Sky+HD Digiboxes

Amstrad DRX780 (what I have)
PVR4
300GB hard disk
160GB personal space

Amstrad DRX890
PVR5
500GB hard disk
250GB personal space

Amstrad DRX895
PVR6 
1.5TB hard disk 
1TB personal space
Sky Off mode

Sky+HD Surround Sound Using Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Receiver

Connections

Connect Sky+HD HDMI output to Onkyo TX-SR507 HDMI Input 1
Connect Sky+HD digital optical audio output to Onkyo TX-SR507 Digital In Optical 1

Assignments

Make the following assignments using the Onkyo TX-SR507 setup menu

Assign Sky+HD video to CBL/SAT on HDMI Input 1
Assign Sky+HD audio to CBL/SAT on Optical Input 1 and press [Enter]
Assign the Xbox 360 to AUX on HDMI Input 2

Disable HDMI Audio

To switch from HDMI audio to optical audio is not just a case of selecting "OPT1" or "OPT2" - that would be too easy! you have to press the "Enter" key afterwards to assign the already selected option, you'll then see an asterisk (*) appear beside your selection to confirm your choice.

The Dolby Digital from The SKY+HD will be ignored by the TX-SR507 unless you press [Enter] during the input assignment setup. Pressing [Enter] will disable HDMI audio and enable Digital Optical audio on this channel. If you don’t press [Enter] then you will still get Sky+HD audio through HDMI but it will only be stereo. Very confusing.

Hint. Test that Sky+HD audio is using the optical cable by connecting and disconnecting the optical digital audio cable.

Adding Surround Sound To My Sky+HD

Sky+HD with XBox 360, PS3, DVD, Blu-Ray – you need an AV Receiver.

Adding surround sound to a Sky+HD system is far from easy and it is very important to choose the right equipment.

Yep, to get the most out of your TV it’s now back to the days of Hi-Fi separates!!!

The first thing that you need to know is that most all in one Home Cinema or Home Theatre system as sold by the likes of Argos or Comet will probably fall short of your long term expectations and this is simply because the all in one systems just don’t have enough inputs.

If you currently only have a flat screen TV and Sky+HD then you probably made sure that your new TV had as many HDMI and other inputs as possible so that you would be able to connect up all your extra equipment but this all changes when you go the surround sound route because now you only need 1 digital input on your TV and it’s your AV Receiver that needs all the extra inputs.

My Equipment

Toshiba REGZA 42RV635DB 42” Full HD 1080p LCD TV
Sky+HD (Amstrad 780-056)
Xbox 360 Elite
Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Receiver
Onkyo SKS-HT528 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System with Subwoofer

Toshiba 42” LCD TV

The Toshiba 42” LCD TV has 4 HDMI inputs but I only need 1 input when I use an AV Amplifier.

The Toshiba 42” LCD TV has optical digital audio output but this output only outputs audio from the internal Digital TV decoder and it can’t output processed audio from other digital inputs. This means that audio input using an HDMI input will NOT be output using the optical digital audio output on the TV.

Sky+HD

The Sky+HD satellite receiver has HDMI out which does include audio but only 2 channel stereo is output using HDMI.

To get surround sound we need Dolby Digital and the Sky+HD only outputs Dolby Digital using the optical digital audio output.

Xbox 360 Elite

The Xbox 360 Elite has a HDMI output which does include Dolby Digital.

Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Receiver

The Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Receiver has
4 HDMI inputs
1 HDMI output (connect to TV)
2 coaxial digital audio inputs
2 optical digital audio inputs
Plus more inputs and outputs

Surround Sound Speaker System and Subwoofer

The Onkyo SKS-HT528 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System has
1 x Centre Speaker
2 x Front Speaker
2 x Surround Speaker
1 x Powered Subwoofer

So a 5.1 Channel Home Theatre Surround Sound speaker system has got 5 speakers plus a subwoofer.

System Interconnects

Connect the system as follows

Sky+HD HDMI Out to TX-SR507 HDMI Input 1
Sky+HD Optical Digital Audio Out to TX-SR507 Optical Input 1
Xbox 360 HDMI Out to TX-SR507 HDMI Input 2
TX-SR507 HDMI Output to Toshiba 42” LCD TV HDMI Input 1
Also connect 5 x Speakers and Subwoofer to TX-SR507

TX-SR507 Input Assignments

Make the following assignments using the Onkyo TX-SR507 setup menu

Assign Sky+HD video to CBL/SAT on HDMI Input 1
Assign Sky+HD audio to CBL/SAT on Optical Input 1 and press [Enter]
Assign the Xbox 360 to AUX on HDMI Input 2

The Dolby Digital from The SKY+HD will be ignored by the TX-SR507 unless you press [Enter] during the input assignment setup. Pressing [Enter] will disable HDMI audio and enable Digital Optical audio on this channel. If you don’t press [Enter] then you will still get Sky+HD audio through HDMI but it will only be stereo. Very confusing.

