# irblast - just got sky+ HD does it work?



## ponto (Oct 12, 2002)

Just got sky+HD and want to use my Tivo to control it. I use the Tivo with another sky box with no sub for most things and want to be able to get the Tivo to make the sky+ box record HD stuff - it looks like this was possible with irblast but the last update was a while ago, is there a version that works and does what I'm after?


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## Automan (Oct 29, 2000)

The irblast is used to enter movie channel parental control pin code when tivo changes channel but does not allow it to make a HD recording.

Automan.


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## Milhouse (Sep 15, 2001)

Automan said:


> The irblast is used to enter movie channel parental control pin code when tivo changes channel but does not allow it to make a HD recording.
> 
> Automan.


Although there is a version that knows about HD channels and will instruct the SkyHD box to make an HD recording whenever TiVo records from an HD channel (which will of course be in SD quality in Now Playing).

It works a treat, however I normally only want sport and movie channels recording in HD on the SkyHD box so the list of HD channels that irblast on my TiVo "knows" about is only a subset of those actually available.

For example my TiVo records from Sky1HD because the picture quality is better than Sky1 SD (which I've removed from "channels I receive") but I don't need such content simultaneously recorded on the SkyHD box in HD quality... Sky Sports HD on the other hand is recorded by both my TiVo and SkyHD box but scheduled by TiVo.

Having SkyHD is also handy for the occasional conflict that cannot be resolved by TiVo, although on Sky that's pretty rare with so many repeats.


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## Milhouse (Sep 15, 2001)

Attached is the version I use.

Unpack it into /var/hack/ir on the TiVo and add the following to the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author so that irblast starts each time the TiVo is rebooted:


```
/var/hack/ir/irblast.tcl -forcestart >> /dev/null &
```
The list of HD and movie channels (the latter requiring the PIN after watershed) is stored in the file "Blast_SkyPlusDigiBox.itcl".

This version also includes the change necessitated by the new SkyHD user interface.

Edit: Or use v1.3.1 in the aforementioned thread which seems to be up to date with all the code changes I have in my personal version, but do modify the HD channels to your liking. Removing my version from this thread.


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## JudyB (Jan 25, 2006)

Milhouse said:


> It works a treat, however I normally only want sport and movie channels recording in HD on the SkyHD box so the list of HD channels that irblast on my TiVo "knows" about is only a subset of those actually available.
> 
> For example my TiVo records from Sky1HD because the picture quality is better than Sky1 SD (which I've removed from "channels I receive") but I don't need such content simultaneously recorded on the SkyHD box in HD quality... Sky Sports HD on the other hand is recorded by both my TiVo and SkyHD box but scheduled by TiVo.
> 
> Having SkyHD is also handy for the occasional conflict that cannot be resolved by TiVo, although on Sky that's pretty rare with so many repeats.


We recently replaced our Sky+ with SkyHD and control it from our Tivo and it works pretty well (without irblast).
At the moment I have added all HD channels that we are interested in to the Tivo channel list since it is so much easier to browse what is on with the Tivo EPG.

When you record Sky1HD, do you have any problems with losing part of the picture? What I have noticed is that viewing HD channels through scart you lose part of the picture when compared with HDMI.
Is this a common issue, or could this be our particular setup or TV (Panasonic Viera TX-P42G10)?


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## Milhouse (Sep 15, 2001)

JudyB said:


> We recently replaced our Sky+ with SkyHD and control it from our Tivo and it works pretty well (without irblast).
> At the moment I have added all HD channels that we are interested in to the Tivo channel list since it is so much easier to browse what is on with the Tivo EPG.


Yes, TiVo+SkyHD works fine without any additional help but it's also nice to have content such as sports or movies scheduled by the TiVo (using wishlists, season passes etc.) and to then have them recorded in HD on the SkyHD box - that's what irblast accomplishes.



JudyB said:


> When you record Sky1HD, do you have any problems with losing part of the picture? What I have noticed is that viewing HD channels through scart you lose part of the picture when compared with HDMI.
> Is this a common issue, or could this be our particular setup or TV (Panasonic Viera TX-P42G10)?


I've no apparent problem with a Thomson SkyHD box, TiVo and Philips LCD - the picture is framed correctly with no obvious loss of information.


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## ponto (Oct 12, 2002)

What would be perfect for me would to be able to record sky sd on the tivo as normal and if a programme is in hd make my sky+hd box record that, is this possible?


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## Milhouse (Sep 15, 2001)

ponto said:


> What would be perfect for me would to be able to record sky sd on the tivo as normal and if a programme is in hd make my sky+hd box record that, is this possible?


Yes. That's what this thread is discussing.

Just to be clear: using the irblast hack your TiVo can instruct the Sky+HD box to record HD content while simultaneously recording the same content in SD on the TiVo. When SD content is scheduled to be recorded it will only be recorded by the TiVo.


