Recording BBC Interactive Streams

[Bobthebadger]

I am currently the only person in the world without a DVD recorder, HD recorder or even VCR and I have just about managed to survive until now.

Unfortunately my cousin has gone and gotten selected for the Commonwealth Games in an event which will only be shown (for sure) on one of the 5 or so interactive streams the BBC is running for the games at about 2am. I can watch these streams fine through NTL, but unlike their Freeview equivalents, tuning to the stream does not cause the STB to re-tune to a new channel (i.e. it stays on 101, 102 etc...)

My question is if I had a, say, DVD recorder tuned to the channel from which I pressed red and selected the appropriate stream and then hit record, would I record the interactive stream or my starting channel. If this would not work out, is there some other way of recording the BBCi streams?

Originally Posted by Bobthebadger

I am currently the only person in the world without a DVD recorder, HD recorder or even VCR and I have just about managed to survive until now.

Unfortunately my cousin has gone and gotten selected for the Commonwealth Games in an event which will only be shown (for sure) on one of the 5 or so interactive streams the BBC is running for the games at about 2am. I can watch these streams fine through NTL, but unlike their Freeview equivalents, tuning to the stream does not cause the STB to re-tune to a new channel (i.e. it stays on 101, 102 etc...)

My question is if I had a, say, DVD recorder tuned to the channel from which I pressed red and selected the appropriate stream and then hit record, would I record the interactive stream or my starting channel. If this would not work out, is there some other way of recording the BBCi streams?

Quickest, dirtiest way to do it would be to get the STB playing the stream you want, then connect it by a standard RF aerial cable to a VCR. Tune the VCR to the signal and away you go. You could probably do the same with a SCART cable. Either way, the video should be recording the same thing that you would see if you plugged it into your telly.

[Bobthebadger]

I can do that.

Is there any reason, though, why this would need to be a VCR as opposed to a (for simplicity's sake non-Freeview) DVD recorder?

None, I suppose ... just that I have never used a DVD recorder so I thought I had better confine my advice to what I know.

[Bobthebadger]

I appreciate that.

If I can get the recording on a DVD, I'll be able to easily create copies to post to the rest of the family, who are relying on me to sort all this out!

[Stuart]

Good luck to your cousin. Hope they do well in the event they entered.

---------- Post added at 17:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:28 ----------

BTW, non-freeview DVD recorders work exactly the same way as VCRs in terms of connections.