# Motorola DCT6412: moving recorded files?



## destrekor

Is it possible, through firewire (or through the NIC if it works), to move recorded files off the hard drive of my Motorola DCT6412 Phase III I am renting through my local cable company? I would like to backup recordings so I dont have to worry about deleting certain ones when it fills up (record a lot of series episodes...).


i realize this question has probably been asked quite a bit. i have glanced through many a page of a 77page thread here about the motorola dvr and firewire recording, and a few other threads regarding the dct6412. But I am not interested in recording episodes I have already recorded. Thats why I ditched the cable box I had set up next to my computer that was doing that very thing: recording directly to the computer. It looked horrid compared to the broadcast itself, even after many many man hours of configuring different settings and hacking the registry. It improved but not enough. After a crash recently, I decided to quit and just get a dedicated PVR. But now I am stuck to the limited recording space.


any help would be appreciated. thanks.


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## destrekor

bump

any ideas?


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## VictorVonDoom

I am in the same boat. I was hoping that the PC would see the DVR HD as a removable drive or something similar and I could copy them to the PC. I have not found any FAQs covering this yet but I have only been searching for a couple of days.


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## Endorus

Any luck with this research? I just got the Motorola DC76416 III yesterday and I'm in the same boat (limited space for HD recording)...


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## Joe_M

There are threads on this forum that cover this already.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5&page=1&pp=30 

Here's another link:
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/


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## destrekor

um... those links are to things I've already read, and cover recapturing the video. I already recorded the video once, the time doesn't really exist to recapture it again through firewire, not to mention a 50ft firewire cable would be expensive as hell.

thanks for the idea, but if you read my post you would see I read quite a bit of that 70+ page thread and nothing other than re-capturing the video is mentioned.


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## dodgechargerfan

Has anyone gathered up the courage to remove the hard drive and plug it into a regular computer to see what can be seen? I rent mine, so I really can't do it without knowing exactly what gotchas might be encountered.


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## destrekor

yea that is a great question.... i wonder if there are any hidden things that prove that we ever opened the box. i rent mine too, my cable company doesn't allow purchases... not to mention the box is filling up fast on the 120gb hard drive, showing 55% with only around 20 hours on it, and its all standard/digital cable, no high def. so if i can get recordings off with hooking the drive up to a computer, that'd be awesome. gotta dig up facts and see if my cable company could tell whenever we get rid of the box. hmmm


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## randyman8

I also have the Motorola DCT6412. I read through many posts over the past year and never saw any reasonable way of moving recorded files. For a short 5 min segment that I wanted to show my brother, I connected it to my digital camcorder and recorded it on there, then played it through firewire to my PC and sent it as Window Media file. Worked out fine for my purposes. For full length shows, unfortunately the only solution I've found so far is to play it and record on VHS - better than nothing I figure. It must be a deliberate way to avoid digital copying?

Randy


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## lacv75

Anybody has any news on this?


I'm interested in recording to DVD (through my laptop) the programs I have stored in the DVR...


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## acoustix




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dodgechargerfan* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Has anyone gathered up the courage to remove the hard drive and plug it into a regular computer to see what can be seen? I rent mine, so I really can't do it without knowing exactly what gotchas might be encountered.



Yup. I did it about 6 months ago on a XP machine. It didn't recognize the partitions though. I'll try it on a linux box next. If I find anything I'll start a thread about my findings. I rent my box as well.


Nick


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## Linux4Ever

I hooked up the hard drive from my motorola DVR to a pc running Linux. At first it appears to be unformatted, but if you use partition magic or the like, you find 3 partitions. The first 2 seem to hold guide and programming information, but the last is filled with recorded programming. The programs are .tsp files, i think, and work well in linux for viewing. I have found no way to convert them into something windows will understand and I have no DVD burner on my Linux machine. This is where we are until the cable companies allow us to pull the files off over the useless firewire or even more useless USB. It all has to do with copy protction and "lossless" transfers. If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port.

Good luck all!


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## usv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Linux4Ever* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I hooked up the hard drive from my motorola DVR to a pc running Linux. At first it appears to be unformatted, but if you use partition magic or the like, you find 3 partitions. The first 2 seem to hold guide and programming information, but the last is filled with recorded programming. The programs are .tsp files, i think, and work well in linux for viewing. I have found no way to convert them into something windows will understand and I have no DVD burner on my Linux machine. This is where we are until the cable companies allow us to pull the files off over the useless firewire or even more useless USB. It all has to do with copy protction and "lossless" transfers. If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port.
> 
> Good luck all!


*Linux4Ever* have you actually used an external Firewire hard drive and increased the recording capacity of the 6412? I thought that this was not possible because the Firewire port is "output" only. Does the hard drive have to have anything special intalled on it to utilize it in this manner?


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## Art Sonneborn

I'm not sure what you are asking ? I guess you don't mean simply connecting the firewire out of the 6412 to a DVHS deck correct ?



Art


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## usv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *randyman8* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I also have the Motorola DCT6412. I read through many posts over the past year and never saw any reasonable way of moving recorded files. For a short 5 min segment that I wanted to show my brother, I connected it to my digital camcorder and recorded it on there, then played it through firewire to my PC and sent it as Window Media file. Worked out fine for my purposes. For full length shows, unfortunately the only solution I've found so far is to play it and record on VHS - better than nothing I figure. It must be a deliberate way to avoid digital copying?
> 
> Randy


*I record numerous programs through the 6412III to my DMR-E80H to it's hard drive and to DVD_R,s with no problems. It will not record HiDef unfortunately.* The DVD,s play on every dvd player that I have encountered. Hope this helps.


