Make your own Home Theatre Mac (HTMac)
by Daniel Hollister • 08/06/2004
at 12:23 AM
It's no secret among Mac users: We have been left out of the Media
Center PC world. Solutions like EyeTV offered a bridge to turn your Mac into
a TiVo like device, but what many of us haven't realized is that many large
cable companies have been providing us with most of what we need to turn our
Macs into flexible video recording devices. What's more, because of the powerful
video features built in to Mac OS X Panther (10.3) we can even capture the high
quality video and audio contained in HDTV feeds...
... And all it takes is one
Firewire cable.
Subscribers of Shaw Cablesystems in Canada and Comcast in the US have the luxury of using the Motorola DCT-6200 Cable Receiver to get both standard and HD television content in their homes. What makes this one cable box special is the inclusion of Firewire (IEEE 1394) output ports on the back of the unit. Using a regular Firewire cable and two simple, freely available applications you may record whatever you shows you want right to your computer's hard drive. For users who have Media Center PC's already, the DCT-6200 Firewire ports only work on Mac OS X Panther based systems. Until the next firmware release (apparently 7.10) Windows XP/Media Center Edition will not be able to recognize the device. Frustrating, because Media Center Edition PC's can't record High Definition content without this kind of connectivity. Apple worked with Panasonic to create a piece of software that emulates a DVHS device, which as of this writing, is the only authorized recording protocol for HD. Users who have tried to record with DVD Recordable devices or TiVo HDTV may have noticed they recorded black video with no audio. This authorization is why.
What You'll Need:
- Firewire Equipped Macintosh running Panther
- Motorola DCT-6200 HD Cable Receiver
- A-to-A Firewire Cable [aka 6 pin to 6 pin]
- Firewire SDK 18
- VLC Video Player
Getting Started
Now that we have everything there are a couple of things we need to check. First,
make sure that the DCT-6200 is running at least firmware version 7.07. This
information is critical, because prior to 7.07 the DCT-6200 Firewire ports would
not output any data. Cable providers should give you a method of checking your
firmware version from your TV, and if not, call them. For those readers that
have Shaw Cable service, they currently provide this revision, as does Comcast
in the US. Alternately you can use the System Profiler to check the status of
the unit's Firewire ports: Open up the System Profiler by clicking the Apple
Menu > About This Mac and choosing More Info. In the System Profiler, you should
be able to see the DCT-6200 listed under the connected Firewire devices.
My Cable Provider Says They Run a Lower Version, Now What?
If you're cable provider does not run version 7.07, it is likely they
will soon, especially in the US, where the FCC has ruled that all IEEE 1394
equipped products for cable must now be enabled by default (there were a lot
of complaints about non functioning ports when units equipped with Firewire
first hit the market). However, until they provide this update you will not
be able to record TV using the Firewire interface.
Can I Update the Firmware Myself?
No. The firmware on these devices is completely controlled by the
Cable Provider. I imagine that some hackers somewhere have figured out a way
to do it with a screwdriver and 2 cases of Jolt Cola, but why risk destroying
the unit when you can just hold the FCC ruling over your Cable company's head?
AVC Browser
AVC Browser is a beta application written by Apple Computer to show
video editors the power of Firewire connected playback/record devices. In particular,
DVHS players by JVC (and others) record and play through IEEE1394, with AVC
Browser and a Macintosh you can take full advantage of this fast, and simple
connection.
Virtual DVHS
Virtual DVHS was designed to showcase the impressive HD capabilities
of Panther (Mac OS X, 10.3) and is still provided with the Apple Developer Connection
Firewire SDK. Be sure to use SDK 18, and not the newer 19, as it failed for
us during our initial setup.
Now that you're sure Firewire is active on the DCT-6200, follow the steps outlined below to begin recording content:
- Connect the DCT-6200 to Mac via Firewire while Mac is powered off.
- Power on Mac.
- Launch AVC Browser from the same Firewire SDK 18 containing Virtual DVHS.
- AVC Browser should detect DCT-6200 and list it in the window.
- Highlight the DCT-6200 in list by clicking on it once.
- Click on Open Device Controller.
- In Finder, create a folder or use existing folder to which recorded content will be stored.
- Drag and drop this folder onto the Virtual DVHS icon. This action should launch Virtual DVHS. Once a transport stream folder has been set up by this drag and drop process, a normal double-click on the icon launch will suffice.
- Click on the Connect button in the output section of controller window.
- Make note of the Firewire Channel number resulting from clicking on Connect.
- On the recorder side of Virtual DVHS, there is a field called Channel to input the possibleFirewire channel between 0 and 63. Here, input the channel obtained from AVC Browser.
- Tune to a digital broadcast channel on the DCT-6200.
- Click on the record button and recording activity should begin.
No Bitrate? No Problem. If you're not getting any bitrate activity, try changing the channel in the Virtual DVHS application. Ours functioned on Channel 0, others have reported Channel 1 and 63 working as well. If none work, it's time to take on the tedious task of trying every channel until one works.
Recorded Content? Check... Now What? Alright... You're all hooked up, you've recorded a few minutes of content, now what? Well, Virtual DVHS records video in a raw MPEG-2 file, audio and all. As far as I know there is only one player that will playback HD video, and that's VLC. This application, like the other software used in this article, is freely available from the Internet. Playing back HD isn't lightweight work for the processor. Our 1.5GHz Powerbook was using 100% CPU just to playback the video, and even then it was still struggling. I would speculate that playback is spotty on anything shy of a 1GHz G4 (recording however can be performed on considerably less powerful machines). VLC will also playback TV you may have recorded from non-HD feeds. Either way, you now have a source video that you can compress with DiVX, scale for DVD or leave raw on the drive for later processing.
Rip. Mix. Burn.
Recorded HD feeds are great source material for making your own DVD's, as
HD feeds are twice the resolution of off the shelf DVD. Keep in mind that
if you want to put your recorded content onto DVD that you should never resize
HD feeds to less than 720 pixels wide (standard width for DVD).
