Comments on: Ripping recorded video from a Cox DVR on OS X

By: jakep

jakep — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:58:40 +0000

Anyone have a similar guide for Motorola DVRs onto OSX? I’ve tried and tried and can’t find something that will work.

By: Dragos

Dragos — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:13:52 +0000

Chad, you rock! I had the pausing problem when trying to get recorded content from the DVR and struggled to find a solution. The method of tricking the DVR into playing, that you described above, worked well.

I am trying to use MPEG Streamclip to convert the .m2t file to .mov, but the playback and conversion are missing the video component. I do have the QuickTime MPEG2 Playback component installed ($20 from QT) but to no avail. Do you have any experience with this?

ClipWrap is another application that can be used to convert .m2t to .mov, and I tested it successfully with their 1-min trial version. Their full version costs $50 and is more limited than MPEG Streamclip so I am trying to make the latter work.

Thanks for sharing your method.

By: cFoo

cFoo — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:47:41 +0000

I see the device. It looks like AVCVideocap is recording, but I get nothing in VLC. It complaints that there is no valid video or audio codec Any idea?

By: chad

chad — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:22:46 +0000

@Jim K: Is it protected content, i.e., something from a premium channel? If it came from a network like ABC/CBS, you should be able to open it, but something from HBO won’t work, as the content is encrypted.

By: JamesD

JamesD — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:13:14 +0000

Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting

By: Jim Kennedy

Jim Kennedy — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:15:36 +0000

Also getting the “Could not open” error in AVCVideocap. Macbook with 10.4.11. Any suggestions?

By: mark

mark — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:28:28 +0000

More info. I have a motorola dch3416. When I was capturing, when I plugged in the Firewire (800 to 400 as I’m using a new Mac Mini) the picture went 2x forward, not pause. After I set the AVC and pressed play, the picture was 1x forward, so I was able to watch while the capture occurred.

I captured two files, the second said scanning title 1 of 1 for a second, then No Valid Source Found, like the first.

By: mark

mark — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:27:06 +0000

Thanks for this very succinct description of how to get a DVR to the Mac. I got it all the way through to Handbrake. I used your specific VLC setting to .ts, but when I attempt to open the file in Handbrake, it says no valid source found. I’ll try different settings in VLC, but if you had a suggestion, I’d love to hear it.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:17:21 +0000

I can capture “something” from my Cox Santa Barbara SA8300 using my 10.5.6 OSX MacBook and AVCVideocap; the capture file fills up at a rate of about 40 MBytes/min. But I can’t get any utility to display what is captured; VLC will open the file, but when I attempt to play it, it appears to just whiz through it, while displaying nothing. Could it be that the stream is encrypted? What clues could I look for? Thanks. (April 2009)

By: omar g

omar g — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:07:43 +0000

@JC: The “nothing happens” occurs because of the content protection on the recording. When you plug in the firewire to the DVR and your computer with AVCVideoCap on, look at the EMI: line at the bottom. If you’re allowed to copy the file it will say ‘Copy Freely’, and these recordings will play in VLC. If you see ‘Copy Once’ then the capture will not work. This was my experience on a DCT6412/2005 model.