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## Slayerfan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Linux4Ever* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I hooked up the hard drive from my motorola DVR to a pc running Linux. At first it appears to be unformatted, but if you use partition magic or the like, you find 3 partitions. The first 2 seem to hold guide and programming information, but the last is filled with recorded programming. The programs are .tsp files, i think, and work well in linux for viewing. I have found no way to convert them into something windows will understand and I have no DVD burner on my Linux machine.!



If the files are .ts files, they are MPEG-2 Transport Stream files. These are part of the MPEG-2 standard but they have a different structure than MPEG-2 elementary streams used for DVDs.


You can use ProjectX to demux them into the elementary streams (audio, video, etc) and then author your dvd files.


My question: Is there anyway to access the video files under windows or is Linux the only way?


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## tikyle

Has anyone come up w/ anything new on this? I would really like to know before I give Comcast an extra $50/month for HD DVR and a measly 5 or 6 encrypted HD channels.


Question: Through firewire all you can do is record what's playing at the present time? You cannot stream archived (saved) video from box to PC? If that's the case then what makes this process any better than just getting a QAM capture card?


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## noodlehead




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Linux4Ever* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I hooked up the hard drive from my motorola DVR to a pc running Linux. At first it appears to be unformatted, but if you use partition magic or the like, you find 3 partitions. The first 2 seem to hold guide and programming information, but the last is filled with recorded programming. The programs are .tsp files, i think, and work well in linux for viewing. I have found no way to convert them into something windows will understand and I have no DVD burner on my Linux machine. This is where we are until the cable companies allow us to pull the files off over the useless firewire or even more useless USB. It all has to do with copy protction and "lossless" transfers. If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port.
> 
> Good luck all!



Linux4Ever

You wrote: _"If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port."_

Can you say more about how you made that work? I just tried plugging in a Iomega Firewire External Hard Drive to the firewire port port on the back of my DCT6400 Series III. Then, using the List button my remote, I viewed my storage area and don't see any changes. It still tells me I am at 83% full. Same as before connecting the external drive. What else did you do to make this work?

Thanks


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## jasoncort

how did you transfer from dvr to your camcorder?


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## hehe299792458

I own a DCT412 III too, and has used 96% of the space already. I saw that the last post was in September... Has anyone found a way to move a previously recorded program to a computer to be burned as DVD or add additional storage through the means of a firewire attached external hard drive yet? Thanks in advance!


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## smetaxas

Would something like this hooked up via firewire add more recording space?

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10476 


Also, I think I have a DCT6416 III. Is that different from the 6412?


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## hehe299792458

Also, is there a way to adjust recording quality to prolong recording time?


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## keithsplace

So is it possible with a HD with the HFS+ volumes for use with Apple Mac mini computers like the LaCie mini 250GB work? Connecting it directly to the Firewire port to give you the added space of that drive for recording storage..

I've seen so many posts on this and similar posts but have yet to see a diffenet YES or no... or is something else needed.. I would like to be able to extract the recorded materail, but if not then the added space will be a great help...


Thanks.. if anyone has the answer !


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## vath

I'm also looking into getting recorded file off my Motorola DCT6416 III. Havn't found anything yet...


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## Dragan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *noodlehead* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Linux4Ever
> 
> You wrote: _"If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port."_
> 
> Can you say more about how you made that work? I just tried plugging in a Iomega Firewire External Hard Drive to the firewire port port on the back of my DCT6400 Series III. Then, using the List button my remote, I viewed my storage area and don't see any changes. It still tells me I am at 83% full. Same as before connecting the external drive. What else did you do to make this work?
> 
> Thanks



bump...


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## denbid

does anyone have anything at this point for the Moto 6416?????????????


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## bfdtv

Simply put, it cannot be done.


The Motorola STBs do not support external Firewire storage. They never have and they never will. Motorola is working on a firmware update to allow encrypted storage to an external SATA drive -- that capability is coming in the second half of 2007. The recordings will be encrypted, and only playable from the DVR where they were recorded.


Motorola has no plans to ever support PC/Mac file transfer. They have no plans to ever support transfer to an external device of any kind.


You will never be able to copy recordings from the hard drive to a PC. The only thing you can do is copy content marked "copy freely" (i.e. the local channels) at 1:1 speed, by pressing play on the DVR and record on your PC with a Firewire input. You cannot do the same thing for most cable channels, which are marked "copy once." Nor can you do this any faster than realtime (1:1) speed.


If you want to record digital cable channels to your PC, you need to buy a Vista PC with OCUR . Windows Vista is the only CableLabs certified platform, so it is the only platform that can record digital cable channels. You cannot record digital cable channels with Linux, Windows XP, or OSX. With Windows Vista and OCUR, all channels are recorded at 100% original quality, but they are encrypted so you cannot copy or transfer them to others.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2662&p=2


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## pstahl




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Dragan* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> bump...



what is bump... mean???


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## GalileoHD1

To destrekor:

I have had the same frustration with the 6412 box and have found 2 solutions: one is a Pioneer PVR with DVD burn capability. It does a great job for non HD and reformats HD on a readable scale for replay on normal DVD players.

