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Thread: Austar Mystar

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    Default Austar Mystar

    Hi does any know how to get off the shows that have been saved to the Mystar hard drive, to pc or dvd recorder
    Thanks



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    Senior Member Decapper's Avatar
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    I would say they are similar to the IQ boxes. So no. Unless you use you DVD burner and run AV into it from your Mystar piece of cr@p

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    How do you fine mystar compares to the original ADB austar box in picture quality?

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    I have just had it for a week the picture is quite good on my plasma 50 '" tv

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    With IQ specifically, I know quite a few who cap to a PVR or HTPC, usually via composite or s-video out. There are some macrovision issues with FBO/Movie channels, otherwise, cap away. I cant imagine it'd be severely different for mystar.

    I myself cap setanta from my sat receiver to media center pc via an analogue capture card, I know many who do the same for austar and foxtel, with guide included etc. As for pilfering the recodings directly from the IQ/MystarHDD, Im not sure, I know the IQ has its usb disabled, though Im not sure if this is still the case now, or applies for the mystar as well.

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    Bring back my mediastar PVR.......austar sucks man!!!!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Astrotoy7 View Post
    With IQ specifically, I know quite a few who cap to a PVR or HTPC, usually via composite or s-video out. There are some macrovision issues with FBO/Movie channels, otherwise, cap away. I cant imagine it'd be severely different for mystar.
    The My'ControlledByAu'Star box activates Macrovision high frequency signal bursts to confuse AGC circuitry on almost all recording equipment whenever it plays ANY recording or timeshifts on any channel. That includes the FTA recordings and timeshifts it makes as well.
    The only time that Macrovision is turned off on the output is when it is playing live tv.
    I believe for the IQ that Macrovision is only activated for the FBO movies and not for all recordings on the other channels.
    The designers of the MyStar want to block you from recording anything from what it has stored on it's drive. (Well unless you fork out for a ~$100 Macrovision video signal blocker aka video stabiliser). Even though our new copyright legislation explicitly allows copying of material for personal use.
    I'm sure if Austar could find a way of controlling your mind they would invest R&D dollars into a product for that too....
    Every day Austar seems to find a way to make their paying customers feel like criminals.

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    you said it davmell, Every day Austar seems to find a way to make their paying customers feel like criminals.
    maybe that's why it's contract customers are waiting for the contract to finish and go to select TV, I did

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    Quote Originally Posted by davmel View Post
    Every day Austar seems to find a way to make their paying customers feel like criminals.
    wow...that does suck... I wonder why people bother.

    If anyone is the type that wants to get at their recordings, I'd recommend they seriously think about a PVR/HTPC option. They can stick their box up their clacker

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    Damm and I believed that Foxtel was a draconian bunch with there rules about stb etc but A* have just gone to a whole new level.

    It will be interesting to see if there new business rules impacts there bottom line.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Astrotoy7 View Post
    If anyone is the type that wants to get at their recordings, I'd recommend they seriously think about a PVR/HTPC option.
    Umm, many many people did do just that for several years and thousands of $$$ invested in PVR/HTPC equipment only to have all of it become paperweights on 22/4/08.
    Oh, and recording the low bitrate digital recordings via the analogue outputs using a much higher bitrate (which chews up FAR more disk space) is a waste of time and seriously more inconvenient than recording the stream directly. It's better to just rent/buy the DVD of the programming and/or do what many ex-Austar customers are doing and just switch to SelecTV.

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    Quote Originally Posted by satguy View Post
    It will be interesting to see if there new business rules impacts there bottom line.
    It will hit them hard. They are obviously clueless as to just how many people were using 3rd party STB's/PC cards to avoid using the crappy supplied decoders. By stating in the terms and conditions that customers must use Austar supplied equipment with the card, no one wanted to admit to Austar they were using non-supplied equipment for fear that there service might be terminated (as per the T&C's), so obviously Austar has never known the scale of 3rd party decoder use and have underestimated the impact their actions will have.
    Ultimately their actions will have a net migration of customers to SelecTV with very few prepared to return even if Austar was to reverse its actions.

    Austar corporate will however try to blame higher interest rates and cost of living for the inevitable downturn in subscribers as a convenient scape goat for what was the result of their own actions - not the economy at large.
    That is after all what managers are good at doing - blaming someone else when the shit hits the fan.

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    Quote Originally Posted by davmel View Post
    Umm....It's better to just rent/buy the DVD of the programming ..... just switch to SelecTV.
    umm, it depends what you watch !!

    dvds are irrelevant when your main interest in sat tv is live sports programming, for example. For everything else, there is channel BT.

    selecTV(or Hobotel) is great in its support of DIY, but its channels are seriously lacking.. we all know that.

