Copy DVR video to Macintosh?

Looks like this'll be more complicated than I thought ? if I do switch to U-verse it'll be after spending many hours copying video by one means or another. Thanks for all the suggestions. I understand the cable company's concern about pirating video, but it's annoying that they won't let me copy the files I legally own!

With that passage you change the entire process and discussion. What we do now is to not use this DVR as the digitizer or storage but go back to our original content which could be miniDV from a camcorder. Transfer of that content is discussed daily on our Camcorder forum.

No limits on that stuff.
Bob

OK, I don't <b>own</b> the content (it's mostly TV programs, they belong to the creators and companies that made them) but my understanding was that I had the right to use video that I recorded for my own private viewing, just as I would in the old VHS days. If I had recorded a TV show off the air with a Betamax machine, and wanted to transfer the video to VHS, I'd have been legally able to do so, right? I "own" the video files on my (rented) DVR in the same sense that I "own" the contents of off-air VHS recordings ?

As you know by now, that unit is just a "black box" and they set all the rules. Let's not waste any time about copyright law since that is just a waste of everyone's efforts.

You know by now that the cable co controls every aspect of this box. If there is any exit it's likely to be to connect up the VCR and tape it out.
Bob

OK, OK. I had hoped that there was something more direct, but I guess that as you say it's a "black box" and I'm not going to get anywhere trying to get those digital video files.

This box is controlled by the cable co so if there is a way they have to reveal it. I provided the PDF link so you could verify this. I see you understand the tarpit that we want to avoid here.
Bob

Bob,

You are correct. Although I don't have a DVR I've looked at many of them and I see what you see: A connection suitable for VHS recording but no digital Video-Out. Funny how in the past, VHS was the legal taboo, but now it's acceptable. Once recorded to a VHS it could be ingested into a computer to convert into digital files, but that would compromise the image quality tremendously and it would require a ton of effort. Let's face it, the cable and satellite companies only want us to record their programs on a DDR for the purpose of time-shift viewing, not to store their product on a computer forever. After all, look how many TV shows go to DVD. If we could create pristine DVD copies of their product directly from their transmissions, who would want to buy the DVD sets?

And time-shift viewing is what I wanted to copy the files for. The problem is that the time to which I would like to shift is after the point at which I would switch from the cable company to AT&T for my digital television provider. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to prove that all I want to do is time-shift, and that I'm not planning to sell or fileshare a digital copy of the off-air recordings. Looks like the only practical option is videotape.

Thank you to everyone who provided information. I didn't mean to push the discussion into murky legal territory.

You don't really legally own the video files stored on your DVR Hard-drive. You rent the DVR from your cable company (I can't think of any cable companies that let you purchase their Motorola DVRs), so technically they own the content on them. If it were a TiVo that you personally bought and owned then you could transfer the files to another hard-drive.

If that's correct (that since I rent the DVR, I'm also renting the content I record onto it), wouldn't that logically mean that if I rented a VCR, whoever I rented it from would own the content on any tapes that I recorded using it? That doesn't make sense to me.

If I remember correctly, the Copyright Laws governing video content, whether over-the-air, on VHS or DVD, stated that consumers are allowed to view the content, but the ownership belongs to the producers who created the content. But, the cloudy area began when people wanted to copy the copyrighted material for their own use, such as backup copies, etc. This has never had a black-and-white answer as to the legality for consumers to maker personal backup copies. It doesn't matter because we all do it. Now, the line you don't want to step over is selling the material once you copy it. I've purchased DVDs of Harry Potter from Ebay merchants that were illegal copies made from a DVD. I only buy DVDs when it states "Original".

For the sake of my own curiosity, I found the court case in question. It's Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., and indeed it does say that personal copying for the sake of time-shifted viewing is acceptable. So legally, if I found a way to get inside the "black box" and copy the video files, I would be within my rights to do so ? but the cable company doesn't have any incentive to help me get inside that black box, so it's not going to happen.