Now You Get Why They Invented Terabytes...
If you are using this to keep a library of your favorite shows, you're going
to need some serious hard drive space. An HD feed records raw at about 19MB/Sec
(no that's not a typo). Thankfully technology like DiVX and MPEG-4 is readily
available to Mac users to dramatically reduce the file size of video, while
maintaining decent quality. We're looking forward to applications based on
H.264 compression that was showcased in the WWDC keynote.
I've Got a Spare Mac, Can I Automate The Recording Process?
This was probably my favorite discovery while we were working on turning an
old PowerMac G4 into the HT Mac, you can use iCal events to Start and Stop
the recording process. What's even better, if you have a .Mac account, you
can do it from anywhere using iSync. To make this happen, have a look at some
iCal scripts where you can find the necessary scripts to make iCal start and
stop the recording process.
Cheque Please.
With Microsoft Windows Media Center PC's all the rage among PC users, it's
nice to know that we have been able to do everything they have all along.
Here's how much it cost us to make this little project happen (in USD):
| Used PowerMac G4 | $530.00 |
| Belkin Firewire Cable | $29.95 |
| 120GB Hard Drive | $62.00 |
| Motorola DCT-6200 | $380.00 |
| .Mac Account | $99.95 |
Grand Total: | $1.101.90 |
Do you need a dedicated HT Mac? If not, then this project may only cost you $571.90. We chose to grab a dedicated box for the added convenience of using iCal and .Mac to schedule recordings. TiVo and ReplayTV on the other hand are considerably less expensive, but from what I understand, they too are unable to record HD feeds (we have no such service in Canada for me to test this on). Obviously your ability to get a deal on an appropriate PowerMac may be better or worse than ours, making the cost analysis fairly subjective. I would imagine that most of us would plug in when we needed to record, but consider what our Windows using cousins are doing first:
| Hewlett-Packard m1000y Series Media Center PC | $902.14 |
| |
| Gateway 510s Media Series Center PC | $1,101.66 |
| |
Being able to record HDTV will surely make you the envy of TiVo and Media Center users alike, as the only solution on the market right now is a DVHS deck. For the money, they are pretty inflexible compared to a Mac based solution. What's also beneficial is you probably own most of what you need already (heck you might even have a compatible Cable Receiver and not even know it!) so the cost can be as much or as little as you need. Think of your new HT Mac as PVR a la carte.
Daniel Hollister is the Editor-in-Chief of Macteens, and has been apart of the Macteens community since 2002. He is a filmmaker, designer, entrepreneur, and Mac enthusiast from Santa Cruz, California. When not arguing in the forums and working 18 hour days, Daniel can be found sleeping. That is it, he has no time for anything else. Daniel currently works and resides in Hollywood, California.
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Actually, the article is incorrect in saying that PC users cannot use the firewire output. Using freely available software and drivers, PC users also are able to record HDTV from their firewire enabled Win-XP machine. Moreover, with the utilization of a hardware HDTV card (such as the MyHD MD-120), you can playback HDTV hardware assisted (i.e. there is little CPU usage) and can even output to your HDTV via VGA, DVI (with a daughter card) or Component. I suggest looking at the AVS forum and its HDTV recording threads for more information.
Jeff
HomeTheaterMac.com is the place to go if anyone is looking for help building their HTMac.
Checkout http://home.comcast.net/~macpvr/ for more software. The guy who wrote it stopped developing it (as far as I know), but it does work. It is basically Apple’s apps put together in to one solution.. just check out the site for more info.
Does anybody know if Adelphis is doing this? I have a Explorer 8000 HD but I don’t get any signal from the firewire ports. I called support and they don’t have any idea about firewire and FCC ordering them to provide them and activate them. If I connect it to my Mac it detect a Firewire device but nothing else. So I guess something is missing isnide the box that is not sendign the signal.
Thanks
I have been playing with my Motorola 6208 rented from Comcast and new Mac Mini. Had some success recording using AV/C and VirtualDVHS on HD content. What I really want to do is move recorded analog shows and some SD shows from the DVR over to the Mac and then to DVD. Had some success using AV/C Enhanced. Seems to work well with recorded digital channels or HD channels. With analog channels, pictures comes OK but missing audio. Any suggestions appreciated.
Could a G3 laptop with an external drive connected via firewire be used?
I assume the answer is “yes” but I haven’t used a Mac in 10 years.
Another basic question but does the 6200 actually see the added drive as availble recorded content?
If all I want to do is get increased storage capacity for HD recording, will this let me play it back via the DVR interface?
I have a DCT6400 with a built in DVR. I can record digital channals but what I really want to do is record analog, since that is mostly what is available where I live. Is there anyway to do this?
Thanks
Jared,
with my 6208 I can capture “live” analog channels over Firewire while watching the channel. If I record it to the DVR first, I cannot later transfer it via Firewire. Must have something to do with how analog signal is recorded and played back. Digital SD & HD can be recored and played back and captured via Firewire. Like you, most channels are only available in analog.
Jim,
I am only able to capture live digital signals on my mac. Analog channels do not record anything, I can also not captured digital content previously recorded on the DVR. Anyone have any ideas on why this may be.
I have a 6212
I’m experimenting with our Comcast HD signal and a new Motorola DCT6200 connected via FireWire to a PowerBook G4 1.2GHz. I’ve successfully recorded and played HD movies and SD TV programs on Comcast using Apple’s AVC Browser 0.3.1 and the open source VLC Media Player 0.8.1 for Mac OS X.
The MacTeens instructions for this worked perfectly! Thanks!
Since I don’t have a standalone HDTV or HD monitor as of yet, can I configure this combination of Mac applications to stream live HD (or even SD) programs to my Mac monitor, and use it as my HDTV display? If so, what settings must be changed?
