DVD recording from Sky+. Is it copy protected?

Karma

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I seem to have a small problem with recording from Sky+. Does anyone know if the playback from the hard drive is copy protected?

I have recently bought a Panasonic DMRES10 DVD recorder. It records quite happily from freeview using Qlink from the television, and also from the "live" output of Sky (i.e. the programme the box is tuned to.)

However, there is a programme that I have had saved on the Sky+ hard drive for many months now that I am reluctant to delete yet I am also being pestered by my family to get rid of it.

As I have the DVD recorder I thought that now would be a good time to archive it. Yet when I try to record it, I get a message saying the broadcaster will not allow this.

As an experiment, I recorded the "live" output of Sky to the DVD, where it recorded perfectly and simultaneously recorded the same segment to the Sky+ hard drive. Yet when I then play the same segment back from the hard drive I get the "will not record" message.

Does anyone know if all Sky's output, once recorded on the hard drive is protected, or am I doing something wrong?

I have to say that it is a bit of a blow having to set everything up on the DVD recorder to switch on using the internal timer and record items from Sky as an external source "live" on the off chance I may want to archive a programme. It would be so much easier to record it using the programme guide and archive it later if I decide the programme is worth keeping.

Any advice or information would be gratefully received.

K
 
I record all my stuff from the hard drive of the Sky+ box onto the hard drive of my Panasonic E85 and have never had this kind of message come up. Is the stuff you are trying to record from Sky Box Office or something like that ?
 
you can record from Sky+ recorded programs on to VHS, that much i know as my dad does it with motor racing..lol...however i dont know if he can do that with Box Office stuff as he doesnt use box office for anything...

but i was thinking of getting the same DVD recorder as you, i would need to be able to record programs whether live or on the sky+ hard drive......so im hoping it can actually be done and you have just got a setting wrong....please post here again if it gets sorted..lol
 
No. Not Box office stuff. In fact it is an old documentary on Pink Floyd, shown on the BBC, I think.

My experiment, recording both "live" and replayed hard drive used the least copyright programme material I could think of......namely Fern and Phil on This Morning :rolleyes:

BUT, since then, I have found out that MAYBE using the "copy" function might make a difference. BUT I have had to dismantle things for an overhaul of the system so cannot check this.

I'm hoping that someone will be able to point me in the right direction in time for when I put it back together, cos, frankly it's a bit of a bu88er to get at once it is all installed.

K
 
It might be worthwhile posting this in the Sky+ forum, would you like me to move this thread over to that forum ?
 
Hi John.

Apologies if it is in the wrong place, I'm more than happy for you to place it where you feel is best. I wasn't 100% sure where to put it, as I don't know if it is a Sky+ output, or a DVDR input problem.

regards

K
 
It's sometimes very difficult to work out the best place to post this kind of question, so I've moved it to the Sky+ Forum to see if you get any more answers :)
 
i have a panasonic e55 and it works fine...i don't use the copy function in sky+ as it does bugger all...so i just play it back and record and have never had a problem
 
The COPY function of Sky+ enables several recordings to be played out sequentially - handy if you have a DVD recorder with a hard drive.
 
I don't know if this issue has been resolved but from reading posts about copy protection when using DVD Recorders it does seem that either by design or bug recorded content on the SKY+ can trigger the copy protection on certain DVD recorders.

There should be no reason for a SKY+ recording or live program not to be recordable onto a DVD recorder however I do know that software hiccups can enable macrovision protection on recorded SKY+ programs so perhaps it is a similar issue.
 
Nick_UK said:
The COPY function of Sky+ enables several recordings to be played out sequentially - handy if you have a DVD recorder with a hard drive.

sorry Rupert ;)
 
It's OK, Dick :)
 
im about to get hold of the DMR-ES10, cheap'n'cheerful, i do hope i wont have the same problems...lol
 
checking the back of the ES10, im thinkin if something was macroprotected, couldnt u just playback the recording on sky box via normal TV coax to the recorder? would that not beat the macro? obviously you lose quality, but for something you just want to keep would that work?
 
It wouldn't work. There's two levels of Macrovision. The second level inerts extra pulses in the frame blanking pulse (where telextext resides) which are picked up by the DVDR. They will still be there when put through a modulator.

