Data transfer between MySky digital decoder and PC?

[StoneChucker]

I'm trying to be able to get a digital copy of what is on the hard drive of my "MySky" Sky decoder. It's that new-ish NZ version of the US Tivo, with a 160GB HDD. The back of the unit has heaps of outputs, from optical, to RGA, a coax I think and even a USB port.

Yes, obviously I tried the USB port, but that itself is an issue. The USB port at the back is the same as the USB port in a pc. I looked in Dick Smith, and they had no standard USB connector to standard USB connector cables.

All they had, was a USB 2.0 Network cable. That cable gave Ethernet simulation (I should have realised here it wouldn't work) by installing a program on both pc's you want to "network" to copy files between, then plugging the cable into the USB port on each pc. The obvious problem is that in the middle of the cable is an oval shaped plastic/rubber box. I presume that it's similar to a cross-over cable. That is why when I plugged the cable into the decoder and a spare WinXP pc I have, nothing happened (no new drives appeared). It found new hardware though, so I installed the network drivers on the CD it came with, but no luck after that either. That's because for normal operation, you have to install the drivers and program on both PC's you want to connect - I have no control access to the MySky decoder.

So, finally, my question is this. Cost aside, what is the best way to get a digital copy on my pc, of the programs I have stored on the MySky hard drive? I know you can get TV capture cards, and records the signal through those as it plays, but that seems so slow, and likely to leave me with a reduced quality version of the original. Besides, that's so "last century!".

In the manual, it says the USB port is "for future use". Any clues? Don't forget, all I have is laptops - One new one with the older PCMCIA slots/ports, and another new one with the new Express Slot ports. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Dave.

[xwhatsit]

Easy. Just open up the box, the 160GB drive will be attached via standard ATA interface. Then just plug the drive into your PC. If you're lucky then the drive is formatted in FAT, and you can just copy the files straight off. The directory structure might be a little odd and you may struggle to actually find what you're looking for though.

Whoops just read that you only have laptops. Hmm. Plugging the drive into your PC becomes much more difficult. However, you can get ATA-to-USB enclosures, to turn an ordinary hard-drive into a portable USB drive; you may also be able to get ATA-to-USB cables, I'm not sure.

[Lias]

Whipping the HDD out of the mysky box is just about guaranteed to be a violation of your terms and conditions (Would you pull your normal sky decoder apart??)

If you do whip the HDD out thou, your cheapest option is one of these lil jobbies most of the guys at work have them (thou they older model with no SATA support)
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Hard-drives/Other/auction-77894526.htm

The type of USB cable you are after is a "Type A Male/Male" which you will be hard pushed to find, the most common types being "Type A Male/Female" or "Type A Male to Type B Male"

The 3rd option might be to get a USB Video capture box and just record the output off one of the analog outputs from the box.

[The_Dover]

If it's anything like the UK SKY+ then the recorded MPEGs are scrambled anyway so you can't just plug it into a PC.

[SimJen]

They aren't recorded as MPEG, its a satellite feed that can't be read by PC's.
Thats the very reason I didn't buy one! I went for a Philips DVD HD recorder which plays all my DiVX's too. Also no way I was going to pay $600 for something thats not even mine.
Remember MYSKY is still owned by Sky NZ, so opening it is not a good idea.

[GR81]

at a guess i would say the USB A type port on the decoder is more for input than anything
ie: plug a flash drive or something in.

[StoneChucker]

Easy. Just open up the box, the 160GB drive will be attached via standard ATA interface. Then just plug the drive into your PC. If you're lucky then the drive is formatted in FAT, and you can just copy the files straight off. The directory structure might be a little odd and you may struggle to actually find what you're looking for though.

Whoops just read that you only have laptops. Hmm. Plugging the drive into your PC becomes much more difficult. However, you can get ATA-to-USB enclosures, to turn an ordinary hard-drive into a portable USB drive; you may also be able to get ATA-to-USB cables, I'm not sure.

I don't think opening it up would be a good idea. As was mentioned, since it's not technically my property, I may get a ruler cracked against my knuckels. I have two external hard drive enclosures, so if I ever did break it open and the drive was readable, I'd be sorted.