For real HD recording, I have been using the JVC HD recorders with decent success. The older 40000 model has been fabulous. The new one "-5U" that I recently got was fine but died after a few hours. It is going back under warranty. It's recordings were also fabulous and crossplayed with the other machine. It's not perfect HD but boy is it awesome.

GalileoHD1


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## NetFryer




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *bfdtv* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Simply put, it cannot be done.
> 
> 
> The Motorola STBs do not support external Firewire storage. They never have and they never will. Motorola is working on a firmware update to allow encrypted storage to an external SATA drive -- that capability is coming in the second half of 2007. The recordings will be encrypted, and only playable from the DVR where they were recorded.
> 
> 
> Motorola has no plans to ever support PC/Mac file transfer. They have no plans to ever support transfer to an external device of any kind.
> 
> 
> You will never be able to copy recordings from the hard drive to a PC. The only thing you can do is copy content marked "copy freely" (i.e. the local channels) at 1:1 speed, by pressing play on the DVR and record on your PC with a Firewire input. You cannot do the same thing for most cable channels, which are marked "copy once." Nor can you do this any faster than realtime (1:1) speed.
> 
> 
> If you want to record digital cable channels to your PC, you need to buy a Vista PC with OCUR. Windows Vista is the only CableLabs certified platform, so it is the only platform that can record digital cable channels. You cannot record digital cable channels with Linux, Windows XP, or OSX. With Windows Vista and OCUR, all channels are recorded at 100% original quality, but they are encrypted so you cannot copy or transfer them to others.





Sorry, but you are wrong. I have worked for 3 cable companies and Charter's DCT's support external expandable hdd storage via firewire. It's all about whether the system that you are serviced by has requested the feature in the STB firmware from Motorola. And as a previous poster stated, the video is easily separated to video / audio / time and reencoded in your format of choice.


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## bfdtv

The information in my previous post was from Comcast and Verizon. If what you say is correct, then Charter may be the exception to the rule.


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## cabetcl

If some of you were able to get a linux machine to read the STB's harddrive and play the .ts files then most likely we could use SAMBA to share the files to a windows machine. What do you guys think?


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## flyingscott




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *NetFryer* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Sorry, but you are wrong. I have worked for 3 cable companies and Charter's DCT's support external expandable hdd storage via firewire. It's all about whether the system that you are serviced by has requested the feature in the STB firmware from Motorola. And as a previous poster stated, the video is easily separated to video / audio / time and reencoded in your format of choice.



Ok NetFryer, how do you do it??? I have Charter service with a DCT6400 Phase III (Firmware v12.35 and software v73.50).


I hooked up an external firwire and no additional space was gained. The motorola manual (not cable company) even states the IEEE are output only.


I'm not saying you are wrong, I just want to know how you do this? I'm thinking of getting a SATA enclosure and trying that port as the moto manual states this is used for external storage.


Anyone with similar equipment have any suggestions... (the other posts on this subject are no good for my setup).


Thanks,


Scott


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## mirak

Maybe Charter knows something that Motorola doesn't. Motorola's FAQ says this with regard to connecting external drives to the 6412:


"This feature is not currently supported. This future feature is controlled by software which can be downloaded by your cable service provider when the software company provides the update."


I e-mailed Motorola to get an update, and got this response:


"We have not been told when the update will become available. I do know that they aren't planning on doing it anytime soon."


There you go, straight from the horse's mouth.


What I don't understand is why one of the uber-geniuses on this board hasn't yet figured out how to do this. Come on people, get on it!


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## mirak

Wait, now Cox has e-mailed me:


"You can do it with your cox unit, but we cannot assist with the

endeavor."


I'll give it a shot and let you all know...


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## andresatweb

hi, i'm a noob and i was wondering if once I get on to the settings of the box and the ethernet, firewire and usb say enabled does this means that dat transfer is possible thru any of thise ports? , btw i have a DCT6416III


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## wallrus

i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *wallrus* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?



That's correct, you cannot. There are no file transfers of any kind with the Motorola boxes. The recordings on the hard drive are encrypted.


The most you can do is record in realtime using Firewire or the analog outs.


If you want to transfer files to your computer, take a look at the $299 TivoHD this fall once the software update is released supporting TivoToGo. TivoToGo is the Tivo feature that allows you to copy digital recordings to a computer for burning to DVD and/or transcoding for a portable music player.


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## sleepkreep

You know what would be really slick? If we could get Linux to run on the device we could use Xen to virtualize the hardware and run the original OS under a domU. Comcast or anyone else would have no way to know that the OS on the box is actually being virtualized. Then when we wanted to transfer the files from the disk we could pause dom1, mount partion 3 of the disk, transfer the files, unmount the partion, and resume dom1. Of course all that could be automated and controlled through an ssh connection to dom0 on the cable box. Imagine that, turning your cable box into a full blown computer without affecting its current operation features. What architecture does it use? ARM?


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *sleepkreep* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> You know what would be really slick? If we could get Linux to run on the device we could use Xen to virtualize the hardware and run the original OS under a domU. Comcast or anyone else would have no way to know that the OS on the box is actually being virtualized. Then when we wanted to transfer the files from the disk we could pause dom1, mount partion 3 of the disk, transfer the files, unmount the partion, and resume dom1. Of course all that could be automated and controlled through an ssh connection to dom0 on the cable box. Imagine that, turning your cable box into a full blown computer without affecting its current operation features. What architecture does it use? ARM?



