[mythtv-users] UK Sky FTV Hardware reqs

Will egroups at klubbing.com
Tue Dec 14 22:46:47 UTC 2004


> Hi All,
>
> I'm getting poor DVB-T reception so I'm thinking of upgrading to a sky 
> non-subscription system. I've read that
> Free-To-Air channels do not require a decoding card, but that Free-To-View 
> channels do require one.
>
> I was wondering if anyone could confirm exactly what hardware is required 
> to receive Sky FTV for use with
> MythTV.
>
> I've read that The Nexus-S can decode FTV channels (without a CAM module), 
> but the Nova-S can't. I've also
> read that the CI modules for the Nexus-S is incompatible with Sky. Can 
> anyone connfirm or correct these?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Paul

Check here: http://www.wickonline.com/fta.htm

>From that site, my understanding is that the only channels you get extra 
with a 'free to view' viewing card are ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

I also believe that 'free to view' cards only work on the Sky digibox 
(probably because they use Seca 2 scrambling or something), and not on any 
PC card with CAM reader.

You have 2 options in my opinion:

Sky do a 'free to view' install with digibox for about £150 all in. You 
could get this, and use an infrared transmitter to change the channels on 
the digibox to get the appropriate channels (however obviously your mythbox 
would re-encode the signal and you would get a loss in quality).

Get a standard DVB-S card and get all 'free to air' channels apart from the 
3 mentioned above. Use in conjuction with your DVB-T card to get all 
channels (DVB-T also has some channels that DVB-S doesn't).

Just for reference (I am not endorsing this site as I've never used it), but 
the following place seems to have a good selection of (cheap?) dishes etc.. 
http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/fixed-dishes.htm

Hope this helps,

Will

PS. I'd get a FTA system running if only the other half let me stick a dish 
on the front of the house!! 



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