Okay, here is what I am trying to do. Every since I bought my new laptop (it is capable of displaying HDTV content) I have been trying to find a way to take the HDTV signal from my satellite box and use my laptop as a DVR. I have a lot of shows recorded in HDTV on my HD DVR satellite box that I would like to save to my hard drive and watch at a later time also. My laptop came with a TV tuner card but it is only capable of standard def. I can record all of the channels but the HDTV content is down converted to standard def. which isn’t nearly as good. My Slingbox that I just bought outputs in HD while connected to my LAN but there is no way to record the stream as the Slingbox encrypts the stream (go figure?).

I have searched for over a month and the closest thing that I have come across is This. The only problem is it looks like it only receives the HDTV signal off of the OTA antenna. It doesn’t look like it will receive the HDTV signal if connected to a satellite box with the coax connector. If it does I can’t find any information on it. The sales people at all the stores have no clue what I’m talking about (big surprise huh?). I have trolled other forums on this product and a few people have asked the same thing but no one has replied to their question. I tried to call pinnacle systems and ask them directly but have just sat on hold (another concern of mine now is their customer service).

I’m not tied to this product so if anyone out there knows of a better product or solution to my little problem I would sure appreciate any help.

Britt

 

So mainly you are looking to get a HDMI or DVI input on your laptop? I imagine if it is out there it is $$$$. And you'll need lots of harddrive space.

 

No not really. I'm just looking for a way to get the signal to my HD on my laptop. I could do it with a coax or component hook up. HDMI or DVI would be sweet but not required. My satellite box has a usb 2 port on it but it (of course) is disabled. I was hoping I could just hook up my laptop to that and it would recognize the hard drive on the DVR and I could just move the files off of that. Also, I think that the hard drive on the satellite box is Linux based so that blows that out of the water. At this point I would be happy to just be able to hook up to any of my receivers and use the computer as a HD DVR.

Britt

 

Humm.. have you looked into hacking your DVR reciever? I am sure those usb ports can be enabled. I was reading where something was disabled on a dvr reciever because it was unplugged from the factory.

 

If it were my receiver I would think about it. But Dish owns it so they probably wouldn't be really happy if I did that.

Britt

 

Dish is pretty cool about swapping recievers. Just dont break it. Let me do some googling for you. Which model do you have?

 

I can't answer your question about getting your laptop to tune the channels and use as a DVR, but as far as getting the old shows from your DVR to your laptop I can...sort of. I have a standard def TIVO and you can connect it to your network and move the files over to a compter on the network. I haven't got to play around with the HD version yet, but I would have to believe you could do the same thing. Doesn't really help you with the old shows, but would for future use.

 

i have been thinking about a tv for my trailerhouse and also a new laptop was kind of thinking of using a laptop for my tv but i would like to make it hdtv ready. is that possible.? also was going to hook up external speakers to play cd's

 

Do I have to save the day again?

I'm going into search mode...

(You might have to hack your box)

 

Ahhhh Haaaa!!!!

I think I might have found a solution. Click Here

It looks like it receives OTA HDTV (which I don't really care about) but it also receives QAM (unencrypted) Digital Cable which should allow me to hook it up to a HDTV receiver.

Time for a little more research.

Britt

 

Oh, by the way. The Xbox quit about 2 days after I fixed it. Ended up selling it on ebay as broken for $90.

Britt

 

Dish Network:

2 - Vip211 receivers
1 - Vip622 DVR

Britt

 

Hope you have a TON of free time. Sending HDTV over USB is going to be painful.

What mainly are you looking for mass storage to save them or being able to take the shows with you on your laptop?

 

Ultimately my goal is to hook up my laptop to any one of my HDTV receivers and use it as a DVR and then take what I have recorded and watch at a later time such as up at work. My laptop came with a HDMI output so whatever HDTV I record would be able to be output to a HDTV in HD. As far as sending them over USB… It has a USB connection on the front and rear of the receiver but they are disabled. It is a USB 2.0 so it would be a fast connection so time wouldn’t be that big of a factor. But since it is disabled it is a mute point. Most of the USB type of HDTV tuners for my laptop seem to support OTA broadcast only (OTA antenna is usually supplied). They do not support the type of signal that is used for HDTV coming though a Digital Cable Box or HDTV satellite box. So from everything that I have heard so far it is really hard to do at this time. There are a few options out there but since I have never heard of some of these companies, it is very hard to put out the money to find out if they really work or not.

Britt