Recording Sky To PC

Supernatural

Hi guys, could anyone advise as to the best way to record from a Sky HD box to PC. I don't subscribe and they have turned the internal recording feature off.

I have been doing some research and have tried a couple of things.

1 - running RF cable into TV card in PC (no channel found)

2 - running a red/black/yellow composite lead from box to PC via an Easy Capture USB adaptor thingy (no picture in any of the PVR programs I have tried, only got a pic with ulead video studio that came bundled with Easy Cap... but no sound!)

I'm almost at the stage of throwing the towel in and buying a Freesat Recorder (not very money saving and a bit pointless when have a perfectly good Sky box here)

People have mentioned using a gaming capture box such as this

http://www.maplin.co.uk/gaming-capture-box-626338

Would this work? If so how would I connect the Sky box to it? (which leads?) I'm pretty sure the box doesn't have the YPbPr connections.

I'm sure there's a way round this but can't see the wood for the trees at the moment! Thanks in advance for any help.

neilwoods

What with the influx of threads asking for help to RIP off companies. Yes sky is expensive, but still no excuse to rip them off.

Pretty sure this goes against the forum rules

InsideInsurance

How does it go against forum rules? How is it different to plug your Sky box into a PC than it is into an old school VHS recorder?

To the OP - no the Sky HD boxes dont have Component (YPbPr) outputs and so there is no option for you to use that box unless you also bought another box of tricks and then there is no point in buying two things. Some Sky+ boxes did but then you would lose your HD capabilities

Both RF and Composite should work but you will only get standard definition and stereo sound. If it isnt then its a case of working out whats wrong with your hardware and/ or software. Make sure the options are correctly selected on your Sky box in terms of outputs too.

There are HDMI based recorders but you will need to check how they handle HDCP (copy protection). Most legitimate products wont and so you're going to have problems, those that ignore HDCP tend to be lower standard products based on the fact they're designed for people wanting to act illegally.

You could use a TV capture/ tuner which has s.video in addition to composite which is a slight step up from composite but still no way close to HD (or even RGB Scart). You'd need to check if your Sky Box can output S.Video over Scart, certainly some Sky+ boxes could (and has a s.video connector) but I dont know if they kept it for SkyHD

Mondez

You say you stopped subscribing so you are down to the free to air channels I assume? I don't see why the composite out isn't working, but if you are going to invest in something to make this work, rather than some kind of adapter I would suggest getting a DVB-S/S2 tuner card for your PC and run the signal directly into it, replacing the sky box all together.

Supernatural

Yes, it's just the free to air channels (still has the old viewing card in), not interested in using it to view Sky channels but I believe you get more choice of free channels on that rather than a Freesat box.

I can't work out why composite isn't working either, maybe I have the wrong PVR software on the PC (Honestech TVR3/NextPVR), as I say it does show a live picture when using Ulead Video Studio so the connection appears to be good... apart from sound which seems to be missing for some reason. I'm not overly fussed about getting HD, just as long as it's watchable, so basically I want the PC to act as a replacement for my old video recorder.

I'll have a look for a DVB-S/S2 tuner card for the computer, seems like the least hassle and wire free solution, thanks