Any way to "share" recordings on a portable hard drive attached to cable box?

[digitalbabe]

Hi, I am sure there is a formal name for what I am asking but I am a relative "noob" to home networking and media servers. I am sure this question is common, but I am not sure if it's even possible. We have Cablevision and that's not changing in the foreseeable future. I know they'd prefer we had a second cable box and DVR in the bedroom, but it just makes no sense as we watched very little live TV to begin with, so we only have one box (we used to have multiple boxes and never watched them).

1) We have an HD box in the livingroom, which has an external drive connected to it. Is there anyway to watch the recordings on the Cablebox/External drive in the bedroom-i.e. share them?

We don't care to record or download them in anyway, just "see them" in another room.

2) In the bedroom there is a PS3, as one of our BD players. I see something called "Find 'Media Servers'" in the menu, but I guess I need some other gizmo, to share stuff between all of our devices, providing they are connected to our home network?

Thanks all
DB

 

[Horhay]

I am not sure if you can even share that content since I am almost 99% sure that it has DRM and is copy protected. You can try and connect it to your PS3 and see if you can watch the videos from there.

You can also try to connect them to your laptop/desktop and use PS3 Media Server, it it works then you should be able to see the server on your PS3. I've never tried something like this though, so it's a long shot. BTW PS3 Media Server is free and very easy to use .

 

[digitalbabe]

Hey Horhay, thank you!

Yeah, that's what I thought-I was hoping there was a way to "see" it, as I don't really want to "record" it and send it to anyone, save it, burn it, etc, just watch it on another screen in the house, by streaming it over our home network. But for that to work, the cable box and external drive would need to be connected to the wi fi network in the house, anyway for the PS3 to see it somehow (if it could).

 

[Off_contstantly]

I agree with Horhay about PS3 Media Server. It's a great program. The only catch with it is that you would need to have it installed and active on your cable box or external hard drive. This would be another long shot, but would the external storage work if you hooked another computer up to it? If that was the case, you could hook the computer to your network and the cable box, run PS3 Media Server on the computer, and "discover" the computer through the PS3. I still think that you'll run into the DRM issue that Horhay mentioned.

 

[digitalbabe]

Thanks Off Constantly-I think I am going to try that out. I know unplugging the external from the cable box causes some drama sometimes (it even says "do not unplug" as it can erase things), but if I can get back their to hook one of our laptops up, I can try it. Sounds like an interesting little project to try

 

[Off_contstantly]

I'd look on the internet too for a few other ideas.

 

[Horhay]

Good luck DB!

 

[digitalbabe]

Hey guys-thanks! Off-yeah, I've snooped around the net for the last 2 weeks. I have not found anything that could work remotely with the items available to me, and there never seems to be a resolution to the threads I've found. But as soon as I get a chance to try out what you guys suggested, I'll post. Thanks again

 

[Off_contstantly]

Good luck!

 

[Wreck]

I have this mini dvr thing that I got as an addition to my archos internet tablet ... it has HDMI and everything, I can record anything off the tv and then put it on my tablet to watch.

 

[digitalbabe]

Hey Wreck,thanks! Yeah, I really wanted to be able to see it on the TV-we don't really watch too much stuff on portable devices. That sounds really convenient, though!

 

[Wreck]

Hmmmm It has USB too,I wonder if I could plug it in a USB spot on a player and then playback over tv ...

 

[hopey85wfc]

Might be way off the mark but wouldn't a simple wireless A/V sender do the job?

Something like this http://www.gizoo.co.uk/Products/avcommunications/tvgadgets/AVSender.htm

I would imagine if the External drive is connected to the cable box then a scart signal from the cable box could be transmitted?

Not sure if the picture would be any good though as apparently they are dependent on minimal interference

 

[digitalbabe]

Thanks Hopey-had never heard of that before! It seems the drive only has 2 wired connections, and both are used now (one from drive to cable box) and one from power to outlet, so a plug to a laptop sadly won't work. Thanks for posting your suggestion-I'll need to investigate