Dishnet key roll // 2005-12-20
Dishnetwork rolled the keys earler today and majority of the FTAs, DVBs and few modified plastic rolled without any problem.


TV for your car // 2005-12-19
DETROIT - As their average commute time rises, Americans are making their vehicles increasingly homelike, with cushy seats, multiple zones of climate control and DVD players. So it's no surprise that the next big thing in vehicle accessories is satellite television.

"People want the same entertainment and services they have at home in their car," said Chris Watson, a spokesman for Rhode Island-based KVH Industries, which first introduced satellite TV in vehicles two years ago. "It really is becoming an extension of the living room."

In Buffalo, D&R Automotive at 350 Seneca St. installs satellite televisions in vehicles. "We've only installed two satellite systems so far," says Dennis Snyder, one of the owners of the auto customizing business. "One was a Hummer with seven screens."

Cadillac is now offering KVH's TracVision satellite system as a dealer-installed option on its Escalade sport utility vehicle, an industry first. GM is considering prewiring its SUVs for satellite TV starting with 2007 models, Watson said.

This past summer, Avis Rent A Car began offering TracVision on Hummer H3 rentals in Phoenix as part of a test program.

It takes about three hours for a dealer or electronics retailer to install satellite TV on vehicles already equipped with flip-down screens for DVD players or navigation systems. With the TracVision system, a 3-foot-wide circular antenna is affixed to the top of the vehicle, and a cable is inserted through the roof. The antenna is about 5 inches high.

Screens can be placed all over the vehicle, including the dashboard, headrests and the trunk, where some tailgaters are now installing large-screen TVs. A few sports stars and celebrities have as many as six screens in their vehicles, Watson said.

But the most popular location for the screens is the ceiling in the middle of the back seat, Watson said. Forty-five percent of sport utility vehicles produced for the U.S. market this year have those screens in them, Watson said.

Once the system is installed, viewers can watch more than 140 channels through DirecTV. Vehicle owners can continue to use navigation systems or DVD players on their screens.

Safety advocates question whether the technology is just one more dangerous distraction. Already, 40 states have banned drivers from putting video screens in a place where they can see them, although there are exceptions for navigation systems.

"Drivers need to be reminded that driving is a very complex task requiring full attention," said Col. Jim Champagne of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which has said it's not encouraging use of the technology.

Watson said KVH installs a kill switch that will automatically turn off the TV in the front seat when the vehicle starts moving. Headphones also are available for viewers so the TVs are less distracting to the driver, Watson said.

"We do not encourage people to have video screens operating where the driver can see them," Watson said.

Watson wouldn't say how many satellite TV systems have been installed in vehicles, and a spokeswoman for Cadillac didn't have figures immediately available. But the consulting company Frost & Sullivan has estimated that 3 million vehicles will have satellite TV by 2011.

Right now, the cost is prohibitive for many consumers. TracVision costs between $2,295 and $2,500, and customers pay extra for DirecTV access. If they get DirecTV in their homes, installing it in their vehicles costs $4.99 a month. It's $41.99 a month if they don't get DirecTV.

So far, TracVision is most popular in Florida, Texas and California, where there are long stretches of open road. The satellites don't work as well in urban areas where tall buildings often block the signals.

Directv to pay 5.35 millions fine // 2005-12-13
DirecTV to pay $5.35 million for do-not-call violations

By Andrew Bridges, Associated Press | December 13, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) -- DirecTV Inc. will pay $5.35 million to settle charges that its telemarketers called households listed on the national do-not-call registry to pitch satellite TV programming, Federal Trade Commission officials said Tuesday.

The proposed settlement, if approved by a federal judge in Los Angeles, would be the FTC's largest civil penalty in a consumer protection case.
The DirecTV complaint, filed by the Department of Justice at the FTC's request, named the company and five telemarketing firms it hired, as well as six principals of those firms.

"This multimillion-dollar penalty drives home a simple point: Sellers are on the hook for calls placed on their behalf," FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said in a statement.

The complaint alleged that DirecTV and the various telemarketing firms violated do-not-call rules beginning in October 2003, the month the registry debuted.

The registry, which contains more than 110 million phone numbers, was designed to prevent consumers from receiving unwanted calls from telemarketers.

Telemarketers must match their contact lists against the registry every 31 days. Companies that have recently done business with households are exempt, as are charities, pollsters and callers on behalf of politicians.
On Monday, in an unrelated case, DirecTV Inc. promised to reimburse unhappy customers and to make its advertised offers clearer, according to a settlement reached with 22 states over deceptive marketing complaints.

P4/D1 rumours // 2005-12-11
There are lots of rumours flying around about a P4/D1 hack on all the underground forums, it is either a well coordinated scam or may be an actual hack but your guess is as good as mine at this point (buyers be aware because there are going to be lots of bidges for sale lol).
On an other note I reported on Pansat and Coolsat auto roll and then I had to add a correction because key did not roll, this is to let all of you readers know that I literally do not sit on my computer all day long to find out what is working and what is not working, I report the news as it unfolds and some time I am not around when it unfolds (very busy time of year for me right now).
Coolsat released their very first auto roll and it did not work (I even spoke to one of their moderator and he confirmed it that first one did not work), I was gone to work and there were quite a few releases from them during that time, they say that their latest one works fine, on the other hand Viewsat very first released worked with key roll but it has issues with slow remote response and freezing, which is all fixed up with their latest releases.
I heard that Pansat guys got everything under control also but I can not confirmed that because I do not know many people with Pansat unit.

Auto roll keys on FTAs // 2005-12-10
I reported few days ago that FTA guys were releasing the auto rolling key software, Pansat and Viewsat were the first one to release the software but Pansat did not work good on most of their receiver, Viewsat was the first FTA receiver to have it working 100% but they are still releasing new versions to take out all the bugs (slow remote response etc...)
Coolsat released it for their 5000 model few days later and it is available for their 4000 model also, they claim that their software updates moving tps also.

Correction: the Coolsat bin which was released today did not work, reports started to come in after Bev key change and it did not roll.

Viewsat auto roll out // 2005-12-08
Viewsat released their autoroll file this morning, Coolsat said that they will be releasing it for their 5000 model soon.

Auto rolling keys // 2005-12-06
Bev started to roll their keys twice a day to make life miserable for the end users and Dishnetwork followed the lead but..... looks like FTA gurus are step ahead of them Pansat has auto rolling out, Viewsat auto roll is going to be out within 48 hours.
As soon as one of the FTA guy does it rest will copy the same technology.

Footnote: Bev rolled the keys and Pansat auto roll "DID NOT" work.

Smart Card Research Threatened in DirecTV Case // 2005-12-03
General NewsSan Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford University Law School filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday, asking judges to protect legitimate researchers from the heavy-handed tactics of the DirecTV Group, Inc., a worldwide provider of digital television entertainment, broadband satellite networks and services, and global video and data broadcasting.

Federal law makes it illegal to intercept satellite TV signals without authorization and also bans modifying or assembling interception tools for sale or distribution. In the case before the Ninth Circuit, DirecTV claims that it can sue individuals for both interception of its signal as well as modification of receiving equipment in cases where altered smart cards are simply inserted into standard television equipment. DirecTV claims that inserting a smart card into preexisting television equipment constitutes "assembling" a pirate device. The amicus brief claims that DirecTV is overreaching and also points out that legitimate security researchers would be threatened under the proposed misreading of the law. A lower court has already ruled that DirecTV cannot sue on this theory and dismissed DirecTV's attempt to "double-dip" by punishing individuals twice for a single offense.

"Researchers are constantly assembling, modifying, and building smart card components in furtherance of scientific knowledge and innovation," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "Congress clearly meant to exclude these beneficial activities from any legal liability. The court below understood this, and we hope the Appeals Court agrees."

Over the past few years, DirecTV has orchestrated a nationwide legal campaign against hundreds of thousands of individuals, claiming that they were illegally intercepting its satellite TV signal. The company began its crusade by raiding smart card device distributors to obtain their customer lists, then sent over 170,000 demand letters to customers and eventually filed more than 24,000 federal lawsuits against them. Because DirecTV made little effort to distinguish legal uses of smart card technology from illegal ones, EFF and the Cyberlaw Clinic received hundreds of calls and emails from panicked device purchasers. We worked with DirecTV to get them to limit their lawsuits to only those people they could prove were illegally receiving their signal. The two groups co-sponsor a website at www.directvdefense.org to help people defend themselves.

Nagra2 Rom102 hack // 2005-11-29
I reported a working 102 hack rumour on Nov 2nd and it was confirmed on Nov.23rd when bev got hacked (bev strictly works on 102 card and above)now there are few dealers who are loading Rom102 cards on the net.

An other blow to dishnetwork // 2005-11-23
It looks like Nagra2 102 card has been compromised also, this happened only few months after the full fledged rom 101 hack.
This means that Bev will be affected by this hack also because when they switched their Nagra1 stream to Nagra2 they went with rom 102.


Syndrome guy's message // 2005-11-22
I reported about atmega being same code as Syndrome on Nov. 16th news, I was told by Syndrome guys that it is not true, Syndrome is 32 bit DSP and atmega is 8 bit mcu, codes could not be compatible.
I dont know my codes and I have no clue about any programming etc.... easy way to find out will be next key change or any other change and see how both of the above devices do after that.

Note: Syndrome guys are right, their code is different than atmega, it got proved last night when pk key changed.... reports are coming in that atmega, FTA and other devices are working but Syndrome lost the PPV.

I apologise to Syndrome guys for my report "them being same as atmega".

FTA repair in Canada // 2005-11-20
If you're one of those folks that damaged your FTA for what ever reason and, you do not know where to repair it you can visit http://ftarepair.com
These guys are electronic technicians for two decades now they are very talented and well equipped to effect major repairs on most fta receivers.
Don't expect any kind of loading of bins etc. However they will repair your damaged fta and bring it back to virgin state.

New key in the stream // 2005-11-16
People watching the datastream informed me that the new keys are in the stream (not activated yet) as soon as those are activated FTA, AVRx etc.... will go out untill updated with new keys.
I was also told by experts who got to disect the released atmega codes that these codes are exactly the same codes as Syndrome card.... that was unexpected news for me.

Atmega freeware release // 2005-11-15
Reports are coming in that atmega Nagra2 file is released as freeware last night.


Commercial Rom101 loader for sale? // 2005-11-14
I have seen cooldish.com selling commercial Rom101 loader to public, a friend of mine is looking into ordering one as soon as he receives it I will find out what it does.

Rom10 emulating as rom 101? // 2005-11-11
Lots of reports are coming in that old Nagra Rom10 has been modified to emulate as a newer Nargra Rom101, what this means in simple language is that people are using old Rom10 cards to watch Dishnetwork.

All FTAs, AVRx etc.... down // 2005-11-07
I have been receiving reports that all FTA receivers and AVRx went down this morning, atmega and Syndrome made it through the key roll.

Update... I heard that the new keys have been decrypted and posted all over the net, receivers with manual keys options (Dreambox, viewsat, pansat etc...)are back up and running again.

some AVRx, atmega and syndrome are down // 2005-11-04
I have been informed that some AVRx, atmega and Syndrome are down, the reason could be the new update which was sent to the receivers by Dishnetwork.
I am sure about the AVRx and atmega but Syndrome is still a mystery since their customers are still waiting for the product.

Nagra2 working hacks // 2005-11-02
These are confirmed N2 hacks so far, flashed FTA receivers, Rom101 (there is a rumour on working 102 also), atmega, AVRx and Syndrome card.
All above hacks are working with Nagra2 stream.

Nagra2 101 swap in Spain // 2005-10-27
Nagra has swaped out their hacked 101 cards to new 110 cards which are not hacked, that caused a blackout in Spain last week.
If this strategy works I am sure they will switch all of their 101 cards over to 110 cards in North America also.

FTA survey results // 2005-10-21
First of all I want to thank you for all the emails you guys sent me regarding this survey.

Here are the results.

