Quick Sky+ Connectivity Question

sdanseo

I can't see this question anywhere, so here goes :P

I see a USB F Port on the back of my Sky+ Box. Can i upload recorded programmes to my PC?

Advice appreciated, Cheers.

Sparky

No you can't at this time, and I don't think you will, not without heavy DRM.

There was a pace portable video player with HDD a while back that was romoured to be a plan to connect to the box to view recording while "on the road"

If only I could find the link.

watty

Sky have considered the idea of a personal player. There was a rights management problem of some kind. I doubt it will EVER support PC or 3rd party PMP

sdanseo

*cough*

f3ck it anyway, i suppose its to stop those clever people sending DVD copies of recorded programmes to others (id never do such a thing), it makes sense. One thing though, if it can't be transferred, why have a USB port? I mean, if i were to plug it straight into my PC, what would happen, apart from electrocuting the box of course :rolleyes:

Sometimes just because a box dosen't specifically SUPPORT a particular thing, dosent mean it can't be done anyway This would be illegal though

Sparky

Nothing! The USB port is deactivated. The same question could be asked about the CI expansion slot, why is it there? It's spec'd just incase sky plan something in future.
If you want to transfer recorded programmes (excluding box office) you will need to do a VCR playout.

The take out the HDD and connect to the PC route has also being tried and does not work as the data is raw as if it was transmitted live.

If you want something to record video and copy to PC, KISS do a PVR that networks to your PC
http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=558&v=users

watty

The pay channels need NDS CAM/ Sky card to decode (hence you need active sub at playback time). The aforementioned "RAW"

The disk however does NOT have raw off air, they add an EXTRA layer of encryption on the fly, so you can't even read the FTA channels off the hard disk, (or examine the PayTV encryption).