Sky+, Media Centre.... Oh my...

[TheCake]

Right, been discussing this with Has but he's not online and I had a thought..

I have the option to upgrade my Sky package to Sky+ as we're going multiroom at my house. This would give me the ability to record stuff off Sky and keep it easily but on the downside its difficult, if not impossible to remove these recorded programs from the machine.

On the other hand, working for an IT Solutions Reseller I have access to cheap hardware and software and I could build a Media Centre, using either Microsoft Media Centre or a Linux alternative.

Both of the above are integral parts of what I'm trying to achieve... integrated home entertainment.

I want to have my Sky piped into a Media Centre so that I can record programs as and when I want. I want to be able to also listen to all my music as and when I want through a decent speaker setup which will double up as a Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 home cinema system.

The media centre should be able to handle all my videos, all my music, all my pictures, play DVD's, have full 5.1 etc sound system and integrate with my Sky TV and Xbox 360 and output to my TV

So people... what do you think? :star: :star:

Ultimately long term if this works, I will get my parents another Media centre and integrate the two. As my dad is disabled it would allow me to rip all his favourite war films to the media centre and he can sit and watch anything he wants, listen to whatever he wants all from the comfort of his chair. Top banana.

The only problem is... how the fudge can I do this?!

 

[Darren S]

Hmmm. All sounds a bit technical.

Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess with your new toy, instead?

 

[TheCake]

LOL that would be superb

 

[Da]

Ultimately isn't what your media centre records dictated by which channel the sky box is tuned to? As in it doesn't have the ability to decode the Sky signal?

 

[TheCake]

*Shruggs shoulders* you tell me mate. lol.

 

[Da]

lol ,I think it will be yeah mate until digital recorders are brought onto the market that can decode the digital signal (like your VCR does with analogue now) but even then I think only the freeview channels will be able to be decoded by a recorder unless it is Sky-specific (as in Sky+)
What outputs do Sky+ boxes have?

 

[dk]

i haven't got sky+ but to the best of my knowledge you can't output to a recorder, and if you could it would be encrypted.

I think that why you never tend to see any sky programmes on bit torrent, only ones that have been on freeview/terrestrial tv or shown in the US first.

I could be wrong but i think thats the case.

 

[16v_jon]

i haven't got sky+ but to the best of my knowledge you can't output to a recorder, and if you could it would be encrypted.

I think that why you never tend to see any sky programmes on bit torrent, only ones that have been on freeview/terrestrial tv or shown in the US first.

I could be wrong but i think thats the case.

the output is encrypted with macrovision, although you can record it shows up funny

 

[Nik]

Ultimately isn't what your media centre records dictated by which channel the sky box is tuned to? As in it doesn't have the ability to decode the Sky signal?

True, but Windows Media Center can control the Sky box and switch the channels using an IR transmitter supplied with the remote, so it still works fine with the media center program guide.

 

[Caramel]

my sky hd has a usb port on it, cant remeber is my sky + one does. that could make a difference

 

[dk]

my sky hd has a usb port on it, cant remeber is my sky + one does. that could make a difference

usb will be used for upgrades though or engineer access or future additions, doubt its for transferring off to a pc or dvd, too much scope for pirating films, may be a hack out there but sky aren't stupid these days.

 

[Aberclio182]

Darthcake do you have a dvd recorder or (video lol)? because you can copy everything off your sky + box on to them and play back on your dvd player or computer. there is also away to record straight to your computer, never tried it though,have a look at the avforums.

 

[al]

Media centre doesn't directly support Digital Sattelite at the moment, there is a work around but TBH it's rubbish.

I'd go for Sky+ personally, I find Media Centre just a little tedious on the whole.

 

[McBunny]

you can buy a satelite card for your pc stick subscription card in it there you go

 

[Rage182]

i have that set up and it works great.

Sky+ to Media centre edition pc with just a analog tv card in it. and then play it back via the 360.

I record stuff to the sky+ then when i have time or when i'm going out, i play it back and record it on the MCE PC and then i have a copy of it ready for play back via the 360. delete it from the sky+ box and start again.