The best free to air (FTA) receiver = DreamBox
Pros: it is an open source system that means it can be used with anything since it is a PC, dont have to wait for suppliers to make you bins etc....
Cons: it is expensive and you have to have a good knowledge of PC and networking.

Mid range receivers have a tie between Coolsat and Viewsat.
Both of the receivers have the users raving about them, Pros for coolsat, it has one of the best guide and very easy to setup... Pros for Viewsat it has one of the best scans and good customer service.
Cons for coolsat, it has some freezing on few channels. Cons for Viewsat Guide does not work too good.

Low end receivers.

Pansat seem to be the king of lower price receivers, closely followed by Fortec and Digiwave.

I heard that there are channels dropping on all of the FTAs starting yesterday, it might be a key change.... now you can see their customer service.



AVR freeware release // 2005-10-19
There is a file floating around on the net that suppose to be AVR file for Nagra2 fix, rumour is that plastic Nagra2 freeware should be the next.
I did not see it or bother with it so I have no clue what it does and how it works.

The best FTA receiver. // 2005-10-16
I have been asked this question alot lately and honestly I have no clue since I have never used or owned one yet.
Looking at the popularity of FTA (Free To Air) receivers I decided to run a survery here.
Any one using FTA can write me and let me know which brand they are using and why they think it is the best, keep in mind for ease of use, price and all the bells and whistles.
You can email me webmaster@dishnewsonline.tv with your choice of receiver untill Thursday Oct 20th by 11PM pacific so I can post the results by Friday.
Thank you for your input.

Coolsat owners be aware // 2005-10-13
There might be a bad file floating around which may damage your receivers if you upload that to your receivers.
This file is 4 kb and the original name is "COOLSAT4000_135p_Bev", I have been informed by the koreanf2a.tv guys about it.


TiVo vs. Dishnetwork. // 2005-10-12
The question of who owns the rights to technology that revolutionized the way people watch TV goes to trial this week in a Texas courtroom.

TiVo Inc. alleges that EchoStar Communications Corp., operator of the DishNetwork satellite- television service, infringed on a patent central to digital-video recorders, devices that allow viewers to pause live TV and skip commercials.

At stake for Douglas County- based EchoStar are unspecified monetary damages and the risk that it might be forced to modify many of its receivers. That's if the company is found liable for infringing on TiVo's "time warp" patent,which allows viewers to record a program while replaying another. For TiVo,which pioneered the DVR technology - only to see satellite and cable
companies create their own versions - the case could set a precedent as to whether it can sue other companies that have introduced competing products.

TiVo, founded in 1997, introduced the first DVR as a stand- alone product and quickly gained a cult-like following, introducing the term TiVo'd into
the lexicon. But TiVo sales didn't ignite until it reached a distribution deal with a pay-TV service - DirecTV Group - in 2000.

In 1999, EchoStar began offering its own version of a DVR, the first cable or satellite provider to do so. EchoStar made the technology a key selling
point and for several years has offered DVRs free to new customers. More than a million EchoStar customers had DVRs by September 2003, beating TiVo
to that mark by two months.

"EchoStar saw the opportunity and moved quickly," said Adi Kishore, an analyst with the Yankee Group. "EchoStar helped solidify the success" of
bundling a DVR with its service, "which DirecTV and other cable companies are now replicating."

Marc Lumpkin, a spokesman for EchoStar, said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Jeff Weir, a spokesman for Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo, also declined to comment.

EchoStar said in court papers that it didn't infringe on the patent and that TiVo's asserted claims are invalid because the invention is "obvious" and "not new."

In regulatory filings, EchoStar has said it is not possible to "determine" the extent of any potential liability or damages" if it loses the case.

Barring a last-minute settlement or postponement, jury selection is set to begin Wednesday in U.S. District Judge David Folsom's courtroom. The trial
is scheduled for Oct. 24.

EchoStar earlier this year filed its own suit against TiVo, claiming TiVo and a unit of South Korea's Humax Co. violated its patents related to
recording and storing TV shows. Those claims aren't part of this trial.

TiVo sold most of its recorders in the past five years through DirecTV,EchoStar's largest competitor. But DirecTV today is introducing a $30
million advertising campaign to promote its own DVR, in an effort to distance itself from TiVo.

Of DirecTV's 14.7 million customers, 2.3 million subscribe to TiVo. DirecTV pays TiVo a monthly fee of $1.13 per TiVo subscriber and hopes those users
will switch to its own service.

Cable companies were much slower than satellite providers in introducing DVRs, and the models they've offered in recent years are made by Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta rather than TiVo.

TiVo hasn't sued anyone other than EchoStar, but the company said in its news release announcing the suit that "we've invested in building a
comprehensive patent portfolio to protect our intellectual property and as the DVR category grows, we will be aggressive in protecting those assets."

TiVo, however, has made some inroads into the cable industry. Comcast Communications Corp., the largest cable provider in Colorado and the nation,
in March agreed to offer TiVo services to customers as an option next year.

Comcast already offers a DVR to digital cable customers for $9.95 a month and will charge customers an additional fee if they choose TiVo.

DVRs store dozens of hours of television programs on a computer hard drive rather than tapes, making it easier to record programs and fast-forward
through commercials. Users also can record an entire season of a show with the touch of a button.

DVR use is not widespread. Less than 5 percent of people surveyed last year by Forrester Research said they have one in their home.

But those who use DVRs "love them with unbridled passion," wrote Forrester analyst John Bernoff in a report issued this year, with half saying the
devices improved their enjoyment of life. People who have one DVR often buy or lease another, and less than 2 percent no longer use their machine, according to the survey.


FTA and DVB more popular than plastic. // 2005-09-30
It is amazing how the black market users have switched over to FTA and DVB with N2 hack than using plastic.
Nagra1 hack was majority plastic with few people using FTA, DVB, Wonderbox and emulation, with Nagra2 it has gone other way around.
The biggest reason for this switch seem to be that end users are on the mercy of the dealers to get the plastic done and with this last mess up every one is reluctant to send in their cards and money.
This trend will change if/when N2 software becomes freeware.

update on rom101 problem // 2005-09-24
Here is the update on rom101 problem (you can go to the chat forum www.dishnewschats.com and read the full thread if you dont know what I am talking about)

"Royce please delete the above threads and keep this one.

I have negotiated a deal between the dealers and those programming the 101 cards, they have agreed to fix the expiry date problem for the dealers and to support the dealers if there cards do not roll with the first key change.........my job is done and I can now go back to retirement, and will be leaving for europe agian soon.

Customers will have to contact there dealers for further instructions! (NOT ME)

Thank You Royce

CYA L8r , if you come to italy , call me, free room and board!

/\tr3f0000"


It does not look too smooth. // 2005-09-22
I reported on Nagra 101 hack scam few days ago and I was told that everything was taken care of so I corrected myself by posting it next day....
I received few PMs and emails saying that they are NOT taken care of, I asked atrf0000 to let me know what is going on and he posted this in our chat forum www.dishnewschats.com .

"Royce
xxxxxxxxxxx
Atr3f0000"

Problem taken care of // 2005-09-19
I have been informed that Nagra2 101 plastic fix group took care of all the dealers, if end user are not receiving their cards back it is not the group, it is their own dealer.
My last news about "the group scamming" is not 100% true, there was a delay in the fix it was not a scam. (I dont mind being wrong:) )
For more detail on this thread and other topics you can always visit our forum www.dishnewschats.com

101 clone hack scam // 2005-09-18
There was a plastic hack which cloned Nagra 101 to get all the channels, few weeks back that hack went down and the dealers asked their customers to send in their cards plus $75 for fix and shipping.
What I have been told is that the group who had the fix took the cards and money and they are no where to be found.... dealers and end users are out of their money and the card.

More bad news for Dishnetwork. // 2005-09-16
Rumour has it that their better secured new card (102 card) has been compromised also.
The earlier version 101 card was being used in European satellite systems for few years and was compromised there, Dishnetwork initially used the same card in the beginning but decided to use the later version Nagra card which believed to be more secured.
Bell system out of Canada is also using the Nagra card along with Dishnetwork.

FTA back working // 2005-09-14
It only took them a day to find the fix and have FTAs running again... even the porno channels are fixed on FTAs.

All FTA receivers are down // 2005-09-13
All the FTA receivers which were working with N2 codes got hit today.... it was done same way as they hit the porno channels a while ago.
Even the big FTA pushers/backers are trying to distance themselves from the FTAs now.
Oh well it was kind of fun to see all the excitement for last couple of weeks, plastic was the first casuality and now the FTA.


Little more info on damaged Pansat // 2005-09-10
It looks like the shipping address to get the units fixed is from USA and people who want to send in their receivers should know that it could be a possible set up to get all the info and then a possible lawsuit for satellite piracy?
Here are comments from few discussion forums about it.
"Why anyone would think Pansat or any other large manufacter and supplier of Sat receivers would want their name to be remotely associated with Piracy files to receive Sat signals illegally in North America or any where else for that matter is beyond me. I still have a Pansat BR 3500 analog receiver from about 15 years ago collecting dust. They sold over a million analog receivers in 1990 world wide and sorry you got to be a fool to think they would fix their receivers in the US for free that were modied for theft of US signals"

Here is an other one
"After further consideration based on advice from trusted sources, I must withdraw my intent to send this unit in for repalcement. The reasons include the possibility of legal action by giving any information to Panarex and the grey areas surrounding the communication process of this warranty replacement. I'm afraid I have too much to lose to be a maverick, and the loss of the 2500 will be my price for testing."

I am reporting all this as a reporter and from an unbias point of view.... I have NO personal opinion on this or any other matter so please do not ask me anything about it.

Blacklist takes responsibility. // 2005-09-09
Blacklist takes reponsibility for his action and makes it good for the people who lost their original Pansat receivers.
Here is his statement.

"A special arrangement has been made thru Pansat to honor warrantee on any "Failed units" for FREE! If your unit is a true Pansat 2500a and failed after flashing with X-85Bl ver. 2.51 you can simply send the unit for FREE repair or replacement. If physically damaged beyond repair, it will be replaced at the discretion of Pansat for a 2700a. There will be no hidden shipping & handling charges, nor any type of repair bill for this service. No claims will be made against the owner for not using factory flash on the unit either. This is a one time offer to those who lost a unit do to the new firmware release made available by him. The customer will ONLY be out the shipping fee for sending their unit in. This can't amount to much over $10 in the U.S."

Clone FTA receivers killed // 2005-09-08
There was Nagra2 based code released for Pansat which included a kill code to ruin all the clone Pansat receivers.
First generation Pansat receivers were low speed inexpensive chips.... cloned Pansat was based on those chips because those were cheap, later model Pansat used faster chips, the coder (on the advise of the original Pansat manufactures) decided to add codes which killed all the slower older chips, it killed most of the clones and the first generation receivers.
As an end user customers do not know what is original and what is clone so these guys decided to screw everyone including their own customers, it shows you what people do for money:(

More info on N2 hack // 2005-09-05
I was told that Nagra 2 hack is based out of Europe, very same card has been in use in Europe for over a year now.... European N2 was hacked and it was posted on the net as freeware.
The guys from North America took those codes and that became a N2 hack here.
Apparently there are plastic, DVB, FTA and AVR files which work with N2 codes (porno channels are hit at this time), I can not confirm it because I did not see any.

Nagra 1 is gone // 2005-08-31
As of Aug 31 2005 Echostar has switched most of their channels to Nagra2 (new yellow card).
There are reports of Nagra2 (101 only) hack which was apparently hit few days ago.... there is also rumour of Nagra2 emulation, FTA and AVR hack, I dont know much about these hacks since I did not see any of the above.

N2 aka 101 hack // 2005-08-28
I have heard from few credible guys about N2 hack but as I said before I can not confirm anything since I have not seen it myself yet.
It does not mean that it does not exist if I did not see it, what it means is that I can not report it saying yes it is a sure thing.