    As for the paperweights issue, a htpc is the most versatile piece of av equipment you can get... you can even use it to do your homework, or look up pRon

    As long as you can record live TV to yoru HTPC at (up to)DVD quality(which a capture card allows you to do), I dont see what the tragedy is?

    show me a propietary PVR option where I can record every single match of the euro finals directly, autoencode to avi/mp4 etc format etc(with an app like our very own }, and then quickly share those recordings with friends/family/the whole.wide.world/my psp. When your pvr is a pc, this is much easier. Working within media centre/media portal etc, you can timeshift, use the guide, remote record etc, all the good stuff that mystar and IQ make you pay for..and then not giving you access to your recordings!!! WTF

    Such a rig shouldnt cost thousands. $500 for a decent htpc, I build 3 a week nowdays. Upgrading storage on them also isnt a breach of warranty/contract

    Also, the fact that you are doing it on a rig you built yourself is a big plus, as opposed to paying for the privelege to use a piece of junk that limit ones freedoms.

    I hate the purchase/hire decisions such providers as Austar inflict on consumers.. bastards.


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    I'm getting Austar + Mystar next week. already got TiVo and love that - I can take recording from it onto my Mac and burn them to DVD to keep for repeat viewing, but it seems as if the Mystar is tied up tighter than that.

    I've got a Panasonic Viera LCD HD TV which has monitor outlets on the back.
    I'm thinking along these line re. getting progammes off onto my computer -

    Connect my Elgato Video Capture device (which I got last week to take stuff off old Hi-8 & VHS tapes) into my MacBookPro and use the Elgato software to capture the signal that the Mystar is sending to the TV. I bought a 'Video Enhancer & Stabiliser' last week from Jayco which I think sorts out the Macrovison crap so if I put that between the TV and the video capture gadget, wouldn't I then be able to save anything MyStar sends to my TV? I'm just a little bit concerned as a NON-electronics person about causing harm to my laptop and or video capture device. can anyone tell me if there's any risk? If not I'll try it out.

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    There's no risk of damage to your equipment. But there is a risk that a 'stabiliser' product that claims to remove won't be effective with your particular Macrovision-enabled product. The reason for that is that Macrovision is a brand that's applied to many different copy-protection techniques, and products that contain a certain version of Macrovision will utilise certain interference methods but not others. So it's common for 'stabilisers' to be effective on some devices but not others.

    To those who are thinking about buying a 'stabiliser', I recommend you to ask around for advice about what ones are known to work with your particular Macrovision-enabled product. If you can't find such advice, buy the stabiliser only when you have the Macrovision product in your possession, not beforehand. That way if it doesn't work you can take advantage of 'return within 7 days' type refund policies.

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    Default Mystar

    Does anybody know what the Foxtel position is in regard to third party boxes?


    Quote Originally Posted by davmel View Post
    It will hit them hard. They are obviously clueless as to just how many people were using 3rd party STB's/PC cards to avoid using the crappy supplied decoders. By stating in the terms and conditions that customers must use Austar supplied equipment with the card, no one wanted to admit to Austar they were using non-supplied equipment for fear that there service might be terminated (as per the T&C's), so obviously Austar has never known the scale of 3rd party decoder use and have underestimated the impact their actions will have.
    Ultimately their actions will have a net migration of customers to SelecTV with very few prepared to return even if Austar was to reverse its actions.

    Austar corporate will however try to blame higher interest rates and cost of living for the inevitable downturn in subscribers as a convenient scape goat for what was the result of their own actions - not the economy at large.
    That is after all what managers are good at doing - blaming someone else when the shit hits the fan.

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    Dick Smith's have (had ? ) a Video Enhancer and Stabiliser ( in kit form for $15 ). A bit tricky to put together but allows me to record anything from Mystar to a PVR, but only in real time.

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    Is there any thing stopping running a pc usb capture thingy and run the 3 AV cables into it ??

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    Quote Originally Posted by dixons View Post
    Dick Smith's have (had ? ) a Video Enhancer and Stabiliser ( in kit form for $15 ). A bit tricky to put together but allows me to record anything from Mystar to a PVR, but only in real time.
    The one you refer to was an old Electronics Australia kit, if memory serves me correctly. At $15 it would have been a clearance special - they'd normally charge that much just for the case and PCB! From a quick search it appears that kit had previously been priced around $79, or $49 on special, but at any rate it doesn't seem to be available any more.

    Any Macrovision filter product worth its salt is likely to start around $80, or maybe $50 if made in China. I'd be wary of anything much cheaper than that. The good ones that store and regenerate video are much more expensive, starting around $300.

    (And before anyone asks, no, I don't have a recommendation on what stabiliser to buy. I played with a few designs many years ago including a couple of Elektor kits, enough to learn that Macrovision is like cancer: there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Buy, try, and keep your receipt.)

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    Quote Originally Posted by pc9 View Post
    Does anybody know what the Foxtel position is in regard to third party boxes?
    It's a grey area. Using a third party box, one can never be sure that the stream will in some way be made incompatible, making them all fail.

    The cat and mouse game is all part of the thrill!
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