To get the best from such services, take a DVI or HDMI feed from your PC to a HD-Ready TV. SD channels look good, but hi-def takes you into another world with its crystal clarity. Scheduling recordings from the EPG or magazine views is possible.īoth video and audio (Dolby Digital and MPEG-1 Layer 2 are both supported) come across very well. The EPG supports now/next and seven-day schedules - it's augmented by an unusual magazine that allows the EPGs of several channels to be listed side by side.
TV Center supports digital teletext, full-screen viewing, sleep-timer, picture-in-picture, timeshifting (which uses the PC's HDD as a temporary buffer) and both manual and timed recordings of radio or TV channels. All you can do is hide encrypted channels or specify TV and/or radio. There's no alphabetic search, or even the ability to group channels according to satellite. The prominent channel list covers the radio and TV services of all satellites, but the ones you access frequently can be defined as favourites.īut finding a channel in the first place is a navigational nightmare.
Another annoyance - especially if your PC is doing something else - is that the TV Center window is always 'on top'. And when switching between channels waits of more than a few seconds are not uncommon.
A full scan of the Astra 19☎ cluster took over 10 minutes. This need not be a problem for those 'looping' from an existing motorised dish rig simply disable DiSEqC, and manually switch (from the setup menu) the satellite you're after.Īnother main-window button tunes in channels, manually (by satellite/frequency/symbol rate/polarisation/ modulation) or automatically. TV Center's setup menus, accessed via a button on the main window, configure AV, EPG, appearance, recording and your dish/LNB feed.Īs with most satellite tuner cards, only DiSEqC 1.0 is catered for. The main program (Technisat TV Center) is not the DVBViewer that traditionally ships with SkyStar products.
The software includes BDA (Broadcast Driver Architecture) drivers, a data application, video-editing program and decoders able to handle both MPEG- 2 and H.264. We installed the SkyStar HD in a custom-built Windows XP PC based around a 3.2GHz Intel Pentium Extreme Edition with no trouble.Įven the software installation proceeded without a hitch.
This allows the tuner software to be controlled by a software- customisable remote handset of the Technisat house style. On the backplate is a standard F-connector for your LNB/dish, plus a socket for a trailing IR sensor. A large multi-pin header is provided for a forthcoming CI interface (the only DVB-S2 card to support pay-TV services as standard is Twinhan's DTV DVB-S2 CI). The demodulated transport streams are then passed to the PC via a Philips PCI bridge - from there, software takes over. The screened tuner module, which is built on the board itself, feeds its signals to a ST chip that carries out DVB-S or DVB-S2 demodulation according to the chosen service. Like other PC tuners, the SkyStar HD is a small PCI card. In other words, the same card will receive both standard and high-definition channels.
The card in question is made for Technisat by Technotrend, and - like the SkyHD and Pace DS810 boxes - is also compatible with standard DVB-S services. Funnily enough, German company Technisat is offering the UK its first DVB-S2 card.
In any case there's no guarantee that the Beeb won't switch to DVB-S2 in the near future - assuming that it's allowed to continue.ĭVB-S2 tuners for PCs were first hinted at last year, but the Far East-sourced product in question only surfaced in Germany - the first European country to switch to HD satellite in a big way.
Although the reception of BBC HD outside the DTT trial area without a need for a Sky subscription may be an excuse to upgrade that PC to a meatier model, the extra channels available elsewhere on the Clarke Belt wouldn't go amiss.