Forum is up and running // 2005-08-25
It is all fixed and runnig www.dishnewschats.com

Sorry for the delay, too many things to take care of in very busy month.

More spams and scams // 2005-08-15
I received this spam few days ago and it shows how aggressive the scammers are getting lately:(
Here is the email.

" Now testing Nag2!
First let me say, there will be no bashing in this thread. Naysayers will be escorted out! This is my preliminary review of a fully opened Rom 101. Remember, this is a new breakthrough and it's little snags and snafu's may NOT be apparent at first. That being said, let's get on with it. First off I owe many people my gratitude. I wish to acknowlege them now. This is an information site. Nobody here writes or distributes code. It is merely an information site and I am but the messenger who has endeavored to TRY and keep everyone informed of any developments. I'd like to thank the mods at dss-newbies for helpig me out all the way around on this. The connections provided proved fruitful to say the least. Next the party responsible for my getting this sneal peek, I have but one thing to say... Thank You! After weeks of negotiations and missed deadlines and other various hurdles, these guys came thru for me and this COMMUNITY! True to his word, and because of this site's visibility, he moved mountains and faced incredible resistance to get this done. I wish to thank him publicly for perservering and DELIVERING what he promised! On to the test. I was sent a Rom 101 for evaluation and review. It was explained to me that this was a clone and I would HAVE to have a 2700 or 3100 DN box to test this with. I was provided and IRD # as well as Box keys that had to be written to the DN box via jtag. I have many connections and this was not a problem for me to do. The box was prepped some time ago and we waited for the mysterious "yellow brick" er I mean card to show... Finally the card showed up and I drove to the location of the prepped unit. Upon arrival, it was already setup and running a Rom10. Preliminary channel surfing showed the missing N2 channels using the older style card. I showed him the "yellow" card that I had been sent and we did a thorough examination of the card. It was in near new condition and showed nio signs of being tampered with. The asic appeared to be the original one and no scratches or cuts were visible under a magnifying glass. We looked at each other, smiled and breathlessly removed the blue card & inserted the "Yellow" card. The familiar "Aquiring satellite signal" message came up and we quickly went into the menu for alook see and swicth test. The CAM numbers were indeed different from what was on the card, and a quick verification of the provided ird# & box keys that were provided were in order. On to the switch test. These old legacy boxes from DN use an SW-21 swicth which is entirely different than a diseqc switch and a "switch test" is mandatory for the system to work properly. We waited patiently as the unit completed it's test. Upon completion, it exitted the menu and we had TV! The guy I was with lit up a broad smile as did I and we breathlessly changed the channels. first stop. 151 OLN, ON! Next stop PPV, ON!, hell, lets go for broke, 496 (porn) OMG! I didn't know people could do things like that in that position! ON! Next stop Starz, ON!, RIA (foreign channels), ON! Virtually every single channel DN offers in the US (except my locals) were ALL ON! This is NOT a hoax as you all will come to see. The RSA encrytption has NOT been cracked (to my knowlege) but they were able to write to certain areas of the card. N2 is toast! In fact there's more than 1 hack available... (gee that sounded familiar) FTA has more resources available than these guys, thats for sure. This is indeed very exciting news for the COMMUNITY! Stay tuned for more info as testing progresses. I have more poeple coming to view this and I'm sure you'll be hearing from them as well. It's a start people. Nobody knows how long it will last, but I HAVE TV AGAIN! I always said, you'd hear it first from this "Shining Star of FTA" and you did Many thanks to the coders involved. The Bell has sounded, round one is under way... This surely won't last, but it's a start.. Be careful as always with purchases on the net.. "


N2 rumour has been circling around for over 3-4 weeks now, I have been told that proof will be provided in next few days and those next few days have came and gone quite a few times.
I personally will NOT believe any one (specially the spam emails)unless I see it with my own eyes, even then I would like to run tests to make sure that it is not silk screened or full subsciption.
For time being there is nothing proven or confirmed.



Forum is down temporarily // 2005-08-12
We are in process of fixing few bugs..... will be back by Sunday (hopefully).
I heard the rumour flying about our forum hehehehe... if I was busted why the hell this main page is still here? this is what the "dishnewsonline.tv" is forum is just a side kick and it was added years after the main page.
What really happened is that my static ip address changed on Friday, I changed all the info in the server and I am waiting for the domain hosting company to make the changes so dishnewschats points to the new ip address, I guess after Friday it comes Saturday and Sunday so they did not get around to it:(

No Nagra2 hack proof // 2005-08-08
As it was reported it is just a rumour and no proof came out of it yet.
None of the people I know ever it seen with their own eyes either.
Just a reminder for those people who like running after the mirage, DO NOT waste your money on any kind of pre booking because it never pans out, any one bought anything in the past can tell you the horror stories about pre bookings.
Last but not least those N2 capable FTA receivers are as as much N2 capable as home made space shuttles, if you have no knowledge of the codes you are not going to decode anything.

Nagra2 no show so far // 2005-07-31
I have been given "confirmed" dates every few days and those dates keep changing to next "confirmed" date, I was hoping for a show and tell but it is all "tell" no show so far.
A friend of mine out of Toronto took a drive to Markham, Mississauga and all the other so called show places to see it but he only heard the stories also "no show".


Nagra2 rumour is still a rumour // 2005-07-27
I have heard lots of stories but those all sound like made up stories so far..... I was told that I will have to drive some where to see one on Monday, and I filled up my gass tank:) then I was told Tuesday for sure and it is Wednesday today.
It may be a scam (not to scam end users but to scam dealers because these guys were looking for 18 dealers with $24 K each investment).
In any case it is not proven that it is really done so far.
For further reading you can go here http://www.dishnewschats.com/showthread.php?t=6052

All defendants, except Nds dismissed in Echo case // 2005-07-26
There is a very good news in Echostar lawsuit....
the judge dismissed the case against all individuals except nds with prejudice which means Echo can never table this claim against those individuals again.
Hopefully this brings peace to all the individuals who were involved in this mess.
Good luck guys.......

Nagra2 hack rumour // 2005-07-21
I have been informed by few "credible guys that there is Nagra2 hack, it is apparently being done on a 101 card.
I have not seen this with my own eyes so I can not personally confirm it.....


Directv, Echostar and others named in a lawsuit // 2005-07-16
The DirecTV Group Inc. is among 15 companies being sued by Forgent Networks Inc. for allegedly infringing on a patent for digital video recording. Forgent, an Austin software and intellectual property development company, said its patent relates to a computer-controlled video system that allows playback during recording. The patent expires in 2011.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Companies named in the suit included Cable One Inc., Comcast Corp., Cox Communications, EchoStar Communications, Charter Communications Inc. and Time Warner Inc.

Grave diggers // 2005-07-14
These scammers are using anything and everything to scam people:( here is their latest BS.

"DIRECTV Sues Canadian Signal Thief for Violating Permanent Injunction; Raid Takes Down Web Site; DIRECTV
Also to Seek Contempt Citation

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2005--DIRECTV (NYSE:DTV) has filed a lawsuit in a Canadian
court against a well known signal thief who flouted a permanent injunction order imposed last year to
stop selling piracy technology used to steal DIRECTV programming.

The complaint alleges that Elio Gino D'Amario, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has continued to sell
pirate devices known as the BFSR3 (FTA Directv Nagra2 Satellite Receiver) in violation of a permanent
injunction entered against him in a U.S. District Court and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
in July 2004. The complaint against D'Amario was the result of an investigation conducted by the
DIRECTV Office of Signal Integrity.

D'Amario was identified in 1999 as operating a network of companies and Web sites, collectively known
as the Blacklist DTV group, engaged in selling DIRECTV satellite piracy technology to customers in both
the United States and Canada and has been the subject of several injunctions beginning in 2002.

DIRECTV is also seeking a contempt order against D'Amario based on his flagrant breach of the permanent
injunction granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2004.

Contempt of such orders can have serious consequences. In a case last month, Billy Boudreau, a Canadian
citizen who was operating a pirate Web site, was sentenced to nine months in prison after the judge
found him in contempt for breaching an Anton Piller order, which provides for the right to search
premises without prior warning and is used to prevent the destruction of incriminating evidence.

In spite all this, there is little the authorities can do to stop Mr. D'Amario who continues to
peddle his BFSR3 units by toll-free phone, which decrypt all channels including pay-per-view
on the Directv, Dishnetwork and Bell Expressvu satellite systems. As this article went to
press, the Blacklist DTV group in conjunction with Satans Playhouse could be reached
at 1-888-473-7027.

When we called that number, the individual answering the phone representing himself
as 'Randy Reed', stated that this legal action has nothing to do with himself or the
Blacklist DTV group, Satans Playhouse or DSS Matrix, all partners in the production
of the popular BFSR3 units."

I wonder how low these guys can go?
the raid above had nothing to do with FTA (they called it BFSR3) receiver.



Heat on global piracy. // 2005-07-08
Satellite and cable.

The set-top box on one's television is actually a first-line defense against the swarthy maties of the high seas. Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola are the main STB manufacturers, and each uses its own proprietary encryption scheme based on Triple Data Encryption Standards. There are other standards -- industry analyst Gerry Kaufhold notes that Swiss company the Kudelski Group offers the NagraVision encryption product, and the standards devised by News Corp.'s News Data Systems division are used by the satellite industry -- but nobody is giving out recipes for security algorithms.

DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer notes that his company is using NDS' next-generation Period 4 card, which has fended off pirates for three years (earlier versions were hacked within a year).

What's behind the success of NDS' Period 4 algorithm? "I can't get into the details," Mercer says. "But we're happy with the performance."

The move to digital cable actually has put a dent in piracy, according to Nilda Gumbs, director of the National Cable Television Assn.'s office of cable-signal theft, who reports that an estimated $6.5 billion lost five years ago has declined to $4.7 billion today.

What about Internet ads for "digital filters" that allow consumers to see HBO's "Six Feet Under" for free? They work, Gumbs says, but only for a short time before such unauthorized transactions trigger a permanent "timeout" for the system. To make it worse for dishonest cable consumers, digital set-top boxes keep records of all such transactions and allow cable operators to charge retroactively for illegal usage.

Nonetheless, everyone agrees that encryption for cable and satellite is a moving target as pirates become increasingly more tech-savvy and bold. That's why CableLabs also is at work on next-generation anti-piracy schemes: Dulchinos says Triple DES will be replaced by the much more secure AES, but there is no time table.

Studios

If technology has helped put wind in the sales of the immense global network of "casual" and professional pirates who rack up what the MPAA says is "in excess of $3 billion" in lost revenue each year, then the studios likewise are using high-tech methods to fight back.

"At Universal, we're coordinating our efforts against piracy across all media-distribution channels," Universal senior vp technology Jerry Pierce says. "I want to make pirated product inconsistent and inconvenient for the customer."

Sounds easy, but it isn't. The number of distribution channels has exploded, and content owners are scrambling to battle pirates in every venue, including home video, DVD, satellite, cable, mobile devices and the Internet.

At Warner Bros. Pictures, the strategy has been to set up a worldwide anti-piracy division headed by executive vp Darcy Antonellis and including experts to oversee a four-pronged plan: operations and technology, legal and enforcement, public policy and consumer education and new business. "Our belief is that you can't control this issue without being effective across all those areas," Antonellis says.

Digital cinema

The good news is that pirates no longer can drive away with reels stacked in the back of a van. The bad news is that digital cinema creates new vulnerabilities, from the way a movie is transmitted to the theater to how it is stored once there.

The industry has made great headway in establishing security standards: Digital Cinema Initiatives, a consortium of Hollywood studios, already has written security specs for d-cinema, DCI chief technology officer Walt Ordway says. According to Ordway, the DCI has chosen the AES-128 Advanced Encryption Standard, an international (ISO) standard with a 128-bit "key" to unlock encrypted material at the theater. Both international standards and the 128-bit key are basic requirements of the highest form of security now available.

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers' DC28 committee also supports AES-128, says chairman Wendy Aylsworth, who notes that the SMPTE is preparing to publish documentation detailing the d-cinema standard early next year.

