[mythtvnz] Help spending my brothers $5K on MythTV

[Steve Hodge]

On 2/23/06, David Zanetti <david.zanetti@catalyst.net.nz> wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-02-22 at 15:16 -0800, paul arthur wrote:
> >       - IR Keyboard + dongle to get past LIRC hassles (or at least defe=
r them)
>
> I ended up picking a USB HID IR remote, and remapping the buttons to my
> universal. It works real well, and avoids all the lirc madness.

What model?

Personally I've got a RF keyboard (BTC9019URF) - works really nicely.
But if you go with RF make sure what you buy has decent range - a lot
stuff intended for desktop use has 2m range which is generally not
enough for loungeroom use.

> >       - Digital Sound Card  - advice please
>
> The cheap DSE ones with spdif out work fine for MP3->PCM and AC3
> passthru with my Yamaha reciever.

I'll second that - it's what I'm using.

> > Have heard Sky will be going to HDTV this year - what do we need to tim=
eshift it?
>
> I've not heard any confirmation of HDTV from Sky this year. In either
> case, you can be assured they will NOT allow anything other than maybe
> low-res analog, it'll be HDCP/HDMI and nasty to get out. There are (in
> the US) bits of HD kit with firewire out, but I just can't see Sky being
> that .. useful :)

Given how long it took Sky to get MySky out I can't see it happening
for years. They're still not even broadcasting in 5.1. And until Optus
D1 replaces B1 they don't have the bandwidth for HDTV. Speaking of D1,
anyone heard anything about the change over? Like when, and how are
Sky going to handle it? I know they're installing MySky with dual
LNBs, presumably for this reason, but what about the rest of us?

Steve