118 replies to this topic

[mjt57]

falco, on Jan 6 2010, 11:31 PM, said:

I then loaded the file up into Staxrip and after about 15minutes had a .mkv file that my mediaplayer had no problems in playing.

How long did all this take? Was it worth the time and the hassle?

As for Starpix I'm not subscribed to it so I don't know what it's about or what it carries. I just assumed that it was a movie channel. You say that you cut a few ads out. Were they ads for products or promos for other movies?

[falco]

mjt57, on Jan 7 2010, 09:47 AM, said:

How long did all this take? Was it worth the time and the hassle?

As for Starpix I'm not subscribed to it so I don't know what it's about or what it carries. I just assumed that it was a movie channel. You say that you cut a few ads out. Were they ads for products or promos for other movies?

I just basically chopped the first two minutes and the last three that were not part of the program that I wanted to archive.
I am recording programs ONLY from the HD channels with this, as this is the only piece of gear than can retain most of the HD quality. It will do SD, but so will a dvd recorder. SD looks crap on my big screen.
It was worth the time and hassle for me because the series I record is only available on pay tv.
I mainly bought it to archive some HD footy.
Its definitely not worth the time and hassle if you just want to watch and delete, but for me I like to go back and watch the really good footy game, or the winter olympics or whatever in HD.

[thunderball]

[quote name='Skar' date='Dec 14 2009, 02:57 PM' post='1473422']
We have only ever had the old analogue Austar and a couple days ago decided to fork out the extra money to hook up MyStar HD.  We were absolutely devastated to then discover that we could not record live Austar programs.  

I rang Austar at the start of the year (before My Star HD was released and pre dvd recorder when we only had vhs)  to ask if the Standard digital My Star let's you record live tv to the video recorder and I was told that "yes, I could still record my programs to a video tape, but I could not record from the hard drive to a tape).

I assumed My Star HD would be the same.

Was this true what Austar told me?  If we had standard My Star digital we could record live tv or is it copy protected too?  
From my searches on the net today, I have come to the conclusion that standard My Star is also copy protected, which means Austar were full of 'you-know-what'.

hey there i also have mystar hd, i can record live tv via the classic vhs works fine  but recording of hard drive its copy protected

[inovate]

Guys, also have this mystar hd issue but with a slight twist - is it fair to say that with the successful implementation of an appropriate video stabiliser that we could once again send signals to other televisions in the house via the standard 2.4ghz AV sender.

[maker]

inovate, on Feb 4 2010, 10:14 PM, said:

Guys, also have this mystar hd issue but with a slight twist - is it fair to say that with the successful implementation of an appropriate video stabiliser that we could once again send signals to other televisions in the house via the standard 2.4ghz AV sender.

What video stabiliser is that?

[inovate]

maker, on Feb 8 2010, 08:00 AM, said:

What video stabiliser is that?

[inovate]

sorry, the Grex unit described earlier in this thread

[Indiator]

Great Thread, really good advice and what I wanted to know..

It's funny, I got the original Mystar and had the same problem but managed to record my fav sports by taping to VCR then DVR but that didn't last long and I traded in the Mystar back to the original... but now I'm keen for the HD channels I'm back trying to figure out me encryp problems..


Just a couple Q's...

When using the Hauppauge PVR, how do you know when to record shows, say for example if I wanted to record the cricket show at 8:30 on monday do I have to be home and manually press record on the PC software, or is there a timer software.. or do I record it first to Mystar HD and then when watching it press record on the PC software ?, some more info would be great, as this can record in HD it looks like the best option... also is the conversion to blu-ray dvd hard ? and also with the PC set up, is anyone using SATA raid to protect from file errors ?

if I used the grex system, what loss of Quality is there..

I want to record to hopefully BLU Ray HD quality and if the Grex system does not maintain the high HD quality I'm not going to get that option

once again great thread and hopefully soon I'll know what to upgrade to over my panasonic DVR

Thanks again

[vetun]

DrP, on Nov 21 2009, 11:45 AM, said:

There are a few variations of copy protection and I don't know which one the MyStar HD outputs.  That unit may well do the job.

I encountered the following problem too. But last time I’ve used the Grex . The quality of the recording are excellent, with no
distortion what so ever. I would recomend the Grex to anyone with the
same problem with no hesitation.

[mjt57]

I'm getting an AV Receiver soon (a 5.1 surround sound type). Not sure which one yet, but ones that I've looked at have 3 or 4 HDMI inputs and a HDMI output that goes to a televison which acts as a "monitor".

Now, with the Mystar HD output being "protected", will the video/audio signals still be passed through the receiver and into the television?

[DrP]

It should, if everything works properly.

[Paul70]

Hi All

Sorry to bump this thread up but it is the same as what I have recently encountered.

Used to have MyStar = no problems. Upgraded to MyStar HD a few weeks ago and annoyed when I discovered I cannot record to DVD. Get the copyright message others mentioned earlier in this thread.

Had some hope when reading about the video stabilisers several people said worked and fixed the problem but then someone else said they don't work on newer MyStar HDs.

