Save to VCR/DVD

[rsatria]

I'm a new TiVo Series 2 DT user and I love it. However, I now have so many recordings on TiVo that I have to off-load them.

I bought the Insignia DVD Recorder/VCR Recorder combo unit, model NS-DRVCR. I find that I can copy all shows to the VCR but on many shows get a message that the show is copy protected when I try to record to the DVD. I am speculating that the shows won't copy to DVD because that is an exact digital copy whereas a VHS copy is only analog.

My questions:
1. Is this indeed the reason I can copy to VHS but not to DVD?
2. If the source is copy protected, why does it record to TiVo at all but then not to the DVD? ( I need to try recording direct from cable to the DVD to see if it records).
3. Finally, is there any way to copy it to DVD that I am not aware of?

Thanks for the help.

[gastrof]

I suspect your TiVo isn't digitally connected to your DVD recorder, and that it's using the same analog connection the VCR side is.

This means you are NOT getting a digital transfer.

Still, many TV shows have been coded (sometimes illegally) to not copy to DVD or not stay on the TiVo for very long.

Other channels can code their shows like that WITHOUT it being illegal.

Why can you record it to TiVo, but not offload it? Because that's what they're allowing.

If you go to Best Buy's website and look for a gadget with the brand name SIMA, you might find what you're looking for.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6296572&st=Sima&type=product&id=1074788270290

[rsatria]

So how do I determine if my Tivo is digitally connected to my DVD recorder? My wiring is:
RF coax split to Cable Box and to Tivo
RCA Audio1&2 & Video from Cable Box to Tivo
RCA Audio1&2 & Video from Tivo to DVD/VHS
I'm not using RF out from Tivo to DVD/VHS because I was only getting a mono signal that way. With the RCA AV I get stereo. I'm also using a Radio Shack auto switchbox to take input from Tivo and from DVD/VHS and to output it to TV and DVD/VHS.
Thanks.

[gastrof]

To the best of my knowledge, there IS no way to digitally connect your TiVo to a DVDrecorder/VCR.

Digital connections are not used in the TiVo's "Save To VCR" method.

If you're using red and white RCA audio cables, and either an S-Video or yellow RCA video cable, you're doing ANALOG, not digital.

You might be able to use "TiVo to Go" to do a digital transfer to a computer, and use the computer's DVD burner (if it has one) to create a DVD, but even then there might be the problem of the "flag" that prevents copying.

The only solution I've heard of in dealing with inappropriately flagged shows is to use a device like the SIMA to do an analog transfer.

[rsatria]

I am using red, white, yellow RCA jacks for AV from Tivo output to the DVD/VHS Recorder's RCA inputs. So if this is analog, why do I get a message on some programs that they are copy protected? Using those same RCA jacks into the same DVD/VHS Recorder, I do not get that message when I record to the VHS, only when I try to record to the DVD.

[gastrof]

VHS machines can run into copy protection methods too, so the fact one's being used doesn't mean your copy method is digital.

You'd have to have a single digital cable connecting two units to have the digital info transferred from one unit to another, and unless the original was recorded in DVD format, there'd also have to be a recoding of the digital info for it to then burn to a DVD in DVD format.

Using the cables/method you say you're using, you're making an analog copy. Not digital.

Period.

The copy protection is working with the DVD machine because the DVD drive can recognize the flag, whereas the VCR drive can't (for whatever reason).

There's nothing to argue about here. Using the audio and video lines the way you are can not and does not make a digital copy, because digital information isn't being sent from one machine to the next.

The only way to do what you want and make it work on DVD is to use the Sima or a similar device.

Technically, I don't know if it's legal to do that or not, expecially if the copyright holders are coding the show so it CAN'T be recorded to DVD.

Of course, the flagging could be a mistake... ;)