The end of DIRECTV piracy?
April 15, 2004 5:52 AM Subscribe
The sky is falling! [some links require reg] The years of hacking DIRECTV's signal and pirating its program offerings seem to be coming to an end.
The main link isn't resolving, and the other ones don't seem to be generic DirectTV hacking links. What's the story?
posted by smackfu at 6:19 AM on April 15, 2004
posted by smackfu at 6:19 AM on April 15, 2004
What's the story?
At this time, no free satellite through Direct. The best part was having all the local channels as in NY, LA & ect...
You could watch a program on a local station hours before or after your regular scheduled time. Found myself having more free time because of it. Plus no cost for pay per view.
posted by thomcatspike at 6:25 AM on April 15, 2004
At this time, no free satellite through Direct. The best part was having all the local channels as in NY, LA & ect...
You could watch a program on a local station hours before or after your regular scheduled time. Found myself having more free time because of it. Plus no cost for pay per view.
posted by thomcatspike at 6:25 AM on April 15, 2004
What's the story?
Well I never got around to setting up one of those fancy emulation things (I've always had cable), but from what I can tell in order to combat piracy DTV issues cards. There are a variety of cards like H,HU etc. This gives tells the DTV receiver that you are authorized to view such and such channels (remember nothing is two way with satellite, unlike cable).
From what I gathered (I am not an expert, I tried figuring out how to do emulation once but the amount of things I had to buy plus not knowing exactly what to do convinced me not to do it -- so feel free to correct me), the most popular emulation involved putting a card in the card slot of the DTV. Then running this to a computer's com port. The computer emulated the card and sent anything it could emulate from a real card attached to the computer (this part confused me the most, was this card hacked?).
The advantage of this was to prevent DTV from sending packets down that would corrupt and destroy hacked cards. The computer emulation was like a firewall of sorts.
So this type of card being emulated is being phased out and there's a new card on the market. I don't know what the big deal is, it seems anything can be hacked given time. The only obstacle is I'm sure they've actually put a ton of countermeasures in this card and it will just take a while for the DTV hacking community to adjust.
Things like this always interested me because of the unavailability of the subject matter. I like having to figure out how to do things from obscure references and text documents. But it does get really annoying when you can't put the last piece of the puzzle together. I think the only way really to setup a hacked DTV system is to see what someoen else did or at least talk to someone who's done it. It'll get past the whole "u dont understand lol newbie" atmosphere.
Anyway, I've never done this as it is not common at all in my area and I had no one to teach me. I'll stick to legally paying the illegal cable monopoly thank you very much.
posted by geoff. at 7:08 AM on April 15, 2004
Well I never got around to setting up one of those fancy emulation things (I've always had cable), but from what I can tell in order to combat piracy DTV issues cards. There are a variety of cards like H,HU etc. This gives tells the DTV receiver that you are authorized to view such and such channels (remember nothing is two way with satellite, unlike cable).
From what I gathered (I am not an expert, I tried figuring out how to do emulation once but the amount of things I had to buy plus not knowing exactly what to do convinced me not to do it -- so feel free to correct me), the most popular emulation involved putting a card in the card slot of the DTV. Then running this to a computer's com port. The computer emulated the card and sent anything it could emulate from a real card attached to the computer (this part confused me the most, was this card hacked?).
The advantage of this was to prevent DTV from sending packets down that would corrupt and destroy hacked cards. The computer emulation was like a firewall of sorts.
So this type of card being emulated is being phased out and there's a new card on the market. I don't know what the big deal is, it seems anything can be hacked given time. The only obstacle is I'm sure they've actually put a ton of countermeasures in this card and it will just take a while for the DTV hacking community to adjust.
Things like this always interested me because of the unavailability of the subject matter. I like having to figure out how to do things from obscure references and text documents. But it does get really annoying when you can't put the last piece of the puzzle together. I think the only way really to setup a hacked DTV system is to see what someoen else did or at least talk to someone who's done it. It'll get past the whole "u dont understand lol newbie" atmosphere.
