Dreambox and Card Sharing

Author
Discussion

bradders

Original Poster:

886 posts

277 months

Monday 24th August 2009
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Does anyone on here have any experience of such? Any recommendations, resources to check out etc?

Was chatting to someone at the weekend who mentioned then - I'd never heard of them before.

Cheers Bradders.

aclivity

4,072 posts

194 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
What advice are you looking for?

How to steal cable TV?

How to avoid being taken to court for stealing cable TV?

What to do with your dreambox in a few months time when encryption is changed and it becomes a doorstop?

ETA: Yes I know the Dreambox comes in Satellite and DTT versions, but the most common use seems to be getting free access to cable TV.

Edited by aclivity on Monday 24th August 17:48

bradders

Original Poster:

886 posts

277 months

Tuesday 25th August 2009
quotequote all
aclivity said:
What advice are you looking for?

How to steal cable TV?

How to avoid being taken to court for stealing cable TV?

What to do with your dreambox in a few months time when encryption is changed and it becomes a doorstop?

ETA: Yes I know the Dreambox comes in Satellite and DTT versions, but the most common use seems to be getting free access to cable TV.

Edited by aclivity on Monday 24th August 17:48
Don't have access to cable where I live, so way off beam there mate, but thanks for assuming.

For the record, I am a Sky HD subscriber (full package) and have been for many years. Recently bought a slingbox HD and sling catcher to view the box upstairs, but the quality is not very good to be honest (although it is pretty good for remote viewing). Have been looking for a way of avoiding ongoing extra subscription costs for a second box, so I thought this might fit the bill - buy a different sat box, and share my existing card.

As I mentioned originally, I know nothing about dreambox nor card sharing - having heard of them for the first time this weekend. Will they facilitate this?

Now some may say I am still attempting to "steal tv", but is this any different to using video senders or indeed the slingbox approach I initially took?

aclivity

4,072 posts

194 months

Tuesday 25th August 2009
quotequote all
Sorry for the assumption.

As long as you don't want to watch more than one box at a time, you don't need to card share - you can remove your viewing card from one box and put it in another. Sky boxes are often sold on eBay, there is little value in going to the extra cost of the dreambox if you only want to watch the stuff you are legally subscribed to. Card sharing is (I think) a breach of terms and conditions on the Sky service, unlike cable the satellite service does not have a return path so I don't know if Sky can detect the presence of these boxes though.

The dreambox is fairly expensive AIUI, 40 or so months of multiroom subscription @ £10 /month to purchase.

I'm more familiar with the way that cable TV dreamboxes are used, probably best to wait until someone with Sky knowledge comes along.

bradders

Original Poster:

886 posts

277 months

Tuesday 25th August 2009
quotequote all
aclivity said:
Sorry for the assumption.

As long as you don't want to watch more than one box at a time, you don't need to card share - you can remove your viewing card from one box and put it in another. Sky boxes are often sold on eBay, there is little value in going to the extra cost of the dreambox if you only want to watch the stuff you are legally subscribed to. Card sharing is (I think) a breach of terms and conditions on the Sky service, unlike cable the satellite service does not have a return path so I don't know if Sky can detect the presence of these boxes though.

The dreambox is fairly expensive AIUI, 40 or so months of multiroom subscription @ £10 /month to purchase.

I'm more familiar with the way that cable TV dreamboxes are used, probably best to wait until someone with Sky knowledge comes along.
Accepted! Yes, only want to watch one at once, but I thought that you needed to pair the card to a box each time you swap it? I know I've needed to do this on occasion over the years that the box has gone faulty and I've bought a new one.

Can you put the Sky card into a dreambox without pairing? Will it decode correctly?

Cost of the box is another matter - agreed that a Sky HD box from eBay will be cheaper than a dreambox (eBay around £100ish, dreambox-HD around £300ish), but for the above reason thought it not an option. Subscription prices for a second HD box would be an extra £20 per month - £10 for the multi-room, and another £10 for the HD. Further, Sky will only let you have a mutiroom HD sub by buying a new HD box from them - which is a lot more than picking one up on eBay.