How to Connect Dish Network DVR to Computer

The digital video recorder with your Dish Network system can connect to your computer. From there, you can copy the video files onto your hard drive and possibly burn them onto DVD. To do that, you need two more things on the computer. You need hardware that will capture the video from the DVR and a software program that will at least allow you to watch the video on-screen.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Dish Network DVR
• Computer
• Digital video recorder
• PCI tuner
• Video cables

1. Connect one of two PCI devices to your computer. A PCI tuner card must be professionally installed into the computer itself and requires an available PCI slot in the hard drive. An external PCI USB box can be connected through a cable to the computer.

2. Hook up the DVR's output to the PCI device. An HDMI cable gives you the best quality transfer from the DVR. Your other two likely options are RCA component (red, green and blue plugs) or composite (yellow, white and red) cables. If the DVR is connected to the TV by another cable (like RF coaxial), you don't need to disconnect it.

3. Install a video editing software program like TV Tuner or Media Encoder onto your computer. This is needed to at least view the DVR videos on the computer but can also be used to record them. Read all instructions and tutorials for your particular software.

4. Open the software program and create a new session. Select the "Capture Video" option and choose the DVR as the source. Play the DVR video and it should appear on the program's screen.

Tips & Warnings

• Create an output file in the program to save a copy of the video on the computer. Choose a location on your hard drive to save the file onto and other needed encoding options like the bit rate. The program should encode or copy the video as it plays.