Sky Movies pin entry before 8/9pm watershed

[grahamleggat@ya]

Hi All

I'm aware that OFCOM require a pin to be entered for 12 and above movies broadcast before the 8/9pm watershed. However, is there a workaround planned for SageTV so that I don't record the "please enter pin" screen.

Also, I presume this will mess up channel changes as the pin is 4 digits and if SageTV tries to change channels it will send the channel numbers to the pin code entry and wont change the channel.

Could SageTV have a future release that allows the 4 digit pin code to be sent automatically after it sends the channel numbers for specific channels between specific times of the day?

Cheers

[rickgillyon]

What's your setup? STB or DVB?

[grahamleggat@ya]

Hi

I'm using a STB with USB-UIRT to control it.

Also, using the lastest version of Sage too.

I'm surprised that this hasn't been raised before.

Cheers

[doc]

I asked about this last year when sky first put the pin numbers in. I got fed up recording hours of "enter pin"!

I know a few people contacted sky to complain, but they said their hands we're tied by the watchdog.

As there wasn't a solution I was just careful what I recorded, and made sure I recording at the right time of day so as to avoid the problem.

In the end though I got rid of sky movies as I couldn't justify the expense - living on the road all week I don't get enough time to watch what I record.

I don't know how Sage could get round this, I've tried to think of ways but always come back to a brick wall.

[grahamleggat@ya]

Hi Doc

I don't see why Sage can't have a Pin code stored within its DB and then you select what channels need this pin code and what time range it applies.

It would then enter the channel number for Sky Movies Premiere "301", then it could have a 5 second pause and then send the pin code.

I think its a simple solution.

I've just got the Movie Mix as Sky offered it to me for £1 a month for 3 months, as you say, its too expensive normally.

Cheers

[rickgillyon]

I think you'll need to raise this with Sage directly as an enhancement request, but as it's specific to one local provider I don't know what priority they would put on it.

You could also post a request in the Customisations forum to see if someone will put together an import for this...but chances are that if no-one with the ability to do it needs it doing, there won't be any takers. Worth a try!

[Lucas]

The PIN arrangement is handled in the digibox alone.

When I tune into Sky channels using a DVB-S card/CAM/Sky card the PIN prompt doesn't appear.

Let's wait for DVB-S support in SageTV to be released.

If you don't want to utilise DVB-S support then you could in theory, with Girder, configure USBUIRT to send the PIN every time you change channels through SageTV.

[rickgillyon]

There are ways around it in DVBC too, hence my "DVB or STB" question...

[grahamleggat@ya]

Thanks.

Could someone explain what DVBC and DVB-S are in relation to Sage

Cheers

[doc]

One of the issues I see with Sage handling the pin codes, is that if the recording starts and Sky isnt asking for a pin, if Sage sent a pin code, it may change channel. You would have to make sure that your pin number doesn't correspond to a Sky channel change in any way. Also, if the recording starts, and Sky asks for the pin after a minute or so, then sage wont know about this and you're stuck with the 'enter pin' recording.

If Sky sent a hidden signal that sage could pick up and interpret as an 'enter pin' command, then I could see a solution being possible, but if it doesn't, it would all be hit and miss.

[brewston]

I can't see Sage supporting this natively anytime soon, we still have to use XMLTV to get EPG and I imagine (would hope!) this is higher on their list


I don't have a USB-UIRT I have the Joseph Heenan device but if they work in a similar way (ie call EXEtuner plugin) then I can't see it being impossible to adapt the VB script to send the PIN after sending the channel change (you would probably need to maintain a list of which channels need this to prevent the PIN being interpreted as a channel change as Doc mentioned)

The only downside :-) I can't write VB script and only have the freesat offering so don't have the PIN problem- sorry

Tim

[Alfiegerner]

I think you could get round this by using the exetuner program, but it would require some scripting and / or possibly the use of Auto IT, girder or something similar.

For the channels which require a PIN you could send a channel number to the STB, then start a x second pause, and then send the pin number.

[nielm]

Originally Posted by grahamleggat@ya

Could someone explain what DVBC and DVB-S are in relation to Sage

DVB is Digital Video Broadcast
-C is the CableTV format
-S is the SatelliteTV format (eg Sky)
-T is the terrestrial TV format (eg freeview)

Sage can theoretically use DVB capture cards to directly record digital signals without needing a Set-Top-Box, but I don't yet know what cards/formats are supported.

[motobarsteward]

I bought a DVB-S card called that Nova S plus, made by Hauppauge off of Ebay. It arrived yesterday. I put it in the server. Two things happened...

1. My machine could not read the two drives that I have attached to my Silicon Image SATA control card!

2. Sage was unable to see the new card. It comes up as a network device (not surprisingly) rather than a media card. However, I do know that the next Beta is going to support this card (according to Donkey).

I installed the player software that came with the card and I was able to watch TV. Imagine my annoyance when I found that, although Channel 4 and Channel 5 are free-to-air, Sky encrypt them! I've found a couple of things on the internet that say this is to be expected but nothing to say when it will be fixed.

WRT to the clash with my SATA controller card, I'm not sure what happened there. The problem went away when I took the Hauppauge card out.

Anyone want to but the Nova S card from me?

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by motobarsteward

I bought a DVB-S card called that Nova S plus, made by Hauppauge off of Ebay. It arrived yesterday. I put it in the server. Two things happened...

1. My machine could not read the two drives that I have attached to my Silicon Image SATA control card!

2. Sage was unable to see the new card. It comes up as a network device (not surprisingly) rather than a media card. However, I do know that the next Beta is going to support this card (according to Donkey).

I installed the player software that came with the card and I was able to watch TV. Imagine my annoyance when I found that, although Channel 4 and Channel 5 are free-to-air, Sky encrypt them! I've found a couple of things on the internet that say this is to be expected but nothing to say when it will be fixed.

WRT to the clash with my SATA controller card, I'm not sure what happened there. The problem went away when I took the Hauppauge card out.

Anyone want to but the Nova S card from me?

Make sure you load the BDA drivers if the card has any.

Channel 4 and Channel 5 are not free to air. They are free to view. Essential you need to buy a cheap Sky free to view card which allows you to view them. You need however to have a DVB-S card which has a CI module and a CAM to insert the card into.

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

Did anyone ever solve the problem as originally described:- Sky+ asking for a PIN number before show the unencrypted channel?

I have switched to a Sky+ HD box and a Hauppauge PVR-HD although I have this annoying PIN number problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

David

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

For anyone who may be interested in this problem in the future you can probably use exetunerplugin.dll or exemultitunerplugin.dll to resolve this problem.

That is as long as you are running Windows XP or at least a 32bit version of windows, I am using Windows 7 64bit and was unable to configure this plugin to work correctly with my OS.

To get around the problem I have been using the excellent DVBEnhancer plugin which gets around using the STB in the first place and therefore no need to enter a PIN in the first place.

Hope this helps,

David