Sky+ Box Inputs ?

I have recently had sky+ installed.

On the sky+ receiver, there is a RS232 socket on the back as well as a USB
socket and on the front panel next to the viewing card slot, there is a
USB socket.

What are these used for please. I have looked, rather skimmed, through the
book but can't seem to find any mention of them.

Kindest regards,

James

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

"the_constructor" wrote in message
news[email protected]_1...

I have recently had sky+ installed.

On the sky+ receiver, there is a RS232 socket on the back as well as a USB
socket and on the front panel next to the viewing card slot, there is a
USB socket.

What are these used for please.






nothing.
really.


--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

the_constructor wrote:
I have recently had sky+ installed.

On the sky+ receiver, there is a RS232 socket on the back as well as
a USB socket and on the front panel next to the viewing card slot,
there is a USB socket.

What are these used for please. I have looked, rather skimmed,
through the book but can't seem to find any mention of them.

Kindest regards,

James

You can use the USB socket to charge an iPod, not much use otherwise.
--
There is no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.

So what is the point of wasting the money to include them then?I'd have
thought that they might let you have a film on a usb for some exploitative
cost to cover you pirating it, or maybe interface your box to your pc and do
some clever indexing of its recordings into a database or something.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Adrian" wrote in message
om...
the_constructor wrote:
I have recently had sky+ installed.

On the sky+ receiver, there is a RS232 socket on the back as well as
a USB socket and on the front panel next to the viewing card slot,
there is a USB socket.

What are these used for please. I have looked, rather skimmed,
through the book but can't seem to find any mention of them.

Kindest regards,

James

You can use the USB socket to charge an iPod, not much use otherwise.
--
There is no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.

Brian Gaff wrote:
: So what is the point of wasting the money to include them then?I'd have
: thought that they might let you have a film on a usb for some exploitative
: cost to cover you pirating it, or maybe interface your box to your pc and do
: some clever indexing of its recordings into a database or something.

For "future expansion" - for example the RS232 port was used in development
and, after not being used for some years, is now used to help run the, now no
longer sold but still available second hand, "Sky Gnome"!

Every Sky STB outputs its currently tuned channel details on the RS232 port
every so often so that the Gnome can display these!

"the_constructor" wrote in message
news[email protected]_1...

I have recently had sky+ installed.

On the sky+ receiver, there is a RS232 socket on the back as well as a USB
socket and on the front panel next to the viewing card slot, there is a
USB socket.

What are these used for please. I have looked, rather skimmed, through the
book but can't seem to find any mention of them.

Kindest regards,

James




Can't say if the USB has ever been used but the RS232 is currently used
to support the LCD display of a little pyramid shaped satellite radio
called the Sky Gnome. The set is no longer available from Sky but
the display data is still supported in the digibox software, and I imagine
that includes + boxes too.

Below is some raw data I extracted from my box using Hyper-Terminal
a few months ago for Brian when he expressed an interest in text to speech
EPG.



293SSCN010136SSCA009E4SSDT02611.59pm Sat 21 Feb SST00139.00pmSSN0039The
?World's
Greatest Comedy...?SSE0191...Characters: A celebration of the funniest
comedy c
reations from British and American comedy, from gems such as Steptoe and
Son, Po
rridge and Dad's Army to Green Wing and The Office.fe


Here is some more information on the data format etc.
http://www.heenan.me.uk/control-sky-...-protocol.html


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

"Brian Mc" wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:
: So what is the point of wasting the money to include them then?I'd have
: thought that they might let you have a film on a usb for some
exploitative
: cost to cover you pirating it, or maybe interface your box to your pc
and do
: some clever indexing of its recordings into a database or something.

For "future expansion" - for example the RS232 port was used in
development
and, after not being used for some years, is now used to help run the, now
no
longer sold but still available second hand, "Sky Gnome"!

Every Sky STB outputs its currently tuned channel details on the RS232
port
every so often so that the Gnome can display these!

Did you ever see that very early Amstrad DRX100 manual with some
detail of the diagnostic data that used to come out of the RS232 as the
box booted?
I am sure that document made mention of DISEQC, but how that was
useful in a SKY box I don't know. Maybe it was unused functionality of
the chip-set

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Graham. wrote:

: Did you ever see that very early Amstrad DRX100 manual with some
: detail of the diagnostic data that used to come out of the RS232 as the
: box booted?

Allegedly a large amount of detailed diagnostic data can *still* be output
on the RS232 port - but only Sky's own engineers have specifically authorised
smartcards!

Graham. wrote:

I am sure that document made mention of DISEQC, but how that was
useful in a SKY box I don't know. Maybe it was unused functionality of
the chip-set

It eventually found a use for source transponder selection in SCR
(single cable routing) setups where selected multiplexes are sent down
one IF cable from an SCR multiswitch (or LNB) which carries out IF-IF
frequency conversion.

--
Andy