PVR / HTPC question

IceAx

IceAx

IceAx

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2003
Posts
5,852
Location
Warrington
Right peeps want to sort myself out with a PVR!

I already have a reasonable HTPC set up:

3000 venice
Antec Aria
Pinnacle Digi/analogue tuner (svideo in)
etc etc

Running MCE2005.

Im looking to get my sky set up through either this or another PVR.
All the PVRs i can find that are reasonable price, all have Freeview
built in and dont allow recording from Sky.

Is it possible to use the HTPC to record / pause and playback?

Cheers

Andy
 
You could use an analogue TV card and just plug in the Sky box. But this wouldn't allow you to record and watch another channel. Is there any reason for not just getting Sky+?
 
Have you tried plugging the Sky box into the MCE machine? If it's got an analogue tuner you should be able to do that :) and then use the MCE box to record.
 
You can do sky with MCE, but I wouldn't really recommend it (I used to do it).
The only sky boxes that do svideo output that i'm aware of are certain grundig boxes and the sky+ boxes, so you'd be limited to composite out or buying an RGB scart to svideo converter.
There is a delay of 2-3 seconds over watching it normally due to the encoding and caching on the computer which can be a little irritating if you using the sky menus or interactive services.
Also the methods for changing channel are less than 100% reliable, you either use the irbuds that came with MCE or buy a device that plugs into the RF2 output on the sky box, in my situation the irbuds didn't work at all, and about 1 time in 20 there would be a problem sending the codes via the RF2, either a number was received twice or a number would be missed, no matter how many times I tried to set it up.
The final issue I had is with the quality and size of the recordings, the signal is obviously transmitted as an MPEG2 stream, decoded by the sky box and displayed, with inherent artifacts. With an MCE box your machine then takes this decoded out and reencodes it as another MPEG2 stream caching it or saving it to disk, even with high bit rates on the reencode I noticed increased artifacts and some motion smearing, although some of that could be down the the analogue capture card.
 
You just cant beat the simpleness of a DVDr machine, it wont crash, hasnt any issues and doesnt need require a whole PC being used or running to do what you want....

Use a Hard-drive model myself, edit out the ads etc finalise to a DVDr disc then rip this to the PC and adding to my MCE archive. Its there then just as youd want it available to stream to extenders etc.

This may take a little more effort but it gains with 1:1 quality and no dropped frames.

Trust me MCE PVR isnt all that and a look on any AV related forums will have it littered with TV tuner / PVR problems ....
 
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Personally i've been using my MCE box for well over a year now, and have had no problems whatsoever. In fact, it's the best gadget i've bought in a LONG time. I use Freeview though, not Sky. It's perfect, really easy to use, reliable, looks good, etc... :)
 
My sky box has svideo out, my tv card has svideo in so thats simple!

I already have a DVDr but i want the option of live tv pause and
a nice easy one button record, not looking for disks etc as i already
have a DVDr. If i just had freeview the choice would be easy get a PVR
with freeview :)

ill try and give htpc a go at the weekend see how that works out :)

Andy
 
Matt said:
Personally i've been using my MCE box for well over a year now, and have had no problems whatsoever. In fact, it's the best gadget i've bought in a LONG time. I use Freeview though, not Sky. It's perfect, really easy to use, reliable, looks good, etc... :)
Click to expand...
Same here, although I've only just built mine. Working a treat now so just got to hopefully keep the reliability :) Shouldn't really have any problems as it's a dedicated machine so won't have things installed willy nilly.
 
What program will i be using to get my picture on the tele?

Im running MCE so when i select watch tele it turns on
the "tv tuner" and plays the freeview, how will I select it
to actually display the captured input?

Cheers

Andy
 
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