| Connect your PC to an Amstrad Sky Box ! Cielplus have developed a card to go in the "Interface" slot of your Amstrad Sky Digibox, which allows you to connect to a USB port on your PC and turn it into a PVR. The card takes its power from the computer's USB port so there's no need for an ugly power brick. It is important to note that the USB port that'll be used on your PC must be USB 2; USB 1.1 is too slow for the satellite stream and is therefore not supported. The interface allows you to watch those channels your subscription includes. It does not get around the smartcard's subscriptions. In the case of a receiver with no subscription then you will be limited to the free to air channels like BBC and ITV. Maybe this card is a good reason to subscribe to Sky? Finally you can use your Digibox in a way that suits YOU! 
The card has been designed to work on the following receivers ONLY. Cielplus are testing others but at the present time these are the receivers that work. Model number is often found either at the rear or underside of the unit. - Amstrad DRX-100
- Amstrad DRX-200
- Amstrad DRX-300
- Amstrad DRX-400
http://www.cielplus.com/ At £150 for the card it may seem expensive but not if you are paying Sky £10 a month for the pleasure of recording their programmes. At that rate it will pay for itself in just 15 months. I have a sneaking suspicion that the big boys won't look kindly upon this idea which rivals the SKY+ system so maybe you'd better not wait too long before buying one. (It's a little-known fact that Pace developed a Dolby Digital plug-in card and demonstrated it at the satellite exhibition in London around 1991. It was quietly dropped and never went into production - perhaps because somebody high-up had a word with Pace?) Will the Cielplus card suffer the same fate? Technically, it looks as if nothing can prevent it from working - it relies on hardware not firmware in the Amstrad Digibox and can't be harmed by any firmware "upgrade" - but, politically, who knows? South West TV Goes out On Friday 1/9/2006 Plymouth suffered a major technical failure affecting the following transmitters - BEACON HILL (Digital) DEVON BBC TV
- CARADON HILL (Digital) CORNWALL BBC
- HUNTSHAW CROSS (Digital) DEVON BBC
- PLYMPTON (Digital) DEVON BBC TV
- REDRUTH (DIgital) CORNWALL BBC TV
- STOCKLAND HILL (Digital) DEVON BBC TV
Mendip was unaffected. "Chanmix" (digitalspy) commented: "The main and reserve digital distributions both went down after lunchtime - including all digital radio and tv circuits in and out of BBC Plymouth. Most unusual to lose both distribs in two separate incidents! The Channel Isles were unable to opt as the reverse DSAT feeds to London had also failed, hence DSAT carrying Londons' output for the duration." It's TopUpTV, Jim, but not as we know it TopUpTV is changing its service. It will be called "TUTV Anytime" and will show a new range of "selected programmes" on a rotational basis, changing each day. Freeview is unaffected but, if you want to watch the encrypted "TUTV Anytime" programmes, you'll have to invest £180 in a new PVR type receiver. I wonder how many people can afford to do that - or want to?  See http://www.topup.tv/newcustomer/box.html Panasonic Freeview Problem Some Panasonic integrated Freeview TV sets have reportedly had a symptom where BBC 1, 2 and News 24 keep going off every 45 seconds for 5 seconds then coming back on. It has been suggested that this is a result of an ongoing transmission of firmware for Sagem models. If that's correct then the effect should disappear when transmission of that update ceases. But it's rather worrying that this sort of thing can happen! I have a Topfield and these were subjected in to frequent reboots by the Sagem update Ö you might, therefore, like to see this Ö http://forum.toppy.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6011 (or a news summary about one screen down in here Ö http://www.toppy.org.uk/). Patrick Become a Digital TV installer SatCure is proposing to offer a training course to teach people how to install "Digital TV Systems". We've deliberately used this broad terminology because we need you to tell us what you want to learn. Your prospective earnings could be a lot higher than you think and we could include money-making tips as well as tips from professional installers. If you are fit and able to carry a ladder, this course might be the opening you've been seeking. You could do installations part-time or full time. Please click HERE and complete the questionnaire. It will take you only a minute. Nothing to do with Satellite TV I have a growing interest in Genealogy - tracing my ancestors. I'm doing fairly well and have determined that I come from a long line of clay pipe makers on my mother's side and steam tug captains on my father's side! Well, I guess they didn't have TV in those days so they had to find something to keep themselves busy. ;-) Anyway, I've opened up a "Genealogy" section in the Forum and new members are welcome to discuss family history matters there (including suitable software). (top) Log Periodic Aerials I noticed discussions about these aerials in a couple