So does that basically mean nothing will fix my recording to DVD from MyStar HD problem?

[gadgarra]

Paul70, on Nov 10 2010, 02:05 PM, said:

So does that basically mean nothing will fix my recording to DVD from MyStar HD problem?

The AR1822 available from Jaycar will work with Mystar HD

http://www.jaycar.co...w.asp?ID=AR1822

[ozbrit]

Paul70, on Nov 10 2010, 02:05 PM, said:

Hi All

Sorry to bump this thread up but it is the same as what I have recently encountered.

Used to have MyStar = no problems. Upgraded to MyStar HD a few weeks ago and annoyed when I discovered I cannot record to DVD. Get the copyright message others mentioned earlier in this thread.

Had some hope when reading about the video stabilisers several people said worked and fixed the problem but then someone else said they don't work on newer MyStar HDs.

So does that basically mean nothing will fix my recording to DVD from MyStar HD problem?

I can confirm the dimax grex definitely works with the Mystar HD inc. Box office.

US$99 with Aussie power supply and freight see here: http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html

Edited by ozbrit, 11 November 2010 - 04:51 PM.

[Tzi]

I just thought I would chip in with my experiences.
I have used several different ways of getting the recordings off my Mystar HD box.

Try1
The first thing I tried was the Composite (Yellow) input on my Dvico Dual TV card in my MythTV mediacenter.
Although I never got around to making it record through mythtv, I managed to get a signal by opening the card in VLC.
Result: Got a signal in black and white, which then changed to colour after a minute...Too hard.. gave up

Try 2
Pinnacle Studio software (Vista   ), recording over SVHS on a Dazzle DVC100capture dongle.
Result: Quite successful but for some reason, the resulting picture ended up with hideous amounts of 'artifacts' and compression around movement. At first I thought it was because of the encoding chip in the DVC120 I was using, so I switched to the DVC100 which has no encoder inbuilt... it was better, but still pretty bad even though I was recording on DV format (almost uncompressed)

Try3 = sucess!
Probox PBR-500  --> http://pccasegear.co...oducts_id=11590
Connected via Composite (yellow) = poor quality, but watchable
Connected via Component (red/green/blue) = good/great quality
Even though the probox will output 1080 over HDMI, its analogue recording inputs are standard definition. Consequently I had to tell the Mystar HD to make the output resolution 576i(sd) but because I dont subscribe to HD channels its not really a problem.
The Probox records in MPEG2 format, has network connectivity, and can be connected to a PC via USB cable where you can copy the recordings off to your computer.

This is a GREAT working solution, however after a week of using it I have discovered there is a 'flicker' in the video signal where it drops intensity(goes darker) for a second.

Now.. my question.
Seeing as the Probox already seems to ignore the copy protection, can this flicker be rectified by a Video stabilizer?

[DR.ZOIDBERG]

Bit of topic but can you get just the mystar box? I don't care for recording etc and I don't want to pay extra a month for it, just wondering if I can get the mystar box just for the better connections, don't want the extra transponder installed so I can't record any how, I'm guessing austar will say no? Anyone have mystar box without the service?

[maker]

gadgarra, on Nov 11 2010, 05:42 PM, said:

The AR1822 available from Jaycar will work with Mystar HD

http://www.jaycar.co...w.asp?ID=AR1822

I checked this out at Jaycar and was informed by staff that it doesn't work with the Mystar HD box although it work with the standard Mystar. Can anyone else confirm that this will work with the new box?

[Paul70]

^^ that product didn't work for me. I had mystar for 2 years and had no problems recording to DVD on that without needing anything extra.

Anyone know if it costs anything to go back to mystar from mystar HD?

EDIT: I e-mailed Austar a few days ago and asked them that question ^^ and hadn't received a reply hence I thought I'd ask here but ironically they replied not long after my post  

"Dear Paul

The notes on your account indicate that you added the MyStar HD on 27 September  and you need to retain it for a minimum of 30 days.  As this has been complied with I can just removed the HD access from your MyStar service if you like and there wouldn't be any penalty - there would be a monthly saving of $5.

If you would like me to remove the HD please let me know.

Regards

Corali"

^^ ok so they can just remove it from my current box? I thought they would have to re-send me a MyStar (non HD box) seeing as I had to change the cords at the back. As you can tell, I'm pretty clueless.

My question now is would me just saying "yes please" to that e-mail making it just MyStar and not HD make it back to how it was (when I was actually satisfied with MyStar    )? And not just the being able to record onto DVD but even the non problems which many others have discussed in this thread about how it's so stop starty, goes back etc on stuff you have recorded?

Would it even now allow me to record onto DVD? As said in my earlier bit before I edited, for over 2 years I had just MyStar and I could record straight onto DVD no problems. Or is it likely that even if they switch this box back to just MyStar, it will basically be the same as I now have with MyStar HD due to it being the SAME BOX?

The only 2 things I prefer more in the HD is that you can record more (90 hours to 60 I think) and the HD box EPG is definitely way faster I have found.

Should I just say "yes" and if it's still the same at least I've saved 5 bucks a month I guess?