The Motorola DVRs are based on the Broadcom BCM7038 , which has an integrated 300MHz MIPS CPU.


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## heidi

If you have a minidv camcorder you can use s-video out from the stb (and normal analog rca audio out) to connect to your camcorder, then connect the camcorder to your Mac using 4-6 pin firewire, and capture with the "capture now" function in Final Cut Pro. You can then export to whatever file format you choose, burn to DVD, etc.


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## satviewer2000

I have the same model, with a built-in 120GB or 160GB HDD (I'm not quite sure which size it is), but the bottom line is that for recording HDTV material, this amount of space is simply NOT ENOUGH! You might be able to record a half-dozen one hour programs in HDTV and you've pretty well used up the whole space. In fact, I've thought many times to switch to the Satellite HD receiver which has a 500GB HDD so is much more reasonable for using with HDTV.


I don't even care if I can transfer video from the HDD. In fact, I would think that this would be against the copyright laws if I did, or at least of questionable legality. All I want to do is to increase my HDD space so that the newer videos don't keep erasing my older videos before I even have a chance to watch them!?!


If anyone has had any success with attaching a firewire drive to the unit, could you please tell me what FORMAT the HDD would have to be in so as to communicate with the Motorola unit? Is it FAT32? NTFS? or some other format?


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## ccccccebb

Easiest way for non-technical types to get program off Motorola box and on computer is with a DVDR (costs about a hundred bucks). Connect input on DVDR to an output on Motorola box. Buy some DVD's and put one in the DVDR. Push play on Motorola box, record on DVDR, then put DVD into computer and use ripping software to turn it into MP4(usable on IPOD or any other player). Simple, easy, cheap and infinitely repeatable. With this method, you can put anything from your tv onto your computer. Yes, it's 1:1 - but it's better than reading all these posts and getting nowhere.


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## Snowdog




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *satviewer2000* /forum/post/11393450
> 
> 
> I don't even care if I can transfer video from the HDD. ..
> 
> 
> All I want to do is to increase my HDD space
> 
> :



Can anyone help?


DCT6400 Phase III


It was easy to add an extra hard drive to my Tivo 2, there was a faq and some software.. Is there anything like this for the DCT6400 Phase III? I am amazed that we can't just plug in another drive.


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Snowdog* /forum/post/11417336
> 
> 
> Can anyone help?
> 
> 
> DCT6400 Phase III
> 
> 
> It was easy to add an extra hard drive to my Tivo 2, there was a faq and some software.. Is there anything like this for the DCT6400 Phase III? I am amazed that we can't just plug in another drive.



I take it you mean the DCT6416 or DCT6412. But the answer is no, you cannot expand capacity at this time. The built-in firmware supports a maximum of 160Gb (internal) and does not support external drives.


If you want more capacity you'll have to buy another box like a TivoHD.


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## satviewer2000




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *ccccccebb* /forum/post/11410748
> 
> 
> Easiest way for non-technical types to get program off Motorola box and on computer is with a DVDR (costs about a hundred bucks). Connect input on DVDR to an output on Motorola box. Buy some DVD's and put one in the DVDR. Push play on Motorola box, record on DVDR, then put DVD into computer and use ripping software to turn it into MP4(usable on IPOD or any other player). Simple, easy, cheap and infinitely repeatable. With this method, you can put anything from your tv onto your computer. Yes, it's 1:1 - but it's better than reading all these posts and getting nowhere.




That would be fine for SD programming, but I view mostly HDTV programming, and your solution wouldn't work for that.


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## Joe Q




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *wallrus* /forum/post/11137403
> 
> 
> i was wondering if anybody else has gotten info on transfering the already recorded files to a separate harddrive on pc or laptop? I have succesfully been able to record live tv. But I'm asking as I see others have asked about moving files. Is there no software or program out there hat lets you get into the harddrive of a motorola dct-6416 phase III?



I know this post is a bt old but until my Vista Cable Card PC shows up, I thought I would keep putzing with the disk on the Moto 6416 to see if I can crack this nut.

*You CAN make a full copy of the disk onto another one and then use that new one in the DVR.*


Simply hook both drives to a PC running Linux and use the 'dd' command to copy the 3 Gbyte Partition (holds your scheduled program info,pointters to the recorderd files,etc.) to the other disk.


Repeat for the second parition which has the actual shows.


If you put this cloned disk into the 6416, it will work as though it had the original disk in it. Ie. The recordings are all there as well as your season passes.


Joe


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## scottvan

Hi Joe, did you do this with a larger hard drive? I want to pull the hard drive out of the 6412, copy it to a larger hard drive with Linux and put that in the 6412 to have more storage space.


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *scottvan* /forum/post/11823345
> 
> 
> Hi Joe, did you do this with a larger hard drive? I want to pull the hard drive out of the 6412, copy it to a larger hard drive with Linux and put that in the 6412 to have more storage space.



That won't work.


The Motorola DVRs are "hard coded" to use just 160Gb. If you stick in a 500Gb drive, it still gets formatted as 160Gb.


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## scottvan

That blows, but thanks.


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## Joe Q




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *scottvan* /forum/post/11823345
> 
> 
> Hi Joe, did you do this with a larger hard drive? I want to pull the hard drive out of the 6412, copy it to a larger hard drive with Linux and put that in the 6412 to have more storage space.




Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.



I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.


Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.




I threw in the towel.


I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.


I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.


While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.

It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.


If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)



Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.



