UK Subscription Cable Channels (1 Viewer)

[evilTom]

HI all
I have a couple of questions for the Brits out there.
At the moment I have TVServer set up and working well with a satellite card to watch FTA channels through an old Sky mini-dish. In the next few weeks/months I will be moving house. The guy I will be house sharing with is keen to have a Virgin Media Subscription. Now I know its perfectly possible to connect the Virgin box to the analogue in on my capture card and control it with a blaster (already have the hardware for this) but I would like to integrate a cable capture card into my system and do it properly.
I know its possible to use a viewing card with a DVB-S Card and from a preliminary look round the net I think I can do it with a cable card as well. But I’m a little confused about the hardware I will need and which hardware is best for the job. I’m on a bit of a budget and while I don’t mind making an investment in something that will work I don’t want to spend money on something that wont do what I want.
Has anyone got subscription Virgin Media channels working through Mediaportal? If so can you share your hardware setup?
I think I need a DVB-C card with a Common Interface, and a CAM to go into that. Not sure which CAM I would need and I’ve also read a few bits about programming the CAM?
As always, any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated.
I was also thinking about doing a proper tutorial about this and adding it to the wiki. I cant be the only one with questions!
Cheers

 

[80sman]

I did write a great big long post about this, then the internet connection cut me off. Long and short of it is:
Virgin media say it's a breach of they're terms and conditions to tamper with your connection or hardware which they own in any way shape or form.

EU law says that there must be an allowance for competition for within the market place..... which is the crux of the problem. Is it illegal to use your own equipment to view cable in the uk with a valid subscription or is it illegal for virgin to stop you? Nobody knows..... nobody wants to be the one to get the test case thrown at them.

Either way this forum isn't the best place to find out. Google will probably be your friend. probably something like "Satellite, Cable, Hardware, & Technology forums" ought to cover it..... try copy and pasting that in, see where you get.

 

[Phunky]

it is possible but requires MDAPIFilter support which MediaPortal wont officially support as it opens them to possible piracy due to softcams.

I suggested you go look at the techwatch forums as that has all the info you require, but to confirm you question i use MP with Virgin Media and its fine.

 

[evilTom]

Thanks for the replies guys. Very helpful.
It's beginning to look like this might be a bit more trouble than its worth (and maybe a bigger risk) but I'll do a little more research.

Is it easier to view encrypted channels from a satellite source or does that have similar limitations? From what ive read there seems to be more people doing satellite than cable.

Thanks Again

 

[Phunky]

There both as bad as each other really, neither are legal in the UK.

 

[evilTom]

Its a shame really as I'm prepared to pay for a subscription from one of these companies in return for being able to watch via the equipment I want to use. It's up to them what restrictions they impose but it just means I have to look elsewhere for the shows I want to watch and they miss out on my money.
You can see how people start to pirate things. Doing the right thing is so tricky.

I wonder if subscription TV will ever mirror the music MP3 scenario, i.e. consumers weren't prepared to pay for DRM crippled music that they could only play on devices that record label approved, there was a backlash, and now the majority of music is available DRM free.

 

[Phunky]

MediaPC are not mainstream yet, there was years before music companies cared about MP3 - it was only really thanks to apple and the iPod that everyone really took to MP3s.

I remember when the compression format first came out and it would take 15mins just to compress one .wav to .mp3 via a nice DOS program oh those where the days.

 

[funkstar]

Its a shame really as I'm prepared to pay for a subscription from one of these companies in return for being able to watch via the equipment I want to use. It's up to them what restrictions they impose but it just means I have to look elsewhere for the shows I want to watch and they miss out on my money.
You can see how people start to pirate things. Doing the right thing is so tricky.

Same for me. If I could use MediaPortal and a few DVB-S2 cards, I would happily pay for multiple Sky satellite cards. As it stands I can't do that (legaly or easily), so Freesat is what I'll be getting installed once I move into my new place.

 

[EViS]

There is no problem with using MP and VM. dvbn is all you require.