MCE and sky digital?

cooks

Was thinking of changing over to sky digital as i am having problems with my analogue tv signal. I just have a few questions regarding sky.
I currently use the hauppage WinTV-PVR-500 MCE as was wondering what connections sky digital requires to connect to the card.
What format is the sound broadcast in. I read somewhere that its in stereo and only sky hd will be in 5.1.
Is the epg available for sky digital to download?

cheers.

8T8

I can answer the connectivity questions but not the ones on sound I'm afraid or confirm the Sky EPG (but you can create your own EPG if it doesn't know the exact service you just get a listing of all the channels and filter out the ones you don't have/want).

The regular Sky boxes comes scart RGB outs so you will need either a scart->composite or scart->s-video cable to connect to the inputs on the WinTV-PVR-500 MCE.

Using the s-video input should give a better picture than composite so I'd try that first.

Alternatively you can use an adaptor to convert the signal then use regular s-video/composite cables to connect it all together. That one on Lindy.ie is the only adaptor of about half a dozen similar devices I tried that actually worked converting the signal on my Chorus scart box but you might get lucky with another or maybe someone else can confirm a particular one that worked for them.

Set the adaptor to out and plug it into one of the scart outputs on the Sky box then plug your cables into the adaptor and into the WinTV card & you should be set to go.

andy1249

An ordinary sky box outputs stereo only , some of the sky + boxes are 5.1 and yes the sky HD box , which is also a sky+ box , outputs 5.1 also.

ffocused

5.1 sound is only available on a few movie channels on Sky in SD and a standard digibox outputs 2 channel analogue audio.

i have a digibox with UK FTV card connected to MCE usind an RGB scart to s-video converter from Maplins. this is the best picture quality available from a digibox.

EPG data is available

cooks

excellent cheers for the replys.
think ill go ahead and get sky digital and use an RGB scart to s-video converter to connect the sky digibox to the tv card

pH

cooks wrote:

excellent cheers for the replys.
think ill go ahead and get sky digital and use an RGB scart to s-video converter to connect the sky digibox to the tv card

Just be careful, sky boxes have only RGB and composite available on the SCART socket. Some rare beasts have an s-video socket.

A 4.99 'converter' with scart one side and an s-video socket the other will not 'convert' RGB to s-video, you'll need something like this

Pacifico

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but im looking for some advice...

I've a few questions about Sky Digital and tv cards in general!

If i wanted to record from the sky box, what kind of spec card/connections would i need? And how does the card pick it up, is it similar to say dvd recorders, that you can only record what you are watching?

Sorry for the beginner questions, never done anything like this before!

Thanks.

SouperComputer

If i wanted to record from the sky box, what kind of spec card/connections would i need? And how does the card pick it up

Basically you will take an SVideo\Composite or component signal from the box, and throw it into the TV card. Hauppage PVR150 is a popular one.

is it similar to say dvd recorders, that you can only record what you are watching?

Yes and no. If you have two tuners, or in the case of the PVR500 which has two tuners on one board and two digiboxes you can watch one while you record another or record two at the same time.

Your MCE remote has an IR blaster, when you put in the channel number, it sends it to the skybox.

zAbbo

You'd need 2 boxes and 2 subs then ?

I've sky+ feeding a pvr150 through svideo.

mathias

Not necessarily , in my case I have a UK FTV card , ( channel 4 , All the BBC's , ITV's etc ) and the other box has a full sub.
The FTV box has no sub , so I can record off one while watching the other using MCE .

Obviously if you want the functionality of two full subs then you can go that way , order multiroom for 15 a month and you have two identical subs on two boxes , and leave them in the same location.

Pacifico

Thanks for the replies.

Ok so composite from the sky box (Yellow,Red and White connections right?) to the tv card via s-video works fine? Is the quality good? Also i presume a composite to s-video cable exists!?

Regarding the dual tuners/two boxes. That wouldnt really bother me having to watch what im recording. You know the way some DVD recorders can pick up some signal from the sky boxes when you set the program to auto view, and it records that program, does any tv card support this? And how would i know?

SouperComputer wrote:

Your MCE remote has an IR blaster, when you put in the channel number, it sends it to the skybox.

Dont really get this! MCE = Windows Media Center right? So the MCE remote can control the sky box? Can it pick up the EPG also?

Finally, the WinTV-PVR-500 looks good but it isn't that cheap. All i really need it for is recording from sky really so it seams a little overkill. Any other suggestions from the ones available on Komplett?

Thanks again for the help!

SouperComputer

Dont really get this! MCE = Windows Media Center right? So the MCE remote can control the sky box? Can it pick up the EPG also?

