Recording Video From a PVR For Playback in Another DVD Player

[Mike Temporale]

Is this possible? If I wanted to record an episode of "Who's The Boss" :lol: on a PVR and then burn it to DVD. Can I then take that DVD and play it back on another DVD player in my house?

I thought I read someplace that certian PVR's won't allow you to burn content to DVD's.

[Don Tolson]

As I understand it, but I'm still a neophyte at this -- it really depends on your DVD player's ability to read various DVD formats.

For instance, my old Toshiba DVD player can only read DVD-R disks, and my Fujitsu Laptop can only read DVD-ROM disks (I haven't tried DVD-RW yet). The DVD burner I put in my desktop produces and reads DVD +/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-ROM.

While everyone seems to be able to read the commercially available DVD's, it's a bit more difficult to find out EXACTLY which of the formats is compatible for each unit.

As far as PVR's burning to DVD, I'm not so sure. I'm waiting for the Digital Video Recorders (DVR's) to come down in price a bit (maybe by XMAS) and then I'll purchase one of them to replace my old VCR.

[Suhit Gupta]

Don is right, it really depends on your DVD player. It was the same thing with recordable CDs for the longest time. I would burn a CD with music and it would play fine on some CD players (and almost all CD drives in computers) but then not be able to do so on others.

Suhit

[Mike Temporale]

Ok, but outside of the DVD player incompatibility. I thought there was an issue with some PVRs burning recorded content. Specificly, I thought Media Center wouldn't allow it. My question is more about recording than playback.

[Don Tolson]

Ok, but outside of the DVD player incompatibility. I thought there was an issue with some PVRs burning recorded content. Specificly, I thought Media Center wouldn't allow it. My question is more about recording than playback.

If the PVR has the capability to burn to a DVD, then there should be no reason why it can't be played back. But I'm not sure what you mean by 'recorded content'.

I seriously doubt there is any 'encoding' on the signals from the TV stations or the cable companies which would inhibit recording (if that's what you mean), since that would render the DVR's, VCR's and PVR's useless. Especially for a DVR (and I would guess a PVR as well), the whole point of the unit is to be able to record information, then play it back when you want to. The most common format for 'storage' of this type of video is the DVD, so I can't see Media Centre allowing you to record to the harddrive, but not copy it out to a DVD.

[Jason Dunn]

It's all a matter of getting it off the PVR - that's the real trick. There are hacks out there that allow you to move video off the PVR and onto a computer, but they don't all work that great. I was NEVER able to get a video off my ReplayTV onto my computer to burn to a DVD.

And since I now know you're getting a Media Center PC, the problem you'll have isn't moving the file - it's that almost nothing on the market today can edit/open MS-DVR files. :-(