DVB-C cards

coley

Has anyone used DVB-C PC cards in a PVR with Chorus digital TV? Something like the Twinhan DTV Cab-CI which supports both FTA and pay TV. Would chorus just give me the second card for the extra €5 a month?(without the second box). I know for multiroom they charge €50 for the second box and the €5 extra per month.

Thx
-Coley.

8T8

Don't know for sure but from what I understand of the CI/CAM system the type of encryption used by the smart card needs to be supported by the CI/CAM, if it does then that's one hurdle jumped.

As for getting another smart card I think the best way to find out would be to ask Chorus and see what they say though I have a feeling they will say no without the STB.

Finally I think the smart cards have to be paired up with the STB as well or at least that's what I recall from the last Chorus digital install I saw (the tech makes the call to the HQ and gives the info on the smart card) but not totally sure on that.

If you do contact Chorus I would be interested to hear of any progress (if any) you make.

coley

hmmm after more looking the nagravision CAM needed seems v.expensive, if not sold out in a lot of sites. Yes you are right the smart card supplied by chorus locks to the STB at install, so I assume also to the CAM. Might be a cheaper route to get a second box hooked up to the PC just for recording.
Or I might just wait till next yr when I plan to put it a sat. system. But as usual the "I want it now" little voice is doing a lot of shouting!

-Coley.

8T8

I know the feeling all too well

It would be nice to have such a system and not have to rely on the poorer image quality from analogue outputs of the STB. I hope in the future they start to sell their own DVB-C tuner with CI/CAM system for HTPC's they could charge a pretty penny too for the luxury. Probably need the support of MS & Vista before that happens though and DVB-C support is penciled in post Vista in one of the updates like the roll-up 2 update for XP MCE.


While not ideal you could run cables from the second output on the Chorus box to the PC which is what I do though if you don't want to interfere with your viewing then obviously this isn't a good arrangement.

mossym

i think mediaportal is going to support dvb-c...i could be wrong..might be worth looking into it, i remember reading something about it

mossym

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/news/global/vista_mce_2007_not_supporting_dvb/c/s/t.html

8T8

Media Portal and GB-PVR support DVB-C but the problem is that these are small operations so they generally don't get paid attention to by the big boys.

The cable companies will only ever deal with a corporate entity like Microsoft, Apple etc and that is probably the only way we are going to see some sort of standardized support (without resorting to hacks or alternate methods).

In the USA they are having a terrible time with Cablecard which is their equivalent of CI/CAM and the cable companies are dragging their knuckles on it and being uncooperative as can be despite the law saying they must comply etc.

Anyway MS at least got around to implementing cablecard support into Vista and that should help if the thing can ever get off the ground, this side of the pond they outlined in post Vista updates the many variations of the DVB format and legal hoops they have to jump though but they did hint at they are trying to get full DVB support with CI/CAM support into Vista eventually.

mossym

well by the same measure the number of htpcs out there would be small pittance to the cable companies. i'd figure less than 1% of the people have a htpc, or watch tv on a computer. That's total viewers. Now divide the number again by the number of providers, meaning satellite, terrestrial, cable..and the number drops.

oh and another thing, in the us, on cable at least, the first 100 channels are broadcast in the clear, with no encryption. You can decode them with the tuner in any tv or vcr, the cable boxes are only needed to decode the digital channels. However, i would guess that even once things go all digital the 100 main channels will be unencrypted. reason being with an antenna you can usually pick up the majority of those channels in all the major urban areas. so while vista may support dvb-c, i think the chances of the companies being interested in that may be a long shot. and if the US markets aren't interested, it might never happen


i guess basically i thnk we'll never see cam/cablecard support for pc based dvb-c cards. not official support anyway..it may not just be worth the cable companies time. we may have to do with what is available to us.

but you're right, whatever chances they are..they are a lot better with microsoft supporting it, than just mediaportal and gbpvr. thing is i don't like mce, but i like both of those...have used both...so was just pointing out for those like me that mediaportal supported it...

so there ya go..i agree with you completely..but think we're screwed anyway..:D

Bartrax

Most LCD / Plasma TV sets have an integrated DVB CI/CAM slot, although lower priced sets only support DVB-T whereas higher end models support both DVB-C and DVB-T (I'm sure this will eventually become the norm for all sets!) and with many of these sets being sold this side of Christmas I wonder if it's time the cable companies sat up and took notice. They could offer the option of a STB with viewing card for regular (CRT) TV's or a paired CAM with viewing card for LCD/Plasma sets. I'm trying to get information from NTL but alas they are ignoring my emails :mad:

Bartrax

Sorry folks!

Didn't make it clear in my last post, as well as LCD/Plasma TV's this would also solve the problem of DVB reception on a PC or Laptop. (hence my post in this thread!) :D:D

Talisman

@coley: As far as I know it is illegal to hook up anything other than the supplied hardware to your digital tv service. The smart card is married to the hardware for this very reason.

Once you accept that by installing a component in your PC that and hooking it up to the digital feed you are breaking the law as far as Chorus/NTL/UPC are concerned and can live with that on your concience you can proceed to doing the act.

I haven't done this myself but I have read that you can put a CAM in a Receiver/CI and emulate the Nagravision in software once you have the decryption keys so you don't need the smart card.

Also I would consider using the FloppyDTV Digital Cable Receiver/CI for your project as it has Windows Media Center and Vista64 support.

SouperComputer

@coley: As far as I know it is illegal to hook up anything other than the supplied hardware to your digital tv service. The smart card is married to the hardware for this very reason.

I could be way off base here, but Im pretty sure its not illegal. It is proabably a breach of the contract you have with the cable company, but I doubt its illegal unless of course you used it to access more content than you pay for. Ie cloning your card and using multiple STB's and or CMS cards.

Talisman

This is getting off topic but I was told by a guy who works for Virgin Media in the UK that there are plans to prosecute people who have hooked up their own digital receivers and HTPCs to the service because in their view those individuals are stealing a service whether they only use the channels they are subscribed to or not. As far as the company are concerned they should be paying for the additional connection to the service and the company intend to chase the lost revenue. If this happens in the UK, I can't see any reason why it won't also happen in Ireland.

dc69

you dont need the card or cam at all,if you can get a dvb-c digital tuner card then their are software plugins you can get for Media Portal and GB-PVR to decrypt the nagravision,but that would be illegal:)