Video Extraction

Hi Everyone,

I don't know if anyone can help or may have any suggestions or if this is off topic. You see, I have DirecTV service and for a long time I have owned 3 R15 Model DVRs that I originally purchased to establish service with them and I purchased these DVRs years ago before they started the leasing program. Well, I upgraded to their HD DVR with the connection to all the other rooms and I asked them what do I do with the old ones. Since I own them, they stated that I can do whatever I want with them. Now here is where it gets interesting, you see I have some saved shows on those old DVRs and I wanted to extract them and put them on my PC. I managed to that to 2 of them but the main one was damaged during the last storm and power outage which was the main reason I upgraded with them and the HDD in it is still good but I cannot extract the data out of it because it is encrypted or something. Is there any possible way or software that I can use for decryption in order to be able to upload those files to my PC? I have established a connection with the HDD but again the files or the drive itself is encrypted. I tried pluggin the HDD into the other DVRs and I ran into another connection problem that states "Access Card Error". So, any suggestions? I would like to thank you all for any help you can provide.

Frank

Is there any possible way or software that I can use for decryption in order to be able to upload those files to my PC?

I been all over the internet seeking an answer to this . It seems that there is not a way to decrypt those files.

But you could attach an external hard drive to the DVR and copy files to the external.
But it would probably re-format the external before copying the files. Making it impossible to copy them to a PC. As you stated above.

If you find a way, please let us know. (if it's legal)

Dish Network charges $40 to hook up an external, and was willing to help if I needed to transfer files. (I didn't) Call Direct TV to see if you can do this, they might be able to help.

I hear over at the AVSforum that the Hauppaugue HD 1212 PVR will record the Dish Network or Direct TV HD video as BLU Ray or other format. They say the quality is excellent, even stunning. Then, you can back up the video to the PC, or hard drive, or burn to a disc.
They say it takes advantage of the analog loophole making it legal to do so. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know for sure.

Thanks 12x48y, I will continue my research and I will also continue to watch this forum to see what anybody else comes up with. You never know, someone might try something new that hasn't been done yet that may fall under the lines of Legality or not. But I will keep watch. I am trying to do some file decryption on my Linux box. I can actually mount the drive but I cannot access the files nor can I actually see anything in there. Kind of weird, LOL! I will continue and see what pops up. Thank you again.

I use a plain old DVD recorder to save stuff off Dish network HD. Connected to the video out on the DVR. Recorded at the highest quality. 1 hour per DVD-RW. (so I can erase, and use it again)

The downside is DVD recorders use 720 X 480 (NTSC) 4:3 video AC3 stereo audio. Not HD Blu-Ray 1920 X 1080 DTS or whatever is displayed. Limited to a DVD-R/RW, (not duel layer)

But, the DVD's are easy to edit, and the tools are free at videohelp. com.
I can either keep the DVD as is, or, I can rip the DVD to the PC, cut out commercials, or merge two or more DVD's to one DVD-DL, create menu's, or not. copy it to an external hard drive, rip it with Handbrake to my iPod, easily, with my old PC running XP, P4, 412 MB ram. (Avisynth installed) With no loss in quality.

Where trying to edit HD video might prove difficult, (for me anyway) & expensive considering I would need a Blu-Ray burner, and media.

The end result isn't HD Blu-Ray, but when played on a good Blu-Ray player it looks just as good, or even better than some Blu-Ray video I get from Netflix. ( to my eyes) Because the Blu-Ray player will up convert/upscale the video, to make the 4:3 display look like 1920 x 1080.

That's good enough for me.

I, in your case, would just connect your old DVR's to a DVD recorder to get what I would call "keepers" on DVD. But that's just me.

Food for thought.

Good Luck.
Mark

I, in your case, would just connect your old DVR's to a DVD recorder to get what I would call "keepers" on DVD. But that's just me.

Food for thought.

Good Luck.
Mark

I managed to extract the videos from the other 2 DVR's and burned them onto DVD's but the main one was damaged by a recent storm which is why I called Directv to upgrade the service. I figured I can download the movies from the HDD if I plugged it to one of the other DVR's but got a error message on it. So, I tried to USB the drive onto my Linux box and I could not view nor mount the drive. In fact it showed it as a blank drive ready for formating. But your initial idea works if the DVR's are fully functional otherwise, I need another option for the damaged DVR which has some videos of a parade in which my daughter participated and a few other videos that were televised which I could really save for prosperity. I could care less for any other content, in fact if it had just regular movies or shows I would just format the HDD and use it as a backup drive on my PC. Thank you again for all your help Mark.

so, what file system does the DVR hard drive use ? it could be a partition table issue and possibly some type of recovery software can find it.

Is there a different file system used on the "main" DVR as opposed to the others ?

so, what file system does the DVR hard drive use ? it could be a partition table issue and possibly some type of recovery software can find it.

