extra CAM slot on sky box-is it working OK?

anton

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I had a proper look at the back of my box- and sure, after unscrewing a small plate a big hole was looking at me. Now to think for years I had no idea of this little secret and coincidentally I think I could put it to good use if only somebody could confirm if they tried it and how it works?

I would like to put a Cryptoworks CAM in there, but knowing nothing about this I am not even sure if all CAMs are of one standard size, i.e. if any module will fit into any box (especially a skybox)? What should I look for?
And do these modules accept more than one card at a time?(I would like to be using two cards- both working under Cryptoworks)
Thanks for any info

(For mods... please feel free to move this into a different forum if need to...I noticed there are some CAM related ones, but wasn't sure, plus I thought that this was somehow Sky specific as I need a proof from people using it on a skybox)
 

PoloMint

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Unfortunately the CAM slot on a Sky box cannot be used, there is no software to enable it.

There are two main beliefs as to why it is there, either it is a legal requirement (some legal buffs will argue that a satellite receiver with embedded decryption also has to have a cam slot) or it is for some future update/add on module to the Sky box that hasn’t happened yet (and may never happen – like the second card slot on the front)
 

BGonaSTICK

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I wonder why some clever-clogs hasn't either dumped the firmware and patched it, or written something from scratch to turn the digiboxes into standard (i.e. Non-N-DEE-S) receivers. If they could do that, they would make a fortune given the number of boxes out there just waiting to be fixed.

I'm not talking about opening N-DEE-S, just the main OS.

I guess it must have been tried, and is not possible... be nice to know why though!
 

Llew

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I should imagine when S*y Italia becomes exclusively EN-D-ESS, There'll be a lot of minds over there concentrating on just that possibility (and looking at the proprietary system).
 

anton

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Well that's dissappointing.
In that case (probably a silly question) would it be possible to take the conditional access system out of the skybox and fit it into some nice/fast/sensitive tuner/open platform receiver ?
Or is there more hardware in the skybox besides the decrypting unit that would need to go with it?
 

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The unused CI slot is at the back of the box, not part of the smartcard reader at the front. It is also well and truly incorporated into the mainboard, so unless you're a bit handy with the junior hacksaw and the superglue...

Any related N-DEE-S logic would need to be on the CAM itself to work in this (what appears to be) standard slot. Methinks it's probably a legal requirement, but if it has to satisfy such a requirement, then hardware-wise it must function.

Hence my thoughts on firmware modifications.
 

Likvid

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Isn't it pretty stupid to force people to use their system?

I mean if you have a motorized system then you need to have two receivers, one for Sky and the other one for the rest.

Not a very smart solution.

It was much better in the old days you just connected whatever decoder you had to the back of the receiver.

Now, people need to have a separate receiver for every access-system, which means the idea behind using different CAMs are completely wasted.

Or is there a solution to this i don't know about?
 

easysat

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anton said:
Well that's dissappointing.
In that case (probably a silly question) would it be possible to take the conditional access system out of the skybox and fit it into some nice/fast/sensitive tuner/open platform receiver ?
These days the CA system in Digiboxes is built into the main MPEG source decoder chip (the big square thing with a few hundred 'legs'). This is used with a Philips TDA8004 card interface chip (or equivalent).

On early Digiboxes that I have seen, the CA system appears to be on a separate chip marked BSkyB. These are the boxes with the ST20-TP2 source decoder. Maybe it would be feasible to recuperate one of these BSkyB chips and make it work in another box, but the wiring modifications required would probably not be worth the trouble.
 

rolfw

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@ Likvid, the market for BSkyB is the UK and I would imagine that the lack of NDS CI module is of minor impact, I would seriously doubt that there are more than a few hundred subscribers who have motorised systems running alongside and probably not that many who would subscribe even if there was a CAM.
 
J

jamidonuts

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Hi guys

Reading the info that you have discribed, in the search to find a sollution. I do not live in the UK anymore and still have my old P 2500B. Where I am at the moment I get great signal strengh through it on the changed transmiter but can not change the SR settings, so Qulity is non existent

The sub card here is diffrent to the SB and would not work, but if I can change the SR on the SB, well there is room for fun and games.

Any Ideas on changing the SR
 
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