Cheapest way to capture HD footage from cable box? at DVinfo.net

Tyson Persall · April 21st, 2007, 04:21 PM

I have a blackmagic intensity card but copy protection will not allow me to capture over HDMI content.

The componet video output from the cable box are not copy protected. What is the cheapest thing i can get to capture over componet HD?

I realize that black magic just released the intensity Pro which has analog capture attached to it and yes im angry about that b/c i just bought the Intensity after waiting for it to come out for 6 months.

Giroud Francois · April 21st, 2007, 04:41 PM

many people buy a modified box that allows to output the HD-mpeg2 directly out on firewire to the PC.

Michael Ferreira · April 21st, 2007, 08:36 PM

In April of 2004, the FCC mandated that all cable boxes must come with a FireWire port if requested by the consumer. The ruling came based on an interpretation of Section 304 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The ruling is also affected by another FCC mandate, in which all electronic devices capable of recording content must recognize and respect a broadcast bit that determines how the content can be shared across multiple devices

Don't buy a modified box just ask Comcast or who ever to supply you with a box with firewire.. then Google the same question.

I don't know how much i can say but i believe it's better to share with you the legal way to do this... if your going to brake copyright laws at least get the box legit. this way you at least pay for the channels you watch. If it's prime time local stuff you want. and not like HBO HD,Ect. then just get an OTA adapter and use the supplied PVR software and it becomes very legal.

~Mike

Tyson Persall · April 21st, 2007, 11:59 PM

What i am doing is not illegal.

What i am doing is pulling clips from local news for a company that had promotional material shot (by the news) at there location. The local news will not provide copies of there programing... I guess b/c they get requests all the time. So I have to record it off tv. The local news in Atlanta is in HD so I would like to pull it off in HD. So the show is on my cable box DVR and i need it off.
The Motorola box has a firewire port on it already but i was told by someone that it does not function b/c comcast decides weather or not to make it functional or not.

So are you saying i can demand comcast make it functional?

What if I open the box and take out the hard drive and hook it up to my computer?

Tyson Persall · April 22nd, 2007, 12:01 AM

What is an OTA adaptor?

Giroud Francois · April 22nd, 2007, 12:37 AM

files on the disk can be protected, so it is probably more difficult to use them than a simple mpeg2 stream that has only the copy bit activated.

Michael Ferreira · April 22nd, 2007, 06:13 AM

I have worked as a segment producer for network news shows. If we went out and shot something for example. Joe's Apple Farm(Fake for point of example).

Even tho we are on Joe's farm and taping joe he has signed a consent form and we now have the rights to air him and his farm as we wish. So now we own the copy right to the footage that we shot. we created the content and Joe was only the subject he has no copyrights to this.

Given the fact that every time we tape something the number one question is when will it be on TV!!!! we also had a request for video form. after or slightly before we aired the segment we would mail out a copy.

that copy would almost always have the today show lead in and out on it, and would always say copyright NBC.

Thats why if you the average person wants footage from them you would have to pay a min of 150 bucks for up to 5 mins of tape.. and they will be more then happy to give you some footage. and it's as easy as calling them up at there number and asking for archives.

Now im only trying to provide you with information i'm not here to tell you what your doing is wrong or not wrong... But if you did go the way of the modified box off a website ect. that would be 100% NOT legal and thats what i meant about do it legal on the first post.

now on to the OTA.. Over The Air it's just a hd tuner card/or usb that you slap on an antenna to and use the provide DVR software that comes with it to set up your programing, record shows,pause live tv ect.

i got one for 100 bucks at compusa with the antenna included.

I got mine so that when i'm on a plane or on the road i can watch my HD programming on my laptop.

Moving back to the firewire.. i cant provide you with how todo it but im sure somewhere on the internet there is a search engine that might be able to provide you with a lead if you use the right key words... I can say that i have personally seen it done with a comcast box before.

Im sorry i can't give you much detail or more information due to legal reasons and to keep this website from providing information that it should not.

your customers best bet is to sign a archive footage request form.. the capture will be better and chances are if they are the content they wont even be charged... every news station will sell there footage at least all of them that i worked for.

hope you find what your looking for if i think of a work around that wont come back to bite me in the butt ill come back and post it.

~Mike

Tyson Persall · April 30th, 2007, 01:47 PM

With my older Comcast box (made by moterola) I was able to capture over firewire - HD material. Anything with a program I found on the web somewhere. But since then i got a newer box (b/c the old one broke) with HDMI output. This newer box seems to have its firewire disabled. The program will not recognize the box anymore so I cant do it. Very annoying. I hate comcast.

