5/27/2015 12:01 - Uplink Report - 2 Changes

[bobvick]

Charlie cares.

Charlie liked it (piracy) from about 1986 until the VCII+ came out about 1990-91. Made Echosphere LOTS of dough by selling IRDs and being a distributor for GI's VCII, which only began to sell after it was broken in mid 1986.

 

[Bobby]

The thread has to do with a station blanked out. Can we go back and continue with that topic

I guess there is nothing to be said there....

 

[JSheridan]

I used to have a chipped VCII going on 30 years ago now, you going to call the cops on me, LOL

I remember going to big dish service calls and finding chipped boards all the time. Some were at cops' houses, lawyers' houses, doctors' houses and even a state supreme court judge's house.

I'm proud to say that we never sold a chipped board. We lost a lot of sales to competitors who offered 'free lifetime programming' to customers. They're no longer in business and we are.

 

[bobvick]

It was a little bit different back when scrambling first started. Had HBO and Showtime charged the same thing that cable did at the time, which was around $6 or $7 per month, rather than $12.95 for TVRO, the market for piracy would have quickly eroded as TVRO owners would have soon figured out that they could pay for programming cheaper than keeping the chipped VCII going. If you have never read it, I highly recommend you read "Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube" by Bob Cooper. Really good book.

 

[RONZ]

Encryption and software technology eliminated most of the piracy

 

[jerryez]

Those chippers mad a lot of money, while they were in business.

 

[dwarren2]

Can this thread be taken to the regular forum rather than updates.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Charlie liked it (piracy) from about 1986 until the VCII+ came out about 1990-91. Made Echosphere LOTS of dough by selling IRDs and being a distributor for GI's VCII, which only began to sell after it was broken in mid 1986.

Didn't Charlie get caught with a container of chipped boards back in the 80's?

 

[dwarren2]

Thanks for moving the thread

 

[navigates]

"I highly recommend you read "Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube" by Bob Cooper. Really good book."

I'm gonna buy this book. Its over 300 pages and does not have a digital edition. Much more convenient to read it on the ipad..
this is what we get when there isin't a meaningful uplink. We start looking for ways to see whats out there

 

[MCIBUS]

Correct me if I'm wrong here but wasn't there a receiver where you could pick up the channels that where in either test mode or "hidden" but not the others? I thought it was one of those receivers for made for C Band or KU Band?

 

[navigates]

Correct me if I'm wrong here but wasn't there a receiver where you could pick up the channels that where in either test mode or "hidden" but not the others? I thought it was one of those receivers for made for C Band or KU Band?

Not that I have heard. Hidden channels are like subs and opened to the engineering tier. off course I may be way off but that's what my knowledge serves. Even if you get by with the tier, the channels won't open up as they are surely encrypted. So currently besides the dish sanctioned receivers I don't see a way currently. btw, hasn't this thread swayed off-topic. I take the pun for that. ! All i wanted to know is the info on that one hidden channel.

 

[bobvick]

Didn't Charlie get caught with a container of chipped boards back in the 80's?

I can't remember if they were chipped, or if they were trying to ship them out of the country. You know, back then becuase of the DES algorithm, they weren't supposed to be shipped out of the country. Maybe to Canada, but I'm not sure. I do know that there was a big stink with Echosphere and a container of VCII boards back about 1987 or so.