Can anybody tell me if it is possible to record onto the HDR hard disk from a vcr. I want to use some of the space to record some of my old video material and throw away my old VHS recorder.
Recording to FOXSAT HDR from external VCR using SCART
Originally Posted by Rega:
“Can anybody tell me if it is possible to record onto the HDR hard disk from a vcr. I want to use some of the space to record some of my old video material and throw away my old VHS recorder.”
“Can anybody tell me if it is possible to record onto the HDR hard disk from a vcr. I want to use some of the space to record some of my old video material and throw away my old VHS recorder.”
No, but if you can find a way of getting the tapes converted onto some digital medium, and a PC, you could possibly use the AV2HDR tool found here http://www.hummy.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=6468
I had an old combination VCR/DVDR which was useful for converting old tapes onto DVD.
Rgds.
Les.
Thanks Savvy for your reply. I have taken a quick look at the link that you gave me but I am not clear what I'll have to do. Will this work? If I record my tapes onto a CD recorder and then use the AV2HDR software on my PC to convert the CDs to a suitable format (AVC?) then I'll be able to transfer the files to the HDR hard disk via the USB.
Regards Rega.
Regards Rega.
Originally Posted by Rega:
“Thanks Savvy for your reply. I have taken a quick look at the link that you gave me but I am not clear what I'll have to do. Will this work? If I record my tapes onto a CD recorder and then use the AV2HDR software on my PC to convert the CDs to a suitable format (AVC?) then I'll be able to transfer the files to the HDR hard disk via the USB.
Regards Rega.”
“Thanks Savvy for your reply. I have taken a quick look at the link that you gave me but I am not clear what I'll have to do. Will this work? If I record my tapes onto a CD recorder and then use the AV2HDR software on my PC to convert the CDs to a suitable format (AVC?) then I'll be able to transfer the files to the HDR hard disk via the USB.
Regards Rega.”
Almost.
Download AV2HDR, it's only a small download. The help file contains the supported video file formats. If you don't want to, here is an extract from the help file :-
Quote:
“SD Video 576
Width 720 pixels
Height 576 pixels
SD Video 720
Width 1280 pixels
Height 720 pixels
HD Video 1080
Width 1920 pixels
Height 1080 pixels
Video format MPEG-2 or H264
Aspect ratio 16/9.
Scan type progressive or interlaced
Frame rate 23.976, 25, or 29.97 frames per second.
Audio SD or HD
MPEG1 layer 2 or Dolby AC3.
Supported containers for A/V streams are .TS .MTS .M2TS .MPG and .VOB.
You can drag and drop your video anywhere in AV2HDR's window. If the container format is supported it will display streams information. However, that does not guarantee playback on the HDR. The video and audio streams must also match the above specifications.
Please Note: In order for MPEG-2 playback functions like fast-forward/rewind, and resume from last played position to work correctly, the source video must contain a correct sequence of GOP (Group Of Pictures) timestamps encoded in the video stream. Some streams, such a those extracted from DVD's may have all GOP timestamps set to zero. In this case the video will still playback on the HDR, but the timebar will be locked at zero minutes and seeking will not work. To correct this problem the source file must be run through a utility to recreate the GOP timestamps. Womble Multimedia products all contain a tool named MPEG GOP Fixer which will do the job. Unfortunately they are not freeware. There is a a freeware tool named ProjectX which can demux the source video back to elementary streams, and at the same time rebuild the GOP timestamps. These elementary streams then need to be remuxed back to a Transport Stream with something like TsMuxeR before AV2HDR can process the video. ProjectX and TsMuxer are excellent tools, however, they may be a bit too technical for the average user.
AV2HDR cannot, and never will, import other video formats such as .AVI .DIVX .WMV .MOV
These must first be re-encoded to the above specifications using the software of your choice. There is an abundance of software re-encoders available for this purpose.”
“SD Video 576
Width 720 pixels
Height 576 pixels
SD Video 720
Width 1280 pixels
Height 720 pixels
HD Video 1080
Width 1920 pixels
Height 1080 pixels
Video format MPEG-2 or H264
Aspect ratio 16/9.
Scan type progressive or interlaced
Frame rate 23.976, 25, or 29.97 frames per second.
Audio SD or HD
MPEG1 layer 2 or Dolby AC3.
Supported containers for A/V streams are .TS .MTS .M2TS .MPG and .VOB.
