# TIVO to DVD



## RoadKyng (Feb 18, 2005)

Christmas (aka Holiday) Greetings: 

I have recorded several football games on a SA2 TIVO and want to archive them to DVD. I did a test of one game as follows: 
The TIVO is connected to an Adaptec hardware mpeg2 encoder via component cables then to the computer via USB2.0. I used WinDVR3 to capture to my hard drive then used Screenblast MovieStudio 3.0 to cut out all the commercials. I then rendered the video in MPEG2 and it came out at almost 8Gb. The game was a bit over 3 hours long. Now I am stuck. I have a single layer drive so I am space limited. My questions are: 

1. Is there an easier way? 

2. How can I compress or fit the file to a single DVD? 

3. Is the file size about right or did I do something wrong to casue it to be so large? 

4. Should I be using different software? 

Thanks 

gavin


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## DavidS (Sep 27, 2000)

The easier way is to buy a $100 standalone DVD recorder and run it to there. Doen't cut commercials, but it will cut your own time to a fraction of the amount you are spending. As far as file size, your DVD rendering program should allow you to choose from different levels of quailty, and you should be able to find one that creates a small enough file. On a DVD recorder, you also can choose quality levels (kind of like the old VCR SP LP and EP settings), and some (all?) recorders will tell you in advance how much time is available. Some even automatically set the recording quality to fit your specific program on a disk.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

That resultant size is about right. To put that all on one DVD you will suffer badly with the PQ.

You need to use your authoring software to split the show into two parts. Maybe each half on a separate DVD will work. That software should work fine since you were able to cut out the commercials. Keep your current full game and then cut the second half and save in a separate file. Then reload the whole thing and cut off the first half and save that. Then burn the two.


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## ClemSole (Nov 12, 2004)

You can use DVDShrink to put it onto a single layer disk. Nero recode should also work.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

ClemSole said:


> You can use DVDShrink to put it onto a single layer disk. Nero recode should also work.


I've used both, for various project with great success. But there's nothing easier than buying the stand alone unit for copying to DVD. The only thing you will lose in the case of a stand alone is the ability to download in 5.1 DD sound (I don't have HD, so I don't know if you can do that, but DVDs inherently aren't HD anyway). Mine records in DD 2.0.


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## goony (Nov 20, 2003)

To amplify on the standalone DVD recorder a bit:

1) If you get one with a hard drive, you will have the ability to do edits before burning to DVD disc. Hard drive units cost more though.

2) Look for a DVD recorder that will do 'variable' record mode (my Panasonic calls it "Flexible Record") - you get to specify the recording length - you're not tied to the fixed 1,2,4 or 6 hrs per disc. That way, if you have something that runs 2hrs 10mins it comes out nearly as good as SP (2 hr) mode and wastes no space on the disc.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

I love my hard drive dvd burner. Editing is a breeze. So if you have the money and space for it, I'd do it.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

goony said:


> To amplify on the standalone DVD recorder a bit:
> 
> 1) If you get one with a hard drive, you will have the ability to do edits before burning to DVD disc. Hard drive units cost more though.
> 
> 2) Look for a DVD recorder that will do 'variable' record mode (my Panasonic calls it "Flexible Record") - you get to specify the recording length - you're not tied to the fixed 1,2,4 or 6 hrs per disc. That way, if you have something that runs 2hrs 10mins it comes out nearly as good as SP (2 hr) mode and wastes no space on the disc.


I agree with *goony*, an external standalone DVR recorder is the best way to go, but then again the cost of a good one with a hard drive is a little hard to justify.

I have been researching DVR records off and on for the last month or two and I find all of the options available a little confusing. I actually believe I just might buy a CHEAP LITEON model at Costco, because Costco has a great return policy, the LITEON is very cheap, records to all formats, and LITEON is actually a major player in the recordable DVD marketplace, both for standalone recorders and computers. In fact SONY and HP, and numerous other brands have bought and remarketed LITEON DVD recorders in the computer marketplace.

The LITEON DVD recorder at Costco is less than $130 (everyday price).


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

RoadKyng said:


> 1. Is there an easier way?


Get a DVD recorder with a hard drive. They're in the $300 range nowadays, sometimes even less.

You can record to the hard drive, edit, and burn to DVD.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

can I edit out commercials using the Pioneer DVR810H(DVD recorder with Tivo built-in and 80GB hard drive)? or do I have to use a standard DVD recorder with a hard drive? thanks


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

bnm81002 said:


> can I edit out commercials using the Pioneer DVR810H(DVD recorder with Tivo built-in and 80GB hard drive)? or do I have to use a standard DVD recorder with a hard drive? thanks


I haven't heard good reviews of the Pioneer DVD Recorder with TiVo.

In addition, it costs somewhere between $550 and $700, and is a standard TiVo with one tuner and if you want 14 days of scheduling the same monthly cost. There is a TiVo with DVD Record forum available, which might help you with this.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

I've had it for over a year now but haven't tried to use it to edit things out, maybe someone that has this unit have tried to do editing with it?


