Planning ahead...

[blackoper]

ooh I'd love to hear more. Right now my cable company has me by the balls every month. I'll have to do some more research into it. If you don't mind what resources did you use to put together your setup? I'm in a residential neighborhood with about an acre of property. Also what company are you using for packages (or are you going the free route?)

Another question is can I redistribute content.. say to a neighbor or two that would like to split the cost.

[ddamron]

I have full subscriptions to everything I can get subscriptions to.  nuff said.

here's a link for you, to do your own research...
http://dvbn.happysat.org

Sign up for an account, and there's all kinds of information about Satellite reception there.

(My favourite forum is the Linux DVB-S forum)

[blackoper]

thanks I'll spend some time reading it.. signed up and have it favorited on my n800

[totallymaxed]

Blackoper,

I disagree with the Cable/Satellite theory..
I am running 2 dual LNB dishes into a 9x8 diseqc multiswitch..
The tuner cards (dvb-s) are cheap, and if your considering the cost of the multiswitch, it pays for itself in the first year easily.
I can have up to 8 outputs (4 satellites on each output) with this configuration, although I currently only have 4.

Also, a 4x3 diseqc multiswitch will do the job for 2 satellites, and 3 outputs.. and it's only about $25.00

HD is possible with DVB-S (legalities are a different question)

Dan

Hmmm... thats interesting! I had not considered that DVB-S would be available in Canada... So our vdr integration gains another whole market ;-)

We have DVB-S working as vdr is a German open source project and most German users are using DVB-S. Here in the UK we are mainly focussed on DVB-T which is called FreeView (ie received using a normal rooftop aerial) at the moment as that is the dominant platform here (about 7.5 million homes have it) but DVB-S service will also expand later this year with the launch of a UK standard called FreeSat

Anyway looks like you, and others, will be able to use vdr which is great!

[ddamron]

Yup, I haven't tried it yet, but it *SHOULD* work...

I use MythTV with 3x DVBS tuners, and 1 Licensed receiver.

I haven't had time to try VDR yet, but I'm sure it will work.

Only problem I see is, it says you need at least ONE Full Featured card...
I have 3 Twinhan cards... none of them are 'full featured'..

We'll see, I'll try it when 710 comes out.

Dan

[blackoper]

from everything I'm reading the only way to interface the pci tuners is to have them emulate the id/cam/smartcard  of the valid receiver you have and supposedly this is quazi-legal due to it being non-authorized hardware. Since you seem to have experience how stable is the video from this?
Honestly I'm a total newb when it comes to satellite television and it's inclusion in a htpc system...so to me there is a steep learning curve. You mind pm'ing me your email so I can chat with you off-forum?

[totallymaxed]

Yup, I haven't tried it yet, but it *SHOULD* work...

I use MythTV with 3x DVBS tuners, and 1 Licensed receiver.

I haven't had time to try VDR yet, but I'm sure it will work.

Only problem I see is, it says you need at least ONE Full Featured card...
I have 3 Twinhan cards... none of them are 'full featured'..

We'll see, I'll try it when 710 comes out.

Dan

Oh... I'm 100% sure it will work if you have access to a DVB-S signal. We are testing with a Hauppauge Nova-S Plus DVB-S here

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-NOVA-S-Plus

The Nova-S is not a full-featured card so you need to use a software decoder plugin which essentially emulates a full-featured cards hardware. None of our testing or installations use full-featured cards by the way.

[Matthew]

Another question is can I redistribute content.. say to a neighbor or two that would like to split the cost.

The content is copyright by the author and/or the distributor. Unless the contract grants you a copyright for sharing, which it almost certainly does not, you do not have the right to copy the content (which sharing requires) outside of your own personal use (and other limited "fair use"). Especially if you're selling the content you copy (even if "only" to your neighbor at 1/2 price).

If you're caught, you could get slammed with expensive legal defense fees and damages. Especially if some industry org is on a crusade, like the RIAA currently pursues ruthlessly (and with insanely exaggerated damages claims) against people sharing music recordings. And such a high-profile case could damage the willingness of people to adopt systems like LMCE, even if the systems are perfectly legitimate.

[blackoper]

in response to that, there are satellite companies that allow you to reuse/transmit/whatever their feeds

[Matthew]

in response to that, there are satellite companies that allow you to reuse/transmit/whatever their feeds

I never heard of one. Can you name some? I'm not saying there aren't - I am genuinely interested in looking into them.

[totallymaxed]

in response to that, there are satellite companies that allow you to reuse/transmit/whatever their feeds

I never heard of one. Can you name some? I'm not saying there aren't - I am genuinely interested in looking into them.

I have not heard of any either... I'd also be interested to know who they are?

[blackoper]

sure let me find the details. I was interested last year in starting up a neighborhood television/internet provider like a guy did up in canada
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2004/pulpit_20040930_000460.html

and where you can get sat service and be your own provider
http://www.callnps.com/

do that along with using a perm wireless setup for your neighborhood:
http://swing.cs.uiuc.edu/projects/perm/

[Matthew]

sure let me find the details. I was interested last year in starting up a neighborhood television/internet provider like a guy did up in canada
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2004/pulpit_20040930_000460.html

and where you can get sat service and be your own provider
http://www.callnps.com/

do that along with using a perm wireless setup for your neighborhood:
http://swing.cs.uiuc.edu/projects/perm/

Well, even at $0.26:recipient:channel:mo, that sharing isn't exactly the free sharing I inferred from when you mentioned it. And though the Canadian's ISP seems to let him freely share his broadband connection with his neighbors over his WiFi, that's probably just as rare in the US as free sharing of cable/satellite content (especially since the broadband ISPs are usually also the cable/satellite corp, or its telco equivalent).

But it is an intriguing setup. Even just knowing how to buy satellite content wholesale and a proven model of redistributing it for retail profit is interesting. I'd love to see an equivalent for wholesale/retailing cable content, especially here in NYC (or anywhere else in an American city). Very interesting. Thanks!

[ddamron]

that piqued my interest too.. $.26 per channel? hmm..

Further research into it suggests it's not going to be around much longer...
as the DTV deadline for US programming is quickly approaching, most of the analog channels will have to cease to exist, or be converted to digital.. Thats the problem... If they convert to Digital, why go C-band?  they can get much more market share by 'going with the flow' to the small dishes.. (Ku? I think...)

Just my thoughts...

regards,

Dan
(Another canadian)

[Matthew]

that piqued my interest too.. $.26 per channel? hmm..

Further research into it suggests it's not going to be around much longer...
as the DTV deadline for US programming is quickly approaching, most of the analog channels will have to cease to exist, or be converted to digital.. Thats the problem... If they convert to Digital, why go C-band?  they can get much more market share by 'going with the flow' to the small dishes.. (Ku? I think...)

Just my thoughts...

regards,

Dan
(Another canadian)

When I lived in Canada, there was a guy in SE Ontario who was rebroadcasting satellite that was aimed at Buffalo, but which was (illegally) reaching him next door in Canada. He was under no obligation to respect any nonredistribution assertions by the transmitter, and was making some money selling American TV to his Canadian neighbors, though (in the mid-1990s) over a conventional analog cable network. I'm sure they closed his loophole since then. But I wonder how many other countries around the world are in that old situation, especially with major cities usually located at international borders. Which could be transmitted across the Internet, though the bandwidth would cost a lot more than a US residential broadband connection.