iPod touch Put Dish Network DVR recordings on iPod touch?

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Does anyone know how to connect a Mac to a Dish DVR for the purposes of downloading the recorded programs, then converting them to play on an iPod touch? I have been searching the web for a while, but haven't been able to find anything of substance.

I have a Dish Network ViP-722 HD DVR.

 

[tsice19]

Does anyone know how to connect a Mac to a Dish DVR for the purposes of downloading the recorded programs, then converting them to play on an iPod touch? I have been searching the web for a while, but haven't been able to find anything of substance.

I have a Dish Network ViP-722 HD DVR.

Is it possible to transfer the shows to any other media? (IE: Get it off the DVR box?)

 

[swiftaw]

I have no idea if this would work for a Dish DVR, but this is what I do with my cable DVR.

My cable DVR has firewire ports, so I connect it to my mac through those. I then use software called iRecord to record the video files to my mac. I then use mpeg streamslip to convert the files into a format that I can edit in iMovie. I use iMovie to edit out he commercials and then then export as a file that is capable of being played on my iPod.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

My DVR has ethernet and USB 2.0 ports. It is connected to my network via ethernet (which is connected to an Airport Express, which is set to extend my wireless network).

I've tried connecting to the box like it was a server (using the IP), but it can't connect. Dish charges $39.99 to "activate" the USB ports for use with an external HD, but I was hoping there was another (free) way to do it.

 

[iTeen]

I have the same box and I have tried pretty much everything (exept the external hard drive) and I can't get any recordings onto my mac...

Good luck.

 

[Grentz]

Enabling the external hard drive does not help either as it stores them in special formats that are not readable by other devices. It really is just meant to extend the storage space for the unit.

 

[ftaok]

It's not totally baked yet, but you could invest in a Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212. It's a component capture device that will take component input (1080i, 720p, and 480i) and convert it to h264 (I think AVCHD). The half baked portion of this is that it's currently Windows only and the included software requires a pretty fast PC for capture and playback.

The HTPC community is currently working on other solutions with this device and it's pretty promising.

The bottom line is if you have a decent PC, you can capture with the 1212 and then convert it using the included utilities (or other stuff - Quicktime Pro on the Mac can convert 720p files) to something that iTunes can sync ... however, keep in mind that iTunes won't sync 720p files that are greater than 24 fps ... but with a iPod touch, that wouldn't be an issue as you'd likely convert it to 480p.

Check out AVSForum for the latest info. The link is the last page of the big thread. A guy named MichaelLAX has gotten his Mac to work (through BootCamp for capture and MacOS./QT Pro for converting).

ft