You can drag and drop your video anywhere in AV2HDR's window. If the container format is supported it will display streams information. However, that does not guarantee playback on the HDR. The video and audio streams must also match the above specifications.
Please Note: In order for MPEG-2 playback functions like fast-forward/rewind, and resume from last played position to work correctly, the source video must contain a correct sequence of GOP (Group Of Pictures) timestamps encoded in the video stream. Some streams, such a those extracted from DVD's may have all GOP timestamps set to zero. In this case the video will still playback on the HDR, but the timebar will be locked at zero minutes and seeking will not work. To correct this problem the source file must be run through a utility to recreate the GOP timestamps. Womble Multimedia products all contain a tool named MPEG GOP Fixer which will do the job. Unfortunately they are not freeware. There is a a freeware tool named ProjectX which can demux the source video back to elementary streams, and at the same time rebuild the GOP timestamps. These elementary streams then need to be remuxed back to a Transport Stream with something like TsMuxeR before AV2HDR can process the video. ProjectX and TsMuxer are excellent tools, however, they may be a bit too technical for the average user.
AV2HDR cannot, and never will, import other video formats such as .AVI .DIVX .WMV .MOV
These must first be re-encoded to the above specifications using the software of your choice. There is an abundance of software re-encoders available for this purpose.”
So, you will probably have to have another piece of software to convert the file on the burned DVD/VCD/SVCD into one of those formats.
Then you simply point AV2HDR to that file, it will create the .ts file and 2 other sidecar files, that the HDR needs to be able to play it. You then use the HDR File Manager to upload these files to the HDR via USB; or you can play them on the HDR directly from the USB drive.
Rgds.
Les.
Thanks Les, you certainly appear to know a lot about this stuff! I was going to get the HDR because I want a PVR and I thought that getting the FOXSAT-HDR would give me several benefits, ie HD freesat, PVR and storage of my old VHS material. At first I considered getting a Sony DVDR/HDD/PVR, it will record to hard disk via the SCART (so Sony told me) but of course that would not give me HD reception because it is only freeview. I'll now have to decide what matters to me most - HD reception or storage of my old VHS material. To take advantage of AV2HDR I'll still have to record my VHS tapes to DVD so I'll have to buy a DVD recorder. What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.
Originally Posted by Rega:
“Thanks Les, you certainly appear to know a lot about this stuff! I was going to get the HDR because I want a PVR and I thought that getting the FOXSAT-HDR would give me several benefits, ie HD freesat, PVR and storage of my old VHS material. At first I considered getting a Sony DVDR/HDD/PVR, it will record to hard disk via the SCART (so Sony told me) but of course that would not give me HD reception because it is only freeview. I'll now have to decide what matters to me most - HD reception or storage of my old VHS material. To take advantage of AV2HDR I'll still have to record my VHS tapes to DVD so I'll have to buy a DVD recorder. What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.”
“Thanks Les, you certainly appear to know a lot about this stuff! I was going to get the HDR because I want a PVR and I thought that getting the FOXSAT-HDR would give me several benefits, ie HD freesat, PVR and storage of my old VHS material. At first I considered getting a Sony DVDR/HDD/PVR, it will record to hard disk via the SCART (so Sony told me) but of course that would not give me HD reception because it is only freeview. I'll now have to decide what matters to me most - HD reception or storage of my old VHS material. To take advantage of AV2HDR I'll still have to record my VHS tapes to DVD so I'll have to buy a DVD recorder. What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.”
Hi Reg,
I wouldn't let this put you off the HDR, I doubt whether you will get a 1 box solution that meets your specific needs.
I have seen adverts for people offering to convert old VHS tapes to DVD. If you really have such treasured stuff on VHS, it may be worth investing in this one-off cost, and then you've got them on DVD for ever more.
Bear in mind, if you have a lot of stuff, it will take away space from recordings on the HDR, and if you start to record in HD on the HDR, you need that space, believe me.
I wouldn't treat the HDR's hard disk as an offline storage unit for relatively rarely accessed archive material.
If you can get the "VHS conversion Company" to put them into the format as described above that AV2HDR can handle, then you could put them on an external USB HDD, permanently attached to the HDR, and you can then play them, as needed, directly from there.
Rgds.
Les.
Hi Les, being as you seem to know about the FOXSAT-HDR can you tell me if I will be able to record to a DVD recorder from the HDR SCART socket?
Thanks, Reg.
Thanks, Reg.
