[mythtv-users] Recording from Sky?

[Nick F]

On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Adam McCarthy <ug32axm at cs.bham.ac.uk>wrote:

> It is possible to take Sky directly into a DVB-S card in both NZ and UK,
> and use a CAM to decrypt the stream as long as you have a legitimate
> subscriber card.  Unfortunately though this is against Sky's terms and
> conditions -- you must use the box which the card was activated in.
>
I used this method when I lived in the UK.  It's pretty easy.  You get a
DVB-S card and a CI and CAM.  You put your (VALID) sky viewing card in the
CAM and you can capture it directly in Myth.  It works well, and the quality
is a lot higher than capturing the output of a sky box (in either tivo or
through a pvr).  I did have to reset my backend every week or so for some
unknown reason (or I would get a scrambled picture) and every 6 weeks or so
you need to leave your Sky card in a sky box for when the keys get updated.
Works with premium channels (such as Sky Sports), but I never tried it with
the HD service.

While it is technically may be against Sky's terms and conditions - European
law does require satellite providers to allow for alternate reception
equipment.  Sky has chosen to ignore this.  So while the legality is grey -
since this hack works only with a valid subscription card (and fully paid up
subscription) I think it falls squarely on the correct side as far as I'm
concerned.  It's exactly what you'd get with a PVR card, only with better
quality.
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