Transfer Sky+ Recordings to PC

void2500

Is there and handy way to transfer the Sky+ recordings to a pc?
I have found ouit that it is possible with the program Copy+ but that is only possible with the FTA channels, most of my recordings are from Sky channels I pay for. Would it be possible to put the Sky viewing card in the computer with some tv tuning card with cam and are able to read the encrypted programs? Or is the best way to copy it over with some capture hardware?

MrFrisp

As far as I know,it can't be done...

Something to do with the encryption method.

Only the sky box can be used.

I'm open to correction on that though.

MACHEAD

Sky have put a lot of money/resources into the encryption method on this.
As yet no-one has been able to break it. Even attempting to do so is a bit of 'grey area' legally speaking.

The 'Copy+' program is mostly used for copying Sky+ recordings from one Sky+ hard drive to another, via p.c.. As no attempt is being made to break the encryption or play back the recordings on non Sky equipment, no laws are broken, no T's & C's are being contravened.

The down side of this is that the program is for windows machines only, those of us don't do microsoft or won't be doing microsoft, can't use it. In fact Macs destroy the Sky file system instantly at fist contact!

void2500

MACHEAD wrote: »

Sky have put a lot of money/resources into the encryption method on this.
As yet no-one has been able to break it. Even attempting to do so is a bit of 'grey area' legally speaking.

The 'Copy+' program is mostly used for copying Sky+ recordings from one Sky+ hard drive to another, via p.c.. As no attempt is being made to break the encryption or play back the recordings on non Sky equipment, no laws are broken, no T's & C's are being contravened.

The down side of this is that the program is for windows machines only, those of us don't do microsoft or won't be doing microsoft, can't use it. In fact Macs destroy the Sky file system instantly at fist contact!

So if I understand it correct I would be in breach of the of the copyright if I for example used a dvd recorder and recorded the recorded material over to the dvd/harddrive of the recorder? Unfortunatelly a harddrives space is running out and things you want to keep to watch later. I say technically it would be possible to capture the recordings over to the computer by do playback and use some capture hardware/software, but if it is in breach of anything it maybe is better to get bigger harddrive, but unfortunatelly that one would be run out of space at some stage aswell.

MACHEAD

Copying/archiving to DVD recorder or VCR is part of Sky+ features, so no breach there. However copying the files to another retrieval system and attempting to break the encryption so you can play back on non Sky system or make subsequent copies most definitely is.

You'll find that you cant copy Sky movies to DVD recorder at all. There was a time when you could get round this by using re-writable DVD's, but as far as I know this no longer works. Though I cannot personally verify this as I haven't had the movies for quite a while now.

rlogue

If and only if you have a first generation SkyHD box from Thomson there are component connections on it and a Hauppauge HD PVR can be used to transfer recordings in real time to a PC.

void2500

rlogue wrote: »

If and only if you have a first generation SkyHD box from Thomson there are component connections on it and a Hauppauge HD PVR can be used to transfer recordings in real time to a PC.

I guess I have the latest version as I signed up for Sky just about 3 weeks ago. There is only 1 scart connector at the back on the one I have but I have composite and HDMI connectors at the back aswell. I don't have any HD package, the box is a Sky+ HD, seems like they all are now. I only have the standard package, no movies or sports, I ordered Variety and Knowledge at the time, since 1st of september it seems like they put every single channel except sports and movies.

So if the HD PVR is only working with the first generation Thomson, what is my option to get out the recordings? I saw Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator on Amazon that is not to expensive, anyone have any experience of it, how good the result is? I need to cut away the commersials in the recordings anyway so need to get it over to my computer for editing. Or is HD PVR to prefer?

norbert64

void2500 wrote: »

I guess I have the latest version as I signed up for Sky just about 3 weeks ago. There is only 1 scart connector at the back on the one I have but I have composite and HDMI connectors at the back aswell. I don't have any HD package, the box is a Sky+ HD, seems like they all are now. I only have the standard package, no movies or sports, I ordered Variety and Knowledge at the time, since 1st of september it seems like they put every single channel except sports and movies.

So if the HD PVR is only working with the first generation Thomson, what is my option to get out the recordings? I saw Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator on Amazon that is not to expensive, anyone have any experience of it, how good the result is? I need to cut away the commersials in the recordings anyway so need to get it over to my computer for editing. Or is HD PVR to prefer?