D-cinema system manufacturers are expected to follow suit with their own written specs. According to Jeffrey Segal, co-founder and chief technology officer of Cinea, a company that provides anti-piracy products and services to Hollywood, his company's solution already is AES-128 and has been adopted by Dolby Digital Cinema.

A feature film's initial theatrical release -- the asset's "early window" -- continues to be the most crucial anti-piracy period. "Piracy starts typically with that first camcorded copy," Antonellis says.

Warners' anti-piracy division recently traced an illegally camcorded movie back to the Internet, where it was available to a semiprivate network of illegal DVD manufacturers before being offered on P2P (peer-to-peer) networks.

"Some of the (illegal-)use groups will download the copies and use that as their master to stamp hard goods," Antonellis says. "They can have DVDs on the street within 24-48 hours of the download."

To stop camcorder pirates, Pierce says, forensic onscreen visual or audio marks allow studios to trace pirated material back to a specific print. Multiple programs are in place to attempt to put an end to camcordering, including a reward program for theater employees who catch would-be pirates, but studios are tight-lipped about their tricks and reluctant to feed information to the enemy.

Antonellis says Warners supports such visual and audio watermarking but declines to reveal more specific information. "You need to have one or two technologies in your back pocket, assuming that one of them will be compromised," she says.

In Europe, the move toward standardizing d-cinema is largely dependent on the progress of Hollywood studios. At this year's Cinema Expo International, the European Digital Cinema Forum has planned meetings with European representatives of Hollywood studios to discuss the way forward. That follows an EDCF visit to Hollywood this year to meet DCI representatives and gain better insight into U.S. plans for a digital rollout.

"The meeting was extremely positive," says Swedish Film Institute director general Ase Kleveland, adding that the EDCF cannot comment on its adoption of DCI standards until the whole standardization framework has been finalized in the fall.

Internet: P2P

It turns out that one does not have to leave his or her living room to find the biggest market of all for illegal content: P2P sharing on the Internet is one of the most virulent piracy pipelines (and is not even included in the MPAA's $3 billion annual loss estimate, accounting for untold additional losses).

But efforts are under way to control illegal P2P sharing. Rather than focusing on anti-piracy measures integrated into consumer electronic devices, CableLabs, the industry's nonprofit research-and-development consortium, has focused on the FireWire pipes within home media networks that make it easy to copy DVDs or put them on the Internet. Senior vp advanced platform and services Don Dulchinos says CableLabs has created a spec for a reencryption scheme in digital connectors that will limit how many copies can be made.

Segal also notes that Macrovision offers a P2P Anti-Piracy Service used by several motion picture studios (which decline to be identified) but is tight-lipped as to how it actually works.

Studios, technologists and manufacturers are mum for good reason: They're waiting for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, expected by month's end, on a case that will decide the legality of P2P sharing. If P2P carries the day, then studios and other content owners will suffer a major setback in their anti-piracy efforts: Although P2P sharing of pirated material will remain illegal, the difficulty of policing such content on the Internet is daunting -- some even say impossible.

A legal source for downloading movies is Movielink -- which offers films from the Walt Disney Co., Sony, Universal and Warners, among other studios -- and chief technological officer David Beddow sketches out the technology used to shut out content thieves. Movielink uses Microsoft and RealNetworks digital-rights management solutions, both of which are based on proprietary encryption algorithms that have not been compromised by pirates.

"When our movies are downloaded from our central site, they are encrypted using one of those two DRMs," Beddow says. "When it gets decrypted -- whether it's onto the computer monitor or the television receiver -- its output is in analog form."

Analog output is itself an anti-piracy measure because pirates know that copying from an analog source results in highly degraded images. High-definition downloads also are unlikely from analog sources.

"It would be a very slow process for a download service like ourselves since HD files are very big," Beddow says. "It's just not very practical to do in today's environment."

Next-generation DVDs, be they Blu-ray or HD-DVD, will take advantage of copy protection from the Advanced Access Content System (www.aacsla.com), the output of a consortium comprised of Disney, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba and Warners.

"It's not a formal standard yet, but it will become one probably by the end of the year," Beddow says.

Broadcast TV

If it's over the air, then it's free, right? That's the heart of a battle between content owners and consumer electronics manufacturers. Over-the-air transmissions are a great source of content for Internet pirates, and the increased quality of HD transmissions makes bootlegged versions look better than ever.

Content owners recently devised a solution -- require digital TV manufacturers to include "broadcast flags" limiting consumers' ability to make unlimited copies or encode material for the Internet -- that was to take effect July 1. Before that could happen, though, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to regulate consumer electronic devices.

"The difficulty of all this is that they want to stop the pirate by making it very much more difficult to do something you shouldn't do," SMPTE vp engineering Peter Symes says. "The big balancing act is: Can you come up with something tight enough to ward off professional pirates without making it intolerable for the honest consumer?"


DVD

Pirated DVDs seem as common as legal ones, which makes it hard to believe that DVDs actually have an anti-piracy encryption: the Content Scramble System from the DVD Copy Control Assn., representing rights owners and equipment manufacturers. But MPAA senior vp and director of worldwide piracy John Malcolm defends the early efficacy of CSS. "No matter how good the lock you build, determined, smart crooks will be able to pick it," he says.

One solution is RipGuard DVD from Macrovision, a company that has spent decades degrading the viewing quality of illegal VHS cassettes. RipGuard is aimed at preventing the "rent, rip, return" of copyrighted DVDs, and it works by preventing software programs from illegally hacking the CSS, Macrovision spokesman Miao Chuang says.

But nobody argues that CSS is hacked and therefore history. The Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, both expected to debut next year, add urgency to the effort to devise a "killer application" against pirates. Watermarks are a logical way to provide protection, but there are other means of pirating DVDs.

"It turns out that one of the key sources of piracy is that guy who walks out the door of the DVD-replication facility with a duffel bag full of disks he just pressed," Kaufhold says.

To combat that, Kaufhold says the International Recording Media Assn. has established a "best practices" (ISO 9000) engineering spec that keeps track of each step of the DVD manufacturing process. "It's getting more difficult for someone to outright steal the DVD," Kaufhold says. "But there's no way to stop the replication at unauthorized plants."

There also is no way to stop pirating in the living room, where casual and professional pirates alike have access to high-definition TV sets, home theater-quality audio and under-$3,000 HD cameras, all of which result in even better-quality bootleg copies.

Finding the right anti-piracy solution for next-generation DVDs is a lot like Goldilocks' tough choice. Anti-piracy measures that are too tight inconvenience the honest consumer, and anti-piracy measures that are too loose make it easy for pirates. The search for the perfect balance continues, as urgency to find one builds.

scam email example // 2005-06-29
Here is the email I received personally and you can see the BS these guys are using to scam people.

"Firstly I would like to thank Randy from the Blacklist DTV group for his generous shipment of 5 BFSR2 New Gen receivers
which I received on Monday. I am now watching wide-open Directv, all channels including pay-per-view for 48 hours straight
without a hitch.

I must say that if first impressions are everything, this unit is definately living up to its name. I just placed an order
for 500 units as my phones have been ringing off the hook from customers who have caught wind of this new device.

Lets keep it short and sweet, the BFSR2 works and it works well. It decrypts programming from BEV, DishNet, and Directv, plus
a number of foreign satellites, like Arab, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and British to name just a few.

There was nothing to program, the units were all 'plug-and-play' as promised by Randy.

What is so unique about the BFSR2 is the Corrective Hash Technology (CHT) which is embedded in the
eeprom. This thing can not go down, it anticipates the ECM well in advance and will use Advanced Auto-
Morphing (AAMi) code to quickly change its stream and avoid most hash attacks.

The eeprom is easily flashable with a standard JTAG, for those more advanced testers that want to
customize their BFSR2. Make sure that when you are ordering to ask for a BFSR2 Deluxe or New Gen
model as those contain an EZ-Access JTAG port for simple flash reprogramming.

Call Randy tollfree at 1-888-xxx-xxxx and ask for Satan's special, he will knock $25 off the price of any
BFSR2 unit.

This is it for now, please forgive the short review, expect a more extensive one later this week, I am too
busy watching TV. :)"


Directv files a lawsuit // 2005-06-28
As part of its ongoing effort to crack down on people activating unauthorized programming for other consumers, DirecTV has filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court against six individuals in New York City and Philadelphia claiming false subscription accounts and activating DirecTV receivers.

The suits allege that three defendants from Brooklyn, N.Y., three from Philadelphia, along with 103 unidentified defendants listed as 'John Doe' from both cities created false subscription accounts and illegally activated access cards and receivers enabling others to receive DirecTV programming without authorization or proper payment.

"With our programming signals secure from hackers since the introduction of new access card technology, many people are turning to fraud to gain unauthorized access to our programming and they are now discovering this avenue of illegal activity is a dead end," said Dan Fawcett, executive vice president, business and legal Affairs at DirecTV. "We have several additional fraud investigations underway and we intend to take each of these cases to trial and defend our business, our customers and our programming partners against those who are attempting to gain unauthorized access to our programming."

DirecTV allege the defendants violated provisions of the Federal Communications Act, federal Wiretap laws and state law, all of which state that it's illegal to intercept or assist others in intercepting encrypted satellite signals without proper authorization or payment.

According to federal and state laws under which the complaint was filed, DirecTV may be entitled to either actual damages - including any profits made by the defendants - or statutory damages that can range from $10,000 to $100,000 per violation, as well as payment of all costs and attorney and investigation fees.

More sophisticated scams // 2005-06-26
I have been receiving reports on new scams every day and find it hard to believe that any one with the right frame of mind will ever fall for those scams.
FTA (free to air receiver working with Nagra2 or Directv) scams, Nagra2 scam, fancy board talk the list goes on and on.
These guys are getting so desperate to legitimise themself that they are using our site and other established sites as a reference, my question to those guys is if what ever you are saying is true why it is not on the news here?



An other scammer making a pitch // 2005-06-10
Here is an other scammer try to scam people again:(... this time they are naming bunch of legit sites as their sponsors.
My readers know that I have NEVER sold anything and I am NOT affiliated with ANY group (it says that on my front page loud and clear).
This is the email thses scammers are sending out.

""Dear Satellite Testers, Presented to you by the DSS Legends Group... Sponsored by: Al7bar.Tk, Royce DishNewsOnline, Hitecsat and HashHU VIP Group Today is a bright day in the future of satellite testing as you know it. The infamous team of European hackers, some from the old DR7 crew, called the Blacklist camp, have decided to begin supporting the Nagra2 encryption for select Dishnet and Bev testers, like they've been doing for months within the European satellite testing community. ** TOLL-FREE: 1-877-818-7932 ** Due to the fact that there is so much illegitimate business practice by the current dea1ers websites that have always sold private support to hobbyists, the Blacklist camp has decided to open their own private website to the American, Canadian, and Mexican satellite testers, where they will personally provide fully wide-open support for all Nagravision 2 access cards. Their private coding which was custom engineered by Blacklist himself has fully open tiers giving you complete access to all Pay-Per-Views, A dult, International as well as Locals. In order to facilitate your testing needs, the software being used to program all your satellite cards is a Visual C++ coded script which is applied to all ROM102 cams by the DR7 crew . This means that you will no longer have to fiddle around with complicated scripts and software. The cards which are securely, safely and discretely shipped to your door are 100% plug and play, and are Unmarried for your convenience. ** TOLL-FREE: 1-877-818-7932 ** The Blacklist all-in-one Nag2 software will fully-open all Nagra2 encrypted channels on both networks and is compatible with all current dual-tuner Echostar branded receivers. Due to very high demand, a loader and/or custom software will not be released. We at the DSS Legends Group have been hand-chosen to release this invitation only to the VIP selected satellite testers. At this time, we only have approximately 500 cards as this software is only limited to work with virgin AA-05 series ROM102 access cards . We and the Blacklist group feel that releasing this software to all dealers at this time will be the worst move since it will give Charlie enough time to counter-attack between now and September. Once you order your Wide-Open Nag2 card, you will also receive access to our VIP Forums where you can interact with the industry's best coders including Blacklist, DishCoder and the famous WonderBox group. In addition to all this, support is provided around the clock via email, livechat, instant messenger, and telephone toll-free, to all clients. Everything you would possibly need will be at your disposal 24/7. If security and safety is your concern, we can assure you that you can sleep tight knowing that this operation is 100% safe. The entire Blacklist team are located throughout Europe, where this sort of practice is considered legitimate. The servers are extremely secure and located offshore in the pristine safe-haven of the Bahamas. We offer safe and secure payment options where you can keep 100% anonymity and have the piece of mind knowing that you will not be a victim of the infamous "dreadded letter". You are invited to join the elite underground community of the most knowledgeble minds in the satellite testing and smartcard security field. Please give us a call for more information: 1-877-818-7932. Regards, DSS Legends Group On behalf of DR7 Screw & Team Blacklist Administrative Staff Toll-Free : 1-877-818-7932 PS: Don't reply directly to this message as due to the great amount of incoming mail, thea crew is unable to respond to emails replied from this message directly. Visit the site, and contact via one of the methods available. -- A special thanks to all the VIP Members of the DSS Legends Discussion Forums & AL7BAR.TK FTA Lounge for the generous donations to the BlackList Group for making all the above possible, the era of Free TV has now returned. 030749-AE-39""

As far as I know there is NO DTV and Nagra2 hack out and it does not look like there will be one in near future so do not fall for scammers, if/when anything comes up it will be on my page and you will see it on all the legit sites also.



