Sky Pay-TV and DVB-T Pay TV (1 Viewer)

[GiuseppeC]

Hello,
I am a customer of the Sky Italy broadcast service and Mediaset Italia DVB-T

I have an Hauppauge NOVA-S plus and I whish to receive the service I have paid for using mediaportal.

I am totally new about CI and CAM and I do not know what are they and how should be used. So, if my question is inside the rules of this forum please help me:

Is my card NOVA-S Plus compatible with Sky Italia ?

What are CAM and CI ? They seems modules I can use to put my cards on. Could you point me to some good documentation ? What should I buy ?

Is mediaportal able to manage Pay per Event ? Using DVBT I need to activate my card and then pay for the event to view. I actually do this using the digital receiver...

I am sure there is a lot more I should know about CAM, CI, Mediaportal and PayTV. Please help me.

Regards

Giuseppe Chillemi

 

[globaldonkey]

The clue is in the -S suffix. -S means satellite. -T is terrestrial. So a satellite tuner cannot tune into a terrestrial broadcast.

 

[funkstar]

CI I believe means CAM Interface, in the case of Hauppauge this looks like a large USB memory card reader. This is needed to access the CAM.

CAM is Conditional Access Module. This is what you put the subscription card into, allowing you to decode the encription.

CIs are usually matched to the DVB-x card or generic for a range of products from one manufacturer. Many DVB-S cards have them built into the tuner as well.

The CAM you use depends on the encription used by the broadcaster you want to access.

Here are a couple of guides for Sky UK which I believe uses the same encription as Sky Italia (I may be wrong in this so check before spending any money)

MediaPortal Satellite Setup
KustomPCs - HTPC, Gaming, CarPC, Cooling and Modding Products in the UK !

Sky / MCE Integration
KustomPCs - HTPC, Gaming, CarPC, Cooling and Modding Products in the UK !


As for pay per view, MediaPortal doesn't have any provision for managin pay per view events. In fact using subscription based TV services like Sky with MediaPortal is against Sky's terms and conditions your contract with them, so doing this isn't really allowed.

 

[GiuseppeC]

Thanks, very interesting links.

I need to know if there are other CI modules that could be used for a sky CAM together with MediaPortal as I already have a satellite card (Hauppauge NOVA-S plus).

As for DVB-T signal they are not so restrictive like sky but as I understand there is not support for pay per view events and card activation.

Giuseppe Chillemi

 

[funkstar]

I need to know if there are other CI modules that could be used for a sky CAM together with MediaPortal as I already have a satellite card (Hauppauge NOVA-S plus).

Hauppauge used to have a very large and expensive CAM add on for the Nova-S, they have simplified things a little now.

Hauppauge Computer Works Ltd : WinTV-CI

retails for around £45 - Scan Computers UK: Hauppauge WinTV-CI Common Interface Card for WinTV Cards (No CAM or Card Provided) (228)

No idea about Italian availability, sorry

 

[GiuseppeC]

As far I have understood about CI and CAM if I purchase this CI then I need a CAM compatible with Sky CARD and DVB-T. Maybe I'll need 2 CI and 2CAMs.
I don't know if I have to program the CAM too, but in this situation I will need a CAM programmer and the firmware.

I have read about "emulators" too but I don't know to which part of the whole system they apply.

Finally, after this odissey, I will end up to a system that due to MediaPortal limitations does not provide pay per event (DVB-T), cards activation and so on...

To much for me right know. I don't event think I will buy those mixed DVB-S - DVB-T receivers as SKY Italia refreshes their card only in the original coupled receiver. 2 different boxes seems the right situation.

However, it is "nice" to see how encryption and laws are creating a proliferation of different hardware which ultimately will go to trash and limiting our choices.

Giuseppe Chillemi