Sky TV on HTPC (legally!) without a STB

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73 posts

Master Geek

#189227 13-Jan-2009 14:59

Satch: taylorit - please remind me what your script does and how it works?

The problem when running TV Pack is that the guide info is only populated via the live stream when watching that channel, where as previously when using non TV Pack you could use the epg file created from DVBSBridge via Bladerunner etc...

So this will launch Media Center if not running, switch to live TV and then cycle through every channel to populate the guide.

Cheers

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 259

#189230 13-Jan-2009 15:04

Thanks for explaining it taylorit. I was aware of the problem and authored another thread here which gives another (albeit convoluted) workaround.

Where do you put your script and how do you get it running?

taylorit

73 posts

Master Geek

#189232 13-Jan-2009 15:10

Hey cool, it can be run from any where. You can put in in C:\Windows etc... then just have it scheduled to run using windows scheduled tasks.

Or, you can manualy just double click on it and off it will go.. Remember to copy contents to a txt file and rename it to blah.vbs

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 259

#189233 13-Jan-2009 15:10

Sorry Rusty, I have a couple more questions.

In step 3, you say you did this without ffdshow as the codec. I don't follow.
Step 4 you say just to install the DVBDream specific part. Do you mean just to install the setup exe and not the msi file too? Is that because I've already installed the msi file with DVBSBridge for DVBViewer?
You also mention using the Pro version. Is the only difference to get the Sky HD channels into Win 7? So if I'm running only the Sky SD channels into TV Pack, I can use the non Pro version? (Incidentially, I've just tried downloading the Pro zip file and it does not open so appears to be corrupt).

allstarnz

1720 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 24

Trusted

#189235 13-Jan-2009 15:12

has anyone worked out whether there's a way to do something similar with CCcam or Mgcamd? I don't think NDSbridge will work the way I'm set up. I can't really be bothered reading through the whole thread.

Have a full version of DVBViewer if that makes a difference

RustyGonad

495 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#189257 13-Jan-2009 16:09

Satch: Sorry Rusty, I have a couple more questions.

In step 3, you say you did this without ffdshow as the codec. I don't follow.
Step 4 you say just to install the DVBDream specific part. Do you mean just to install the setup exe and not the msi file too? Is that because I've already installed the msi file with DVBSBridge for DVBViewer?
You also mention using the Pro version. Is the only difference to get the Sky HD channels into Win 7? So if I'm running only the Sky SD channels into TV Pack, I can use the non Pro version? (Incidentially, I've just tried downloading the Pro zip file and it does not open so appears to be corrupt).

For Step 3 you don't need to get a picture out of DVBDream - the only time you need to see it is to confirm it has actually tuned into the channels. It has very limited out of the box codec support, but you can tell by looking at the signal strength and quality bars as to whether or not it has actually tuned and decoded the channel, that is even without setting up the video codecs.

DVBSBridge is composed of 2 components, DVBSBRidge.msi - which is the virtual DVB-T tuner (pretty much common to all the different types), and the other "viewer" specific component which is unique to each DVB program. What I meant is that you don't need to reinstall the virtual tuner, just the "DVBDreamBridgeSetup.exe".

I'd still use the Pro version, if you decide to use Sky HD in the future you won't need to upgrade again. And I know its stable.

It took me a couple days to download it - kept getting booted mid way through - they appear to be having a few issues with their download site. Let me know if you need it - I can bung it up on rapidshare.

The only other thing that I forgot to mention is that DVBDream doesn't run "as a service", which means you need to put a shortcut to the exe in your startup folder, or run it manually everytime you reboot/startup.

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RustyGonad

495 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#189266 13-Jan-2009 16:16

sbiddle:
taylorit:
Has anyone figured out how to get multiple channel recording for sky yet.? as I'm running one Nova-S card with ProgDVB (which is a dog) and running ok at present but would like to either add another sat card and be able to record multiple channels at once like I used to do with my MCE 500 and dual decoders.

I'm guessing the limitation is in the DVBSBridge only presenting one virtual DVB turner stream. and being you can only run one instance of ProgDVB also.

You would have to move to something such as Media Portal that has native MDAPI support to do this. GB-PVR also supports recording multiple channels off the same MUX but can only run a single MDAPI session which means it can only decode a single channel at once.

DVBSBridge are working on multi tuner, however the biggest issue I can see is that when using NDSCam it takes over exclusive access to the Phoenix reader, regardless of what viewer you use to access it.

You can certainly run 2 instances of NDSCam in many of the DVB programs (PIP with independent plugin support), but unless you have 2 readers, and 2 cards it won't work - the second one doesn't get card access.

Obviously this leads down one path, but I aint about to stick my neck out on that... :)

Klathman

302 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

#189302 13-Jan-2009 18:06

The thread over the last day got me playing with my setup a bit again. *sigh* Will it ever end.

I've heard about MDAPI 2008 but hadn't played with it yet but decided to take a look and found some very pleasant surprises which would definitely make it a recommended upgrade.

1) A new parameter called TSDelayBufferwhich should get rid of any delays that anyone is experiencing. I've set mine to 1200 and turned off the transparent boost and it still seems to be pretty stable. I'll do some watching tonight and see if I get any blips at all but so far all looks good.