Also, I successfully used the same software to record a test Comcast ‘Music Choice’ song to the Mac’s HD, and then used the new WireTap Pro OS X application to re-record this audio (during playback) as an mp4 file that automatically opened and played in iTunes! It’s a convoluted workaround, but it allows Comcast customers to make use of their bundled music subscription service on the computer.
If you can legally record TV programs and movies for personal use, does it also follow that it should be legal to record this subscription music as well?
Jared,
I have had the most success using AV/C Browser enhanced version. I open the DVR output channel (Channel 0) first, then use the DVR remote control to play back the recorded HD or SD content, then hit the record button on AV/C Browser Enhanced.
I use the PIP on my 52” Sony to display the DVR in one window and the Mac Mini in the other, which makes it easier to follow what’s going on.
I have a new 6412, a week old,i tried the fire wire going to my phlips dvr985 and it worked for about 15 hours and has’nt worked since, what the hell is going on? I loved the pure digital copy function but the 5.1 will not go through the fire wire.If you select 480i output you can record a dvd quality picture when on an HD station.I called comcast (boston area)and they said they did not support IEEE1394, but why did it work in the first place and why did it stop working, I’m being teased and i’m pissed off about it!!!!!!!!! I made a call to motorola and they said they are not in control of this output, so i’m getting the run around. Can someone give me the link to the site which states the FCC’s mandate that these ouputs be enabled so i can stick it up comcasts @#$%. Trying 2 B civilized. Any suggestions R welcome, Thanx people.
Is there a way to simply access the files already recorded onto the PVR (as opposed to the pass-through approach mentioned here)? I’d like to get some stuff I recorded archived to a hard drive for future burning. My Mac can see the PVR in System Profiler when attached by Firewire, but nothing mounts, and I’m not sure what to do next. Any suggestions would be most welcome!
I would also like to know if you can access the content from the HD of the DVR that you have already recorded?
Yes, you should be able to transfer SD & HD shows from the DVR. I use AVC Browser enhanced and open output channel 0. Then I playback the recording and hit the AVC Browser RECORD button to capture the file.
I cannot get it to work with stuff recorded from analog TV channels, just SD & HD digital channels. Must be something different in the recording or playback format.
I’m thinking more of the --- move a file from the device, so I can transfer entire shows I’ve already recorded instead of “re-recording” them on the Mac...like TV is allowing you to do now...is this even plausable?
thanks for your thoughts!
Can I just plug my Apple Cinema HD display into the back of the Motorola 6412?
Greg,
the 6412 has DVI, Component, composite and S-Video outputs, typically for a HD TV set. It should also work with the Cinema HD display using the DVI output. However, the 6412 will only drive one display port at a time. I have my SOny HD TV connected via components and cannot feed my DV recorder via s-video at teh same time. Have to unplug one to use the other. Bummers!
I can take output from the Firewire port at teh same time I watch on the Sony.
will it work with mac os 10.2 and will you reply to the email address and also the link to the sdk 18 please
Chris,
Unfortunately, I’m traveling and away from my Mac for a few days, so have to rely on memory. I believe my Mini is running 10.2.3.
I have been using AV/C enhanced which can be found at:
http://macpvr.home.comcast.net/avcbrowser.html
I believe the sdk 18 is on Apple’s site, but a google search should find it for you. Good luck.
Jim
where can i down sdk 18
Hullo.
I have a Nokia digibox (http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,8764,41622,00.html) for receiving UK digital TV.
I’d like to connect it to my iMac G5 (new 20") as I don’t have a television…
Any suggestions?
Thanks
I just upgraded to Tiger and when I try to replay the .m2t files in VLC, I don’t have any sound. Any advice? Also, when recording HD channels, I can only record about 1.5G of content before the DVHS app stops recording - what it does record has no sound either.
Thanks…
osufella
Has a solution been found for any method of doing this on a pc?
Thanks
Hi, I’m sort of new to this, so bear with me. I have tried to transfer content from the cable box to the Mac, but I have 0 bit rate and 0 file size.
I have a Mac Mini (1.42 GHZ) with a 100GB 7200 RPM HD and 1GB of RAM. I’m running OS 10.4.1. I have the Motorola DCT-6212 with service from Comcast. I have followed the following following directions to the letter:
1. Connect the DCT-6200 to Mac via Firewire while Mac is powered off.
2. Power on Mac.
3. Launch AVC Browser from the same Firewire SDK 18 containing Virtual DVHS.
4. Highlight the DCT-6200 in list by clicking on it once.
5. Click on Open Device Controller.
6. In Finder, create a folder or use existing folder to which recorded content will be stored.
7. Drag and drop this folder onto the Virtual DVHS icon.
8. Click on the Connect button in the output section of controller window.
Make note of the Firewire Channel number resulting from clicking on Connect.
On the recorder side of Virtual DVHS, there is a field called Channel to input the possibleFirewire channel between 0 and 63. Here, input the channel obtained from AVC Browser.
9. Tune to a digital broadcast channel on the DCT-6200.
I am getting 0 bit rate and 0 file size. I have tried every channel from 0 to 63. I have tried using SDK 18 and 19. I have also tried using the AV/C Browser Enhanced. None of it works.
Does anyone have any idea what I’m doing wrong? Is this incompatible with Tiger? Do I need to go back to Panther? I don’t want to, but I will if I have to. I noticed that Apple just came out with SDK 20. Do you think this would work?
Any help you could provide would be appreciated.
I have the same problem as above but I have DCT 6412 unit instead. I wonder if this make any difference.
I tested both Panther and Tiger OS,no cigar. The Virtual DVHS starts recording, creates a file in the designated folder with zero K. I tested every channelfrom 0 to 63.
If SDK 19 wasn’t recomeded I wonder about SDK 20
Any suggestion is welcomed.
My cable company (Access Communications) offers the 6412, the only one they have with firewire ports. Anyone got this box to work? I have a 1.25Ghz Mac Mini. I’d don’t have the box to play around with, but I’d consider getting it. Using Panther 10.3.9.