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

bnm81002 said:


> I've had it for over a year now but haven't tried to use it to edit things out, maybe someone that has this unit have tried to do editing with it?


See the TiVo with DVD forum.

DVD Tivo Forum


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## bluebeetle (Jan 22, 2002)

My Dad has a DTivo and is interested in one of these. If he buys a DVD recorder with a HD will that work with his DTivo? 

He'd like to be able to edit out the commercials before burning to DVD.


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## lmk911 (Dec 17, 2000)

bluebeetle said:


> My Dad has a DTivo and is interested in one of these. If he buys a DVD recorder with a HD will that work with his DTivo?
> 
> He'd like to be able to edit out the commercials before burning to DVD.


Yes. It will work with his DTiVo.


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## rnwjr (Dec 6, 2004)

Anyone know a way to get the R10 recordings onto an iPod with Video with Mac support?????? I know the stand alone Tivo's are working on this now for MAC...


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

note: any dvd burner with tivo built in will never edit commercials.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

rnwjr said:


> Anyone know a way to get the R10 recordings onto an iPod with Video with Mac support?????? I know the stand alone Tivo's are working on this now for MAC...


Option 1:

Directly record to computer with capture device, convert to iPod format.

Option 2:

Record to DVD with DVD recroder, rip DVD on computer, convert to iPod format.


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## bluebeetle (Jan 22, 2002)

lmk911 said:


> Yes. It will work with his DTiVo.


So he'll be able to take something he's recorded from the DTivo, edit out the commercials and then burn to DVD?


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## lmk911 (Dec 17, 2000)

bluebeetle said:


> So he'll be able to take some he's recorded from the DTivo, edit out the commercials and then burn to DVD?


Yes, if he has a DVD recorder with a HD.

Here are the steps:

1. Copy DTiVo to HD (hard drive) - real time recording using Save to VCR

2. Edit out commercials, etc. on HD

3. Copy HD edited version to DVD -R/RW or +R/RW

4. Finalize DVD -R/RW.


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## bluebeetle (Jan 22, 2002)

lmk911 said:


> Yes, if he has a DVD recorder with a HD.
> 
> Here are the steps:
> 
> ...


Do I need to look for any certain brand? Any recommendations on which one I should get?


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

I'm happy with my 2 yr old panasonic e80. There's a new replacement out now with bigger drive etc. Except panny does -r and ram, not rw...so not much universality except with -r. So you first need to pick the must have formats then go from there. I'd imagine most of the bigger names are safe as long as you dont need specialized functions. All ones with a HD will be able to edit (unless they have a tivo of course).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=106

should help you out with the latest models as i'm out of the loop.


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## rick31621 (Jun 20, 2004)

Go with Panasonic.
I have the E55 and it's terrific.
I recorded everything from my R10 with ease.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

newsposter said:


> All ones with a HD will be able to edit (unless they have a tivo of course)


aw man that stinks, I have the Pioneer DVR810H which does have the Tivo built-in, would I lose any quality if I edit out the contents that I don't want onto a VHS tape then burn to a DVD the recordings that I have saved on my DTivo unit?
or should I just buy a standalone DVD recorder with a drive to do my editing? thanks


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

bnm81002 said:


> aw man that stinks, I have the Pioneer DVR810H which does have the Tivo built-in, would I lose any quality if I edit out the contents that I don't want onto a VHS tape then burn to a DVD the recordings that I have saved on my DTivo unit?
> or should I just buy a standalone DVD recorder with a drive to do my editing? thanks


Yes you would almost certainly lose quality. A VHS tape at it's best quality is still significantly lower quality than a DVD-R/TiVo's Best or Extreme quality.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

bnm81002 said:


> just buy a standalone DVD recorder with a drive to do my editing? thanks


yes standalones will give you the best picture because you are only transferring once from Tivo to the burner, usually with S vid (unless technology has changed in 2 years of course)

I'm happy with all my series recorded at SP on the dvd burner. Noticeable hit when you go to LP so i've only used that for 'junk'. On the panasonic you can get 2:11 or so on each SP disk. Which is 3-42 minute programs easily


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

newsposter said:


> yes standalones will give you the best picture because you are only transferring once from Tivo to the burner, usually with S vid (unless technology has changed in 2 years of course)
> 
> I'm happy with all my series recorded at SP on the dvd burner. Noticeable hit when you go to LP so i've only used that for 'junk'. On the panasonic you can get 2:11 or so on each SP disk. Which is 3-42 minute programs easily


are there any recorders with hard drives that DON'T HAVE the TV Guide built-in, the Pioneer and Panasonic models have them, the Sony's are way too expensive? thanks


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

I just bought the LiteOn LVW-5045 and it doesn't have TVGOS. 

I'm using it to timeshift Dish Network superstations. 

So far it is working quite well except I keep trying to use it as a TiVo.