Both those options are way too much hassle, IMHO.

Just grab yourself a cheap DVD recorder on adverts and transfer to PC that way. Provided that is, your PC/laptop has a dvd-rom/dvdrw drive?

void2500

norbert64 wrote: »

Both those options are way too much hassle, IMHO.

Just grab yourself a cheap DVD recorder on adverts and transfer to PC that way. Provided that is, your PC/laptop has a dvd-rom/dvdrw drive?

I didn't really find any dvd recorder with harddrive in advert, I do have dvd on my laptop. I mostly found dvd recorders without harddrives. As I intend to edit the videos and store it digitally I don't really want to collect lots of dvd's. Most Harddrive based recorders seem to be with a freesat tuner inside.
Would they be able to record from my Sky box or do they only able top record from the internal freesat tuner?

pbarr

I use a sony dvd recorder with a hard disk connected to the sky box via a scart lead. When I record i do it to the hard disk where I can cut out ad breaks etc. Then I transfer it to a dvd preferrably a dvr+RW because firstly you don't have to finalise them before they work in the pc and secondly you can format and use them all over again.
One thing about storing video digitally is you need loads and loads of hard disk space.
I doubt very much if that freesat recorder would record from an evternal source, they usually record just from the epg only and even if it did how would you get the video on to dvd.

void2500

pbarr wrote: »

I use a sony dvd recorder with a hard disk connected to the sky box via a scart lead. When I record i do it to the hard disk where I can cut out ad breaks etc. Then I transfer it to a dvd preferrably a dvr+RW because firstly you don't have to finalise them before they work in the pc and secondly you can format and use them all over again.
One thing about storing video digitally is you need loads and loads of hard disk space.
I doubt very much if that freesat recorder would record from an evternal source, they usually record just from the epg only and even if it did how would you get the video on to dvd.

I suspected that those recorders with freesat tuners wouldn't work.
When it comes to storage space its not an issue as I am planning to get a 2 TB external USB drive to store it on. So what is recommended size of harddrive in the dvd recorders? Are the harddrive replacable in case it would brake? Any recoomendation on a good one with harddrive for a good price?

norbert64

void2500 wrote: »

I didn't really find any dvd recorder with harddrive in advert, I do have dvd on my laptop. I mostly found dvd recorders without harddrives. As I intend to edit the videos and store it digitally I don't really want to collect lots of dvd's. Most Harddrive based recorders seem to be with a freesat tuner inside.
Would they be able to record from my Sky box or do they only able to record from the internal freesat tuner?

Do you really need a HDD/DVD Recorder?

Standard DVD Recorder should be more than sufficient and cheaper too. You can do all the editing on your PC.

void2500 wrote: »

I suspected that those recorders with freesat tuners wouldn't work.
When it comes to storage space its not an issue as I am planning to get a 2 TB external USB drive to store it on.
So what is recommended size of harddrive in the dvd recorders? Are the harddrive replacable in case it would brake?
Any reccomendation on a good one with harddrive for a good price?

You can actually get Freesat HDD/DVD Recorders \/ Somewhat pricey though.
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9255715.htm

160 GB HDD is a good start. Bigger HDD, together with the fact that HDD/DVD Recorders are kinda being taken off the market, will of course mean more expense though.

I'm afraid, most of the time the HDDs aren't replaceable.
Well, OK, so from a practical POV they are, but the programming/software they use apparently can't be re-done.
So while you may be able to fit the new HDD in place, it won't work. :cool:

pbarr

You know I don't even know what size hard drive is in my dvd recorder. It will hold different amount of video depending on the quality you record at. I think at best quality it holds something like 25 or 30 hours. I have it about 6 or 7 years and I'd imagine the hard disks are kinda the same size.
I sent you a PM

void2500

I have found a dvd recorder on advert with a 160 gb harddrive in it, it say the recorder is 3 years old. By my experience that is around that time a harddrive fails so it would be very handy if it fails to be able to replace it. I noticed that that particular had IDE interface and all new harddrives is SATA so not sure if it would work with a converter anyway. I would prefer to have at least 500 gb drive but I say no IDE drives are sold these days.

