Shaw PVR to Computer - anyone.

[mykalberta]

Well here goes,

Last weekend I decided to open up my PVR to take a look to see what can be seen. I want to record the sports shows end-of-year specials and put them on my comptuer.

So in there is the switch so that shaw can determine if you box has been opened - that was easily bypassed. The "Secure Tape" on the back was easily removed so that it can be put back on again.

There are all sorts of goodies inside the box that seem as if they are just waiting and wanting to be hooked to a computer (USB2, Firewire), problem is that knowing shaw they most likely hata Moto switch the power jumpers to fry any comptuer that tries to plug into it

Has anyone successfully transferred items to Computer from PVR?

If not,

Does anyone have the Shaw HD PVR 6412 wiring guide? - Edit Model type

Thanks

MYK

[Flames_Gimp]

just try plugging in usb and see what the pc recognizes. I'm sure it cant fry your pc.

[ken0042]

I don't have a bunch of time to look it up, but I know it has been discussed a few times on another site I'm on: http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/forum/

Look in the cable section, there's a Shaw subforum, and then another Shaw PVR sub forum.

[Flames_Gimp]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...90#post3818890

heres how to record the incoming TV but doesn't say how to transfer whats already on it.

[MickMcGeough]

Search the avsforum.com boards, there's TONS of great info there.

I'm sorry I can't remember the model# of my shaw PVR, but it had firewire outputs available without opening up the box. Someone had written an XP driver and posted it on avsforum which allowed me to stream output from the PVR to the PC (it had to be playing at the time - you can't browse the contents of the PVR). It worked beautifully, and I could record "uncompressed" output to my PC via firewire but I ran into problems finding something that would encode the TS streams into something manageable.

Anyway if you're willing to spend some time searching through the avsforum boards I'm pretty sure you'll find someone who has done this before.

[T I M]

I'm not all that familliar with pvrs, but I would guesse that a video capture card on the computer would also work.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by T I M

I'm not all that familliar with pvrs, but I would guesse that a video capture card on the computer would also work.

The problem of course is you end up doing 2 Analog - Digital conversions in that process. And if you are trying to save something that is HD, the PQ will drop all the way down to 480i.

Myself, with my SD (standard definition) PVR, I simply output it to my DVD recorder. But because I'm dealing with SD broadcasts only, the multiple conversions between analog and digital doesn't bother me.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by T I M

I'm not all that familliar with pvrs, but I would guesse that a video capture card on the computer would also work.

My problem is that I have my PVR at roughly 64% full, and I will be away for a few days and its likely that the PVR will get full. I would like to transfer some stuff off it to free up some space.

Also, anyone had any luck replacing the HD in it with a larger one. It looks as if the brains of the PVR are stored in flash, so exchanging HD shouldnt affect the PVR. The only problem I see is file structure and type. They likely use a Linux Distro, but.

MYK

[flmsfan2004]

I'm not very good with anything too technical. But we have 2 pvr's (the original single tuner, and the new dual tuner model). My dad transfers stuff from our pvr to his computer all the time. He uses a 'PCTV' from Pinnacle systems http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSit.../PCTV+100e.htm

(hope that link works)
Anyhow, the only thing about the PCTV is that it transfers in real time, so if he wants to transfer a tv show, he has to push play on the pvr and capture it live on his computer screen. Which can be a time consuming task if you are transfering movies or sporting events.