Way to transfer programs from one company's DVR to another? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

I'm not sure this is the correct forum for this question but figured the people who check in here might be able to help me out.


I'm thinking of switching my TV service from Dish Network and going back to my local cable company (Time Warner).


Is there any (easy) way for me to transfer the recordings on my Dish HD-DVR (VIP 612) onto a 1 TB HDD (for example) and then offload them onto the replacement Time-Warner HD-DVR?

I see those USB jacks on these devices and figure they must be good for something.


I would just make DVD-R recordings of the content on the Dish DVR but their DVRs don't make that as easy as the Scientific Explorer DVRs used by T-W.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mattCR]

Sucky answer: there isn't one. Because of the DRM each of those boxes apply, without the decrypt key on the box, the recordings can't easily move. You could connect to a set-top DVD recorder and just record them off one after another..

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well...a good answer, Matt...but a sucky situation, I guess. Thanks.


The DVD-Recorder would be the obvious choice...but, as I said in the OP, the Dish box means you have to actually play back the program and record it. The T-W boxes I've had in the past have a nice feature that allow you to output separately to a DVD Recorder while watching/recording other things.

What are the USB jacks for? Adding external HDDs for increased storage?

 

[mattCR]

On Dish, yep, only for adding external storage..