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## tonywalk (Sep 10, 2002)

JudyB said:


> When you record Sky1HD, do you have any problems with losing part of the picture? What I have noticed is that viewing HD channels through scart you lose part of the picture when compared with HDMI.
> Is this a common issue, or could this be our particular setup or TV (Panasonic Viera TX-P42G10)?


No need to panic. That's caused by your TV using a technique caused overscanning on the analogue inputs whereby it only shows the picture a bit in from all 4 sides. Some of us like to enter the engineering menus on our tellys and rid the set of this behaviour - not for the faint hearted assuming the method for accessing the engineering menu has been found.

You may find that your TV manufacturer also (really stupidly IMHO) applies this behaviour, to some degree, to your digital inputs (i.e. HDMI) too. The set should have a setting (on my Toshiba it's called "Exact Scan") for displaying your 1920 x 1080 input perfectly on that 1920 x 1080 you took the trouble of buying. Obviously where the input resolution and TV resolution capability differ, the picture quality will suffer to some degree, but where they match there is no point in losing picture quality having your telly vlsually chop a border off the picture and then forcing that smaller image to display at the higher resolution.

Got all that 

Regards,
Tony.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

tonywalk said:


> You may find that your TV manufacturer also (really stupidly IMHO) applies this behaviour, to some degree, to your digital inputs (i.e. HDMI) too. The set should have a setting (on my Toshiba it's called "Exact Scan") for displaying your 1920 x 1080 input perfectly on that 1920 x 1080 you took the trouble of buying.


Hi Tony. Do you have any more info on that setting on the Toshiba please.

I bought a Toshiba Regza 42AV635 and built a PC specifically to use with it using a DVI graphics card set to 1920 x 1080 but when I tried to use it the TV was overscanning so much that the windows Taskbar was alomost totally off the bottom of the screen. Cant see anything about "Exact Scan" on mine.

Also if anyone knows the serial control protocol for a Toshiba 42AV635 I would be very grateful.

Thanks

Keith


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## tonywalk (Sep 10, 2002)

katman said:


> Hi Tony. Do you have any more info on that setting on the Toshiba please.
> 
> I bought a Toshiba Regza 42AV635 and built a PC specifically to use with it using a DVI graphics card set to 1920 x 1080 but when I tried to use it the TV was overscanning so much that the windows Taskbar was alomost totally off the bottom of the screen. Cant see anything about "Exact Scan" on mine.


Hi Keith,

You should be able to get a list of inputs up by pressing the "OK" button in the centre of the direction keys - assuming your model works like my current and previous tellys. Exact Scan should be at the top of that list.

I hope you're using a DVI-to-HDMI lead and plugging it into one of the TVs HDMI ports. Only then (again, if it's like mine) will Exact Scan be selectable.

Hope this helps,
Tony.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Thanks Tony. The OK button doesnt bring up a list of inputs on mine, there is a button top left marked as inputs which does that. No mention of Exact Scan in the manual and googling revealed it is only on some models.

HDMI implementaion seems a bit stupid to me, taking a digital signal at the EXACT resolution of the panel and then scaling it to be bigger before cropping part of it off. Wouldnt be so bad if it would accept a widescreen signal via VGA eg 1366 x 768 but the highest it will take is 1024 x 768 and then you can stretch it to fit 

Was using an HDMI to HDMI lead and a HDMI-DVI adapter plugged into the graphics card but the driver for the card doesnt have overscan adjustments either  Might have to try Powerstrip or something like that to see if I can get better results.


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## tonywalk (Sep 10, 2002)

katman said:


> Thanks Tony. The OK button doesnt bring up a list of inputs on mine, there is a button top left marked as inputs which does that. No mention of Exact Scan in the manual and googling revealed it is only on some models.


Just been reading the manual (d/l from Toshiba) and for some reason they've decided to call it "Native" on yours. Select "Quick" then "down arrow" to highligh Picture Size, then the left and right arrows to view the list of available widescreen formats. Use the up and down arrows to highlight then "OK" to select - danged PDF won't left me copy and paste!

I've also realised I dropped a bol boo-boo and it should actually live on the "Picture Format" menu not the "Inputs" menu.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Excellent. Thanks Tony 

Will put the PC back in the rack and give it a try. Just searched the manual for NATIVE and found the section. Looking forward to proper PC viewing now.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

works an absoulte treat. Windows XP in 1920 x 1080 splendour on my 42" Tosh 

Many thanks Tony


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## tonywalk (Sep 10, 2002)

katman said:


> works an absoulte treat. Windows XP in 1920 x 1080 splendour on my 42" Tosh
> 
> Many thanks Tony


Nice to know being a total geek is useful sometimes 

Happy viewing,
Tony.


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