New Sony PlayStation to rival Sky+? and TiVo talk.

Icehouse

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3170392.stm

Built in tv/sat tuner and decent sized HD make this a powerful DVR as well as a games machine...

Mossy Monk

sounds great. could be something i will buy. a PVR for terrestrial TV would be handy and DVD recorder included :eek:

Krusty_Clown

Certainly sounds interesting, but expect it to be region-restricted (DVD Player/Games console), copyright restricted (DVD burner), and incompatible with the Sky cards system (that's a given, right?)..

And nothing but a large amount of soldering and chip-replacement will resolve any of the above.

watty

Like all the other other PVRs it can't rival Sky+ as it won't take a Sky viewing card.

Ebonyks

€620!! .:eek:

....and thats before it gets over here

digitaldr

I think there's a TiVo that has a hard disc and DVD recorder and supports SKY. Just a pity it's not available here and I think I read another post that mentioned that TiVo are in some financial difficulties in the UK and so it's probably unlikely they'll be expanding to Ireland. Having said that their web site says:

"Where is TiVo available?"
TiVo is available to all UK residents. Service is not available in the Republic of Ireland at present. "

Which would seem to suggest that they may be planning to offer a service in Ireland or maybe they just don't update their site very often!

What puts me off SKY+ -apart from the extra cost- is the small hard disc and the lack of a dvd recorder. Is it possible to easily upgrade the hard disc and/or connect an external DVD recorder? If it is possible to connect a DVD recorder is this via composite, S-Video or RGB? Finally are there hard disc recorders that can be controlled by a SKY personal planner?

Maybe I should start a new thread on this??

watty

Unless it connects to an LNB and takes a Sky card, it does not truely support Sky.

Tivo in USA has a DirecTV option that is like Sky+ and has viewing card slot. This won't work on Sky.

The UK Tivo can work in Ireland (I've used it), BUT it DOES NOT support Sky, anymore than any other PVR does. The UK Tivo has only Analog in. Sky+ is FAR, FAR better and THE ONLY solution that supports Sky Pay TV channels. Tivo in UK/Ireland is a Solution for ANALOG. It will of course record a Digibox, but this is NOT "support" Sky.

Currently no-one in UK is selling Tivo, even in UK.

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by Ebonyks
€620!! .:eek:

....and thats before it gets over here

prices drop. just look at how much cheaper DVD recorders are compared to last year

watty

Originally posted by digitaldr
I think there's a TiVo that has a hard disc and DVD recorder and supports SKY. Just a pity it's not available here and I think I read another post that mentioned that TiVo are in some financial difficulties in the UK and so it's probably unlikely they'll be expanding to Ireland. Having said that their web site says:

"Where is TiVo available?"
TiVo is available to all UK residents. Service is not available in the Republic of Ireland at present. "

Which would seem to suggest that they may be planning to offer a service in Ireland or maybe they just don't update their site very often!

What puts me off SKY+ -apart from the extra cost- is the small hard disc and the lack of a dvd recorder. Is it possible to easily upgrade the hard disc and/or connect an external DVD recorder? If it is possible to connect a DVD recorder is this via composite, S-Video or RGB? Finally are there hard disc recorders that can be controlled by a SKY personal planner?

Maybe I should start a new thread on this??

* There is no Tivo that supports sky other than recording the Digibox.

* No major retailer is selling Tivo *ANYWHERE* in UK

* Yes you can connect Philips, Panasonic etc home DVDR or DVDRAM recorders to S-Video. This is much poorer than direct to Disk recording, but also many satellite channels do not transmit at DVD resolution / quality (BBC does) so re-encoding is needed.

* Yes the Sky Hard disk can be upgraded. No you can't directly interface a DVDR

* There are is NOTHING apart from Sky+ that can use a Sky EPG. However the £10 a year Digiguide from GypsyMedia is more comprehenive and can control a PVR via IR remote addon on a PC, or the PC can be turned into a PVR (analog in or direct Satellite In -- I have both). Some PVRs can use EPG now/Next, German/Swiss/Austrian satellite "Next view" or even Teletext pages.

PVRs with DVDRAM or DVD R(and R/W) with and without Hard dish exist with analog TV in and some (EchoStar) dirtect Satellite reception.

Only those with DVDRAM and/or hard Disk can do advanced PVR functions like pause Live TV or watch TV 5 minutes behind etc.

carrolls

Originally posted by watty
[B* There are is NOTHING apart from Sky+ that can use a Sky EPG. [/B]

There is a way of getting over this problem.
The EPG programme listings data is non copyrighted. So therefore on each satellite an independent data stream should be sent containing this information(paid for by other satellite box manufacturers). This stream could be used by the non Sky-Box companies to build up their own epg. An independent company could buy space on a transponder to broadcast this data, and there could be a common interface on all boxes to use this data in any way they please. They could also all agree on a common epg that beats the socks off Sky's epg.

Owenw

And considering the money Sky demands for EPG listings from broadcasters, some competition in this area would be most welcome.

Don't Sky have some sort legal restrictions on te EPG usage to prevent other DVR devices using te data? I'd be surprised if their legal team hasn't thought about this.

There must be a warehouse at the back of Carlton or Granada studios with a pile of old On Digital broadcast equipment gathering dust which someone like DigiGuide could pick up for a song