Sky+ and TV Capture Card???

[spoonz]

If i purchase a USB WinTV card for the laptop and connect my Sky+ box via scart to the inputs on the card. (composite and r&l) will i be able to display and record the ouput by using the copy option on Sky+.

[PoloMint]

Yes,

Provided you have enough hard disk space, the software that comes with capture cards are normally very hungry (very little/no compression). So expect 3 mins to take about 500MB.

You should be able to get some on the fly DivX software however, one hour would then take about 500-800MB in fairly good quality.

Welcome to the forum spoonz

[spoonz]

yeah, probably use show shifter. can do divx, mpeg 1-2, wmv etc and i got 10+ GB of space on HD so should be OK

[manikm]

if your gonna do capturing to pc, you need a decent PC, capturing software (use iuvcr - very good and i never had any frame drops) and a compressor codec (not free from: pegasus called mjpeg - its a very good one)

lots of HD space also is needed film is normally about 40 gig of space as an .avi using the above method with no frame drops. (this is important - you dont any frame drops when capturing)

when u have the avi file, you then need to process it through something like tmpeg - which will compress it to how u want it, either as a vcd scvd or dvd or just a .mpg - u then need to author it to a dvd or vcd with another app.

its all so time consuming and its not always satisfactory - i have been so much happier with my dvd recorder (panasocnic e50)

PS all the help u need is at www.dvdrhelp.com

[Lupis]

Hi, new to the boards.

I'm moving back to the UK from the US and will be replacing my home cinema setup with an HTPC. As I will be in a rural part of the UK sky digital/ Sky+ is my only premium package solution. I contacted Sky's technical department a few weeks back to see if I would have any problems taking the video signal from the STB to my PC and was informed that it is not possible to do this. Having read these forums and this post I believe I will be okay by going the digital satellite card route. I don't have to have PVR on my PC but the ability to transfer files from Sky+ would be a bonus.
Do I have the logic right and if so any recommendations on which card to purchase?

Many thanks.

[PoloMint]

To watch a Sky system on a PC (normal Sky or Sky+) you will need a standard analogue TV capture card and a Sky receiver.

A digital satellite card will not work, the only receivers that allow you to watch an encrypted Sky programme are Sky’s own boxes.

So you will have to have you dish connected to the Sky box (or Sky+ box) and the box in turn connected to your TV tuner card (probably by composite from the scart cable to the capture card and sound from the scart to the line in). You can then record the programmes to your PC’s hard drive and set up a PVR and so on depending on what software you have.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the forum Lupis

[Lupis]

Thanks for the welcome and response Polo.

So the output from the STB is unencrypted then? I'll actually be taking the signal onto my TV, just need the HTPC in there as a front end as it will also be connected to a media server.

Thanks again.

[PoloMint]

The only encryption as such on the output from a Sky receiver is some PPV events have macrovision on them. PAL format on composite output and PAL I on coax out, so anything that works with those will work with a the output of a Sky receiver.

[manikm]

i used to capture from Sky (Whatever the showed whether Box office or Sentanta) all the time.
my card always captured it fine. (S-VIDEO out from STB)
cheers.

[David Pluggedin]

just for reference we have a capture card that is perfect for this, and uses RGB for best picture quality. See www.pluggedin.tv/sweetspot for more information.

best wishes.

[Microwave]

just for reference we have a capture card that is perfect for this, and uses RGB for best picture quality. See www.pluggedin.tv/sweetspot for more information.

best wishes.

Yeah but it uses the same chip that's in all those HalfPCI cards that come in things like the Asus Digimatrix and and some Sony Vaio desktops et al and some free software anyone can d/l...what makes it so good?

[Alex Simon]

Well, the Philips SAA7118 chip is doing all the A to D work on SweetSpot. That has a fantastic reputation and is a "best in class" product. The Conexant Fusion BT878A which I think you are refering to is there to create maximum compatability and does no conversion at all. It simply interfaces with the WDM drivers and/or DScaler in the best way possible. This is to provide compatability with all your favourite PVR applications.

But the main reason why SweetSpot outperforms other cards is the quality of the components. The soldering/connectors/board layout/etc are all of the highest quality. The manufacturers of the card are a Home Theater company and also produce high-end video scalers.

The other reason why it can outperform other cards is that it is the lowest priced card to feature RGBS and Component inputs. RGBS is particularly interesting to Sky users as the only alternative on many boxes is lowly old Composite.

There is plenty of discussion on SweetSpot on www.avforums.com should you require further info

Hope that helps
Alex

[Microwave]

Well, the Philips SAA7118 chip is doing all the A to D work on SweetSpot. That has a fantastic reputation and is a "best in class" product. The Conexant Fusion BT878A which I think you are refering to is there to create maximum compatability and does no conversion at all. It simply interfaces with the WDM drivers and/or DScaler in the best way possible. This is to provide compatability with all your favourite PVR applications.

But the main reason why SweetSpot outperforms other cards is the quality of the components. The soldering/connectors/board layout/etc are all of the highest quality. The manufacturers of the card are a Home Theater company and also produce high-end video scalers.

The other reason why it can outperform other cards is that it is the lowest priced card to feature RGBS and Component inputs. RGBS is particularly interesting to Sky users as the only alternative on many boxes is lowly old Composite.

There is plenty of discussion on SweetSpot on www.avforums.com should you require further info

Hope that helps
Alex

I was referring to the Philips SAA7118. And my gut feeling is they'll be everywhere soon. I think your card is a goodthing(tm) in terms of hardware, but just using dscaler leaves a lot to be desired -- I'd prefer to reduce quality somewhat to y/c and use a Hauppage-based PVR for the ability to do timed recordings, have a remote control, etc.

If this card had some schedule-based recording software and a scart adapter for the rgb inputs I'd be so happy I might just buy two. But I think (and I've been researching this quite a lot lately) I'm still leaning towards other manufacturers for a more full solution.

Just my personal opinion of course.