Transferring Recordings from BT TV Box to an External Hardrive?

[BenSCR]

I received a replacement 600hr BT TV Box in July, and I have to send my other box back by 27 August or will have to pay £140.

I have lots of recordings I want to keep, recordings such as documentaries and the 2022 World Cup Final etc. I spoke to BT advisor, and he said I could transfer the recordings to a 1TB or 2TB External Hardrive. Is this actually possible to do, or are all the recordings copyrighted just to stay on the BT TV Box?

[rbz5416 · Accepted solution]

Sadly yet another episode of a BT advisor talking out of their posterior.

SD recording can be archived but only by removing the HDD & putting in a PC that can read the format (Windows can't). HD recordings are encrypted to the box & can only play on that box. Nothing can be transferred to USB.

[BenSCR]

Thanks for confirming this. I thought the recordings were copyrighted to the box, from what I think I remember reading up on this years ago on this forum when I first got a BT TV Box.

[Tyke987]

Sorry but I’ve only just seen this post. It is quite easy to copy a recording on a BT box BUT I understand this only applies to SD  recordings. I haven’t tried it with HD. Also, you need to be copying from a BT Box with a SCART socket ( ie not the BT box pro which I understand doesn’t have one).  You need to be copying to a device with a SCART input. I use an old Panasonic 700 recorder. Connect  the two by cable, start the playback and immediately press pause. Go to the recorder and start record from AV. When that starts, press play on the BT box. When the record is finished either play it in a a DVD  player or use something like Handbrake to rip it onto you rcomputer.

It’s a bit tedious but it works.

[Midnight_Voice]

If you have something that can record component video, you can put the output of a YouView HD-recorded programme out in real time through the ‘analogue hole’, with an HDMI to component video converter.

As it’s analogue 1080p rather than digital 1080p, the normal digital copy protection doesn’t apply.

If you don’t have such a device, though, expect to pay in the region of £200 for one.

Note, by the way, that copy protection can still catch you out, even over SCART. I copied a recorded segment of OGWT with Dory Previn to my laptop, and it played at first, but later said it was time expired. I still don’t know how the BBC did that 😢