That is a picture of a Scientific Atlanta 8300 DVR. The recordings on a cableDVR's hard drive are encrypted and since it's for a Canadian cable service, it is unlikely that there is any way to transfer the recordings to a computer. In the US, the FCC mandates FireWire (IEEE 1394) connections on HD cable boxes that can sometimes (but not always) be used to transfer recordings during playback, but Canada imposes fewer regulations on cable operators and has no such requirement. There is a USB port in front, but it is reserved for a future use and inactive. Your only option is to get an HD capture device and re-record while playing the recording. The Hauppauge HD PVR or Hauppauge Colossus can record 1080i, 720p, 480p or 480i from the cable box's analog component video output and stereo or 5.1 audio via optical S/PDIF.
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On your Satellite TV remote control, press MENU. You can transfer recordings to an external hard drive to make room on your PVR. External hard drives are only supported on Bell Satellite TV receiver models 9241, 9242 and 9400. Third Party Capture Device. A third party video capture device allows you to transfer audio and video from a media device to your computer. These devices are commonly used to transfer audio and video from a VCR or camcorder but may also be used to copy recorded shows from your DVR to your computer.
(1) Fastest way I found: I connected (with a yellow-red-white RCA cable) the PVR to my 'old' Archos 604 with its A/V docking station and the I copied the MPEG-4 file from the Archos to the PC using the USB cable. Of course, the transfer PVR-Archos is analog but the quality is pretty good and I can copy the program in the background and see another program on my TV using the HDMI output from the PVR. (2) Even cheaper solution: Connect the PVR to a cheap Lite-On or LGS DVD recorder (use an DVD-RW disc if you want to reuse it).
After that, make the conversion from DVD to MPEG-4 in your computer using DVDx, Nero Recode, etc.