Copying between DVD Recorders

batman60

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I have a Panasonic TV and Blu-ray DVD Recorder

The recorder - a DMR-BWT700EB - is reaching the end of its life.

Whilst the HDD presently works fine, I wonder how much longer it will keep safe my numerous saved TV programs.
The Blu ray recorder will no longer allow me to copy HDD to BD even using Pannies own (several) BD-R or BD-RE discs. So saving programs to them is not possible (new discs show as incompatible or scratched (which they are not). Playback BD discs works fine.

So, time has come to consider purchasing the DMR-BWT850.

What I am unsure of is whether it is possible to copy the DR programs from the 700 HDD to the new HDD on the 850. If capable this would allow seamless transition between units without loss of valuable recordings.

Has any member any experience of this. I would greatly appreciate any help before I spend a considerable amount of money (£479) on purchasing the 850. I've also read reports that the older 720 is better than the new model. The 720 seems hard to find these days.
 
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For SD content you can copy the contents using a windows PC. You'll need the recorder connected to your router and Windows Explorer should see the HDD and allow you to copy SD content. Doesn't work for HD content - but you (presumably) can make the machine re-encode that down to SD on its HDD which will make it copyable.

As to transferring to a new box - I have never tried adding anything in the same way; but you could, of course put this material onto a USB stick instead and play it using the box. And keep a backup as well.
 
Thank you for your reply that is much appreciated.

I was really looking if was possible to direct transfer my DR recordings directly between units as I wish to retain the high definition quality rather than to the lower SD. The other problem is that I have too many hours of recording (approx 275) on my HDD to convert and transfer using one of the methods you describe.
It could be possible if I was to use a number of 25GB blu ray discs. But unfortunately, as said in my earlier post, my blu ray recording function is not working.

If I set up both units so as to identify them on HDMI 1 and HDMI2 on my TV - can I use the copy function on the 700 to copy files directly to the new 850? or visa versa
Will the 700 identify the 850 as a ‘destination’ in the copy process? or again visa versa.

My thanks again for a timely reply
 
I suspect that
a) there is no way to copy HD material other than to disc (which you can't do - neither can I on my BW780 for the same reason)
b) there is only one way (other than disc) to extract SD content from the machine at all and that is as I describe.

Others may have other "tricks".

In fact there is a way for HD - but it's time consuming....... (works in real time) and that is to use a HD HDMI capture device and "record" it onto a PC.
 
I suspect that
a) there is no way to copy HD material other than to disc (which you can't do - neither can I on my BW780 for the same reason)
b) there is only one way (other than disc) to extract SD content from the machine at all and that is as I describe.

Others may have other "tricks".

In fact there is a way for HD - but it's time consuming....... (works in real time) and that is to use a HD HDMI capture device and "record" it onto a PC.
I am very grateful for your reply and some very clear points with regard to my query. Thank you.

I have experimented with the suggestions at #2 and copied the files (recorded programs) from the 700 unit's HDD to my PC. That worked fine as long as the "Home Network (DLNA) Server Settings" is set to "ON", allowing all my saved programs on the 700 HDD to be visible on my PC using File Explorer under "Network Locations".

Almost all my programs were recorded and saved as "DR" files on the 700. These translated to xxx.tts files when copied to my PC.

To save space I copied the files to a USB stick.

I inserted to USB stick into the 700 hoping the files could be played from USB or at least copied to the 700 HDD. Whilst the folder showed up, none of the programs did (completely blank).

So, back to the programs copied and saved on my PC (Windows 10 PRO).
Double clicking any of these file (xxx.tts) successfully ran the program on the PC.

But I wanted to view these programs on my TV.
I copied the programs to the Library playlist on Windows Media Player.
Opened WMP, chose a program, right clicked it and selected "Cast to Device" (in my case VIERA E6 Series). Hey Presto - I could view the program on my TV

I have not yet tried to copy back the programs from PC to the 700 HDD but I see no reason why they should not save and play OK.

Thanks again for the suggestions and reply.
 
I had a quick look at the online user manual for this box and if I understand it correctly, in order to play back SD video from a USB stick, they have to be in .mkv format.

