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Freesat DVB-S and mediacenter? BillyUK 05-09-2008
Posted by BillyUK on May 9, 2008, 6:33 am
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 With the launch of "Freesat" in the UK and the HD channels promised.
Does anyone know of a DVB-S card/dongle that is mediacenter compatible?
It would be great to have the mediacenter features and be able to capture HD
content.

Thanks if you can help

Billy


Posted by Nigel Barker on May 9, 2008, 7:39 am
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>With the launch of "Freesat" in the UK and the HD channels promised.
>Does anyone know of a DVB-S card/dongle that is mediacenter compatible?
>It would be great to have the mediacenter features and be able to capture HD
>content.
>
>Thanks if you can help
>
>Billy

The only HDTV available in Media Center is in the US for Over The Air MPEG2.
Most satellite HD e.g.
BBC HD is MPEG4 & thus not supported.

DVB-S is also not currently supported natively in Media Center but there are
solutions from DVB-S
card manufacturers that supply fake DVB-T (Freeview) drivers so that the cards
will work within
Media Center. With the right Conditional Access Module (CAM) you can even use
your subscription card
to watch encrypted channels e.g. Sky. If that is your requirement then the
FloppyDTV or FireDTV
devices from www.digital-everywhere.com are far & away the best choice.

For Free To Air channels the you have a wider choice of DVB-S tuner although the
FloppyDTV is still
the best it is quite a bit more expensive than simple DVB-S cards.

BTW "freesat" (the brand name is all lower case) is just a repackaging of the
FTA channels with a
new Electronic Programme Guide. Currently you will not be able to use this EPG
or the parallel Sky
one as no DVB viewing application supports it.
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

Posted by BillyUK on May 9, 2008, 10:14 am
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>
>>With the launch of "Freesat" in the UK and the HD channels promised.
>>Does anyone know of a DVB-S card/dongle that is mediacenter compatible?
>>It would be great to have the mediacenter features and be able to capture
>>HD
>>content.
>>
>>Thanks if you can help
>>
>>Billy
>
> The only HDTV available in Media Center is in the US for Over The Air
> MPEG2. Most satellite HD e.g.
> BBC HD is MPEG4 & thus not supported.
>
> DVB-S is also not currently supported natively in Media Center but there
> are solutions from DVB-S
> card manufacturers that supply fake DVB-T (Freeview) drivers so that the
> cards will work within
> Media Center. With the right Conditional Access Module (CAM) you can even
> use your subscription card
> to watch encrypted channels e.g. Sky. If that is your requirement then the
> FloppyDTV or FireDTV
> devices from www.digital-everywhere.com are far & away the best choice.
>
> For Free To Air channels the you have a wider choice of DVB-S tuner
> although the FloppyDTV is still
> the best it is quite a bit more expensive than simple DVB-S cards.
>
> BTW "freesat" (the brand name is all lower case) is just a repackaging of
> the FTA channels with a
> new Electronic Programme Guide. Currently you will not be able to use this
> EPG or the parallel Sky
> one as no DVB viewing application supports it.
> --
>
> Cheers
>
> Nigel Barker
> Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
> MCE MVP

Thanks Nigel
I'll give them a look.
I know freesat is (or will be) similar to the freeview DVB-T system but I
thought it had extra HD content?
I currently use a Kworld DVB-T card with vista media center and it is
superb.Just thought the HD might be interesting.
Thanks again
Billy


