Hello! - and my first questions :) (1 Viewer)

[yakboy]

Hi Folks,

I've been pointed towards this MP community by a friend who says that your are the nuts for HTPC's! I've been beginning to price up a system and will probably manage to get through the hardware selection OK but for now I'm trying to get a grasp of what exactly MP can do with regards to PVR capability and different networks / systems.

At the moment I am paying through the nose for SkyHD, as much as I love the content I don't really have much time to watch it and it's basically a wasted subscription each month. Saying that having the ability to Timeshift + record shows from an EPG is an absolutely indispensable feature for me.

My Q's:

1. I don't really have very good DVB-T reception so will I be OK with DVB-S?
2. Reading through the EPG forums I've seen that people are downloading Sky EPG's. Is it possible to watch and record Sky/SkyHD with special Sky compataible tuner cards?
3. Can you avoid Sky+ £10 pcm charges by doing this?
4. Do all these different EPG's combine OK?
5. As compared to Sky+ / SkyHD how would you rate a correctly configured and stable version of the TV element of MP for a) fiddlyness? b) reliability?

Many thanks people, good luck with a great program and community!

Yakboy

 

[tompa]

Hi and welcome!

I can only answer ur first question, and the answer would probably be YES.
DVB- T is the standard for "the ground" (Terrestrial) system and DVB-S for the satellite. This means that u need "clear site" to the satellite at ur location to be able to run it (in my case no trees in south direction )

Good Luck!
/tompa

 

[revs]

From what i know, Sky have their own proprietry encryption, and getting around it is fiddly and a pain! If you really want sky then you are best going with them!

however, you can use a satellite and just receive the freesat channels. freesat - Home

 

[yakboy]

Thanks to both of you... I'm still a little puzzled by why so many people are downloading the Sky EPG int he EPG forums... perhaps to get listing information for DVB-S?

revs: no worries, I'm not trying to get around Sky encryption (and it's only their non-FTA stuff that is encrypted), I'd consider keeping a basic Sky/SkyHD sub if I could dump the Sky+ charge which I loathe and can't understand (I paid for my PVR outright but still have to pay a monthly sub to use it? sheesh)

I assume I'd need some card slot on the receiver card.

 

[revs]

You would need some sort of CAM and such to decrypt the channels, and this would probabyl end up costing more than paying sky £10/pm!

For Free to Air however, MediaPortal is great!

 

[Bagal]

The reason so many people are downloading Sky EPG info is because they're probably taking the output from their sky box into an analogue capture card in their HTPC, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Sky+ is only £10pcm if you don't subscribe to any premium channels (such as sports or movies), it's better value to subscribe to some premium channels because at least you're getting something for your money, however it sounds to me like you're talking about the subscription to the HD channels which is an extra £10 pcm, you can unsubscribe from those if you want to save some money but keep your HD box and you'll still have access to all the SD channels plus BBC HD and Channel 4 HD which are free.

 

[DJBlu]

The reason so many people are downloading Sky EPG info is because they're probably taking the output from their sky box into an analogue capture card in their HTPC, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Sky+ is only £10pcm if you don't subscribe to any premium channels (such as sports or movies), it's better value to subscribe to some premium channels because at least you're getting something for your money, however it sounds to me like you're talking about the subscription to the HD channels which is an extra £10 pcm, you can unsubscribe from those if you want to save some money but keep your HD box and you'll still have access to all the SD channels plus BBC HD and Channel 4 HD which are free.

There will be a new SVN soon which will get the EPG from satellite.

 

[yakboy]

The reason so many people are downloading Sky EPG info is because they're probably taking the output from their sky box into an analogue capture card in their HTPC, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Ah ha! Something I probably won't be bothering with, if I'm keeping Sky I'm keeping it HD and analogue capturing it is going to make it decidedly not HD.

Sky+ is only £10pcm if you don't subscribe to any premium channels (such as sports or movies), it's better value to subscribe to some premium channels because at least you're getting something for your money, however it sounds to me like you're talking about the subscription to the HD channels which is an extra £10 pcm, you can unsubscribe from those if you want to save some money but keep your HD box and you'll still have access to all the SD channels plus BBC HD and Channel 4 HD which are free.

Yeah I downgraded from Sky World a while back when I got busy and never had time to watch films.

I'm not really sure what way to go... I think I'm going to supe up a Dell GX280 I've got lying about with a HD playback capable g.card so I can have a play with MP for now and review my TV recording possibility later on. I was flicking through the Sky HD program listings and now there are bags of HD film channels... it is kinda tempting, despite the cost.

And then this little box of tricks is finally surfacing....

Freesat HD PVR priced and primed for launch | Home Cinema Choice

And I think that perhaps a PS3 and I'd be set... (I've already got a 360 and HD DVD but that's kinda limited now)

I'd end up spending £500 to get myself sorted properly with MP + the time to get it all setup

£299 for the Humax and another £299 for the PS3 and no time at all and I've got the same functionality + a PS3 + a bluray player....

Hmmm...

 

[Bagal]

I was flicking through the Sky HD program listings and now there are bags of HD film channels... it is kinda tempting, despite the cost.

I know what you mean, I bought my HD box independent of Sky as my existing Sky+ box was on its way out, but I've yet to upgrade to the HD channels, they're adding another 6 HD movie channels this month or next as well...

£299 for the Humax and another £299 for the PS3 and no time at all and I've got the same functionality + a PS3 + a bluray player....

You'll get yourself a fairly decent PVR and of course what the PS3 brings to the table but you're forgetting everything else that MediaPortal can do as well: managing movies, tv series, music, pictures, streaming tv to multiple clients around the house + lots, lots more.

Ultimately you need to weigh up what you're going to be using it for and the pros and cons of each choice before you make your decision, for me I've effectively done both as I have the SkyHD box as the main pvr, which also happens to be connected to the lounge HTPC that can then stream Sky around the house, plus I've got a 360 and Wii for the games side of things.

Oh and then there's the media server in the loft storing all my movies, music and pictures which also happens to have a couple of DVB-T tuners...

Yes, this has all cost more than buying the standalone PVR + blu-ray/PS3 combo but I didn't spend all the money at once, this is something I've been building, developing, playing with over a number of years and ultimately it will last longer and grow with my needs.

 

[yakboy]

You'll get yourself a fairly decent PVR and of course what the PS3 brings to the table but you're forgetting everything else that MediaPortal can do as well: managing movies, tv series, music, pictures, streaming tv to multiple clients around the house + lots, lots more.

Managing movies would be nice but unless I could store everything I owned in HD I won't bother, and I can't as we'd be talking multi-terabytes
TV - Series is ditto to the movies, I used to keep them all but I failed to see why
Music - Considering there aren't many devices I own that can't read an SMB shared this is already catered for
Pictures - don't really have any
Streaming TC to multiple clients - now that my friend is a bloody good point and one I hadn't considered back at the beginning. I've got a quick and dirty RF2 output to my TV in my bedroom but that's obviously not as flexible.

I'm going to have a play with MP on an older machine I've got kicking about and see how I get along.

Big thanks to everyone for their replies, really useful and a pleasant intro to the forum