Whipping the HDD out of the mysky box is just about guaranteed to be a violation of your terms and conditions (Would you pull your normal sky decoder apart??)

If you do whip the HDD out thou, your cheapest option is one of these lil jobbies most of the guys at work have them (thou they older model with no SATA support)
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Hard-drives/Other/auction-77894526.htm

The type of USB cable you are after is a "Type A Male/Male" which you will be hard pushed to find, the most common types being "Type A Male/Female" or "Type A Male to Type B Male"

The 3rd option might be to get a USB Video capture box and just record the output off one of the analog outputs from the box.

That device in the link you gave me looks great, again, if I opened it up that would be an option. The USB video capture box looks like the only solution here. That would be a definite way to do it. What sort of file do you create when capturing a video&audio feed? Is the quality degraded at all?


They aren't recorded as MPEG, its a satellite feed that can't be read by PC's.
Thats the very reason I didn't buy one! I went for a Philips DVD HD recorder which plays all my DiVX's too. Also no way I was going to pay $600 for something thats not even mine.
Remember MYSKY is still owned by Sky NZ, so opening it is not a good idea.

I disagree. With a Philips DVD HD recorder, you can't record 2 different Sky digital channels at the same time AND watch another different recording. The Philips HDD DVD recorder is great, and when I buy my HDTV package in a couple of years (when HDTV is actually broadcast, and they don't pass off 720i as full HD, when 1080i is the top quality), I plan to get one. The Philips HDD recorder wouldn't do the job I purchased the MySky decoder to do, they're different devices for different uses.

Ideally you'd have a Philip's HDD recorder connected to your MySky, that's what I plan to do... While you don't own the MySky decoder, once you've tried MySky, and are used to it, a standard Sky digital decoder seems really old and constrictive, and just doesn't cut the mustard...

[Lias]

The USB video capture box looks like the only solution here. That would be a definite way to do it. What sort of file do you create when capturing a video&audio feed? Is the quality degraded at all?

Depending on the software and the codec(s) you use, the quality should be as good as what you see on the sky box.

[TerminalAddict]

buy a tivo ... then its piss easy .. and much smarter than mysky anyways ;)

[MrMelon]

Yeah I know a few people in nz with tivo's and they work sweet. Not too pricey either.

[xwhatsit]

Yeah you will get pretty obvious quality reduction if you record off analogue outputs. I find it's especially noticeable in the sound quality, but there is also definitely lots of noise in the video output as well. Is it really a Tivo? Or something else? If it's a Tivo tonnes of guys have hacked those and there probably has been somebody who has worked out how to do what you want to do.

Myself, I'd open the box. How do they know if you've opened the box or not? It's not like you're desoldering anything, you're just popping out a cable then plugging it back in again. BTW, any file format can be read eventually; I'm willing to bet somebody has produced a tool that can read those recordings, if they're not just a standard codec in an AVI container. Nobody goes around inventing new AV file formats for the hell of it (apart from Microsoft).

[SimJen]

I disagree. With a Philips DVD HD recorder, you can't record 2 different Sky digital channels at the same time AND watch another different recording. The Philips HDD DVD recorder is great, and when I buy my HDTV package in a couple of years (when HDTV is actually broadcast, and they don't pass off 720i as full HD, when 1080i is the top quality), I plan to get one. The Philips HDD recorder wouldn't do the job I purchased the MySky decoder to do, they're different devices for different uses.

Ideally you'd have a Philip's HDD recorder connected to your MySky, that's what I plan to do... While you don't own the MySky decoder, once you've tried MySky, and are used to it, a standard Sky digital decoder seems really old and constrictive, and just doesn't cut the mustard...

Good luck finding anything good on two of Sky's channels at the same time!
I rarely find I need to watch something on two different channels, if ever I did its easier to just set the recorder up to record it when Sky repeats it again later that night........very very rare though.

[StoneChucker]

Good luck finding anything good on two of Sky's channels at the same time!
I rarely find I need to watch something on two different channels, if ever I did its easier to just set the recorder up to record it when Sky repeats it again later that night........very very rare though.

