# Can I transfer shows from my HR20 to my PC via ethernet?



## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

Hello Everyone,
I just received my HR20 receiver yesterday and I guess because I saw that it had an ethernet port, I assumed I would be able to transfer shows from the dvr to my pc to free up some hard drive space. Well after an hour of searching Google for a way to do this, I found this site. I've also searched this site and still haven't found a definite answer to my question.

I have read about ViiV and it's my understanding that the ethernet port it now unlocked. From what I've read, Viiv just allows you to view pictures and listen to music on your PC via the DVR. I don't care about this.

I have a Microsoft Media Center 2005 PC and all I want to do is to transfer shows from the dvr to my PC using the ethernet port. I do have a router and have extensive knowledge in networking. I just need to know if this is possible and how or what I need.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brent


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## wmschultz (Jul 18, 2006)

Not able to do that at this time. Doubt ever.


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## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

wmschultz said:


> Not able to do that at this time. Doubt ever.


Thanks for the prompt response. Any idea how other people are transferring shows to there PC? I know that it is possible with either different receivers or different cable/satelite providers because you see them posted on sites like youtube.com all of the time. If I've got to buy a different receiver, then that's what I'll do.

Thanks again!


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Not yet. Given the interesting stuff happening, lately -- I don't say "never".


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> Not yet. Given the interesting stuff happening, lately -- I don't say "never".


Isn't there supposed to be some kind of "To Go" service coming along soon?


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## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

jaywdetroit said:


> Isn't there supposed to be some kind of "To Go" service coming along soon?


I've read about this, but I think it's just for the Tivo receiver (Series 2 or 3 maybe?) and not the HR20. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks,
Brent


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

There is a DirecTV2Go in the works... but no details on what it entails.

As for the "other" services...
None of them are transferring the original Digital version of the broadcast.

In TiVo's case, those are Analog Signals, re-compressed by the box.
Hence, the content providers are not as... worried... about them.


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## tfederov (Nov 18, 2005)

DIRECTV is also working on their version of DIRECTV to go as well. No idea on dates for it though.

Darn, Earl beat me to it!


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## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> There is a DirecTV2Go in the works... but no details on what it entails.
> 
> As for the "other" services...
> None of them are transferring the original Digital version of the broadcast.
> ...


Oh ok, cool. I just got off the phone with a technical support person from DTV and he said that right now the USB, Ethernet, and SATA options are not available. He could not give me an ETA on when they would be available.

Oh well, maybe someone will come up with some sort of hack.

Thanks again,
Brent


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

brentman said:


> Oh ok, cool. I just got off the phone with a technical support person from DTV and he said that right now the USB, Ethernet, and SATA options are not available. He could not give me an ETA on when they would be available.
> 
> Oh well, maybe someone will come up with some sort of hack.
> 
> ...


:lol: :grin:

That's summing it up.


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## dpluta (Sep 5, 2006)

Hi.

Use an external, video-enabled DVD burner. I'm using the Sony VRD-MC3 and I love it. It's on sale for $200 this week from Best Buy.

Bye.



brentman said:


> Hello Everyone,
> I just received my HR20 receiver yesterday and I guess because I saw that it had an ethernet port, I assumed I would be able to transfer shows from the dvr to my pc to free up some hard drive space. Well after an hour of searching Google for a way to do this, I found this site. I've also searched this site and still haven't found a definite answer to my question.
> 
> I have read about ViiV and it's my understanding that the ethernet port it now unlocked. From what I've read, Viiv just allows you to view pictures and listen to music on your PC via the DVR. I don't care about this.
> ...


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

brentman said:


> Oh ok, cool. I just got off the phone with a technical support person from DTV and he said that right now the USB, Ethernet, and SATA options are not available. He could not give me an ETA on when they would be available.
> 
> Oh well, maybe someone will come up with some sort of hack.
> 
> ...


For transfering programs? Yes, all three of those are not available.