Posted by Nigel Barker on May 9, 2008, 10:44 am
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>
>>
>>>With the launch of "Freesat" in the UK and the HD channels promised.
>>>Does anyone know of a DVB-S card/dongle that is mediacenter compatible?
>>>It would be great to have the mediacenter features and be able to capture
>>>HD
>>>content.
>>>
>>>Thanks if you can help
>>>
>>>Billy
>>
>> The only HDTV available in Media Center is in the US for Over The Air
>> MPEG2. Most satellite HD e.g.
>> BBC HD is MPEG4 & thus not supported.
>>
>> DVB-S is also not currently supported natively in Media Center but there
>> are solutions from DVB-S
>> card manufacturers that supply fake DVB-T (Freeview) drivers so that the
>> cards will work within
>> Media Center. With the right Conditional Access Module (CAM) you can even
>> use your subscription card
>> to watch encrypted channels e.g. Sky. If that is your requirement then the
>> FloppyDTV or FireDTV
>> devices from www.digital-everywhere.com are far & away the best choice.
>>
>> For Free To Air channels the you have a wider choice of DVB-S tuner
>> although the FloppyDTV is still
>> the best it is quite a bit more expensive than simple DVB-S cards.
>>
>> BTW "freesat" (the brand name is all lower case) is just a repackaging of
>> the FTA channels with a
>> new Electronic Programme Guide. Currently you will not be able to use this
>> EPG or the parallel Sky
>> one as no DVB viewing application supports it.
>> --
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Nigel Barker
>> Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
>> MCE MVP
>
>Thanks Nigel
>I'll give them a look.
>I know freesat is (or will be) similar to the freeview DVB-T system but I
>thought it had extra HD content?
>I currently use a Kworld DVB-T card with vista media center and it is
>superb.Just thought the HD might be interesting.
>Thanks again
>Billy

If you just want FTA DVB-S HDTV (currently just BBC HD & Luxe HD) then just get
yourself a cheap
DVB-S card. The current bargain is the Pinnacle 7010ix available for just 35
pounds delivered
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5437587/-/Product.html?searchstring=7010i&searchsource=0
This is a
dual DVB-T & dual DVB-S. You can use the Freeview tuners in Media Center & use
the very excellent
DVBViewer (just 15 Euros) for the satellite tuners. There are also hundreds of
FTA SD TV & radio
channels available including BBC1/2/3/4 ITV1/2/3/4 C4, E4, More4 plus various +1
channels plus free
movie channels, 24 hour News, Music etc etc Take a look here to see what
channels are available
http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html
--

Cheers

Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur
MCE MVP

Posted by John Lockwood on May 12, 2008, 5:46 am
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On 9/5/08 15:14, in article
162C4878-E0E2-471F-BF74-79FD2741DFBB@microsoft.com, "BillyUK"

>
> Thanks Nigel
> I'll give them a look.
> I know freesat is (or will be) similar to the freeview DVB-T system but I
> thought it had extra HD content?
> I currently use a Kworld DVB-T card with vista media center and it is
> superb.Just thought the HD might be interesting.
> Thanks again
> Billy
>


There is the BBC HD channel which is broadcast over DVB-S in H.264, and Lux
HD which I believe is also over DVB-S in H.264.

I believe there is also ITV HD which is over DVB-S but in H.222 (which I had
never heard of before). Apparently suitable software can can be convinced to
treat this as H.264.

While it is possible using DVB-S tuners that 'pretend' to be DVB-T tuners
(like the FireDTV mentioned by Nigel) to get some FreeSat channels, this
will only work for MPEG2 broadcasts as currently even the Vista version of
Media Center still does not support H.264 broadcasts at all. (Even for
DVB-T, Norway and New Zealand both use H.264 over DVB-T so they do not work
in Media Center currently).

I have seen other postings on the Internet that indicate that people have
succeeded getting these HD FreeSat channels using DVBviewer for Windows, or
the latest EyeTV 3.0.2 for Macintosh.

FreeSat is giving the impression that most/all of it is a new service. If so
then they should have gone straight to DVB-S2 and H.264 (even for SD) for
all the channels. To me it looks like most of the channels are exactly the
same (from the same satellite) as those currently available 'free' via Sky
(which is why they are using the 'old' DVB-S and MPEG2).

The reason this is an issue is that ALREADY they are saying they are full-up
on the satellite they are using. They are using a particular Astra satellite
that only covers the UK so as to avoid having to pay extra for the rights to
broadcast over Europe. Sky does not have this problem with other Astra
satellites and encrypted channels since they simply don't sell the viewing
cards in Europe.

PS. Allegedly the much delayed Media Center update to Vista (codename Fiji)
might add official DVB-S support and H.264 support.


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