WHERE IS THE SOFTWARE?
I haven’t been able to locate the SDK 18 anywhere..
any hints? clues ?
TIA
Ok..
found all the parts.. got evrything up and running.. kinda’ sorta’..
I have a Moto 6412. I can record both digital SD and HD content to my HD, and play it back on my computer via VlC.
BUT.. its VERY jerky.. even the SD content.. and I’m on a dual 2.0 G5!
Anyone else have this problem?/
FYI, Mplayer OSx works to play the video as well.
Any ideas on burning the video to DVD tow watch in a standard NTSC deck?
ok i dont know if this is cool to post here but, you can use MPEG Streamclip to convert the Mt2 file to Mpeg w/ Audio and then burn DVD with toast. It seems to work, i dont have any blank dvds but a VCD worked good enough to make me want to go get some dvds tomorow.
You can get Apple’s SDK 18 from --> ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Development_Kits/XFireWireSDK18b.dmg.bin
Glad I could help.
I have found that I can record from pretty much any channel, but can’t seem to record anything that has been recorded to the DVR...Anyone have any luck with that?
Thanks,
Andrew
I can only record shows that have been recorded. Then I can’t get them to convert to anything I can use. I have VLC. Also is they anyway to turn on the ethernet port fot the DCT-6200. Thanks
stop chewing your nails!!!
hehe
i’ve spent most of the day scouring different sites/forums, etc, and this was the ultimate place to get all the right gear and instruction…
i ultimately want to dedicate an older beige DT for this.
moto 6412
os 10.4.2/ 2 gig ram
> i dragged an agp g4 450 over near the tv/dvr.
> connected the firewire to the puter and the dvr.
> zip netted the apps i needed:
avc browser
vlc viewer
virtual dvhs
i was able to capture a live segement of BG...the quality was the same[sort of grainy] that mediacomm outputs[channel specific, i suspect], but getting this to work...finally...was really cool…
the playback was really smooth, through vlc AND there was audio...!!!
now, to discover how to get saved data off the dvr hard drive…
Any answer to the question of watching the live stream, and not recording. I have looked all over and all the instructions are for recording, how about just watching the live stream ?
thanks.
thanks alot. a couple questions if you don’t mind.
- does this record in real time?
- will this process work with the Motorola 6214?
thanks
Most of my recordings turn out to be “encrypted”, so I just end up with a video of pixelated mess. I can record the Weather Network no problem though. :/
I have the Motorola 6214, yes it does work. It is all real time, I can’t “log in” to the PVR and copy shows off it, I have to play stuff out in real time.
I cannot just watch the live stream, none of my apps let me watch the current stream, just record it.
i figured out that to get the media off the DVR, you play it and “re-record” it to your mac[with the above mentioned software]...i thought there was a way to just grab the large media file, but that’s not how it works.
unfortunely, i have lost all my stuff, victimised by katrina...3’ of salt water does not do a mac any go9od at all...; ^[
Hello,
I seem to have everything configured correctly, I’m running 10.3.9 on a 1.67gh powerbook. Mysystem profile shows the 6200 & I am able to select it on the AVC browser and when I hit record in the DHVS software “I have bitrate movement” and the sizable files are saved in the assigned folder. But when I go to playback on the VLC, nothing. It doesn’t display the time frame of the file, which suggests to me that the software is not recognizing the format (even though the files are deffinately .m2t).
Any thoughts to this problem?
I also have the same issue as the previous user. I am creating several mb worth .m2t files, but they are not playable with VLC or DVHS. I am using firewire sdk 20 on tiger 10.4.3.
I have a g3 bronze powerbook running OS 9.2 and would like to archive good eats to the mac. I tried downloading the sdk 2.8.1 from the apple website, but got an error. Can’t find it anywhere else. Also, where do I find VLC and the AVC browser as I’m new to the macintosh community? links? ftp?
Do I really need to upgrade to os X in order to even attempt what I’m trying to do?
Here is a sample letter to use to request a cable company dvr with active firewire ports:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:d4JjIt95mc0J:www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=416211+FCC+regulation+requiring+all+cable+companies+to+provide+a+Firewire-enabled+Cable+box+to+any+customer+who+asks&hl=en
Here is info on the FCC regulation
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/part76.p
You can do timed recordings in a much simpler manner using iRecord (http://www.ammesset.com/software/irecord/). It is the same recording backend, but with the ability to directly create recording events, and is free.
The closest option to watches the streams live is let any of the apps start recording the stream and then launch VLC with the file that is recording. You’ll have a few second delay, but that is no different than if you have one of the DVR boxes where you would be watching it buffered as well. The only difference is that you have to delete the recorded file when you are done watcing.
Just bought my 6200… and I’m so very glad I found this thread… totally awesome. I have two questions… I have my 6200 output set to 1080i, because that’s what my tv best supports for HD broadcasts. My question is… is there a way to have the recording via firewire to my Powerbook (10.4.2) downscale to 720p format? cause then it’d take less drive space… and my laptop screen resolution is only 720p, cause when I play back 1080i on my laptop (vlc or mplayer) it has stutter issues, and I’m wondering if that’s because the laptop is downscaling the image for playback, or just having issues with playback of such a large resolution video. Second question is… I’m guessing there’s no free .ts (or .m2t for iRecord) to QT H264 encoder? Thanks all.
“is there a way to have the recording via firewire to my Powerbook (10.4.2) downscale to 720p format? cause then it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d take less drive space”
It’d be so cool if cables could compress video but they can’t. I am downloading to my PowerBook G4 and have playback problem as well.
The video needs to be compressed with DiVX.
http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/converter.php
I would like to have access to video files already on the DVR via the Finder. The way it is now, you have to pick a recorded show, start it playing, and record it to Mac. It’d be nice to drag recorded shows right to a folder or the Desktop and just copy the damn things.
