Homemade Sky+

Gegerty

Hi,

Is there a PVR set top box out there that'll work with a sky digibox without having to pay the sky+ subscription? I know it can be done with a pc but a pc is too noisey and this method is not very user friendly.

stephene

I suppose you could achieve something similar using a DVD Recorder with built-in hard disk and a PhantomPLUS, but unlike Sky+, you'd still have to watch what you're recording.

DVD Recorders with hard disks aren't exactly cheap, but the Kiss box below does have some superb features and you can easily copy your recorded programmes to DVD.

Mustek R580 80GB - €319
Kiss DP-558 80GB - €459

The PhantomPLUS connects to the VCR scart on the Digibox using a pass-thru connector and works with your Sky personal planner. You initally "teach" it your DVD Recorders' remote signals and whenever a program has been set to Autoview in your personal planner, the PhantomPLUS intercepts the scart control signal and uses it's infra-red blaster to tell the recorder to start recording.

More info in the PhantomPLUS here

I've never used the PhantomPLUS so unfortunately can't really comment on how good or bad it is.

Hope this gives you some ideas anyway,

Stephen.

egan007

got this from a google

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/pvr.html

stephene

got this from a google

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/pvr.html

Many of those boxes listed are Freeview (ie. digital terrestrial) recorders which are fine for the UK, but are unfortunately of little or no use in Ireland....unless you live on the Wexford coastline apparently.

Grayarea

MythTv is worth a look if you are any good with Linux.

http://www.mythtv.org/

watty

Or ProgDVB for Windows
Or various things including Myth TV that will keep you off the streets for weeks on Linux. Don't use fancy 64bit Linux or they won;t generally ever work,

construct06

But there must be some HDD Dvd recorder that will record using Skys Personal oplanner and does not need the Phnatom Plus. I've been in the usual places..Dixons, Currys etc.....and can't seem to get this.

But i'm sure i read before somewhere, just cant remember where, that something like this is available.

Would love to find out a good reliable one, cud get for Xmas then!

dmeehan

can anyone recommend an alternative to a sky+ box, ie an FTA sat receiver with built-in HDD?

watty

Pace, Humax, Kathrein, Topfield, Kaon, ReelBox, TripleDragon, Dreambox, Reelbox Lite.

The list is endless unless you want HD TV.

NONE will do pay TV or FTV channels sensibly.


(*Anyone telling me again what a dragon cam or similar can do on a good day with get thumped with a 2 x 4)

digitaldr

I've got a Panasonic DVD recorder that I use for archiving from my sky+ box. I also have my old sky box with a ftv card (or what ever the correct term is!) for Channel 4 etc. The DVD recorder works with the sky planner on autoview. Unfortunately it only works in this way with the VCR scart on the sky box so composite recordings only (even though the recorder is RGB capable). It might be worth investigating if Panasonic HDD recorders also have this feature (it should say so in the manual - mine did).

Having said all that I doubt you'd find anything as good as the real thing.

JHMEG

I've a PC connected to the 2nd SCART socket on my TV. In the PC there's a Hauppauge PVR150 (hardware MPEG encoding) for recording the Irish channels off the aerial, and a Twinhan DVB-S PCI sat card connected to the quad LNB.

Running on the PC is GB-PVR (free) on XP. Connected to the internet (via DSL) the box downloads the EPG stuff using xmltv-gui from radiotimes.com every night, so has programme info going 2 weeks ahead.

GB-PVR is especially good for using the remote that came with the PVR150.

Where it's better than Sky+
1. All my divx movies as well as recordings are playable on the TV.
2. I use a plugin that looks up the all the movie info and downloads the cover art from the IMDB for all recordings, movies etc. Very handy.
3. All media is shared on the inhouse network. Handy for watching on the iPAQ.
4. MAME! I have Mame and a few arcade classics installed and can play them via the TV using a GB-PVR plugin.
5. Transcoding: The PC wakes up at night and transcodes the recordings to whatever format I like. Currently I'm using 3GP so I can watch them on my Sony Ericsson K750i.
6. I can record of more than one channel at a time, depending (ie analog and sat)
7. Streaming: I can watch recordings at work in Windows Media Player as GB-PVR will use VLC encoder to transcode the MPEG2 recordings on the fly to Windows Media. Very CPU intensive but I only ever watch one stream at a time.
8. Web access to all of the EPG, and setting up recordings. Can be done from a suitable mobile phone too!

Where it's not as good as Sky+
1. I have a Sky FTV card in the Digibox for Channel4, Sky3 etc. Even tho the DVB-S card has a CI slot, I can't use a Sky FTV card in it (handy anyway... I believe I can with a Dragon CAM, but would have to put the card in the digibox regularly to update the codes).
2. I have it set to standby after 10 mins of inactivity, which means I have to wake it by pressing the power button. The reason being it consumes 90w and electricity isn't cheap anymore! (The digibox I think is about 40w) When in standby it consumes 5w but the advantage is that it can wake up automatically to record stuff, to transcode or to update the EPG, and will go back into standby 10 mins after it's finished.

Even tho I'm a Unix admin of several years, I gave up on myth after 2 weeks of extremely slow progress, mainly due to hardware support issues.

GB-PVR took a bit of fluting, but I had it essentially right within a day.

I have a DVB-T USB stick on order (£13 on ebay!) as I'm hopeful I can get the Irish channels in digital as we're in range of Three Rock and I aleady have the aerial in the attic. Should work as GB-PVR supports any DVB (-T/S/C) card that has BDA drivers.

BTW, the UI is very user friendly, and PC has near silent fans, so it can't be heard unless I've my ear up to it.

givecredit

a topfield Satellite pvr such as tf 5000 tdr can be set up to work like Sky+ , but with more and better features. If you want to watch FTV Channels or Subscription Channels you will need Dragon Cam. Your Sky card will need to be inserted into Sky Digibox every 6 weeks to keep card alive. But it all works very well. You can have all the following with no subscription:
1. 14 day EPG
2. Series Link,
3. Record 2 channels at same time while watching another tv channel or recorded program.
4. pause live tv.
5. rewind live tv.
6. arrange epg/channel order to suit your needs.
7. Transfer recordings via usb to pc for archiving to DVD.
8. Music Jukebox.
9. Up to 400GB harddrive.
10. Watch Ch4, Ch5, Sky3.(Dragon Cam required)

With 2 dragon cams and Sky Subscription,(FOR RTE and TV3 and other subscription channels) you can have all Channels available on Irish Sky sub plus Ch4, Ch5 Ch5 Life Ch5 US, itv, Itv2, Itv3, Itv4, BBC3, bbc4 all on your EPG and fully recordable.

Takes a bit of work to set-up. But the Toppy.org forum will give you all the help you need, as they provided to me. You wont have mods threatening to Hit you with a 2x4!!.
This set up works a threat. The Radiotimes epg is excellent on the pvr. Great for honest reviews of tv shows and Films.

See here for more help and info
http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5853&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

watty

Today. A sky card used out side a Sky box could be killed or it may not work tomorrow. It's a hobbyist solution for those with spare money.

For Sky pay channels nothing works as well as a Sky+. But I won't get one unless someone else is paying or they drop the recording rental