Thanks Les, you certainly appear to know a lot about this stuff! I was going to get the HDR because I want a PVR and I thought that getting the FOXSAT-HDR would give me several benefits, ie HD freesat, PVR and storage of my old VHS material. At first I considered getting a Sony DVDR/HDD/PVR, it will record to hard disk via the SCART (so Sony told me) but of course that would not give me HD reception because it is only freeview. I'll now have to decide what matters to me most - HD reception or storage of my old VHS material. To take advantage of AV2HDR I'll still have to record my VHS tapes to DVD so I'll have to buy a DVD recorder. What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.
Originally Posted by Rega:
“What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.”
“What I really want is for Humax to build in a DVD recorder and a SCART input into their HDR. Thanks for your help, Regards, Reg.”
Check out Panasonic, who do them with either DVD or BluRay - but VERY expensive.
Generally PVR's don't have DVD recorders, because PVR's record direct digital data, DVD recorders record analogue data, which is why they can record from external sources (and PVR's can't).
The Sony recorder you mentioned isn't what I would call a PVR, it's a DVD recorder with an in-built HDD, both of which accept analogue signals and record them digitally.
Originally Posted by savvy:
“Hi Reg,
I wouldn't let this put you off the HDR, I doubt whether you will get a 1 box solution that meets your specific needs.
I have seen adverts for people offering to convert old VHS tapes to DVD. If you really have such treasured stuff on VHS, it may be worth investing in this one-off cost, and then you've got them on DVD for ever more.
Bear in mind, if you have a lot of stuff, it will take away space from recordings on the HDR, and if you start to record in HD on the HDR, you need that space, believe me.
I wouldn't treat the HDR's hard disk as an offline storage unit for relatively rarely accessed archive material.
If you can get the "VHS conversion Company" to put them into the format as described above that AV2HDR can handle, then you could put them on an external USB HDD, permanently attached to the HDR, and you can then play them, as needed, directly from there.
Rgds.
Les.”
“Hi Reg,
I wouldn't let this put you off the HDR, I doubt whether you will get a 1 box solution that meets your specific needs.
I have seen adverts for people offering to convert old VHS tapes to DVD. If you really have such treasured stuff on VHS, it may be worth investing in this one-off cost, and then you've got them on DVD for ever more.
Bear in mind, if you have a lot of stuff, it will take away space from recordings on the HDR, and if you start to record in HD on the HDR, you need that space, believe me.
I wouldn't treat the HDR's hard disk as an offline storage unit for relatively rarely accessed archive material.
If you can get the "VHS conversion Company" to put them into the format as described above that AV2HDR can handle, then you could put them on an external USB HDD, permanently attached to the HDR, and you can then play them, as needed, directly from there.
Rgds.
Les.”
The easiest way to do this is to use a digital video camera with audio/video in. I have a sony camcorder that connects by firewire to my PC. The camcorder operates as an analogue to digital converter producing a 720 x576 DV .avi file. Once you have the file burning to dvd or converting to hdr files is simple.
You can do the same trick with a PC that also has audio/video capture. Just set the recording software to digitise to 720 x 576 25 fps.
In both cases no need to use the hdr's internal hdd they will play back very happily from an external drive.
Getting VHS tapes converted is quite expensive. So why not just copy your tapes via scart to your DVD player. Once they are on DVD you can use TSmuxer and then AV2HDR to make them compatible with the Foxsat HDR.
I copied all my tapes to DVD and threw away the VHS player as I didn't need it any more. With Grahamlthompson's and others help I have also played them on the Foxsat.
Give it ago before you spend the unnecessary cash
I copied all my tapes to DVD and threw away the VHS player as I didn't need it any more. With Grahamlthompson's and others help I have also played them on the Foxsat.
Give it ago before you spend the unnecessary cash
Originally Posted by theShadowman:
“Getting VHS tapes converted is quite expensive. So why not just copy your tapes via scart to your DVD player. Once they are on DVD you can use TSmuxer and then AV2HDR to make them compatible with the Foxsat HDR.
I copied all my tapes to DVD and threw away the VHS player as I didn't need it any more. With Grahamlthompson's and others help I have also played them on the Foxsat.
Give it ago before you spend the unnecessary cash”
“Getting VHS tapes converted is quite expensive. So why not just copy your tapes via scart to your DVD player. Once they are on DVD you can use TSmuxer and then AV2HDR to make them compatible with the Foxsat HDR.