You can use MPEGStreamClip (free) to edit the transport streams and export to QuickTime, including choosing H.264 for compression. Both 1080i60 and 720p30 transport streams are going to drop frames on a G4, although how noticable/annoying it is will depend on the average bit rate of the channel.
Don’t expect the ability to directly copy files from the DVR anytime soon I’m afraid.
great website
Thanks to this guide, I successfully capture live video feeds from my Motorola 6412, from all subscribed channels, including HD. I am also albe to capture PPV movies I purchase and record to the DVR portion of the 6412.
But, I experienced my first issues last week. Revenge of the Sith is currently available on PPV, and after paying the necessary fee, I successfully recorded it to DVR, then proceeded to capture the movie to my ibook, just as I’ve successfully completed on numerous occassions. After the movie ended, I played back the captured mpeg streams, discovering there was not video or audio. So, the first thing I did was verify my connection settings and verifiied that I can still capture the video stream from the 6412. I also purchased a difference PPV movie, successfully capturing the movie to my ibook. So, all I can figure is comcast implemented encryption for the movie. Any thoughts or similar experience?
I’ve done everything above and i capture m2t files and see them flowing in the bitrate category and they get very big. but no matter what i do i can not get them to play in VLC or any other program.
I am using a Mac mini 1.4 mhz 512 ram, tiger 10.4 , newest version of VLC. i also tried using mpeg streamclip but nothing.
my cable box is the newer comcast motorola dct3412.
help!
Kevin,
That is typically what you find when they enable encryption. Not having PPV encrypted is very unsual. Only a few systems still have anything but locals uncrypted, and yours is the first that output PPV uncrypted at all that I have heard of.
han,
What channels did you try? On most systems only your locals (ABC, CBS, etc...) and sometimes any analog stations are recordable. All the others will appear like they are working (you get a file), but it can’t be played back because the data is encrpyred.
Has anyone successfully recorded from a flatpanel TV with IEEE port? I have an LG 37”. My mac pbG4 recognizes the TV and the TV recognizes the pb. I still get 0KB files. Can you be more specific on how to change channels? Do you have to change them on the AV/CBrowser before changing them on VDVHS? Any luck with VDVHS2?
Thanks
I have the newest DVR, it connects off the firewire, but the only available firewire sdk program was the sdk 21, the newest one. It’s different from the model and I can’t figure out how to configure it correctly to begin recording.
If someone could please contact me via email and let me know what I am doing wrong and how to make this work, that would be great.
Just get iRecord, which will handle the work of both the modifed AV/C browser and VDVHS in terms of just recording off of a cable box or TV with built in tuner. Or, if you’ve downloaded SDK 21, just with AVCVideoCap in that SDK. AVCVideoCap lets you set up one immediate or timed recording. iRecord lets you set up several.
If you are getting 0kb files either 1) output is not enabled for that device and/or channel or 2) you haven’t made the right connection (which is different than just being seen). AVCVideoCap and iRecord handle what the two apps to together automatically so you don’t need to worry about getting #2 right.
Also, channel tuning won’t work on most TVs. Most models don’t support it over FireWire, although that is changing and you might get lucky with yoru model.
PROBLEMS:
I can record and it saves in the place its supposed to. However it saves as a .m2t file. VLC doesn’t recognize this file type - at least for me. Any suggestions?
A few people have brought up the same problem but no one has answered.
Go download MPEG streamclip 1.5 also you can right click the m2t file and hit “open with” -> other -> then click the drop down beside “enable” and make sure “All Applications” is selected then pick VLC from the list.
Does this work if you are running tiger?
Hello,
I have connected my Motorola DCT6412 to my computer and using both AVC browser and Virtual DVHS from SDK 18, I can “capture” the tv feed somewhat. Basically, I get a bitrate in Virtual DVHS and mt2 files to download, but I cannot play them in either VLC or Mpeg Streamclip. My computer is an Ibook and it is running Tiger. I have noticed a few other people have had this problem, but I could not find any mention of a solution. If someone could email me, MJC8719@gmail.com, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks for any help.
you may need a new version of VLC, it opens and plays fine for me
Are there set top boxes avaiable which can tune and convert regular analog broadcasts without a subscription? I ask this because I live in a dorm, which provides free analog cable. I would like to set my powermac to capture the analog content from this signal. Any hardware suggestions?
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I’ve got the Motorola 6412 with the SATA port. I’ve tried the instructions above to dump HD video to my powerbook g4 10.3.9.
I’ve tried all the steps described and even gone through all 64 channels on the VirtualDVHS app but i get no packet count. What gives? I’m stumped.
The firewire info on the system profiler app shows the 6412 connected.
Can you please help?
I see some earlier posters had a similar problem but there are no descriptions of how they fixed the problem.
Thanks.
Do you have any experince with how VDVHS performs on Intel Macs? It seems to stutter on playback, even with SD material. Could it be because of Rosetta?
So I have the 6412 Motorola and a macbook. I have found through much trial and error that I am able to record live video via firewire using SDK 22, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to transfer a recorded show to my computer. Utilizing the process above (or even just using the AVCVideoCap program) creates a .m2t file, but the file is unreadable (and as it records in AVCVideoCap, it says there is no frame rate for the recorded show, yet gives one for live).
The frustrating thing is that I have transferred a recorded show successfully before using the described method. When I had my 12” Powerbook, I used an earlier SDK and was able to play the recorded shows and record them as they played; it was tedious but good for archiving.
Has anyone had success using an intel mac (or powerpc mac for that matter) to transfer a PVR recorded show from a motorola 6412 that will actually play in VLC?
