The best TV card for Sky, Ireland & MythTV

Technoteze

Hey there guys. I’m looking for some help putting together my htpc. I’ve been saving for a while now and am looking to build a good media center. I have a pretty fair idea of what I’m doing but I’m a little lost when it comes to the TV end of things. The system I’m building will be based on MythTV so it’s important that my hardware will work under linux.

Any help would be a big help so I appreciate any input anyone is willing to give…. here goes!

• Selecting a TV card: The rig I’m building will be connected to Sky (Not Sky HD, but may be an option in the future). Is sky digital or satellite? I’ve read the Haupauge pvr-500 is the choice if I would like to record one channel and watch another but I believe that the pvr-500 only supports NTSC (and is an analog receiver). Could someone suggest a card (preferably one I can buy on Komplett.ie) that would do just that? Also how does it work if you connect dual TV cards to the system? How are the cables connected, or do I only need one of the cards to be connected? And finally… What do I do with the scart lead?

• MythTV: I’ve decided to go with Mythbuntu as my distro of choice. I think they’ve done a pretty good job of putting everything together and will be easy to add additional packages. When configuring MythTV am I right in saying it needs to connect to a database (database being my media collection)? Thus do I need to learn a little SQL to get it working?

• Sound Cards: Will onboard sound be sufficient. Komplett.ie only seem to stock Creative and a few from TerraTec. Creative aren’t really Linux friendly but I know some cards work. Any suggestions?

I would like to build a system that offers the most functionality as I’ll be building it for myself and the other people living in my house and each my want to use it for a different reason.

Again, any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!:D

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I recently built a HTPC:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.aspx?mode=receive&si=607321&su=E0A5B721-8970-4F9D-AE75-6C09142B51D9
I also have a Terratec Cinergy DVB-S2 card in there and I had 2 gigs or RAM lying around so I have 4gigs in the pc now.

I have a multi boot setup (XP, Vista and Mythbuntu). I tried Media Portal on XP and Vista and I obviously tried MythTV on Mythubuntu and I tried Media Centre on Vista. For me, Vista with Media Centre was head and shoulders above the other options. I use DVBviewer integrated into Media Centre for my Satellite TV viewing/recording. It all works using a single MCE remote control which is just fantastic. And others in the house can use it without any difficulty.

To answer your question, I got everything working using Mythubuntu without too much trouble as far asI can remember. The only reason I'm telling you my experience is so that you may consider other alternatives.

Technoteze

Thanks for the quick reply! The main reason for me going for linux is that it's something I'm really interested in. If it wasn't for games and some other essential software I'm using at the moment I would've switched to ubuntu ages ago. The other reason is that this will tie in with another project I'm planning at work and this will give me a head start.

I have pretty much everything lined up already it's just the TV card I have no ides about. I went through all 40 pages of threads I thought would have to do with what I'm looking for but I could never quite find the right answer.

Any idea on a card that'll allow me to record one channel and watch another? Or does the TerraTec do that? Also am I right in saying that the Sky signal is satellite?

Thanks.

leahcim

Hi,

I currently have a similar setup to what you are proposing.

Selecting a TV card

I have a Hauppauge! WinTV-PVR-150MCE and it is working fine.
You are correct in saying that the PVR-500 is a dual tuner card but dont forget you will need two sky boxes if you want to take advantage of the dual tuner feature. Each sky box only gives one signal output.
I use S-Video (only available on older grundig, sky+ and sky HD STBs) output on my sky box as input to the PVR150.

BTW the best way to get your HTPC to control the sky box is to use the dusky control . The IR blaster approach is very hit and miss.

When configuring MythTV am I right in saying it needs to connect to a database (database being my media collection)? Thus do I need to learn a little SQL to get it working?

MythTV does use a mysql database, but you do not need to know any sql to use it. The database is behind the scenes, you set things up using the mythtv config screens.

Sound Cards

Whether on board sound will be ok depends on your requirements. My HTPC outputs sound to Harman/Kardon SoundStick speakers, on board sound works fine for this setup. Most people comment on how good the sound from my system is.

stiofanD

Hi Technoteze, yes sky is satellite, but its not as simple as all that.

You basically have two choices:

1) Get a DVB-S (or DVB-S2) card which will allow you to record all the free-to-air channels available on satellite. This includes all the BBCs, ITVs and Channel 4s. You will not be able to record channels such as Sky One, UKTV etc etc since they are not free to air. All these non-fta channels are encrypted and the only way to decrypt them is with a sky box+valid viewing card.

Remember, with this option, you are recording directly from the satellite dish, using a separate feed from the LNB. This means the sky box is free, so you can happily watch another channel via the sky box while your card is recording from the satellite.