I copied all my tapes to DVD and threw away the VHS player as I didn't need it any more. With Grahamlthompson's and others help I have also played them on the Foxsat.
Give it ago before you spend the unnecessary cash”
He would need a DVD Recorder, and he doesn't have one. So it's the cost of a DVDR vs the cost of getting them converted for him vs the effort of doing it the camcorder way, if he has one, or access to one.
Rgds.
Les.
Originally Posted by savvy:
“He would need a DVD Recorder, and he doesn't have one. So it's the cost of a DVDR vs the cost of getting them converted for him vs the effort of doing it the camcorder way, if he has one, or access to one.
Rgds.
Les.”
“He would need a DVD Recorder, and he doesn't have one. So it's the cost of a DVDR vs the cost of getting them converted for him vs the effort of doing it the camcorder way, if he has one, or access to one.
Rgds.
Les.”
The TV card I use with my laptop has cvbs/s-video and analogue stereo audio in. That works OK as well but the picture quality is not quite as good as the camcorder way.
Hi, I haven't been on here for a few weeks and I see there are some more replies. Thanks to everybody for taking the time. I have now bought a Foxsat HDR and a Sony DVD recorder so I can now do everything that I wanted. It all seems to work OK but I have not had a lot of time to study the manuals and I am still learning.
I am about to start a new thread because there are two things that I can't find info on:
1) I can't find out how to skip commercials when recording on the Foxsat, even though it mentions it in the Glossary under 'trick-play', which might suggest that it can only be done on replay.
2) I can't find out how to erase a short section of recording, ie A to B erase.
Thanks again guys for your replies,
Rega.
I am about to start a new thread because there are two things that I can't find info on:
1) I can't find out how to skip commercials when recording on the Foxsat, even though it mentions it in the Glossary under 'trick-play', which might suggest that it can only be done on replay.
2) I can't find out how to erase a short section of recording, ie A to B erase.
Thanks again guys for your replies,
Rega.
Originally Posted by Rega:
“Hi, I haven't been on here for a few weeks and I see there are some more replies. Thanks to everybody for taking the time. I have now bought a Foxsat HDR and a Sony DVD recorder so I can now do everything that I wanted. It all seems to work OK but I have not had a lot of time to study the manuals and I am still learning.
I am about to start a new thread because there are two things that I can't find info on:
1) I can't find out how to skip commercials when recording on the Foxsat, even though it mentions it in the Glossary under 'trick-play', which might suggest that it can only be done on replay.
2) I can't find out how to erase a short section of recording, ie A to B erase.
Thanks again guys for your replies,
Rega.”
“Hi, I haven't been on here for a few weeks and I see there are some more replies. Thanks to everybody for taking the time. I have now bought a Foxsat HDR and a Sony DVD recorder so I can now do everything that I wanted. It all seems to work OK but I have not had a lot of time to study the manuals and I am still learning.
I am about to start a new thread because there are two things that I can't find info on:
1) I can't find out how to skip commercials when recording on the Foxsat, even though it mentions it in the Glossary under 'trick-play', which might suggest that it can only be done on replay.
2) I can't find out how to erase a short section of recording, ie A to B erase.
Thanks again guys for your replies,
Rega.”
You can only skip adverts in playback. Reverse and Forward skip are the two buttons above the Yellow and Blue keys. The skip settings can be altered in the menus but the default of +2min and -15sec works well. As soon as the ads start press the forward skip until you see the programme has starred. Then pree reverse till you see the ads. Result max 15 sec of advert
Hi Graham, thanks for your reply. I was hoping for some kind of automatic way of either not recording ads or automatically skipping them on playback. I was obviously expecting too much. I'll try your suggestion.
Regards,
Reg.
Regards,
Reg.
What a handy thread, as I am looking to transfer some old videos to some sort of digital format, ideally to play back on the HDR rather than messing about with DVDs, so thanks to those that have already given advice. 
Now I need to check that I've got this right - lol.
I am thinking of getting a USB video capture device for the PC, which will save to MPEG2 format, which should work with the AV2HDR download, which in turn can convert those files to '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files', that will play out on the Humax Foxsat HDR.
Do I have that right?
Also, approx. what sort of file size would the '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files' create for, say, an hour of former video if saved as SD Video 576 (Width 720 pixels & Height 576 pixels)?
Now I need to check that I've got this right - lol.
I am thinking of getting a USB video capture device for the PC, which will save to MPEG2 format, which should work with the AV2HDR download, which in turn can convert those files to '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files', that will play out on the Humax Foxsat HDR.
