Ftv Cards Obsolete !

Icehouse

>>There is a rumour that a Dbox2 with appropriate software for those in the know can view CH4 and ITV using a ftv card.... (is this legal!?)

Explain your question - waht's a Dbox2. EVERYONE with an FTV card has up until now been able to watch C4 and five.

byte

I think he means teh Dreambox 2. It's a "fancy" digital receiver



Check www.dream-multimedia.tv

Also note, this may tread on being illegal and as such, cannot be discussed on these fora. Skybusters discuss this.

watty

Its a rumour.

Nothing illegal about emulating a CAM. Even if the rumour was true (obviously I'm sceptical) you still use a real viewing card.

Also rumour of Softcam for PC too that uses Sky card in ISO reader. I don't hold much credance for that either.

But neither are illegal as long as they use a real card that only gets what it is supposed to.


If I could plug my sky card into a PC sales of Sky+ would be hurt..

telecinesk

Hi Watty,
No I mean a Dbox2 like from Germany.Its a real good machine with 2 onboard softcams.It does what I cannot describe here but there has been research into using real fta cards ie solus with it.
No proof but this is prob the only one which has the power to.It does everything else without a card.. Ebay has a load of them.

IPFreely

When I insert my new style (blue with yellow house) FTV card I received from Westsat on Monday and insert it into the digibox I get a "Card not authorised for use with the box" message ot somethign very similar to it. I was under the impression that I would still get all channels except the BBC with an unactivated FTV card? Is this correct and if so what might I be doing wrong with the FTV card?

watty

Originally posted by telecinesk
Hi Watty,
No I mean a Dbox2 like from Germany.Its a real good machine with 2 onboard softcams.It does what I cannot describe here but there has been research into using real fta cards ie solus with it.
No proof but this is prob the only one which has the power to.It does everything else without a card.. Ebay has a load of them.

Ebay has a load of them because Dreambox has never finished the SW.

It is a nice idea and everyone agrees they will be nice to have if the product is ever finished.

The rumour of a Dreambox softcam for type 1 cards IMHO is less substantial than the rumour of softcam for DVBProg (phoenix smart mouse or ISO card reader needed).


Till it is a "real" product it is as sensible as a Sinclar QL home computer with its tape emulating floppy drives.

telecinesk

Watty,
Dbox2 is not a dreambox.Dbox2 can either be a Philips ,Nokia or some other unit.It is designed for Premiere World for the German market but the OS is Linux hence its screen graphics are similar to dvb2000.>>

Anyway getting back to the point, is BBC FTA yet?
I suspect a trade in Solus cards with version2 will start as Im flogging my box and card. No astra2D out here 1800km for front door.... booh...
Anyone want a card for slovak tv? No I thought not..

robert muldoon

Did I not read in a thread a week ago that ITV were to make a statement today about the Solus card situation

markyboy

Originally posted by Icehouse
>>C4 goes pay to view wef 10 July to coinicide with BBC going FTA
Someone at least reassure me that C4 won't cut off before I've seen The Adam Ant documentary on July 17th...

Worth the wait! God bless Marco Pironi and the obvious patience of a saint!

watty

Originally posted by robert muldoon
Did I not read in a thread a week ago that ITV were to make a statement today about the Solus card situation

hink I read someplace that the conference has been postponed..

rovingrover

I wrote to my MP :-) to complain re FTV cards being obsoleted and got the following reply.

2nd last paragraph gives us hope so SKY may still feel the rpessure. Rememebr the UK government are not like our own and they do actually regulate some stuff and are to some extent pro consumer


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Thank you for your e-mail of 18 July regarding the free to view satellite cards.

Firstly, as you may know, most of the digital satellite programmes intended for reception in the UK are transmitted from the Astra 2A, 2B and 2D satellites, although a few services make use of the Eurobird 1 satellite. In May, the BBC services changed over from using Astra 2A to 2D. Astra 2A covers the UK together with a large part of continental Europe. Whereas Astra 2D has a tighter footprint covering, primarily the UK and Republic of Ireland, with some spillover into France and Benelux.

BSkyB and the BBC announced on 13 June a five year agreement which includes the continued allocation to BBC1 and to BBC2 channel numbers 101 and 102 respectively on BSkyB's Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). As part of that agreement, the BBC is buying a regionalisation service from Sky to ensure that viewers with a Sky viewing card within the UK will continue to automatically receive the right national and regional versions of BBC1 and BBC2. But this will also enable digital satellite viewers to receive any of the BBC's national and regional services anywhere in the UK.

The BBC agreement will end payment by the BBC to BSkyB for the provision of "Solus" viewing cards to digital satellite viewers who do not have a subscription to a pay-TV service.

I appreciate your concerns as to whether this means consumers will have to subscribe to receive ITV, Channel 4 and Five in the future, As yet, no changes have been made to ITV, Channel 4 or Five. ITV continues to be transmitted from Astra 2D and Channel 4 and Five are on Astra 2A. These channels use the Sky conditional access system, so a viewing card is required. We are advised by the Independent Television Commission that their present conditional access agreements with Sky have some time to run. However, as things stand, BSkyB will not be sending new viewing cards to "Solus" card viewers as part of the card swap-out programme - unless a free-to-view broadcaster, other than the BBC, wishes to pay to provide replacement cards. Once the existing cards are disabled, access to these services will cease. In the longer term it could be that the commercial public service channels may consider alternative arrangements if they wish to continue to provide free-to view access to their services by satellite. I should clarify that there are provisions in the Communications Act, to empower OfCom to require/approve the provision of arrangements to ensure reception of a 'must provide' satellite service (as defined in the Act and subject to modification by the Secretary of State). However, we hope that this situation can be satisfactorily resolved without the need to use legislation.

Finally I would like to let you know that Tessa Jowell has written to the respective Chief Executives of ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BSkyB seeking clarification regarding their position over current and future free-to-view access to their services on digital satellite. We will publish the results of those enquiries on the digital television website www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk as soon as it is possible to do so.

Regards,
Rachel Hitchman

Digital and Commercial Television Policy Advisor
Department for Culture Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DH

mojolaw

Perhaps another option Sky should consider is supplying FTV cards to those that want them for a fee....surely four years of viewing with a new type 2 card would be worth a once off payment?

sceptre

Originally posted by rovingrover
I wrote to my MP :-) to complain re FTV cards being obsoleted and got the following reply.

Kudos to your MP for being somewhat technically informed (or at least for having someone around who's technically informed). Better than any letter I've ever received from any TD (in other words it's better than "we're doing all we can so lay off me")