Q : how can I transfer recordings to my PC?
A :
Back to your Samsung TV, and I am afraid that
it is all bad news. There are several reasons you can’t replay
recordings on your PC. Firstly the HDD is formatted using the XFS filing
system, used by Linux, possibly because the TV’s built-in PVR is Linux
based. Windows can read the contents of the drive with suitable
software, but that wouldn’t solve the problem. Even if you could copy
the recordings to your PC they would still be unreadable as they are
encrypted. Whilst decryption is theoretically possible, they are further
protected for Digital Rights Management (DRM) purposes.
Samsung isn’t alone in this though some smart TV and PVR manufacturers
do allow recordings of some free-to-air (FTA) channels to be playable on
a PC but they are in the minority. I doubt that it’s done to make life
difficult for users. You have to remember that products like these are
made for world markets and sold in countries where there are large
variations broadcaster’s licensing agreements, copyright restrictions
and local censorship laws. It would be very difficult for manufacturers
to accommodate every possible variation so they take the easy way out by
only allowing recordings to be replayed on the device they were made
on.
