Switching from Sky+ to Freesat?

C14N

Hi,
I'm quite a bit of a noob in the area of TV I'm afraid so please bear with me:o

I've thought about it lately and I've noticed that out of all the stations Sky gives me, I really don't watch many of them. I basically stick with the likes of RTE, BBC and Channel 4. So I thought maybe I should cancel the Sky subscription and get a normal Freesat box.

Is this easy enough to do though? Is it just a case of taking the satellite cables that currently go to the Sky box and plugging them into a new box? Or would I need to get someone to come and install a new satellite dish?

I was also considering getting TV on a home theatre PC in another room that has Sky+ in it at the moment. Is it possible to get Freesat this way and what sort of TV card would I need to use to get it?

One last thing that's more for just general information. What is the reason for 2 coax cables going to the Sky box? Is this to record 2 channels at once? And if so, would it be possible to have a third or fourth installed to up the ante a bit?

jolsen

Is this easy enough to do though? Is it just a case of taking the satellite cables that currently go to the Sky box and plugging them into a new box? Or would I need to get someone to come and install a new satellite dish?

You don't need to buy any box or run any cables. Unplug your sky box, remove your card, plug the box back in and only the Free to Air channels will be viewable. In place of the Irish channels 101.... will be BBC and ITV.

Sadly the only way to receive RTE through satellite is having a $ky subscription.

I was also considering getting TV on a home theatre PC in another room that has Sky+ in it at the moment. Is it possible to get Freesat this way and what sort of TV card would I need to use to get it?

You could use a slingbox I guess, but if you wanted Freesat with recording/timeshifting abilities you could simply replace your sky plus box with something like this: http://satellite.ie/acatalog/Humax_Foxsat_HD_PVR_Freesat_.html

One last thing that's more for just general information. What is the reason for 2 coax cables going to the Sky box? Is this to record 2 channels at once?

Yes.

And if so, would it be possible to have a third or fourth installed to up the ante a bit?

Into a satellite receiver???? None that I know of.

eddiem74

As stated you own all your equipment you got from Sky, therefore an easy/less costly option can be to stick with that, however Sky+ recording will not work without a Sky subscription, so if you like being able to record 1 or 2 channels, while watching something recorded you will need a new box. The Humax listed seems quite popluar and I think Sagem have released some new models recently also which Richersounds were doing a deal on here.

Note: as also stated if you want RTE, TG4, etc. you will need to invest in aerial as they are not available on Satellite, only via Sky. This gets a little messy, as you will either need to feed your TV an aerial connection directly, get a combo box, or use your HTPC.

If you have Sky+ the dish most likely has a quad LNB which should mean only 2 of the 4 cable connections are used to your Sky box, so you will have two spare. You could change the quad LNB to an Octo to provide extra cable runs to additional Sat boxes or the HTPC (depending on how many TV cards you want to put in it).

With regard to TV cards I think the Pinnacle 7010i (Dual DVB-T (digital terrestrial: RTE, TG4, TV3), DVB-S (satellite e.g. BBC, ITV, C4)) should work fine if you can get hold if one, however it does not support DVB-S2 which may become an issue in the future. Another alternative could be the newer Blackgold cards. You can also browse/ask questions over in the HTPC forum for advice or checkout avforums also.

I'm no expert is this whole area but do keep an interest, and have done some DIY set-up for myself.

Hope this helps.

C14N

jolsen wrote: »

You don't need to buy any box or run any cables. Unplug your sky box, remove your card, plug the box back in and only the Free to Air channels will be viewable. In place of the Irish channels 101.... will be BBC and ITV.

Well if I lose recording abilities, then I would have to get a new box. I never watch live TV, it's all recorded.

jolsen wrote: »

You could use a slingbox I guess, but if you wanted Freesat with recording/timeshifting abilities you could simply replace your sky plus box with something like this: http://satellite.ie/acatalog/Humax_Foxsat_HD_PVR_Freesat_.html

Well the thing is that I want the HTPC for other things such as movies and music and also so I can have upgradeable storage and a nicer interface.

jolsen wrote: »

Into a satellite receiver???? None that I know of.

Well this would be for the HTPC, I would have to have multiple cards, all I'm asking is if it would be possible to do this with more than two cables?

eddiem74 wrote: »

As stated you own all your equipment you got from Sky, therefore an easy/less costly option can be to stick with that, however Sky+ recording will not work without a Sky subscription, so if you like being able to record 1 or 2 channels, while watching something recorded you will need a new box. The Humax listed seems quite popluar and I think Sagem have released some new models recently also which Richersounds were doing a deal on here.

