How to Copy Shows From DVR to Computer

A lot of people want to know how to copy shows from their DVR to computer. This is understandable because it allows you to make your entertainment more portable. In this article, we will explore the various ways to do this.

My friend Bob who has a DVR that was provided by his cable company recently ran into a problem. He ran out of disk space on his DVR and he did not want to delete any of the shows that he had stored on his DVR. He had recorded a lot of the latest Top Online Movie Rentals and definitely did not want to lose these. However, in order record any new shows to his DVR, he would have to delete his current shows or come up with a better solution.

My friend Shelia was in a different boat. She travels incessantly for work and loves to watch her favorite TV shows while she is traveling. Her favorite TV show is Southpark. Shelia said to me, "Richard, I have all of these shows stored on my DVR. Is there anyway that I can transfer these shows to my best selling laptop and watch them while I am on the road?"

Shelia and Bob each have different issues but their needed solution is the same. They somehow want to transfer shows from their DVR to their computer.

Today, I will tell you how to do that.

There is an ideal solution to this problem but, in most instances, it does not work. Here is the ideal solution. Your DVR, like your computer, stores information on a hard disk. Thus, it would be great if you could just copy the shows stored on your DVR to the hard disk on your computer or laptop. Unfortunately, for various reasons, you cannot do this most of the time.

Thus, you need a different solution.

To put shows from your DVR onto your computer, you need to capture the video from the DVR into the computer. If your computer has a Firewire port on it (some come with this built-in) and your DVR does to, you are good to go. You simply need to connect the DVR and computer with a Firewire cable and use a program called CapDVHS to capture the video playing on the DVR.

If you do not have Firewire port, you will need to buy a video capture card with input ports that match the output ports on your DVR-most people use the component RCA ports but you may be able to use HDMI, S-Video, or DVI as well. After you get this video capture card, you will then connect your DVR to your computer through one of these ports. Finally, you can either use the CapDVHS program to capture the DVR recordings or, ideally, use the program that was included with your video capture card which should have all the software necessary to capture the show from your DVR and put it on your computer.

In summary, though it would be great to simply copy shows directly from the DVR to your computer, this usually cannot be done. You need to "capture" the video that is playing on your DVR to the computer using a video capture device on your computer.

Once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy to record entertainment from your DVR to your computer and it will allow you to take your entertainment on the road with you.