Setting Up Foxtel on HTPC

JMatthews · **21st January 2008, 08:02 PM**

Hi

I now have my htpc working well except for it not shutting down after waking for recordings except on a few very rare occasions. Anyway I want to set up foxtel on it to watch and record through media centre. Now I would like the opinions of those that have set it up on issues such as picture quality, recording issues and general problems that may arise.

I currently use ICEtv for my epg i know this does not support foxtel and as such will require me to change epgs. Which is the best for both foxtel and fta. I live on the central coast if that makes any difference.

The specs of my htpc are in my sig. I know i will need to purchase another tuner card for recording foxtel as my current dual card is used for fta. Which cards should I be looking at?

Thank you for your responses.

amaru96 · **22nd January 2008, 09:08 PM**

Hi, I just got foxtel working with my HTPC! It took some doing but I finally got it going. I also have the DNTV Live Hybrid S2 tuner card and it's fantastic! I am able to record from foxtel plus 2 FTA channels all at the same time!

With regards to the EPG, I used FreeEPG* with the platinum package. Keep in mind that this does not have the FTA channels listed. You will need to do some work to get those in the guide along with the Foxtel channels.

You must also be aware that MCE by default will only see one side of your card, either digital or analogue not both.
Follow Broadstar's thread to enable both: Get Most Cards To Work In Mce

There are quite a few guides here on how to get it going. The ones which helped me the most are:
Digital and Analog TV (Guide)
MCE - Foxtel / PAY TV Guide
DTV and Analog TV Works (TOGETHER)

Good luck!

Pisassi · **22nd January 2008, 09:32 PM**

Hi amaru96

You seem to have had success with this. The attempts I made gave me relative success, and I say 'relative' because the Optus (in my case) analog feed was pretty poor visual quality. I think it was down to my video card, (WinFast LEADTEK TV2000XP).

Also - I had trouble finding a FTA and Cable EPG.

So I gave it up, but I'm interested in your experience:

1) What TV Tuner card are you using for the Analog feed (Foxtel)

2) Is the aspect of your analog station in 4:3-ish format or widescreen (16:9). Mine seemed only to come in 4:3, and I needed to use the MCE Remote control's ZOOM function to fix it.

4) Finally - what's the 'user experience' like ? Did you end up with an EPG which, as you scroll through the station list shows you the Digital FTA mixed with the Foxtel/Optus channels ?
- Which Guide would I subscribe too ?
- Can you schedule recording off the Foxtel channels as you would the FTA channels ?

Thanks

JMatthews · **22nd January 2008, 09:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by amaru96

Hi, I just got foxtel working with my HTPC! It took some doing but I finally got it going. I also have the DNTV Live Hybrid S2 tuner card and it's fantastic! I am able to record from foxtel plus 2 FTA channels all at the same time!

With regards to the EPG, I used FreeEPG* with the platinum package. Keep in mind that this does not have the FTA channels listed. You will need to do some work to get those in the guide along with the Foxtel channels.

You must also be aware that MCE by default will only see one side of your card, either digital or analogue not both.
Follow Broadstar's thread to enable both: Get Most Cards To Work In Mce

There are quite a few guides here on how to get it going. The ones which helped me the most are:
Digital and Analog TV (Guide)
http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/<br ...-tv-guide.html
DTV and Analog TV Works (TOGETHER)

Good luck!

Thanks for the post a couple of questions though.

1. How did you get free epg to have both fta and foxtel listings?
2. Which card are you using for foxtel?
3. What was the picture quality like?

amaru96 · **23rd January 2008, 09:49 AM**

Hey Pisassi, answers to your questions below (JMatthews some of your questions are answered below too):

For your information I don't actually have a foxtel box but receive the foxtel service through a set-top-box via satellite. The setup is exactly the same though.

1) What TV Tuner card are you using for the Analog feed (Foxtel):
DNTV Live Hybrid S2 tuner card. It has digital and analogue connections. However, I don't use the actual analogue connector for Foxtel. I use the AV connector (composite). I originally had this connected directly to the STB but picture quality wasn't too good so I connected the STB to the VCR and then fed from the VCR. Picture quality is very acceptable.

2) Is the aspect of your analog station in 4:3-ish format or widescreen (16:9). Mine seemed only to come in 4:3, and I needed to use the MCE Remote control's ZOOM function to fix it:
The aspect ratio is 4:3 and because my TV is a rear-projection TV it suits me fine. As far as I know it will be 4:3 unless you manually change it.

4) Finally - what's the 'user experience' like ? Did you end up with an EPG which, as you scroll through the station list shows you the Digital FTA mixed with the Foxtel/Optus channels ?
- Which Guide would I subscribe too ?
- Can you schedule recording off the Foxtel channels as you would the FTA channels ?
Think you mean question 3 here

My experience so far is excellent. The guide lists all channels (fox & FTA) and can scroll through to see what's on.
Yes, I can schedule things to record from foxtel. I can also record from FTA and Fox at the same time. Actually I can record 2 FTA channels and Foxtel at the same time.
The easiest & best guide to use for Foxtel is the one from FreeEpg*.

You'll need to follow the guides to get it all working. Be aware it will require you to make changes to the registry - it's not difficult but can seem a little overwhelming if you've never done it before. The guide from Dizzy is really quite good but has some some confusing parts. If you get stuck just post back and will help if I can.

Before you do anything ensure you have a current image. If something goes horribly wrong you can do a restore.

When I get home I'll take a couple of screenshots if you like so you can see what my guide looks like.

JMatthews · **23rd January 2008, 10:36 AM**

I'd like to see a couple of screenshots of the guide.

Also I am planning on buying the Hauppauge HVR 1300 card to connect foxtel to the htpc. Is this card ok or should i be looking at something else.

amaru96 · **23rd January 2008, 03:47 PM**

Below are a couple of screenshots of the guide. As you can see from screenshot one, the FTA channels are listed and available. I can scroll up/down to the channel I want, press OK and it changes to that channel.

I don't have any experience with the Hauppauge HVR 1300 as I am quite new to all this myself. But curious as to why you would buy another card when you have the DNTV Live Hybrid S2 card? That's the only card I have in my system and don't have any problems connecting FTA and foxtel.

JMatthews · **23rd January 2008, 04:12 PM**

With the guide using the images u have shown it shows that for example tv1 is channel 50 on foxtel it is is channel 101 does it automatically know that if u push in 50 on the remote to go to 101 on the foxtel box?

amaru96 · **23rd January 2008, 04:22 PM**

You can make the channels any channel number you like.

JMatthews · **23rd January 2008, 04:55 PM**

Thanks for all your help amaru96. Do you find the picture quality acceptible?