Burn a HD DVD from MYSKYHD

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TrevC

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#28926 16-Dec-2008 13:47

What is the best way to record and burn a HD (Blu Ray) program from MYSKYHD onto a blank HD disk. The obvious option would be to purchase a new Blu Ray Play/record (read/write) box but the price is quite high and Sony do not make one yet. I thought of purchasing a PS3 player but they are read only optical drives.
IS there a simple way to get the data onto my PC and I can purchase an appropriate writer. This would be a $350 option and give me moe flexibility. It also has its own problems to start with as my PC is in the bedroom and MYSKY is in the lounge.
Soooo the big question is....... How to get the HD data off MYSKYHD and into my PC or to a device that can burn a HD blank disk?
Any thoughts or ideas - I am sure all MYSKYHD users have pondered this question.

Thanks everyone for their input - it seems as though it is not going to be a happening thing!
Not sure how to close this link!

gehenna

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#184532 16-Dec-2008 14:20

You're looking at around $475 to $1200 for a Blu-ray writer, depending on brand and speed.

Discs themselves are quite pricey too, around $25 each.

At those prices you're better off buying the actual movie/tv series on Blu-ray from the shop rather than writing it yourself.

That said, there may be a way to extract the show from the hard drive and then convert it to mkv or something using h.264 as a codec. you might get it down to fit on a standard dvd that way, but it won't be full HD, maybe 1280x720

wellygary

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#184535 16-Dec-2008 14:26

TrevC: What is the best way to record and burn a HD (Blu Ray) program from MYSKYHD onto a blank HD disk. The obvious option would be to purchase a new Blu Ray Play/record (read/write) box but the price is quite high and Sony do not make one yet. I thought of purchasing a PS3 player but they are read only optical drives.
IS there a simple way to get the data onto my PC and I can purchase an appropriate writer. This would be a $350 option and give me moe flexibility. It also has its own problems to start with as my PC is in the bedroom and MYSKY is in the lounge.
Soooo the big question is....... How to get the HD data off MYSKYHD and into my PC or to a device that can burn a HD blank disk?
Any thoughts or ideas - I am sure all MYSKYHD users have pondered this question.

Short answer, Nope.
Longer answer, not without a whole pile of internal hacking of the mySky box,

Sky'd HD is a closed system, so there are no legit ways to get the HD data off the machine.
Now whether you can read the raw data off the hard drive is a moot point, but given that Sky are part of the News corp family and have NDS as a sibling I would not fancy your chances of getting things off the box that they dont want off.

TrevC

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#184549 16-Dec-2008 15:11

Damn - the standard def recordings look 3rd rate compared to the original HD pic.

gehenna

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#184553 16-Dec-2008 15:18

You could try running it through an external PVR that takes HD inputs, no idea how it would work but might be worth a look?

wellygary

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#184558 16-Dec-2008 15:37

gehenna: You could try running it through an external PVR that takes HD inputs, no idea how it would work but might be worth a look?

And here you run into the second bear trap laid by News Corp/The film Studios

SKy Enable the ICT Flag that forces the Box to downgrade HD content to Standard def quality on enything other than HDMI output,

Its been thrashed out in the thread below , but basically you can output Sports HD OK to another box, , but all the other channels are protected and will get down-scaled

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=106&topicid=28563

sbiddle

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#184559 16-Dec-2008 15:37

The only way to do this would be with a Hauppauge HDPVR. You could capture the component video in H.264 and then burn it to BluRay.

Major limitation is that you can only get HD component out for shows that don't have the ICT flag and you're looking at over $1k to be able to do this.

You also need to be aware that format shifting recorded material is against the law.. Infact anybody who backs up any recorded shows from their HDD recorder to a DVD is a criminal...

CYaBro

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#184579 16-Dec-2008 16:48

sbiddle:

You also need to be aware that format shifting recorded material is against the law.. Infact anybody who backs up any recorded shows from their HDD recorder to a DVD is a criminal...