Bye


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## scottvan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Joe Q* /forum/post/11831524
> 
> 
> Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.
> 
> 
> 
> I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.
> 
> 
> Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I threw in the towel.
> 
> 
> I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.
> 
> 
> I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.
> 
> 
> While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.
> 
> It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.
> 
> 
> If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)
> 
> 
> 
> Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.
> 
> 
> 
> Bye



Will you give me details about your setup? Thanks!


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## tboneson1

I have the the instructions, but it won't let me post the url until I have 3 posts. Counting....1


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## tboneson1

2


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## tboneson1

3


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## tboneson1

 http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/ 

This has alot of great info and tools to complete the transfer and backup of data from DVR to computer to DVD/CD


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## satviewer2000

For those of you who are still actually reading this thread, I tried to hook up a Firewire hard drive to the DCT (60GB formatted in FAT32) and nothing happened. It was like I didn't do anything at all, because the DCT made no indication whatsoever that there was a hardware device attached to it.


Unfortunately, for those of us in Canada, TIVO is not even an option, as it isn't supported by any of the cable or satellite providers.


----------



## Joe Q




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *satviewer2000* /forum/post/12487093
> 
> 
> For those of you who are still actually reading this thread, I tried to hook up a Firewire hard drive to the DCT (60GB formatted in FAT32) and nothing happened. It was like I didn't do anything at all, because the DCT made no indication whatsoever that there was a hardware device attached to it.
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, for those of us in Canada, TIVO is not even an option, as it isn't supported by any of the cable or satellite providers.



The firewire port on the DCT is active but can only be used 2 ways.

*The first use of that port is as a Firewire interface to a PC if you have the proper device driver (Which XP and Vista have. Not sure about Linux)*



Unfortunately, The Firewire interface to a PC is rather limited in it's usefulness because if the 5C flag is set ie. the channel is encrypted, you will get a recording on your disk of a bunch of 1's and 0's with no way to de-crypt them.


I have Verizon FIOS in Maryland and here is what I have learned:

The channel numbers of 4 through 49 are the Analog channels and they are NOT encrypted.

The channel numbers of 801 through 814 are the Digital local channels (CBS,NBC,etc.) from Washington D.C and Baltimore are NOT encrypted.

I guess they goofed because NGCHD,MTVHD,FOODHD,HGTV are also NOT encrypted but the Washington FOX Digital station IS encrypted(Data valid as of May,2007 when I tested)


There are also something like 40 Music stations that are NOT encrypted.



A reminder - I can record EVERY channel via firewire but unless it is an un-encrypted channel,the file is not playable because of the 'scrambled' data.


All I care about is digital/High Definition so I am able to record the digital LOCAL stations via Firewire as well as those 4 'premium' stations.


_EDIT:

This just occurred to me: I must admit that since I got rid of that 6412 in September and got a Cable Card PC that IS my 1.5 TB disk DVR, I have forgotten one other thing that I believe you can do with that Firewire to PC interface.


I recall that I could playback an existing recording from the 6416 and record that as it played back over the firewire interface to my PC's disk.


I will have to search through my posts to verify because when I swtched from Directv to Fios in May,2007 , I did make a lot of posts about this whole Firewire business/
_








*The second use for that firewire port is for connection to a D-VHS recorder.*

I have a JVC HM-DH40000U D-VHS deck.

Since it is fully 5C compliant, I can record ANY channel so long as the 5C flag is not set to 'copy never'


In MY case, I never found any station that Verizon had set that flag to 'copy never' so I could record EVERY channel.


It has been speculated that on the Model 6416 HD DVR,which I had, the flag could never be set to 'copy never' as that would prevent the SW from being able to record to the DVR's disk because the SW must be fully 5C compliant.

In other words, if one uses a DVR, due to the nature of the 5C rules, you can record any station to a 5C compliant D-VHS deck


*Something different to consider*


If you do not want to go the D-VHS route, for $90, you can make yourself a DVR that will record any unencrypted channels.

In the Verizon case and from what I have read, i am sure it is the same with Comcast and others, this '$90 DVR' would be a Local channel only DVR.


This would allow you to dedicate your 6412 to recording the premium content and use the '$90 DVR' for recording the network content.



This is what I have done.

First get a Hauppage HVR-1600 (submodel # 74021) for around $90 and put it in your PC that is connected to your HDTV.

Then put a splitter that you can get from Radio Shack for a few dollars on your cable and connect the 6412 and the HVR-1600 to it.


Then Download the FREE (Donations via Paypal are greatly appreciated) GBPVR DVR SW from here: http://www.gbpvr.com/ 


Finally, you configure the GBPVR SW and you will have a fully featured DVR that handles any un-encrypted stations.