*chuckles while he read that*
I know, believe me I know:zzzz: It's quite pathetic really, most of the channels run on cyclic repeat schedules (the same program is on in less than 24 hrs, less that 12 on the new documentary channel).

Still, the option is there. It's not with a standard HDD / DVD recorder (which I'm not knocking)

[StoneChucker]

Yeah I know a few people in nz with tivo's and they work sweet. Not too pricey either.

Hey Melon, how does Tivo work with NZ tv? Can you use it on Sky's digital network in place of MySky? Or is it used like a HDD / DVD recorder? If so, MySky is the only decoder in NZ that functions in that particular way (hooked up to Sky digital, can record 2 different digital channels while watching a recording).

MySky isn't perfect mind you, you need to pull the power plug out every few days (5 to 10) to reset it (get rid of built up memory / cache maybe?). If you don't, you get recording errors occasionally, but mostly freezing and rebooting while fast forwarding. It's a "known issue".

That's why I asked about Tivo, if you can use it in place of MySky, I might make the change.

[SimJen]

If only SKy would open up the market so you only pay the subscription price then buy any machine you choose....like in the US and UK. Possibly getting a better machine than the MySky. Sky are pretty lax with their systems anyway, the standard decoders are slow and buggy despite promises after changing layouts that they would be sorted quickly.

[MrMelon]

I'm not too sure how it works. I think the people I know who're using tivos are using it with telstraclear cable tv. But it's got all the scheduling and guides and stuff available. I don't think there's an official source for the listings but someone puts an xml feed up with the nz tv listings somewhere.

The thing is you've got to buy a tivo off ebay in the uk or states then do a few software modifications to it to get it to the stage where it's useful here, but could be worth it. They're pretty flexible by the look of it.

[TerminalAddict]

I have a motorola sky box ... hidden behind my couch, and remote is .. .errr .. somewhere.
my tivo control the box completely.
it changes the channel, etc etc
there is no sky menu at all .. its all tivo menu.
the guide data runs out occassionally, but there is a growing number of geeks adding to the data (forums.oztivo.net)

It more than a few softeware mods. Its an entirely new operating system .. but its dead simple to do.

the guide data (and other stuff) is available in an NZ tivo server .. more specifically called the tivo emulator (it emulates the tivo service that is provided in other countries)

It has only one input (and only one sky box) therefore only one tuner, and hence can only record one channel at a time.
But as has been previously mentioned, everything is re-run on sky, I've never had the need to have 2 recorders.

The space is as big, or as small as you want. depends on your wallets size.

When you buy a tivo it will probably be bare, meaning no HDD or network card.
I imported one from USA, with a network card (its a special reverse mapping female PCI card :( )
I've got a 120gb HDD and it is enough for me (and my pre-teen kids) to store about a months worth of tv that we record

if you want a demo, I will accept beer in payement ;)

[hack That]

I'm trying to be able to get a digital copy of what is on the hard drive of my "MySky" Sky decoder. It's that new-ish NZ version of the US Tivo, with a 160GB HDD. The back of the unit has heaps of outputs, from optical, to RGA, a coax I think and even a USB port.

Yes, obviously I tried the USB port, but that itself is an issue. The USB port at the back is the same as the USB port in a pc. I looked in Dick Smith, and they had no standard USB connector to standard USB connector cables.

All they had, was a USB 2.0 Network cable. That cable gave Ethernet simulation (I should have realised here it wouldn't work) by installing a program on both pc's you want to "network" to copy files between, then plugging the cable into the USB port on each pc. The obvious problem is that in the middle of the cable is an oval shaped plastic/rubber box. I presume that it's similar to a cross-over cable. That is why when I plugged the cable into the decoder and a spare WinXP pc I have, nothing happened (no new drives appeared). It found new hardware though, so I installed the network drivers on the CD it came with, but no luck after that either. That's because for normal operation, you have to install the drivers and program on both PC's you want to connect - I have no control access to the MySky decoder.

So, finally, my question is this. Cost aside, what is the best way to get a digital copy on my pc, of the programs I have stored on the MySky hard drive? I know you can get TV capture cards, and records the signal through those as it plays, but that seems so slow, and likely to leave me with a reduced quality version of the original. Besides, that's so "last century!".

