Recording HD

[Goddahavit]

I know it is posted by 57U that with current technology DVD will not record HD.

I am curious, I have a MITS ws48511, I am recieving HD from an antenna, I hav an SVID/monitor out, will HD be passed through that moniitor port, I know not in 1080I, but will it be downgraded so I may record it? or would nothig show??

I am considering a DVD recorder, like the Panisonic dmr 80s, with the hard drive, and I want to know what I will and will not be able to record.

these units are starting to become afordable, but If I wait for a firewire DVD I am sure they will be very expensive, and I do not know when they will be out.

any thoughts Guys?

[57U]

I know that some STBs can be set to downconvert HD to the S-video out, however, I'm not sure TVs do that. I know someone with a different TV and the s-vid is "blank" when an HD input is chosen.

If you have an S-VCR you could try it to see if you can record anthing. You could perhaps even try the composite out (if the TV has one) to feed a VCR (VCRs need to be set to the correct input - channel 0 or "line in" or something like that).

Perhaps someone with a similar setup will let you know for sure.

[Goddahavit]

ok, I guess I need to try a vcr and see if the input (puts out)ha,
I do not have component out, only svid, and rca

I found this in the manual,

� Output (Monitor and PIP)
The Monitor Output sends the TV audio and video signals from Ant-A, Ant-B and Inputs 1-5 to an A/V
Receiver or other analog A/V equipment. Monitor Output will also provide the signals, converted to analog
signals, received from Ant-DTV and IEEE-1394 products. There will be no video signals from digital
products if the original signals are copy protected.
From VGA, Component 1 and 2 and Input-DTV, no signals will be sent.

Do you now if the OTA High def is copy protected?

[57U]

OTA is not copy protected. At this time, I don't think anything is copy protected.

You can test the VCR first with SD signals (to make sure you've got it set up properly) and then try an HD channel to see if it gets downconverted.

[HokieD]

I'm curious about this too. I can watch HD channels in standard defintion mode and it looks better than my usual 480i DirecTV channels. I'm guessing I can record the HD channel video in standard mode and have a cleaner std. definition recording. Not HD, but still decent. I gotta get a VCR hooked up to my system to see if it works.

[sillygoose]

Don't forget that VCR resolution is less than SD. While a DVD recorder can't record HD if you are interested in preserving the high quality you perceive in downconverted HD than that is probably the route to take if you don't want a hard drive based recorder.

I almost forgot about SVHS. I don't know the resolution off the top of my head but that might be a good solution for you as well.

[57U]

Regular VCRs have about 240 lines.

S-VHS VCRs have up to 400 lines (I've seen some cheap S-VHS machines that don't look much better than regular VCRs).

DVD recorders have 480 lines at high recording speeds (1-2 hours typically). This drops to 240 lines at lower recording speeds (longer recording times 4-8 hours.)

[HokieD]

Ooo! DVD recorder, which I don't have yet, but was thinking about picking one up for my PC. Would love to have recorded the VT-Miami game to DVD in 480 lines of resolution.

[Goddahavit]

Thanks to a CC open box, I have a dvd burner, unless i return it

Here is What I have found, my ws-48-511 does output the downgraded high def signal through the monitor port, and I can record it on dvd ram, (i got the pani,e30) and it is in widescreen I am still playing with settings, but no doubt it is better than vcr recording, (at sp mode, or better)and it is full screen, as my tv will not alow me to stretch component , this is good, it is hard to record cause when I switch inputs to the dvd, i get no pic, comes from the output of the tv, needs to be on the antenna, or other signal to record anything.

that said, I would like to have a htpc, but am still looking into the practicality of it, and price, I would love the recorder with the drive, but I am hopeing this will hold me till the HD buners come out and get affordable.

as always, the waf(wife aceptnce factor) is inlimbo untill she sees the benifits, and not playing in other dvd players is not a plus, I am going to try the dvd-r recording after I get a bulk of disks.
I am sure I will make a few coasters.

But I can record from OTA (downgraded of corse)

P.S. any ifo onthe hard drive based recorder that sillygoose mentioned would be appreciated.

[57U]

Panasonic make several. E-60/80/100.

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Panasonic_DMR-E80_DVD

[bpratt]

I have been recording OTA HDTV signals using the monitor out s-vid connection to a ReplayTV recorder for some time now. The monitor out port is only 480i, but the recordings are in 16:9 format and display much better than any other recording method I have tried on my Mitsubishi WS55950 TV.

My Mitsubishi TV has the ability to turn on the HDTV receiver using a function in NetCommand. It allows me to set start time, duration and channel, but only full number channels.

In my area most of the OTA HDTV channels are multicast. Channel 4 has 4.1 and 4.2 - channel 5 has 5.1 and 5.2. The X.1 channels are 4:3 format and the X.2 channels are 16:9 format.

If I set the TV to turn on the HDTV receiver at 6:00 on channel 5, I get 5.1 recorded - not the one I want.

I am now trying to justify buying something that connects to the firewire port of the TV. The firewire attached recorder will record the entire multicast channel and with a recorder like the Mitsubishi HD2000U, you can switch between any of the channels recorded in the multicast signal when playing it back. They also record true HDTV, not a down converted signal.