----------



## appletj




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Joe Q* /forum/post/11831524
> 
> 
> Somewhere in thjis thread, I had a deltailed answer about what the disc structure looked like,etc.
> 
> 
> 
> I have tried to create my own large disc and the Moto box redoes my parition tables.
> 
> 
> Botom line is: Until Motorola allows it in a new firmware, users of this thing are stuck at 160 Gbyte.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I threw in the towel.
> 
> 
> I have been running a VISTA MCE based DVR with 2 ATI Occur tuners for ahout 2 weeks.
> 
> 
> I started the PC off with a 1 TB RAID but I can add more disk space anytime I feel like it.
> 
> 
> While the copy protection that is imposed is a royal pain, I like this system better than even my TIVO.
> 
> It seems as though MSFT thought of everything that one would need in a DVR and with the exception of no Watchlists,it has more features than a TIVO.
> 
> 
> If you have the money (rather high cost to get into this game), look into what is going on with VISTA and Cable Card PC's to use as a DVR (and a LOT more)
> 
> 
> 
> Now that I have been using this system smoothly for two weeks, I am giving Verizon back my Moto DVR.
> 
> 
> 
> Bye



The best way to record any unencrypted HD Cable Channel (Usually The Regular Local Broadcasters) is with a device by an outfit named Silicon Dust. The item is what they call a HomeRunHD. It has two inputs and it outputs over TCP/IP on your home network. It is the only box that works with Snap Stream Beyond TV too. Unit cost is $150 to $165


A cheaper alternative is a MyHD card. It also does Open QAM but not with Beyond TV.


Try renaming any TP type file to MPG and see if it will work on your PC. MYHD cards use a tp extension so do HomeRunHD


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## sefs85

No one has talked about the SATA port on the DCT6412III. Any expandability there? The only way I have captured encrypted HD and SD is through the Blackmagic Pro Multibridge. I think a complete firmware overhaul is in order for this box. If Motorola won't do it, someone else should.


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## scottvan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *sefs85* /forum/post/12635617
> 
> 
> No one has talked about the SATA port on the DCT6412III. Any expandability there? The only way I have captured encrypted HD and SD is through the Blackmagic Pro Multibridge. I think a complete firmware overhaul is in order for this box. If Motorola won't do it, someone else should.



It has been talked about. The SATA port is disabled.


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## mdowner

Man this box had SO many potential allowances, I remember when i worked on it! But it's all the other hands in the cookie jar that keep the box from being "Really" used as it was designed to :-( I am working on a few projects right now and a good friend is a very prominent class action attorney who has a strong reputation in getting things the way they should. I remember when he took on the case allowing consumers to copy/duplicate DVDs including them to be duplicated and stored at multiple dwellings. From what I recall in our many chats he has never lost a case! Should be interesting where the whole round of IPTV providers and hardware vendors will take us this year!


-matt

techniglobal.com


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## soulfly

I personally have a lot of show seasons on my hard drive from my dvr. It is time consuming, but is possible. As far as saved files, just play them and they will show as "live tv through the firewire port. Most firewire ports on motorola's are active. This is what I used. You will need a file compression program and a file converter that is capable of converting .ts to avi files.

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html


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## satviewer2012

Thanks, but I think you've missed the point.


Most of us have used this method to "download" data/video from the PVR into our hard drives on a PC. However, it is too time consuming for my liking. I don't really want to "archive" the show on my PC. What I want (and I think the others want) is to have a TRANSPARENT system where the only change is increased storage space for the PVR. We do NOT want to archive the video, just be able to store more of it for use with the PVR, in the same way that the PVR currently stores and plays back video.


So far, it would seem that this is simply not possible, unless someone can "hack" the firmware and rewrite the code (as has been done with DVB-based satellite boxes). The user base for Motorola PVRs just isn't into this sort of thing, so it'll likely never happen.


The only way I could see that space will increase would be in the future they'll come out with an updated PVR model which will either have more storage space and/or will use H.264 compression to increase the amount of storage space.


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## Smokerz

1) set top box with firewire

2) connect firewire to Mac first then set top box, power on set top box first

3) use AVCVideoCap can be downloaded for free from Apple Developer site

4) use SHD 26 that's latest version you don't need to install it just open the .dmg and pull AVCVideoCap

5) of course you use the DVR to record your program

6) AVCVideoCap captures the .m2t file to the Mac, has a set timer on it

7) use VLC to test out .m2t, if video & audio play then

8) then use transcode function to get to mp4 video and audio

9) use free MPEGStreamClip with Apple QTMPEG plugin

10) use in MPEGStreamClip other ie if for ipod or Apple TV or whatever.


Once done it will play in ipod video, that .m2t file became a mp4 file then an m4v file for ipod. Looks great on ipod and ipod to plasma tv.


Remember all .m2t files are not the same. You'll be frustrated but most will be ok. Some you'll just have to give up and trash. Chocolat is a primary example.


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## blackoper

I'll be testing out the remove the hard drive method and popping it into a fedora 8 or Kubuntu 7.10 box. If that allows me to copy I will be overjoyed


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## slm269

I have a DCT6412 that I used at a previous address. It is full with recordings that I have not watched. I do not have comcast cable service at my new address yet. Without active comcast service, it will not enable the DVR. I simply want to watch the contents of the DVR then return it. Any ideas on how to activate the DVR (just the viewing portion) without service? Somewhere in the diagnosis menu or somewhere?


Thanks


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *slm269* /forum/post/13087631
> 
> 
> I have a DCT6412 that I used at a previous address. It is full with recordings that I have not watched. I do not have comcast cable service at my new address yet. Without active comcast service, it will not enable the DVR. I simply want to watch the contents of the DVR then return it. Any ideas on how to activate the DVR (just the viewing portion) without service? Somewhere in the diagnosis menu or somewhere?



You cannot. The DVR was designed specifically to prevent what you want to do. If customers want to use the DVR, they must have an active subscription with DVR service on their account.


The DVR is automatically deauthorized every time the power is unplugged. It remains a doorstop until it is re-authorized by the cable company.


