[mythtv] MythTV Digicipher II support

Mike Frisch mfrisch at isurfer.ca
Tue Jul 25 15:40:15 UTC 2006


On Tue, Jul 25, 2006 at 09:44:15AM -0400, Mark Buechler wrote:
>    All I have is Lyngsat. Of the "clear" channels I don't know which are
>    encrypted and which are not. I assumed that any channel listed on Lyngsat
>    as "clear" would indeed BE clear, but I've been told not. I'm really
>    confused at this point.

I used to have a 4DTV, which is the consumer C/Ku-band satellite
receiver capable of receiving FTA DCII signals.  It is/was also capable
of being authorized to receive certain (but not all) encrypted DCII
signals.

There were at least two levels of "encryption".  The 4DTV had to be
authorized to receive 'fixed key' FTA DCII broadcasts.  These were still
encrypted, but everybody who had an authorized receiver was able to see
them.  If I remember correctly, there were few truly FTA signals- truly
FTA not requiring the receiver to be authorized.

There are various levels of modulation and bitrates that made certain
DCII channels incompatible with the consumer level equipment.  I am not
sure of the level of support of the previously mentioned cards, but it's
possible they do not support these modulations and/or bitrates.  These
feeds were typically used for redistribution to networks and required
commercial receivers on the cable co headends.

I'm all for the 'thrill of the chase' in skyscanning, but I think the
effort required to make this happen is not worth the end result.  It's
far more fruitful to hook a well supported DVB PCI card to a motorized
dish and scan the skies that way.

Unless things have changed recently, the DCII channels a consumer 4DTV
receiver had access to were minimal at best.  And I'm not sure how the
'fixed key' stuff would work, if at all, with a non-supported DCII
receiver.


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