Sky Plus to PC?

[Stuka]

Hi guys.

This has probably been asked before, so I apologise if it has been.

I have a high-spec PC at home, with Sky+ currently hooked up to my LCD TV.

All I'm interested in at the moment, is hooking my PC up to my Sky+ box so I can record programmes from my box to PC.

From what I can gather, I need a TV Capture card like the Hauppage PVR-250and something like an S-Video cable which'll run from the Sky box to the TV card, and seperate audio leads.

Is this more or less all I need? Am I on the right path?

I've also noticed that my Geforce 8800 GTS graphics card has an S-Video connector next to its DVI ports, could that be used to connect directly to the Sky Box, instead of buying a capture card?

Cheers all.

[Para]

Your right on most things.

Not sure if its a svid slot on the 8800 or a breakout box connector (i had a 7800 and it was for a break out box that could only accept composite as an input)

I would recommend a capture card though as they will take the load off your processor and mean you can do other things while recording.

[Stuka]

Originally Posted by Para

Your right on most things.

Not sure if its a svid slot on the 8800 or a breakout box connector (i had a 7800 and it was for a break out box that could only accept composite as an input)

I would recommend a capture card though as they will take the load off your processor and mean you can do other things while recording.

Hi there Para, thanks for the info.

Which TV capture card would you recommend? Also, what is the proper terminology for the audio leads that I would need to hook a Sky box to a PC TV card?

Also, which connectors on the back of the sky plus box would i need to use for the audio leads?

Cheers.

[Para]

Originally Posted by Stuka

Hi there Para, thanks for the info.

Which TV capture card would you recommend? Also, what is the proper terminology for the audio leads that I would need to hook a Sky box to a PC TV card?

Also, which connectors on the back of the sky plus box would i need to use for the audio leads?

Cheers.

Hi Stuka, not really sure of the best card at the moment as I don't have one. I understand how it all works but have not ever needed it..

As for connections it depends on the card. Have a brows around the forums or see what is recommended elsewhere.

If you find one you like give us a shout and I can guide you through how to get it all working and what leads are needed.

A guess would be a scart to svideo and some phono cables should be enough to record anything. Or if your going fancy an optical to whatever digital in you have on your pc.

Sorry I cant help much further

Para

[Stuka]

Originally Posted by Para

A guess would be a scart to svideo and some phono cables should be enough to record anything. Or if your going fancy an optical to whatever digital in you have on your pc.


Para

Cheers Para. Would I need a scart to s-video cable? Or would S-video to S-video be ok? Because my Sky Plus box has an s-video port, and for instance, if the TV card was to have S-Video, would that suffice?

In fact, I've spotted this on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WINTV-PVR-250-...dZp1638Q2em122

the only problem is, if you look at the picture, the card has "NTSC" written on it. If I was going from Sky plus to PC, would it matter if the card was NTSC, rather than PAL?

What would you say to the Hauppauge-WinTV-PVR-350 TV Tuner/Personal Video Recorder? It's on Amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-WinT.../dp/B00008OOWC - any good?

[Para]

the amazon is ntsc too.. Not sure if that would cause an issue or not. I cant imagine it would as your pc does the recording and playback. and I am sure you could set it to pal.

Maybe look at some uk shops to??

[drummerjohn]

PVR150 would do the job fine.

[Tellybelly]

I have a Pinnacle 3010ix (£17.99 from Play.com) but would not recommend it at all. The software that comes with it is not worth loading and the quality of the picture capture from the SKY+ is atrocious. The sound very often goes out of sink with the video which then starts to drops frames. Tried almost every third party software (downloaded as a free trial) that I could find and all have been disappointing. The only one that seems to work is Blaze Media Pro. But again the quality of the capture from SKY+ is quite poor.

Also, the card does require a very good strong signal to tune any freeview channel. With my current arial my TV picks up all the freeview channels and displays a very good picture. With the same arial fed into the card I pick up one or two channels that then freeze and are really unwatchable.

Now I would really buy a DVD recorder and archive onto this from the SKY+ box if only I had room under the TV and the wife would let me

(my next project is to get a satellite card and see if I can have play with freesat on my HTPC - although I am not hopeful - you hear a lot peolple on this forum say "Ah I did x and y and it all works a treat..." but personally as far as a HTPC is concerned I have yet to experience that).