TV Record to USB _ Is it Encrypted ?

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TLD

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#159743 11-Dec-2014 10:50

I notice some of the new TVs I've been looking at can record and play back to and from a USB socket. In the case of content recorded from the TV, does anyone know if that is a transportable MP4 type format, or can it only be played back on the same TV?

Obviously the TV will play most video formats from a USB pen drive etc. I gave up using a WD TV Media Player after buying a Blu-Ray player that happened to have a USB socket. The surprising thing is that the Blu-Ray player works with some files that VLC fails to play back on my computer!

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

hio77

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#1195489 11-Dec-2014 11:16

Ild be interested in what exactly the audio and video codecs were which are failing in VLC.

Open it in VLC, Rightclick, Tools, Codec Information.

Ild say your issue is likely DTS audio.

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Bung

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#1195529 11-Dec-2014 12:32

I don't know if they will record to usb stick or just to hard drive. The hard drive gets reformatted as 1 volume that only plays back on that tv. You can't make it just use part of the drive.

TLD

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#1195550 11-Dec-2014 13:22

Thanks. I suppose it's more or less what I expected. I had this idea of recording and sending NZ content to family overseas, but they are never going t make that easy to do.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

JimmyH

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#1195774 11-Dec-2014 19:04

If the TV is Freeview approved (=mandatorily crippled!) then you are almost certainly out of luck with that option.

It is actually fairly easy to do if you have a computer. A simple USB tuner is fairly cheap, and will let you plug in your antenna and record unencrypted to (say) a laptop. Alternately, a DVD recorder would also work.

TLD

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#1195949 11-Dec-2014 23:53

We don't really have a terrestrial antenna. Everything comes in via the Sky dish. Least ways there is an antenna on the roof, but it has not been used in ten years, I don't remember it as being that flash when last we used it. It was only an idea, rather than a specific need.

Thanks for your help.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

Bung

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#1195989 12-Dec-2014 05:17

You'll probably find that your TV record function only applies to its own tuner.

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B1GGLZ

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#1196013 12-Dec-2014 08:31

TLD: We don't really have a terrestrial antenna. Everything comes in via the Sky dish. Least ways there is an antenna on the roof, but it has not been used in ten years, I don't remember it as being that flash when last we used it. It was only an idea, rather than a specific need.

Thanks for your help.

If you want to record NZ content for family overseas then easiest way for your setup is to pick up a second hand DVD recorder off Trademe and use the composite A/V outputs on your Sky or Freeview satellite decoder to record to the DVD recorder and burn to disc.
Alternatively get a video capture card or stick for your PC, record from the STB composite A/V and burn the files to a USB stick.
Both methods relatively cheap and easy but poor quality SD. For HD recording with playback capability on other TVs you need a FreeviewHD recorder.
TVs will only record off air to USB and not from external input unless perhaps you you use a modulator to send analogue rf from the STB to the TV and then it will probably play back only on that TV.

JimmyH

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#1196614 12-Dec-2014 21:25

B1GGLZ: If you want to record NZ content for family overseas then easiest way for your setup is to pick up a second hand DVD recorder off Trademe and use the composite A/V outputs on your Sky or Freeview satellite decoder to record to the DVD recorder and burn to disc.
Alternatively get a video capture card or stick for your PC, record from the STB composite A/V and burn the files to a USB stick.
Both methods relatively cheap and easy but poor quality SD. For HD recording with playback capability on other TVs you need a FreeviewHD recorder.

What B1GGLZ suggests will work, and the DVD recorder fed by a Sky box is essentially the set up I currently have. A cheap USB AV capture device for a laptop should run to significantly less than $100, I have seen them on special for around $30.