"Broken FTA Receivers"

[GreatFTA]

Wow, I was checking out Ebay this morning for FTA receivers and noticed there's plenty of "Broken" FTA receivers! Most don't power up and one was a Viewsat Pro that a dude tried to load software and screwed it up (something about blue screen).
All start off less than $1.00, except the Viewsat ($9.95).
I wonder if any of these receivers be worth trying to fix? The shipping is $13 to $15.

 

[brentb636]

I think an HD box might be worth sending back for repair, if you couldn't fix it yourself, but I wouldn't bother with SD units, unless you're just looking for a hobby !
I they had a Merc II, I might buy one just for parts.

 

[melgarga]

I agree. If you want to tinker and didnt expect much, some of them might pay off, but dont count on it. Those are well 'screwed with' before they get dumped on Fleabay. Once the boot sector is trashed, usually from a corrupted flash write or a corrupted/bad binary (likely of the patcheye brand) the only way back in is via JTAG or BDM, depending on which, if either is supported by the uP. Then you would still have to have the actual dump of the flash, not the 'encoded' FW that loads (and then decrypts and writes to the flash) via a com/usb port to get it operational.
The TSOPs can be pulled, erased and reprogrammed (if you have one from a working unit to copy from) in a JTAG/BDM compliant stb, then reinstalled, but you have to be very good at smt work and want it very badly.
If I saw one cash & carry for 5-10 bucks at a flea market/garage sale/thrift store I might bite, just for S&G's, but that would be my limit for an SD box.

 

[n4bbq]

You need to be careful. Some of the FTA vendors have judgments against that that require them to turn over the firmware and name of the owner in the case they get a unit in for repair that has "unauthorized" firmware. It wouldn't hold up in court, since you can prove you were not the original owner, etc., but it'd sure be a pain in the butt if that happened.

 

[Smith P.]

You need to be careful. Some of the FTA vendors have judgments against that that require them to turn over the firmware and name of the owner in the case they get a unit in for repair that has "unauthorized" firmware. It wouldn't hold up in court, since you can prove you were not the original owner, etc., but it'd sure be a pain in the butt if that happened.

Please provide more substantial evidence of such claim.

 

[GreatFTA]

I have heard that too.

 

[Smith P.]

Hear-say doesn't conting in law.

 

[Mr Tony]

I know Pansat was doing the grasping at straws and DIsh has sued a few manufacturers lkike Viewsat but not much has happened

 

[n4bbq]

I think I read it on multichannel.com or some other news site.

Use Google.