Forum Discussion

pete37593's avatar
pete37593
Joining in
2 months ago

Upgrading hard drive and copying hard drive.

Is it possible to upgrade or the hard drive in a 360 box to a larger drive, I'm also wondering if the drive can be taken out and cloned as a backup in case my recordings are lost so that I could replace the drive, with the cloned drive?

I have done this, several years ago, with my Sky box.

I'm assuming not, but is there a way of just copying the recordings on the 360 box to another hard drive, to be played on my computer. I'm guessing that the content is compressed and encrypted.

  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    The short answer is no, this can't be done. You're correct to assume that recordings are encrypted, and the key is HDD-specific.

    It's standard practice to lose recordings in any box-swap scenario - that's the argument used for "cloud" recording and VoD services.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    V360 Horizon is a server driven system. Even if you were able to "upgrade" the hard drive in your box, as far as the headend server is concerned the allocated capacity at your recording location is 1Gb no matter what is installed in the box.

    Broadcaster agreements do not allow either for permanent recordings or recordings on removable media, as they are seen as illegal copies.

  • asim18's avatar
    asim18
    Rising star
    2 months ago

    As long as you pay a TV licence, you can record what you see on your TV screen for your personal time-shift use. Otherwise VCRs would be banned.

    The TV license doesn't specifiy what device(s) you are allowed to record with, they only say you can record. So I would assume you can use a HDCP compatible HDMI recording device.

  • asim18's avatar
    asim18
    Rising star
    2 months ago

    Terms and Conditions - TV Licensing ™

    "Pay TV services, like Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV"

    "This includes recording and downloading. On any device."

    I guess by specifically stating "Recording... on any device"  this includes VCRs, DVD recorders, 8mm tape, Hard Disk, Solid State Disk, USB stick, SD card, HDMI recorder, whatever you like really, as long as it's for your personal use.

    • Roger_Gooner's avatar
      Roger_Gooner
      Alessandro Volta
      2 months ago

      What you say is true for Freesat and Freeview with the caveat that the latter's encrypted programmes can only be decrypted by Freeview PVRs. However, this is about VM which encrypts all content and thus you need a VM box to do the decryption.

      • asim18's avatar
        asim18
        Rising star
        2 months ago

        But Cable TV encryption has been around since 1999. You were still allowed to record whatever you want using the AV output to any recorder of your choice. Recording Sky Sports was no problem in 1989, no problem in 2005, and no problem today.

        The law hasn't changed. The rights granted to you through a TV Licence have not changed.

        Which is why I say you can still use the video output to any recorder you can like, as stated in the TV Licence. Scart has changed to HDMI. But the TV licence never defined Scart or HDMI, and it still says you can record on ANY device you like, not just the DVR provided by the company.

        I believe a person's statutory right to record anything broadcasted in the UK on "any device" for his own use under the terms of the TV licence is not affected by the choice of pay TV provider's choice to use encryption or "locking down" their broadcast.

  • Mr_K's avatar
    Mr_K
    Knows their stuff
    2 months ago

    With one of the older Tivo boxes, you could output everything via the Scart  and record to wherever you wanted - dvd, external hard drive, etc.

    Everything is locked down now, to maximise corporate profits  

     

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    It is also the right of the content owner to protect the use of their property in any way they see fit. Otherwise there would be no copy protection anywhere. You certainly do NOT have the rights to make copies in native HD/UHD of pay content, just as you do not have the right to clone a DVD or Blu-Ray disk. The only loophole that survives to this day is if you downscale the recording to analogue 240 line VCR quality, as copies at that resolution are virtually unsaleable.

    Content owners went to court in the USA to get Component Video sockets removed from video equipment several years ago & won, as it was another easy way to copy content in HD.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    In 2014 the laws were modified in the UK to allow you to “format shift” content you have DIRECTLY PURCHASED in hard copy (DVD/Blu-Ray) or via a download to another device such as a network server providing it is for personal use. This does not cover copies created from third party broadcast material.