That's actually what got me thinking about it in the first place:o

eddiem74 wrote: »

Note: as also stated if you want RTE, TG4, etc. you will need to invest in aerial as they are not available on Satellite, only via Sky. This gets a little messy, as you will either need to feed your TV an aerial connection directly, get a combo box, or use your HTPC.

Does this mean I would have to get an aerial installed on my roof or just one of those small ones for inside? And would the signal from the aerial only give me the 4 Irish stations?

eddiem74 wrote: »

If you have Sky+ the dish most likely has a quad LNB which should mean only 2 of the 4 cable connections are used to your Sky box, so you will have two spare. You could change the quad LNB to an Octo to provide extra cable runs to additional Sat boxes or the HTPC (depending on how many TV cards you want to put in it).

That's pretty cool. Where could I find the two spares though?

eddiem74 wrote: »

With regard to TV cards I think the Pinnacle 7010i (Dual DVB-T (digital terrestrial: RTE, TG4, TV3), DVB-S (satellite e.g. BBC, ITV, C4)) should work fine if you can get hold if one...

So will that record up to 4 channels at once then? (2 aerial stations and 2 satellite stations)? If so then that sounds excellent. Where can they be bought?

eddiem74 wrote: »

however it does not support DVB-S2 which may become an issue in the future.

Is this the signal that's required to get HD broadcasts? Because if it is then I could just buy one of this Blackgold ones too and have them both running on the HTPC right?

Thanks for the help so far guys.

eddiem74

Does this mean I would have to get an aerial installed on my roof or just one of those small ones for inside? And would the signal from the aerial only give me the 4 Irish stations?

Potentially on roof however it depends on your location, 4 Irish stations for sure. You could ask over in the terrestrial forum to get a better indication as to what you can get in your location, best to take some expert guidance as I am not one.

That's pretty cool. Where could I find the two spares though?

You will need to examine the LNB at the Dish where the cables come out of the front arm, to see if two free connections are available.

So will that record up to 4 channels at once then? (2 aerial stations and 2 satellite stations)? If so then that sounds excellent. Where can they be bought?

Yes, 4 channels. Sometimes the 7010i are on Adverts, or I think some german ebay stores, but they are rare these days. On the Blackgold not sure, you will need to google/research in the HTPC forums here and on avforums.

Is this the signal that's required to get HD broadcasts? Because if it is then I could just buy one of this Blackgold ones too and have them both running on the HTPC right?

Although possibly more expensive than the 7010 the Blackgold will future proof you, however the 7010 will be more than adequate in the near term, as I do not think many channels used DVB-S2 yet (just DVB-S), however you would need the satellite experts to confirm to be safe.

John mac

jobyrne30 has a htpc set up


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66222383&postcount=9

Mr McBoatface

Eddiem74 mentioned the 7010ix, this is an excellent card that can be bought new on ebay for 39 euro but the shipping is 30 Euro :eek: http://cgi.ebay.ie/TV-Tuner-Pinnacle-PC-TV-7010iX-DVB-T-DVB-S-Analog-TV-/190396409064?cmd=ViewItem&pt=DE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia&hash=item2c5482a4e8 These cards can currently receive BBC HD and ITV1-HD, but if these channels switch to a DVB-S2 transponder you will not be able to get those channels any more. I'm not aware of any plans to switch but I've not researched it any further as I personal use DVB-S2 cards.

At 69 Euro delivered the 7010ix still excellent value, I've seen 2nd hand ones sell for more on adverts.ie and ebay.ie/co.uk. It's actually designed for the small PCI-Express x1 slots but you can use it in a pci-express 2 slot.

You can get the 7 day epg (program guide) for both Sat and Irish DTT using software like DVB-Viewer, Mediaportal and I'm told windows 7 does the same. Personally I use Mediaportal 1.0.2 with a mod that allows me to grab SKY/Freesat and Irish DTT EPG data direct from the DVB-feed. The current mediaportal 1.1.0 release candidate 4 has the capabilities to grab the Freesat and RTE EPG data direct from the dvb source. There is ad mod designed for pulling Sky epg data to but it only works for 1.1.0 release candidate 2.

Irish DTT isn't up and running yet a test service is available is most parts of the country. Currently there is no TV3 on the test service and that is likely to remain that way until the DTT service is launched in October. Regarding the test service I've had very few problems or breaks in service over the last year but there where a few days when some or all channels where gone.

You'll need a h.264 decoder software for the HD channels and the Irish Dtt test service channels.

