Hi. I might be getting the Humax Freesat PVR. Been using the 9200T on freeview very successfully. My question is could someone give me a brief idea of getting recordings off the Humax freesat recorder as I do now with the Humax?

I currently take out my 9200 freeview box's hard drive and in the PC use a variety of tools like ts readfiles, video redo and dvd lab to create DVDs.

Presumably I can do the same with SD recordings on the Freesat? Is it exactly the same? What about HD recordings? (Or are they encrypted?) could I get them to Bluray with a PC Bluray recorder?
If not, can I watch in HD and record in SD for later transfer to the PC?

Thanks as ever for the knowledge on here.

Right firstly taking SD, the foxsat produces .ts (transmission stream mpeg 2) files that the latest release of video redo (plus and TV suite) is compatible with so for SD the process is identical to the 9200 (the usb transfers are 100% reliable unlike the 9200). The free VLC player will also play the .TS files on a PC.

HD is a whole different ball game. HD recordings are also in .ts format using H264mpeg4 compression. In freesat mode the HD stream is encrypted by the hdr such that only the hdr that recorded it can play it back. It's possible using non freesat mode to create non encrypted BBC HD .ts files (currently only by manually starting a recording). These files can be copied to a usb drive anf given a fast enough computer played back with a h264 player. They can also be burnt to disc. It's posible to burn HD material to a standard DVD using AVCHD that newer blu-ray players will play back in full HD quality. A dual layer blank DVD will hold most movies.

A H264 compatible release of video redo is rumoured to be in the pipeline but you will need a PC with some grunt to edit HD video

Hope this clarifies the position

Graham

Excellent, thanks Graham that says it all!

Great news on the USB, I was fed up with taking the HD out of the Hummy freeview.

I wonder if, when I take a HD recording off the player and burn it to a bluray, it will be the equivalent of say 720p blurays? I realise they won't be 1080 as broadcasts are in 720 (I think). So would one notice the difference between a commercial bluray 720p disc and a h264 freesat put to 720p bluray? Apart from sound would the picture be as good?

Thanks

All HD is broadcast in 1080i in varying horizontal resolution. BBC HD ITV HD and Luxe HD use 1440 x 1080 interlaced. The DVB-S2 transponders used by Sky use full 1920 x 1080i.

Blu-ray is normally full 1920 x 1080 progressive -1080p 24fps, because of the enormous bit rates possible on blu-ray, broadcast 1080i is never going to be as good as blu-ray but it looks pretty good though.

I currently have a PVD-9200T in the living room and have a FoxSat HDR on order. My question is this..

Is it possible (using usb connections to a computer) to copy recordings from the 9200T onto the FoxSat HDR to view them from the FoxSat? In effect, retiring the 9200T.

What I was thinking of doing was running a usb lead from the 9200T to a laptop, and a usb from the laptop to the Foxsat, and using windows to do a direct file copy from one to the other.
Are the files from the 9200T compatible for playback on the Foxsat?
Im not bothered about copying from the foxsat to the 9200T, so playback ability in that direction doesnt matter to me.

In 1 word - No.

In more words - even though they both produce .ts files, the HDR needs 2 sidecar files (that it produces for its own recordings), to be able to play.

Nobody has come forth, yet, to say that they have been able to reproduce these files.

Rgds.

Les.

Keep your 9200, many SD channels (ITV among them) have ropy pictures. I use my 2 freeview pvrs for all SD recording and the foxsat-hdr for HD recording. There are also some channels on freeview that you can't get on freesat box. Dave, Fiver, Five Us and Virgin 1 spring to mind.

Graham please don't speak for all of us You might get ropy pictures but I don't. I only get poor quality pictures on Freeview - but that is down to my location. I get excellent pictures on Freesat

There is no escaping the 23% less picture info on ITV 1 on satellite compared to Freeview. That's ignoring the lower bitrates. There are thousands of postings on AV forums about poor SD pictures on sat compared to terrestrial, would be interested if you can find anyone else thinks the other way.

DTT picture quality does not vary with signal strength unless your signal level falls over the digital cliff giving rise to pixellation effects. If you are experiencing these then it's not a picture quality issue at all, rather an inadequate signal. The whole point of digital is that it works 100% or does not work properly unlike analogue where the picture starts better than digital and gradually declines into noise as the signal declines.

Look at the graph here

http://www.aerialsandtv.com/digitalt...gitalnegatives

Admittedly there are channels on freeview that i enjoy and wish were on FreeSat, but hey=ho we cant have everything. I also notice that some of the channels on FreeSat (notably film channels and the "Zone" channels") are grainy in the extreme on FreeSat. Some i'd say were barely watchable and it amazes me they bother to broadcast at such a low quality. Having said that there are also some channels who broadcast with a lovely sharp clear image, so its all swings and roundabouts.

My main objective was to get my recordings off the 9200T while still being viewable as the parents are taking over that box and i'll have the new FoxSat-HDR instead. My version of Nero doesnt even want to know about .ts files so it makes archiving to dvd a bit of a pain. Hence id wanted to transfer them to the new box instead.

VLC player's file export capability can convert a .ts transport stream file to a .mpg programme stream file that nero will be happy with

Oooh i didnt know that. Thanks so much for telling me that, I shall have to get cracking with converting and burning files. many thanks.