of forums. Nobody seems clear on what they can do so I decided to ask the manufacturers. Even they don't seem to be certain. The nearest I got to an answer was "The BBC did some tests and they performed really well!" But my request for test results fell on deaf ears. (Anybody work for BBC Engineering know about these tests?) Anyway, extensive research indicates that a log-periodic antenna does have some advantages: a. It is inherently wideband b. It is very directional, rejecting signals from sides and rear much more effectively than a conventional "yagi" aerial such as the DAT45. c. It is able to minimise "impulse interference" but, to do this, its mounting bracket must be grounded effectively. d. It has no reflector element (the plate at the back end) so it has less wind resistance outdoors and takes up less room indoors. You could even fix it to a bedroom ceiling. (Paint it to match the ceiling). e. It is relatively inexpensive. Its one "disadvantage" is its relatively low gain compared with a similar size yagi. A yagi of the same dimensions is likely to have a gain of 12 - 14dB whereas the log-periodic is only 7dB. However, this should be seen in context. The yagi gain is specified as a maximum which is achieved near the middle of the UHF band. At the outer extremes of the UHF band, the gain will be much lower. This is not good for a wideband aerial. In contrast, the log-periodic gain is pretty well constant across the UHF band. Conclusion A log-periodic is best suited to regions of medium to high signal levels where a wideband aerial is required and good immunity to impulse interference or interference from transmitters to the side or rear would be an advantage. They have a relatively high rejection of signals to the sides and rear, making them "deafer" than Yagis to ALL types of interference (not just impulse). They also have the ability to ground noise travelling up the outer screen of the drop cable, unlike Yagis. This is explained with diagrams in our "Freeview Bible". See pictures HERE Martin, Can I add my sixpenny worth to your article on Log-Periodic aerials in SatCure Review 98 which refers to BBC tests. These tests were done on in the 1960s to determine the best aerial systems for re-broadcasting at TV relay stations. I remember a research paper which came out in favour of the log-periodic over other types, including the yagi and trough-reflector. Although he trough-reflector was widely used at UHF relay sites from 1967 the log periodic became the norm at low power UHF relays, for both receive and transmit, for the reasons you state. Also the fact that 'one size fits all' was a great advantage for holding spares with over 500 relay sites! Norman Marsden BBC Transmitter Engineer 1962-1997 And an excerpt from a longer message: In a log periodic all the elements are connected to the feeder rather than just the feed element, as in a yagi. Signals arriving at the front tend to add together. Signals from behind tend to cancel each other out. My understanding is that only a few of the elements are contributing at any one frequency. At the low frequency end of the aerial's range it's the long ones at the back, and the high frequency end it's the short ones at the front. In effect you have roughly a 3 or 4 element aerial, which 3 or 4 depends on the frequency you are using. If you are watching TV from one site you might as well use a shorter yagi and not bother with the elements that aren't contributing anything! Phil
Happy Customers Dear Martin, I would like to thank you and your colleagues for the rapid and courteous way you dealt with the case of the Relkit missing capacitors. Best regards, Mike M
Martin, All's well that ends well with my 4-way SCART switch box! I was able to get one of the technicians at work to swap around the two wires and the box now works perfectly. I'm very pleased with the box actually. All the others you can buy have all sorts of niggles - there's usually a maximum of 3 sockets, they have switches where you have to decide whether you want RGB or composite or s-video (what happens when you've got mixed devices??), they have strange crosstalk problems... Your switchbox is just what's required, no more and no less, and very simple. It doesn't have a record loop like some of the others, but I don't need that and I've found that it would introduce some more odd crosstalk problems as well. So many thanks for the help. Chris S
(top) From Sky Digi Online ( http://www.media247.co.uk ): (top)
eBook Updates The Freeview Bible August 17, 2006
Added another page explaining how to determine whether your aerial can see the transmitting mast. An ISBN number has been added to ALL eBooks so that I now have the option of registering them with Google, Amazon etc. - All eBooks have been moved to a more reliable secure server which requires a username and password. If you can't access it, please contact Me with your original Order number and ask for the new download information, stating exactly which eBook(s) you purchased and the EBK number(s).
http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.co.uk | 
"Installing a Sky Minidish" tutorial on DVD. Click 
