HD video capture from STB

[wtg]

I've used firewire with my cable box and found it's like QAM, you may or may not have unencrypted content. Also, what's unencrypted in QAM is not necessarily unencrypted in firewire, and visa versa. For instance, TNTHD can be recorded via firewire but is not available via QAM, and some channels only have certain programs that are encrypted in firewire while they're always available in QAM.

For instance, if memory serves I think Lost was always encrypted over firewire even though otherwise ABC wasn't. I think I found the NFL usually was too. In the end I gave up on firewire because it was unpredictable and there were only a couple extra channels in it that weren't available via QAM.

It's a crapshoot, but at least you can try firewire without laying out any extra cash if you already have firewire support on your PC and a cable.

Good luck,
Tim

[whurlston]

Yeah, firewire in Louisville is not a reliable option. I found the same thing as wtg. Even though a channel had a 5C of 0 (copy always), the CCI flag was set to 1 for certain programs like Lost and Heroes. Firewire transfers did not work on those programs.

[bigbus01]

I have tried a couple of recordings and found that I can record about 10 minutes or so (depends on the program) and it then stops. I assume that is the CCI flag or something. If I don't use the mpg muxer and just record directly to ts file, it keeps recording. I then have to convert the file to mpg using VideoRedo.

I am using a cheap cable so that could be part of the problem.

Have you seen channels come and go under QAM scans? Some of my channels disappear and come back from one scan to the next. I guess it depends on what is playing at the time you do the scan (the encryption settings). I haven't tied the scan time to what it playing on those channels.

Bigbus

[bogyver]

bogyver,

I installed HDTVpump but it doesn't show as a codec I can use. I got it to work to mpg with cyberlink mux so I don't have to worry about .ts anymore.

Ram4x4nut,

I am using the motherboard firewire connection directly to the stb. The box is a Pace box from Comcast. It has some problems with it, every once in a while I get a mosaic and then it stops recording on some channels (even the locals). It might be because of the encryption. Some of the locals drop out when I do a scan on my QAM card so I think they are changing the encryption settings.

I am using carpevideo's graphedit plugin to record with GBPVR. I can post the graph if you are interested (this evening).

bigbus

I looked at the HDTV Pump Stuff and It Look's like It's Just a DirectShow filter like Divx and should Justwork In any Direct show player such as Media player or GBPVR
sorry about the Random Cap's I'm writing this on My tablet PC