Hello vdr,
Greetings!
I am looking for a somewhat affordable(whatever that means :-) full featured DVB TV card since that is the only thing supported by vdr apparently.
I hear they are above the 150$ range, it is very expensive for me.
I want to be able to decode pay channels as well but apparently I can do that using a card reader that is not build into the TV card itself.
Many thanks!
regards, Girish
En/na Girish Venkatachalam ha escrit:
There are many other options: softdevice, xine, xineliboutput, dxr3. None of them is perfect, but then it seems neither is a FF card.
Bye
On Wed, Oct 18, 2006 at 09:58:35AM +0200, Luca Olivetti wrote:
Hi,
I think you did not get my question. I am not looking for software. I am looking for a hardware brand and chipset that I can order.
I want to make sure that I buy a card that is well supported before I buy.
Do you by any chance mean to say that I can buy a budget card and still run vdr? That is also okay by me. Which card do you recommend?
Also I wish to view pay channels with it.
Please also mention the price and from where I can get it.
Thanks.
regards, Girish
En/na Girish Venkatachalam ha escrit:
Do you by any chance mean to say that I can buy a budget card and still run vdr?
Yes, using softdevice, xine, xineliboutput or a dxr3. You should look at these plugins to see which one is more suitable to you.
That is also okay by me. Which card do you recommend?
It all depends on what you need, prefer, have available. Me, I'm using a skystar 2 and a dxr3. I'm also using the xine plugin for remote viewing (i.e. viewing tv on my laptop).
Also I wish to view pay channels with it.
That's not (officially) possible with a budget card.
Please also mention the price and from where I can get it.
Well, I bought both the skystar2 and the dxr3 on ebay. IIRC ~40€ for a new skystar2 (plus shipping) and 10€ for a second hand dxr3. Using softdevice or xine you can use vdr with just a budget card.
Bye
On Wed, Oct 18, 2006 at 02:06:07PM +0300, Suur Karu wrote:
My idea is to interface it externally. I have bought a CF card reader. PMI but what has CF got to do with CI?
Thanks. Am I barking up the wrong tree by any chance?
My idea is to interface things using the PCI and USB bus. I plug in a USB CF card reader, decrypt the data from CAM and talk to the budget card using the PCI bus.
Does it make sense or nonsense?
Please trash me if I am talking bullshit. ;-)
regards, Girish
vdr-bounces@linuxtv.org schrieb am 18.10.2006 17:22:14:
Partial nonsense ;-))
CF has nothing to do with CI and smartcards. You need a CI adapter an an CAM adapter card for the smartcard.
Alternatively there are standalone smartcard readers (USB/serial). But these are not working without some legally doubtfull patches/plugins of VDR. Beside the skipping of CI and CAM (which is patent violaton but not realy illegal) these can use illegal software keys, which is illegal in most of the world. Therefore nobody here on the list will give you any added detailes.
The official method is bying a CI adapter and CAM card for your DVB card. Even this is a violation of some provider rules as it's not certified by them.
regards Peter
On Wed, Oct 18, 2006 at 05:43:43PM +0200, Peter Dittmann wrote:
I find no comparison/info on CI and CF on wikipedia. Could you give me some info please? How does the CAM interface with the PC?
Alternatively there are standalone smartcard readers (USB/serial).
No, I clearly see it is illegal.
NP, I am not going that route either.
Never mind if it is a violation but I have no money to buy an FF card. Get it?
And mostly legal and illegal is defined by whether you actually commercialize something and make money out of it.
Youtube has so many bootleg videso but NP since nobody makes money out of it.
So for me to view pay channels with a budget card, what do I do?
Can I get a generic USB CI card?
So that I place a CAM which houses a smart card to decrypt channels?
I hold my conscience above law. :-)
Don't worry about legalities any further. :-)
regards, Girish
A DVB card (may) have a special connector for a CI interfase. This is a card or 3 1/2" bay adapter to insert a CAM card into. The CAM does the actual decryption or authorisation of the provider. The smartcard is inserted into the CAM to provide the actuall keys/subscritions for the decryption
The CAM always interfaces with the DVB card directly as the decryption/authorisation is done in hardware. For safety the authorisation data are never transfered on an open bus like USB/PCI.
patches/plugins
of VDR. Beside the skipping of CI and CAM (which is patent violaton but not
realy
illegal) these can use illegal software keys, which is illegal in most
of
card.
Even this is a violation of some provider rules as it's not certified
by
them.
Never mind if it is a violation but I have no money to buy an FF card.
Get it?
There are FF and budget DVB cards available with CI interface adapter (e.g. Technotrend / Hauppauge). You need one of both WITH CI adapter as a minimum. The CI costs around 50€ for the Technotrend/Hauppauge cards and the CAM is another 50..100€ This is costwise in between a plain (cheap) budget and a FF DVB card.
No chance here.
CI&CAM always interface directly with the DVB card (FF or budget), no external (USB) solution is available. So it's eigther a DVB+CI+CAM+Smartcard or smardcard reader (USB or serial) + software CAM [illegal !!!]
It's sad that there is no 'gray' softcam option that only does the CAM opearations in software but needs the smartcard always. This would be legaly a 'gray' area as it only violates patent regulations of the decryption owner but would not circumvent the decryption. The 'banned' plugin/patch combines this 'gray' CAM simulation with a fully illegal 'simulation' of the smardcard ;-)). It's in this respect like the 'banned' CSS library which also contains 'illegal' CSS keys for DVD or just plainly breaks the encryption.
I belive for DVB there could be a legally acceptable version of a software CAM when it does CAM simmulation only. If the keys are always from the smartcard there would be no 'illegal' decryption.
For DVD this would only being possible if the CSS key of a 'legal' CSS library would be legally licenced from the DVD forum. Unfortunely this will (likely) never happen.
For DVB the keys are transferable on the smartcard and the smard card keys are legally optained by the user when he subscribes at a program provider. So using a software CAM which uses keys from a smartcard via a card reader only violates patents of the decryption owner + program provider regulations (which CI+CAM also violates already !), but it would not being considered 'illegal' in europe. The 'illegal' softcam can be stripped down to do just that (makes the use ethically acceptable for me as a user), but the whole tool goes beyound that. Unfortunely there may be some legal court fight neccessary to settle this legally as the patent owners and providers may put up a fight first agains whomever distributes the 'gray' CAM simulation. So this option is also very likely not going to happen.
kind regards Peter
On Wed, Oct 18, 2006 at 12:37:13PM +0200, Luca Olivetti wrote:
Luca,
Many thanks for helping me out. I shall google and figure out how to obtain it.
I am a poor entrepreneur and I am hoping that using the card I can do some hacking. So every penny saved goes towards supporting myself a lil more...
Thanks again.
regards, Girish
-
Girish Venkatachalam -
Luca Olivetti -
Peter Dittmann -
Ruediger Dohmhardt -
Suur Karu