Thread: Any one here testing the NTL S/A Tv drive
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Old 23-10-2006, 22:28   #26
popper
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Re: Any one here testing the NTL S/A Tv drive
Quote:
Originally Posted by RamJet View Post
what i'm trying to work out is - having recorded lots of favorite TV progs on the TVD can you then output these progs onto some kind of backup - either into a proper DV recorder or onto the hard drive of your laptop

ie can you get DVD copies of your fav progs somehow

RJ
nope, NTL:tw didnt see fit to include that standard option in these stbs, apparently the newer AVC stbs did have that option (as well as tcp:ip content streaming to/from PC etc).

the only way your ever going to get access to the saved MPeg2HD content is to break the T&C and pull the HD off that and place into a PC with special software to read off the harddrive contents, not something for your average user to even consider.

you might be able to replay the content off to the video scart connected VHS video/external £80 argos DVD recorder (if they dont protect that also?), but dont count on that working for to long or expect good video conversion, all told its a mess currently for keeping quality recordings.

and that scart output will be re-downscaled output so as to meet the DVD 720x576 spec.

---------- Post added at 21:03 ---------- Previous post was at 20:48 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthYoda View Post
Yes you can record your stored programs onto DVD or VHS. Just plug them by scart into the 2nd scart socket on the TVD, there is an actual menu option for transfering recordings from the TVD, and you can still continue watching other channels.
but your NOT simply transfering the raw ts or mpeg2, your sending it to the scart composite output and have to re-record that output with some device! (hvs/cd/dvd/computer video-input).

---------- Post added at 21:28 ---------- Previous post was at 21:03 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tristan View Post
Of course you can attach a DVD recorder to the output of the box and use that as a backup device. There would probably be restrictions in doing this with the HDMI output -- you know how paranoid the Hollywood types are that anyone might get a second copy of something on another format that they didn't have to pay for again.

I think NTL will eventually enable the SATA facility on the boxes, they've just got bigger priorities at the moment (i.e. fixing the existing bugs). The only reason for not doing so would be pressure from those evil Hollywood people again: it would be very easy to take that SATA drive and connect it to a PC, and if the encryption was cracked...

Lastly, the serial and USB connection on the boxes are primarily there for diagnostic purposes. What would you want to use the serial port for anyway? The only use I can think of for the USB would be using a keyboard for TV e-mail, but does anyone actually use that any more?
your not thinking big enough or inovative enough Tristan, it will never happen on these underpowered/underspeced tvdrives but theres lots of uses for the USB (and even the extreamly slow serial connection, but we will ignore these for now as its used as you say for diagnostics ).

i forget is the tvdrive USB 1.1 or 2.0 ? , it matters due to the speed you can move stuff over the interface, for instance you cant transfer a full TS(transport stream) over the old usb1.1,only part of it at one time.

basicly anything the current 3rd party DVB-T/-S USB cards can do, the stb could also do with that usb slot.
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