In the manual, it says the USB port is "for future use". Any clues? Don't forget, all I have is laptops - One new one with the older PCMCIA slots/ports, and another new one with the new Express Slot ports. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Dave.

iv just pulled my mysky decoder apart put the hdd into one of my pc's and im seeing lots of str files. iv dl about 5 programs that are ment to be able to play them but no go. cant even seem to copy the files to one of the other hdd's on my pc.
ps if any one wants there Nintendo wii hacked to play copied games give me a buzz. i have the no how

[onearmedbandit]

Holy thread dredge SpamMan!

[Kornholio]

Holy thread dredge SpamMan!

-Re-Dredged- :D

Ok, is it possible to transfer saved programs onto a portable HDD via the USB input in the front of a MySky HDI decoder... My bro just got one but the book says USB 2.0 connector (For future use) Doh!! He set it record the SBK and MotoGp season but wanna watch it my pad... Lollies for anyone that helps me out :p

[mashman]

-Re-Dredged- :D

Ok, is it possible to transfer saved programs onto a portable HDD via the USB input in the front of a MySky HDI decoder... My bro just got one but the book says USB 2.0 connector (For future use) Doh!! He set it record the SBK and MotoGp season but wanna watch it my pad... Lollies for anyone that helps me out :p

There was a fella I used to work with who streamed his Sky over t'internet for us to watch at work. I've not been able to drop stuff on to a USB either :corn:

[SMOKEU]

Fuck MySky. Buy a TV tuner for your computer and connect your Sky decoder to that.

[Kornholio]

Fuck MySky. Buy a TV tuner for your computer and connect your Sky decoder to that.

My PC isnt HD and thats what i want, I just wanna to be able to transfer off bro's MYSky and plug into my HD tele.....

[SMOKEU]

My PC isnt HD and thats what i want, I just wanna to be able to transfer off bro's MYSky and plug into my HD tele.....

What's an HD PC? I've never heard of such a thing. You can easily connect a GPU to most TVs made in the past 10-15 years.

[Kornholio]

My PC isnt HD and thats what i want, I just wanna to be able to transfer off bro's MYSky and plug into my HD tele.....


What's an HD PC? I've never heard of such a thing. You can easily connect a GPU to most TVs made in the past 10-15 years.

I assumed there might be... Anyway if you can't solve my problem then no lollies for you

[SMOKEU]

I assumed there might be... Anyway if you can't solve my problem then no lollies for you

It looks like it may be a copy protection issue. Check out this thread here (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=106&topicid=34385) if you haven't already looked at it. I don't have time to read through the whole thing but that may have your answer.

[caspernz]

The closest to transferring stuff from MySky HDI we've done is to 'play' a program on MySky HDI, then 'recording' it on our HD DVD and dump that onto a DVD. Missus uses a program called Handbrake to convert to her iPad. Quite a drama at first, but easy enough in practice, if a bit time consuming.

If anyone has an easier way, would love to hear it.

[SMOKEU]

I've just had a look at the MySky HDI website, and it looks like a waste of money. I paid just under $100 for a PCI DVB-T tuner card (although you can get a TV tuner for cheaper than that, and there are USB models for the laptop users). I use Windows Media Center which is a free download if your version of Windows doesn't already have it installed. Just connect the Sky decoder to the TV tuner and you'll be good to go.

It has all the capabilities of the MySky HDI, such as I can pause and rewind live TV, watch and record things simultaneously on different channels etc, all without the bullshit copy protection. I can watch the videos as many times as I want, put them onto another computer etc. If you don't want to use your computer monitor to watch it with then you can buy an HDMI cable for around $10-$30 (more if you need a long cable) to connect the computer to your TV.

You don't need a fast computer to do it either, modern onboard graphics or a cheap ($50) video card will be fine with a basic CPU like an i3. Run out of storage space? Hook up another HDD and you're sorted. Media centres are awesome, and even a n00b can set one up!

Buy a cheap wireless mouse and keyboard combo and you can sit on your couch and fast forward through the ads.

