All Chipped Cable Boxes Going Down

[Russ B]

Before any silly little arguments kick off, here's a friendly warning for everyone - personal attacks will not be tolerated and will lead to infractions being dished out.

[Rob]

I've seen enough of the baiting of different forum posters. Time to cut it out now thank you.

Let's get back to the topic of Set Top Boxes being disabled, and leave the morality of the theft issue to one side. It's been discussed to death now.

Edit: Looks like Russ and I are on the same wavelength

[ATMEGA163]

At the end of the day, if you can do it why not, If virgin wants ppl from stealing there services then they need to invest in making there system secure like sky, but some how I don't see it happening.. because they know what will happen. I'm talking facts here.

[the-cable-guy]

thats totaly wrong mate, its like saying if you can get away with robbing a bank then do it.

[Mick]

The discussion meriting the basis of stealing or breaking the law has been done to death - this is the second, sorry third request for the thread to get back to form of a relevant discussion about boxes being disabled.

If this cannot be done and people continue to ignore our requests. This thread will close and the people responsible for its closure will receive infraction penalties or possible account suspension.

We will not tolerate people ignoring our requests - This is a final warning.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

they changed the cards not the encryption method.

Nope, the underlying CA system was changed. I upgraded 70 professional recievers myself in preparation for it.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

mate companies cant just go changing embedded CAMs they'd get sued if they did, plain & simple.

Please point out who would sue Virgin for changing the software on their own hardware?

You never answered that question about whether you work in the cable industry.

[Rob]

We've seen enough. Infractions are now being issued, and posts that ignore the earlier rulings are edited or deleted.

The thread is reopened but will be closed permanently if there are further transgressions.

[supremus]

So back on topic, what's the general impression? Have Virgin been succesful, or has this all been a waste of time for them? Some people around here seem to suggest at least certain illegal boxes are up and running again. Is there a cost to Virgin for a week-long campaign like this?

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by supremus

So back on topic, what's the general impression? Have Virgin been succesful, or has this all been a waste of time for them? Some people around here seem to suggest at least certain illegal boxes are up and running again. Is there a cost to Virgin for a week-long campaign like this?

IMO it has been quite successfull, im sure there are boxes that are back up and running, but a lot wont be, so the people using them will have to take them back to wherever they got them to get them back up and running.

I wouldnt have thought there would be a huge cost involved, just the wages of the people over-seeing it (which would have been paid regardless of this excersize)

I remeber reading something on the intranet a few months back about them doing something big with security by the end of this year involving the re-issue of the smart cards.

I wouldnt have thought that they expected to stop everyone that has a chipped box, but if its stopped one person being able to view TV without paying then it has been a sucess in my humble opinion.

[ATMEGA163]

Originally Posted by supremus

So back on topic, what's the general impression? Have Virgin been succesful, or has this all been a waste of time for them? Some people around here seem to suggest at least certain illegal boxes are up and running again. Is there a cost to Virgin for a week-long campaign like this?

I can confirm it is a waste of time as some cards are back up and running only a few more cards left but that won't be very long either. When they hit the cards its only a temp solution to disconnect modified boxes, wait a few days then a solution comes out to get it up and running. It goes round in circles this is been happening for years.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

I get the feeling i am not welcome here? if thats the case I will fly off??

[Druchii]

Originally Posted by ATMEGA163

I can confirm it is a waste of time as some cards are back up and running only a few more cards left but that won't be very long either. When they hit the cards its only a temp solution to disconnect modified boxes, wait a few days then a solution comes out to get it up and running. It goes round in circles this is been happening for years.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

I get the feeling i am not welcome here? if thats the case I will fly off??

Everyone is welcome here. Don't ever get the wrong impression.

What is not welcome however, is argumentative and provocative posts which are aimed at nothing other than getting a rise out of someone else. (And of course the how's and where's of gaining illegal services)

[supremus]

Originally Posted by ATMEGA163

I can confirm it is a waste of time as some cards are back up and running only a few more cards left but that won't be very long either. When they hit the cards its only a temp solution to disconnect modified boxes, wait a few days then a solution comes out to get it up and running. It goes round in circles this is been happening for years.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

I get the feeling i am not welcome here? if thats the case I will fly off??

I'm sure there are some who would rather see the back of you, but personally, I find that an opposing view is good for a balanced discussion.

I didn't know these "attacks" by Virgin were a regular occurrence. Do you mean monthly, yearly...? I don't recall seeing any other threads on the subject.

I wonder if this is even something they're all that interested in wasting time on, or if it was at the request of the television and movie studios who supply their programming, and might not be too thrilled about how easy it is to pirate, particularly now that the time-gap between US and UK broadcasts is narrowing. I remember some years ago, Fox took issue with the BBC inadvertently broadcasting episodes of 24 unscrambled via satellite. Perhaps this was an effort to try and address similar concerns, without having to go to the expense of swapping their entire encryption system, which would surely be a more costly affair.

[Russ B]

Originally Posted by ATMEGA163

I get the feeling i am not welcome here? if thats the case I will fly off??

Whether your views are popular or not, as long as you stay within the site's T&C (which you have) then you're as welcome here as anyone.

Originally Posted by ATMEGA163

I can confirm it is a waste of time as some cards are back up and running only a few more cards left but that won't be very long either. When they hit the cards its only a temp solution to disconnect modified boxes, wait a few days then a solution comes out to get it up and running. It goes round in circles this is been happening for years.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

I get the feeling i am not welcome here? if thats the case I will fly off??

If it got rid of a few free loaders then I'm sure Virgin will think its been successful. There can only be a finite number of MOSC's (Modified Original Smart Cards) so people will have to use the other types of cards, Nagra will continue to investigate ways to knock cards out again and again, until Virgin are finally in a position to start simulcrypting and eventually change over to the next CA system whatever that may be.