If you want the freedom to move recordings from one provider to another, then you'll have to buy a TivoHD or another third-party DVR.


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## genuinely fake

Hey I have been browsing this forum for a long time and I decided to join today. I have a problem right now as I can not move my recorded files. I have a Motorola DCT 6412 and I am able to access some recordings on my computer but most channels seem to be encrypted. I checked the 5c implementation and it says no, and under the CCI it says 0X02 which apparently indicates that the channel is encrypted. So I was just wondering is there anyway to disable this encryption? If anyone has any answers it would be very helpful. Thanks.


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## bfdtv




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *genuinely fake* /forum/post/13149657
> 
> 
> Hey I have been browsing this forum for a long time and I decided to join today. I have a problem right now as I can not move my recorded files. I have a Motorola DCT 6412 and I am able to access some recordings on my computer but most channels seem to be encrypted. I checked the 5c implementation and it says no, and under the CCI it says 0X02 which apparently indicates that the channel is encrypted. So I was just wondering is there anyway to disable this encryption? If anyone has any answers it would be very helpful. Thanks.



No, you cannot disable the encryption.


Protected (0x02) content can only be recorded to an authorized DTCP device like a JVC D-VHS VCR. Such content cannot be copied or viewed with a PC.


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## jyoung007

any update on this?



> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *blackoper* /forum/post/13072222
> 
> 
> I'll be testing out the remove the hard drive method and popping it into a fedora 8 or Kubuntu 7.10 box. If that allows me to copy I will be overjoyed


----------



## demonfoo




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *jyoung007* /forum/post/13677624
> 
> 
> any update on this?



Recordings are stored encrypted, so if there's an update, it'll only be to say "it doesn't work, I couldn't play anything"...


----------



## edavis530




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *soulfly* /forum/post/12924365
> 
> 
> I personally have a lot of show seasons on my hard drive from my dvr. It is time consuming, but is possible. As far as saved files, just play them and they will show as "live tv through the firewire port. Most firewire ports on motorola's are active. This is what I used. You will need a file compression program and a file converter that is capable of converting .ts to avi files.
> 
> http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html



Any VISTA drivers?? I do every step in the link provided and Vista does not find the driver so the PC does not properly communicate w/ the PVR box..


Seems I've read and search w/ no luck for the Vista driver!


----------



## jyoung007




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *edavis530* /forum/post/13879235
> 
> 
> Any VISTA drivers?? I do every step in the link provided and Vista does not find the driver so the PC does not properly communicate w/ the PVR box..
> 
> 
> Seems I've read and search w/ no luck for the Vista driver!



i can not even get it to work with XP!


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## ppullion









i followed the instructions accordingly and now i have a problem. I installed accordingly, but later the AV/C device is now not found on the computer on the device manager. I bought a Firewire port card and fire wire cord and system finds this device all the time, but yet cant find the AV/C device. I have attempted to unplug and replug the cords in to the device but nothing happens. also i am using XP SP2, uninstalled the devices and reinstalled them, nothing. even went as far as restored the computer to previous time and still nothing. What the heck did i do wrong? HELP!!


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## ppullion


















> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *bfdtv* /forum/post/13150318
> 
> 
> No, you cannot disable the encryption.
> 
> 
> Protected (0x02) content can only be recorded to an authorized DTCP device like a JVC D-VHS VCR. Such content cannot be copied or viewed with a PC.



What if 1394 I/O DEVICE section you should see ACTIVE PORTS=1 (indicating the Firewire connection is active) and look at 5C IMPLEMENTATION value. If it is something other than 0 this means 5C protection is enabled and you won't be able to capture that channel.

what if it reads: 5C: NO

but reads for copy control: copy free


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## macblob

This thread started out in 2006 and it is still going strong in 2008. Two years later.....

So the ultimate question here is that according to Charter:


1. An e-Sata external hard drive can be hooked up to the Motorola DCT6416 III for added storage space now. There is a Sata port on the back of the box.


2. Space can be freed up by transfering shows to a VCR not a DVD. This information is on the Charter web site.


3. This still sucks.


I have allot of shows I have recorded with my Hauppage PVR-150 in regular NTSC. Hooked on Eureka, Doctor Who, Smallville, Chuck, Stargate Atlantis...


As you can see these channels are not HD and not totally encrypted. The PVR-150 did fine for regular recording under VMCE. This did no good for ATSC or QAM. So I bought a HVR-1600. It fried. So I bought a ATI All in Wonder 650 USB. A butt load of Driver issues.


So I got the Motorola DCT6416 III yesterday for the high def on my Hanspree 28". Hooked up the yellow, red, white to the PVR-150. This works ok for viewing and recording 1:1. Sucks for time recording. Still have not been able to get VMCE and Motorola to work with the remote so VMCE is usless this way. So a HVR-1600 might be the way to go again (on sale at Circuit City for $49.99-open box)


QAM is not supported under VMCE except for the new OEM's that came out this month.


So has anyone here been able to hook Vista-VMCE/Motorola-DCT-6416 III Via Firewire/USB/Ethernet/ Pick one, to back up the DVR in Motorola?


Two years later, someone here must be doing it. I DO NOT OWN A VCR! NOR DO I WANT TO BUY ONE! There are plenty of ways to transfer from VCR to PC/DVD afterwards, but screw that!

Cut the middleman out.