Sorry for long post and silly questions but any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited by Paul70, 18 November 2010 - 12:54 AM.

[gadgarra]

Paul70, on Nov 17 2010, 11:18 PM, said:

My question now is would me just saying "yes please" to that e-mail making it just MyStar and not HD make it back to how it was (when I was actually satisfied with MyStar    )? And not just the being able to record onto DVD but even the non problems which many others have discussed in this thread about how it's so stop starty, goes back etc on stuff you have recorded?

Would it even now allow me to record onto DVD? As said in my earlier bit before I edited, for over 2 years I had just MyStar and I could record straight onto DVD no problems. Or is it likely that even if they switch this box back to just MyStar, it will basically be the same as I now have with MyStar HD due to it being the SAME BOX?

The only 2 things I prefer more in the HD is that you can record more (90 hours to 60 I think) and the HD box EPG is definitely way faster I have found.

Should I just say "yes" and if it's still the same at least I've saved 5 bucks a month I guess?

Sorry for long post and silly questions but any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I don't think they are offering to replace you Mystar HD box with an original Mystar box.  They are just offering to remove the HD channels from your channel lineup.   Unfortunately, this will not have any affect on your inability to record to DVD.

I can confirm again that the Jaycar device will solve the problem.  Don't know why Jaycar would say it doesn't work with the Mystar HD box, when it fact it does.

[nutmeg1]

You have already had to pay the $100 to get the HD box so you may as well keep paying the $5 a month extra as others seem to
be able to record to dvd.Why not try a different electronics retailer who may be able to help.

[Paul70]

nutmeg1, on Nov 18 2010, 04:11 PM, said:

You have already had to pay the $100 to get the HD box so you may as well keep paying the $5 a month extra as others seem to
be able to record to dvd.Why not try a different electronics retailer who may be able to help.

Didn't cost me anything to upgrade, there was a one day offer they had in late September doing upgrades for nothing.

Someone said earlier in this thread that the Jaycar product doesn't work with the newest MyStar HD boxes and it didn't work for me, the electrical store that ordered it for me last week said it wouldn't but I showed them posts from this thread so they ordered it for me at my request.

[gadgarra]

Paul70, on Nov 18 2010, 03:58 PM, said:

Someone said earlier in this thread that the Jaycar product doesn't work with the newest MyStar HD boxes and it didn't work for me, the electrical store that ordered it for me last week said it wouldn't but I showed them posts from this thread so they ordered it for me at my request.

If people are experiencing different results when using the Jaycar AR1822 in conjunction with the Mystar HD box, I suppose it's just possible that it might be something to do with the DVD and/or HDD recorder that the outputs are going to.  I have 2 recorders, a Panasonic and an LG and both gave the same "copy protection" error when trying to record direct form the Mystar HD, but both work fine when the output goes through the Jaycar AR1822.

[Swagman51]

gadgarra, on Nov 18 2010, 04:53 PM, said:

I suppose it's just possible that it might be something to do with the DVD and/or HDD recorder that the outputs are going to.

That's exactly the situation for me - I've got an Aldi "cheapie" DVD recorder, and although in my setup I DO use the Jaycar stabiliser, it's actually the DVD recorder that is stripping out the Macrovision encryption from the output from the MystarHD box, not the stabiliser.  The reason I leave the stabiliser connected is that the quality of the recorded picture is marginally improved with it included, so it must be doing something else to the signal too.

But I have a mate with a Panasonic DVD recorder who tried my Jaycar stabiliser with his setup and it did NOT remove Macrovision signals....he ended up having to buy the Grex box from the US.  Yet earlier in this thread, and repeated again here, you (gadgarra) mentioned that you tested the Jaycar unit with both a Panasonic and an LG recorder, and in your case you do need the stabiliser to allow recording on those model recorders.

So I guess this all suggests that it's not simply that the Jaycar unit "does" or "doesn't" work....it's more a case of that unit does work with some some recorders, doesn't work for some other recorders, and is unnecessary for a third group of recorders (such as mine which seems to happily ignore the Macrovision signals).

However it seems that the BEST bet (unless Jaycar will agree to take back a unit that doesn't work with a particular brand/model of recorder) is to order the Grex unit from the US, since everyone seems to be reporting success with everything when they try it. With the $AU as strong as it is, it can probably be shipped here for not much more than the Jaycar anyway.

Edited by Swagman51, 19 November 2010 - 09:24 AM.

[L T]

Swagman51, on Nov 19 2010, 08:52 AM, said:

However it seems that the BEST bet (unless Jaycar will agree to take back a unit that doesn't work with a particular brand/model of recorder) is to order the Grex unit from the US, since everyone seems to be reporting success with everything when they try it. With the $AU as strong as it is, it can probably be shipped here for not much more than the Jaycar anyway.

I also had problems with the Jaycar unit going to a Sony DVD recorder.  I've had no issues at all with the Grex unit.

[Jason_dinAlt]

Just purchased a grex for my mystar HD because yesterday I went to transfer a recording and the jaycar no longer stripped the copy protection. Was there a change in copy protection type recently?