Anyway, I've never done this as it is not common at all in my area and I had no one to teach me. I'll stick to legally paying the illegal cable monopoly thank you very much.
posted by geoff. at 7:08 AM on April 15, 2004
the most popular emulation involved putting a card in the card slot of the DTV. Then running this to a computer's com port..
Several years ago while they were zapping all the cards, the legal ones too, this was a common setup. Currently the users are just reprogramming the card with a new script when it is zapped. Finding a script that lasted a good amount of time was the current problem with this. Dish Network has a haX so you may see people switching to them. In the past Direct offered more channels than Dish so that is why I thought people haXed them first.
posted by thomcatspike at 8:28 AM on April 15, 2004
Several years ago while they were zapping all the cards, the legal ones too, this was a common setup. Currently the users are just reprogramming the card with a new script when it is zapped. Finding a script that lasted a good amount of time was the current problem with this. Dish Network has a haX so you may see people switching to them. In the past Direct offered more channels than Dish so that is why I thought people haXed them first.
posted by thomcatspike at 8:28 AM on April 15, 2004
What, so people can't get free DirectTV anymore? Oh, my heart bleeds for them....not.
posted by Qubit at 9:14 AM on April 15, 2004
posted by Qubit at 9:14 AM on April 15, 2004
Dangit, quit linking every other word!!!! :-)
Seriously, that makes it difficult to detemine where you REALLY want to go with this post. Might I suggest a follow up post with additional links?
posted by insulglass at 9:34 AM on April 15, 2004
Seriously, that makes it difficult to detemine where you REALLY want to go with this post. Might I suggest a follow up post with additional links?
posted by insulglass at 9:34 AM on April 15, 2004
zapped, meaning the stream is gone.
posted by thomcatspike at 1:17 PM on April 15, 2004
posted by thomcatspike at 1:17 PM on April 15, 2004
LOL! P4 hack out in 3...2...1...
DirecTV, et al. will NEVER win until they make their systems two way. Too much money in hacking popular satellite TV. *WAY* too much. Read the article and see what I mean. And it's only gotten BIGGER over time.
thomcatspike, DirecTV is hacked more because:
- All "good" programming on one satellite.
- *EASY* to hack.
- Hacked for far longer.
- More "dealer" hacks, fewer "homebrew" hacks (means much more money for people in the business of piracy).
- Requires special hardware (again, meaning most users bring their cards to dealers to get them programmed, and the dealer gets a monthly income).
- More receivers means more supply, and more stealth when hiding in numbers.
- DirecTV doesn't damage receivers, just cards. Dishnetwork's ECMs can ruin the OS on your receiver -- No soldering required with DirecTV.
posted by shepd at 7:47 PM on April 15, 2004
DirecTV, et al. will NEVER win until they make their systems two way. Too much money in hacking popular satellite TV. *WAY* too much. Read the article and see what I mean. And it's only gotten BIGGER over time.
thomcatspike, DirecTV is hacked more because:
- All "good" programming on one satellite.
- *EASY* to hack.
- Hacked for far longer.
- More "dealer" hacks, fewer "homebrew" hacks (means much more money for people in the business of piracy).
- Requires special hardware (again, meaning most users bring their cards to dealers to get them programmed, and the dealer gets a monthly income).
- More receivers means more supply, and more stealth when hiding in numbers.
- DirecTV doesn't damage receivers, just cards. Dishnetwork's ECMs can ruin the OS on your receiver -- No soldering required with DirecTV.
posted by shepd at 7:47 PM on April 15, 2004
It is silly to say that hacking something will become impossible.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:42 PM on April 15, 2004
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:42 PM on April 15, 2004
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Oh, crap! What am I gonna do with all these HU-cards??I suppose it was about time this happened. Great links, johnnydark!
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:05 AM on April 15, 2004