Anyway. I have been told that comcast has the right to disable all the connections on the back. Which include eSata, USB, firewire, Cat5e, ect.

Additionally:
What I am doing is not illegal. I am just using this footage for a design firm to play on there monitors in there loby. Its promotional stuff to show how they were seen on the local news, or on other local tv shows. Yes, I can ask the tv station for a tape but how could they possibly provide me with one in HD? They can only provide SD DVDs or VHS. If I want HD original i have to tape it myself off tv.

Tyson Persall · April 30th, 2007, 07:52 PM

Well I figured out that i can hook up the motorola box to my computer and download drivers and then download a program called CapDVHS and it works! Now i can record HD content to my laptop.

Gints Klimanis · May 8th, 2007, 04:07 PM

Thanks for the tips, Tyson. I'm trying to record a news show that involves, well, me. There are no HD recording services that I've been able to find, and I really want an HD copy. Until I read about your success with the Firewire out of the Comcast box, I thought I'd be stuck with my newly-assembled HDTV antenna and HDTV tuner PCI Card . The HDTV signal looks fantastic on my Sony 40" CRT fed by a Samsung ATSC tuner.

1. $90 KWorld ATSC 115 PlusTV HD PCI-115 Digital/Analog HDTV PCI TV Tuner

http://www.starsurplus.com/viewitem.lasso?i=KWD-ATS115

Though, I just installed the card yesterday and have not tried it yet.

Gints Klimanis · May 9th, 2007, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson Persall

Well I figured out that i can hook up the motorola box to my computer and download drivers and then download a program called CapDVHS and it works! Now i can record HD content to my laptop.

Tyson, Where did you find the firewire drivers? I can't find them on the Motorola website, and Google doesn't yield anything for the DCT-3400 DVR. Will the 6412 firewire drivers work? I'll experiment tonight.

Also, are you using a particular Firewire port? Some peopl on avsforum.com have reported that only the right-side (from view of backpanel) port works.

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/d...2_firewire.zip

Thanks for any leads

Shayne Weyker · May 17th, 2007, 12:40 PM

Check out the Sage TV hardware forum. (SageTV is a an excellent PC-based video recorder). The forum has lots of info on both the firewire method

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16615

and using a device called the HD Homerun which has TWO tuners and feeds out the MPEG2 via an ethernet connection.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20549

Beware both of these threads are LONG.

Homerun HD can tune any unencrypted channels (I forget whether it does SD channels). Typically cable companies encrypt everything except local broadcast channels.

--Shayne

April 21st, 2007, 04:21 PM	#1
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Cheapest way to capture HD footage from cable box? I have a blackmagic intensity card but copy protection will not allow me to capture over HDMI content. The componet video output from the cable box are not copy protected. What is the cheapest thing i can get to capture over componet HD? I realize that black magic just released the intensity Pro which has analog capture attached to it and yes im angry about that b/c i just bought the Intensity after waiting for it to come out for 6 months. __________________ Tyson X

April 21st, 2007, 08:36 PM	#3
Michael Ferreira Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Jupiter, FL Posts: 82	In April of 2004, the FCC mandated that all cable boxes must come with a FireWire port if requested by the consumer. The ruling came based on an interpretation of Section 304 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The ruling is also affected by another FCC mandate, in which all electronic devices capable of recording content must recognize and respect a broadcast bit that determines how the content can be shared across multiple devices Don't buy a modified box just ask Comcast or who ever to supply you with a box with firewire.. then Google the same question. I don't know how much i can say but i believe it's better to share with you the legal way to do this... if your going to brake copyright laws at least get the box legit. this way you at least pay for the channels you watch. If it's prime time local stuff you want. and not like HBO HD,Ect. then just get an OTA adapter and use the supplied PVR software and it becomes very legal. ~Mike __________________ ~ Mike

April 21st, 2007, 11:59 PM	#4
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	What i am doing is not illegal. What i am doing is pulling clips from local news for a company that had promotional material shot (by the news) at there location. The local news will not provide copies of there programing... I guess b/c they get requests all the time. So I have to record it off tv. The local news in Atlanta is in HD so I would like to pull it off in HD. So the show is on my cable box DVR and i need it off. The Motorola box has a firewire port on it already but i was told by someone that it does not function b/c comcast decides weather or not to make it functional or not. So are you saying i can demand comcast make it functional? What if I open the box and take out the hard drive and hook it up to my computer? __________________ Tyson X

April 22nd, 2007, 12:01 AM	#5
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	What is an OTA adaptor? __________________ Tyson X

