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Sky change of encryption to HD channels.
This has already been highlighted in the broadcasting forum recently. Firstly official subscribers with official Sky HD boxes are not affected with possibly the exception of viewers with old Thomson boxes. It is mainly people who are using illegal card sharing methods and those who have purchased illegal Skybox F5 receivers and the like from fly by night merchants.. Currently these changes to encryption are being partially rolled out with only certain channels affected. Channels such as Sky One HD, Sky Atlantic HD, Sky Arts HD , Syfy HD and Sky Movies HD channels. Undoubtably this change will be rolled out in full to all HD channels on Sky before long and especially designed to coincide with the issuing of new Sky viewing cards. All in all not a happy time for anyone thinking of purchasing any of these illegal boxes or indulging in illegal card sharing activities as they will surely lose money and feel that they have been ripped off. Furthermore you cannot complain to Trading Standards as you will receive no sympathy as it is an illegal activity. Be warned.
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Nothing really wrong with that although I understand it is against Sky's Terms and conditions. Anyway Sky is not losing out financially. However non Sky boxes and cams may have difficulty in coping with these encryption changes.
Yeah it's against Sky's T&Cs but you made it sound very illegal (which is different) in your OP. Non-Sky Boxes won't be able to Unencrypt due to these changes.
I did not wish to make it sound like a crime has been comitted. It is just that Sky is not keen on that sort of thing.
Not only 'not keen', but also obliged to be 'not keen'
If they happened to find out the card would be killed.
logistical reasons would rule that out.
The next card change (which is supposedly 'soon') would cure the problem anyway.
Its also had a drastic effect on torrent cappers (Recorders) as they're not able to cap the transport stream of HD channels with this move. Something Sky will be pleased about.
Has it? Most of the US stuff is captured from US broadcasters because they at least play at the correct speed, plus of course they're usually shown there first.
In the UK i mean.
And alot is capped from Canadian TV because its less Secure.
Oh yes, of course
But anything original on Sky channels, Watch, Dave, Channel 5, ITV 2, 3, 4 & Encore, Discovery, Sky Sports HD channels etc will be very affected by it.
And its alot of content when you think about it
The boxes are not illegal, its what you could potentially do with them that is.
I have ordered an f5 box but not for viewing sky tv, but for another purpose.
No doubt they would like to however the older non HD boxes probably would not be able to cope. The only way they could consider this is if they were to start a programme of swapping out older boxes for new HD boxes, something that is liable to be long and drawn out and very expensive. In the short term, the introduction of new viewing cards would cause major disruption to operators of card sharing servers but after a short period of time they would be able to catch up.
That is fair enough.
How about Sky introducing the new encryption for premium channels only then? So Sports, Movies and basically anything above the Variety Pack Sub?
I know that would mean the old boxes would only get FTA, FTV, Original and Variety, but that would be a heck of a lot cheaper than swapping every old box at once!
the first step is to stop any new pairings with SD only boxes! (and I know they dont distribute the SD only boxes now Im talking about for multiroom use if people have an old box they want to use instead of a new one).
In Germany, they are also trying to force users to only use Sky boxes (obviously providing the latest technology - i.e. the cheapest crap they can deliver), and give up the Sat receivers that have been traditionally used in Germany for decades.
Lots of users banding together to take Sky to court - many of them still on the original Premiere agreement (Sky's predecessor) when they basically supplied cards only.
It will be interesting ;-)
Paid for by the court case they won against an undisclosed STB manufacturer.
What choice?
Sky will supply card only, if you ask, you just need a compatible box to use it in.