I have a Samsung Smart TV on which I can record and playback TV and radio programmes without problems, using an attached portable HDD. However I cannot access the recordings on my PC. When I try to load the HDD I am told to format the drive because the file system cannot be accessed. Principally, I record the BBC Long Wave Morning Service via the Freesat connection, and I would like to be able to transfer the programmes on to a SD card/CD, to be listened to when convenient. Denis Wilkinson, by email.

1. Decrypt Samsung Tv Recordings
2. Samsung Tv Recording You

Decrypt Samsung Tv Recordings

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.

Samsung Tv Recording You

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.