that. There is also a free workaround, it's been mentioned in this
newsgroup before, but I don't remember the site name right now.

--
Randy S.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.replaytv,alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

> There are two issues here. To *play* TivoToGo files, you need to have an
> MPEG2 decompressor (often called a codec, but that's not technically accurate,
> since a CoDec is a Compressor/Decompressor, and most "MPEG2 codecs" are just
> the decompression half). This is something that is not free, but you may
> already have, because all DVD players need an MPEG2 decompressor, and many
> people have DVD players on their computer.
>
> To *burn* a TivoToGo file as a DVD, you need an MPEG2 decompressor *and* an
> MPEG2 compressor (the Tivo video is stored in MPEG2, but it is not the right
> resolution and format to be put directly on a DVD, so it must be decompressed,
> processed, and recompressed). DVD authoring software includes an MPEG2
> compressor. You do not need to buy the Tivo specific DVD authoring software,
> but if you buy another one, you should check http/www.tivocommunity.com/
> first to see if people have had good luck getting that software to take tivo
> files as input.

Good info Ken, but concerning playback, would just any mpeg2 codec allow
you to play TTG files? I thought there was something that came with the
Tivo desktop software that also enabled the whole password enabled
playback thing. Or is that prebuilt into the media player?

--
Randy S.