April 22nd, 2007, 06:13 AM	#7
Michael Ferreira Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Jupiter, FL Posts: 82	I have worked as a segment producer for network news shows. If we went out and shot something for example. Joe's Apple Farm(Fake for point of example). Even tho we are on Joe's farm and taping joe he has signed a consent form and we now have the rights to air him and his farm as we wish. So now we own the copy right to the footage that we shot. we created the content and Joe was only the subject he has no copyrights to this. Given the fact that every time we tape something the number one question is when will it be on TV!!!! we also had a request for video form. after or slightly before we aired the segment we would mail out a copy. that copy would almost always have the today show lead in and out on it, and would always say copyright NBC. Thats why if you the average person wants footage from them you would have to pay a min of 150 bucks for up to 5 mins of tape.. and they will be more then happy to give you some footage. and it's as easy as calling them up at there number and asking for archives. Now im only trying to provide you with information i'm not here to tell you what your doing is wrong or not wrong... But if you did go the way of the modified box off a website ect. that would be 100% NOT legal and thats what i meant about do it legal on the first post. now on to the OTA.. Over The Air it's just a hd tuner card/or usb that you slap on an antenna to and use the provide DVR software that comes with it to set up your programing, record shows,pause live tv ect. i got one for 100 bucks at compusa with the antenna included. I got mine so that when i'm on a plane or on the road i can watch my HD programming on my laptop. Moving back to the firewire.. i cant provide you with how todo it but im sure somewhere on the internet there is a search engine that might be able to provide you with a lead if you use the right key words... I can say that i have personally seen it done with a comcast box before. Im sorry i can't give you much detail or more information due to legal reasons and to keep this website from providing information that it should not. your customers best bet is to sign a archive footage request form.. the capture will be better and chances are if they are the content they wont even be charged... every news station will sell there footage at least all of them that i worked for. hope you find what your looking for if i think of a work around that wont come back to bite me in the butt ill come back and post it. ~Mike __________________ ~ Mike

April 21st, 2007, 04:41 PM	#2
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	many people buy a modified box that allows to output the HD-mpeg2 directly out on firewire to the PC.

April 22nd, 2007, 12:37 AM	#6
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	files on the disk can be protected, so it is probably more difficult to use them than a simple mpeg2 stream that has only the copy bit activated.

April 30th, 2007, 01:47 PM	#8
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	With my older Comcast box (made by moterola) I was able to capture over firewire - HD material. Anything with a program I found on the web somewhere. But since then i got a newer box (b/c the old one broke) with HDMI output. This newer box seems to have its firewire disabled. The program will not recognize the box anymore so I cant do it. Very annoying. I hate comcast. Anyway. I have been told that comcast has the right to disable all the connections on the back. Which include eSata, USB, firewire, Cat5e, ect. Additionally: What I am doing is not illegal. I am just using this footage for a design firm to play on there monitors in there loby. Its promotional stuff to show how they were seen on the local news, or on other local tv shows. Yes, I can ask the tv station for a tape but how could they possibly provide me with one in HD? They can only provide SD DVDs or VHS. If I want HD original i have to tape it myself off tv. __________________ Tyson X

April 30th, 2007, 07:52 PM	#9
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Well I figured out that i can hook up the motorola box to my computer and download drivers and then download a program called CapDVHS and it works! Now i can record HD content to my laptop. __________________ Tyson X

May 8th, 2007, 04:07 PM	#10
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Thanks for the tips, Tyson. I'm trying to record a news show that involves, well, me. There are no HD recording services that I've been able to find, and I really want an HD copy. Until I read about your success with the Firewire out of the Comcast box, I thought I'd be stuck with my newly-assembled HDTV antenna and HDTV tuner PCI Card . The HDTV signal looks fantastic on my Sony 40" CRT fed by a Samsung ATSC tuner. 1. $90 KWorld ATSC 115 PlusTV HD PCI-115 Digital/Analog HDTV PCI TV Tuner http://www.starsurplus.com/viewitem.lasso?i=KWD-ATS115 Though, I just installed the card yesterday and have not tried it yet.

May 17th, 2007, 12:40 PM	#12
Shayne Weyker Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Columbia, Maryland Posts: 83	Cable HD recording solutions Check out the Sage TV hardware forum. (SageTV is a an excellent PC-based video recorder). The forum has lots of info on both the firewire method http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16615 and using a device called the HD Homerun which has TWO tuners and feeds out the MPEG2 via an ethernet connection. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20549 Beware both of these threads are LONG. Homerun HD can tune any unencrypted channels (I forget whether it does SD channels). Typically cable companies encrypt everything except local broadcast channels. --Shayne