Vista MC, Xbox 360, Sky

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#13887 2-Jun-2007 23:59

Hi, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to the whole media centre thing. I have just upgraded my PC (located in a seperate room to the Xbox 360) to Vista Home Premium, which of course has Media Centre. I am yet to purchase a tv tuner card. I am wanting to use the Xbox 360 as a media center extender to record and watch tv, preferably with a dual tv tuner card. The 360 is connected to a TV that is also connected to a Sky decoder; I am wanting to record and watch Sky.

I have two questions,

1) Is this possible? I've read that you can't do this with Sky (or at least you can't use a dual tuner card with Sky)
2) What equipment do I need (including type of tuner card)? Will I need a seperate cable to connect the 360 to the Sky decoder?

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chiefie

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#73293 3-Jun-2007 10:44

Media Center Extender only receive content from Vista Media Centre or DLNA-certified devices. To record TV, you will need to connect the source (Sky) to Vista Media Centre with TV tuner, and recording schedule needs to be performed at Vista Media Centre. Hope this help.

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73297 3-Jun-2007 12:10

Thanks, that is helpful, however I was also wondering what I need to connect sky to the 360. So it is possible to record Sky?

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#73299 3-Jun-2007 12:57

Xbox360 cannot record anything as it is just an extender. It gets its media content from DLNA-compliant device or Vista Media Centre. It is a play-only device.

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73300 3-Jun-2007 13:14

I understand that, in my suituation the 360 is connected to the PC in network and to record from the PC via the 360 I will need a cable of some sort to connect the 360 to the Sky decoder would I not? Or does it just record what's on the TV regardless of Sky like a VHS?

itey

447 posts

Ultimate Geek

#73303 3-Jun-2007 13:43

Pretty sure you'll need to plug the sky decoder directly into the pc.

gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73304 3-Jun-2007 13:47

But my PC is nowhere near the TV, but the Xbox 360 can be used as a media centre extender so that I can record shows from the TV it is connected to. Therefore I have an indirect connection from the PC to the TV, as the 360 is connected in a network. All I'm wondering is if the 360 has to be directly connected to the Sky decoder or not.

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#73305 3-Jun-2007 14:11

As said before Xbox360 is a Media Center Extender, which only play-media. IT DOES NOT RECORD! Read this. Wiki.

IF YOU WANT TO RECORD SKY PROGRAMMES, you will need to connect that to your PC with tv tuner, and once recorded, the programme then can be played on Xbox360 via its media center extender feature.

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73352 3-Jun-2007 23:43

I never said the 360 could record, I'm sorry if you misunderstood, I was saying the PC records but it has to be connected to the 360. I know how the Xbox works, I'm just unsure about the whole media centre thing. So what you're saying is by having a PC with a tv tuner and media centre connected to the 360 with an ethernet cable I can record Sky, and I don't need anything else? That's all I needed to know, thanks.

ictgeeknz

255 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#73359 4-Jun-2007 07:02

gazza27: I never said the 360 could record, I'm sorry if you misunderstood, I was saying the PC records but it has to be connected to the 360. I know how the Xbox works, I'm just unsure about the whole media centre thing. So what you're saying is by having a PC with a tv tuner and media centre connected to the 360 with an ethernet cable I can record Sky, and I don't need anything else? That's all I needed to know, thanks.

@chiefie, I feel your pain when reading this thread.

1) Connect SKY to the computer via a tv tuner card
2) TV recordings are saved to the computer
3) The computer can share the TV recordings using Media Center

4) Link the Xbox to the computer using Media Center
5) Xbox reads the shared TV recordings (or other multimedia content) from the computer

ictgeeknz

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Ultimate Geek

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#73360 4-Jun-2007 07:06

gazza27: But my PC is nowhere near the TV, but the Xbox 360 can be used as a media centre extender so that I can record shows from the TV it is connected to. Therefore I have an indirect connection from the PC to the TV, as the 360 is connected in a network. All I'm wondering is if the 360 has to be directly connected to the Sky decoder or not.

This short answer is, no, SKY cannot be connected to the Xbox and record back to the computer.
Good luck with your setup, I hope it works out.
You can play your music, photos and Windows Media videos stored on your computer, back to your Xbox / TV

gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73372 4-Jun-2007 10:22

Ok, I was under the false interpretation that you can record Sky via an extender. However, I do know that you can record tv via the Xbox 360 onto a Media Centre PC, as it says this on the Microsoft website.

Quote:

Can I access and use the Program Guide in Windows Media Center to watch TV or select TV shows that I want to record through my Xbox 360? Yes. You will have all the Windows Media Center functionality that you have on your Media Center PC through your Xbox 360, including all of the TV options, as long as your PC has a TV tuner card.

I was also wondering, how does Media Centre get a program guide? How does it know what TV shows are coming up?

Spyware

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#73374 4-Jun-2007 11:41

The quote merely implies that you can "control" recording from the Xbox. All recording takes place on the PC. See xmlTVNZ for program information grabber.

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73376 4-Jun-2007 11:55

gazza27: Ok, I was under the false interpretation that you can record Sky via an extender. However, I do know that you can record tv via the Xbox 360 onto a Media Centre PC, as it says this on the Microsoft website.

Quote:

Can I access and use the Program Guide in Windows Media Center to watch TV or select TV shows that I want to record through my Xbox 360? Yes. You will have all the Windows Media Center functionality that you have on your Media Center PC through your Xbox 360, including all of the TV options, as long as your PC has a TV tuner card.

I was also wondering, how does Media Centre get a program guide? How does it know what TV shows are coming up?

VIA THE XBOX 360 ONTO A MEDIA CENTRE PC. I never said I was recording with the Xbox. I just said I was recording onto the PC, with the 360 connected to the tv and pc. This shouldn't be this hard, the whole point behind this post was not to claim that you can magically record onto the Xbox 360's hard drive. All I wanted to know was if I could record onto the PC VIA the 360 from Sky, and if I could what I would need in order to do so. Thanks for the link, that is very helpful.

chiefie

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#73378 4-Jun-2007 12:52

gazza27: ... I am wanting to use the Xbox 360 as a media center extender to record and watch tv, preferably with a dual tv tuner card. The360 is connected to a TV that is also connected to a Sky decoder; I am wanting to record and watch Sky.

Sorry, you DID ASK a very vague question, given what you asked above, that's the impression we get, that you want to record into XBox360.

Anyway, I hope you find what you're looking for, good luck.

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gazza27

63 posts

Master Geek

#73385 4-Jun-2007 14:05

Sorry, my first question especially was rather vague, I should have made it more clear what I was asking. But thanks for the help.

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