Switching from Sky to DVB-S2 card (1 Viewer)

[KeithP]

We have just cancelled our Sky+ HD subscription - need to save some pennies for a while.

I currently have MP1.2 without TV-Server but want to switch to viewing TV via the HTPC.

Will it 'simply' (ha ha) be a matter of adding a suitable DVB-S2 card and hooking it up to the feed(s) from my existing Sky dish? I have read a lot of stuff here about tuning to different satellites, but I am hoping that I will not need to change the dish setup in any way.

I gather that if I want to access Sky subscription channels, I need a card that supports a CI add-on. I will probably stick with Freesat for now.

thanks

 

[Mew]

Hi KeithP

Whether you are using Sky or Freesat, they use exactly the same TV streams from the same satallites (currently Astra 2A/2B/2D and Eurobird 1). Obviously for Freesat you can only view those that Sky do not encrypt (Free to Air (FTA)) but this covers a lot of the popular channels (BBC / ITV / C4 etc). With a DVB-S2 card you can pick up the HD FTA channels which are currently BBC1 HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD and Channel 4 HD. The BBC HD channels changed tuning details recently when they moved from DVB-S to DVB-S2 which has caused issues with them not being picked up in a channel scan. You may need to scan for these manually, details here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-support-51/issue-tuning-scanning-dvb-s2-transponder-bbc-hd-bbc-one-hd-97382/

If you want to use the broadcast Freesat EPG (all that is broadcast with the channels is now and next info) then you need to select the Freesat Info Radio station in TV Server Configuarion DVB EPG -> Radio EPG Grabber. If it it is not present then the instructions for adding it are in this thread: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-1-2-0-beta-540/astra-28-missing-channels-when-scanning-96305/index2.html#post746206

It is possible to use the SKY EPG and channel grouping, but I think it is still work in progress and probably not quite ready for a production HTPC yet. Details are here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-development-no-feature-request-here-48/custom-data-grabber-plugins-96767/

Hope this helps

Mew

 

[KeithP]

Great - thanks very much for the info

 

[miroslav22]

Sky is actually very stable now. There's a stable version of the EPG grabber with series link available. DJBlu's version will replace this but I think there's a few things to fix/finish before this will happen.

You need to do a bit of tinkering to hook up your smartcard but there's plenty of us who can help with this (this has to be done via PM though as there is potential for misuse)

 

[KeithP]

I presume I need a dual input card, to get the record one channel while watching another functionality, and if I ever want to use my Sky card I gather I need one that will take a CI reader + CAM. I was thinking of the Hauppauge Nova S2-HD (only 1 input) or TBS6981 , but see that TBS are about to release a dual input card with a CI: TBS 6990 PCI-E DVB-S2 Dual Tuner TV card. I wonder if it is worth waiting for it for future-proofing...

I would be interested in any info about getting my Sky card to work with this set up, if you have time to PM me that would be great and much appreciated.

 

[Jay_UK]

Hi there,

Yep...to record one and watch one...you will need two feeds from the dish/LNB and either two cards or a dual card.

As for getting the Sky card working... I'm afraid this can not be discussed on this forum, as it is "illegal" well at least against Sky's T&Cs...any posts will be potentially deleted and you will have the moderators on at you :O

J.

 

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