I'm surprised the police haven't spent money on this dealing to criminals that do it since they seem to be able to spend money on other crazy schemes like paying informants to tell them what Greenpeace are up to

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

wellygary

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#184587 16-Dec-2008 17:10

I'll volunteer to rat on all the evil, open source using , format shifting, homebrew HTPC building Geeks for alot less than the $600 a week that hippy beatnik grafter was paid

JimmyH

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#187015 2-Jan-2009 13:32

I looked at this a while ago, as I was semi-interested in doing the same thing. Did not do anything as I needed a hi-def TV for there to be any point (which I now have) and MySky HDi (which I don't have yet). I don't claim to be anything close to an AV/PC expert, but it does appear to be possible albeit not cheap.

As a recodring solution a PC seemed to be best as there are all sorts of conversion options such as purning to a DL DVD in a high definition format which are more flexible and cheaper than you would get with a blu ray recorder - even if you found one with a HDMI or component HD inputs. A capture card like the Sigma Blackmagic Intensity Pro seemed to meet the requirements but was expensive at $US 500. Secondly you have to deal with the fact tham most shows are output iun HD only over HDMI with HDCP enabled. While the Sigma will capture HD over HDMI, it respects HDCP and won't capure a signal with it. Thus, you need a HDCP stripper/remover box (much like the macrovision removal boxes many of us have used to transfer mouldering video tapes to DVD some years ago). I stumbled here as they definitley exist, but there doesn't seem to be any legit source in NZ and lots of googling turned up a mass of conflicting info and seemingly dodgy websites. Also, the legality of implementing this step is a bit dubious in NZ, eben for personal use.

Implementing such a setup is on my tentative wishlist for 2009, but I am not plunking down nearly a grand for a capture card until I have a working HDCP stripper in my hot hands. Also, am not getting MySky HDi until I have a working solution installed and ready - as I record prolifically for later viewing and the drive size in the Sky box just doesn't cut it - in the longer term I plan for a networked media box with 10-15+ TB of storage - but that is going to have wait a few years for a new house that it easier to cable, and cheaper drives. In the meantime lots and lots of blank DVDs are being eaten!

clevedon

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#187063 2-Jan-2009 20:33

TrevC: What is the best way to record and burn a HD (Blu Ray) program from MYSKYHD onto a blank HD disk. !

I might be wrong but isn't Bluray 1080p, and Sky HD is transmitted in only 1080i or 720p, so even if you could record and burn it to a HD disc, it wouldn't be Bluray quality would it? Sorry in advance if I am mixed up.

tkr001

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#187087 2-Jan-2009 22:38

no you haven't got it mixed up. All Sky HD is 1080i.

BarTender

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#187245 3-Jan-2009 21:45

Few things to consider, since you don't own the box and Sky owns the box then a HDD upgrade ala Copy+ won't be possible. However this thread might be a better solution in theory. You would however require a NZ45 which is shown in the top right, the bottom two cards I don't think work.

Batman

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#187253 3-Jan-2009 22:18

I might be wrong but isn't Bluray 1080p, and Sky HD is transmitted in only 1080i or 720p, so even if you could record and burn it to a HD disc, it wouldn't be Bluray quality would it?

depending on what you mean by bluray quality. i'm thinking you mean that to be a peter jackson's kingkong at 1080p 24fps from the weta studio.

the quality of a bluray is only as good as what's been fed into it. for example anyone can buy a decent program and burn a 1080p from a handycam in low res stereo and then upconvert into 1080p and that will be a shocking bluray, but still at 1080p. or you can get peter jackson to record a kingkong std resolution dvd and that will still be miles better than the former at 1080p.

mysky hdi may feed you stuff but how compressed are the shows eg cricket in hd? if they are rendered at a low bit-rate at 1080p then burning it at 1080p will still not give you what you meant by bluray quality, but definitely better than a non upscaled standard dvd i guess, again, depending on what's been fed through.

clevedon

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#187286 4-Jan-2009 10:19

Sorry if I didn't make myself clearer. By Bluray quality I meant the quality of say my current Bluray movie of Transformers or Spiderman 3 for example which are pretty hard to fault for picture on our 50PY800 Full HD at 3 meters. Comparing those to the same movies off Sky HD - well Sky is very good, but not as good as the my Bluray discs IMO. So a recorded HD copy off Sky to me is not strictly Bluray quality.