I have a Dish DVR on which I record movies from "premium" movie channels. Some of these I do not wish to view immediately and I would like to download them to a DVD using my Toshiba D-R4 DVD recorder to free up DVR space. For many, but not all, of the movies, however, the recording stops with a message that protected source had been detected and recording was terminated. It also happens if I try to record in real time without using the DVR recording feature. Ordinary TV shows do not seem to cause any problems. Is this normal or do I have some kind of equipment problem?
The problem is that the DVR can record copy protected movies, it retains that copy protection which the DVD recorder detects. The DVD recorder then stops the copying as it is designed to do.
Solution: get a "DVD Red Pro" (don't have the web site handy, just Google it) which strips out the Macrovision copy protection data. Costs about $100. I've done about a dozen movies with it so far and it has worked well. Please don't use it to violate copy protection intent. I just use it to stack up movies to watch when we travel in the RV. Note: if you order one, be patient; it comes from Isreal via snail mail -- figure 2-3 weeks.