Hard Disk Telly Recorder

fybar

Looking for some advice please.

1. does anybody know what file format PVR's use to store the recordings to thier hard disk.

2. Do they have an interface eg USB to allow the file to be transferred to a computer. This woould allow me to burn the file to CD or DVD.

Jim

lee634

Just done a quick search a most PVR's record in MPEG format so yes you could transfer to you pc,
but i understand that they use an IDE conection similar to your pc harddrive
so its not as simple to remove

Poppycat

PVR's do the job but unfortunately they often have a proprietary file system not like a pc and as in the case of a Humax it saves it in a different mpeg stream not quite mpeg2. You can upload it via USB to pc and edit data

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Yes, mine has a usb port to transfer to pc, I believe the files are rec.files and have to be converted first, before you can burn to dvd.
I have the Topfield 5800, have a look here for more details
http://www.toppy.org.uk/downloads/windows.php

Hope this helps

fybar

Thanks everyone.

I was hoping it wasn't going to be a proprietary format. So faced with the prospect of transfering a file and then re formatting before recording to cd or DVD, I think I will think about buying a DVD recorder with hard disk.

Just a thought, if a PVR's hard disk is IDE, then presumably you can simply replace the supplied 80 gig one with a bigger one (250/300 gig). Assuming there's no formatting issues.

Jim

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Apparently so, just take old one out and replace, I have a 160gb, but if it gets full, then I will replace.

Hope this helps

Poppycat

Yes you can replace them but not all drives work apparently only certain makes