media center and satellite tv

[mridang_agarwal]

Hey guys,
I'm from India and all this while we've been using plain old cable TV but now things are changing - we've finally got satellite TV. TV tuner cards work very well with cable TV. I wondered if there were any TV tuner cards that worked with satellite TV and so I began Googling - I found only one, which was made by Hauppauge and this card only worked with the free to air channels. Media Center PC's have a TV tuner card that works with cable TV but how would it work with Satellite TV? Here we get small set top box kinda machines that sits on top of your TV and you change channels through it. You pay a monthly subscription to the company in return for which they give you smart card that is inserted into the set top box. Do all satellite TV services work in the same way. By the way the satellite TV services here use the European DVB standard (if that's any help)!

[Krispy Kritter]

For SAT TV use on a computer, you would have to use the SAT tuner box and output the video into your pc. SAT tuners vary by provider and none offer pc based tuner cards.

[mike909]

video out from your STB (set top box) to your video in on your capture card (happauge). changing channels is done on your stb, but if you want your media center/pc to "know" about the channels being changed and have the epg(electronic programming guide) displayed from your computer, you will have to set up some IR blasting....but that all depends on which media center software you decide to use.

[mridang_agarwal]

IR Blasting? What is that? All I've heard of till date is that you could hook up a IR transmitter to your PC and use your PC to control the STB. When the PC receives an IR signal from your PC remote- it basically retransmits it to your STB, thereby saving you the hassle of using two remotes. Is that right? But what about the EPG? How on earth would I be able to get that information onto my PC??? Oh, by the way, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that i want to use windows Media Center.

[SatStorm]

Try to find a DVB/S card called "SkyStar2". Google a bit around this card...
In case you have a subscription, you may also need a phoenix smartmouse for your card.
Forget windows Media Center, for DVB cards you need software like beyond TV, GBPVR, etc...

BTW, you have digital satellite trasmissions at India for a decade now! I use to recieve (when I had Band C) plenty DVB/S channels from india at Greece, since 1999. Doodarshan channels transmits in DVB/S since 1998 from what I know, so BBC india, MTV india, Star TV, Zee TV, Sony TV, etc. And you use to have the best cartoon network back in the 90s (I use to recieve it analogue, through Pas4 at 68.5 East).
Here is a great list of what is FTA from india right now: http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/India.html

[mridang_agarwal]

hey SanStorm,

I may be a bot confused here so help me out. We have cable for while. Is that digital? when I say digital i'm referring to the setup in which u get small set top box and a small pizza sized dish. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I checked out the card you mentioned. Skystar2. Well its mentioned that it only supports free to air channels. How would i be able to view paid channels? I'd need to plg in the SIm card somewhere? Whats that Phoenix Smartmouse thing you're talking about? Lastly, in India i dont think I'd get access to such equipment so fill me in on that IR blasting method too that mike909 mentioned earlier.

Thanks!

[Krispy Kritter]

My cable provider has three sources, the SD basic channels, digital channels, and HD channels.

If you are using a dish, then I expect you have SAT and not cable.