[mythtv-users] DVB and DirecTV
Ben Bucksch
linux.news at bucksch.org
Mon Jul 7 10:52:22 EDT 2003
I just found this interesting statement on Hauppauge's website
<http://www.hauppauge.com/html/dvb_s.htm>:
> Note: though DVB-s is the transmission specification for satellite
> pay-TV services in North America, such as Direct-TV, neither the
> WinTV-Nexus nor the WinTV-DVB cannot receive these broadcasts due to
> proprietary encryption schemes used.
I infer from that DirecTV actually *is* DVB-S and that if you can get
the decryption ("Common Interface" stuff) working, you can use DVB-S
cards with DirecTV, removing any need for the settop boxes (incl. the
decoding, analog S-Video and encoding involved) and instead getting a
raw MPEG2 stream from the satellite. This confirms what at least one
person suggested so far.
Unfortunately, their statement also suggests that it's impossible to
commercially (legally) get CI modules to decode the stream, like you can
for other providers, e.g. the subscription-based TV network Premiere in
Germany. I hear there are "software-based" decoders, essentially
crackers, but they may be illegal to use, publish or provide help with.
It most likely is illegal (by now, with the new EU copyright laws :-( )
for *me* to provide you any help or hints with that, so please don't
even ask. If you got this to work (ideally fully legally) and it's legal
in your country to help others with this, please set up a webpage and
post the link.
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