And I'll say this about it. It ain't no Tivo.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

bnm81002 said:


> are there any recorders with hard drives that DON'T HAVE the TV Guide built-in, the Pioneer and Panasonic models have them, the Sony's are way too expensive? thanks


May i ask why not having the guide matters? (just curious) I never hooked up anything but S vid from tivo to it so dont even know what the guide looks like.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

newsposter said:



> May i ask why not having the guide matters? (just curious) I never hooked up anything but S vid from tivo to it so dont even know what the guide looks like.


well I've read on other forums(not here of course) that doing editing on those recorders with the guide, the editing doesn't edit as good, 
but if you haven't had any trouble/problems doing edits then I have no worries then


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

I have the E80 , but i'm sure as long as you don't hook up a CATV service, the guide will never turn on for the other brands either. Just hooking up S vid to the recorder can't do it. 

Not sure i'd put much credence in what they said. I'm no expert but the guide shouldn't have anything to do with editing anyway.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

newsposter said:


> I have the E80 , but i'm sure as long as you don't hook up a CATV service, the guide will never turn on for the other brands either. Just hooking up S vid to the recorder can't do it.
> 
> Not sure i'd put much credence in what they said. I'm no expert but the guide shouldn't have anything to do with editing anyway.


hey thanks for the tip about the S-Video hookup, like I said if you had no problems doing edits then that's good enough for me,
I like the JVC DR-MH30S recorder, it has a 160GB drive with a "live buffer" similar to the DTivo units and it's reasonable price that I seen it selling for $412 plus tax in the NY area(where I live)


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

good price...i paid 500 for my 80 gig panny E80 and it only does RAM and -R...my guess is JVC will do RW but you probably already know more about it than i do

good luck...it's fun editing.


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## Billy Bob Boy (Jul 25, 2004)

bluebeetle said:


> Do I need to look for any certain brand? Any recommendations on which one I should get?


be careful as some of the less exspensive hd recorders do not remove the commercials only hide them. in this case if you play the dvd on a different machine the commercials are still there. All of the pioneer recorders (less the tivo pioneer burner) actually REMOVE the commercials permanently. But you have to be very careful when you use this feature not to accidently remove a part you want. Cause when its gone its gone. I recommend getting the cheaper one if you are completely tech stupid(cause removing say the last ten minutes of the game instead of the commercials will hurt ,especially if you are the kind that has trouble with call waiting like my grand mother) and never plan to watch the dvd you make on any other machine. But If you might want to watch the dvd's on different machine's, and can figure out the simple edit features (low tech skills involved ). I highly reccomend a machine that eliminates the unwanted parts.


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## Billy Bob Boy (Jul 25, 2004)

bnm81002 said:


> well I've read on other forums(not here of course) that doing editing on those recorders with the guide, the editing doesn't edit as good,
> but if you haven't had any trouble/problems doing edits then I have no worries then


 I have the pioneer 510 and the guide never gets involved with my transferred content like newposter I have never seen the guide. I have my tivos hooked up to the pioneer. when I have enough of a particular show edited and ready. I transfer at high speed and are done. One feature I like with the 510 is the ability to combine shows in the burning stage. Comes in handy for those 2 part eps. Like the premier 2 part season finale 2 part ect. Makes it nice to watch( of course I edit out the from part 1 stuff. as well as commercials. Makes it run like a 2 hour movie.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

Billy Bob Boy said:


> be careful as some of the less exspensive hd recorders do not remove the commercials only hide them.


How insane. I never heard of that. Definitely he has to do his homework then. The panny actually says 'shorten segment' so the stuff is definitely gone. However, now i'm wondering. I think there is something called playlists or something that may do what you said, leave the commecials in but i'm not sure. Never cared to try it out.

This is where avsforum really comes in handy. They know it all over there lol..


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

newsposter said:


> This is where avsforum really comes in handy. They know it all over there lol..


actually that's where I read about problems editing with the guide-type recorders, I couldn't find the information since it was like 3-4 months ago, anyway someone over there said that the Panny units does a better job editing then the JVC model that I mentioned, so hard to decide which one to get  
I saw the Panny DMR-EH50S(100GB Drive) lower in price than the JVC model, probably go with the Panny model since I have a DTivo unit, don't really need another "live buffer" which the JVC model has, thanks for your help


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## bluebeetle (Jan 22, 2002)

I think I'll tell my Dad to go with the Panasonic DMR-EH50S as well. Seems to be the best deal for the prices. It also really edits out the commercials instead of just hiding them. Thanks for all the help!


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

bluebeetle said:


> I think I'll tell my Dad to go with the Panasonic DMR-EH50S as well. Seems to be the best deal for the prices. It also really edits out the commercials instead of just hiding them. Thanks for all the help!


yeah it also seems like a good recorder as well, especially since it has a 100GB drive for a good price, although there was a $50 rebate that expired this past Dec. 31st 2005, since I'm in no rush for it now, I'll just wait till another rebate comes by


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