Win Media Center: satalite reciever via HDMI to PC?

[paddyirishman05]

Im setting up Windows Media Center to play & record TV via TV tuner. I will have my satalite reciever connected to it also.
Is it possible to connect the satalite reciever via HDMI to PC? or is the Digital TV-IN jack my only option?

If no, its a pitty having a monitor connected to PC via HDMI, but cant watch HD TV!!

 

[Stiggy]

No. The way it works is;

You buy a DVB-S tuner card for the PC, attach a feed from the dish to the card, and watch TV either on your monitor or on a TV connected via HDMI.

 

[chrisuk01]

any helpful links for this?

 

[Stiggy]

any helpful links for this?

There's loads on info the these forums in the Home Entertainment PC and Freesat sections.

Do you have any specific questions?

 

[chrisuk01]

I have Sky HD and n=bth feeds go to the box.

Is it possible to connect the HTPC with the sky HD box, but still be able to use the sky box for viewing and recording, byt at the same time also use the HTPC to view / record?

 

[Habanos]

You would only be able to do it by interacting with the Sky box, over an analogue connection. There are a number of limitations with this, mainly the image (will only be standard definition not HD), sound (stereo only) and an inherent delay which is likely to cause great frustration.

The better option is to run a third feed from the dish (I believe Sky install an LNB supporting 4 outputs) and use that with a DVB-S/S2 card in the PC. If you don't want to do this yourself, contact a local satellite installer who can probably do it reasonably cheaply for you. Even if you only dual a dual LNB, they should be able to replace it with a quad without changing your existing dish. The only downside to this is that you won't get Sky-encrypted channels on the PC, it will just be Freesat HD.

Having tried both methods (interacting with a set top box / native DVB-S), I would definitely recommend the latter.

 

[chrisuk01]

can you purchase a tv card that allows you to insert the sky card, thus allowing you to view the encrypted channels you pay for.

As I currently have 3 boxes (multiroom) so I could remove one of these and use the card?

thanks for the help

 

[BenRyder]

can you purchase a tv card that allows you to insert the sky card, thus allowing you to view the encrypted channels you pay for.

As I currently have 3 boxes (multiroom) so I could remove one of these and use the card?

thanks for the help

Yes and no.

You can buy a DVB-S2 card and connect your 3rd cable to this in your PC. Then by using a piece of software called DVBLogic TV Source (DVBLogic) along with a Dreambox (Dreambox 500 will suffice) you can make Sky work within Windows Media Centre.
Plus if you already subscribe to the HD channels you can view them.

However you would have to remove the Sky card from your Sky box and leave it in your dreambox.

There is a whole (massive) thread as a sticky at the top of this forum that explains everything.

It's a bit of a faff to setup and isn't as smooth as Sky (channel change times can be about 5 seconds whilst it decodes them) however once working it's a brilliant system.

Ben.