Need advise on setting up 2nd TV, freeview, recorder, Sky

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Need advise on setting up 2nd TV, freeview, recorder, Sky

jamie123

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#89035 25-Aug-2011 16:02

If anyone can help I'd be grateful.

Got; Kids room TV, DVD player, my Sky. Note that I pay $15 a month for Sky but no channels, just the ability to turn on Sky when ever I want it, haven't, but appreciate recording on my Sky with EPG. I own the My Sky box.

Want; 2nd TV in the grown up lounge (I'm allowed access), connected to the Sky dish to save the install cost of a UHF aerial, and an ability to record TV program's with series link therefore EPG. Also want EPG for Prime, which rules out TiVo according to these learned forums. I want to do this cheaply but without any serious capability gap.

Reluctant; To pay sky $25 for a second decoder, which would total $35 a month without any Sky channels.

I see a Panasonic 250 Gb DVD recorder ($400) will record TV programs, onto the Hard Drive and from there to a DVD, that would be cool so you could take programs away with you. So I guess that that would need a Freeview receiver ($100)? But there is a second screen outlet on my Sky box. Can't I just cable that outlet to the 2nd TV or would that be 20m of expensive cabling?

There are so many hardware options and each major store chain has kids trying to answer my questions when they should be concentrating on their pimples. Unfair I know. In all a minefield I'm stuck in!

stuzz

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#511925 25-Aug-2011 16:05

The last time I tried to record from Mysky to a dvd recorder then to disc returned a "This is protected content" message or similar when trying to copy to a disc.

jamie123

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#511944 25-Aug-2011 16:34

Thanks for that, not a surprise and not a critical part of the set up. So I can connect a recorder to the second screen outlet on my sky and record programs independently from the my Sky recordings?

Cheers.

stuzz

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#511947 25-Aug-2011 16:41

I haven't attempted that. Not sure if it would work.

I did have a Freeview box setup to the dvd recorder after using a splitter from the dish cable.

JimmyH

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#512093 25-Aug-2011 20:46

@jamie123 - yes, you should be able to cable the Sky box to your second TV.

@stuzz - Get a video stabiliser. I got one from Jaycar a couple of years ago to transfer some of my tapes to DVD when it became clear the format was obsolete. If Jaycar no longer sells them then you can certainly still find them using Google, and they aren't that expensive. If you go:

Mysky --> Video Stabiliser --> DVD recorder

Then the annoying message should be no more.

jamie123

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#512312 26-Aug-2011 10:21

Thanks. So can I...
Mysky box second TV outlet -> different room -> DVD HDD recorder -> 2nd TV?

And then record programs onto the recorder using EPG independently from the recordings on the My sky? So the Kids get to see NZ's next top model on their TV off the my sky box, and I can get the News on my TV off the recorder?

Also can the 2nd TV view different programs at the same time as the 1st TV?

Sorry about all these (probably) newbie questions.

bfginger

1330 posts

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#512656 26-Aug-2011 19:27

Note that I pay $15 a month for Sky but no channels, just the ability to turn on Sky when ever I want it, haven't, but appreciate recording on my Sky with EPG. I own the My Sky box.

I don't understand what you mean by this. Are you saying you don't have a Sky channels subscription?

Want; 2nd TV in the grown up lounge (I'm allowed access), connected to the Sky dish to save the install cost of a UHF aerial,

Freeview in HD is only available via aerial. Freeview quality from satellite is terrible. The only way you can get TV1/2/3 in HD via satellite dish is with a Sky subscription and MySkyHD box. The old type MySky boxes didn't support HD or HDMI. If your TV has a Freeview|HD tuner built in, its own tuner will only work with aerial broadcasts.

and an ability to record TV program's with series link therefore EPG. Also want EPG for Prime, which rules out TiVo according to these learned forums. I want to do this cheaply but without any serious capability gap.

If you intend to record from Freeview and not Sky then what you want is a MyFreeview|HD box, assuming you're in the Freeview|HD broadcast area. Generally things cannot be done cheaply without a serious capability gap.

I see a Panasonic 250 Gb DVD recorder ($400) will record TV programs, onto the Hard Drive and from there to a DVD, that would be cool so you could take programs away with you. So I guess that that would need a Freeview receiver ($100)? But there is a second screen outlet on my Sky box. Can't I just cable that outlet to the 2nd TV or would that be 20m of expensive cabling?

"DVD Recorder" can mean a number of different things. There were units that recorded from analogue broadcasts onto only DVDs, units that recorded from analogue onto HDD or DVD, units with a DVB-T tuner that could record from Freeview|HD onto HDD or DVD but lacked support for the electronic programming guide, and there is a single unit with a relatively small HDD that does support the EPG which might have been the one you saw but I doubt it as it has been much more overpriced than that. Additionally, programming rerecorded to DVD won't be in HD, as DVD has been superseded by Blu-ray for that. Many people are still in the mindset that recording = "DVD Recorder" but this is erroneous.

Trying to extract a recording from a MySky box to DVD or Blu-ray isn't simple. You could plug it into a DVD or DVD/Blu-ray recorder box with AV-in and play the recording with one while recording with the other, but the quality will be SD only. Making a HD copy requires specialised expensive equipment because of HDCP restrictions.

Trying to record from a Freeview receiver plugged into a analogue era DVD recorder sounds like a horrible setup. Trying to record from Freeview without an EPG would be a chore.

You can cable a MySkyHD between rooms. It'll only do HD over HDMI, and 20m HDMI cables are rare and expensive but I think it should be possible with an HDMI switch. There are also repeaters for the remote control that let it be used in another room.

So can I... Mysky box second TV outlet -> different room -> DVD HDD recorder -> 2nd TV?

Yes, but the quality would be horrible. I don't really understand what you're asking with the other questions.

I don't think you'll be able to get a satisfactory setup without spending money towards it.

Assuming your equipment is HDMI era, I think a good setup could be to:
* have a UHF aerial installed, and connected to both TVs so they can use their internal tuners.
* buy a Panasonic DMR-BWT700GZ which is a MyFreeview|HD unit with EPG, DVD and Blu-ray player and writer and I believe it does AV-in too, all in one. It's periodically available for under $1050.
* link one site to the other via 20m HDMI cables.
* buy a couple of HDMI 1.4 switches with remote controls, one for each device and a different brand so their remotes don't clash.
* Get a remote repeater or repeaters so you can use all the devices from in front of either TV.

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jamie123

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#513399 29-Aug-2011 12:19

A great explanation that has cleared up a lot of things, thanks.