TV Provision / SKY

[Embazzy]

Hi i wanted to ask the question to Network managers regarding there provision of television to their schools.

Do you provide it? (through a third party obviously)
If so do you use analog have you thought about Digital?
Does anyone subscribe to Sky and does it cost a fortune ?

We are just looking at maybe implementing a multi point system but am interested in what peopls provision is at the moment


any help / advice would be greatly appreciated

cheers

Embazzy

[Michael]

Since having interactive whiteboards installed, televisions are used much less than before. Why is there a need for Sky television at a school out of curiosity?

I'm not sure about subscription, but a simple solution would be to buy a quad or octo LNB, so you'd have eight cables routed to the relevant Sky box, but of course you need 8 x Sky boxes. An alternative would be Freesat which just requires a standard television license and nothing more.

[pscott]

We currently run have 1 sky+ box in our resources department at no cost, running the free channels, as we can't get a digital signal, terrestrial is a no-go!

We are currently looking at having another 3 Sky+ boxes installed (8 channel recording) and upping our subscription, we are currently negotiating a price!


Lorraine Randell
sb2b@bskyb.com

Send her a quick email and she'll try and sort you out!

[Embazzy]

Thanks for the replies so far i am just investigating what is possible a couple of teachers eg Geography and History have asked the question and we are trying to justify its use,me personally i dont see the need for it we have Whiteboards in every class and it has never been mentioned before we are maybe looking at Freesat also.
My theory is that it hasnt been asked for before and im sure a few would just say yes and never use it, as before whenever a teacher makes a request for something it is always taken and investigated yet when i ask for a course i usually get an instant answer

[tech_guy]

it's their not there

[Embazzy]

thanks

[Quackers]

Our school wanted Sky Sports (being a sports college) until they found the cost out.

[AngryTechnician]

We're using an Exterity IPTV system to stream all of the major Freeview channels via multicast. We have a number of dedicated receiver boxes that serve it to our big screen TVs via SCART, plus any computer with a connection to the wired network can pick it up using VLC.

It also streams a single channel from our Sky box. It's normally set to Sky Sports 1 unless we've had a request for another channel.

[cooper]

Im looking at getting a Freeview Humax PVR this has a USB port that will let you connect to a mediaserver or NAS and tranfer. It records .ts videos not sure if i will convert the video as im sure VLC will play this format.

[Diello]

We also have the Exterity TV system broadcasting Freeview via the network to all classroom projectors. No Sky.

[Sylv3r]

We are looking at streaming Sky Sports News into the changing rooms when they are getting ready for PE. Just through a digitial box though and not SKY. I'll be interested on how much sky would cost a school. We have an old satellite dish on the roof which was used a long time ago to access french / german TV as we are a language college. It hasn't been used however for at least 10 years now.

[TYO]

we also use exterity for freeview
also can recive a live feed from the drama studio using the mixing disk or anyother place in the school with a video camera plugged in to an exterity box, in to the network

[User3204]

Did you guys with Exterity not find it was such a huge initial outlay ?
I've looked at it before, but it's always £4k here for this unit, £4k there for that unit, and if you want to be able to receive these channels it'll be another £8k... and of course, if you install the receiver software it'll be £150 per machine (for 350 machines)..

[neilenormal]

Here we have a Sky box for just the free channels which I can send to the Reception Onelan display sytem so we can have music channels or news channels if required.
Two of my colleagues in other schools in the area use something called MythTv but I think you need to be a bit of a linux man for that. I think it acts as a server and records Freview channels as required, and if you install a client on a PC you can access the server content. A google of MythTv will reveal more. Very low cost solution [?]
Neilenormal

[TYO]

yes but we were a new academy :P