Nagra1 swap on fast track // 2005-05-29
It seems like Nagra1 swap should be all completed by middle of next month through out all North America.
I have received the reports that Canadian system is almost switched over, Nagra1 card lost all of the PPV and majority of the channels.
Echostar (US system)is on fast track to switch over to Nagra2, majority of the ethnic channels are gone from the Nagra1.... mid 300 channels (hbo, starz etc...) should be gone around 2nd week of this month and PPV will follow it soon after that.

On a non satellite note a frind of mine started his racing website worldracer.net if you are a racing fan you should check it out.

Russia launches American satellite // 2005-05-23
BEIJING, May 23 -- A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the US DIRECTV 8 telecommunications satellite has been launched from the Russia's Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

Reports said the launch was postponed for one day for technical reasons.

The US telecommunications satellite was manufactured by the US company SS Loral on the basis of its proven 1300 satellite platform. Its loaded weight is 3,710 kilos, and its designated service life is 15 years.

DIRECTV is a major satellite television operator in the United States, which is owned by News Corporation.

The Proton-M rocket and Briz-M booster unit are manufactured bythe Khrunichev space research and production center.

The Proton is the key heavy-class rocket for the Russian federal space program and is actively used by the Defense Ministry and for commercial satellite launches.

Dishnetwork ready to market Archos // 2005-05-12
Archos apparently is about to introduce a new portable media player dubbed AV700.

The Archos AV700 sports a huge 7" display like the last year introduced MobiNote DVX-POD 7010. The AV700 hard-drive has 60GB.
French NetEconomie reports that Archos entered a partnership with EchoStar, which runs the DishNetwork Satellite TV network. EchoStar is supposed to market an adapted version of the AV400 (AV402) and AV700 to DishNetwork customers. This would enable DishNetwork customers to transfer recorded TV broadcasts or movies onto the portable AV700 and watch them on the go. I guess some DRM is in play here. The AV700 or AV702 should already come in April.

What is weird is that this story is mostly appearing on French news sites, although it has been published already on March 30th, language barrier I guess. Bigouz from french site Generationmp3 pointed us to this story. Both Archos and EchoStar have not made any official announcements yet. ArchosFans reports that this information is from a Investors meeting Archos held in Paris.

Full story here... I4U

Buying HDTV or wait? // 2005-05-02
Should You Get HDTV From DIRECTV?
The satcaster has been tight-lipped on its plans to replace current high-def receivers and dishes.
By Phillip Swann

DIRECTV this week launched the first of four satellites that will enable the satcaster to dramatically expand its High-Definition TV lineup. The company plans to add local channels in high-def this fall for the first time. The launch will begin with 12 markets and slowly expand to other cities. In addition, thanks to the new satellites, DIRECTV says it will carry up to 150 national HDTV channels by 2007. For high-def owners, the news is exciting indeed.
However, there is a catch. When DIRECTV begins offering local HD, it will only be available on new DIRECTV MPEG-4 receivers and dishes, which have yet to go on sale. Yes, that means that any HDTV dish or receiver you buy from DIRECTV today -- or currently own -- will eventually be obsolete. The satcaster says that the new MPEG-4 receivers and dishes will be needed for the local HD signals, and eventually, all of DIRECTV's HDTV programming. (The switch could affect more than 500,000 DIRECTV subscribers.)
When pressed by TVPredictions.com in January, DIRECTV hinted strongly that it will offer either a discount or some other incentive for current dish owners to upgrade to the new MPEG-4 system when it becomes available. However, nearly three months later, DIRECTV has still not revealed its plans for replacing the old receivers.
Because of the confusion, many people have contacted me to ask whether they should buy a current HDTV system from DIRECTV. They are concerned that they will have to buy a new dish and receiver when MPEG-4 is added or, at the least, they will have to commit to some programming package to get a free replacement or a discounted one.
My answer to them: Wait.
Yes, I believe that DIRECTV will eventually offer current customers a deal on the new equipment. However, until the satellite service confirms that, today's buyer runs the risk of being left empty-handed. Who knows? You might might have to pay for an entire new system to get local HD signals in just a few months. (Or commit to a programming package.) Until the deal is revealed, I can't possibly recommend buying a current DIRECTV dish and receiver to get HDTV.
EchoStar, DIRECTV's chief satellite rival, is also planning to switch to MPEG-4 at some point. But unlike DIRECTV, EchoStar has not committed to a specific time frame. So, anyone who buys a EchoStar HD system today will not necessarily need to replace it almost immediately. At least, as of now. EchoStar will likely face a similar dilemma at some point.
So, buyer beware. DIRECTV's future HDTV offering is exciting. But I have to recommend that you wait until the satellite TV service offers a better explanation of what the future truly holds..


Interesting article..... // 2005-04-20

The big deception
Throughout 2002 and 2003, the Coalition against Satellite Piracy and its members spent millions to inform Canadians their industry was suffering. One million Canadian households, or 10% of all home, were satellite pirates and the Canadian economy was $400 million dollars a year poorer because of it.

In April 2004, the number one source of satellite piracy, comprised Directv access cards, was stopped. Digital Home Canada looks at the result of the near end of unauthorized US satellite use in Canada.

In an April 2002 report entitled "Unauthorized Satellite Use In Southwestern Ontario", the report authors concluded that between 560,000 and 715,000 homes in Canada used unauthorized satellite services. Unauthorized satellite services for those of you who don't know is a euphemism for US satellite programming.

The report, written by The Strategic Counsel and funded by the Canadian Cable Television Association, quickly became the official word when describing the depths of satellite piracy in Canada. The report was cited continuously throughout 2002, 2003 and 2004 by the Coalition against satellite piracy (CASST) in media interviews, newspaper and in television campaign.

According to the Coalition against Satellite Piracy, the situation only got worse and by June of 2003, the CASST published that " Figures show that anywhere from 750,000 to a million households are accessing illegal satellite services in Canada. This translates into approximately $400 million per year in lost revenue to Canadian actors, writers, directors, producers, technicians, distributors, broadcasters, advertisers and the many others employed in the production and airing of homegrown television programming."

For those readers the Coalition against satellite piracy is made up of various industry related trade groups including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Canadian Cable Television Association, Canadian Film and Television Production Association, Canadian Motion Picture Distribution Association, and of course the Canadian satellite companies.

Fortunately in early 2004, the CASST and honest Canadians were greeted with some great news!

DirectTV, the number one satellite company in North America was introducing a new access card that would stop satellite pirates in their tracks. Much to the surprise of many hackers, by the middle of April, the pirates had been shut down.
Fast forward to the end of 2004, and DirectTv remains unhacked!

The Big Lie ?
The reality is there never was a million households pirating satellite television. If a million Canadian households had dropped their legal satellite and Cable subscriptions then the subscriber numbers would have dropped at the big six. In addition, revenues would have plummeted rather than skyrocket.

We can only conclude the CASST's report on satellite piracy was either a very poor research document or the CASST simply fabricated the notion that one million Canadian household's were pirating satellite signals and contributing to an economic loss of $400 million annually.

Why?
In 2002, when the report came out and in 2003, Canada was suffering in the midst of a very bad recession. Despite the recession, Cable and satellite revenues were climbing substantially.

We all know that if Canadians are suffering and supposedly regulated revenues were skyrocketing then a political powder keg would be building.

In addition, to the political ramifications of huge revenue growth during a recession, Canadians were increasingly agitating for a change in policy that would allow US satellite signals into Canada.

The legal introduction of DirecTv into Canada had the potential to wipe out Star Choice (and its parent Shaw Cable), Bell ExpressVu and also inflict serious damage on the remaining cable operators.

Up to April 2002, ExpressVu had been chasing Grey Marketers out of the Canadian marketplace because they realized that if too many Canadians legally subscribed to US satellite services, they could be out of business.

Thus during a time of rapid revenue growth and increased US competition, a report entitled "Unauthorized Satellite Use In Southwestern Ontario" was commissioned and released.

The timing was brilliant. The competition - US satellite - was now no longer a competitor it was an evil pirate. The rising revenues were quickly thrust to the background as the companies "lost" millions from lost satellite piracy revenues.
With one report the industry, the industry had buried one problem (huge revenue increases) and killed another (US competition) under the guise of Canadian cultural protection.

Conclusion
Digital Home Canada in no ways condones satellite or cable television piracy. We frankly believe that satellite pirates should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

In 2002, we too saw the growth in satellite piracy and worried that it could devastate industries on both sides of the border.

Our analysis, however sheds considerable doubt on the validity of the original report and its conclusions. We feel the entire purpose of the CASST and its reports was simply a bait and switch tactic designed to focus the attention of Canadian Consumers on the actions of a few bad apples in order to reduce competition and deflect the spotlight on an industry whose revenues were growing strongly in a recession.

Read more about this and satellite television in the the many Digital Cable and satellite forums in the DHC.

The above article can be read at Digital Home Canada (thank you for the link jwhite)

A little note on google banner ads // 2005-04-18
I would like to remind my readers that I have no control over the rotating ads, this has been done by google but if you come across any shady ad please let me know so I can go in my control panel and blacklist it.


Forum is up and running // 2005-04-14
Many thanks to the guys who invested countless hours (you guys know who you are) to make the Forum secure and ready....
Our Forum threads were deleted by children or childish mind people:( it is all up, ready and running.

Forum will be ready tomorrow // 2005-04-13
Our guys are working to fix the forum (we were infested with BAD bugs lol), it should be done by tomorrow..... sorry for any inconvenience.
Please make sure to change your forums and emails passwords often, it will help you against identity theft (been there:( )



Forum Down // 2005-04-09
The forum is currently down (we got infested with bugs and try to disinfect the forum;) ), should be back up within 24 hours

No more card chart // 2005-04-08
I have removed the card chart from my page, there is no point testing Nagra1 stream which is going to be done very soon.
If/when anything new comes up I will think about adding card chart but I will run the news page only from now on.

Makes you think? // 2005-04-05
I have seen the Quebec top court's ruling today which makes me wonder how it all works?
It is OK for Bell, Starchoice and other agencies to buy US programming but if average person wants to buy and pay for it is "it is illegal"....
Here is the full story.

"Quebec's top court has overturned a ruling that opened the door for Canadians to tap foreign satellite television signals without using a domestic satellite provider.

"This is extremely important," said Luc Perreault, co-chair of the Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft. "It confirms that (accessing television) signals by illegally acquiring codes is against the law."

