January 02,1996
All the pirate paddleboard smartcard fixes for the DSS digital satellite system were shut off on New Years eve. This means that all those who have the cards must now have them reprogrammed by their local dealer.
Developers of the fix claim that the shut-off was not an ECM (electronic counter-measure). They say it was a glitch in their program code relating to time and date. It did not appear to have been an attack on the clone ID's. Those who did not have their cards installed in their receiver at the time of the ECM found that they worked fine after it was over. To turn the cards back on it is necessary to reload the same code into the cards again. Some legal subscribers claim that they also had reception problems on New Years eve.
Demand for the pirate cards has been far greater than supply. Many dealers don't even have stock. There are fewer than 5,000 in the field at this time. Part of the pirate strategy is to keep the number low enough so that DirecTV will avoid issuing 1.2 million new smartcards. In a 1994 interview in Satellite Retailer, one of the Hubbards (of U.S.S.B.) was quoted as saying that he expected piracy of about 1% and 5,000 at this early date is in line with that estimate.
The cost of the cards is now about $650 U.S. We have heard that some dealers in Canada are charging their customers $500 for a card plus up to $50/month in programming costs. The pirate cards receive all available programming including pay-per-view movies, except for the pay-per-view events offered by U.S.S.B. in the 900 block of channels.
There is now an interesting array of software available for those studying DSS. We will review some of this in the January issue of our newsletter. There is a new programmer which will write to both the 24c16 and the smartcard. This will be relatively inexpensive and will allow individuals to update their own cards.
DirecTV got an early preview of the pirate smartcards when 100 were reportedly seized some time ago by U.S. Customs from Troy Stewart as he entered the U.S. near Blaine WA. He is the son of Douglas Stewart who was busted in the New Orleans Videocipher II PLUS sting in 1993. Douglas Stewart is a key figure in the North American piracy scene. Read our DBS Piracy Update at this site for the story of what happened during that sting.
Those who are using these paddleboards will have to get used to being shut down and turned on again. There is some technology available which will allow video pirates to be relatively self sufficient. We are hearing that there are very few reports of malfunctioning paddleboards. It appears that claims of 30% defective boards were incorrect.
We will talk some more about this shutoff in the coming days. What does it mean? etc. In other matters: this Cyber-1 PLUS fix is a ruse. All they are really selling is a video-only preview chip. All the rest is marketing by a man who has been running scams like this for years in the same magazine.
Our BBS at 716-874-2088 will be down for the next day or so.
© Scrambling News 1996