Is their a way to copy from Comcast DVR?

[HauteHarry]

I want to copy a John Denver music concert I recorded from TV and on to my Comcast digital cable box that has a built-in hard disk recorder. I have no idea if the concert was copyrighted, but I would like to try to record it to a DVD. To do so, I intend to buy a DVD recorder, but am concerned that it will not let me record this program if it has copyright encoding. Is their some hardware or software/firmware that I can buy that will allow this concert to be recorded to my DVD Recorder?

[Chewy]

digital + copyright = trouble and no fair use

that's why the dvr's for sale in the USA are crippled

pay each month to get the programing and if you especially like something pay again to buy it

when that breaks pay again and again

[HauteHarry]

Are there DVD Recorders with Hard Disks available

Ok. I understand the point of view of the industry, but if I can not record (on to my recorder) becasue of copyright, how can Comcast record the same show on to its hard drive?

[Chewy]

they had to give you the ability to time shift or you wouldn't send them the big bucks each month, knowing you would fill up the hard drive insures that you won't keep any of the material for permanent use, think of it as rental program

nobody worried about this till digital hit, if you could record it to dvd, what would keep you from putting all the premium content on disk and distributing it?

[HauteHarry]

Copy from Comcast Recorder to VHS tapes?

Well, I kind of understand, but I just called Comcast, and they told me I could copy from their hard disk to a VHS tape without any problems. I wonder if I could then copy from the VHS to a DVD? I guess I will just have to buy a recorder and try, then if it fails, I could hope to return it for a refund.

[Chewy]

the vhs would be analog and quality would be cruddy, fair use only applies to cruddy video

[ed klein]

@Hauteharry

In the USA cable companies (comcast) and sat companys will let you buy or rent their version of a HD digital video recorder with hard drive, which will output from the HD digital video recorder thru HDMI connection to your HDTV set. This is called PLAYBACK and you cannot capture that same HD signal to record to your personal digital recorder in hi def, you can only capture that same signal in standard def to your personal video recorder.

In order to capture (record) hi def you would need a Japan model true HD digital video recorder with HDMI IN AND HDMI OUT and prefer with a build-in hard drive and built-in DVD 9 optical drive or Blu-ray optical drive.

The best way to capture the video/audio signal in SD is from the cable company or sat company DVR thru componet (1st choice)or S-video (2nd choice) output to your personal digital video recorder inputs.

[drfsupercenter]

On this note:

A friend of mine has Dish Network (he might have DirecTV... he has a satellite provider, at least), and recorded lots of shows on his DVR.

He is planning on switching to cable, but doesn't want to lose the stuff he recorded on his DVR.

Do TV companies let you keep their DVRs when canceling your service, or do you have to return them? If you do have to return them, is the only way to back them up to record them on a settop DVD recorder? I know it supports playback over RCA, and even stuff like scheduled recording, seek in the recording, live rewind... so it may not be as "crippled" as Comcrap.

--EDIT--

And at the original question, if you can copy to a VHS, you can copy to a DVD. Just not in the way you think. I have a settop DVD recorder that has RCA and S-Video inputs. Simply tell it you're recording to a VHS, and plug that into a DVD recorder. Problem solved. Unless they use Macrovision, but I can't imagine why as VCRs would break then too. You just can't directly burn a DVD, you have to record over analog and then edit yourself.