Adding Foxtel as a source (1 Viewer)

[joshcrd]

Hi All,

First post so I hope this hasn't been covered already. I've searched the forums and seen lots of threads about running foxtel directly through an HTPC (ie getting rid of foxtel set top box and using mediaportal as the EPG)

I don't think I have the time/effort/hardware for this so I'm happy to keep my foxtel set top box and remote, and just add it as a source through MP

for example:
I turn on my TV and mediaportal is the first thing that comes up, I can select videos, music, tv etc but I want to add another menu item that says foxtel (or something else) so I select that source then start using my foxtel remote as per normal

I have regular foxtel digital (through Optus) no HD or IQ or anything, at the moment it's connected to the TV through RCA so I'm not really concerned about any loss in picture quality as it's average already, I have the HTPC on HDMI1 on my tv and currently if I want to watch foxtel I change the TV channel to a different channel

my HTPC is running the following hardware:

ASUS E45M1-I-DELUXE M-ITX Motherboard
Hauppauge HVR2200 MCE PCIe Dual Hybrid
Silverstone SG05 Black Cube with 450W
4g RAM
Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB HDD
60gig SSD (for windows and mediaportal)http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16324

 

[SiLenTYL]

You could try the hauppuage Colossus (hdmit input card) and see if that works... or buy a hardware encoding mpeg2(not software *encoding*) device and plug in your RCA video/audio inputs.

The colossus card works in MP.. i havnt got foxtel or the colossus tho so i cant say first hand.

As for the remote - You can use an IR Blaster software which captures the differnt signals from your foxtel remote and "teach" it to your PC remote(im assiming u use a PC remote for MP). Otherwise you can buy a "learning" remote and u dont need IR Blaster cables. Depending on the remote control you use, it may have IR blaster cables and sticky tape them to your foxtel box sensor... but SIGH.. its a lot of work and in the end its prolly not that great. The only BIG plus u get is that you can record Foxtel especially if u cant before.. but as i say.. im not even sure that all works.

 

[joshcrd]

okay thanks for that I think what Im doing at the moment is easier

instead of starting a new thread, does anyone know if the above set up should have any trouble playing 1080p content?
I tried avatar and inception and they seemed a bit jumpy (although could be because they are BRRIP)

the research I did says that the HTPC I built should have no trouble at all playing that kind of content, maybe its my codecs (using divx at the moment) or the actual files