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In my last article I wrote about using the HD PVR equipment to back up home movies from a video camera or old VCR tape (VHS tape), DVR, or DVD. At the end of that article I said I would write about more cool stuff you can do with a HD PVR. I was going to write about video gameplay recording with the HD PVR, but my friend kept asking me how to use the HD PVR to backup direct TV DVR stuff. So, I put off the video game recording article for now.

There are basic solutions for certain problems when you have satellite or cable television. One of those huge problems is filling up the darn hard drive and not having enough space to record your new television shows. With all the programs that come on TV these days it is hard to have enough storage space to record them all. For example if your programs don't come on at convenient times and you are not home to watch them - you can always record them onto your DVR or TiVo, right? NOT! This is not necessarily true if you have run out of hard drive space on your DVR or Tivo. I know we all hate seeing that red flag that tells us to sacrifice a saved program in order to record a new one.

Hmmm…. Do I want to keep all my episodes of The Morning After or Spartacus: Gods of the Arena? Why do we have to be forced to put ourselves through this torture?

I tried a few things like connect a USB cable from my computer to the satellite receiver and cable box receiver but my computer did not recognize it. Sheesh, that was weird. And then I tried connecting an external hard drive to my rented receiver – again no luck.

I was stuck trying to consider what was the best way to get my favorites from my DVR to have more space to record more favorites. LOL

Well since I had used my HD PVR to digitize and backup my other priceless gems, I thought – hmm… maybe it will work on my cable/satellite receiver too. What do you know, it worked. The recordings are not nearly as clear as they were on the HD DVR, but they were good enough quality for me on my 42 inch HDTV. Here is how I did it.

1. I went to the back of my U-verse TV receiver and found the video and audio output section. There are 6 RCA jacks, but you only need to use 3. Connect a cable from Video (yellow), Audio (red and white) to the input on your HD PVR (AV IN – CVBS, L, R).
2. Power on both the U-verse or whatever you have: direct tv, cable box, etc.
3. Power on the HD PVR.
4. Press Video In on the HD PVR remote control. You will see the U-Verse on the HDTV screen. O, make sure you have the HD PVR connected to your HDTV. I have mine connected by the component cables.
5. Press menu on the u-verse remote. Go to recorded tv, browse recordings. Select the recording you want to watch and press play. At the same time grab the HD PVR remote and press red record button.
6. Now just let the program play. I normally fast forward commercials and press pause on the HD PVR if there are any, but you don’t have to do that. Once the full program plays, press stop on the HD PVR remote.
7. Now free up the space on your u-verse dvr by deleting the tv show. Press erase. Now you have just brought yourself some more space to record again.
8. Now let’s rename the newly recorded HD PVR stuff. Press browse on the hd pvr remote control. It depends on what you recorded to at this point. If you recorded to memory then select CARD, if you record to an internal hard drive then select HDD, if you recorded to the internet then select NET, if you recorded to an external hard drive or a thumb drive then select USB. You will see the recording with a funny name like 20110302_RCO_01 or something like that. Highlight it and press delete button from the remote. Now press rename and rename it with the keyboard that appears on the TV screen. Now you’re done.

The HD PVR will put all your recordings into alphabetical order. You can also create folders like me and keep everything organized. I have folders like family movies, u-verse tv shows, and stuff like that. That’s pretty much there is to it. I promise I will write about the video gameplay recordings later.