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How to Convert Linux to Windows
me ^ | 3/17/17 | lafroste

Posted on 03/17/2017 7:43:57 AM PDT by lafroste

I am currently in the process of ditching Dish satellite cable and switching to all online. Part of my motivation is to defund CNN et al. and part because it is really expensive. My Dish DVR has a lot of movies on it I would like to save. They are (apparently) in Linux format. I can transfer the movies to a flash drive OK, but then I cannot read the flash drive on any other computer (all Windows).

Can anyone tell me how I can save these movies so I can watch them in the future? My online search only talked about text files, not movie files.

Note to Jim: My $10.00 vanity donation is on the way.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: dish; linux; microsoft; windows; windowspinglist
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To: lafroste
How to Decode Dish Network PVR Files

excerpt:

How to Decode Dish Network PVR Files

By Marshal M. Rosenthal

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The video file stored on a Dish Network PVR (personal video recorder) is slightly different than that found on DVDs. Convert the Dish PVR video file so that it becomes compatible with DVDs and programs that use the DVD video file format. No software program needs to be downloaded or purchased because there are free online video conversion websites that will convert the Dish PVR file. The online video conversion websites operate in a similar manner to upload the file from the hard drive, convert them online and return the converted file to the hard drive.....continued on linked page

21 posted on 03/17/2017 8:03:59 AM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: dayglored

The issue as stated by the OP is that Windows won’t read the USB, not that it won’t read the files. It is a file system issue.


22 posted on 03/17/2017 8:09:22 AM PDT by PJBankard
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To: Paul R.

I ran into a similar problem once with a standalone dvd-r player/recorder.

The timer window was set with a minute over capturing some regular show on a cable channel.

A movie came on before the timer stopped and I couldn’t burn the usual disc. There was some kind of copy protection.


23 posted on 03/17/2017 8:11:00 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: lafroste

Most likely the biggest problem you’re going to have is with the vids themselves. It’s not that they are in a “linux format”, but rather because the DVR makers caved into the *IAA demands that there be some kind of encryption around the video files themselves. You will likely have to search around a bit to determine if there is a hack for the ‘wrapper’ that contains the files. It’s a major PITA.


24 posted on 03/17/2017 8:18:29 AM PDT by zeugma (The Brownshirts have taken over American Universities.)
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To: lafroste

Is it that you cannot read the movie files or you cannot read the flash drive?

The movie file formats are pretty universal nowadays, most will be either avi, mpeg or quicktime and you can get viewers for all of those on any system.

Now, the file system on the drive may be specific to one OS or another, so that is a bigger problem. There seem to be tools out there to read files from linux partitions in Windows, so I would look into those:

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/accessing-a-linux-ext2-or-ext3-partiton-from-windows/


25 posted on 03/17/2017 8:23:20 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: lafroste
They are (apparently) in Linux format.

Take note: While it is in a Linux format, it is a proprietary Linux format. It is not likely you could stand up a Linux PC and just plug in the flash drive and copy/move them and be able to view them.

Believe me, I tried. Your only option is to get a video out capable interface that will use USB to plug in to your Windows laptop/PC and view the movies real time...each one at a time...and save them that way. Time consuming to say the least.

26 posted on 03/17/2017 8:23:38 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Good judgement comes from experience. And experience? Well, that comes from poor judgement.)
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To: All

Gee that’s not a problem for me. What movies are worth watching? Here’s your problem. Why are you paying for movies that are not worth watching? Why would you pay for dog turd? See? I just solved your problem.

If you really want that krap, you can play them while you video capture them on another machine. USB video capture devices are cheap.


27 posted on 03/17/2017 8:25:25 AM PDT by jr3000
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To: zeugma

As the OP stated, he hasn’t been able to get to the files. After transferring the files to a USB successfully, the USB can’t be read on a Windows machine. He searched the internet about Linux to Windows and it returns how to change files, thus he posed his question here. The files themselves are not the current issue. The issue is file system as the USB won’t read on windows as it is formatted to a files system that windows can’t read.


28 posted on 03/17/2017 8:26:00 AM PDT by PJBankard
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To: dayglored

Possibly. I have worked with DVRs for video surveillance that store videos in MP4 but use some special compression algorithms so that you cannot actually view them as regular mp4’s. They require a proprietary viewer software to read the file. It’s possible that regular tv DVRs might be doing something similar.


29 posted on 03/17/2017 8:26:02 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: lafroste

why would you want to convert anything to Windows? Horrible operating system, even though used world-wide.


30 posted on 03/17/2017 8:27:41 AM PDT by sevinufnine (.)
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To: Boogieman

The test flash drive we used was reformatted by the dvr before copying. After copying our Windows machines didn’t even know a flash drive had been plugged in. They didn’t even see it.


31 posted on 03/17/2017 8:28:32 AM PDT by lafroste (Look at my profile page. Thanks.)
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To: lafroste

Spend $50 on an Amazon Firestick and install Kodi. You can watch any movies you had streaming. No need to keep a local copy.


32 posted on 03/17/2017 8:30:22 AM PDT by IamConservative (Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.)
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To: PJBankard

Linux has been able to read NTFS forever.


33 posted on 03/17/2017 8:30:51 AM PDT by SanchoP
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To: SanchoP

Linux to Windows not the other way around. Windows does read Linux File systems.


34 posted on 03/17/2017 8:35:19 AM PDT by PJBankard
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To: PJBankard; SanchoP

*doesn’t


35 posted on 03/17/2017 8:35:47 AM PDT by PJBankard
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To: jr3000

Are you nuts? Delete classic cinema like Ted and Dude, Where’s My Car? I have sorority Spring Break, Attack of the Mud People, and Texas meathook Massacre! They demand preservation!


36 posted on 03/17/2017 8:37:30 AM PDT by lafroste (Look at my profile page. Thanks.)
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To: PJBankard

Hmmm. Kind of an important point. Does? or Does Not?


37 posted on 03/17/2017 8:40:06 AM PDT by lafroste (Look at my profile page. Thanks.)
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To: IamConservative

Exactly what I plan to do.


38 posted on 03/17/2017 8:43:36 AM PDT by lafroste (Look at my profile page. Thanks.)
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To: lafroste

This may solve your issues:

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-decode-dish-network-pvr-files


39 posted on 03/17/2017 8:43:59 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: lafroste

Ok so first you need to download a utility to read linux partitions from Windows. However, then you are going to run into the trickier part, that the Dish DVR stores the videos in an encoded format designed so they can only be viewed on the DVR.

Once you can copy the files to Windows you will need to try one of those conversion websites in the previous link I posted and maybe they can successfully decode the Dish format. Otherwise the only option would be to get a utility that can rip the stream from the DVR, then play the files on the DVR for every one you want to keep while the utility rips them and stores them on your computer.


40 posted on 03/17/2017 8:47:27 AM PDT by Boogieman
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