Sky Digibox Hack - honerable intentions!

rolfw

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Try here for cheap receivers, or _www.sateuropa.co.uk
 

dave-lew99

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If we lived in Europe (Mainland) we wouldnt have this problem and i'd probably be able to nip down the the local equivalent of Tesco and get a sat box for 50p


Ok, exaggeration but you get the idea....
 

rolfw

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dave-lew99

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What do you guys think of?

http://www.hm-sat-shop.de/10027.ahtml

All it needs to do is sit on one channel for most of the day then be switched at 2:00am from IRN (Siruis) to XFM (Astra) and back again at 7:00am

I plan to build a serial-IR controller to get one of the studio PCs to do it automatically
 

rolfw

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Yes, nice little receiver, have you thought of using a PCI satellite card like the Skystar2?
 

dave-lew99

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Possibly, it would be a little more complicated to implement however (setting up yet another PC and installing Windoze likely (the studio runs on linux))

Does it support DiSEqC 1.2 and does it cost more of less than the one above (£50 including delivery from germany)
 

rolfw

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The Skystar2 can be bought for about the same, is capable of DiseqC1.2 with the correct plugins, but has the advantage of being capable of network streaming and also viewing some MPEG streams which a standard receiver cannot.
 

dave-lew99

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Additional features are totally unesscesscery in its intended application - to stay tuned to one channel so the news from IRN can be rebroadcast on FM every hour. The infrastructure for taking the unbalanced feed from a receiver and distributing it into the studio.

So i think we'll most likely go for the one i found earlier. Its less hassle too trying to find a PC with a high enough spec. The IR transmitter i described earlier can be built for around a tenner and theres plenty of people on our team who are better at programming than I to write suitable software.
 

rolfw

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OK, then the cheap digital standalone is probably your best bet and the one you specify is certainly a good deal. :)
 

dave-lew99

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Fantastic.

I'll be finding out the engineering budget this week so I can get stuff ordered. At least thats saved us a few quid on the original estimation (~£100)
 

Analoguesat

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Hi Dave, welcome to our forum.

Unfortunately, the suggestions you get here will be the same as those you got over at DS. Your problems are caused by the latest s/w update. There isnt any way to modify the digibox s/w, and no way to stop the pin number coming up without a card until Sky decide they are getting too many complaints about it..

As you have discovered, Sky digiboxes are pretty hopeless when used away from 28E at the best of times, and my suggestion from the DS forum stands here. Scrounge some money from somewhere, and buy a cheap non Sky digital receiver.
 

dave-lew99

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Which is the plan....

I've been able to take a look at the stations engineering budget and as well as replacing desk faders (£50 each would you believe!) we have the money to replace the sattelite receiver
 

Analoguesat

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Good call. Any cheap receiver will be sufficient for your needs and it doesnt matter if the tuning is a bit clunky as it will be staying on one channel.
 

nads1978

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It's been a while since the last reply & I would like to know if there are any developments?

I am in a similar situation, I have a spare Sky+ box (Thomson PVR3) that I want to replace a standard sat digibox (Topfield) with, it is currently pointing at Astra 19.2 for the German TV (in Midlands of UK), but I'd like PVR functionality.

I did ask this on another forum, but am wanting a second opinion.

Cheers : )
 

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The answer is still the same,without access to the original compiling software in order to modify the firmware to put in the stb nothing can be done. There is little or no chance of the required firmware being produced by anyone and even if they did they would have no way of flashing the stb as the sky+ unit is OTA updates only.
 
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