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Thread: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

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    Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    A card that lets you watch pay-TV on your PC, sounds totally illegal doesn't it? Fear not, Hauppauge's WinTV-CI lets you do just that, and it's entirely legal too.
    Read more.

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Pinnacle released a Satellite version with a CI years ago, didn't they? The PCTV Sat CI? Pinnacle PCTV Sat CI TV Tuner Review in TV Tuners at Review Centre

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by nichomach View Post
    Pinnacle released a Satellite version with a CI years ago, didn't they? The PCTV Sat CI? Pinnacle PCTV Sat CI TV Tuner Review in TV Tuners at Review Centre
    there are a bunch of CI-capable cards. i have an old technotrend at home

    and the elephant in the corner with this product is: you can't legally use it for Sky or Virgin Media. same goes in most countries. Poles will be able to use it for Cyfrowy Polsat without issue, though.

    perhaps more interesting from hauppauge recently is the hauppauge hd pvr which will capture HD video over component and encode it on the fly into h264 (and comes with an IR blaster so you can piggy-back it onto sky hd or virgin hd)

    oh, and worth noting, this hauppauge CI thing is software-based. which means it's trivial to crack and use with non-hauppauge cards. and also trivial to crack and use to pirate pay tv

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    I have to say, I gave up the idea of home-brewing a DVR, being on cable, and my V+ arrives on Saturday (fingers crossed). With any luck it'll be a bit more stable than the POS Pace box I've got at the mo. I really think we ought to have some form of legislation/regulation to force the pay TV companies to allow the use of a choice of hardware, though; something like a "wires-only" service, and you can either get their box or supply your own (and I'm DAMN sure I could build a better mousetrap...).

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    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by nichomach View Post
    I have to say, I gave up the idea of home-brewing a DVR, being on cable, and my V+ arrives on Saturday (fingers crossed). With any luck it'll be a bit more stable than the POS Pace box I've got at the mo. I really think we ought to have some form of legislation/regulation to force the pay TV companies to allow the use of a choice of hardware, though; something like a "wires-only" service, and you can either get their box or supply your own (and I'm DAMN sure I could build a better mousetrap...).
    not happening in the uk, unfortunately

    sky are currently fighting the italian government over this though, for the exact reasons you give

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Sky are way too paranoid to allow third party hardware to decode their streams. The fact is (too) they just don't need too - plenty of sheeple will carry on donating to the murdoch fund regardless of the quality of the set-top boxes.

    I don't miss sky a bit - freeview/media center is fine for me - but they sure seem to miss me (i'm thinking of inviting some of their telesales staff round for tea).
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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by dangel View Post
    Sky are way too paranoid to allow third party hardware to decode their streams. The fact is (too) they just don't need too - plenty of sheeple will carry on donating to the murdoch fund regardless of the quality of the set-top boxes.

    I don't miss sky a bit - freeview/media center is fine for me - but they sure seem to miss me (i'm thinking of inviting some of their telesales staff round for tea).
    i'm gonna rig up DVB-S when i move house, get some freesat lovin'. with channel 4 going free in march, the "good" channels will be available for free, with fewer reception woes than DVB-T

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    not happening in the uk, unfortunately
    I know. Barstewards.
    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    sky are currently fighting the italian government over this though, for the exact reasons you give
    Good on the Italians, say I. If they get a win I'll learn Il Canto degli Italiani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, just to congratulate them .

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    i'm gonna rig up DVB-S when i move house, get some freesat lovin'. with channel 4 going free in march, the "good" channels will be available for free, with fewer reception woes than DVB-T
    DVB-T is fine for me - but I guess your mileage varies according to where you live - mines stupidly strong and I got a proper aerial put up when I made the switch. My old sky+ now gets 'free' channels but oddly the selection is somewhat limited as compared to freeview. It may be because I need to 'pay' sky for a new card to enable it properly - tbh I can't be bothered as the box is basically unused. In all honesty i think i get better reception on DVB-T in heavy rain - sky would bomb out but that might be down the the minidish (although I did fit a decent quad lnb) size.


    What's on freesat by comparison that's worth having?
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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by dangel View Post
    DVB-T is fine for me - but I guess your mileage varies according to where you live - mines stupidly strong and I got a proper aerial put up when I made the switch. My old sky+ now gets 'free' channels but oddly the selection is somewhat limited as compared to freeview. It may be because I need to 'pay' sky for a new card to enable it properly - tbh I can't be bothered as the box is basically unused. In all honesty i think i get better reception on DVB-T in heavy rain - sky would bomb out but that might be down the the minidish (although I did fit a decent quad lnb) size.


    What's on freesat by comparison that's worth having?
    not a huge amount. i like the idea of bbc hd and some of the "zone" channels though

    and if you want all-weather support, use something better than a 45cm elliptical!

    personally i need to use 2 signal boosters just to receive any DVB-T channels, and i get skips on all of them

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    and if you want all-weather support, use something better than a 45cm elliptical!

  12. Received thanks from:

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Yeah, that would do it

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by nichomach View Post
    a round 60mm dish should be enough for sky in rain. a well-fixed 80mm should be fine in a tropical storm.

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    personally i need to use 2 signal boosters just to receive any DVB-T channels, and i get skips on all of them
    Boosters are never a good solution for DVB-T IMHO - i'd always go the high gain antennae route first where possible. Still, I appreciate it's a post code lottery for some.

    I wasn't willing to hang a massive dish on the house (hence the minidish being so popular) versus whacking up a proper mast antennae (which has better WAF too). Still i'd be interested to see how you get on with freesat - part. if there's HD content available.
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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by nichomach View Post
    I have to say, I gave up the idea of home-brewing a DVR, being on cable, and my V+ arrives on Saturday (fingers crossed). With any luck it'll be a bit more stable than the POS Pace box I've got at the mo.
    Well yeah, the V+ is good (as good as sky+), but its no TiVo.
    Tivos can now be bought for around £100 (with lifetime sub) on ebay, and mode0 sorts out the picture uqality issue.

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    Re: Watch pay-TV on your computer with Hauppauge WinTV-CI

    Quote Originally Posted by dangel View Post
    Boosters are never a good solution for DVB-T IMHO - i'd always go the high gain antennae route first where possible. Still, I appreciate it's a post code lottery for some.

    I wasn't willing to hang a massive dish on the house (hence the minidish being so popular) versus whacking up a proper mast antennae (which has better WAF too). Still i'd be interested to see how you get on with freesat - part. if there's HD content available.
    only bbc hd for the moment. POSSIBLy channel 4 hd, when they go FTA in march, but their current transponder appears to be for Sky channels (their other transponders appear to be "theirs")

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