I have PM'd Karma with a possible solution, as we are not supposed to talk about the defeating of Macrovision on the forums.
 
well, i got the DMR-ES10, and the WWE wrestling event i wanted to record that i had to stump up £15 for on Box Office wasnt protected i guess, havnt recorded the whole thing, but did a test for a couple minutes and it worked....

that was over scart....after it had been saved to the sky planner....not live...

quite a nice recorder actually, only £160 and the quality seems nice even at EP, ok so its lacking HDD, but thats what i have the sky+ box for...lol

now i can start clearing my sky box of all those simpsons and voyager episodes...lol
 
Hi All,

You need to look into CSS and Macro protection. I imagine you can do it if you whip out the hard disk from your Sky+ box, stick it in your PC as a 2nd hard disk and then play around with the files on your PC, I don't know what video format Sky uses, but Im sure you'd find a peice of software to help make a copy.

Just remember that Sky has this copyright protection in place to STOP people from copying protected content.

Cheers

Carl
[::TILL THE END::]
 
carlosbrunos said:
I imagine you can do it if you whip out the hard disk from your Sky+ box, stick it in your PC as a 2nd hard disk and then play around with the files on your PC, I don't know what video format Sky uses, but Im sure you'd find a peice of software to help make a copy.

The recordings on a Sky+ hard drive are direct transcriptions of the digital feed. They need to be played out through a Sky decoder. Nothing else will do it.
 
Apologies for kinda hijacking this thread, but...
Only this morning did I take delivery of the 'new' Panasonic DMREH80V, after weeks of waiting! :rolleyes:
I've it hooked up using the best of my abilities, ie. I've my Sky+ connected to the 80, and the 80 to the TV.
I've DVD playback, Sky+ viewing, Sky+ 'live' record, and Sky+ planner record.
What I'd like to know is, how does the copy function on Sky+ work? Am I better off just playing what's recorded, and just recording to the 80's HDD?
This would be a bit of a sickener, as I'd have to sit through and watch the recordings again while they're being transferred! :mad:
Utterly confused!!
 
Unfortunately yes - you have to copy stuff from SKY+ to your DVD recorder in real time :rolleyes:

The Copy function lets you queue up one or more recorded programme so that you can dump the whole lot to DVD or HDD or whatever whilst you're in bed or out at work :clap: Use the red button in your planner to 'tag' as many programs as you like to be copied, then hit select and off they go. The box will put up the 'Info' pane for each prog. for about 20 seconds inbetween each for ease of editing later.

Despite many software upgrades, Sky+ Copy dialog messages still talk about '... your VCR' but it works irrespective of what's connected to the back of the box.

One word of advice for Tosh HDD/DVD owners - you can't do more than 8 hours of stuff in one hit because the box won't let you! Don't know if this applies to other makes.
 
Thanks for that! :thumbsup:
But just to clarify for myself....
If I have 4 programs I want to transfer to my Panny HDD, I..
1) Press 'copy' on 3 of them, start watching the first one, and when the first one is finished, it'll automatically start playing each subsequent one?
2) Press 'copy' on all 4 of them, start watching the first one, and when finished, see above?
3) I've totally missed the point of you reply, and I should be taken outside and lynched! :suicide:

Dazed and confused.

P.S. What's the story with the high speed dubbing? When is this used? :confused:
 
Yeah you got the jist.

Press 'Copy' against as many as you like, then hit Select and the sky box will pump them out one after the other with an info page inbetween each (so you can see where one prog ends and the other begins when you come to editing later). The whole lot will be created as one single file on your HDD which you can then chop about (remove ad's etc.) and write to DVD's however it suits you.

Hi-speed dubbing is within the HDD/DVD unit itself; either for rapid ripping of DVD material to HDD or vice-versa.

Unfortunately it's not possible to speed up the Sky->DVD process :thumbsdow mainly due to Sky's proprietary storage methods. For now at least this has to be in real-time which is why the copy function is so useful.

Edited to add: Feel free to turn off the TV and go to bed/work/pub/whatever whilst the Copy is running!
 
Excellent stuff!! :clap:
Finally getting the hang of it!
Very, very last question :) . Do I have to set the Panny to record for, say, the total running time of all the programs I want to copy, or will it automatically stop once the feed from the Sky+ box has stopped?
Nice one. :thumbsup:

P.S. It must be a pain knowing everything, yeah?? :smashin:
 
I set my panasonic E85 at the quality I require (usually SP) and then just press the record button. It doesn't matter if you have a hard disk in the machine if you let it run over the end of the program as you can chop it off when editing. I always copy a big batch of programs across from the Sky+ to the E85 so it can be left for 3 or 4 hours before it needs attention.
Edit - you could always use the OTR function (One Touch Recording) to set it going for the desired length of time.
 

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