I am not sure of the file system that is used by Directv for the three units. They are all Model R15 DVRs.

Is there a different file system used on the "main" DVR as opposed to the others ?

I believe that all three units have the same file system. It would be redundant for the units to have different file systems, however I wouldn't pass that by Directv. What I do suspect is that each unit has a different encryption coding which would explain why I couldn't access the HDD on one of the other DVRs. When I swapped the HDD from the damaged DVR to a functional DVR which is the same model mind you, it started like normal and cycled like normal then when it came to loading the content or just plain finalizing it's boot sequence, the DVR gave me an error message stating as follows;

Access Card Error

When I swapped the HDD from the damaged DVR to a functional DVR which is the same model mind you, it started like normal and cycled like normal then when it came to loading the content or just plain finalizing it's boot sequence, the DVR gave me an error message stating as follows;

Access Card Error

Wait a minute, I just had a thought. I wonder if I switch the Access card from the damaged unit to the functional unit along with the HDD in question if it will run all the way through the process. I am going to try that and see what results. Thanks for your help guys. It's better to have multiple brains on one problem than one brain. I will come back with my results in the morning. Right now I need to get some shut eye.

Good night to you all!

which has some videos of a parade in which my daughter participated. . .

That's what I would call, priceless. Hope it wasn't damaged and you can extract it.
Keep us posted.

Well, I am back and sure enough. The transfer of the Access Card in conjunction with the HDD from the Damaged DVR to the functional DVR was a good idea but not practical. I had more error messages as if I didn't have service. I guess I have no access to those units any more. I will be calling Directv in order to get tech support to help me extract those videos. Otherwise, I'd like to thank everyone for your help.

ok this is what i have learned.
file system is xfs and can only be read by linux if the kernel supports it. Which may be why your linux box sees it as blank.

Support for xfs was in kernel 2.6.38 (included with ubuntu 11.10) but a patch was released (kernel 2.6.39)which made the xfs support more stable and faster. Linux Mint 12 now comes with kernel 3.0

With this capability, the damaged dvr drive (you say is good) could be copied or imaged using linux with updated kernel.
Data could then be copied back to the drive in the working DVR, re-installed, and then copied to PC using whatever method you used on the working DVR's.

this is all theory.

ok this is what i have learned.
file system is xfs and can only be read by linux if the kernel supports it. Which may be why your linux box sees it as blank.

You are correct, I noticed that it's an xfs and you are also correct in your assumption that my Ubuntu reads it as a blank drive.

Support for xfs was in kernel 2.6.38 (included with ubuntu 11.10) but a patch was released (kernel 2.6.39)which made the xfs support more stable and faster. Linux Mint 12 now comes with kernel 3.0

I heard and read that the new ubuntu has the support capability in the new kernel but I was under the assumption and thought that I would have to format and set my main unbuntu or linux drive as an xfs.

Now, I am interested in upgrading my Ubuntu in anycase but if I have to change my file system to xfs then that will probably complicate things or can it?

With this capability, the damaged dvr drive (you say is good) could be copied or imaged using linux with updated kernel. Data could then be copied back to the drive in the working DVR, re-installed, and then copied to PC using whatever method you used on the working DVR's.

Now the DVR drive is not damaged and it is fully functional. It was the DVR itself that was damaged. I did contact Directv and they offered no help in this endeavor and quoted me some copy right law stuff so I left it alone. Which I have no problem with but my intention is to get video for my own personal use nothing more and I am not copying movies that I can actually watch on with my Netflix account and all the movies that I have in my DVDs and BVDs I have collected throughout the years. But I will try your theory and it is worth trying.

Thank you,

I found some more interesting reading. This pertains to the HR-2x but the file system is the same. They have used Gparted to boot the machine with just the DVR drives attached. Then use xfsdump command to copy from drive to drive.

Your case is somewhat different. you may have to leave the settings partition alone and just copy the partition with the saved video. I am thinking if you copy the settings from the baked DVR it may not work in the working DVR.
Also you may want to make copies of each drive first, just in case ....

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/21026

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2260390#post2260390

Ohh this is the edit.. you will not have to format to xfs for ubuntu to look at the drives. I ran into video issues when I upgraded to ubuntu 11. Could not run Unity. Had to switch to classic or install unity2D.

Ohh this is the edit.. you will not have to format to xfs for ubuntu to look at the drives. I ran into video issues when I upgraded to ubuntu 11. Could not run Unity. Had to switch to classic or install unity2D.

Oh thanks for letting me know then I will just upgrade the kernel and keep my current version. It's a tedious job to upgrade the kernel but hey at least I can have the best of both worlds. As for your recommendations, I will be trying that process after my upgrade is complete. What I will be doing first is to connect the dvr drive onto my linux box after the kernel update and then I will see if I can view and extract any data from it. I'm so excited to find out what happens next. Thanks again.