External hard drive

[jeff5656]

With the external HD option, couldn't I then plug that into the USB of my PC and watch it on the PC?

 

[Sean Mota]

nope

 

[dfergie]

Files are encrypted...

 

[jeff5656]

That is a stupid business decidion. I just came from TiVO - they have Tivo to go. I was transfering to the pc and then burning to a DVD for my DVD library. A simple free utility would strip the DVM and I would just burn it. Why on earth would the dish network go out of there way to cripple the fair use of backing up? Weird. I'm a little disillusioned now. If only tivo worked with dish netywork! I miss it already.

 

[Smith P.]

That's why the question has been raised 100s time here.

 

[Pepper]

You can exercise your fair-use rights to a backup copy by using something like Norton Ghost to make an identical copy of the entire drive to another drive of the same size. I have tested this option and it works.

I would wager that efforts are underway to give us more options but because of the legality you won't hear any details in a place like this.

 

[jeff5656]

"but because of the legality you won't hear any details in a place like this."

You mean fair use back ups are now illegal?

 

[jeff5656]

Let me clarify something - is it tru that I can access the USB drive from a PC and see the recordings but that they are encrypted to prevent something like media player to play them, OR are yoy saying that I cannot even access the USB drive with a PC and even see those files?

 

[Smith P.]

Jeff - definitely you need to read all info what _already_ posted here.
The aspects discussed many times.

 

[jeff5656]

So you took the time to reply to tell me that the information is in some other post - um couldn't you have just answered the question in THAT reply?

 

[skottey]

That is a stupid business decidion. I just came from TiVO - they have Tivo to go. I was transfering to the pc and then burning to a DVD for my DVD library. A simple free utility would strip the DVM and I would just burn it. Why on earth would the dish network go out of there way to cripple the fair use of backing up? Weird. I'm a little disillusioned now. If only tivo worked with dish netywork! I miss it already.

They consider your fair use backup the backup to the external drive (stupid, I know). You can always get a set top DVD burner and burn your movies or shows in real time to a DVD-R/DVD+R. But be careful what brand of DVD recorder you get. I had to buy a Macrovision remover for about $100 online because my DISH 622 DVR to DVD burns were fading in and out like the old VHS to VHS macrovision attempts. The Macrovision remover cleared up the problem and now I get good backups to DVD. I am certainly not selling or even sharing my DVDs. I just like to burn the stuff to DVD when my 3 DVRs fill up and I don't have time to watch right away. Not only that, I have had a 622 crap out on me, full of movies. Had I archived them all to DVD, it wouldn't have mattered if I lost them. But I didn't have them burned to DVD and lost the whole lot.

I have a second DVD recorder in my living room that doesn't seem to have a Macrovision problem with my 8300HD Bright House box or Dish VIP211. I have made great copies without the need to strip macrovision.

I would love to copy my external hard drive HD movies (DISH) to the computer and rip them in a Divx or like format to preserve the HD, but like the others have said, it is encrypted data and won't work. So the best you can do for now is use a set top recorder. You'll lose HD though on the standard def DVD-Rs but you won't lose wide screen.

 

[Smith P.]

So you took the time to reply to tell me that the information is in some other post - um couldn't you have just answered the question in THAT reply?

Well, I did expect you'll use Search engine and will find it by yourself.

 

[8bitbytes]

There is a big difference between copying the straight digital transmission from a satellite and capturing the broadcast and encoding it onto a hard drive. Tivo allows you to transfer files because you have "captured" the broadcast and encoded it onto the hard drive. You have already done the part that separates it from a perfect digital copy of the show. Since Dish records the digital transmission without re-encoding, you have to find a way to "capture" that presentation rather than just transferring it to another storage format.

Fair Use gets thrown around a lot like anybody actually understands what they are talking about. Most of the time I see it used by people who have a problem with being restricted in the use of someone else's property.