2) Get an analogue capture card such as the Hauppauge PVR-350. You can then connect the S-video or Scart output from the sky box to this card. The card will encode the analogue signal from the sky box to MPEG-2 and save to disk.

With this option, you can record any channel that can be viewed on the sky box, but you cannot watch a second channel while one channel is being recorded.


Is that clear? I realise this area can be a bit confusing when you come to it first, so feel free to ask more questions if you need to

Technoteze

Hey leahcim and stiofanD I really appreciate the input. Things are starting to make sense.

stiofanD: With the separate feed from the LNB is that something I can do myself or is it something I'll have to have installed? I'm just interested as I'd really like to get my head around all of this.

I think my option will have to be to go for the Hauppauge PVR-150 on Ebay as Komplett don't seem to stock Hauppauge analog receivers and Ebay only have NTSC PVR-350's.

I was thinking of going for this card:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=314286

so I could cover all bases but am having a hard time making sure it's fully suppported under linux. I can't seem to find any recent information on the linuxtv wiki site.

Any ideas?

mediacentre.ie

the PVR 150 is an analog card and will only work with you sky box attached.

I have a floppyDTV s2 connected to 4 lnbs pointed at 4 sats. it picks up over 4000 channels.

another good option is the technotrend S2 3200. it has linux drivers as well.

stiofanD

Technoteze wrote: »

Hey leahcim and stiofanD I really appreciate the input. Things are starting to make sense.

stiofanD: With the separate feed from the LNB is that something I can do myself or is it something I'll have to have installed? I'm just interested as I'd really like to get my head around all of this.

my understanding is that sky are installing all dishes with a dual LNB now (as two feeds are required for sky+), so it may be as simple(!) as running a second cable from the dish to wherever your media centre is

On the other hand, replacing a single lnb with a dual or quad lnb shouldn't be a big job either.

I think my option will have to be to go for the Hauppauge PVR-150 on Ebay as Komplett don't seem to stock Hauppauge analog receivers and Ebay only have NTSC PVR-350's.

I was thinking of going for this card:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=314286

so I could cover all bases but am having a hard time making sure it's fully suppported under linux. I can't seem to find any recent information on the linuxtv wiki site.

Any ideas?

Thats a hybrid card that can do DVB-T and analogue. In your situation, I think you'd be better off with something like this:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325775

This has a DVB-S receiver, to capture content from the satellite and also an analogue input, which can capture video from your Sky box.

Also, AVerMedia appear to have good linux support. A good site to check for support is the LinuxTV DVB wiki and the video4linux wiki

There is mention of this specific card here, which seems to indicate support for the analogue capture has been implemented.

mediacentre.ie

If you hope to watch HD get a S2 card. all HD channels will be S2 soon. BBC HD ans ITV HD are S but will move eventually.

Technoteze

Thanks guys, I've been given some food for thought. I was looking at the Linuxtv wiki site and it looks like there is only experimental support for the AVerMedia A700 (http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/AVerMedia), too bad though cause that would've been perfect.

I'll be looking a bit more at the wiki site now that I know I'm looking for a satellite card. I wasn't sure if sky is digital or satellite. If I need two sky boxes for a dual card setup then that'll have to wait (does that mean though I'll need to sign up for another sky subscription just to have another sky card?)

mediacentre.ie could you give me some more info on the floppyDTV? If I have a sky card and a CAM card does that mean I don't need a sky box?

I've never heard of this stuff before so I'm looking at all my options.

mediacentre.ie

correct you can use your subcription card with the CAM module. you need to program the CAM with firmware. you need a programmer for this.

all is explained here

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/skymceintegration.html

stiofanD

Technoteze wrote: »

If I need two sky boxes for a dual card setup then that'll have to wait (does that mean though I'll need to sign up for another sky subscription just to have another sky card?)

Not quite - what you'll want from Sky is a "Multiroom" subscription. This will give you a second sky box and viewing card for €15 extra per month

mediacentre.ie wrote:

correct you can use your subcription card with the CAM module. you need to program the CAM with firmware. you need a programmer for this.

all is explained here

Fascinating - prior to yesterday, I thought the only way to receive Skys encrypted channels was via a Sky box. Just to clarify, in order to use the floppyDTV card, I'd need to buy the card, a CAM and an MPEG4 software decoder. You mention programming the CAM - do I also need to buy a programmer, or can this be rented or done as a service by someone?

Stephen

Michael Collins

To my knowledge you can't use Multiroom and a CAM setup, i.e. if you use a CAM you can't get another card on a multiroom subscription, you'll have to pay the full amount for another card. This is due to the fact that if you have two Sky boxes using multiroom - they both need to be connected to a phone line. A CAM will not facilitate this...

But if you just want one Sky Card, then it should work OK. Except that you have to re-insert the card into a connection digibox every few weeks.