TechniSat's SkyStar 2 PCI satellite receiver card has become a favourite for quite a few reasons. First up, it's a reliable card for different data applications which isn't too hard to set up (as our feature on MPEG 4:2:2 feeds over the page demonstrates). Then there's the TV Viewer, which impressed us with its picture quality and ease of use.

It's hard to believe TechniSat can satisfy both of these needs at a price which beats most other PC satellite receiver cards by tens of pounds, but there's a secret - it doesn't have its own MPEG2 decoder module. Instead, the SkyStar 2's original software used the reliable and ubiquitous Windows Media Player as a software decoder, and bound the player into its own EPG and channel list software. The rest is just simple, efficient German programming.

The hardware of the SkyStar 2 PVR hasn't changed - it's the same stubby PCI card using a B2C2 chipset and a tuner module with a single LNB input. That's the other efficiency of the SkyStar 2: there are no video or audio outputs, so unless your video card has a composite or S-video output, you won't be able to watch channels on a TV.

The basic software is pretty much unchanged, too. There's the background network card driver, which allows the card to tune in and route the DVB data to either an application or the TV viewer. Setup4PC enables you to control LNB settings, DiSEqC switching, transponder lists and addressing for data applications.

It's this you use to scan for new channels - either a very long-winded scan which actually searches for new transponders, or a quicker scan using the exisiting transponder list.

On the positive side, you've got much more control over how you scan for channels than a normal receiver allows, and it's much easier to edit the transponder and satellite lists, than it is with a normal receiver interface. On the negative side, the SkyStar 2 still can't drive DiSEqC 1.2 motors, although some unofficial software can be used to add the ability at your own risk.

The PVR aspect for which we're giving the SkyStar 2 a second review is provided by entirely new software - DVB Viewer - which has been licensed by TechniSat. Originally developed by a user who wasn't happy with the TechniSat TV software, DVB viewer is a great piece of software which really elevates the SkyStar 2 to new heights.

The simple Windows-style interface produces a great picture and can show both Teletext and download DVB EPG data. The latter can be used to program recordings to the hard disc in MPEG2 format, or you can program them manually if (as is usually the case) the DVB EPG info is less than comprehensive. You can also record on the fly, pause the image, and play back recorded MPEG2, Divx, AVI and M2V files. The software will even shut down your PC after a recording if you choose.

It comes complete with channel lists for almost every satellite you'll want to watch, which are stored as easy-to-edit text files, or you can edit them in situ. The channels are broken down into free and pay-TV lists by country and satellite, and you can flick between favourites using another list and special buttons on the desktop.

Other useful features include a fixed 4:3 window size, 'desktop TV' (which shows the TV picture as a background underneath the desktop display), brightness, contrast and colour control, LNB setup and support for AC-3 encoded Dolby Digital surround sound.

The SkyStar 2 PVR will run comfortably on any PC up to 18 months old, and fairly zips along on the latest PCs. It remains a top-quality data card, and the addition of DVB-Viewer also makes for an excellent TV viewing card.

Published June 2003, What Satellite & Digital TV