This is most certainly true, ie that the manufacturers gave the pirates the code, and in some cases they may not have had to give it to them because from what I've read, the pirates were the same individuals who wrote the code to some extent.
However there is nothing wrong with giving the pirates the code. In fact, I think it would be a fairly smart business strategy at this point for one of the manufacturers to first of all include some proprietary parts that only they have access to, and then go open source with the receiver, along with SDKs so that users can write their own software. Twinhan did this to some extent with their 1020a, in that they gave out a SDK for a while. Unfortunately, I could never get the SDK to work, as it seemed to be missing some important components.
But making the firmware open source seems to be a strategy that the manufacturers could use to make their receivers more appealing to both the pirate community and legitimate FTA community. I do not approve of selling equipment that is designed to bypass equipment, however like it or not, the legitimate FTA community is really dependent upon the pirates to some extent. You only have to go back to the mid 90s, and look at how much either analog or digital receivers aimed at the NA market cost. Both analog and digital receivers cost in the $700 to more than $1000 range. I purchased 2 receivers that cost over $1000, and a couple others that were in the $700. Now, we're seeing high end receivers in the $300 range, and regular receivers closer to $100. The fact that these receivers are being used by pirates is a large part of the reason we're getting cheap receivers. Of course, another part of the reason is the popularity of DVB over in Europe, and that could keep us in business if DN puts so much pressure on the manufacturers that the quit selling receivers to the US. But I really think that despite all the criticism I read hear and on other forums about the pirates, and how they are damaging our hobby, I really believe that we wouldn't have much of a hobby without the pirates. It would be too expensive for most of us. Or at least too expensive for us to keep up with the modern modes. I think I've gone from a basic DVB STB to a PCI card, to a STB with blind search, to a STB with SVID output, to a few DVB-S2 HD receivers to one that does HD 4.2.2, and I'm sure this is going to continue. If all these receivers cost $700 plus, no way most of us could keep up with the progress of the technology.
Anyway, I'm hoping that the manufacturers can find a way to keep the pirates happy without doing something that will get them sued by DN, and perhaps making their firmware open source is a way to do it. They just have to be careful that they don't blindly accept firmware modifications from people who may have slipped in pirate functions.
