Data transfer between MySky digital decoder and PC?

[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-

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

[mashman]

-Re-Dredged-

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

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

[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 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-

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

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.