shy uk have started testing on increased ecm times being sent to their cards in the sat boxes. the ecm is the encryption control word being sent to your box every 2-4 seconds over the satellite in order to decode the programming. this is being done to combat card sharing. current linux sat boxes and their respective software cannot keep up with the rate (and size) at which the ecm is being sent resulting in very frequent picture break up hence the content is unwatchable. already reports on other forums stating that even peoples legitimate shy boxes cant decrypt the content making alot of genuine viewers angry which is understandable. affected channels so far are channel 4 ireland and e4 ireland.
I have noticed a couple of other channels breaking up lately. (I have a sub). Something is happening all the same.
Not really. Excluding a complete smartcard re-issue (again, which they just did one about 2 and a half years ago at huge cost). Sending Larger ECMs at a much higher frequency is the only real way they can combat this 'hobby'. They are so desperate to try this that legitimate hardware cannot even keep pace, which will probably force them to throw in the towel eventually due to the potential large number of complaints from customers because of broken up service. There is also a Irish company developing a steel sleeve in which the smartcard slots into and then this is put into the sat box via the technician. If the card is attempted to be removed it breaks the card by damaging the gold wafer chip therefore making it useless. One then needs to contact shy for a replacement card at a cost to the customer.
