DVD recording with HDMI or (5 wire) component input

[mikestock]

I have a DVD recorder that I've had for years. It will record over-the-air through a built in tuner and the quality is near HD.

I am trying to maintain a collection of my college team football season as I have done for years. Some of the games come in through the CBS or ABC affiliates and I am able to get good quality OTA recordings. Other games are on ESPN or other, cable only, sources and I can only record them to my DirecTV DVR. From there the only way I can transfer them to a DVD is via the A-V output and input to the DVD recorder.

Does anyone know of a DVD recorder with a component or HDMI input that allows one to record higher quality disks? I can't find any way to transfer DVR recordings to a DVD without diminishing the quality via the A-V route.

[Gdetrailer]

1775 wrote:
There are a few DVD recorders still being sold. Most do not have tuners and must be connected to a cable box to record. Toshiba, Phillips, and Funai make these -likely the same one rebranded. Samsung sells a DVD recorder with a built in digital tuner. This unit has component inputs and an HDMI output. I found these with a quick Google search for "DVD recorder". These may not be any better than what you currently have. If the games you are looking to record are on over teh air broadcasts that can be picked up with an antenna you may get better results with a unit like the Samsung that has a digital tuner - connect that to an antenna and pull in the local broadcasts of the games. This may record better than a recorder connected to a cable box.

Funai makes ALL the brands recorders you listed above.. So no matter what you buy it STARTED life as a Funai.

Funai started life as a cheapo Portable VCR manufacturer for the RENTAL Video market back in the late 1980s early 1990s.. Their VCRS were built as cheaply as possible.. They had very flimsy carriages/tape transport and video quality (if you could call it that) was absolutely horrible..

I made lots of money servicing Funai portable VCRs for quite a few years, they were a pain to work on and didn't last long.

As far as the brands you listed above, NONE have component or HDMI INPUTS that the OP was requesting. Pretty much eliminates ALL DVD RECORDERS that are still currently for sale in the USA/North American market.

There simply is no need or reason to have a input capable of 720 or 1080 video input when the recording capture IS limited to 480 (SD) ONLY.

The problem is the MPAA has EVERY manufacturer running scared from the USA/North American market when it comes to consumer video recording. And no manufacturer is going to be willing to step up to the plate to pay the royalties for HDMI HDCP.. And even if they did it would make the cost of such a recorder absolutely too expensive to sell..

No manufacturer wants any part of this market, they have been bullied out so to speak.

Convenience also plays a huge roll, DVRs provided by sat and cable offer a lot of that and makes it easy for the consumer to use since it is integrated with the tuner/receiver..

You could say that consumer stand alone video recording like DVDs or VCR tapes is pretty much a dead market.. No manufacturer wants to invest millions into a market that is stagnant, shrinking or totally dead.

If the OP really wants component or HDMI there is no real consumer version of a standalone DVD recorder in the market.

OP has only several affordable options which ARE capture cards for a PC.. If the OP has their heart set on a non PC device then they would have to step up to a PROFESSIONAL STUDIO HD RECORDER which is going to cost $5K or more IF they could convince a manufacturer to sell it to them (no retail outlets for these) and even then those recorders have a lot of limitations like no tuner, no timer and will still honor HDCP..

[1775]

There are a few DVD recorders still being sold. Most do not have tuners and must be connected to a cable box to record. Toshiba, Phillips, and Funai make these -likely the same one rebranded. Samsung sells a DVD recorder with a built in digital tuner. This unit has component inputs and an HDMI output. I found these with a quick Google search for "DVD recorder". These may not be any better than what you currently have. If the games you are looking to record are on over teh air broadcasts that can be picked up with an antenna you may get better results with a unit like the Samsung that has a digital tuner - connect that to an antenna and pull in the local broadcasts of the games. This may record better than a recorder connected to a cable box.

[Gdetrailer]

mikestock wrote:

gdetrailer wrote:
DVD is NOT in any way shape or form "near HD quality", period.

PLEASE EXCUSE MY SUBJECTIVITY. I know it isn't HD quality but on my 32" tv, the quality from an OTA recording is much better than the a-v transferred recording I get by the best method I currently use.

Jeeze, lighten up..

The reason you see a "difference" in quality between OTA and composite input is due to your DVD recorder having an internal OTA tuner (I am assuming it is ATSC/QAM digital tuner).

The OTA broadcasts is downscaled to SD (480i) DIGITALLY internally in the DVD recorder and is converted to DVD format all without going through any DIGITAL (OTA or sat) to analog (composite) back to digital (recorder composite input must do analog to digital conversion.

Personally, I think in your case your DVD recorder has a "weak" Analog to Digital conversion section.. Which would explain why you notice a huge difference in quality.

DVD recorders over the years have been made cheaper and cheaper so it is within the realm of possibility that the analog to digital section was not made very well..

