USB port activated for DVD burning?

[Chandu]

I know the USB port for ViP 622 and ViP 722 has now been activated for external USB storage drive or PocketDISH. (My understanding is that the $40 activation fee is only if wanting to transfer HD recordings from DVR to external USB storage drive. It doesn't apply for SD recordings to either external USB storage drive or PocketDISH. Correct?)

If I have a DVD burner with USB port, is there any way to use the DVR USB port to burn recordings already stored on one of these DVRs onto DVDs? If this is supported, is there any other activation fee for it?

[ChuckA]

The activation fee is for External HDD storage of either HD or SD recordings. As far as I know, it will not allow recording to a USB DVD. What it writes is going to be encrypted so I doubt you will want to write that to your DVD. I have not heard of anyone that has tried a USB DVD, but I just don't expect the outcome to be what you would like.

[Chandu]

The activation fee is for External HDD storage of either HD or SD recordings. As far as I know, it will not allow recording to a USB DVD. What it writes is going to be encrypted so I doubt you will want to write that to your DVD. I have not heard of anyone that has tried a USB DVD, but I just don't expect the outcome to be what you would like.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So just to clarify more, currently only following solutions are possible to watch recordings off of DVR in mobile, disconnected mode?

1. Purchase PocketDISH and take it with you wherever you go.
2. Hook up a DVD burner to DVR through some mechanism other than USB (e.g. coax), and take DVDs with you wherever you go. But this cannot transfer already recorded content. Basically this cannot use the DVR's schedule recordings feature.

Am I on the right track? The use case of interest to me is for mobility of already recorded content from DVR. PocketDISH doesn't appeal to me because of proprietary platform and very small screen size. DVDs are ideal due to portability and extreme mobility. If I wanted to, I could even play it on mobile DVD player as small as PocketDISH. Why would I want to pay extra for a proprietary PocketDISH? But at the same time, I wish to utilize the power of DVR scheduling software. It looks like the USB external storage drive cannot be taken wherever I wanted and try to play content from it on other computers. It has to be hooked up to the DVR and is not mobile.

Directly hooking up DVD burner and scheduling recordings through it seems possible, but only for future recordings and not already recorded content. Also, I can't see how the DVR scheduling software could be used for scheduling DVD burns of future recordings.

It looks like the solution for use case of interest to me isn't easily available. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

[ChuckA]

The PocketDish is nice for the USB transfers since it is very fast (faster than the external hard drive even). The problem with it however, is that you can only download SD recordings over the USB so you have to plan in advance and not record things in HD that you want to put on the PD. You can schedule recordings directly to the PD of programs that are broadcast in HD. You set up a timer for the EXT device and it records directly to the PD. Of course this is in real time, like you would have to do with a DVD recorder.

One additional thing about the PD is that you can connect it to a TV and play back the recording over the TV. So, you can take recordings with you and play them over a hotel TV without having to watch the little screen.

I think you basically understand the rest of the options.

[Chandu]

One additional thing about the PD is that you can connect it to a TV and play back the recording over the TV. So, you can take recordings with you and play them over a hotel TV without having to watch the little screen.

That's good to know. I wasn't aware of this.

I looked over the specs of PocketDISH and it seems above feature can only be used with a display with RCA or S-Video inputs. I cannot transfer this content to a computer, and use a media player on the computer to watch it, the way I could watch DVDs on computer. Since typically laptops and computer displays don't have RCA or S-Video inputs, I cannot use a laptop screen as a bigger screen instead.

Is my understanding correct?

[ChuckA]

That's right unless you have a laptop with an RCA or S-Video connection. Actually the PocketDish can be connected to a computer with a USB connection and you can save a copy of the recording but you can only watch it from the PD. This can be handy for extended trips when the PD won't hold all the recordings you want to take with you. But, again, all playbacks must be through the PD.

Dish and the content owners are not going to let you record on a Dish receiver and copy the recording for display on a computer. Otherwise it winds up on the Internet and the owner makes no money.

[Chandu]

That's right unless you have a laptop with an RCA or S-Video connection. Actually the PocketDish can be connected to a computer with a USB connection and you can save a copy of the recording but you can only watch it from the PD. This can be handy for extended trips when the PD won't hold all the recordings you want to take with you. But, again, all playbacks must be through the PD.

Great, thanks much for the explanation.

Even if the computer display had RCA or S-Video inputs, it's probably not as flexible solution as playing DVD through media player, as there isn't as much flexibility as resizing media player while continuing to use other applications on the computer.

Dish and the content owners are not going to let you record on a Dish receiver and copy the recording for display on a computer. Otherwise it winds up on the Internet and the owner makes no money.

Except that with a DVD burner, this content protection could be broken - provided DVD burning itself isn't disabled through some other mechanism.