Cheapest way to get S*ca 2?

[rapido]

Hi all,

let me introduce myself a little.

I'm rapido, and way back in the good old simple analogue days (5 years back or so), i was the satellite mod for 'All Forums'. We'd just lost Luxcrypt channels on Astra, so with an Elvis programmer, and both a white wafer and a PCB gold card in an RSD 2 slot D2-Mac decoder, I was able to get all the channels on 1°W (well at least all that could be received with an 80cm dish in the south midlands, so Intelsat and Thor 2 only, not Thor 3).

The gold card was autoupdating for Viasat and the white wafer was for the other channels (you had to keep reprogramming every 2 or 3 days to get Canal Plus Norge!). Geronimo's site was where the codes were found, Satatak had the listings, and life was very simple.

Then in 2001, I moved to a small flat in Brighton where I wasn't allowed to have satellite, so I got myself a DTT receiver (£3 from a local dump) and programmed a gold card for it. I enjoyed Ondigital for about a year (until May 2002 when it went, of course).

My family back in the midlands were getting fed up of D2-Mac, especially since channels were disappearing, so I sold the decoder and got them a digital receiver with embedded Viaccess, and I programmed a gold card for it, and they enjoyed until it blew up about a year later. I subsequently got them a Comag receiver from Lidl (the one with 2 CI slots) to replace it, but never got round to getting any CAMs or anything, because I already was busy studying in Brighton, and I had other things on my mind apart from satellite.

Anyway, now my studies are over and I still live in a flat near Brighton with no dish, but my father's indicated that he wants to get "Fox News and some film channels" on his system. I had a look and decided that S*ca 2 was perhaps the option I should take as both D+ and Sky Italia transmit Fox News in S*ca 2, along with several film channels (with English audio?). Plus as a bonus, there'd be ABSat on Hotbird to watch in S*ca 1.

So getting to the point, what's the cheapest way to get S*ca 1 & 2, considering that they've already got a receiver with CI slots (and that I've got an Elvis with a few spare gold cards lying around)?

I had a bit of a search around first, and have come to the conclusion that S*ca 2 using an Aston CAM plus a Titanium card might be possible, but a blank Titanium wafer costs £26 + vat + p/p at Cardman's. Surely I might as well get a cardless CAM for not much more money (and benefit from the other encryptions)?

I want something where remote updating is possible as I'm sure my father knows how to enter codes via the parental lock, but asking him to put loader cards in programmers and use this software and those hex files &c.... that's a bit much for him!

Any ideas would be most appreciated.

-rapido

PS I apologise for the long boring drawn out posting, but I didn't want everyone to think I'm one of those "give me codes" types that we used to get in All Forums. I also thought a little bit of history was necessary, this being my first post here.

[rolfw]

Lol Sorry, only joking.



You perhaps should be looking for something like the Dragon CAM, but it will still need reprogramming with a card periodically.

The scene nowadays does not lend itself to the non-programming hobbyist, as the keys and systems change too regularly, requiring more than remote control key updates..

[twag42]

theres a new cam on the market called the matrix reborn,it unscrambles those seca channels you want plus a whole lot more.and supports any official cards

[comicbookguy]

Recievers with a17bar like my fortec lifetime ultra can do seca 2.
Update is by f2f rs232 cable.
Also Power Scan For Feeds.
And Because you are updating the reciever not a cam,it doesn't become redundant as quick

[BGonaSTICK]

There may even be a patched image for your Comag.

Expect to be getting involved in fixing it up on a regular basis though. As Rolf says, you have to be quite a dedicated billy-no-mates type to have the all the open stuff these days. Hark at me, I sound like a right sad bloke.

Not that bad if you're just going to stick to S£CA though.

Current guesstimate is that most of the S2 stuff will be around for a maximum of 6 months though.

[Topper]

Use this link for info regarding patched firmware

http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/...ighlight=comag

[rapido]

Hi again,

Cheers for suggesting upgrading my firmware - I'm seriously considering doing this if it will save a few bob on a CAM. (I'm just a bit worried about completely mucking up the Comag box!)

I'll harrass the guys at the Comag patching forum (thanks for the link toppervte33h) and have a go, see what the results are and will let you know what happens.

Many thanks for all the other replies.

-rapido

PS. BGonaSTICK, since you live round the corner, can I pop round to watch Canal Plus sometime? lol