I have an older DVD recorder, makes top notch DVDs from the analog composite input, it also has the S-Video in which I never used but could have since I have a Sony HI8 deck also.. The composite input looked great so I never bothered with S-video in.. But My DVD recorder IS one of the "first generations" of standalone DVD recorders which did not have a tuner nor did it have a ch3/4 modulator..

The problem now days is every manufacturer but one has abandoned DVD recorders for the USA.. I believe only Funia which makes Magnavox is pretty much it.. And that name really doesn't "ooze" quality..

You can find European DVRs with Hard drive and DVD recorder but you do need to be aware that they most likely will be PAL only (not compatible with NTSC or ATSC USA standards).

There also used to be some real neat stand alone "media players" you could buy which also had composite inputs and record to MPEG2 (DVD compliant) files to a internal hard drive or USB flash drive.. But alas those also have dried up (I bought two Argosy media play/record units before they jumped out of that market and they work great).

Your ONLY choices if you want better captures are the few "capture" cards which will require a PC to operate.. Only a couple capture cards have HDMI inputs but do be aware that they are not made or marketed to the USA AND they WILL "honor" do not copy flag in the HDMI data stream..

While there are a few ways around the that but finding the item that does work will take a while of buying and testing until you find one that ignores the flag.

You are simply not going to find a DVD recorder built for USA market which has component (HD) or HDMI inputs..

[MrWizard]

this might work, i want one, But i don't have any real Need for it..but i want it

HDMI cloner box

[1492]

The best quality would be to keep the recorded signal digital, avoiding analog conversions using composite, s-video, or component inputs/outputs.

There are a number of HDMI capture cards/USB boxes available for PC. However, as mentioned, HDMI cable signals require the use of HDCP copy protection. So cannot capture/record these to a PC without using a secondary splitter that effectively strips HDCP. However, this is likely breaking DMCA by circumventing digital rights management.

Time shifting has been deemed legal for recorders such as DVR, which require the use of a licensed device, current copyright exemptions may not allow for space shifting the same content - or converting to another format? Though there are exceptions. Not to mention, digital copyright owners have tended to go after manufacturers of circumvention devices/software. Not the non-commercial end user.

[mikestock]

gdetrailer wrote:
DVD is NOT in any way shape or form "near HD quality", period.

PLEASE EXCUSE MY SUBJECTIVITY. I know it isn't HD quality but on my 32" tv, the quality from an OTA recording is much better than the a-v transferred recording I get by the best method I currently use.

[Gdetrailer]

mikestock wrote:
I have a DVD recorder that I've had for years. It will record over-the-air through a built in tuner and the quality is near HD.

I am trying to maintain a collection of my college team football season as I have done for years. Some of the games come in through the CBS or ABC affiliates and I am able to get good quality OTA recordings. Other games are on ESPN or other, cable only, sources and I can only record them to my DirecTV DVR. From there the only way I can transfer them to a DVD is via the A-V output and input to the DVD recorder.

Does anyone know of a DVD recorder with a component or HDMI input that allows one to record higher quality disks? I can't find any way to transfer DVR recordings to a DVD without diminishing the quality via the A-V route.

No.

Not the answer you are looking for, but..

DVD is NOT in any way shape or form "near HD quality", period.

DVD standard is SD or STANDARD DEFINITION.

You will not get any better quality in a DVD recorder even if it really had component (RGB) inputs.

Connect your DVD recorder to the analog COMPOSITE output of the Direct DVR and don't worry about trying to "gain" any better quality.. Analog composite gives all the quality that a the DVD specs will allow.

If you want to "improve" you capture of the DVR you need to set the DVD recorder to 1 hr record time if provided, most DVD recorders don't offer 1 hr record time but that IS the absolute MAX quality the DVD specification will give you..

One additional caveat.. There IS a very good chance that the Direct DVR will have Macrovision turned on.. If so the DVD recorder will honor the Macrovision signal and prevent you from recording anything from the DVR..

If you want Near HD you will need to bump up to a non DVD HD PVR which has either Component or HDMI input.. Those are typically not available for sale in the USA and often are a USB dongle that needs a PC to do the recording work.

[MrWizard]

Hdmi ouTput from your cable box, is most likely drm copy protected, and will hard to record correctly
The hdmi recorder you are looking for, is sold to the gamer market
Xbox and ps3 users record their games, the hdmi output from the game machine or pc is not copy protected, so it can be recorded

[the_bear_II]

Most new Computers can be equipped with DVR and DVD recorders as well as inputs for HDMI and most other AV jacks. Our latest HP computer even has an OTA tuner so it can be used as a TV plus record to hard drive and then transferred to DVD via the built in recorder.

For long term storage of the games-
Load everything on to an external hard drive and then you can burn DVDs as you need them.