What is the NTL alternative to Sky Plus?

EricM

Hello,

I have moved into a new apartment where unfortunately it is not allowed to put up a satellite dish so i was forced to choose NTL but i miss sky plus.

What is the alternative, is there Tivo in ireland? or should I get a hard disc recorder?

Is there a all-in-one solution digbox and recorder for NTL?

Thanks,
Eric

L1011

No TiVo anymore (there was, but Thomson pulled out), so its second box + HDD recorder; or if you're just on basic analogue, HDD recorder. Or DVD recorder, or even VHS in either case.

UPC's systems don't have an all-in-one setup anywhere in Europe it seems, let alone their often abused and ignored stepchild that is NTL/Chorus here...

watty

You could see if a number of people are interested in Satellite and approach management about a single dish communal system.

You could try a Telewest Cable HD PVR with an NTL viewing card?

Mossy Monk

this is not a satellite issue

moved

L1011

watty wrote:

You could see if a number of people are interested in Satellite and approach management about a single dish communal system.

You could try a Telewest Cable HD PVR with an NTL viewing card?

Doesn't work on either of the NTL: platforms in the UK so I doubt it'll work here. Different encryption, channel numbering, etc, etc.

bk

You can modify a US or UK second hand TiVo to work with NTL (I've a US one working with NTL), however it is not for the faint of heart.

You could also use a Media Center PC setup using Windows Media Center or MythTV.

EricM

bk wrote:

You can modify a US or UK second hand TiVo to work with NTL (I've a US one working with NTL), however it is not for the faint of heart.

Sounds interesting, how would I do this?
Is there a website with instructions?

watty

It's easier and nearly cheaper now to setup PVR on Linux, Windows or buy a Analogue in DVD/HD recorder unless you get a S/H Tivo. They are really outdated now.

Try Google.

branners69

I have Sky+ but I have my Pioneer 530 with guide plus hooked up to my NTL box and it works well..

It has an infrared sender which changes the NTL box channel, the only problem with mine is that I dont have RTE1, RTE2, TG4 or TV3 on my guide plus but others have gotten RTE1 + RTE2 working. I'm not bothered cos I dont record anything from either of them channels!!

watty

Oddly my S-VHS has an IR out that can change Sky Channel. I used it once.

Most of what I record would be FTA so I would use Satellite card in PC.

branners69

The first time I came across an ir sender was with a Philips video I bought around 6 or so years ago. Like that I hardly used it, but with the harddrive in the Pioneer 530 and the dvd recorder option I find the ir handy with the NTL box!!

The only small problem is that the Pioneer 530 ir sender doesnt seem to be able to turn the NTL box on, so if I am recording from the NTL box I need to leave it on!!

legalimmigrant

watty wrote:

It's easier and nearly cheaper now to setup PVR on Linux, Windows or buy a Analogue in DVD/HD recorder unless you get a S/H Tivo. They are really outdated now

Tivo's the same as it ever was (more or less the perfect box, imho), and hundreds of Euro cheaper than any alternative.

To make it work here (as we have) you need:

a) Access to the internet-delivered EPG. Two methods: from a network card, or plug it into a phone line (there are local UUNet access numbers in every city in Ireland which you must enter manually, but it works fine)
b) You will need a Tivo with a network card. Lots of people sell these second-hand and pre-built which is rather less irritating than installing it yourself. It has a nice Tivo web interface which lets me tell it to record things when I'm out of the house (networking knowledge required), and I've a few tools to suck video out of the Tivo onto a PC.
c) The network card's required because if you're using cable, you need to telnet into the thing and remap lots of channel numbers by hand.

If you're using Sky, on the other hand, you just need the phone access because it works unmodified with Sky Ireland.

Ours is set up with Chorus. I told it we had cable in Belfast (Irish channels 1-4 are on cable there because of the Good Friday Agreement's broadcasting provisions), then remapped the channel numbers.

I'm one of those people who *can* build PCs from scratch and so putting a MythTV box together is inside my comfort zone. But it's dramatically more complex and more than double the price.

branners69

legalimmigrant wrote:

Tivo's the same as it ever was (more or less the perfect box, imho), and hundreds of Euro cheaper than any alternative.

I have Sky in a bedroom and wouldnt mind something like the TIVO just to record the odd programme.

I have a few questions if you dont mind!!

1) Are they noisy, such as when they dial the number for the epg, when its uploading the epg or when its recording?
2) Which is the best model no. to look out for, or are there even any model no.s??
3)How much am I expecting to shell out for one? I am assuming places like ebay are the best for them? Would an american model work over here or is the european one required?

Sorry for all the questions, but am really interested in picking on of these up:)

Cheers

Branners

L1011

legalimmigrant wrote:

I'm one of those people who *can* build PCs from scratch and so putting a MythTV box together is inside my comfort zone. But it's dramatically more complex and more than double the price.

Picture quality is also diabolical with a cheap tuner in MythTV, and its extremely, extremely difficult to get it to accept that Chorus's channels don't either align perfectly with Irish or EU allocations...

legalimmigrant

branners69 wrote:

I have Sky in a bedroom and wouldnt mind something like the TIVO just to record the odd programme.

I have a few questions if you dont mind!!

1) Are they noisy, such as when they dial the number for the epg, when its uploading the epg or when its recording?

No, the modem has no speaker output. Hard drive could be quieter though, if I'm honest (they get old - I'll probably replace ours).

branners69 wrote:

2) Which is the best model no. to look out for, or are there even any model no.s??

All UK Tivos are the same. Made by Thomson under license (but no longer). Ebay usually has quite a few.

branners69 wrote:

3)How much am I expecting to shell out for one? I am assuming places like ebay are the best for them?

Couple hundred sterling and UKP10/month, or about 300-plus sterling and zero/month if it has a lifetime subscription already.

branners69 wrote:

Would an american model work over here or is the european one required?

No, you need a UK one. We use PAL for TV here.

bk

legalimmigrant wrote:

No, you need a UK one. We use PAL for TV here.

I've a US, series one TiVo working in Ireland with NTL.

The RF tuner in a US TiVo is NTSC, so you are right, it won't work in Ireland. However you can record from the S-Video input port without problems. You do this using either a NTL/Chorus/Sky decoder box or by first passing an analogue RF siganl into a VCR (or DVD recorder) and then out to the TTiVo via a Scart to S-Video cable. Of course you need to use the IR blaster with all of this.

Note a US TiVo is much more difficult to setup then a UK TIVo as you need to install a special modified TiVo OS designed for Australia and then make some changes to get it to work in Ireland. It is not for the faint of heart, but once working it is great.