# I want to record a DVD to my 722k. Can it be done?



## rmcelwee (Aug 2, 2006)

I figure that I could just buy the OTA tuner and hook up a DVD player to my DVR but I am not 100% sure that is possible. Is it? Can I "name" the recording when I am finished? Thanks!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Nope. Forget it.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

No can do - the OTA tuner modules are ATSC tuners only - no NTSC. Everything else on the back are OUTPUTS - so you could hookup the appropriate connections to a DVD recorder and record DBS / recorded shows from the DVR to a DVD recorder, but not vice versa.

If you can find someway to create your own ATSC modulater for a reasonable price - the world will beat a path to your door.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

scooper said:


> If you can find someway to create your own ATSC modulater for a reasonable price - the world will beat a path to your door.


And so would the lawyers of the content-holders... ATSC is unencrypted.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

ATSC is not encrypted, it can be recorded off air and burned to DVD or Blu-ray, but not with Dish equipment.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

My point was that the content-holders don't want their digital HD content being distributed unencrypted.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

And another reason you can't do this is Dish DVRs do not have any encoders in them. Just decoders so it can encode just playback.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Jim5506 said:


> ATSC is not encrypted, it can be recorded off air and burned to DVD or Blu-ray, but not with Dish equipment.


You forget DTVpal DVR .


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## SaltiDawg (Aug 30, 2004)

BattleZone said:


> My point was that the content-holders don't want their digital HD content being distributed unencrypted.


And his point is that HD content is routinely (every day OTA) distributed unencrypted by the networks.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

SaltiDawg said:


> And his point is that HD content is routinely (every day OTA) distributed unencrypted by the networks.


By a handful of broadcast networks, sure.

Ask HBO if they'd be okay with broadcasting their HD content via ATSC. Or ESPN, or Disney, or even USA. And that's the problem: if you build a consumer-level ATSC encoder, there's nothing to stop people from doing just that, so the manufacturer of such encoders are licensed and are generally only sold for commercial, licensed use.

Most of this stuff is Covered by the DMCA, which is federal law.


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## SaltiDawg (Aug 30, 2004)

BattleZone said:


> By a handful of broadcast networks, sure.
> 
> Ask HBO if they'd be okay with broadcasting their HD content via ATSC. Or ESPN, or Disney, or even USA. And that's the problem: if you build a consumer-level ATSC encoder, there's nothing to stop people from doing just that, so the manufacturer of such encoders are licensed and are generally only sold for commercial, licensed use.
> 
> Most of this stuff is Covered by the DMCA, which is federal law.


BattleZone,

I posted a detailed reply to your above, but deleted it when I re-read it as it was disrespectful and inappropriate. To anyone that may have caught it, I apologize to you and also to BattleZone.

Let me now say that I believe that you are confused as to how ATSC HD content is "protected" from becoming loose in the wild.

DMCA has absolutely *nothing* to do with "protecting" ATSC transmissions!

That "protection" *is* provided by HDCP.

Think about the video/audio signal leaving your Dish Receiver. It might be an HBO movie or it might be a local PBS show. In any event, it is always the same unencrypted data stream. What prevents you doing anything but viewing it (or passing it thru to a viewing only box)? Nothing to do with the DMCA.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

Am I the only one curious as to WHY the OP would want to copy a DVD to his DVR? You can rent a DVD for $1 at Red Box and now you can even reserve one online. If it's an old movie and you own the DVD why DVR? If it's someone else's DVD then borrow it again. Or rent from one of the big box rental places. Maybe I'm just old and slow but why?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Jim5506 said:


> ATSC is not encrypted, it can be recorded off air and burned to DVD or Blu-ray, but not with Dish equipment.


If you have the technology to generate an unencrypted ATSC signal, the ViP722 can record it.


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## rmcelwee (Aug 2, 2006)

olguy said:


> Am I the only one curious as to WHY the OP would want to copy a DVD to his DVR? You can rent a DVD for $1 at Red Box and now you can even reserve one online. If it's an old movie and you own the DVD why DVR? If it's someone else's DVD then borrow it again. Or rent from one of the big box rental places. Maybe I'm just old and slow but why?


I have a DVD of my son taking his first steps. I would like to put it on the DVR and show it to people. My DVD player is upstairs and not on my main TV which is mounted IN the wall and there is no place to put a player by it.

FWIW, I could do this on my Tivo by hooking the camcorder to the inputs on the back. It would record what was on my camcorder to the Tivo but would "call it" whatever was currently playing on channel 100 at the time.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Reason that your TIVO can do it is that is has an encoder and it has to have one because in a lot of cases the signal it is recording is analog form (Might be different in the HD realm) but there still needs to be an encoder to take what you have and encode it to the playback format like MPEG2 or MPEG4. 

