[mythtv-users] Help on playing a CD without a screen, several satellite dishes and PSU's

Alastair Kerr alastair.kerr at ed.ac.uk
Wed Jul 9 09:29:55 UTC 2008


> 1.    I would want to be able to play a CD without having to have 
> the TV/monitor on, ideally knowing which track I was on - I'm assuming 
> this is possible, but is it possible with all cases/remotes? Do only 
> some of the cases with displays show CD track info? The cases with 
> built in screens would push the price too high for me.
Yes but make make sure the LCD/VFD on the case is supported.  The 
original antec fusion case appears to be well supported (search the 
lists here, I remember a thread about the new black case having a 
different VFD).
 

>  
> 2.    I have a sky dish, and two other dishes (which I inherited), so 
> currently have a sky box and another box dealing with the other 2 dishes.
> I would want two cards with freeview (so I can watch and record 
> different channels), but are there recommended cards that could also 
> replace the sky box and/or the other satellite decoder box as well?
Given that you talk about Sky and freeview I am going to assume that you 
are from the UK.


I am not sure why you need more than one dish other than point at more 
that one satellite .  What is important  is its LNB on the dish.  i.e. 
the number of leads coming from the dish into the house (you cannot 
split a cable).  You need at least one cable per card and per digibox .  
Check up on FreeSat (freeview is via a digital antenna) as well as Sky's 
free-to-air and free-to-view channels. The latter still needs decryption 
via a digibox or a card with a CAM module (but when I checked these are 
not guaranteed to work in the UK ). Also  if you subscribe to Sky there 
are several channels not on the radio-times website (required for Mythtv 
listings) which I find just easier to watch via the digibox directly.   
Therefore  think about what channels you will watch and that may 
influence your design decision.

I record via sky in the UK but I use the digibox as the decoder. My 
system has a basic analog capture card (Hauppauge 150) that captures the 
analog signal from the sky digibox via s-video, using a SCART ->  svideo 
lead and a RGB -> S-video converter. The mythbox changes channel on the 
digibox via this (http://www.heenan.me.uk/control-*sky*-from-pc/).  Wire 
management is an issue ;->    I do plan to add a new LNB to my dish and 
a new capture card for freesat,

There us a thread about "Freesat, UK and which internal card"   - that 
should answer some of your questions about hardware for freesat.   There 
are also plenty supported freeview cards (e.g. check the Hauppauge 
series).  

Also if you are thinking about recording in HD I would recommends 
searching the lists here, The hardware requirements appear to be very 
different....  **

> I also have an analogue camcorder and lots of VHS tapes I would want 
> to be able to capture.
> Is there a practical way to do all this in one box, or would it be 
> more trouble/cost than it is worth?
I can do this by swapping over leads while watching 'LiveTV'  then 
editing it later with the built-in video editor.
Really easy,  but that is because I am capturing via s-video.   The 
cards that you buy may have a s-video input already so you may not even 
need to buy another card


- Al


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