The issue was thrown into legal limbo after a Quebec court ruled last year that banning people from paying grey market distributors for access to foreign satellite signals is a violation of Canadians' right to freedom of expression.

The Radiocommunication Act prohibits the importation of satellite TV signals except through a domestic dealer such as BellExpressVu or Star Choice.

That meant Canadians could not watch certain U.S. or foreign networks, such as ESPN, HBO, Nickelodeon or Italy's RAI International, unless they went through an illegal dealer.

Ottawa appealed the lower-court ruling, which acquitted two Drummondville, Que., residents accused of offences under federal communications laws. The appeal decision, which was brought down March 31, overturned that ruling.

The coalition claims Canadian broadcasters and satellite distributors lose more than $400 million a year to illegal satellite signal use.

The group argued domestic broadcasters pay for the right to show a program in this country and that right is devalued if the same program is available in Canada through a foreign satellite service.

They noted that U.S. satellite providers also want to stamp out the practice.

A DirecTV spokesman last year said the satellite provider doesn't want to sell in Canada because the U.S. networks it carries do not have programming rights in this country.

However, D'Argy says that what is at stake for Canadians is the freedom to choose what they watch and hear.

He said the protectionist Canadian broadcast industry prevents him from tuning in to the most democratic of channels -- CSPAN, the American equivalent of the parliamentary or National Assembly stations.

"We are slaves to Star Choice and (Bell) ExpressVu," he said.

The high court's decision comes just weeks after DirecTV, which is based in the United States, launched a $20-million US lawsuit against 19 distributors allegedly selling satellite decoding equipment in Ontario.

Last year, a man living in Florida received a seven-year jail sentence and $24-million US fine after he was convicted of illegally selling satellite television services in a business venture.

The tough penalty in the U.S. contrasts with Canada, where Perreault says people convicted of similar crimes usually make a several thousand dollar, tax-deductible contribution to charities.

About 50 people are charged in Canada annually, he added.

The coalition -- which has been airing television ads aimed at shaming illegal satellite users -- is pushing Ottawa to stiffen penalties. It has called for fines of at least $250,000."

Here is an other scam... // 2005-03-30
Looks like they are trying to use my name in their email to scam people...

"----- Original Message -----
From: "Royce"
To: "Private Members"
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2005 12:57 PM
Subject: RE: P4|Nagra2 Dishnet|DTV info


Satellite Testing Hobbyists:

Visit :: www. ActivationTV .org ::

Finally you can program your own P4 DirecTV cards, or your Nagra2 Dishnet
cards fully-open! We have succesfully released the first publicly available
P4 card h@ck, to get you back on track watching the channels you want.
You'll also get the best support and information imagineable. Take a look
today:

Visit :: www. ActivationTV .org ::

- Team ACTv "

I have never sold anything and I will NEVER sell or solicit anyone so do not fall for anything that looks like it is coming from me (you can always go to dishnewschats.com to read about all the new scams)

If you receive this email make sure to trace it and report them to authorities!!!!


Dishnet card swap around the corner // 2005-03-21
Dishnetwork is getting close to complete their card swap, majority of the Indian channels have been swapped over to the new card and rest of the channels are being swapped over every day... it means that when you go to those channels with your old card (Rom2, 3 or 10 etc...)you will get the message "please insert your new card".

On the DTV front... I was informed few days ago that if you try to sell used P4 card on Ebay you will get a notification saying that DTV will NOT let you subscribe if you are trying to subscribe with P4 access card.
This is very interesting scenario, may be the security on the P4 is not as good as P5/D1 or DTV suspects that P4 security has been breached.... I have not seen any P4 crack yet and dont know anyone who have seen it either.
This proves the fact that P4 and P5 cards are NOT the same.


PGM speaks about the scammers // 2005-03-17
Recently, a message has been circulating that claims that I, PGM (Pierre G. Martineau), have P4 or P5 emulator hardware or software for sale or testing. This is NOT true.

Since announcing my retirement from the hobbyist scene on April 29th, 2002 (in the Wall Street Journal), almost 3 years ago, I have NOT been involved in any way with the satellite community, neither testing nor inspecting/developing hardware or software. It is a sad commentary on the state of the hobby when someone usurps a well known identity in order to further one's goals at the expense of others.

If anyone has any information regarding who is behind this identity theft, I would greatly appreciate knowing about it so that I may take appropriate action against said individual or individuals. Ps. I always digitally sign important messages, such as this one, in order to validate my identity, something that wasn't done in the message now circulating about me.
Please disregard ANY communications that purport to be from me if they are not signed by my PGP key. Any message can be validated easily since my public PGP key is available on numerous PGP key servers that are
publicly accessible.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 8.0
iQA/ AwUBQieJxbjXfMzPAFapEQILVQCdG10Jf2Ybq5LeFJ48wglsGW
x6ioQAniHf
u498Wuhgf9F1oOzF4Qu7nl1I=qfVv
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Charlie Ergen under investigation // 2005-03-11
Investigators probe EchoStar's accounting practices
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News

Mar. 11--A surprise accounting probe has hit satellite giant EchoStar and its maverick leader Charlie Ergen.

Investors slammed EchoStar yesterday, sending shares down $1.87, or 6 percent, to $28.72 after a report revealed the company is the subject of an internal and SEC investigation.

Investigators are looking to see whether the company acted improperly in the way it books the deals it makes with suppliers.

The probe also is focusing on Ergen himself, who may have made inappropriate consulting payments to friends, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk declined to comment.

This is a major setback for the nation's No. 2 satellite company behind Rupert Murdoch-owned DirecTV. EchoStar's Dish system has been showing considerable success swiping customers from cable operators like Time Warner Cable.

The Dish system made a name for itself as the cheapest guy on the block while providing similar programming to cable and DirecTV.

Depending on the findings of the probe, EchoStar may be forced to reduce its past profits. Ergen might even take the fall, though analysts said they don't expect EchoStar's co-founder to lose control of his company.

Wall Street analysts said they were shocked to learn of the investigation.

"EchoStar historically has been the most conservative in accounting of any company I've seen," said SG Cowen analyst Tom Watts, noting that Ergen is an accountant by training. "This is the last company you would expect to have these issues."

He also called Ergen "one of the cheapest guys around," raising doubts as to whether the EchoStar boss would put any friends on the company payroll.

The trouble for EchoStar began with an audit by its accounting firm KPMG.

The accounting probe was just one headache for Ergen yesterday. He also had a big setback in court. A federal court in Texas denied EchoStar's motion to dismiss a patent infringement claim by TiVo.

Here is an other scam // 2005-03-07
Believe it or not, they send me this email lol.
I guess they do not look through their spam email list to see who receives these.

"Very simple,You will need a Valid Subscription for DirecTv either on a P4 Or P5 card.The way it works is you simply remove your AccessCard from your reciever and make sure to reset the IRD(Unplug for 1 Minute).Next step is to put your VALID Access card Into our 3rd Generation P4/P5 Extreme Cube,or your 2nd Generation Cube With Our New Emulator Boot Strap,please check Emualtor Card for more details.Then once this is done and ird reset you need to power up the Extreme Cube with our included AC Adapter, while doing this you must make sure the Privatized Floppy Disc is inserted Before Putting Emulator card in Your DirecTv System Ird.Once all is completed go to channel 100 for rouphly 2-3 minutes and you can start accessing wide open channels as well as your Local Stations and Ofcourse PPV's **Note** To access your Pay Per View Channels You must leave on your selected PPV channel for 5 seconds and wait for it to open and Your In."


Newer scams everyday // 2005-03-04
There are lots of spam emails going to people claiming P4/P5 and Dishnetwork Nagra2 hacks everyday.... Let me make it clear for you guys once more "THERE IS NO P4/P5 OR NAGRA2 HACK"
These scammers have been using the established names as their scams like dynamica3m (actual site is dynamicasoftware), spacetwister3m (actual site was spacetwister.com and they are gone long ago).
The latest one is using PGM's name (he has been in retirement since 2002).
If you want to keep up with these guys you can go to our forum and read the discussions or satscams.com guys who are trying to keep up with it.

Canadian raids and court orders // 2005-03-01
Today, an Anton Pillar order made up of some two hundred pages was put into effect on the premises of three Ontario outlets that were engaged in activation of directv subscriptions as well as known for their online sales of hardware and software used to decrypt satellite signals without prior authorization from Directv or the CRTC for Canadian Viewing. Two Directv Employees along with a lineup of seven Niagara Regional Police Cruisers showed up at George Street Electronics located on George St in St-Catharines as well as Cruisers Satellite on Ontario St in St-Catharines. Upon entering several people were handed a copy of the paperwork bearing the names of seventeen individuals.

The paperwork links to several websites that were involved in programming of satellite cards, but not operated by all of these individuals. While officials were taking care of business at these places of business another associate was handed documents as well, the role of this associate is unclear as of now. One associate was reportedly doing activation of accounts through an American virtual address set up to allow many subscriptions to be ordered at similar but not identical proxy addresses that all linked to one final mailbox drop, south of the Canadian border.


The websites involved in this whole fiasco, are reportedly Satonline.cx and zedmarketing.com . Although Satonline.cx is operated completely offshore, it is unclear at this time as to why they were a part of today's developments. Reports also have come in that an individual linked to the two store locations in St-Catharines Ontario was visited at his Store location in Dunville Ontario, not a far distance apart.

Today a local St Catharines Newspaper reporter from the St-Catharines Standard had attempted to get inside information for a front page story he was working on to do with this heated event, was told to leave immediately upon entering one of the store locations that were targeted by officials. Perhaps there is some reason why the authorities are trying to keep the wraps down on this breaking news.

Thank you for the above news I WANT MY FREE TV....

DTV files lawsuit against activation fraud // 2005-02-28
DTV is going after activation fraud schemes across USA, Canada and in Mexico.
Here is one report out of USA

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2005--
Lawsuit Claims Defendants Set Up Numerous False Accounts for Other Consumers and Illegally Activated Receivers

DIRECTV, Inc. announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ft. Lauderdale against seven individuals it claims fraudulently obtained DIRECTV(R) programming services for other consumers by setting up false subscription accounts and illegally activating receivers.

The suit claims that the defendants, of Sunrise, Fla.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Mount Vernon, N.Y.; Orange, N.J.; Laurelton, N.Y.; and Brooklyn, N.Y.; along with a number of unidentified defendants (listed as John Does in the complaint), created false subscription accounts and illegally activated hundreds of access cards and receivers nationwide for individuals, who then paid the defendants to receive DIRECTV programming without authorization or proper payment to DIRECTV.

"We will not tolerate this illegal activity," said Dan Fawcett, executive vice president, Legal and Business Affairs, DIRECTV, Inc. "Anyone attempting to defraud DIRECTV will be identified and may face severe consequences under the provisions of federal and state law.

"Our Office of Signal Integrity and Legal team have several active fraud investigations underway and we plan to vigorously pursue each of these cases civilly in federal court, and where appropriate, make referrals to the federal and state authorities for criminal prosecution. We are determined to protect our business and our honest customers from these unlawful activities."

DIRECTV claims the defendants violated provisions of the Federal Communications Act, Federal Wiretap laws and state law, all of which state that it is illegal to intercept or assist others in intercepting DIRECTV's encrypted satellite signals without authorization or payment to DIRECTV.

According to the federal and state laws under which the complaint was filed, DIRECTV is entitled to either actual damages, including any profits made by the defendants, or statutory damages that can range from $10,000 to $100,000 per violation, as well as payment of all costs and attorneys' and investigative fees.

In September of last year, DIRECTV filed a similar lawsuit against a Utah couple claiming that the defendants created false subscription accounts and illegally activated multiple access cards and receivers. That case is still pending.

