Can I record Sky digital on PC/PVR?

MickH503

Hi, just moved into new house without any TV connection at moment. Looking at Sky, but would like to be able to record TV to the PC or maybe to a HDD recorder. I don't want to pay €15 pm for Sky+ plus whatever the one off charge is for it. So can I record Sky+? Thanks for all help ...!!!

pH

Yes, but it's not at as simple as Sky+

You can't record digitally, you need to record the analog composite signal and the audio. The best sky recording would be made from the RGB feed, but RGB capture cards are rare. Very few Sky boxes have s-video either.

Getting your PVR/HTPC to change channels can be tricky, you need an IR blaster that knows how to talk to the Sky box. Other wise you need to schedule the program on Sky and schedule your recorder to record at the same time.

Obviously you can't record on station while watching an other.

There has been some talk about syncro-recording. This means that you could use Sky's planner to schedule recordings and the recorder just records anything when there is a signal present. I've not seen this as a feature on any PC PVR programs (does anyone know if it exists as a feature on a PC recorder?)

Khannie

I thought you could get digital cards now (though I may be getting it confused with high def). Using an analogue card with a set-top box would be a pain in the jacksy as pH described.

Tom Dunne

You can get digital cards, alright. But they would only pick up free to air channels (i.e. channels not needing a subscription). Though, as you may know, ITV is going free to air next year some time, so you would have both BBC, ITV and a multitude of crap channels.