Pre-Paid Cyfra + Smartcards

[HB13DISH]

There are two options for Cyfra + Pre-paid cards valid for 5 months
1 - Uniwersalny cost 170 zl/month ~37 Euro (Total cost)
2 - Premierowy cost 460 zl/month ~ 100 Euro (Total cost)
Encryption is Seca (Mediaguard).

The channels line up are shown in the attached picture.
There are several FTA channels which can be received without buying the card.

The Uniwersalny option doesn't have that many channels with English audio option.
- CNBC
- Ale Kino
- Trace (Pop music from France)

The Ale Kino movie channel is quite good with a mix variety of films and series from the USA, UK, France, Poland, Denmark, etc.
It has original audio option, but will work only for those titles marked "N" in the daily schedule, otherwise it is usually Polish dubbed over original.
_http://www.alekino.pl/program/
The schedule shows the original title name

On the other hand, the Premierowy has several channels with English audio

- Canal +
- Canal + Films
- National Geographic
- Discovery Travel & Living
- Discovery Science (BUT not Discovery)
- CNBC
- Eurosport
- Ale Kino
- Trace
- Hallmark
- Movies 24
- Zone Club (BUT not Zone Romantica or Zone Reality)

The Canal + and Canal + Films show excellent films and seies, and of late vintage like 2008, 2007. A really good value for money.
The Canal + Sport and Canal + Sport 2 are only in Polish.

Check the schedule here
_http://www.canalplus.pl

Only titles marked "N" have original audio, otherwise it is Polish dubbed over original.

[HB13DISH]

One of the Cyfra+ channels, Canal Plus (Canal +), transmits FTA for a short period in the morning and evening. This should give you an idea about the quality of the channel and also a promo of of the daily/weekly schedule.
To see at what time, browse this page:
_http://www.canalplus.pl/program
Select Canal + on the left pane and hit Szukaj (Search)
Then look for
ŁAPU-CAPU and take a note of the time

[HB13DISH]

There is something strange (in a good way) with my pre paid Cyfra + smartcard.
I ordered it on 25th March, received it 1st April 2009, and every month it get the validity extended on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of the months ahead.
As it is supposed to be a 5 or 6 months card, I expected it to end by end of August if the activation was on the day of order which was 25th of March or end of September if the activation was on the day I inserted it in my CAM.
The strange thing is that it is showing now till 20th October 2009. !!!
Could this be something wrong with the production of the cards (a bug) or has my luck finally changed and it is going to update indefinitely?
Can anybody confirms how long these cards really last?
Hope that I am not jinxing it with this post.

[HB13DISH]

Just wanted to report that in spite of the validity shown in the CAM menu till 30th October 2009, the card ceased to function yesterday 1st September 2009 and now the validity is shown as 1992 !!!
So it looks like this card should never be ordered towards the end of the month but only at the beginning, otherwise you will have only five months instead of 5 months plus the remaining days of the month that it was ordered.
All in all, it is an excellent subscription card. Have seen a lot of good movies and series, especially on my favorite two channels: Canal+ and Canal+ Films.
Will buy either this card again or the Premium one which is quite expensive. Perhaps in October as a birthday present.
As I have a Cyfra+ dedicated receiver (which I don't use) and it requires a Cyfra+ card , it would be interesting now to see if it will open FTA channels by inserting an expired card.

[HB13DISH]

I can confirm that the expired Cyfra+ smartcard does activate the receiver in order to be able to use it as an FTA receiver.