Recording to HDD from hdmi input

[Skitrel]

I was hoping to be able to record to HDD on HD inputs, it would have eliminated the need to use any external device for recording XBOX gameplay.

Sadly I've found that's not the case as Sony have limited the feature to only the freeview channels? This is incredibly frustrating and pointless. Is there any chance of seeing this happen or should I just go buy a dvd player or extra peripheral to record to?

It doesn't make any logical sense to do this, it doesn't stop anyone that's going to record something illegitimately, they'll just find other ways to do it. What it does do however is limit what your customers want to do for legitimate purposes. It's completely not cool to harm or otherwise make the lives of legitimate customers more annoying on account of the illigitimate.

I'd be very happy to hear back from this. Is there any way to unlock this or will there be an update allowing it?

[Skitrel]

Hmm, anyone know if there's a way to use the separate PC plug to send images from the Bravia to the laptop as opposed to from the laptop to the TV? Could record on the laptop instead then.

[Catmambo]

This feature is really aimed at offering basic PVR functionality via Freeview. There would no doubt be countless legal issues around possibly recording Sky or Virgin Media onto USB, so likely because of this, that no manufacturer offers this functionality.

I get your point about video caputure for gaming and its a fair one, but many games offer this functionality in-game, then allowing you to export it as a movie clip, or there is 3rd party hardware available, so unlikley it will be added as a software update, prinicpally because of the legal issues.

Thanks

[Skitrel]

How would it be countless legal issues? Why would it be any different to anything else that allows you to record anything? I don't understand how recording to USB is any different legally than recording to any device. Sony make DVDr players right? They make Bluray players with recording features. I'm not quite sure how there's legal issues about a TV having the ability to record a peripheral attached to it. It's not against the law to record anything like that anyway, that was settled way back when the evil entertainment industry tried to shut down video casette recorders.

It would be incredibly nice to get this functionality out of the TV itself. I don't suppose you know of any possible alternate methods? Like as I said can the TV broadcast it's image to something else? Such as the laptop? Or to a separate screen? This would probably allow me to work out a method without having to fork out for something else.

Just done a bit of research on the above. There are Samsung TVs that allow recording to usb from hdmi sources Now I feel like I have the wrong TV.

You say "many games" cat but really it's just the Halo and Call of Duty series that offer a battle recorder of sorts, and again, those only apply to multiplayer.

I really think this is something that ought to be part of Bravia, it's like a missing niche that Sony hasn't seen, from a marketing standpoint it would make Bravias the superior TV to own for gamers because they'd be able to record their gameplay without buying an alternate peripheral. It's an entire market of consumers that ALL need a TV to play their games and are almost all generally into internet culture, youtube, machinima and the like. Cuts out the costly capture card market.

I dunno, perhaps Sony have already considered it, it seems like something that might have been overlooked and ought to at least be suggested. There's a hell of a lot of gamers and it'll only ever be a growing market, the culture of gaming commentaries and uploading gaming videos is still in it's infancy too, so it's only going to get much much bigger.

Oops, went on a bit of a ramble there.

[MaikR-010]

Just bought a brand new Sony KD-55XD8505 and thought I could use the USB to connect a external HDD for recording tv-signal as advertised.

As mentioned only in the seperate side notes section of the online user manual, this ONLY applies to 'Digital TV' signal, which is the digital tv signal from a CI-module or other internal signal. The (same) digital tv signal from my external tv tuner / set-top box can not be recorded.

Now I finally start to understand what Sony ment by it's marketing slogan: "make believe"... 

[rooobb]

@MaikR-010 may you write down any TV brand that is able to record external input? Have you ever heard about DRM (Digital Right Management)?

[mikewillgoss]

Hello I have the same problem with the new 42 inch OLED I have just bought,

Spent hours trying to get the recording working only to find out the 1TB SSD drive I was using is no compatiable with the TV Software so I had to go an old fashioned mechanical drive from my PC shop!!

Still would not work? found out it had to be formatted to FAT32 exFAT, drive is now seen but still will not record via HDMi 1, 2, or 3? Found out after having to put up an old terestial aerial to get fuffy freeview that the TV will only record on the old fashioned coax feed to the TV!! (come on Sony get into the 21st centrary)

Well fedup after spending £1,400 on the TV I though I would play Sony at there own game and bought an old  Sony RDR HX 870 HDD/DVD recoder and now I can record SKY, Satellite and Cable channels all in HD and also copy them to DVD-RW or CD (Magic Box)

Michael

PS Sony sort this problem out in a firmware update!!

[rooobb]

I don't know what you were expecting a TV can do compared to a dedicated PVR but, apart from the HDD selection, no TV available in the market, is allowed to record anything different from the internal tuner.

Moreover I don't understand, owning one myself, how you may use the RDR-HXD870 to record from any external device in High quality since it accepts only analogue devices in input (composite or s-video) but not any HDMI connection. But yes it spots a DVD recorder so you can duplicate whatever you have on its internal hard disk, the TV doesn't have it....