tranfering sky+ to pc

[doggy]

has anyone ever tried transfering tv programs from the sky+ box to a pc? ive got a vivo card and was thinking about it, is it easy?

 

[gameboy]

Are the recording not encrypted - they need the + box to play?

 

[doggy]

not sure what you mean.
basically i want to record tv on my sky+ box then transfer it to my pc to burn to dvd, if its possible

 

[Topper]

You do not seem to understand you will only be able to view those programs on a sky+ box as they are encrypted. When you are viewing them they are decrypted by your card. If you burn to DVD they will be encrypted. At least that is my understanding of the situation although I cannot claim proof of experience.

 

[doggy]

oh i see, thats pretty shity is it not? i suppose i got buy a home dvd recorder or transfer to vcr and then to the pc

 

[PaulR]

Toppervte33h is correct about the recordings being encrypted on the hard disk and being decrypted on the fly so that you can see them on the TV.

However, I can't see why you can't take the output from the $ly+ box and running it into your DVD recorder providing you don't mind it having been converted into analogue first of all. If you want to stay digital then it's not possible I'm afraid.

PaulR

 

[PaulR]

Further thoughts. If your PC has a video capture facility then this could also work if you want to record to the PC's hard disk.

PaulR

 

[doggy]

i was thinking about that myself paul. surely the cable leaving the sky+ box is not encrypted, after all its just going to the back of my tv. i do have quiet a fancy graphics card that has video in video out. i also have a standard tv capture card, but thats not fitted at the moment

 

[PaulR]

Go for it...

 

[marble]

Yup, there are various ways you can do it depending on price/picture quality you want.

A VIVO card will give you full uncompressed video - if you want to record at full resolution you will need about 26MB/s of disk space. Of course, you can compress on the fly to divx/mpeg depending on your processor.

A PVR card (Hauppauge for example) will do the mpeg enoding for you, allowing you to capture at a rate more like under 1MB/s.

S-video from your sky box is the best signal - composite will probably give you a poor signal (but an ok one if your not watching on a massive TV).

If you want to do this regularly and don't mind spending a bit, the best picture you will get is taking the digital feed from the sky+ box and capturing that - will cost you about £300 to get all the equipment ... but you can't get any better! (hunt for sky+ SDI modification).

Any signal coming out of the Sky+ box is unencrypted and (unless you ripped out the sky+ hard drive) you would have trouble to get hold of the encrypted content.

Al

 

[doggy]

i didnt relise the sky box had an s video output, that would work fine. my graphics gard came with some cyberlink software power director and dvd i think. ideally i just want to copy the odd film or football match to my pc, nothing comercial.

 

[PaulR]

If you want to do this regularly and don't mind spending a bit, the best picture you will get is taking the digital feed from the sky+ box and capturing that - will cost you about £300 to get all the equipment ... but you can't get any better! (hunt for sky+ SDI modification).

I'd forgotten about that. It'll only work with the first series $ly+ box though - see http://www.irj-tech.com/skysdi.html

PaulR

 

[marble]

Very few Sky boxes come with s-video ... I think only certain Grundig ones and Sky+ ones (if there isn't an s-video connector on the box, I'm 99% sure you won't get one through scart). If s-video isn't an option, I think all Sky boxes come with RGB out and a £35 box from Maplin will give you an s-video signal from this (though I've heard both good and bad stories about picture quality).

Yeah, the SDI mod only works with the Pace 3000 box I think - I picked on up on ebay for £50, the mod was £110 and the capture card £130 ... if you are good with a soldering iron, this is all you need ... if you pay someone else, they'll most likely charge you a few hundred quid! It's worth asking local repair shops if they'll do it ... it's not hard, just fiddly (make sure you don't consume alcohol beforehand!).

Al

 

[steviewilson]

I record from Sky+ to dvd ram disk (panasonic dvd recorder), then dvdram drive on the pc to hard disk, convert to mpeg, edit and add chapters and menu in tmpgenc and burn with nero. Job done.

Stevie

 

[doggy]

mines has got s video so ill pick up a cable soon and try it out

 

[doggy]

got the cable today, plugged it and started a programme from the hd, nothing. my pc doesnt pick it up. is there anything in the menu of the sky box that i need to set to on?

 

[PoloMint]

What capture software are you using, and have you used the S Video in before?

 

[PaulR]

Assuming the TV has an S-video input try feeding the TV directly from the digibox. This will show whether there's an S-video signal at the plug or not.

PaulR