The receiver for the MCE remote comes with little "diddies" called IR Blasters. When you are setting up MCE, it asks you to press certain buttons from your sky remote, into the MCE receiver. From this it works out the code that it needs to control your sky box from the IR Blaster.

This little fella sits on your sky box to allow the MCE PC to control it.




The PVR500 is only needed if you have two sky boxes. If you just want to record\watch one station at a time, then the PVR150 is what you need. Remember that after a couple of days you will have plenty of pre-recorded shows that you can watch while it is recording shows.

Pacifico

SouperComputer wrote:

The receiver for the MCE remote comes with little "diddies" called IR Blasters. When you are setting up MCE, it asks you to press certain buttons from your sky remote, into the MCE receiver. From this it works out the code that it needs to control your sky box from the IR Blaster.

This little fella sits on your sky box to allow the MCE PC to control it.




The PVR500 is only needed if you have two sky boxes. If you just want to record\watch one station at a time, then the PVR150 is what you need. Remember that after a couple of days you will have plenty of pre-recorded shows that you can watch while it is recording shows.

Nice, sounds great

I read that the PVR 150 includes the MCE remote and IR blaster, is this true? Pitty Komplett dont stock it

PS: Any chance of some screenshots?

SouperComputer

screenies

Also, dont forget to consider alternative software:

GB-PVR (Windows, free)
Media Portal (Windows, free)
MythTV (linux, free)

Pacifico

Thanks, I think ill stick with the windows media center software.

subway

try elara for the pvr 150,
around 60eu atm i think

Pacifico

subway wrote:

try elara for the pvr 150,
around 60eu atm i think

Thanks

€102 for the one with the media center remote, not bad.

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfullat.asp?productcode=ECE1143742

subway

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1200777&productID=

id go for that one,
tv and fm tuner,
composite and svideo in.


the one you linked seems a bit crippled.
with the change you can get a proper mce remote.
the hauppauge one is crap.

also,
when i ordered the oem one from elara, they sent me a full retail version....
that was 6 months ago tho,.

Pacifico

AFAIK the one i linked contains the official MCE remote? Could be wrong though!

"includes MS certified MCE only remote control and transmitter."

There is another one that has a Hauppauge remote.

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE973107&productID=108673

subway

its certifed mce, but its a horrible tacky remote.
feels cheap and doesnt light up like the mce one.
the buttons are hard palstic instead of the textured rubberised ones on the official ms one.

for the 35 euros you could easily pick up an official one on ebay.
your also getting a better range of inputs on the card,
particuarly sicne youll need composite inputs for the sky box.
unless you plan on using rf, which on the 150 only provides mono sound

Pacifico

Ah ok thanks for that, i though it was the official MS remote

HarcourtGreen

SouperComputer wrote:

The receiver for the MCE remote comes with little "diddies" called IR Blasters. When you are setting up MCE, it asks you to press certain buttons from your sky remote, into the MCE receiver. From this it works out the code that it needs to control your sky box from the IR Blaster.

This little fella sits on your sky box to allow the MCE PC to control it.




The PVR500 is only needed if you have two sky boxes. If you just want to record\watch one station at a time, then the PVR150 is what you need. Remember that after a couple of days you will have plenty of pre-recorded shows that you can watch while it is recording shows.

When WMC asks you to press buttons on the Set Tob Box remote so that it can "learn" the codes. How is this information it has just learned sent back to the WMC remote?. I presume the WMC remote needs to be able to transmit in the codes such that the Sky box will recognise? Either that or the sky box needs to change to accept what the WMC remote is sending to it. Does anyone know how this works?. I am curious becacuse I have just ordered a WMC remote so that I can get it working with Sky Digital.
Also, I have only just installed WMC and its the version that comes bundled with Windows Vista RC1... hope it is the same as the previous one and supports the same remote!

Krusty_Clown

HarcourtGreen: The answer is in the section you quoted..

The remote control doesn't learn the codes for your Sky set top box (although it can learn a few codes for your TV). It's actually the Media Centre PC that learns the codes for your Sky remote. It then transmits learned codes (and interpreted codes) using the IR blasters, which are infrared transmitters connected from the MCE infrared receiver..

So, in future, if you want to record a show, you pick up your MCE remote control, choose a program from the program guide, and hit record. The infrared signal is picked up by the MCE receiver. It knows what key-presses would be required from the Sky remote to change to the appropriate channel, so it sends the signal to the IR Blasters, which transmit the infrared codes direct to the Skybox...

Phew.. Hope that makes sense... and I think Vista will definitely support the existing MCE remote controls.. But maybe one of the Micro-softies could confirm?

HarcourtGreen

Cool!
Thanks Krusty.