what to get to recieve nasn

silent

well, I just found out about nasn and it carries many nhl games (ok, the season is almost over) and nascar, no nfl yet but I guess they will add that sometime during the year

I have a normal NTL cable in the house (basic package), AFAIK nasn won't work with NTL here in ireland (analog or digital) - correct me if I'm wrong

So I though, I might get a digital satelite, get a DVB card for my pc and hook use it that way. I do not want to feed the TV to the television, as I never use it anyway, I want to feed it to my HTPC (not complete yet) which is in my room, so I can record it during the night and watch later, plus archive if desired. I watch movies anyway on the 18" monitor anyway.

I do not want skydigital tbh, no need, I only NEED nasn and I read on this board that they can suply you with a sky viewing card.

So what is the basic setup I need? I guess a dvb card for satelite reciever with a CI interface - like WinTV-NOVA-Ci?
how much for the antenna, installation, LNB etc ?

Thanks for help

DMC

No, it is encrypted by Sky, so the only way you can view it is with a Sky CAM, which to all intents and purposes is a Sky Digibox.

I think you do need an existing subscription to Sky in order to get NASN, i.e. be subscribed to other channels on Sky Digital. I dont think you could add it onto an FTV card (to check out what that is, have a look at the FAQ thread.) Someone here will correct me if the above is wrong.

BTW, NASN is not on NTL cable, digital or analogue in Ireland and it will not be showing NFL next season, Sky Sports and Channel 5 has that contract at present.

silent

thank for some clarifycation

guess I will have to get sky digital then, cheapest package from them is 20Eur IIRC
damn
anyway, it's still worth it

do I have to get and use that stupid sky set top box? and if yes, could I leave it downstairs with the tv and just patch a svhs cable upstairs to the pc? I realize that I won't be able to watch 2 different channels, that's ok though

is a setup like this satelite > sky set top box > svhs cable > analogue tv card in pc. is this feasible?

thanks for all help and sorry for asking so many questions at a time

DMC

Yes if it works for you normally, it will. I use the same setup on my TV card too sometimes, except I use coax. The location of the box doesnt matter, it doesnt have to be at the main TV in the living room.

silent

the only reason I don't want that STB in my room is that I got no space anymore

dougal

Just some clarification.

You don't need a sky sub as NASN will send a card that can be used to receive it.
You do need a dish and digibox.
Not sure if it could be activated on an FTV card.
The cheapest way to get these is generally to get whatever offer sky have at the moment and subscribe to the cheapest package for 1 year, then cancelling sky sub but still be able to receive NASN.

As regards NFL the NASN website promises to have the ESPN Gameday preview show and the Highlight show directly after the games. Which in my opinion would be far better as I'd get to see my teams games every week.

silent

I suppose the best way is to get the digibox for 100Eur + 20E/monthly (value pack) + 15E/m for NASN then

however what is the best way (quality-wise) to hook up the digibox to a pc? I'm wondering about the D/A and A/D translation from digibox to an analogue pc tv card (I was thinking of the wintv fm pci)

is there a better way to get the same quality as using a dvb card and direct hookup from the satelite (which is apparently not possible with sky and NASN )

edit: the reason I'm unsure about this is that I do not know the technical specs of the digibox (connections available in the back) - I was never interested in Sky due to no interesting programming

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by silent
I suppose the best way is to get the digibox for 100Eur + 20E/monthly (value pack) + 15E/m for NASN then

if you only want NASN then the best option would be to get a digibox and dish 2nd hand

watty

Originally posted by silent
I suppose the best way is to get the digibox for 100Eur + 20E/monthly (value pack) + 15E/m for NASN then

however what is the best way (quality-wise) to hook up the digibox to a pc? I'm wondering about the D/A and A/D translation from digibox to an analogue pc tv card (I was thinking of the wintv fm pci)

is there a better way to get the same quality as using a dvb card and direct hookup from the satelite (which is apparently not possible with sky and NASN )

edit: the reason I'm unsure about this is that I do not know the technical specs of the digibox (connections available in the back) - I was never interested in Sky due to no interesting programming

If you get a S/H Grundig with S-Video or use a RGB (any digibox) to S-Video convertor and go in the WinTV with S-Video.

A WinTV card is rubbish compared with a regular TV for watching due to TV is interlaced and PC is not., though 3rd party software such as IULabs, Virtual VCR etc is better than the bundles stuff.

You can't get digital MPEG2 direct out of any Digibox.

A PC Satellite card (good ones) have a DSP chip and media brideg and tus drive a TV set as well or better than Digibox.

The PC card can record the Satellite MPEG2 direct, no recoding, makes WinTV analog capture look foul.

But NO PC card or non-Digibox can be used for Sky Pay or FTV Card channels.

Even with the Satellite Card, the picture is far, far better on many channels on external TV, as the cahnnel is interlaced MPEG2 and the PC monitor is not (comb pattern on fast moving edges or else softer picture depending on display settings). The PC Record and Playpack from satellite to external TV makes the Tivo look like rubbish (Had one) and is better than my S-VHS, as the replayed picture is IDENTICAL to the original transmission.

Even a Euro 99 14" portable gives a better picture for analog TV than a PC no matter what hardware due to the Interlace problem.


Note:
A scart plug with 3 phono and S-Video mini-din socket is NOT a convertot, just an adaptor for SCART sockets that already have S-Video. An actual RGB to S-Video convertor has electronics and power unit as it generates U/V signals and Y signals from the RGB.

A composite to S-Video is no use as with composite the Colour (U/V) and mono (Y) are already interfering and any S-Video from composite does not increase the quality, it is already destroyed.

The point of S-Video is that the Y (mono) and (UV) Colour use separate wires so don't interfere with each othar as in composite. If at any point you use Composite, you have lost the advantages of RGB, Component YUV or S-Video ( Y & U/V).

silent

thanks for the info

as I only want NASN anyway, I have no choise but to get a digibox and analogue TV card, quality will suffer though

I wonder if recording with virtualdub and using a de-interlace filter will make any difference quality-wise, I guess I will have to experiment on my own

*sigh* for sky using their proprietary approach and not sharing the technology (encryption)

watty

I have deinterlaced 8mm analog tape captures OK with VirtualDub.
Use the Huffy codec (lots of disk space, but does give 3:1), as anything else is too CPU intensive and /or too poor in quality.
If you have money get a Pinnacle Analog Edit card with HARDWARE MJPEG (Not MPEG) codec. At 6:1 it is similar to DV tape via firewire.

If you have 1.5GHz+ CPU you can buy Software MJPEG codec for same results with aWinTV card and virtualDub.

I think to actually Watch TV, Virtual VCR and Descaler are best.

I managed to get WinTV and Satellite card working at same time in PC

Tony

Originally posted by silent
I suppose the best way is to get the digibox for 100Eur + 20E/monthly (value pack) + 15E/m for NASN then

Actually the cheapest way si to take the 1/2 price offer at 37.50 installation and 60 sub for the first month and then downgrade it.

Total 97.50 for first month as opposed to 119 if you take full price install, you also get movies and sport for first month.

Tony

silent

thanks tony, I was allready thinking about contacting you via satellite.ie in 2-3 weeks anyway

thanks to all for the suggestions, I think I got it all figured out now

pity that the NHL season is just finishing