For usage though:

Networking was enabled with 0x108
And you can add an external eSATA drive to the unit for a larger storage capacity.


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## Ryanm86 (Oct 18, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> For transfering programs? Yes, all three of those are not available.
> 
> For usage though:
> 
> ...


So what does the networking function allow you to do?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Ryanm86 said:


> So what does the networking function allow you to do?


Connect to your home PC's to access Audio and Picture files


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## Ryanm86 (Oct 18, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Connect to your home PC's to access Audio and Picture files


Well that's nice, I was hoping you could network 2 HR20s to share content between them. That would be nice. Of course it doesn't matter since I am still on the waiting list!!


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## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

dpluta said:


> Hi.
> 
> Use an external, video-enabled DVD burner. I'm using the Sony VRD-MC3 and I love it. It's on sale for $200 this week from Best Buy.
> 
> Bye.


How are you plugging in?

Thanks,
Brent


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## dpluta (Sep 5, 2006)

S-Video out from the DVR and regular RCA audio out from the DVR.



brentman said:


> How are you plugging in?
> 
> Thanks,
> Brent


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## brentman (Dec 14, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> For transfering programs? Yes, all three of those are not available.
> 
> For usage though:
> 
> ...


How does the eSATA drive plug into the receiver? USB? I'm just curious because I have a Western Digital "My Book" external hard drive that I could use if possible.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Brent


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## uscboy (Sep 5, 2006)

brentman said:


> How does the eSATA drive plug into the receiver? USB? I'm just curious because I have a Western Digital "My Book" external hard drive that I could use if possible.
> 
> Thanks again for all of your help.
> 
> Brent


By using the eSATA port on the back of the DVR.

eSATA is external serial ATA, USB is universal serial bus... separate things. No support for external USB drives.


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## Slump Buster (Oct 10, 2006)

brentman said:


> Hello Everyone,
> I just received my HR20 receiver yesterday and I guess because I saw that it had an ethernet port, I assumed I would be able to transfer shows from the dvr to my pc to free up some hard drive space. Well after an hour of searching Google for a way to do this, I found this site. I've also searched this site and still haven't found a definite answer to my question.
> 
> I have read about ViiV and it's my understanding that the ethernet port it now unlocked. From what I've read, Viiv just allows you to view pictures and listen to music on your PC via the DVR. I don't care about this.
> ...


There are other ways to do this with the old HDVR2's and other boxes but it isn't for the faint of heart. I have 3 of them on my network and I can shoot video all around the house, even to my pc for burning. As others have said, it isn't likely that you'll see it on the HR20 because of copyright issues and other concerns.

Best bet: DVD burner


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

brentman said:


> Thanks for the prompt response. Any idea how other people are transferring shows to there PC? I know that it is possible with either different receivers or different cable/satelite providers because you see them posted on sites like youtube.com all of the time. If I've got to buy a different receiver, then that's what I'll do.
> 
> Thanks again!


One way to record on the MCE PC is to connect a D* receiver through the video input ports on a tuner card, using S-video and audio in. If you have the MS MCE remote, you can configure MCE to recognize and control the D* receiver as a set-top box using the IR blaster connected to the remote receiver. Of course, this is standard definition only.

GH


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## NYHeel (Aug 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> There is a DirecTV2Go in the works... but no details on what it entails.
> 
> As for the "other" services...
> None of them are transferring the original Digital version of the broadcast.
> ...


Well Earl, you can do that with a hacked Directv Tivo. I know it's not an official feature but with the Zipper and some other guide on Tytools it's really easy to do that. I'm definitely no techie and I don't know any linux and yet I was easily able to set it up. I don't think we're allowed to discuss how to set it up but you can look at tivocommunity for the zipper and then you're 90% of the way there.