The reason why I want a recorder with harddrive is basicly because it is very time consuming to sit and burn out everything at once, my Sky+ box is basicly full and most of it I want to keep. Preferly it would be handy to just put new drive there but that would void the warranty as it is just a few months old.

pbarr

Would this be any use, take video straight from sky box to pc: http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-FC0C9702-7312DF2D/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_13517.htm

void2500

pbarr wrote: »

Would this be any use, take video straight from sky box to pc: http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-FC0C9702-7312DF2D/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_13517.htm

Great stuff, I will buy it and try how it works, hopefully the output is good quality

pbarr

Its not that expensive and at least you can take it back and get your money back if it doesn't work out.

void2500

pbarr wrote: »

Would this be any use, take video straight from sky box to pc: http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-FC0C9702-7312DF2D/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_13517.htm

I went ahead and bought that kit on Monday but only got around to try it yesterday.
Appears to work fine, good quality aswell.

I have not tried to editing function yet. One hour recording becomes around 3.5 gb on the harddrive. Program is only able to save in MPEG format. Is there any free program around that would be able to convert it to .avi format with div-x or xvid format? Found Div-x plus yesterday but it seem to be costing money.

norbert64

void2500 wrote: »

I went ahead and bought that kit on Monday but only got around to try it yesterday.
Appears to work fine, good quality aswell.

I have not tried to editing function yet. One hour recording becomes around 3.5 gb on the harddrive. Program is only able to save in MPEG format. Is there any free program around that would be able to convert it to .avi format with div-x or xvid format? Found Div-x plus yesterday but it seem to be costing money.

AviDemux or VirtualDubMPEG2 will do what you need.
You'll have to download the free xVID codec though, to use in those 2 appz. :cool:

You'll also need a fairly high spec PC for the conversion process. Low end machines will do it but it will take a lot of time.

pbarr

You could try this http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/

I don't know anything about it but it might do what you want. I installed it a few months ago but have never used it. Its probably only a trial version but maybe not.

Stinicker

void2500 wrote: »

I went ahead and bought that kit on Monday but only got around to try it yesterday.
Appears to work fine, good quality aswell.

I have not tried to editing function yet. One hour recording becomes around 3.5 gb on the harddrive. Program is only able to save in MPEG format. Is there any free program around that would be able to convert it to .avi format with div-x or xvid format? Found Div-x plus yesterday but it seem to be costing money.

You can use AutoGK to convert an MPEG video into .avi format.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn30iUZrNKg

Just ignore the DVD part and insert your mpeg video where the .vob file normally goes and it will re-encode etc.

void2500

I tried to convert some files yesterday and found Any Video Converter and Virtualdub the best, AviDemux and AutoGK just kept wanting to change to change so smaller resolution while Any Video Converter and Virtual Dub just kept the recorded resolution as it was

The video software that came with Lidl is not that great for editing the video, doesn't seem to be able to mark sessions in the movie and just cut it away.

pbarr

You might find something useful for doing the editing here: http://bit.ly/o5KoiY

Also another converter to try is handbrake http://handbrake.fr/

void2500

pbarr wrote: »

You might find something useful for doing the editing here: http://bit.ly/o5KoiY

Also another converter to try is handbrake http://handbrake.fr/

One workaroundto skip the video editing would be to stop the capturing once there is commersial and just fast forward the sky box and start a new capture for next session. Only problem is that it create lots of files.
It could work if I find any video joining software, but most of them seem to cost money unfortunatelly. If any of you know any good one that is free
I'm happily testing it

pbarr

I have been kinda doing someting similar to what you want to do for the past couple of years. Its usually avi files that I edit so if I were you I would record the whole lot including ads then convert it to avi. Then you can use a program called Solveig avi trimmer to edit


Theres a video about how to use it and a download link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukgyx3aXUL8

I have been using an older version of this for a long time and find it very good. I haven't tried this version yet.

Big Nelly

Hey guys

Know this is an old thread, I have Sky with Sky + box. Have a lot of TV episodes off different channels, RTE etc. Want to take a copy so I can play back when I change to UPC. Is there a handy way to do this and put onto USB hard drive?

John mac

copy them onto Tape (vcr). or dvd .

You will have to play all the programs to record them though.

or if you have an analogue tv card in your computer you can record onto the pc. (the above still applies though .