TATA Sky to PC!

[solomon_paulraj]

can i record tata sky channel programs on my pc using tv tuner card?

any one done it?

[ThinkFree]

You can't do this by just recording using tv tuner card as the signals are encrypted. Don't know if possible using any software

[narangz]

you can do it by connecting the output from STB to TV tuner's AV in, AFAIK>

[ThinkFree]

It won't work

[narangz]

arey the output it gives is same for tv or tv tuner card. i think it should work.

[preshit.net]

It does work. I do it some times.

[Kl@w-24]

It works. U'll just need to connect using the video out and the left/right channels from the STB to the tv tuner card and set the video source as 'composite' in ur tv tuner software.

[Carnage13]

you can simply capture channels using tv tunner card by connecting av code or by rf code.only one channel at a time.

[ranjan2001]

Can anyone confirm that they have done recording with tatasky, does it work, does it record stereo sound.
I want to buy tuner card to record music shows.

[paraman]

I have recorded numerous episodes of Friends using my Pinnacle Tv tuner and my TataSky connection. You just connect the STB to the tuner using the regular cable instead of the composite cable. Tune the tuner to channel 68 and record! Whats the big deal?

[ranjan2001]

Thanks for the confirmation, is it the external box or the internal card, does it record stereo sound left /right channel?

[axxo]

yes you can capture live tv shows from tatasky. I have recorded many shows and still doing it. All you require is an analog TV tuner card..even a cheap intex card will do the job. Stereo sound? not sure. you may get a mixed output of left and right channel because of single line in socket.

[praka123]

I have tried a pinnacle pctv 50i analog tuner with SUN DTH and Linux. you have to get a S-video cable and connect between STB and tuner card.get the left and right audio o/p from STB and give it to the tuner/onboard audio line-in .you may need a cable with single pinn in order to plug into onboard or tuner audio input.

next fire up the software which you use to record.select S-video i/p and line-in audio.thats it!.

PS: I dont know whether dishtv or tata sky got s-video and stereo audio o/p for SUN DTH only!

[axxo]

^ tatasky has got s-video and stereo audio out thats for sure

[ranjan2001]

Originally Posted by axxo

^ tatasky has got s-video and stereo audio out thats for sure

thanks for confirming this, I assume u have recorded it as stereo..........right??
or its based on ur information from some source.

[s18000rpm]

NO s-video in tata sky set top box.

[ranjan2001]

Originally Posted by axxo

yes you can capture live tv shows from tatasky. I have recorded many shows and still doing it. All you require is an analog TV tuner card..even a cheap intex card will do the job. Stereo sound? not sure. you may get a mixed output of left and right channel because of single line in socket.

I want good quality recording as I am sound critical person same goes for video , do these card stretch the normal TV 4:3 ratio to fit or keep it as it is. My lcd 20 inch runs at 1680x1050 & last time I demoed 2 cards the guys could not stop the image from stretching.
How about CPU usage, since these are all software based recording, does it go too high?

[axxo]

I'm using a custom audio cable, a 2 pin out to 1 pin in cable for audio. If you use the audio cable that comes with tatasky you will be getting mono audio.
No source personal exp..

[ranjan2001]

Originally Posted by s18000rpm

NO s-video in tata sky set top box.

WHAT?????
whom do I believe now? I hope they have the same STB across the country or do they have separate models with S-video?

[axxo]

am not sure what s18000rpm referring to...anyway i will better attach a scnshot later

edit:
..may be am wrong..is that composite video out???

[s18000rpm]

Originally Posted by ranjan2001

WHAT?????
whom do I believe now? I hope they have the same STB across the country or do they have separate models with S-video?

in my STB , theres' no s-video.

[ranjan2001]

I am thinking of buying this
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/tv_tun...&pronameid=399
I am not sure if its available in Delhi or not but it has most features which I need & its vista compilable but i still need x64 driver to work else its no use to me.

Originally Posted by axxo

am not sure what s18000rpm referring to...anyway i will better attach a scnshot later
edit:
..may be am wrong..is that composite video out???

Whats the difference between 2 of them??

[axxo]

Originally Posted by ranjan2001

I want good quality recording as I am sound critical person same goes for video , do these card stretch the normal TV 4:3 ratio to fit or keep it as it is. My lcd 20 inch runs at 1680x1050 & last time I demoed 2 cards the guys could not stop the image from stretching.
How about CPU usage, since these are all software based recording, does it go too high?

I use compro video mate card..while doing mpeg-2 recording i notice 50-60% cpu usage..also have setting in compro software to set the display mode 16:9...although am on crt.

[s18000rpm]

see, no s-video

[axxo]

Originally Posted by ranjan2001

Whats the difference between 2 of them??

composite out/in is yellow in color, s-video in black (again not sure)
qualitywise i still have no idea to what extent the difference will be.

actually my software assumes composite as s-video so as this confusion

Originally Posted by s18000rpm

see, no s-video

so quick huh...sorry its composite then.my correction.

[ranjan2001]

Originally Posted by axxo

I use compro video mate card..while doing mpeg-2 recording i notice 50-60% cpu usage..also have setting in compro software to set the display mode 16:9...although am on crt.

50-60% is quite high, what about the hdd activity, does that light up as long as its recording or does it have some kind of buffer space. The system wuld generate lot of heat though I have a good airflow cabinet, but just want to be sure before I go this route.

I have a good spec of my system & over that I would be on x64 bit OS that might help to reduce CPU effectively provided the driver /software supports x64bit.

Life is becoming too busy & I miss my programs badly.

Originally Posted by s18000rpm

see, no s-video

I love this forum, your quick replies make me addictive of this forum.
Thanks for posting the images.

[axxo]

Originally Posted by ranjan2001

50-60% is quite high, what about the hdd activity, does that light up as long as its recording or does it have some kind of buffer space. The system wuld generate lot of heat though I have a good airflow cabinet, but just want to be sure before I go this route.

I have a good spec of my system & over that I would be on x64 bit OS that might help to reduce CPU effectively provided the driver /software supports x64bit.

Life is becoming too busy & I miss my programs badly.

hdd activity is not much but noticable if you have hard look into it...afterall mpeg02 consumes 30mb per minute(approx)
cpu usage also depends upon the encoder you use, mpeg2 or divx or any other..

[ranjan2001]

Originally Posted by axxo

hdd activity is not much but noticable if you have hard look into it...afterall mpeg02 consumes 30mb per minute(approx)
cpu usage also depends upon the encoder you use, mpeg2 or divx or any other..

In that case I should look for divX capable card so it eats up less space on hdd & less cpu.

[axxo]

Originally Posted by ranjan2001

In that case I should look for divX capable card so it eats up less space on hdd & less cpu.

divx encoding is best if you not gonna edit afterwards,i.e once the capture process gets done. I meant if you want to edit and process the captured video(for removing ads, add your own logos,etc) then mpeg-2 would be the better option.

[ranjan2001]

Oh is that the case?
Cant we edit divX, is there too much loss of quality?
I surely would edit those programs which I want to keep achieved.
IN my case at leasat 70-80% of programs will be edited rest will be just seen once & discarded.

2 good threads which I have been reading on TV tuner card, hope other members may need this info too.
pls suggest a TV TUNER CARD for recording

another one
Buying Guide : TV Tuner for TFTs Wide Screen [19 or 20"]