Oh yeah, as a sign of good faith, giving help out in order to get it in return, for those who have a file in .m2t format, click on the file name and change the .m2t to .mpg… then VLC should be able to play it. This works perfectly for me on the live tv I record directly to my hard drive thru the firewire in the moto 6412. Now hopefully the internet gods will look on me with favor and help me with my problem
Okay, last post as I must look crazy now. I think I answered my own questions using the clues from other posts. Its in the copy protection. The older episodes show up in the capture program as ok to “copy freely”, while the recent programs I tried to copy were “copy once” programs. I confirmed this by using my macbook to successfully transfer a “copy freely” program from my 6412. So my quest to transfer these “copy-once” programs has ended (unless someone knows how to change this setting
)
I also have a Motorola 6412 STB connected to my Mac through Firewire. I can access all the over-the-air channels and even ESPN2-HD. But ESPN-HD, Discover-HD, and TNT-HD don’t come through (I assume they are copy protected somehow).
Has anyone had a similar problem—and if so did a call to the cable company solve it?
yes i agree
I’m trying to get this working but I can never see the stb is connected via the System Profiler. I’ve followed the instructions to the letter but can’t get the STB to show up on the mac at any point. I know this works as I’ve done it before but it’s been a long time since I got it to work.
The only thing that’s changed is I’m now using a firewire card in my G5 instead of the built-in ports as they’ve stopped working.
Anyone experienced anything like this?
Does anyone know if the Firewire 20c works in 10.4? the Firewire SDK18 says for 10.3, so thinking that maybe the updated version will work. have heard 19 won’t do though, so…
The Firewire SDK 22 will also work now. Remember that most HD signals are encrypted by the Cable provider. But not the analog. so try both.
able to output through channel 63.
Hi,
Just so you guys know this can be done on a PC too.
I have been able to capture HD streams from the 6200 and the 6412 over firewire on the PC. But playing it live through VLC.. well it just takes up too much CPU. More than likely it is due to the hacked “drivers” needed to get the PC to recognize the box. Not sure… So..with the MAC you can play the video live and it looks fine?
I’ve just moved into Comcast territory, and when the tech installed the Motorola 6412, my instinctive reaction was to get online and start looking for the “undocumented features.” When I read that I could hook my Mac up to it via firewire and transfer programs, WOW! But when I tried to download VDVHS, every link I could find was dead. Does anyone have a live link for this crucial piece of the puzzle?
Nick,
Here is the link
http://mac_hdtv_timer.home.comcast.net/
This has the older Firewire SDK 18. Install this.
Afterwards you can install the firewire SDK22.
close all the windows and open your system hard drive from the desktop. There should be a developer folder there. Open this and then open the firewire SDK folder. Open applications.
DVHS should be in this folder. Hope this helps.
One more quick comment,
In trying to record, make sure you try recording the lower channels(basic cable) as well as the higher digital channels. Typically the HDTV feeds are encrypted, but the regular cable stuff isn’t. just an FYI.
To NT, I haven’t tried playing the video live thru VLC.
This is all WAY too much work...what is needed is a way to mount the Comcast box’ firewire drive on the Mac desktop. Then copy the files and THEN use Streamclip to convert. BUT...no where on the ‘Net does anyone say or know anything aboout how to do this. C’mon, hackers, there must be a way: something you can set in the Comcast box set-up function? A sequence of buttons to keep pressed upon startup of the Comcast box? Anyone?
lucklindy,
Unfortunately, I’ve looked around the web and I haven’t seen anything as far as mounting the hard drive on the computer yet.
Although it’s a bit convoluted, it’s not that bad of a set up.
Just recorded ‘Blade: The series’ Today (No Crackup comments plz). Recorded okay with 3.12 GB for 1hr.
Edited it(to remove Commercials) with ProjectX
http://www.oozoon.de/main_en.html
Then converting to Xvid using Mpegstreamclip.
Losing the a52 though when converting with MPEGstreamclip though. no way around this I think.
Lawrence....thanks for your post. I have successfully gotten this procedure to work and, yes it is a tad convoluted. But my real reason for wanting it to mount on the desktop is that I don’t want to use my Mac’s active service life to duplicate the active service life of my Comcast box. If that box dies, Comcast replaces free. If my Mac dies, **I** get to replace it NOT for free. It is the duplication of effort that just bugs the heck out of me. I scheduled the shows I like, they are sitting there...why can’t I just grab the file and play it? At least I’d be using my Mac’s lifespan only one time per show instead of twice to convert it to .mp4. Oh well, I’ll keep looking.
I’m wanting to snatch episodes of my favorite shows and squash them down on to my iPod so I can catch up on all my favorite series! But wait...it’s summer time...they’re all repeat episodes.... DOH!
Hey I’m not having a sucessful result with this…
I have PowerBook 64 1.67Ghz PowerPC.
I have a Double HD Box Receiver.
BUt when I try to connect to the Box, I get this:
(Name—Type—GUID—In Speed—Out Speed—#in—#out—Out Base)
DCT-XXXX — Type-5 — 1371fffe996252 — 400 — 400 — 0 — 1 — 63
Once I open the “Open Device Controller” I get these results on the [Output Plugs]
(#—Online—Broadcast—P2P—Channel—Rate—Ovehead—Playload)
0 — 1 — 0 — 1 — 0 — 2 — 0 — 376
I then get everything going, so I opone VistualDVHS and everything works, I set channel to “0”, I get Bitrates and I get Packets Stored, when I press the Record button. Also Connections is in “0” and stream is in “1” and Overruns is “0”.
I stop the recording, and go on to try to play the .m2t file and it tries to automatically open it with “MPEG Streamclip” program but it tells me that the file is unsupported.
I try to manually open it through the VLC program, but I don’t get any audio or any Video from the file.
So what am I doing wrong? or what can I do..
The first fishy thing I noticed was when I first detected the Box was only detecting “DCT-XXXX” with X’s and not actual numbers. so can someone help out?
Thanks!
Juan, have you tried several different channels on the DCT Box? Are you recording Digital or HDTV feed?
Much of the HDTV feed is encrypted and MPEGStreamclip won’t read it.
No way that I’m aware of to decrypt it.....yet.
Since the DVHS seems to be recording because the time tracks and the packets are transferred I’m guessing that the feed is encrypted.