The Dish DVR as most others purpose is to playback dish content so it will not encode. However, DVRs are starting to appear with the ability to playback online content so perhaps later version might support such a feature. 

One suggestion is you might want to see if you can get it into MPEG4 and then put it on some service like Flickr and that way you can provide a link to your friends and family to watch.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

rmcelwee said:


> I have a DVD of my son taking his first steps. I would like to put it on the DVR and show it to people. My DVD player is upstairs and not on my main TV which is mounted IN the wall and there is no place to put a player by it.
> 
> FWIW, I could do this on my Tivo by hooking the camcorder to the inputs on the back. It would record what was on my camcorder to the Tivo but would "call it" whatever was currently playing on channel 100 at the time.


Now that I understand. More curiosity. Where is your 722K located?


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

olguy said:


> More curiosity. Where is your 722K located?


Me too. Why would you not have a DVD player connected to your "Main TV"? How is your 722k connected? Why can't you temporarily disconnect those cables (assuming HDMI or component) and connect them to a DVD player or straight to the camcorder? Basic players can be had for less than $50. You could probably get a used one from Craigslist for almost nothing if cost is an issue.


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## rmcelwee (Aug 2, 2006)

olguy said:


> Now that I understand. More curiosity. Where is your 722K located?


I have a box built into the wall which is just barely tall enough to hold my plasma TV sitting on top of another box with the 722K and Wii inside it. The external HD sits beside the TV along with very small speakers on each side. There is NO extra room at all. The DVD player is upstairs hooked to another TV and rarely gets used.


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## coldsteel (Mar 29, 2007)

rmcelwee said:


> I have a box built into the wall which is just barely tall enough to hold my plasma TV sitting on top of another box with the 722K and Wii inside it. The external HD sits beside the TV along with very small speakers on each side. There is NO extra room at all. The DVD player is upstairs hooked to another TV and rarely gets used.


Is there an option to feed a coax down to that TV from the DVD player? There's conversion kits to make the IR remote of the DVD player UHF; that might work.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

SaltiDawg said:


> BattleZone,
> 
> I posted a detailed reply to your above, but deleted it when I re-read it as it was disrespectful and inappropriate. To anyone that may have caught it, I apologize to you and also to BattleZone.
> 
> ...


DMCA covers all copyrighted digital media, actually, though licensed broadcasters are obviously allowed to distribute their content OTA and without encryption.

But aside from a few notable exceptions, primarily OTA transmissions, the content holders don't want their copyrighted digital programming distributed, and thus require encryption for nearly all other legal transmittions.

Examples:

- HDCP is used for "wired" connections between various set-top boxes and displays using digital connections.

- Hulu and other legal "on-the-web" distribution uses secured (i.e., encrypted) formats to ensure the content can only be streamed, and not saved to the hard-drive for further redistribution.

If the average Joe could go to Best Buy and pay $100 for an ATSC modulator, they could use it to convert any media, including Blu-Ray (which is encrypted), into unencrypted ATSC, which could then be converted into other non-encrypted formats and/or distributed outside of legal channels, and that's what the content holders don't want and what the DMCA is designed to prevent.

It wouldn't be technically difficult or expensive for CE manufacturers to make recorders and capture cards that accepted HDMI inputs and could make perfect digital copies of HD and SD content. The reason they don't exist is because of the DMCA, which itself exists due to pressure from the content-holders to have legal protections for their content. And that's why you won't see ATSC encoders: content-holders don't want their content to be distributed outside of licensed distribution channels.


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## SaltiDawg (Aug 30, 2004)

BattleZone said:


> DMCA covers all copyrighted digital media, actually, though licensed broadcasters are obviously allowed to distribute their content OTA and without encryption.
> ...


As politely and as firmly as I can re-state it, DMCA has nothing to do with TV content protection. Nothing, nada, zip.

I will not waste any more of my time nor of other readers here. Again, I apologize to all for wasting their time.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

rmcelwee said:


> I have a box built into the wall which is just barely tall enough to hold my plasma TV sitting on top of another box with the 722K and Wii inside it. The external HD sits beside the TV along with very small speakers on each side. There is NO extra room at all. The DVD player is upstairs hooked to another TV and rarely gets used.


I have never seen a 722K, but I have a Wii and have had several Dish boxes, and none of them are anywhere near as small as a Wii. I can't conceive of a box that was big enough to hold a Dish DVR and a Wii that didn't have additional room for one of the small DVD players they make these days. I had one that was about the same size as a Wii, but not as thick. Is your Wii oriented vertically, next to the 722K, or horizontally, on top of it?

If it's really that tight a squeeze, don't you have overheating issues? One of my 622s has a terrible time inside a cabinet.


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