Satellite cards - HELP !!

[busman12]

I have set-up my own sat system with a dish and a Topfield TF4000pvr receiver so i can get just the free sat channels.

I have been told that if i purchase a `freesat` card from sky so i can watch the encrypted free channels, the card would only work for awhile then it would have to be inserted in an actual sky box for updates so it can continue to work.

1. Unfortunately i do not have a sky box.
2. Someone else has mentioned that if you have ccCam, the cards will work ok without having to insert into a sky box.

Whats a ccCam ? and how do i know if my receiver has it ?

Here is exactly what is says in the instruction manual :
1.3 What is common interface?
Some broadcasts are scrambled so that only paid
subscribers can enjoy them. Scrambled services
can only be viewed with a Conditional Access
Module (CAM) and a subscription card belonging
with the scrambling system.
Common Interface (CI) is the slot on a digitial
receiver into which a conditional access module
may be insterted. The front of the digital receiver
has two common interfaces

I am getting more confused than ever.

Plus are there any other cards i can use in this receiver to get more channels ?

Thanks.

 

[rolfw]

CCCAM is a Dreambox emulator, so not relevant to your receiver, although this emulator does work with the Freesat card and keeps it alive.

As far as I know, there are as of yet no standalone CAMs which work with a Freesat card and allow the keep alive signals, so they still require the use of a Sky digibox to update them every few weeks.

 

[HB13DISH]

I have set-up my own sat system with a dish and a Topfield TF4000pvr receiver so i can get just the free sat channels.

I have been told that if i purchase a `freesat` card from sky so i can watch the encrypted free channels, the card would only work for awhile then it would have to be inserted in an actual sky box for updates so it can continue to work.

1. Unfortunately i do not have a sky box.
2. Someone else has mentioned that if you have ccCam, the cards will work ok without having to insert into a sky box.

Whats a ccCam ? and how do i know if my receiver has it ?

Here is exactly what is says in the instruction manual :
1.3 What is common interface?
Some broadcasts are scrambled so that only paid
subscribers can enjoy them. Scrambled services
can only be viewed with a Conditional Access
Module (CAM) and a subscription card belonging
with the scrambling system.
Common Interface (CI) is the slot on a digitial
receiver into which a conditional access module
may be insterted. The front of the digital receiver
has two common interfaces

I am getting more confused than ever.

Plus are there any other cards i can use in this receiver to get more channels ?

Thanks.

Hi,
I will leave it to members who use Sky and Freeview to answer your first question.

I will try to help you with the second bit regarding CAMs.

Read the manual of your receiver and check in the specification page if it has a CAM (Either Embedded or CI=Common Interface), both are a hardware accessories that enable you to insert a smartcard with a subscription so that the channels will open up for what you paid for.
From your message it looks like it has, but you need to know which encryption systems it supports.
AFAIK Sky uses NDS system so I doubt very much if your cam is suitable.
As I said, I will leave it to members who have experience.

On the other hand, a CCCam is a software cam (Emulation) which will enable you to open channels if you know howto.
With Dreambox models it is possible to install cccam, but I am not sure if the Topfield has this capability. I think not.
Can you exchange your Topfield for a Dreambox model or is it too late ?

 

[busman12]

If i did return the topfield, obviously if i got a `sky box` which are available on many websites ( http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/skydigibox.htm ) the cards would be fine ???

 

[Topper]

It would be fine for watching 28.2 East which is sky tv, but if you wanted to explore the Clarke curve a little bit, the digibox would be no good at all for doing that.

 

[busman12]

what about if i kept the topfield and got a sky box as well ?
They are reasonable priced.
Could i connect them together ?

 

[Topper]

You could use the loop through facility but when the primary box was on a horizontal channel the secondary box would be restricted to a horizontal channel equally when switching the primary to a vertical channel you could only get verticals on the 2nd stb unless you got a twin or quad lnb and fed a 2nd cable to the 2nd box. I would have said you need one complete setup for sky and another dish lnb motor for the topfield to play with if you have the money.