Google ads here and on our chat forum // 2005-02-27
I have added google banner ads on here and chat forum few days ago, this is to cover the cost of both servers.
We get pay per click for these banner ads.... by clicking and using the sites sponsored, you are in turn helping this site and it would be much appreciated.
On the other hand I would like to inform all my readers that I have no control over these banners, these are all being rotated by google so if you see any ads which dont look legit PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOR THEM(we have noticed few P4, FTA kind of ads, best thing to do is notify us so we can notify google to get them black listed.
When you apply for Google adsense they run a spider on the website and see what the keywords are and then they run the ads accordingly, that is why you will see all the satellite related google ads here.... again we do not promote any advertisers in google ads on our page it is simply a pay per click for us.

Satellite TV coming to your SUVs // 2005-02-26
Electronics makers have an answer for parents tired of listening to Barney reruns and the Lion King playing on their back-seat DVD players: 100 channels.

In the latest step toward transforming sport utility vehicles and minivans into full-blown living rooms, electronics manufacturers are rolling out satellite TV antennas that strap to the roof.

A range of new devices — which can weigh as much as 45 pounds and pull in live TV almost anywhere in the United States — is starting to hit the market, as new technology enables the dimensions to shrink somewhat.

Next month RaySat, a major manufacturer of satellite antennas, plans to enter the market with a large, pancake-shaped device that can track satellites and can receive DirecTV Group and Dish Network signals across most of the United States. In April mobile-electronics giant Audiovox will start offering its own version in select markets. Winegard Co. says it plans to introduce its own gear in April.

The manufacturer that mostly had the market to itself, KVH Industries, is upgrading its services in the face of the competition. The company recently announced that its system, TracVision A5, available since 2003, would receive a new premium movie-channel package from DirecTV and Starz Entertainment Group LLC that offers 750 movies a month on 13 digital movie channels.

ROM10 unlooping // 2005-02-25
Dynamicasoftware guys released the ROM10 unlooping yesterday... this unloops all the recently looped ROM10 cards.

Humax inks deal with DirecTv // 2005-02-24
Thursday February 24, 6:00 am ET

SEOUL, Korea, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Humax, a leading international manufacturer of digital satellite set-top boxes today disclosed it has entered into a development agreement and supply agreement with DIRECTV, Inc. the leading digital satellite TV provider in the United States.

The agreements encompass various set top box models including a portion of the entry-level receivers that will feature interactive services and a HDTV receiver capable of receiving MPEG 4 broadcasts due to ship later in the year. In addition, Humax is producing the new DIRECTV DVR, also due out later this year.

Dr. Dae Gyu Byun, Chairman and CEO of Humax Co. Ltd, says, "Humax is proud to be added to the roster of DIRECTV approved vendors, it's an important milestone in our history. Our business is very much aligned with DIRECTV; Humax was born as a Satellite set top box manufacturer and continues to gain market share worldwide in this segment. Our experience in this space, combined with a dedicated and knowledgeable staff, will prove to be very valuable to this relationship."

Romulo Pontual, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of DIRECTV, said, "DIRECTV is poised to introduce several compelling new products and services in 2005. We are pleased to have Humax as a partner to develop and manufacturer set top boxes for DIRECTV. Humax brings years of proven cost effective set top box design and manufacturing."

Dishnetwork ready with Sirius // 2005-02-21
EchoStar has a Sirius Satellite Radio retail promotion in which DISH Network customers can get a $30 mail-in rebate if they buy a DISH/Sirius plug-and-play receiver.

The satellite TV company revealed the Sirius promotion during a "Charlie Chat" with DISH Network retailers Thursday. In addition to the promotion, the company said it will have a new Sirius receiver - dubbed the SR250 - with a car and home kit. The offering will be available only after the SR200 sells out, EchoStar said.

Also, EchoStar confirmed that it's on track to release in March its DISH Player-DVR 942, the highly-touted dual tuner digital recorder with high def capabilities. The DVR has a 250 GB hard drive with a recording capacity of up to 25 hours of high-def and up to 180 hours of standard-definition content.

Directv announced MPEG4 // 2005-02-18
DIRECTV has selected TANDBERG Television's MPEG-4 AVC technology in a deal valued at $9 million. DIRECTV, which has more than 13.9 million satellite TV customers in the U.S., will commission the first of 26 MPEG-4 AVC HD enabled transponders in the summer of 2005, marking the first North American launch of advanced HD encoding technology by a satellite direct-to-home (DTH) provider. The multiplexers will combine the MPEG-4 AVC encoded HD channels into one bandwidth efficient stream for transmission over satellite. With the launch of the new services, DIRECTV will have the ability to bring local HD programming to most of the U.S. population.

Each fully redundant system will feature the TANDBERG EN5990, the world's first real-time HD encoder for MPEG-4 AVC and a TANDBERG 1+1 HD multiplexing system. The EN5990 is designed to operate in real-time TV delivery environments with no frame dropping. Key features include extensive video pre-processing for noise reduction and horizontal picture resolution resizing. It is based on the company's HD ICE platform, an array of high-end, general purpose DSPs and FPGAs. The HD ICE platform is also the basis of TANDBERG's EN5980 Windows Media 9(TM) HD encoder.

The encoding systems will be installed at DIRECTV's Los Angeles Broadcast Center and Castle Rock, Co. Broadcast Center along with multiple TANDBERG nCompass control systems between the two sites.
http://www.tandbergtv.com

In September 2004, DIRECTV announced the planned launch of four new next-generation satellites aimed at significantly expanding its programming capacity in local and national high-definition (HD) channels, as well as capacity for new interactive and enhanced services and standard-definition programming.
The first two of these satellites, Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2, will launch in 2005 with programming being offered to consumers by the middle of the year. These satellites will have the capacity for more than 500 local HD channels. With these satellites, DIRECTV will have the ability to bring local HD programming to most of the U.S. population, as well as continuing to expand standard-definition local offerings and other enhancements.
The next two satellites, DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11, will launch in early 2007. These satellites will have the capacity for more than 1,000 additional local HD channels, more than 150 national HD channels, and other new programming offerings. These satellites will provide DIRECTV the capability to bring local and national HD programming and other advanced services to every U.S. household. Consumers will be able to receive all of these services, as well as existing DIRECTV(R) programming, with a single small satellite dish.
DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11, to be built by Boeing, will be among the largest and most powerful Ka-band satellites ever launched. The satellites, which will take advantage of DIRECTV's advanced transmission techniques and state-of-the-art video compression technology, will deliver national HD programming and will be capable of supporting spot beams carrying local HD broadcast channels in all 50 states. Boeing will also build a third satellite for DIRECTV that will serve as a ground spare.
The Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2 satellites, also being built by Boeing, are approaching completion and the satellites were recently converted to be capable of offering both video and a broadband Internet service. Boeing is also constructing a third Spaceway satellite. "Today's announcement is one of the most significant in the history of DIRECTV. We are reinforcing our commitment to best serve our customers with the most attractive and compelling array of programming services available," said Mitch Stern, president and CEO, DIRECTV.

More bad news // 2005-02-13
OTTAWA, Feb. 11 — The Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft issued a statement that satellite signal theft was dealt a serious blow when the RCMP Federal Enforcement Division carried out raids on six locations in Montreal and one in Toronto that were operated by suspected dealers of unauthorized satellite equipment.

The seven raids resulted in the seizure of software, access cards, computers and other types of equipment used to pirate satellite television signals and sell them over the Internet.

CASST estimates these activities generated revenues of "several hundred million dollars."

The police also uncovered more than $300,000 worth of offshore transactions.

"The federal government must now amend the Radiocommunication Act so that when cases lead to convictions, the penalties imposed reflect the severity of the crime," CASST co-chairman Harris Boyd said in a statement.

Members of CASST include Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, Canadian Film and Television Production Association, Canadian Motion Picture Distribution Association, the Canadian Television Fund, DIRECTV, Bell ExpressVu, A&E Television Networks, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Film and Video Security Office, the North American Broadcasters Association, the Society of Composers, Authors, Music Publishers of Canada and Star Choice.


Same old nothing new // 2005-01-28
Receiving lots of BS emails from the spammers about Nagra2 hack and P4/P5 hack.... also more scammers opening new sites and closing old sites with same scam "we got a fix".
Rest assure if/when there is a hack you will see on the news right here but for time being save your money and buy a subscription if you are desperate.
A good friend of mine is in midst of finishing his site satscams.com and he will be adding all the scammers on that site soon.
Now on the FTA receivers, lots of people are asking me about FTA receiver (cardless receiver aka free to air receivers), once the Dishnet and Canadian Nagra1 swap is completed to Nagra2 cards those receivers would be useless just like anything else that is running on Nagra1 at this time so dont let those FTA guys fool you with their fancy write ups.

Scammers are at it again // 2005-01-03
There is a scammer who is using my name to scam people, this email seems like it is coming from me but it is NOT coming from me. (same thing he did around Oct 10th, look at my Oct 10 news)
If you guys have been following my page you know that I DO NOT sell, endorse or recommend anyone at all.
This is the email that everyone is getting from these scammers.

"Dear Members,

I'm contacting all of our amazing members today to let everyone know that finally there is a legitimate and reliable source for all your private Dishnetwork and free-to-air testing needs. Some of you may remember them from back in the day, they are SpaceTwister. It isn't under the same management, but the software coders are the same great guys they've always been. Check them out for the best of the best:

http://www.spacetwister3m.com/

Happy New Year!

- Royce "

Make sure to report this spam to authorities when you receieve the email!!!!

Tragedy in Asia needs your help // 2004-12-31
It is sad to see the disaster in Asia:( I request to all my readers for donations to help disaster areas.
Here are the links Canadian Red Cross
USA Red Cross

Spacetwister3M is a scam site // 2004-12-30
There is some one who is trying to rip off people by using the Spacetwister name and here is the email I received from the retired Spacetwister guys.
"Hi royce.
A lot of people look to your site as the news of dss news. I wanted to inform you directly that their is a new website that is generating buzz. http://www.spacetwister3m.com/
This site is in no way affiliated with me and XXX. We are both out of the bussiness and retired. Some scum bag is trying to cash in on the name, and pull a fast one on everybody. They are
offering garbage, and freeware shit for FTA, atmega's and garbage p4 scripts. I think it would be mighty honorable of you to put up a news bulletin, that you have been contacted by the real ST people(defunct of course), and informed that this is not us, but yet another sleaze bag trying to cash in on a misinformed public with another con."

Buyers be aware.




Have a merry Christmas // 2004-12-25
I wish all my readers a very merry christmas and happy new year.

Prolific satellite pirate jailed 7 years // 2004-12-08
From today's Globe and Mail

Prolific satellite pirate jailed 7 years

By PAUL WALDIE

UPDATED AT 11:03 AM EST Wednesday, Dec 8, 2004

To people in London, Ont., Martin Mullen must have seemed like a quiet businessman who ran a successful computer company from his home. But to police in Florida and satellite television giant DirecTV Group Inc., Mr. Mullen ran one of the largest and most sophisticated pirate satellite TV operations they have ever seen.

Mr. Mullen, 50, specialized in making bogus "smart cards," computer cards that satellite TV companies provide customers to unscramble signals.

According to court records, his operation was so intricate that he had more than 100 distributors across North America and even held training seminars for recruits that included an instructional video. DirecTV, which has about 11 million subscribers in the United States, estimated that Mr. Mullen cost the company more than $200-million (U.S.).

Mr. Mullen was arrested last June in Tampa, where some of his U.S. operations were based. He pleaded guilty to fraud and immigration charges and, on Monday, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was also ordered to pay $24-million in restitution.

"Our code name for this case was Operation Kingpin," said Richard Stone, a Los Angeles-based lawyer for DirecTV and NDS Americas Inc., which makes the smart cards. "There actually aren't that many cases like this out there. This is one of the more significant prosecutions."

Mr. Mullen has a long history in satellite television piracy. DirecTV first went after him in 1996 and won a $5-million judgment. He also faces a lawsuit in Ontario.

His latest scam began some time around 1998, when he set up a company called Multi-Media Images in his London home. The business offered a variety of services including video production and Internet-security programs. "Drawing from over 25 years of experience in the multi-media and video production fields, Marty has a true understanding of the industry," the company's website said.

