Best way to record HDTV into XH-A1?
 

Happy Holidays Gents,

For the 1st time I've decided to and been put into a position to hopefully record Christmas TV specials to tape on the A1 at high quality . My TV is nothing fancy but adequate as it's a 32" Bravia.

Sorry for my ignorance and perhaps before all of this is through I will need to buy some additional connectors and cables to get the optimal signal flow into the A1 to the extent achievable.

I know how to project an image to an to HDTV easily enough, it's the set-up to record a signal from HDTV direct to tape that I need suggestions for please.

Would at least one of you be willing to walk me through it and if there are multiple solutions my ears are certainly wide open. Any of you Sony Bravia owners?

Thanks so much.

Hi, Bruce...............
 

Well, the short answer is - you can't! (IMHO).

The long answer is a bit more involved, but I'll go through the motions, so here goes.

OK, so you have a HDTV stream from "something". It will, without question have HDCP active, which implies a HDMI port (I'm not aware of any unit that will o/p full Broadcast HD on anything less than HDMI) which really doesn't leave anywhere to go.

Worse still, there isn't, to my knowledge, any (cheap) way of turning an HDMI stream into a FireWire stream, which is the only HD route into the camera, period.

The Component o/p's on the camera are just that, o/p's.

Using the XH A1 as a HDVR really isn't the way to go, it's simply not equiped for it and it's inbuilt copyright protect would probably can any attempt anyway.

Back to the drawing board I'm afraid.

Sorry.

I'm quite prepared to be proved wrong, however, there's no telling what you clever people in the US have contrived to get around HDCP.


CS

I think that pretty much says it all, if you ask me.

alternative -HDVR
 

If you have a DVR box it's possible, no need for camera interface.
I've had success capturing broadcast via my Comcast DVR box (Motorola).
All you have to do is download the developer tools (AVC Video Cap) to open up the stream port and record M2t files to your laptop or desktop.
I've only been able to capture 720p and it's not perfect. On long captures (over 20min) i've had freeze frames that cause the audio to go out of sync. Not sure if it's a stream issue or a by product of the conversion.
I can also capture programs saved to the dvr hard drive which is great when there are scheduling conflicts.

Google your cable box model number and check for a firewire interface on the back.
You'll need a proper firewire cable or adapter.

Hope this helps.