Question : Problem: Create a DVD from the Data on a Scientific America 8300HD DVR

Ladies and Gentlemen,

      Is it possible to create a DVD from the data I have recorded on a Scientific America 8300HD DVR? My cable company provided a SA 8300HD DVR to record TV events for viewing at my convenience; it also permits me to fast forward through commercials. I have recorded events on the SA DVR that I would like to store on a DVD. There is a serial SATA connection but according to Western Digital their serial SATA external hard drive device cannot access previously recorded evens on the SA DVR. Thank you for your prompt response and have an excellent day!

Very Respectfully
SOPS07

Answer : Problem: Create a DVD from the Data on a Scientific America 8300HD DVR

No, the DVRs provided by the cable companies are specifically designed to NOT allow you to transfer the recorded information to a DVD.   With standard DVRs you can "play" the content and record them from the audio/video output that normally goes to the TV (by simply connecting that to a VCR or DVD recorder).   But with an HD DVR there's no provision for doing that.   The content protection mechanisms on HD content are much better than with standard definition TV ... and the providers are very sensitive about any device that would allow you to create a digitally-perfect copy.

If you live where you get a reasonable over-the-air HD signal, you could built a PC-based DVR using Beyond TV and an HD tuner and record content that you could save on DVDs.   But there's no provision for recording from an HD input at this time.  There ARE cards that will be available after Vista ships that work only with Vista ... but they will also have very robust content protection, and you won't be able to record anything that the provider has flagged as "not recordable."