[Kornholio]

I've just had a look at the MySky HDI website, and it looks like a waste of money. I paid just under $100 for a PCI DVB-T tuner card (although you can get a TV tuner for cheaper than that, and there are USB models for the laptop users). I use Windows Media Center which is a free download if your version of Windows doesn't already have it installed. Just connect the Sky decoder to the TV tuner and you'll be good to go.

It has all the capabilities of the MySky HDI, such as I can pause and rewind live TV, watch and record things simultaneously on different channels etc, all without the bullshit copy protection. I can watch the videos as many times as I want, put them onto another computer etc. If you don't want to use your computer monitor to watch it with then you can buy an HDMI cable for around $10-$30 (more if you need a long cable) to connect the computer to your TV.

You don't need a fast computer to do it either, modern onboard graphics or a cheap ($50) video card will be fine with a basic CPU like an i3. Run out of storage space? Hook up another HDD and you're sorted. Media centres are awesome, and even a n00b can set one up!

Buy a cheap wireless mouse and keyboard combo and you can sit on your couch and fast forward through the ads.

Yeah cheers for the research man but you missed my point... My brother has the decoder(no PC) and I just wanted to watch bikes for free at my place... Cheers anyway

[scracha]

-Re-Dredged- :D

Ok, is it possible to transfer saved programs onto a portable HDD via the USB input in the front of a MySky HDI decoder... My bro just got one but the book says USB 2.0 connector (For future use) Doh!! He set it record the SBK and MotoGp season but wanna watch it my pad... Lollies for anyone that helps me out :p


In a word "Nope". You can record from the analogue outputs (at least the last time I tried I could). In laymen terms, your bro would have to hook up a VCR/TV capture card/DVD writer to the analogue output and then play the recordings. Would take hours.

Ask your bro for his isky account details tho.


I'm ditching sky come spring. VPN + hulu/iplayer/Eurosport Player seems far better value than what that robbing cunt Murdoch provides.

[SMOKEU]

I'm ditching sky come spring. VPN + hulu/iplayer/Eurosport Player seems far better value than what that robbing cunt Murdoch provides.

Which VPN service are you looking at? I recently signed up for BTGuard VPN because they say they don't keep IP logs, unlike Hide My Ass (or so I've heard).

[Hoon]

Short answer....No


Just connect the Sky decoder to the TV tuner and you'll be good to go.
Will only work for Standard definition transfer (i.e. RCA cables). HD won't work over HDMI as the PC (or DVR) will fail the HDCP check.

[scracha]

Which VPN service are you looking at? I recently signed up for BTGuard VPN because they say they don't keep IP logs, unlike Hide My Ass (or so I've heard).

I'm not downloading illegal torrents, looking at dodgy sites nor wearing a tinfoil hat so disclosure of my IP address to authorities doesn't really bother me. That said, I've found a loverly free OpenVPN service that terminates in New Jersey, actually works and is fast.

[SMOKEU]

I'm not downloading illegal torrents, looking at dodgy sites nor wearing a tinfoil hat so disclosure of my IP address to authorities doesn't really bother me.

Where's the fun in that?

[MOTOXXX]

WHy not just buy a dreambox with a hard drive? its a sat reciever that takes a sky card. They are awesome because you can
1. Get free multi room sky if you buy two of them
2. get your mates to buy a dream box and share the sky card over the internet. uses about 10mb of data per day and you both get sky. All against the law though - but what ever floats your boat

otherwise, look through geekzone if your a bit techie, you can hook up a sky card reader and use mediaportal or mediacentre to watch and record tv,

[scracha]

WHy not just buy a dreambox with a hard drive? its a sat reciever that takes a sky card. They are awesome because you can
1. Get free multi room sky if you buy two of them
2. get your mates to buy a dream box and share the sky card over the internet. uses about 10mb of data per day and you both get sky. All against the law though - but what ever floats your boat



Read about em but I'm a big scardey cat who hates parting with money on something that Sky may find a way to bork. Especially if it puts at risk the SO being able to watch Desperate Housewives or whatever $hite she's wanting to watch.

Tell you what though...you knock one up and I'll share my sky card :eek: