Can I record On Demand to my DVR?
 

I have TimeWarner Cable and their Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC DVR.

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/products/consumers/new_explorer8300HDCDVR.htm

Can I record On Demand programming or Pay Per View programming to my old VCR or my reasonably new DVD recorder? If yes, how?

Yes, no and maybe. You can take the AV out to the VCR or firewire out to the DVD recorder. If the program is in HD, probably not unless it's downcoverted in the transfer process. Also, a lot of new content is encoded with copy protection. The best way would be to transfer it to an external Hard Drive and rip it to DVD or just play it back from the Hard Drive. Hope this helps.

I have the Scientific Atlanta box, and one of the options when you try to playback is "Copy to VCR". I would assume that signal could be sent to a DVD recorder just as easily as it could a VCR - the SA box doesn't know what electronica is receiving the signal.

Problem is, I don't think you can record the On Demand show onto the DVR. While watching a show from HBO On Demand, I pushed the record button on the DVR remote. Nothing happened. I assume it's that way by strategy (so you have to pay each time you want to see it).

I will try powerpig's suggestion to dump the content to my VCR using the AV out jacks while the On Demand is playing live. It may not come in HD, but I'll be satisifed if I can record in SD.

Hooking the output to your dvd recorder will probably work. I use a software dvr and tv card to record pay-per-view and on demand all the time.. I just have to deinterlace it during recompression (raw file is 1GB/minute), I could compress to xvid during recording (cpu does 70fps easily), but i like having a full quality copy for editing, and running 2-pass encoding.

I understood that part.

Afraid I don't speak videophile. But thanks anyway. (Just another reminder I have a lot to learn in this world.)