Foxtel and SageTV 2010 - Anyone got a working setup?

[mpogr]

Originally Posted by antplugger

perfect - Thanks for the speedy reply. If I got two of the 3650's would I need two card readers ?

Thanks a bunch. One last question, any recommendations for the best place to purchase the 3650's ?

Cheers

You need only one reader for any number of physical tuners.
As for the place to buy those, I agree with peterjb, DVBShop is probably the best place. This is where I've got mine.

Cheers,

Michael.

[peterjb]

Michael,

Is there another frequency that might be useful ( apart from 3.57 Mhz ) that you would recommend for that card reader??

Cheers

Peter

[mpogr]

Peter,

No other frequency seems to be particularly useful, I went for 6MHz as the second choice.

A truly helpful advice for everyone going for DVB-C setup: get quality cables/splitters for your setup! I mocked around for a while with cheap cabling and had shitty signal quality, until I acquired pre-built F-to-FM RG6 cables from Dick Smith. They cost a bunch, but really worth every dollar you spend on them!

[antplugger]

Just ordered the dvb-c card and reader with 3.57 & 6mhz -hope that's right the product description lists 3.58mhz as an option !

Thanks for the advice now for the fun ?

Cheers

[antplugger]

Hey mprog, just pulling all the pre-reqs together waiting for the delivery.

What software do you suggest I be using for the card reader ?

Thanks

[mpogr]

New version has been uploaded, with improved DVB-C and North America support.
For up-to-date update instructions, refer to this document (courtesy of CodeMonkey).

[boil42]

Hi Guys, I'm just about to get in to this.

Does DVB4Sage decode Foxtel HD Orange card? I have heard that you might need a blue card to be able to decode.

Second, I have been looking locally in OZ for a DVB S2 Card. Have found a Technisat SkyStar (DVB-S2) USB 2 HD CI that I can source locally. Specs here will this do me, I know the CI is an overkill but the model without the CI is not here in OZ.

If its not the right one can someone point me to a tried and true card?

My SageTV is well established so looking forward to the next stage.
I'm excited!!!!

[mpogr]

Ability to decode using a specific card is unrelated to DVBE4SAGE, it is a function of the plugin used. I can tell you that there is a plugin, compatible with DVBE4SAGE, which is able to do that. Please, send me a PM for more information.
Regarding the CI slot, you're right, there is absolutely no use in it in Oz. You might be better off by ordering DVB-S2 cards from foreign online shops, e.g. www.dvbshop.net .

Cheers,

Michael.

[MrFusion]

Hey mpogr - welcome to Oz!

I'm very excited that you're now settled in as I'm hoping that you'll now have incentive to extend DVBE4Sage to also handle DVB-T!

What do you think - is this achievable?

I think the native Sage DVB-T support is pretty poor, and reckon that a setup with multiple DVB-C and DVB-T tuners would be just about perfect!

What say you, oh wise one?

EDIT:: -- oooh... these beasties say that they support both DVB-C AND DVB-T http://www.tt-pc.com/2916/TT-connect__CT-3650_CI.html

Does this mean I just plug in a bunch of them, and get either Foxtel or FTA by plugging in whichever cable & using the right config?!?!???

[mpogr]

Frankly, I don't quite understand why would one need both DVB-T and DVB-C setup. All the DVB-T channels are available over the cable as well. So, what's the point in using both?
Regarding DVB-C/T cards, all modern DVB-C devices also support DVB-T. You can't simply switch between the two sources though, because they have only one input connector, which can be connected to either digital cable or antenna, but not both at the same time.
Back to the original question, adding DVB-T support to DVBE4SAGE is not difficult, but I can see very little benefit in it. The biggest problem is the need in manual configuration, as, for most part, DVB-T carriers don't broadcast NIT information, so the program needs to be told in advance where every transponder is located. Right now it doesn't have an option for multiple transponder initialization, it expects to be told about a single transponder which has NIT and global SDT information broadcasted on it, and therefore can discover the entire transponder layout by itself.

[MrFusion]

Originally Posted by mpogr

Frankly, I don't quite understand why would one need both DVB-T and DVB-C setup. All the DVB-T channels are available over the cable as well. So, what's the point in using both?