If you are interested to do so you can try this with one and if successful and meets your needs, do the rest in the same way.

1: Download a free app called AVIDEMUX

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2: File > Open (open your xxx.ts file) (should take only a few seconds)

3: Leave everything as it is in the defaults above. Video output = Copy. Audio output = Copy, Output format = mkv muxer. No configuration needed.

4: File > Save (same filename or a new name, as you prefer, but it will be with a .mkv extension). File location can be either local HDD or direct to your USB device. The save process will take only a minute or two.

And see if that plays back directly on your equipment from the USB stick. Repeat with the next file.
 
Thank you for your reply.

I followed steps 1-4 above and saved a few .mov files to a new USB stick and put it in the 700.

Automatically ‘Play video’ appeared on TV. And the saved files all appeared correctly.

When trying to play any of these got message ‘cannot play this file’.

Thanks again.
 
Spell check got the better of Mkv and it came up as mov but it was saved as …mkv.
 
Sadly, then, it appears that your box can't (or won't) decode the codec used for TV transmissions from a USB .mkv, since the process I have described up to press does not re-encode/transcode the original source. I guess you can always try, when you get your new box, to add the original *tts files back to it, reversing the process you used to copy them off in the first place. Keep them safe on your PC (or an external USB etc. device) in the meantime

If that fails then your next option would be to re-encode/ transcode, which will take a lot longer. If it comes to that (or if you want to do it right away) ask back.
 
Sadly, then, it appears that your box can't (or won't) decode the codec used for TV transmissions from a USB .mkv, since the process I have described up to press does not re-encode/transcode the original source. I guess you can always try, when you get your new box, to add the original *tts files back to it, reversing the process you used to copy them off in the first place. Keep them safe on your PC (or an external USB etc. device) in the meantime

If that fails then your next option would be to re-encode/ transcode, which will take a lot longer. If it comes to that (or if you want to do it right away) ask back.
Most grateful for your help. Thank you.
I am in the process of saving all my tts files to USB after which I will look again at upgrading to DRM-BWT850. Many thanks for your time.
 
Sadly, then, it appears that your box can't (or won't) decode the codec used for TV transmissions from a USB .mkv, since the process I have described up to press does not re-encode/transcode the original source. I guess you can always try, when you get your new box, to add the original *tts files back to it, reversing the process you used to copy them off in the first place. Keep them safe on your PC (or an external USB etc. device) in the meantime

If that fails then your next option would be to re-encode/ transcode, which will take a lot longer. If it comes to that (or if you want to do it right away) ask back.
Panasonic have confirmed there is no way of transferring/migrating/copying files from my 700 to my 850 because encoding confines playing these on the unit on which they were recorded.
I am still working any other possibility.
 
Panasonic have confirmed there is no way of transferring/migrating/copying files from my 700 to my 850 because encoding confines playing these on the unit on which they were recorded.
I am still working any other possibility.
Can you burn these files onto Disks or not? If you can, try to copy them to a DVD +R Disk. These will play directly in a Mac Book Pro. There is no software required. You could try to copy them to a USB which I haven’t tried yet. My Machines are not HDMI recordable so I can’t vouch for the HDMI side of things. Do you just copy them to a USB stick like you would to a disk. Do you have to format the USB stick first?
Your info on here is very useful indeed to me and many others. If I want to show stuff on my TV, then I use a mini display port lead for my Mac Book Pro with an HDMI socket at the end of a short lead. I connect a good build quality HDMI lead to this socket. However don’t bother with all that gold plated rubbish they try to peddle you. A waste of money. Plug the other end of the HDMI cable to an HDMI IN socket in the TV and hey presto you should see your images. To connect a PC to my TV I use a VGA cable no worries as my TV has a VGA IN socket at the back of the TV. Some very modern PC’s even come with an HDMI socket to connect to a TV. Remember to use your remote to change the INPUT setting on the TV or you’ll see a blank screen. In my case it’s HDMI 1 or HDMI 2. If I use a PC then I use the PC setting for the TV. I hope this helps.
 
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