I was to give you a review of a VC test device this month, but due to circumstances beyond my control I didn’t get to see the device. I have been told the test device will be delivered to me in the next 5 to 7 days. So I don’t have any views on this device until I have time to test it.
Now onto the news we have for the past month. The largest thing that happened in my opinion was the free public release of software for the plastic cards. There was the cba.zip, clmod.zip, clmod2.zip, dssbust.zip, cl5000.zip and cl5005.zip. The cl5005 seems to have the most flexibility and has received it’s own channel in the IRC of #cl5000. On the #cl5000 channel you can get the software, your personal password and any updates as well as help with the software. Some of the software needed passwords to get to some of the functions. The cl5005 must have a password to function. This password is different for every machine you load the software on so you go to the #cl5000 channel to receive this free password for the software.
At the time of this writing all of the mentioned software was for use with virgin cards or cards without updates or purchases. With the release of the above software there were many warnings. The first warning was that with the public release of the software anyone using it was setting themselves up for their card to get 99’ed. The second warning was that some of the zip files had computer viruses in them.
The only time I personally saw any sign of a virus was with the cl5000 software and this was only a warning not a true virus. The warning was placed in the software to keep hackers from modifying the code of the program. There were two fixes offered for this warning message, the first was to get a different copy of the software form a different site the second was to set your computer clock back to a date before February 13. There is talk of a ECM in March ranging in dates from March 1 to March 10. Some are saying this is a week to keep the cards out of the receivers. There is rumored a update for the cl5005 that will happen after March 10 that will allow you to write to the updated cards. There is already a update/add-on that will allow you to apply updates to your own card, but if you apply these updates you can not currently write to it again. The advantage of having this software is the ability to update a card in the future that has been in a blocking device and has not naturally received the update. There are two different camps on the use of blocking devices. One thinks they are great and the other thinks you are killing your card since you are blocking the updates. There are also two camps on whether the changes to the card are a ECM. One group says it is a two part ECM and the second part has not come down yet. The other group says it is not a ECM but is only Direct TV making changes due to the addition of channels that were originally on USSB.
As mentioned earlier there was great concern that viruses were in some of the software files released. This should be a concern of anyone that uses the internet or has a computer. I have had the misfortune of having had 2 or 3 viruses on my personal equipment and at the office where I work. To help with this I suggest you get free software from one of these sites http://oak.oakland.edu/simtel.net/msdos/virus.html or http://depot.berkeley.edu/ software/utilities/f-prot.html . I personally like the F-Prot software, it is easy to use and is good. The first site gives you many different packages to select from and should give you some peace of mind. Other Internet Sites
With the ECM occurring in January there are three sites where you can get great updates.
The first is TJ’s site at http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dsscards/ . He has done a great job with gathering information on the different test devices from people running them. He is trying to not report hear-say information but only first hand experiences from the test community. TJ is using the IRC to collect a lot of his information. The channel he is using for this data collection is #ecm.
The second site is http://www.tv-fix.com/ by Slider. This site has a neat format and this is where I located the ECM test program from AXA.
The third site is http://www.south-hub.net/dailynews/ by another favorite friend of ours from the IRC Pansie, what a great lady. The work on this site is great with daily condensed information gathered from many sources and the IRC.
The SITE OF THE MONTH AWARD goes to The Pirates Den at http:// web.superb.net/den/. If for no other reason you should visit this site to listen to the music. This site is managed by RiseStar from the IRC and is at the new address listed above. Also one of my all time favorite sites has a new look and address this is the one and only DR7 site. The DR7 site is now found at http://plaza.v-wave.com/dr7/ . Also the Satellite Watch News has a extra web page at http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/swn/ and the original web page is at http://www.oscoda.net/dmorgand/ .
I may not always agree with what every site has to say about each test device or group, but it is good to view all sides of an equation and form your own opinions. Remember it is Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press that allows us to bring you this information each month in this great country of ours, the USA.
Well, until next month keep testing and enjoy.