Hint. Test that Sky+HD audio is using the optical cable by connecting and disconnecting the optical digital audio cable.

Where To Buy Your AV Equipment

Toshiba 42” LCD TV and Xbox 360 Elite purchased from Tesco.
Onkyo TX-SR507 AV Receiver purchased from Richer Sounds.

Where To Buy Your Cables

Don’t buy expensive overpriced HDMI cables at £25.00 or more. Tesco sells a basic 1m HDMI cable for just £4.99. Being a digital signal there is no need for a high quality cable.

Good Luck

I hope this little surround sound guide is useful and please post your comments and how you connected your own system.

Use Sky+HD Remote with Onkyo TX-SR507 AV

I’ve upgraded my HDTV system with the Onkyo TX-SR507 AV amplifier.

I used remote control code 01175 to make the Onkyo RC-737M remote control work most of the Sky+HD commands including SKY channel selection and live pause but it’s not possible to access the planner.

Most of the time my audio setting will already be configured and I will want to use my Sky+HD remote to change the volume and mute the Onkyo TX-SR507.

Sky+HD Remote Code for Onkyo TX-SR507

Press TV
Hold Select and 0 (2 flashes) 
Enter 0163 (2 flashes)

Enable Punch Through

Press TV
Hold Select and 1 (2 flashes)
Press Sky key

Select Sky mode and the Sky+HD remote volume up/down buttons will control volume on the Onkyo. This is very useful!!!

Select TV mode and the Sky+HD remote control Select Up and Select Down buttons will control volume on the TV and Select Right will mute the TV.

Also in TV mode the Sky+HD remote control will do lots of weird stuff to the TV and the Onkyo.

Disable Punch Through

Press TV
Hold SELECT and 0 (2 flashes)

Crusade For Better Picture Quality On Sky

Do you remember when Sky launched their Digital satellite TV service and their promise of perfect digital picture quality compared to the analogue satellite TV service?

I'm sure that at the time the picture quality of the Standard Digital (SD) was more than adequate.

Recently Sky have been relentlessly promoting their High Definition (HD) service and have been telling us how it is so much better then the SD service.

It is true that SD now looks completely crap and when you watch any football match you will see that the players have a pixel halo around their bodies as they run across the pitch. But in reality the SD picture does not have to look so crap and it is more likely that Sky have reduced the picture quality of SD to make it look even more inferior to their HD service.

The irony is that Sky have reduced the picture quality of SD by increasing the compression and the allocated bandwidth is reduced leaving more bandwidth for HD.

My Crusade

My crusade is for Sky to restore the picture quality of the SD satellite TV service to the best possible quality.

If you agree then please leave a comment below...

Sky Mobile on Windows Mobile!

Sky Mobile is a java app which shows Sky TV listings on your mobile and once you have registered your mobile phone number with Sky allows you to set your Sky+ to record.

Sky Mobile needs the TNT JBED 24052007.cab java platform which means that it is not easy to get Sky Mobile working on the X1 Xperia.

Sky Mobile Installation Instructions

1. Make sure that no java platform or application is running.
   
2. Install TNT JBED 24052007.cab to the storage card. Note that the Program menu will now contain a new Java icon. It is a good idea to rename the new icon to TNT Java to avoid confusion with the regular Java.
   
3. Make sure that no java platform or application is running and start TNT Java. Note that the splash screen is different to the regular Java.
   
4. Click Menu -> Install -> Local Files and select SkyMobile_SonyWithoutTv
   
5. To run Sky Mobile start TNT Java and click Sky by Mobile
   

Using Sky Mobile

Use the X1 optical joystick to select Username in yellow and press the optical joystick button and use the X1 keyboard to enter the username and password that you registered on the Sky website.

Sky Mobile is not touch screen compatible so use the up/down buttons on the X1 optical joystick to select menu items. Sometimes an item can be selected by pressing the optical joystick button and other times you have to press the bottom left and right custom keys. The left custom button usually performs an action and the right custom button cancels.

To exit Sky Mobile you need to find a screen where you can select Home using the bottom left custom key. Then select Options. Then scroll down to Log Out and press the optical joystick button.

Managing Java

Having 2 java platforms installed can be problematic. For best results always completely close all running Java applications before launching a new java application and avoid installing the same application in more than one Java environment.

Screen Resolution

The incredible SE X1 Xperia WVGA screen resolution of 480 x 800 pixels causes the Sky Mobile screens to appear really tiny. I am now desperately searching for a utility to reduce the screen resolution while I run Sky Mobile.