I tried to record a show from BBC iPlayer via my Virgin V+ box. My new-ish DVD recorder wouldn't let me. Is iPlayer copy-protected in some way? This is odd, as I used to happily record stuff from iPlayer on to my old VHS recorder. And anyway, if it's there free to watch, how come you can't record it? Or am I doing something wrong?
Last edited by Whitman : 02-02-2009 at 15:17

iPlayer does include copy-protection

when you recorded to vhs, you were recording a video signal, as in the actual picture & audio output

Sorry, not sure I see any logic there. I can record it on VHS but I can't record it on DVD. Daft, surely?

Not daft at all. DVD recorders will find the "recording prohibited" flag in the stream, and refuse to record. VHS recorders record an analog signal, so the flag is irrelevant. Since a VHS recording has a much lower quality compared to DVD, the rights owners don't mind people recording on VHS, as further copy generations will look worse.

Not really - it's just assumed nobody uses VHS anymore. Because nobody does.

Recording on demand streams isn't legal in the UK at all, no matter what. There's just no technical protection on VHS because it's not worth licencing Macrovision to stop it.

Phazer

I suspect millions of people still use VHS recorders. One very good reason to continue to do so, it seems now, is that you can record things from iPlayer. In pretty good quality.

Not legally.


No it isn't, and the rapid unavailability of blank tapes (and older tapes degrade significantly nowadays) makes that much worse.

Phazer

I suspect that millions of people don't use VHS anymore. In fact, most people don't have any type of recorder other than DVRs I would suspect


Excuse me? 240 interlaced lines is not pretty qood quality! Lets not forget that everything is also stored magnetically, and degrade far quicker than any other storage format. VHS is certainly not good quality... Maybe in 1976 it was...

My DVD recorder works on Virgin catch-up. I inadvertenly recorded an episode of Survivors that we were watching. I didn't think it was possible. It's not possible to record from the On Demand option where a whole series is available.

Very dangerous for any of us to be talking of 'millions of people' and 'most people' without hard evidence. This is just opinion masquerading as fact. Oh, silly me, of course it is - we're on an internet forum.


More opinion. Your eyes vs. my eyes. Pretty good vs. not pretty good. No one is right or wrong here. Shall we calm down?

Does anyone know for certain if one can or cannot record iplayer (I`m on Virgin media -catch up tv) for viewing back on TV.

Yes you can but your not allowed to discuss it on DS just use google

Record on your VHS recorder and transfer to DVD. I have loads of VHS tapes with stuff I recorded .. Most of the quality is excellent apart from a few where the analogue signal was not perfect.

One great advantage of VHS tape over DVD is I can be certain that what I record will be there when I want to playback. I have lost loads of stuff which I recorded on DVD discs due to faulty discs. Approx 15% failure rate and thats trying all makes.

iPlayer user DRM (digital rights management) so copying is not an easy thing to do. Google DRM iplayer and see for yourself, its not worth the hassle.

Record to VHS is the simple option it would seem.

Perhaps, however i suspect those millions of people still using VHS, wont have access to Iplayer anyway, they would most likely not consider TV a big part of their lives, and therefore only, maybe have freeview.

Of course you could be one of the people still using S/VHS format tapes or even an analogue HDD recorder<vbg>And magnetic tape seems to last longer than many hard drives or optical recordable discs.

I have been able to record iPlayer programmes from my Freesat TV on my Pioneer hard disc recorder without any problems via the TV's scart video output.

Of course, it's a lot easier to download the files directly to a computer (with unofficial programs) if you want a permanent copy.