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Can I hook up a 1080p Blu-Ray burner to my Fios DVR?

My FIOS TV service provides 1080p, they say. I'm having it hooked up tomorrow, 2/17/10.

I'd like to output the signal to an external BLU-RAY burner. (I know I should be able to use a DVD burner, but I want the 1080p)

If that is possible, I want more. I'd like to take the signal from the SetTopBox and input it to the HDMI port on my laptop, and then capture the signal to my laptop hard disk. I'd also like to take the signal from the STB, and get it to an external BLU-RAY burner that would be attached to the laptop.

(I'm thinking that the HDMI on the laptop is only for output, not input, but I can hope.)

Comments

ekem015

No television stations currently broadcast in 1080p. The most they do is 1080i, and Fox only does 720p.

I'm guessing the HDMI port on your laptop is an output, that is, it can display whatever is on your laptop screen onto an external source with an HDMI input. Are you sure your HDMI port is an input? Only high-end graphics cards have those.

Keep in mind that 1080i video capturing with no compression can eat up many gigs of your hard drive in minutes.

You can connect your BluRay burner directly to your DVR output; I don't know why you'd want to go through your laptop.

spacedebris

Even if there was a TV station broadcasting in 1080p, Verizon only broadcasts up to 1080i. So 1080i is the best you will see and then only if the station is broadcasting in 1080i. Most TV stations and for that matter, most TV programs are only filmed in 720 to begin with. Movies are starting to be more common in the 1080p but then no one broadcasts in that yet so it's rather moot. The only 1080p source at this time is BluRay.

But yes, you can connect your DVR to your BluRay burner and whatever format it was sent to you in will then be sent to your burner.

as for the laptop, mine has one too, but its output only, no input Smiley Mad

prisaz

The FIOS STBs are 1080I. Like was said elsewhere no one broadcast in 1080p. The satillite companies are advertizing 1080p with tons of compression I am sure, but I don't think much content is in 1080p. Even many Bluray disks are not 1080p, but just HD at a lower resolution such as 720. Most Bluray discs you really need to look at to see if they are worth their money.

As for copying HD output, I believe there is a thing called HDCP which is copy protection used with the HDMI signal. Even if you had an HDMI device that would copy or capture the HD signal, it is unlikely that it would have the proper handshake to allow copying directly off of the STB.

I have Tivo DVR with a cable card, and much of the content will not copy to my PC because of copy protection. Some HD content will transfer to my PC with the use of the Tivo software on my PC. But you are talking Gigabytes and SLOW transfers.

KenAF

@notmyrealname wrote:
My FIOS TV service provides 1080p, they say. I'm having it hooked up tomorrow, 2/17/10.
I'd like to output the signal to an external BLU-RAY burner. (I know I should be able to use a DVD burner, but I want the 1080p)
If that is possible, I want more. I'd like to take the signal from the SetTopBox and input it to the HDMI port on my laptop, and then capture the signal to my laptop hard disk. I'd also like to take the signal from the STB, and get it to an external BLU-RAY burner that would be attached to the laptop.
(I'm thinking that the HDMI on the laptop is only for output, not input, but I can hope.)

At this time, there are no 1080p cable channels. DirecTV and Dish Network advertise 1080p, but the only channel they offer in 1080p is PPV. Both also offer some VOD for download in 1080p24.

As of February 16, 2010, there are no FiOS, cable, or satellite STBs or DVRs in existence that can output 1080p60. A number can output 1080p24, but again, the only 1080p24 channel at this time is PPV.

The HDMI on your laptop is an output, not an input. HDMI output on TV content is both uncompressed and encrypted, meaning it is virtually impossible to capture. There are some HDMI capture cards, but those only capture unencrypted output from gaming consoles and some media players; they don't capture encrypted HDMI output from FiOS, cable, or satellite boxes.

At this time, there are basically three solutions to author Blu-ray DVDs.

(1) Replace the FiOS DVR with a TivoHD, the only DVR that allows you to download recorded files.

(2) Build a CableCard PC with Windows 7 Media Center. With this approach, all recorded files are stored directly on the computer hard disk so there is no need to download or capture anything.

(3) Buy a Hauppauge HD PVR component capture device. This USB device connects to a computer and captures the component output from any HD box with minor loss in quality.

Methods #1 and #2 preserve full quality of all HD recordings, while there is a some quality loss with #3. Once the recorded or captured files are on your hard disk, they can be burned to Blu-ray disk using any one of a dozen different programs. You might create a Blu-ray disk with a half-dozen or more commercial-free episodes of favorite shows.

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