 

[al]

you can buy a satelite card for your pc stick subscription card in it there you go

Lol, tried that.........doesn't work with MCE.....properly

The Digital Terrestrial is spot on tho, pitty it's all shite

 

[wozzaa]

You can output from skydigital to another source and record it im sure theres actually an option on the skyplus to perform a backup to VCR etc. Some programs mainly those on box office get scrambled but most things should be able to be backed up. Or it used to have that option. Not sure now since they changed the planner etc if its still there.

 

[McBunny]

you can buy a satelite card for your pc stick subscription card in it there you go

Lol, tried that.........doesn't work with MCE.....properly

The Digital Terrestrial is spot on tho, pitty it's all s**te

doesnt need to work with mce tho really

 

[bigmouk]

What tv tuners cards are the best. I have my sky on a tv upstairs (via magic eye) but want to run it all through my pc and include freeview. Any advice?

 

[McBunny]

black gold by gdi is supposed to be very good
http://www.blackgold.tv/

 

[Snubbs]

TBH your better off gettin Sky+ and using your xbox 360 as a media centre, you can connect it to ur network, and it can play video's/music form your other PC's. I expect data (e.g. music) can be copied to the XBOX 360, but i dont own one so i can't garentee...

I've wanted a media centre in the past, but decided the cost it not worth it, but then again thats mainly cuz i'd have had to make it a gaming PC attached 2 the tv rather than a media centre.... yea....

On a further note, i record SKY tv onto my main pc upstairs via arial cable from 'tv out' of sky box

 

[Caramel]

my sky hd has a usb port on it, cant remeber is my sky + one does. that could make a difference

usb will be used for upgrades though or engineer access or future additions, doubt its for transferring off to a pc or dvd, too much scope for pirating films, may be a hack out there but sky aren't stupid these days.

was told by an engineer, that the usb cam be used in future for devices.

 

[KDF]

www.mythtv.org is all you need. Will record all your shows, change the channel on the sky box using an iR blaster, grab the program guide data.. allow exporting to almost any format you can think of including easy (few buttons on your remote) exporting to DVD with chapter menu's etc.

Its works on a seperate frontend/backed type system, with a web interface so you can even schedule shows anywhere in the world via your mobile or internet connection

You could even set certain programs to auto-export to PSP or video Ipod if you want.. say you like the simpsons but want to watch it on the train on the way to work in the morning, have it auto-export the program in the correct format for you PSP ..

Pause live tv, automatic commercial detection, pictures slides shows, music player, video player for almost any type of video format blah blah etc etc.. list goes on.. It even gives you the weather Ive had mythtv for about 3-4 years now and its totally changed the way I watch TV !

I wont lie though, you really need to be computer savvy to set up anything but the most basic install.

 

[sambonebs]

s**t the bed - THIS, THIS, THIS!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[TheCake]

Chris... I love you. Thanks buddy.

 

[172.com]

Prepare for a lot of fun with Myth. We have it at work, the latest builds aren't all that stable, the linux guys here have stuck with it, so that it can be accessed on every machine @ work across the network but gone with MCE @ home due to the better stability (don't snigger). You want an easy life? Go with MCE, especially if you have a 360, and just get a DVB-S card for the satellite.

 

[TheCake]

Any recommend DVB-S cards mate?

 

[Evil Ally]

There are people capturing Sky over the HDMI interface but I have no idea how they are doing it. The only other way is to use the analogue output with some sort of capture card, but you lose quality in the process. I use a D-box to capture digital cable. It can record the transport stream direct off the wire and save it to your PC's hard drive over the network, so no quality loss. You can also burn it to DVD without any conversion, so again no quality loss. It has a web interface for remote scheduling etc and lots of other nice features. You can even stream live TV onto your PC's screen over the network. It has since been superseded by the dreambox which is a lot better. However expect to do a little bit of reading to get everything setup. I use my PC with media player classic for playback, connected to an HD projector and surround sound system

 

[KDF]

Prepare for a lot of fun with Myth. We have it at work, the latest builds aren't all that stable, the linux guys here have stuck with it, so that it can be accessed on every machine @ work across the network but gone with MCE @ home due to the better stability (don't snigger). You want an easy life? Go with MCE, especially if you have a 360, and just get a DVB-S card for the satellite.

Are they running svn or builds ? if its svn then thats what happens.

Run the builds for proper stability. I now use a 3 system (6 encoder) myth system at my work and its rock solid, never once crashed.