Do I have that right?
Also, approx. what sort of file size would the '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files' create for, say, an hour of former video if saved as SD Video 576 (Width 720 pixels & Height 576 pixels)?
Originally Posted by overline:
“What a handy thread, as I am looking to transfer some old videos to some sort of digital format, ideally to play back on the HDR rather than messing about with DVDs, so thanks to those that have already given advice.
Now I need to check that I've got this right - lol.
I am thinking of getting a USB video capture device for the PC, which will save to MPEG2 format, which should work with the AV2HDR download, which in turn can convert those files to '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files', that will play out on the Humax Foxsat HDR.
Do I have that right?
Also, approx. what sort of file size would the '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files' create for, say, an hour of former video if saved as SD Video 576 (Width 720 pixels & Height 576 pixels)?”
“What a handy thread, as I am looking to transfer some old videos to some sort of digital format, ideally to play back on the HDR rather than messing about with DVDs, so thanks to those that have already given advice.
Now I need to check that I've got this right - lol.
I am thinking of getting a USB video capture device for the PC, which will save to MPEG2 format, which should work with the AV2HDR download, which in turn can convert those files to '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files', that will play out on the Humax Foxsat HDR.
Do I have that right?
Also, approx. what sort of file size would the '.ts file and 2 other sidecar files' create for, say, an hour of former video if saved as SD Video 576 (Width 720 pixels & Height 576 pixels)?”
Sounds right. Without knowing what bitrate the usb digitiser uses impssible to say what file size. Expect about 2GB for an hour. The support files are pretty small you can ignore them from the point of view of storage,
OK - I've hit a problem, hardly surprising for me - lol. 
The first part of the plan came together, I got this USB Video capture thing, which works great & I've recorded a couple of test clips from the VCR onto my hard-drive as MPG files, that is supposed to be supported by the AV2HDR download thing.
However, in AV2HDR, when I select a recording to convert all I get is a pop-up saying 'object reference not set to an instance of an object', so it's sort of game over here. 
Any help & advice would be gratefully received.
The first part of the plan came together, I got this USB Video capture thing, which works great & I've recorded a couple of test clips from the VCR onto my hard-drive as MPG files, that is supposed to be supported by the AV2HDR download thing.
However, in AV2HDR, when I select a recording to convert all I get is a pop-up saying 'object reference not set to an instance of an object'
, so it's sort of game over here. Any help & advice would be gratefully received.
Originally Posted by overline:
“OK - I've hit a problem, hardly surprising for me - lol.
The first part of the plan came together, I got this USB Video capture thing, which works great & I've recorded a couple of test clips from the VCR onto my hard-drive as MPG files, that is supposed to be supported by the AV2HDR download thing.
However, in AV2HDR, when I select a recording to convert all I get is a pop-up saying 'object reference not set to an instance of an object', so it's sort of game over here.
Any help & advice would be gratefully received.”
“OK - I've hit a problem, hardly surprising for me - lol.
The first part of the plan came together, I got this USB Video capture thing, which works great & I've recorded a couple of test clips from the VCR onto my hard-drive as MPG files, that is supposed to be supported by the AV2HDR download thing.
However, in AV2HDR, when I select a recording to convert all I get is a pop-up saying 'object reference not set to an instance of an object'
, so it's sort of game over here. Any help & advice would be gratefully received.”
Can you post what the tree view option of Mediainfo says about one of the files.
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“Can you post what the tree view option of Mediainfo says about one of the files.
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en”
“Can you post what the tree view option of Mediainfo says about one of the files.
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en”
That's a handy little tool, I'll not waste space on here by posting up all that media information, but what I did notice straight away was the resolution (Width 352 pixels X Height 288 pixels), which is well too low for the AV2HDR download to support, and frankly too low for much else.
I decided to use my netbook for video capture, so as not to tie-up my laptop for hours on end and had only installed the basic EZ Grabber Application that came with the video capture device.
This morning, after spotting the resolution problem, I've installed the 'Honestech VHD to DVD' software that also came with the device, and the first thing it did was prompt me to increase the screen resolution on the netbook and then it produced a recording of correct resolution (Width 720 pixels X Height 576 pixels).
Dragged that into the AV2HDR window and it worked like a treat, even if it left me feeling somewhat stupid!
So, again, thanks to everyone that has offered advice on this thread and in particular Graham.
