Recording in HD -- Any advice?

[TWCJim]

Hi everybody!

Here's the story:

I'm heading over to my sister's house down in Benton City, WA for a few days, and she and her husband have a Dish Network HD DVR receiver. If they'll let me, I want to record an HD satellite LF clip on the HD TWC channel.

The equipment I'll be using is a Roxio USB A/V device (pic shown) and my laptop which has a USB port. The program I use to record clips doesn't have an option of recording in HD but if I connect the Roxio device to the DN HD receiver, (with permission from my sis and bro-in-law) will my image be in full HD or just letterboxed (I.E., black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.) I just need some tips from those who record the HD TWC since I'm new at this.

Thanks,
TWCJim 

[gt1racerlHDl]

all you have to do is save the video the ways you usually do even with coaxial cable and when you upload your TWC HD clips on youtube is add the tag yt:crop=16:9 and it takes the black pillarboxes away (i'll post a video example)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCUEus03Lrw

[Zach]

You need component video connectors or HDMI to record in HD.. with those connectors, you will only get 480i quality.. and you would need to use an editor to make the video 16:9 ratio if thats all you can use as a recorder

[TWCJim]

Zach: I don't have neither of the equipment you mentioned. I plan to just use a composite and/or an S-video connector to record from the HD receiver. My question is: since that I can only record in a 4:3 format, does this mean that the 16:9 picture will become letterboxed?

[Zach]

It depends by the singal that the STB sends out into the tuner.. if you have a 4:3 picture on your tuner and it appears letterboxed, go ahead and leave it that way... however if it's stretched to 4:3, use a video editing program and make it 16:9, so that nothing looks distorted

[TWCJim]

Okay thanks Zach. I keep that in mind 

[gt1racerlHDl]

Zach: I don't have neither of the equipment you mentioned. I plan to just use a composite and/or an S-video connector to record from the HD receiver. My question is: since that I can only record in a 4:3 format, does this mean that the 16:9 picture will become letterboxed?

It would be uploaded in 4:3 (you don't need to upload or save it in 16:9) but if you put in your video tags as i posted yt:crop=16:9 the letterboxing will disappear and your video will be in HD

[TWCJim]

Bad news... just got an email from my sis and she said she and her husband no longer get TWC. Not sure if its either a package with TWC or Dish entirely, but either way, she said it was too expensive. Last time I was at her house (it was a couple of months ago, but I didn't have my Roxio device with me at the time) she did have Dish, but it looks like not anymore, so don't expect an HD clip from me anytime soon   

However, on the plus side, I'm still going over there anyway to hang out with my two nephews and niece, all of which are pretty young, so that'll be fun for me