I am so sorry if this has been answered somewhere on the internet, but I cant find an answer that confirms if it works or not.

 In the past i have tried FireDTV using a SKY subscription, but it was too much hassle for the Wife and child.

I now use 2 Analogue Composite WinTV cards to capture from the External Sky Boxes.

 

I have 2 SDS2 Cards and I want to use a cam on each of the cards. I have read that the new SKY White cards have not been tested, and I cant get any real answer on which cam now works.

 Windows 7 is what I will be using and ideally I want to use

1 t-500

2 SDS2 cards.

Please can anyone tell me what actually works.

 

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

the cams will no longer work in the way they used to previously.  For an alternative approach, could be worth reviewing the details in http://www.avforums.com/forums/windows-media-center-edition-mce/930839-howto-sky-through-dvb-s-card-within-mce-part-2-a.html

 

Tony 

I have had success using a Dreambox 500s (Its a lone no doubt) and the Sky White card. I am using it on its own (using dvblink), but it can be used with multiple tuners to act as a card server. I had a bit of hassle setting it up, but its worth it. Previously I had the signal routed through an analogue tuner from a set top box and it was ok, but the picture wasn't as good as now, and the Sky box did not always respond to the magic eye.

Thanks for the responses.

 Any chance you could send me more details about the Dreambox as I am not sure how they would connect to MCE.

Yes, np.  The Dreambox is a linux based sattelite reciever. It looks like a compact version of a standard Set top box(STB).  It has a remote control, card slot etc.  It is capable of operating like a standard STB but has some other tricks up its sleeve.  Being linux based additional software can be installed on it to further improve its powers.  Different Distributions can be installed on it as well to change the look and feel of the box.  All this can be done accross a network.

I am currently using my Dreambox to decode the sat signal, and stream it accross my home network.   The Dreambox has its own IP address and can be accessed by any computer in the house. 

To integrate it with Media Center, there is a piece of software available called DVBLink.  DVB link emulates a hardware decoder and allows your media Center to control the dreambox as if it were a DVB-S card installed on your machine.  It can control up to 4 Dreamboxes.  You do need to be using Vista Media Center with TV pack installed or WIndows 7 Media Center for this to work!

In order to get it working I had to do a number of things.....

 First I had to change the image on the Dreambox (ie its operating system).  This can be done over the home network.  You set up the Dreambox to attach to your network and then you ftp an image file to the /tmp folder of the dreambox.  A good piece of software to use is called Dreambox Control Center.  It includes most of the tools that you need.  (FTP, Telnet etc).  I tried out several different Distributions with varying success.  Eventually I plumped on the Pli, Jade image.  This worked well, the rest all had issues of some sort or another.  

At this point, I was able to search for Sattelite Channels and find them.  However to recieve encrypted channels  takes a little more work.

In the UK, you need to use a couple of add on programs together to get this working.  One is CCCAM and the other is NewCS.  CCCAM is a software CAM, NewCS decodes the white card and can be asked for the encryption codes.  AFAIK this is the best way for UK customers to use their cards.  The CCCAM was included in the Pli image, the NewCS software could be downloaded via the Dreambox's user menus.

The next thing that needs done is to  setup the CCCAM software and NewCS.  I eventually found a great PC application that automated this task.  It is called NewCS CCCAM config Creator V0.5.5.0.  It helps with the setup and loads the config files into the correct locations.

Then on the Dreambox you change a setting or two to tell it which channels to decode and bingo I had all the channels that I am subscribed to.

Next I installed DVB Link, to the Media Center.  This is installed in to parts, A server component and an application.  The server goes in first, then the app.  A few settings are required.

Then I went into Media Center in administrator mode, setup the TV signal and used a now installed application in the extras menu which maps the channels.  

The channels then are accessible via the guide and all the features of Media Center work as though I had a DVB-S card installed.

 This post should not be treated as an exhaustive guide.  I have plans to write up a full guide for my wesite over the next few days.  I found the whole process frustrating as Information needed to be gleaned from a wide variety of sources.  It is my intention to lay out a get setup in an hour set of instructions to bring this all together

That's a great explanation, thanks for that.

Do you know if it is possible to mix a Dreambox with ordinary DVB-S (Freesat) tuners?  It would be great to be able to have one tuner for encrypted channels and another for the freely available ones.

 Alternatively, what I believe Tony has done (and I am potentially planning on emulating) is using DVB-S2 cards in the PC directly and just using the Dreambox as a card reader/sharer.  This gives the advantage of being able to access BBC HD and C4HD (and iTV HD, but nobody cares ;))

 

asm495:

That's a great explanation, thanks for that.

Do you know if it is possible to mix a Dreambox with ordinary DVB-S (Freesat) tuners?  It would be great to be able to have one tuner for encrypted channels and another for the freely available ones.

Yes it is AFAIK.  But as has been menioned, it is possible to use the Dreambox as a cardserver,  Then you can use DVB-s 

 Personally I am using mine with a dual DVB-T card.  Channels can be mapped through the guide. I have set the priority of the Free to Air Channels such that the DVB-T card has priority.  For the Sat channels, the Dreambox does the work.  We watch the Free chanels more frequently, so this setup effectively allows us to record 3 channels at the same time in most situations.

Not quite clear what you mean by a "card server".

asm495:

Not quite clear what you mean by a "card server".

 

The card that you receive from your sat company has a chip on it that allows the encrypted channels to be viewed.  Every few seconds, a signal tells your set top box to decrypt the signal.  To do so it reads the cards chip.  

 A card server allows other devices (ie a DVB-S card on your PC) to use the chip on the card via a nework.  Thus the DVB-s card can revieve encrypted channels using the card in the Dreambox.  

You can imagine that sat companies are not too keen on this practice as it allows you to  use one card for several decoders, somehing that they normally charge you extra to do with multi-room

So in theory you could use the Dreambox without it receiving a sat signal at all and just use DVB-S2 tuners in your PC?  Is that easy to configure?  Not sure I want a Sky subscription at the moment as it is still very expensive but would be interesting to know!

 Yes, its possible,I dont know how exactly, but the steps that I gave above set up a card server. Some sort of CAM software will be required at the PC end I assume. 

 

 

Great resoponse again thank you.

 I already have 2 Sky Subscriptions that I use with HVR1300 cards and I want to use the 2 S2 cards so i get a better picture and so that i can receive Freesat HD.

I intend to buy 2 DreamBox's as I know the card share can cause issues. I notice on the back of the box it has an input and output, does this mean it can decode on the fly? as in send the encrypted channels through to the S2 cards? as that would be easier than setting up lots of back ground programs the wife and child wont understand.

The idea is to use the 2 Sky cards 1 in each box and then use the output into the S2 cards.

OR am I totally missing something?

 

Thanks again.

A little.  You only need 1 Dreambox to 'serve' the card's keys to the two S2 cards via DVBViewer and plugins, which is then connected to MCE by DVBLink.  From what I've gathered, this will give you the long awaited nirvana of full Sky HD in Media Center (bar red button prompts) with no reencoding.

People who are doing this by using the Dreambox to handle the satellite decoding are missing out on HD.

Can anyone recomend a Good reseller for Dreamsbox 500s as it seems there are loads of dodgy suppliers out there.

 Thank you