[mythtv-users] CielPlus Sky Digibox (UK) Addon decoder card.

[Paul Harrison]

Ant Daniel wrote:
> On 18/07/07, Razza <ray at brambletree.net> wrote:
>   
>> Nick Rout wrote on 18 July 2007 11:20:
>>     
>>> I do kinda wonder what Sky seems to think of these devices. It seems to
>>> me, that if they work how i think they do, there is the possibility to
>>> watch as many different channels in your house as you can squeeze down
>>> the sire to various players. Around here "Multiroom" - in reality just
>>> an extra decoder - costs money - just so the kids can watch music and
>>> cartoons while parents watch the drama.
>>>       
>> Surely you will only be able to pull the channels of any given mux? Your LNB
>> cant tune to every mux.
>>
>>     
>
> Most recent Sky installs should have a dual or Quad LNB, but (from
> what I understand) that would mean two decoders and two ceilplus
> cards.
> You would be able to record multiple channels on one mux, I don't know
> how the mux is done in Sky, but I suspect this is what makes the
> multi-streams for various channel feeds (multi Sky-News, 15 min start
> times for movies, etc) anyone know if a mux covers more than one
> channel?
>
>   
This web page tells you which channels are on which transponder.
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/skyuk.html

> Channel changes are done via the UHF with a built in remote, much like
> the hacked TiVo changer that did the rounds.
>
> I am extremly interested in this, is a better solution then DVB-S
> cards with a Dragon CAM, and not suceptable to Sky encryption changes,
> but I wonder if Sky have a way of upgrading the firmware and closing
> the socket down?
>
>   

All  Sky are bothered about is profits and since they are not loosing
any money from it, on the contrary they could in fact make more money
because anyone using the card would probably take out an extra
multi-room subscription at £10 per month, I don't think they will be too
bothered.

> I can't quite tell from the description, but doesn anyone know if this
> can do Box Office subscription, etc.?
>
>   

My understanding is that it provides the entire TS from a transponder,
presumably after any encoding has been removed, so you should be able to
record any channel that you viewing card has the rights to. So if you
order a Box Office movie then I would think you can record it like any
other.
 
> Here's hoping they can install it, test it on the Grundig box as I
> suspect it might be the widest used box as it has an svideo output. If
> I can get that I would probably get one and start playing around with
> it myself.
>
>   
It seems to only work on the older Pace and Amstrad boxes. I did read
somewhere that the reason for that is the older receivers have two
separate chips that talk to each other over the same bus that the
expansion interface is connected to so as a result the raw data stream
is available from the expansion slot. In newer receivers these two chips
are merged into only one chip that does both functions and as a result
the raw stream isn't available.

Paul H.