But according to court documents, Mr. Mullen was also breaking into the computer codes on satellite TV smart cards and cloning thousands of duplicates. His copies were so good they eluded electronic countermeasures that satellite companies use to catch fake cards.

Mr. Mullen's operation grew quickly and he was soon supplying thousands of cards across the United States and Canada. In one three-month period alone, Mr. Mullen distributed 16,000 cards in the United States, court records show.

He also developed an extensive network of distributors and card makers including at least one industry insider. Mr. Mullen gave each new distributor two days of training, a laptop computer with encryption software for making cards and 10 fake cards to get started (all in return for $37,500). He also provided them with full technical support and an instructional video, called Cyber-1 MIP Tutorial Video. And, he set up a secure website to keep his network up to date on the latest techniques.

But DirecTV and NDS had been keeping their eyes on Mr. Mullen. In 2001, NDS hired a private investigator to infiltrate his operation. The agent "created a persona and befriended Mr. Mullen," Mr. Stone said. "Marty opened up and showed him the whole operation."

Mr. Mullen was arrested at the Tampa airport last June on an immigration charge (he had been deported from the United States in 1987 on an unrelated charge and re-entered under a false name). Charges of fraud and satellite TV piracy were laid as well and Mr. Mullen pleaded guilty two months later.

Mr. Mullen is the second major satellite TV piracy case in the past year. In 2003, a Florida court sentenced Steven Frazier to five years in jail `for hacking into smart cards. He was also ordered to pay $180-million in restitution.

Mr. Frazier, 29, had become something of a hero among hackers and even offered to provide free card-hacking tips on the Internet. Prosecutors said he ran a massive international operation, but Mr. Stone said the Frazier case paled in comparison to Mr. Mullen's.

Mr. Frazier "would be at the level of one of Mullen's sub dealers," he said. "He was a big-time guy."

� Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

NagraVision North American card swap // 2004-12-06
Nagra Vision is in the process to swap their North American satellite providers (Echostar/Dishnetwork & BellXpressvu) to the new Nagra2 card which has been working uncompromised in Europe for a while now.
The rival company NDS which operates Directv in North America have switched their customers to the new card around April (according to Helen)and that ended all the piracy for DTV system... it looks like the end is coming soon for the NagraVision piracy also.
The estimated time for the swap is mid April for BellXpressvu and around Aug for the American counterpart Echo*.
Echo* is also going ahead with the move to switch their current video format MPEG-2 to more efficient MPEG-4 format and they are also looking to add more HDTV to their line up.

Taking some time off // 2004-12-01
I will be taking some time off from the page and the forum BUT if there is anything interesting (P4/P5 Nagra2 hack ) I will post it as soon as it is confirmed.



No P4 hack out so far. // 2004-11-16
There are lots of scams out but there is NO hack for P4/P5 D1/D2 (none what so ever for DTV).
Here is an other claim from one of the site using my name :(
"I just talked live to "Steve" and he says they sent one to Royce"
No one got in touch with me and I have NEVER received anything yet (common sense tells me that I will not see anything since they never got in touch with me for address also).
IF and WHEN any hack comes out you WILL see it on my news so for time being do not throw your money away by getting scammed.


Quebec judge's decsion on foreign satellites // 2004-10-29
Making it illegal for Canadians to subscribe to television programming via foreign satellite systems infringes on their freedom of expression, a long-awaited judgment concluded yesterday.

Quebec Court Judge Danielle Cote handed down a 153-page ruling that found two sections of the federal Radiocommunication Act violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Those sections deal with so-called grey-market satellite systems for decoding an encrypted programming signal.

"(Cote) had to invalidate the law because the law itself was such an infringement," said Jacques D'Argy of Drummondville, who sought the court order.

D'Argy and his brother-in-law, Richard Theriault, were charged in December 1998 with using DirecTV, a U.S. satellite system, to access U.S. signals.

Cote acquitted them in September 2000.

In June 2001, Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Boilard rejected an appeal by government lawyers.

But in May 2002, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the acquittals and sent the case back to Cote.

The Supreme Court of Canada declared in 2002 that anyone who sells technology allowing consumers to access encrypted signals from U.S.-based satellite systems is committing a federal offence.

D'Argy, representing himself throughout all the court proceedings, said yesterday he always wondered "why can I import the New York Times but not (the U.S. television network) Fox."

He also noted that, at one time, "I could have spent a year in jail for watching the American Congress on C-SPAN. Does that make sense?"

"Isn't that terrific!" exclaimed Alan Gold, a Toronto lawyer who represents several grey-market satellite dealers in Ontario.

"I'm delighted, we've been waiting for this decision."

Calling it "very, very important and wonderful news," Gold said it means the federal government will no longer be able to control what Canadians watch on TV.

"This will give people the freedom to pay money and subscribe to the stations they want," he added. "It is the beginning of the end for the systems we now have."

The Coalition Against Satellite Signal Theft - which is made up of Canadian broadcasting, cable and satellite-TV interests - is studying Cote's lengthy decision.

"The only thing we know is that it's in favour of the plaintiffs," coalition official Harris Boyd, senior vice-president (industry affairs) at the Canadian Cable Television Association, said from Ottawa.

Francine Robichaud of the federal Justice Department said, "Lots of questions are raised in that judgment."

As a result, she said, the department "will take the time to analyze it in detail before deciding whether or not to appeal."

Cote extended a grace period of one year before her ruling would come into effect.



Rest in peace Krists // 2004-10-24
One of the very valuable member from cardcoders died in accident last week, I was out of town and did not know till I came back home.
My prayers and thought to Krists family, friends and the guys at cardcoders.
They are taking donations for the young family of Krists at cardcoders and I urge all my readers to pitch in to help the member of community.
Here is the Donation Link

An other scam // 2004-10-10
There is a scammer who is using my name to scam people, this email seems like it is coming from me but it is NOT coming from me.
If you guys have been following my page you know that I DO NOT sell, endorse or recommend anyone at all.
This is the email that everyone is getting from these scammers.
"Dear Member,

Due to popular request, I am contacting you all today with a recommendation
in regards to what dealer you should visit if you are looking for reliable
and high quality private Dishnet E3M support and software services. My
personal recommendation would be a site that has been loyal to us for years
now, and has the reputation to prove it. Their scripts have been up and
running fully for the past five months with no downtime. They not only have
top-notch private software that's easy to use, but have full technical and
customer support to please all their members. I totally vouch for them, and
recommend you purchase a membership right away. You can visit them at:

http://www.dynamica3m.com/

Regards,

Royce
DishNewsOnline Webmaster"

This spam/bulk email is traced to ez-web-hosting guys I have already email them about it and I will suggest all the people who are receiving this email to get in touch with the above company and let them know about this spam/bulk scam email.

update on the scam email

ez-web-hosting closed the account and they created an other account to send more emails "DO NOT FALL FOR THESE SCAMMERS".

Not much on the DTV front // 2004-09-27
There is not much to report on DTV and they are winning the war against hackers lately.
I have seen and read lots of scams where these dealers are telling end users that they have activation scripts and PPV wiper...... it is a scam there is NO PPV wiper available these dealers are simply subscribing the cards as I reported in my Sept 13th news.
I am also testing a Dishnetwork freeware script from Satfreetalk guys , they want me to test their freeware script VS commercial scripts to see how it fairs out.

Winexplorer's Dexter faces Directv lawsuit // 2004-09-17
The well known author of popular programs such as WinExplorer and BasicU is now looking at facing the wrath of DirecTV's corporate lawyers. It appears that DirecTV is going full force at "Dexter" for DMCA violations. Court documents implicates Dexter of authoring WinExplorer and BasicU for none other than DirecTV piracy.

My guess is that at the end Directv will be looking for the information of the dealers who bought all the private keys of him and it will be quite easy to track it down since all the business was done using PayPal.

I wish you good luck Dexter!!!!!!!

False advertising for P4/P5 // 2004-09-13
I have seen lots of dealers advertising for P4/P5 programming but it is all misleading, all they are doing is charging the customers $199 for X amount of months with no PPV and porno available... end user think that it is a hack,it is NOT a hack these guys are activating your P4/P5 cards with total choice package and this is how it works.
You get the package from DTV let us say $39.99 a month and you can add up to 6 receivers for $4.99 a month so your total will be around $384 for 7 receivers for 6 months.. if these guys are charging $199x7 = $1393 so they can pocket roughly $1000 on 7 customers for 6 months, even if they get platinum package which is $99 a month times 6 months is $594 add $144 for additional 6 receivers for 6 months and your total would be $738 if they are charging $199 it comes to $1393 and they are profiting $655 for 6 months on 7 people.
Nothing wrong with making money if people know what they are paying for.
There is an other scam going around where these guys claim to sell hardware piece to add to receivers (FTA receivers) to pick up DTV channels, it is all BS.


To innocent 911 victims // 2004-09-11
Our thoughts and prayers are with you!!!!!!

Scammers are desperate // 2004-09-06
These guys are using what ever means they can to fool people, here is the BS story published on one of the site.

"Satellite Pirate Nabbed - Highly Sensitive Documents and Hardware Seized!

Friday was not an ordinary day for Conrad Hemmings, a Toronto Based software engineer, who was awaken by the aggressive knocking of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Local Toronto Police at his front door.

Hemmings a self described hacker has been a key figure in a six month probe into criminal satellite decryption and development of satellite television decoder equipment that was to be sold at a premium through various underground websites who carry such devices and software.

When officials entered the Hemmings residence they found hundreds of documents and plans pertaining to the decryption of a new satellite card that is used by subscribers of American Based satellite provider Directv inc. There was also a full range of satellite equipment on the premises that was fully functional and illegal decryption was taking place in the home.

Officials for Directv had been tipped off of the coming raid by Canadian officials that were monitoring the Internet communications of Hemmings and other parties involved in an elaborate group effort to market this new technology that would allow Directv subscribers to view unauthorized programming without paying for it, using the devices and software that Hemmings had devoloped.

Hemmings was known by his friends on the Internet chatrooms by his online alias, cracker and was a frequent user of Internet relay chat, a system that is used by millions of people to chat with each other on the web and exchange files as well.

"We Got to him on time, We know he was the only one with the design and manufacturing plans, we did well to act as planned" said a media relations official of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Toronto Detachment. "There was potential here for Hemmings to launder millions of dollars if he would have released this system of his" adding that " This business of piracy affects Canadians with the black market sales as well as underground export to the United States" Directv Officials were unavailable for comment."

The above story is NOT true and these guys are trying to set the ground for a new scam.

An other site is sending spam emails telling people that they will be releasing the P4 hack by end of Sept. and they are taking pre-orders at this time...... if you have more money than brain you can go ahead and do a pre-order:)
I am sick of writing over and over that there is NO P4 hack out... if/when anything comes up you will see it on my news.



BlackBird Sept 1st kill // 2004-09-05
The manufactures of BlackBird added a melicous file in their unit which caused the receiver to render useless on Sept.1st:(
They did release a file few hours before the dooms day to patch the receivers but if you were out of town, away from computer or for any other reason did not apply the patch your receiver is dead and you need to send it in to get it fix (pay for the fix and shipping).
This is a sly tactic that have been used by greedy manufactures/dealers in the past also:( Just makes you wonder about the other FTA receivers if they are using same tactics.
I have asked the BlackBird guy on my page to take care of his customers and I hope rest of the BlackBird dealers step up to the plate also.
There are more BS stories about possible "P4" hack going around again, all I can say is that after reading my page for that many years if you still fall for the scam.... "you are a fool"


More scams and stories // 2004-08-25
The scams keep on rolling but no hack for P4, P5, D1 etc...
I have seen some creative video which looks believeable to rookies, I have heard some empty promises but in reality there is NOTHING available at this time.


Dishnetwork ECM // 2004-08-12
There is a ECM in the stream which is causing receivers to go blank screen.
Blackbird etc..... are down also.