----------



## Jim S

 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post14473298


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## acoustix




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Linux4Ever* /forum/post/7437072
> 
> 
> I hooked up the hard drive from my motorola DVR to a pc running Linux. At first it appears to be unformatted, but if you use partition magic or the like, you find 3 partitions. The first 2 seem to hold guide and programming information, but the last is filled with recorded programming. The programs are .tsp files, i think, and work well in linux for viewing. I have found no way to convert them into something windows will understand and I have no DVD burner on my Linux machine. This is where we are until the cable companies allow us to pull the files off over the useless firewire or even more useless USB. It all has to do with copy protction and "lossless" transfers. If space is truely your only concern, you can attach a mac harddrive (like one meant to increase the size of the mac mini) to the firewire port and you will have more space. Also an iPod will increase your DVR's harddrive capacity by whatever free space you have on it when you plug it into the firewire port.
> 
> Good luck all!



I cannot replicate your findings. The DVR drive shows up as unallocated on PartitionMagic 8.0 in Win Xp Pro SP3 and uisng GParted on Linux. I cannot see any partition information.


Has anyone else been able to actually see the partitions? If so, could you provide a screenshot?


Thanks,

Nick


----------



## almn10

Question To Motorola after google search for Motorola DVR DCH3411



How do I transfer my programs from my Motorola DVR to an external device like my computer or hard drive?


Answer

No. Currently you can't offload recorded content to any external device from a Motorola DVR, even though the data ports are there, the software doesn't support it yet. When the option becomes available through a software upgrade, it will be downloaded to DVR automatically by service providers/cable companies.


I play the dvr while I have connected my DVR/VHS Tape Player and played the program and recorded it on the DVR/VHS system (Sony). It doesn't come out in HD but it's there.


----------



## PProph

So let me get this straight, I've just researched and read a whole bunch of information and am not happy with the conclusion. I rent my DVR through my cable service provider (it is a dct 3416), and I have some shows recorded but as of yet unwatched. I plan on switching television service providers, the new one will be renting to me the Motorola VIP 1216 I believe.


From what I understand, there is no way to take the shows I have recorded on the 3416 and transfer them either to my computer/a flash drive/a hard drive then to the new dvr (1216), nor is there a way to do it directly, should i have both hooked up?


Cause if I'm SOL, that sucks. That's a lot of tv to cram in before I switch providers.


***I edited this because I discovered today that I have a 3416, NOT a 6412*** now i will search a bunch, i wasted 3 hours today on the wrong model.


----------



## demonfoo




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *PProph* /forum/post/14723504
> 
> 
> So let me get this straight, I've just researched and read a whole bunch of information and am not happy with the conclusion. I rent my DVR through my cable service provider (it is a dct 3416), and I have some shows recorded but as of yet unwatched. I plan on switching television service providers, the new one will be renting to me the Motorola VIP 1216 I believe.
> 
> 
> [...]
> 
> 
> Cause if I'm SOL, that sucks. That's a lot of tv to cram in before I switch providers.
> 
> 
> ***I edited this because I discovered today that I have a 3416, NOT a 6412*** now i will search a bunch, i wasted 3 hours today on the wrong model.



The exact model doesn't matter, if it's a DC{T,H}-{3,6}4xx unit, the story's going to be the same. The only way is via IEEE-1394, assuming your provider enables it, the programming isn't flagged as CCI 0x02, and that you have a PC with the right OS, a Firewire host controller, enough disk space, and can install the right software on it to transfer the recordings - which can only be transferred at real-time speed. (Yes, that's a lot of qualifications.) Sorry, but the eSATA, USB, etc. ports are irrelevant. The only other way would be via VHS, assuming no use of MacroVision, and you don't mind the step down in quality of VHS. Otherwise... well, I guess you could torrent the shows in question.


----------



## PProph

kinda what i surmised, thanks for verifying. Will probably end up torrenting what I can, and I guess we'll just be watching a lot of tv this weekend so I can switch providers.


The other thing is there is a commercial on there that my girlfriend wants to keep, i guess I'll just have to try and find that too over the interweb, cause I'm not going to go through a big pain in the @#% process for a 15 second commercial.


drag.


----------



## piccaso07

i have a dch6416 that is rented from the cable company. when i asked them how to do it i was told i need a software program that they do not have. i was told by the tech to go to best buy. i went there and they told me they dont have any such thing but i should be able to find it as a down load on line. i googled it before coming here and did not find anything. i posted something on here asking for help as did you. altho my model is slightly different from yours i believe that we both need the same thing. also, i guess i am not the most computer literate person around, what is everyone talking about when they say fire wire? the only thing i recognize by looking at the box is the usb port on it. there are others as well but i dont know what they all are.


----------



## piccaso07

thanks to the people i have spoken toat my cable provider i have come up with what i believe is a way to get the stored shows out of the dvr. i have yet to try this but from what i hear it does work. as soon as i get the fire wire i will be trying it myself.


----------



## piccaso07

here is the url you need. sorry, i couldnt post this before. the forum wouldnt let me.


----------



## piccaso07

ok, i just checked this, and for some reason the url didnt post so lets try it again. http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/ hopefully this works this time.


----------



## chaddcooper

looks like i need three posts before I can post a link. Heres one.


----------



## chaddcooper

2


----------



## chaddcooper

3


----------



## chaddcooper

Here's what I gleaned from this thread, a few others, lots of Googling, and a few dozen export attempts:

http://www.super-cooper.com/archive/...x-dvr-on-os-x/


----------