2) Not sure when this was introduced but another new parameter called actAsCardClient which leaves little to the imagination. I know this may be seen as treading a fine line but hopefully it's seen for what it is as being no different to NDSCAM. I'm running NewCS and have set this parameter and all looks fine. No more NDSCAM which makes me feel better considering that development has stopped.

As an additional benefit to this new setup the TVService process doesn't connect to the card so any changes to the VCP only requires that newcs is restarted and not the whole tvservice. I've made changes and the TVService keeps going even though card has disappeared temporarily. At least Freeview will work in this situation if the card doesn't while I'm away.

Klathman

302 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

#189389 13-Jan-2009 23:25

Well bad news so far with the TSDelay parameter. It musn't have been properly enabled before as I restarted TVService and all sky channels suddenly started crashing TVService. In the end I found that just turning off TSDelay made it stable again. Not quite sure what the deal is but at least it's back to being stable again.

Will just have to see if I can get this one sorted or find a way to speed up the key exchanges just a smidgen more to get rid of the last few pops.

On the other hand the built in card client works a treat.

taylorit

73 posts

Master Geek

#189465 14-Jan-2009 10:57

Klathman: The thread over the last day got me playing with my setup a bit again. *sigh* Will it ever end.

I've heard about MDAPI 2008 but hadn't played with it yet but decided to take a look and found some very pleasant surprises which would definitely make it a recommended upgrade.

1) A new parameter called TSDelayBufferwhich should get rid of any delays that anyone is experiencing. I've set mine to 1200 and turned off the transparent boost and it still seems to be pretty stable. I'll do some watching tonight and see if I get any blips at all but so far all looks good.

2) Not sure when this was introduced but another new parameter called actAsCardClient which leaves little to the imagination. I know this may be seen as treading a fine line but hopefully it's seen for what it is as being no different to NDSCAM. I'm running NewCS and have set this parameter and all looks fine. No more NDSCAM which makes me feel better considering that development has stopped.

As an additional benefit to this new setup the TVService process doesn't connect to the card so any changes to the VCP only requires that newcs is restarted and not the whole tvservice. I've made changes and the TVService keeps going even though card has disappeared temporarily. At least Freeview will work in this situation if the card doesn't while I'm away.

Hoo hmmmm. What about this talk of chard sharing local on a machine does it work and if there is a software package for a windows machine would it help to provide the ability to have multiple CAMS accessing the physical card..? thus over coming this problem..? :-)

Klathman

302 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

#189472 14-Jan-2009 11:26

It should allow for multiple MDAPI plugins to access the card but I haven't tried this yet. Apparently it will increase lag time so any delays will get worse but then if the TSDelay issue is sorted then this may not be an issue anyway. If lag isn't an issue then it may become an issue but again then the new parameter will help.

This parameter is apparently working for some people so give it a go and see how you go.

EMM is apparently also supported which would be a big benefit but I haven't been able to test this yet so still early days.

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Klathman

302 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

#190370 18-Jan-2009 13:55

Well I've finally got a second sat card so can confirm that using newcs and MDAPI2008 will allow multiple NDS decodes simultaneously. I haven't tried decoding multiple channels on the same card at this stage but can't see why this wouldn't work either.

The only gotcha is that each client connection to newcs needs to have it's own user account but this is easy enough to set up.

Now the next step is just to tidy it all up as NewCS is just an application at the moment which isn't overly wonderful.

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#191129 21-Jan-2009 19:44

How do you get Mdapifilter to connect to newcs if you don't have a card client? where do you put the settings in mdapifilter? like ports, login name and password etc?

I tried using Acamd with newcs and mdapifilter but I couldn't get Acamd to login to newcs, it just gave and unable to decrypt error and rejected the login, If I could just use Mdapi as the card client It would simplify the process, but like I said I have no idea on how to configure it. Any help would be much appreicated...

Klathman

302 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

#191154 21-Jan-2009 22:16

You have to use the latest 2008 version which contains the cardclient support and enable it in the MDAPI config file. Then place a valid cardclient.conf file in each of the plugin dirs that you want to connect to the NewCS server.

When a scrambled channel is tuned in you should see a "username logged on type GENERIC" or something similiar on the NewCS server.

Sorry Im a bit vague but away until Friday so working off my memory.

Take a look here (http://dvbn.happysat.org/viewforum.php?f=69) for the latest version and information though but let me know if you need any more info and I'll try to help you out when I get back home.

If you want the latest version of NewCS then you can get it here. http://forum.atisat.hu/viewforum.php?f=35&sid=9474a845a3e6a14fc6428f5d5edc55fd

WaffleMakerMan

138 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#191627 23-Jan-2009 17:07

Thanks Heaps I can get Mdapifilter to (attempt) to login to newcs now lol thats some progress anyhow.

When it tries to login it gives these messages:

[newcamd:15050] user HTPC logged in, Client: Generic
[newcamd:15050] Connection from HTPC to not-ready server!
[newcamd:15050] can't decrypt client msg, rejecting

Have you seen this behaviour before? its not the deskey as i changed it to a incorrect one and it did even less (no login just a rejection) there must be something set wrong but im not sure what, I had a good look round the web but I couldn't come up with much...

Its it that the server isn't started properly? do you get a message like "server ready to go" or somthing like that as it boots up? There is a msg saying "starting newcamd server on port 15050" then next line down is "Newcamd thread server started on port 15050" and thats it till a login is attempted, does that look normal?

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