I record HD stuff (BBC and ITV included) on a Technomate HD sat box, and they are NOT encrypted. I can play them on a Toshiba laptop with HDMI out. They are .trp files and can be played with (amongst others) "Media Player Classic", as long as you have the appropriate codec. Same applies for HD recordings made from other encrypted services. They are all stored as un-encrypted .trp files.

Anyone know what format the files are saved as on the HDR? I would like to know before I "jump ship".

The Foxsat HDR does the encryption for 'copy protected' programmes. At the moment all BBC programmes are flagged as 'copy protected'. Quite why the BBC bother with this escapes me, given that the programmes are transmitted FTA and you can buy receivers and PC cards that make unencrypted recordings.

On the subject of hard drive upgrades I note the manual says on page 8.


At least they cover it...

Automan.

There'd be no reason for them to be on a Technomate - but we're talking about the Humax box here - and that does save material in encrypted form if it's flagged to be protected, in addition to preventing you from transferring it off the box using USB.

Am I missing something here? Aren't you supposed to use an ACE drive for recorders, so the disk doesn't request a re-send?

Hi guys,

sorry to hijack this, but a question for Bob_Cat... I have had my HD-R crash twice on me this week. Both times recordings have failed, and all that is displayed on my TV is a GREEN SCREEN. The box did seem quite hot, could this be an overheating issue? I notice the HD-R has no top vents.

Regards

Hot? Do you have it in a cabinet?

Mine gets a little warm, certainly not hot, then after 40 minutes or so the fan comes on & the box goes cool.

Hi,

it does sit on top of my amp which is definitely warm. I suppose this warm air then enters the HDR and becomes hot..? I may get a temp reading from the chip with a heatsink on it for comparison...

A few pics of my Foxsat HDR hard drive upgrade for those who wanted to see the insides of the HDR

Lid Removed
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...OXSATHDR01.jpg

Hard drive caddy removed
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...OXSATHDR02.jpg

Hard drive caddy (with integral fan)
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...OXSATHDR03.jpg

HDD details after upgrade
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...OXSATHDR04.jpg

Steve

Great. I've got a WD 1TB same as yours.

I'm in the UK in January so I'll pick up the Humax PVR and swap the disks.

Yep I followed SJCs lead and did the 1TB upgrade on my HDR - loads of recording time now

I used a new 1TB WD10EVCS. I think with HD more HDD space was needed - well, in my case anyway

Thanks very much for sharing the pics Steve.

Yes, recording all those hours of the BBC HD test loop must be pretty space-consuming

But thanks to the pioneers for letting us know how you got on.

well yes, I must admit I'm being optimistic for the future, plus there's some good stuff on TV over the hols that I would like to record

Great pics for upgraders--props to Steve-R.

But...has anyone tried recording BBC HD in non-freesat mode yet? Does it encrypt/have a no-copy flag for USB transfer?

I hope this q. isn't out of order.

Good question, I'll try tomorrow and let you know....

ok just done a quick test - and all I'll say is that the option to copy to external drive is enabled. Also there is no protection flag visible in non-freesat mode on BBC HD

I'll do some more testing tomorrow. Currently in non-freesat mode you can only set a manual recording (you cannot schedule).

I've just plugged the USB external hard drive into the PS3 - and the test recording I did last night on the HDR plays perfectly via PS3

I thought it might work--thanks for checking!

Can you confirm that it is still in h.264 1080i format and hasn't been converted/downscaled?

The box cannot down-convert/transcode transport streams, it would be in original format.

Bob

Probably best if we don't tell too many people about this, or the "feature" might disappear!

Inside the box it looks empty. Makes it seem less value for money. But I know its worth every penny.

By sheer coincidence this morning before reading this thread I tried recording the BBC HD loop on non freesat mode. I tried both channels and the recordings are encrypted and can't be transferred to USB. Personally not bothered about the encryption just want somewhere to park these especially over xmas when I will likely run out of HDD space

When you say you tried both channels, you mean you tried BBC HD in Freesat and non Freesat mode? It seems odd that it worked for Blotch but not in your case.