How do you set up apple script to record in ical, if you can help. peace out!
There’s a link Greg which I’ve attached that should show you how.
http://mac_hdtv_timer.home.comcast.net/
Within that page is a link to the applescript files.
The Octal-Hex converter doesn’t work, but there is one here.
http://www.microcontroller.com/Embedded.asp?did=92
Set it to Hexadecimal and remove the 0x in front of the number.
Working on the applescripts for my DCT 6412,
I was able to get the record to push right button so DVHS will record.
Was trying to combine the Tune to Channel and Record and have been having problems with that. because sometimes, the cable box is on the wrong channel when you’re gone.
Hi-
I am trying to get this setup on an Intel Mac Mini and the FireWire SDK version 22. AVCBrowser seems to work fine - it reports:
(#—Online—Broadcast—P2P—Channel—Rate—Ovehead—Playload)
0 — 1 — 0 — 1 — 0 — 2 — 0 — 376
But when I try to use VirtualDV (ver 1.0b13), I keep getting errors: KDVFrameWrongMode. I’ve tried all of the different DV Formats, but not luck.
Anyone been able to get this to work with the SDK v 22.
Matt,
Don’t use VirtualDV, it’s gotta be Digital VHS or DVHS. This was only packaged with the Firewire SDK 18 I believe.
There is a link that links to it in the above comments.
I don’t want to record TV, but I want to transfer off programs that I have already recorded to my Cable tuner’s hard drive. Can a person connect to the hard drive in the Motorola DCT6412 and see a list of recorded programs and copy some of them from the DCT6412’s hard drive over to their mac’s internal hard drive?
T
Tom, Nope. Not as of yet. The only way to do it so far is to play the movie and record it. Unless someone else knows something.
Well the DVHS app links are all dead...any valid ones? Just want to capture what’s on my DVR already to my mac!
Thanks,
RP
Ray,
http://mac_hdtv_timer.home.comcast.net/
This website then has alink for the Firewire SDK 18. You need to install this and then if you want you can install Firewire SDK 22 over it. Then the DVHS recorder will be installed.
Lawrence
Hi
I have successfully transferred a HD program from my Motorola 6412 to my Mac G5. The file is an encrypted m2t file. I would like to transfer this onto DVD. Is there a method of un-encryting the the file or converting the m2t file in order to put it onto DVD? Has anyone successfully done this. Thanks
Here to answer Don’s question. I DID IT!
Once I had the m2t file, I downloaded
MPEG Streamclip
www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
This let me export it to quicktime which I dropped into iMovie.
I used H264 vid and AAC audio for my export and make not of this. The default export for an HD show is WAY too big for quicktime to play without dropping frames and crashing I’ve found. You need to make the resolution smaller-at least 1/2 of the standard 1080 as you will be burning a DVD with only 480 lines, you don’t need more lines than that or they will be wasted.
Ray
Scott,
I would love to expand the HD capacity of my Motorola DCT6412 or 6416. I would love for it to work as if though the DVR is acting normal in regard to it’s Interface record and play back GUI’s. Is this even close ti possible?? Can you go in through the DVR’s menu and see all of your recorded shows, i.e. will the set work normally as if it simply has a larger hard drive or will the view selection be accomplished completely diffrently? Is a Firewire Cable [aka 6 pin to 6 pin] a standard firewire cable?
Where do I obtain a Firewire SDK 18. How does the VLC Video Player interface with this system. I need HTMac for dummies! I’m great at Home Theater design and Installtion, but not as savy with this kind of set up. Be glad to make you a deal on a HDTV in exchange how helping me set this up.
Hi Prather,
This article is very dated now, but I can recommend you visit http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/
THere is a tremendous amount of useful information about manipulating your theatre devices there.
Don - how did you transfer the file from the DVR to your HD? That’s what I’d really like to figure out!
This works! I’m amazed! I’m a new convert to mac, and had already tried this on a pc, and couldn’t get it to work. Couple hours of perseverance, and I had full HD programs on my mac. Incredible!
On a side note, I did this with the newest version on SDK, with a Motorola DCT-3412 and it still worked. Just had to figure out the placement of a few things on the new DVHS Recorder.
Hi, am I able to watch TV and not record? Is there a software only solution? Thank you.
http://back2mac.blogspot.com
Here is an updated version of the instructions above to record from the DCT6412 using Firewire SDK 23 instead of 18 if people have trouble getting the older version.
Has anybody used HackTV to just watch TV Shows? I know it has worked before with my iBook G3 but now with my new iMac 24” it wants to use the iSight camera and it wont let me switch to the moto box. Any suggestions?
I had success in using iRecord with my cablebox, converting using MPEG Streamclip into DV video and then editing in iMovie and iDVD.
http://joshnichols.com/blog/2007/02/17/rip-recorded-video-powerbook/
This works great for me, but only with SD broadcasts… any idea why?
When I record an HD broadcast, VirtualDVHS still sees a bitrate and I still get a large .m2t file, but VLC refuses to play them.
Whats even more strange is that when I record a HD channel that is currently broadcasting an SD program (with vertical black bars on either side), those work just fine as well. The recorded file plays back as it should, and displays the full 720p frame. But as soon as an HD program comes on, it stops working again!
I guess this could have something to do with those shows being encrypted, but I hear reports from other people here who have been able to record them successfully.
I’m fortunate enough to have the DC6412, too, with active FireWire ports. I’ve recorded quite a bit of content with success following pretty much the same steps as outlined (I’ve found iRecord, as Josh mentioned, and it does make the whole process a lot easier).
Since I’m away from home quite a bit, I’ve been looking at the Slingbox as a way to watch TV over the Internet, but it’s expensive, and the purist in me doesn’t like converting from digital to analog and back to digital. It seems to me that I already have the majority of what the Slingbox does; I just don’t have software packages that will talk to each other and process the signal the way I want it to.