Again I understand that n the zipper provided features are not supported or even provided by Directv. Howver, part of the greatness of the Tivo software was the fact that it was created as almost open access (with copywrites of course). THat way if you were so inclined you could add all of these great features. And if not you still had a great box. To be honest, those SD DTivos are the only thing keeping me with Directv.


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## Meklos (Nov 7, 2006)

NYHeel said:


> Well Earl, you can do that with a hacked Directv Tivo. I know it's not an official feature but with the Zipper and some other guide on Tytools it's really easy to do that. I'm definitely no techie and I don't know any linux and yet I was easily able to set it up. I don't think we're allowed to discuss how to set it up but you can look at tivocommunity for the zipper and then you're 90% of the way there.
> 
> Again I understand that n the zipper provided features are not supported or even provided by Directv. Howver, part of the greatness of the Tivo software was the fact that it was created as almost open access (with copywrites of course). THat way if you were so inclined you could add all of these great features. And if not you still had a great box. To be honest, those SD DTivos are the only thing keeping me with Directv.


I would venture a guess that the open nature of the Tivo was something that was seen as "not good" from the content provider's view. I'll bet that part of the 'discussions' between Tivo and D* revolved around locking down any future boxes rather heavily.

If D* has their say, the days of downloading a movie off of your D* receiver are coming to an end. They're getting rid of every Tivo box they can, they're releasing as much new stuff as they can *only* via MPEG4 (which the Tivos can't handle), and they're not back-stocking many Tivo receivers for replacing Tivo receivers. Just take a guess at how many people got 'upgraded' to the R15? 

If you want the ability to do those types of things, it will become increasingly harder to do (at least for a while), and I'll bet that D* will approach this problem the way they do the problems with signal theft. It'll be an ongoing battle.

They may try to do multi-room viewing, and it looks like the box can play media from other sources, but the DirecTV2Go will be locked down pretty tightly.


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## junebug (Jun 4, 2006)

A note to the author for what it's worth. Just wanted to share with you that I can transfer my Tivo Series 2 recordings from the DVR to my PC (I do not have a Media Edition) wirelessly. I don't have the HR20 yet, I have the H20 that I feed into the DVR. I'm waiting for the HR20 to become a little more stable before "upgrading".


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## mwoc (Sep 16, 2006)

Ryanm86 said:


> Well that's nice, I was hoping you could network 2 HR20s to share content between them.


Any idea if or when something like this would be available? Now that the network features have been turned on, seems like having on HR see another's saved content would be similar to seeing pics/music on viiv pc's.

I have 2 HR20's and would love this feature!


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## dvrblogger (Jan 11, 2005)

mwoc said:


> Any idea if or when something like this would be available? Now that the network features have been turned on, seems like having on HR see another's saved content would be similar to seeing pics/music on viiv pc's.
> 
> I have 2 HR20's and would love this feature!


If SD is enough Monsoon has box that is a combo slingbox and MCE tuner. It will encode the SD output in MPEG2 and MPEG 4 and stream MPEG2 around the home wirelessy and allow recording or stream MPEG4 via the web (no recording). It is also being sold by Pinnacle SYs under a different name.


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## jash (Sep 2, 2007)

dvrblogger said:


> If SD is enough Monsoon has box that is a combo slingbox and MCE tuner. It will encode the SD output in MPEG2 and MPEG 4 and stream MPEG2 around the home wirelessy and allow recording or stream MPEG4 via the web (no recording). It is also being sold by Pinnacle SYs under a different name.


i'm stuck in a serious quandry. i can't get my recorded versions of yo gabba gabba off my hr20 to take with us to mexico next week for my daughter while on vacation. a message to all you drm loving industry wonks that make hard working folks like me suffer. you suck!


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## Quatre (Oct 25, 2007)

how soon till wet get video streaming enabled to add to the music and picture streaming already in place?

what file types will be supported. hoping for x264 .mkv

can the HR20-100 currently play any video file types (besides the propietary one that dtv uses supposedly) off a connected esata hdd?


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