C14N

jobyrne30 wrote: »

Eddiem74 mentioned the 7010ix, this is an excellent card that can be bought new on ebay for 39 euro but the shipping is 30 Euro :eek: http://cgi.ebay.ie/TV-Tuner-Pinnacle-PC-TV-7010iX-DVB-T-DVB-S-Analog-TV-/190396409064?cmd=ViewItem&pt=DE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia&hash=item2c5482a4e8 These cards can currently receive BBC HD and ITV1-HD, but if these channels switch to a DVB-S2 transponder you will not be able to get those channels any more. I'm not aware of any plans to switch but I've not researched it any further as I personal use DVB-S2 cards.


At 69 Euro delivered the 7010ix still excellent value, I've seen 2nd hand ones sell for more on adverts.ie and ebay.ie/co.uk. It's actually designed for the small PCI-Express x1 slots but you can use it in a pci-express 2 slot.

Oh right so for now just DVB-S is needed. I can always upgrade or even add an S2. Do you mean a PCI x16? I've never heard of a 2 And do many cards fit in regular PCI slots? Because almost all the microATX boards I've seen have 2 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1 and 1 PCI-E x16. Link.

jobyrne30 wrote: »

You can get the 7 day epg (program guide) for both Sat and Irish DTT using software like DVB-Viewer, Mediaportal and I'm told windows 7 does the same. Personally I use Mediaportal 1.0.2 with a mod that allows me to grab SKY/Freesat and Irish DTT EPG data direct from the DVB-feed. The current mediaportal 1.1.0 release candidate 4 has the capabilities to grab the Freesat and RTE EPG data direct from the dvb source. There is ad mod designed for pulling Sky epg data to but it only works for 1.1.0 release candidate 2.

Irish DTT isn't up and running yet a test service is available is most parts of the country. Currently there is no TV3 on the test service and that is likely to remain that way until the DTT service is launched in October. Regarding the test service I've had very few problems or breaks in service over the last year but there where a few days when some or all channels where gone.

You'll need a h.264 decoder software for the HD channels and the Irish Dtt test service channels.

What's Irish DTT? Is that the channels you get with an aerial? I'm not bothered about TV3 tbh. It's a fairly rubbish station imo and it would probably be usurped by ITV anyhow. I've seen screenshots of MP before and it looks nice. There's a good chance I'd end up going with it. Is all of this software free or at least fairly cheap?

Mr McBoatface

C14N wrote: »

Oh right so for now just DVB-S is needed. I can always upgrade or even add an S2.

Yeah that's correct , ITV1-HD and BBC-HD are currently DVB-S , If they change to DVB-S2 you can upgrade or you may consider getting a DVB-S2 card to begin with. *EDIT* if what "givecredit" says in the post below is correct DVB-S2 would be the more sensible option

C14N wrote: »

Do you mean a PCI x16?

Yeah that's what I mean

C14N wrote: »

do many cards fit in regular PCI slots

Yeah there are loads but very few with more than one tuner on them.

C14N wrote: »

What's Irish DTT? Is that the channels you get with an aerial?

Irish DTT = Digital Terrestrial TV, received through an aerial, the Irish service is due to partially launch in October it will be called Saorview.

C14N wrote: »

I've seen screenshots of MP before and it looks nice. There's a good chance I'd end up going with it. Is all of this software free or at least fairly cheap?

MP is free, the h264 codecs can be gotten free too. It's not for everybody, I'm a bit of a fan. Other's consider DVBviewer to be better that will cost about 15 euro.

givecredit

Would recommend a dvbs2 type card. The odds are high that bbc will switch to s2 when they launch BBC1 hd on satellite in the autumn.

C14N

jobyrne30 wrote: »

Yeah that's correct , ITV1-HD and BBC-HD are currently DVB-S , If they change to DVB-S2 you can upgrade or you may consider getting a DVB-S2 card to begin with. *EDIT* if what "givecredit" says in the post below is correct DVB-S2 would be the more sensible option

What DVB-S2 card do you use? Would something like the Blackgold BGT3595 work as it has 2 DVB-S2s and a DVB-T?

Edit: Are these low profile cards? I'm looking at getting the Antec Fusion 350 case and it only supports low profile cards. I'm not sure what determines this:o

jobyrne30 wrote: »

MP is free, the h264 codecs can be gotten free too. It's not for everybody, I'm a bit of a fan. Other's consider DVBviewer to be better that will cost about 15 euro.

I can look further at it when I build the PC. Will others like Windows Media Centre, Boxee and XBMC work fine too? And is it possible to set the computer to boot up right into any of them rather than the desktop? I plan on using this for music, pictures and movies too btw.

I don't expect a yes on this but can the satellite pick up US stations too? I remember seeing in Xtra Vision a box and satellite combo that they claimed could pick up "hundreds of channels" but I never really got any details and I'm unsure if it's untrue or just a technicality.