A CAM is a hardware part in PCMCIA format which has a connector that can be inserted in a receiver which has a CI CAM slot.
This CAM has a slot for inserting a smartcard.
Dreambox model 500S has a card reader for official smartcards, but you need an emulator (
Software MULTICRYPT CAM) like CCcam to open the channels.
Other Dreambox models like 7000S has both card reader and a
Hardware CI CAM (CI=Common Interface) slots.
Check this page for CAMs from one of our site sponsors Pulsat, to understand what a CAM looks like:
http://www.pulsat.com/satellite/site...s.php?cat_id=3