OOoooooh! <headslap> Good point. (in my defense, I don't have cable yet, so didn't think of that...)

What about EPG?

Back to the original question, adding DVB-T support to DVBE4SAGE is not difficult, but I can see very little benefit in it.

What about the poor unfortunates (like me) who don't have cable (yet). DVBE4SAGE features would still be extremely useful (eg: ability to record from multiple channels on the same transponder with a single tuner)?

...and one last question (been doing a lot of googling, but finding this all seems to be a bit murky. Lots of noobs like me, lots of (apparent) megabrains who speak in cryptic bursts, but little in the way of getting from one state to the other)....

As I understand it, the receiver gets the encrypted stream, the CAM interacts with the subscriber's card to get whatever decryption keys etc needed, but what does the decryption? If software/CPU - how intensive is this? Any hints on how many tuners I could use concurrently?

Thanks again!

[mpogr]

Yes, ability to record several channels from one transponder is useful for DVB-T. Still, in context of SageTV this is a nice complimentary feature, not much more than that. The reason for this is the fact Sage doesn't know about this capability, so, in order to use it, you actually need to define more virtual tuners than the number of physical tuners you have, which, in turn, is dangerous, because it might make Sage think it can record more programs simutaneously than actually can be recorded.
Anyway, from practical perspective, supporting DVB-T would require adding manual configuration, for which I currently don't have time.

In terms of decryption, you don't need to worry, as DVBE4SAGE is very efficient. It can decrypt enormous amount of programs simlutaneously (I ran trials with up to 50!) without any difficulty. In fact, the real limitation is the smartcard itself.
Let's do a little math: a new key is required every 10 seconds for every program recorded. The time it takes the card to produce the key varies (primarily by the card reader used), but is never less than 0.3 sec. Coniderring this, you cannot decrypt more than 30 different programs simultaneously anyway. But this is already much more than practically needed with any reasonable setup. I have 4 DVB-C cards in my system and 4 clients (not all of them active all the time) + a couple of scheduled recording, so I don't think I ever exceeded 6 simultaneous recording at any partuclar time. With 6 recordings, your server CPU will be barely scratched.

[MrFusion]

Thanks very much indeed for your very helpful responses!

Originally Posted by mpogr

Yes, ability to record several channels from one transponder is useful for DVB-T. Still, in context of SageTV this is a nice complimentary feature, not much more than that. The reason for this is the fact Sage doesn't know about this capability, so, in order to use it, you actually need to define more virtual tuners than the number of physical tuners you have, which, in turn, is dangerous, because it might make Sage think it can record more programs simutaneously than actually can be recorded.

I thought that within Sage you can avoid this problem by restricting each individual tuner to a subset of channels -- that is, set up a number of virtual tuners per transponder/physical tuner.

Anyway, bit of a moot point now, as I'm going to switch over to DVB-C...

Thanks to you, I now have lots more reading to do to find a reasonable tuner, work out how to get EPG, etc etc.

Would be good if someone started a thread on to accumulate people's experiences with various bits of kit...

[mpogr]

Originally Posted by MrFusion

I thought that within Sage you can avoid this problem by restricting each individual tuner to a subset of channels -- that is, set up a number of virtual tuners per transponder/physical tuner.

I don't see how exactly this is going to solve the problem. Care to explain?

Originally Posted by MrFusion

Thanks to you, I now have lots more reading to do to find a reasonable tuner, work out how to get EPG, etc etc.
Would be good if someone started a thread on to accumulate people's experiences with various bits of kit...

I haven't seen many tuners which don't work with DVBE4SAGE, there have been some reports about problems with some new Hauppauge units, but other than that everything else pretty much works. TechnoTrends have a good proven record, if you're looking for the recommended ones, especially their USB models, which also have excellent signal quality and strength.
As for EPG, I'm using this tool, which produces quite good results for cable Foxtel. I have some weird readings regarding the series/episode numbers, but, other than that, it works very nicely. It can also use any tuner available in the system, so it won't interfere with DVBE4SAGE.