Hi I'm new to the forums and I have a few questions.

My girlfriend is a high school teacher and I am trying to find a pvr solution that will allow her to record programs on Rogers Digital cable and transfer them to a dvd so she can bring them to school to play them for her kids. She teaches world issues and geography so she want to be able to record documentaries and such for educational purposes.

Anyway, I have been looking at the Rogers PVR but it does not appear to have the ability to remove programs from the unit. I know I could buy a TV capture card for my computer but we also want to be able to record our normal programs to watch on our regular TV.

So my questions are:

1. Is there a way to get recordings off of the Rogers PVR and onto a DVD or PC?

2. If not, is there another solution that will allow me to have an integrated PVR that will work well with Rogers (program guide, etc), allow me to record programs for playback on my TV and give me the ability to burn extra copies for my girlfriends teaching needs that won't require a ton of cables running down my hallway from the living room to the office where my PC is?

Thanks, for your help and reading through my long winded questions.

1. Yes, you can use the "record to VCR" function, use the composite or S-video outputs to a PC or to a Stand-alone DVD recorder input.

2. Only the Rogers (SA) DVR will work on Rogers System. You could use a digital STB and set it to the appropriate channel and record on a DVD Recorder (with HDD for future editing), but that's cumbersome.

If the programmes are on the analogue channels, then you could use a DVD recorder (with or without HDD).

Interesting. The Rogers PVR FAQ says that recording off of the PVR is not possible. Perhaps they just don't want ot advertise it.

Does this function apply to the 8000 series or just the 8300? I was looking at buying the 8000 non-HD version.

So this S-video out could be hooked up to say a laptop and recorded directly to a hard drive perhaps?

You cannot currently record HD off the HD DVRs. See the Digital Home FAQ "Recording HD".

The output (S-video or composite video) of the 8000 could be connected to your "recording device". I'm not sure if it has a "copy to VCR" function, since it's not really needed, you could just connect it...

I don't know if there are video capture cards for laptops and the laptop would need to have a DVD burner.

Are you getting a "deal" on the 8000? The 8300 is newer and less "glitch prone".

The 8000 is the one they are still linking to on the Rogers site, but if the 8300 is better then I'll get that.

The amount of shows I'll want to record off of the device is fairly minimal (only when a good documentary is on for my girlfriend to use in her curriculum), so I would prefer the integration with Rogers to be as seamless as possible.

As long as there is actually a way to get the shows off of the device and onto a DVD I'll probably buy it.

Not sure about HD vs. non-HD though. I don't have an HD TV yet but I'm planning on one soon so I'm not sure if I should get the HD version now or not.

If you're considering HD, get the SA8300HD. It costs a bit more, but it has a larger HDD and more options for output and the "copy to VCR" will be easy. You can even watch the HD stations on an SDTV in the meantime (in 480i of course)

You can rent these STBs, of course...

What makes the SA8300HD easier for "copy to vcr" functionality compared to the non-HD version?

I can't seem to find any information on this "copy to vcr" function on either Rogers site on the Scientific Atlanta site, it seems like they are trying to hide or downplay it.

Maybe to keep the networks and movie studios off thier backs?

I wasn't sure if the SD version had "copy to vcr", which allows you to keep your TV and VCR connections intact, or whether you simply hooked the STB to the VCR. Perhaps someone else with the SD STB can comment...

"copy to VCR" was not originally active and required a recent firmware update. Perhaps that's why it isn't mentioned, but it is mentioned in the operating information with the STB.

My SA8000 lists the "Copy to VCR" function when I select a recorded program. I have not actually used it since I use my SA8000HD when I want to "Copy to VCR" (actually a DVD recorder). But I assume it would work.

I was looking for a place to post this and decided to do it here.
I'm with Videotron and have an SA8010HD.
Yesterday I was

. Recording 2 HD channels (while)
. Watching a recorded HD program (and)
. Copying a recorded HD program to a DVD via Copy to VCR (at the same time)

This unit is 2 years old. I found this quite impressive.