A tutorial on how to setup NewCS or Oscam on Window 7 media center for watching Australia Foxtel satellite PAY TV.
Component List
Motherboard with onboard COM port. Ensure it has enough PCI and PCIe slots to accommodate for all your hardware. There are plenty around with onboard HDMI. Using the onboard frees up a PCIe slot.
Phoenix card reader. I have found the TBS 3102 to be the most practical card reader as it can be made to be internal and hidden out of sight. There are various USB card readers available which can work with NewCS and Oscam. Some even come free when you buy a TV tuner card
RAM. More is always better. (32 bit or 64 bit)
Core 2 Duo CPU. Quad core is nice, but reports are that NewCS does not work with them.
Hard Driver. Must be big enough to handle all the recording you wish to do, in addition to the operating system, other software and any other record media you might have (music, photos, etc.).
Network hardware. If you want to stream media over a home network, then I suggest a hardwire LAN. Most motherboards have built in LAN ports. Otherwise, built in wireless or power line networking will be fine for downloading software and EPG updates.
DVB-S/S2 TV tuner card, I use a TBS 6984 PCIe quad tuner card. This is really the grand-daddy of DVB-S2 card. Four tuners allows you change different channels. it is so good for IPTV providers.
Remote control. Must be MCE compatible, most comes with the tv cards.
Satellite Dish. If you have an existing Foxtel / Sky Service, then the satellite dish installed will save you a lot of work as it is already aimed to the correct satellite. If you want to use multiple DVB-S tuners, you’ll need to change out the LNB, depending on the one already fitted. Most standard Foxtel installs include a single LNB for the basic service. If you do need to swap out the LNB, you will need to buy/rent/borrow a satellite finder and orientate the dish & LNB to the correct satellite. For those in the Brisbane area, I have one that can be “borrowed” for the weekend for the cost of a six-pack.
Software
Required Software:-
– Windows 7 Ultimate
– All necessary drivers
– Codec pack
– DVBlink TVSource
– NewCS / Oscam (for HD reception)
– Acamd
Setting Up
I always prefer to begin with a clean install as my system is a dedicated HTPC. Start with no cards installed, except for the video card if you’re using one.
1. Install W7
2. Install Drivers
3. Run Windows Update – Make sure you have all the updates you need. You may want to run it a few times to make sure you have everything
4. Install Codecs
5. Shut Down PC
6. Install Phoenix Card Reader and DVB S2 Tuner cards and drivers
7. Download NewCS from the download area of this website. Make a directory in C:/newcs
8. Copy the following files into the directory:-
mingwm10.dll
Newcs.exe
Newcs.xml
NewcsGUI.exe
pthreadGCE2.dll
9. Make a shortcut in the startup folder to the NewcsGUI.exe. – This is so it starts up when the computer does.
10. Insert your Foxtel smartcard into the card reader and start the NewcsGUI.exe. – You need to confirm the provider ID for your TV service. Write it down. E.g., Foxtel Blue Card is 090B.11. Install DVBlink TV Source
Follow the instructions in the user manual provided with Tvsource and setup each tuner in turn.
Once all the tuners are setup, place the acamdplugins (cardclint.conf and acamd.dll) into
C:\Program Files\DVBLogic\DVBlink\Sources\<tunername>\Plugins
Or
C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBLogic\DVBlink\Sources\<tunername>\Plugins for a 64 bit install
– Each tuner needs an individual name. Newcs and acamd will need to be modified to reflect this. For this purpose, the plugins you put in are cardclient.conf and acamd.dll
Continue setup as per the manual. You would want to setup MC now, following the instructions.
12. Edit newcs.xml so it looks something like this:-
<?xml version=”1.0″?>
<newCSconfig>
<readers name=”Standard Phoenix on PC”>
<device>
<name>Phoenix on COM1</name>
<type>phoenix</type>
<mhz>357</mhz>
<node>COM1</node>
<parity>odd</parity>
<reset>normal</reset>
<export>no</export>
<enabled>yes</enabled>
<blocksa>no</blocksa>
<blockua>no</blockua>
<blockga>no</blockga>
<blockc0>yes</blockc0>
<!– <boxid>0000000000</boxid> –>
<!– <rsa>0000000000</rsa> –>
<crypto-special>no</crypto-special>
<PTShandshake>no</PTShandshake>
<carddetect>no</carddetect>
<newcamd_port>34000</newcamd_port>
<autosid>yes</autosid>
<priority>fifo</priority>
<Seca-PPV>no</Seca-PPV>
<pincode>0000</pincode>
</device>
</readers>
<radegastserver>
<enabled>No</enabled>
<port>10001</port>
<allow>
<hostname>localhost</hostname>
</allow>
</radegastserver>
<cache>
<emm>20</emm>
<ecm>-1</ecm>
</cache>
<server>
<port>8080</port>
<enabled>no</enabled>
</server>
<debug>
<password>newcs</password>
<level>normal</level>
<type>init</type>
<output>console,tcp</output>
<console_options>normal,init</console_options>
<tcp_port>1001</tcp_port>
<tcp_options>normal,init</tcp_options>
</debug>
<newcamdserver>
<enabled>yes</enabled>
<name>newcs</name>
<deskey>01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14</deskey>
<user>
<name>tuner1</name>
<password>password1</password>
<hostname>localhost</hostname>
<port>34000</port>
<rate>1</rate>
<au>on</au>
<sidoverride>off</sidoverride>
<spider>no</spider>
</user>
</newcamdserver>
</newCSconfig>
You can copy and paste the above example into a text file and save it as newcs.xml. Be sure to put in the boxid if you’re using an Orange Foxtel card and uncomment it so it looks like this <boxid>0000000000</boxid>
13. Edit cardclient.conf so it looks like this:-
newcamd:localhost:34000:0/090b/ffff:tuner1:password1:0102030405060708091011121314
Restart the system
Update: With the advent of HD channels, more and more people are moving away from NewCS and towards Oscam. Also, Oscam has the ability to update your subscription card so you don’t need to put it back into the STB.
There is a tutorial for setting up Oscam with Cygwin here>>
And one for setting up Oscam in Ubuntu here>>
At this point, you would setup your epg. You can use any number of methods that are described throughout the forum. You can include logos to give your setup a little more spark. You could also setp Media Browser, weather programs, internet radio, etc.
I would recommend using EPG Collector for this setup. It will pull down the EPG data directly off the satellite/cable, pretty much the same way the original STB’s do. A lot of work went into it’s development and it is a fantastic piece of software.
You can get it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/epgcollector/files/
From:pcmediacenter.com.au,written By MC Mentor
