Freesat and DVB-S adaptor for PC

The Freesat site
http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat...-with-freetime
refers to various Freesat-approved PVRs made by Humax.

Is it possible instead to use a DVB-S PCI card or USB adaptor and Windows
Media Centre to access the same channels, assuming that there is a suitable
dish with one or more LNBs and cables?

Can a Sky-installed dish (currently connected to a Sky box) be temporarily
connected to a DVB-S adaptor to test/configure Windows Media Centre, or is
this a no-no with Sky?

I'm trying to find a way of recording and keeping TV programmes when we move
to an area that is served only by a terrestrial relay rather than a main
transmitter, and which therefore will only supply some multiplexes and not
all - hence the need to investigate satellite rather than terrestrial aerial
as we have at our present house.

We may decide to have a Sky dish and our present Sky box for TV
recording/viewing, with an additional dish for Freesat for my PC to record
things we want to keep, so as not to fill up the Sky box HDD. I understand
that if Sky fit a dish with more than the standard 2 LNBs, they charge an
extra monthly tariff for multi-room, so we don't want to go there.

NY wrote:

Is it possible instead to use a DVB-S PCI card or USB adaptor and Windows
Media Centre to access the same channels, assuming that there is a suitable
dish with one or more LNBs and cables?

Either PCI or USB, make sure you buy an S2 adapter, with Windows your
choice should be larger than with Linux, thought it's still wise to look
for reports of good/bad support.

Can a Sky-installed dish (currently connected to a Sky box) be temporarily
connected to a DVB-S adaptor to test/configure Windows Media Centre, or is
this a no-no with Sky?

No problems.

On 05/01/2015 13:11, Andy Burns wrote:
NY wrote:

Is it possible instead to use a DVB-S PCI card or USB adaptor and Windows
Media Centre to access the same channels, assuming that there is a
suitable
dish with one or more LNBs and cables?

Either PCI or USB, make sure you buy an S2 adapter, with Windows your
choice should be larger than with Linux, thought it's still wise to look
for reports of good/bad support.

Can a Sky-installed dish (currently connected to a Sky box) be
temporarily
connected to a DVB-S adaptor to test/configure Windows Media Centre,
or is
this a no-no with Sky?

No problems.


You should be able to use Windows Media Centre but DVBviewer is a better
product (IMHO)

I think you will find a list of compatible hardware on the DVBviewer
website.

You could buy a DBB-S2 card, and it will likely come with some software.

--
Michael Chare

On Monday, 5 January 2015 12:57:53 UTC, NY wrote:
The Freesat site
http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat...-with-freetime
refers to various Freesat-approved PVRs made by Humax.

Is it possible instead to use a DVB-S PCI card or USB adaptor and Windows
Media Centre to access the same channels, assuming that there is a suitable
dish with one or more LNBs and cables?

You will be able to get all the FTA ones (hundreds including HD with S2))


Can a Sky-installed dish (currently connected to a Sky box) be temporarily
connected to a DVB-S adaptor to test/configure Windows Media Centre, or is
this a no-no with Sky?

You can connect YOUR dish to whatever you like. If you have a $ky subscription then [contractually] you have to keep the box connected to a phone line.


I'm trying to find a way of recording and keeping TV programmes when we move
to an area that is served only by a terrestrial relay rather than a main
transmitter, and which therefore will only supply some multiplexes and not
all - hence the need to investigate satellite rather than terrestrial aerial
as we have at our present house.

We may decide to have a Sky dish and our present Sky box for TV
recording/viewing, with an additional dish for Freesat for my PC to record
things we want to keep, so as not to fill up the Sky box HDD. I understand
that if Sky fit a dish with more than the standard 2 LNBs, they charge an
extra monthly tariff for multi-room, so we don't want to go there.

$ky normally fit a quad LNB as standard these days (which they use for multi-room if you order it), so you should have a couple of spare outputs to wire up to what you like. Once it is up

Most $ky engineers are freelance ***boys, so you may be able to induce them to wire it up for you while they are there - a few tens of pounds should do...

On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 12:57:52 +0000, NY wrote:

The Freesat site
http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat...sat-plus-with-
freetime
refers to various Freesat-approved PVRs made by Humax.

Is it possible instead to use a DVB-S PCI card or USB adaptor and
Windows Media Centre to access the same channels, assuming that there is
a suitable dish with one or more LNBs and cables?

Can a Sky-installed dish (currently connected to a Sky box) be
temporarily connected to a DVB-S adaptor to test/configure Windows Media
Centre, or is this a no-no with Sky?

I'm trying to find a way of recording and keeping TV programmes when we
move to an area that is served only by a terrestrial relay rather than a
main transmitter, and which therefore will only supply some multiplexes
and not all - hence the need to investigate satellite rather than
terrestrial aerial as we have at our present house.

We may decide to have a Sky dish and our present Sky box for TV
recording/viewing, with an additional dish for Freesat for my PC to
record things we want to keep, so as not to fill up the Sky box HDD. I
understand that if Sky fit a dish with more than the standard 2 LNBs,
they charge an extra monthly tariff for multi-room, so we don't want to
go there.

To add onto this thread - is there a software/hardware solution which
supports both Freesat HD and Freeview HD?

I am about to set up an HTPC with the main aim of being able to record
satellite but it would be good to be able to pick up the few programs
which are only on Freeview.

Cheers

Dave R

--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box