If I could get some program that uses the FireWire SDK like AVCVideoCap or iRecord to get the MPEG2 stream off of the cable box--but instead of saving it as a .m2t file, it would dump the output to something that could reencode it in real-time as a streaming H.264 or some other high-quality, low-bandwidth format. Perhaps it could emulate a DV cam and QuickTime Broadcaster could encode it, or perhaps I could get it to work with VLC.
Actually, I finally got VLC working by opening the raw .m2t file (VLC will read the file even though it’s not closed) and setting VLC to transcode and stream it--the only problem is the m2t file keeps growing and would eventually fill the hard drive. I really need it to be a pipe of sorts. (Unfortunately, too, I could only open the resulting stream from another computer with VLC--I don’t know how to make the stream compatible with QuickTime player or if it’s even possible.)
I would pay money (and I’m sure other potential StreamBox users would, too) for someone to develop an integrated streaming solution that’s as easy to operate as iRecord...using these open technologies (FireWire SDK and VLC--not sure what the license is, but it is open-source), it shouldn’t be THAT hard for someone who knows what they’re doing…
Hi, I was wondering. In the above artical it shows Virtual DVHS 1.08b. On the left it shows all the shows on your Motorola/Comcast DVR. I downloaded SDK 23, my Virtual DVHS looks nothing like the above one. Mine has very few features colorful cheesey graphics.
All I want to do is pull the stuff I have recorded on to the DVR on to my Mac’s HD. I don’t care how big the files are, I can do things to them later. Right now my DVR is full, and want to save some of these shows. (Would like to use the files with my EyeHome or a AppleTV later on)
I’m not concerned about recording live video, just want to take the previously recorded stuff off the DVR
Just confusing I downloaded SDK 23 from Apple.com and my Virtual DVHS looks nothing like the above one.
Hope someone can help.
Lon,
Try this link, which has a slightly more up-to-date how-to:
http://project-tigershark.com/people/rob/blog/2007/01/14/cable-tv-mac-firewire-hd-pvr
The FireWire SDK 23 has changed some of the applications (what was VirtualDVHS 2 in the old SDK is now just VirtualDVHS, and what was the original VirtualDVHS is now gone).
I’ve never been able to get this setup to work with VirtualDVHS, anyway, and so I just use the AVCVideoCapture application included in the FireWire SDK, as it’s simpler and works flawlessly.
You can also look at iRecord, which is similar to the AVCVideoCapture program but offers nice features such as keeping track of recorded programs and scheduling recordings:
http://www.ammesset.com/software/irecord/
In order to copy the recorded programs to my computer, I hit “play” on the cable box to play the program and then I hit record in AVCVideoCapture (or iRecord, whichever I feel like using at the moment). That works for me, but I’ve seen reports that some people don’t get any FireWire output when playing back recorded programs. Probably depends on the cable box, the cable operator, and the firmware.
Once the file is on my computer, I can open it in VLC and watch it or transcode it, but as I find VLC’s many options somewhat confusing, I use a program called MPEG Streamclip instead (which can open MPEG Transport Stream files, which is what the cable box outputs).
http://www.squared5.com/
MPEG Streamclip can open (and play) the TS files, and you can do minimal editing (set in and out points) and either convert to other formats (using the QuickTime engine; I don’t know if you need to have QT Pro for it to work, since I do have it) or demux the TS into an MPEG-2 and AC3 file (to import directly into DVD Studio Pro) or into an MPEG-2 and AIFF file (to import into Final Cut Pro, Compressor or QuickTime to edit and/or convert to another format).
Hope this helps.
I have the Motorola DCT-6200 which doesn’t have DVR functionality but it does have the ability to start/schedule recordings. Is there a way I can use this to start recordings on my mac? I have gotten recordings to work using AVCVideoCap and starting the recordings manually from my mac, and I have also read that I can use iCal to schedule recordings, but I would like to have the Cable Box start the recordings if possible. If anyone knows if this is possible, please provide instructions or a link to some using SDK 23
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AVCVideoCapture will capture output from the Moto 3412 DVR, but neither VLC nor Streamclip will open the resulting files. I guess this means the signal is encrypted… and I tried HD and SD channels. The cable system is Comcast in northern Mass.
Anyone know how to decrypt the HD broadcasts? I have charter cable but VLC does not want to do anything with any HD program I record.
I have the Motorola DCT-6200 which doesn’t have DVR functionality but it does have the ability to start/schedule recordings. Is there a way I can use this to start recordings on my mac? I have gotten recordings to work using AVCVideoCap and starting the recordings manually from my mac, and I have also read that I can use iCal to schedule recordings, but I would like to have the Cable Box start the recordings if possible. If anyone knows if this is possible, please provide instructions or a link to some using SDK 23
Hi all. I have successfully used my powerbook g4 and my motorola 3412/16 from comcast with the 2.3 sdk to record live programs. I’ve also used iRecord to do the same. That all works great. What I can’t do is transfer already recorded data from the DVR to my mac. I don’t see how to “re-record” as someone has already stated. If I launch iRecord or AVCVideoCap and play the recording on the DVR box, iRecord or AVCVideoCap appear to be capturing content. But when I play the m2t file with VLC, it is all black and has no audio. Does anyone know how to access recorded content on the DVR and transfer it to a mac. I can’t seem to find anything online. Thanks for any tips.
Hi Axnjxn,
It sounds like you are following the same steps I do when recording prerecorded DVR content: hit “play” and then start recording, so I don’t think it’s anything you’re doing.
I’ve heard that this feature is dependent on the software/firmware installed on the DVR. If your cable company’s software doesn’t support streaming DVR playback over FireWire, then you might be out of luck.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I could be wrong, though.
That is precisely my question. I have shows on DVR that I want to copy to my Mac’s hard drive. I tried the directions above and while my Mac showed the firewire connection to the Comcast DVR, I couldn’t do anything after that. If you get instructions, could you please share them here (or by email to me)? Thanks.
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