Buying CAMs / CAM+subs on ebay

[leecovuk]

hello everyone,

Just wondering what you know or believe about buying apparently good value CAMs or CAM+12 month subscription deals from ebay?

I just wonder why someone is, for example, wanting to sell something for around £40 when the market value seems to be about twice that ....

I mean, I understand why selling a used receiver or just a used CAM may need a lower asking price than a new one, but why would the seller want to sell a CAM+12 month subscription for a suspiciously low price?

I'm of course assuming that the subscription would in fact have much less time left on it, which you wouldn't discover until it unexpectedly packs up.

Just asking here for your thoughts and experiences, good or (hopefully not) bad.

Thanks,
lee

 

[gameboy]

Buyer beware...

You have little comeback with ebay - if a deal seems too good to be true - you know the rest...

As you say, they may have subscribed and didn't like what they received and now want to pass it on - but then it will not last 12 months.

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Don't know about cards, but some other hardware is sold by a one-man company called unapit who are very cheap, and have had lots of praise here.

Like :- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=60837&item=5755611768&rd=1

The shop is also at http://www.unapit.com
I have no connection to them, and have not used them myself, just FYI.

 

[leecovuk]

thanks;

Can I ask, what is the purpose and use of a 'loader' when it comes to CAMs ?
Am I right in thinking that all CAMs need to be bought in association with a loader? I haven't used a CAM before.

thanks,
lee

 

[rolfw]

Some CAMs need a loader, others can be loaded by PCMCIA slot, or funcards.

Still a little suspect about people like Stick mentions above, they are box shifters and this is fine until something goes wrong, also a query about his trading start. ;)

 

[leecovuk]

thanks

So can I ask, having not yet successfully found info on this:

Do you never just buy a CAM, put it in the CI slot and it works?
(I appreciate you may need a subscription card as well to insert into the CAM, in most cases)

The thing I'm failing to grasp, is what is the purpose of a loader? What am I loading? How do I know if I need to load something or not?

thanks again.

 

[malling]

Hi everyone, I used the guy mentioned above on Ebay, bought a dragon cam and loader card a couple of months ago. The item arrived in 3 days registered post, I have not had any problems with it so I dont know what their after sales service is like. He didnt leave me any positive feedback though, not a bean, nothing ({}) and I paid straight away!!!! So I will give myself some here if no one minds!!!!

:-thumb1 Top Ebayer, very quick payer, nice fellow too!!! A++++++

 

[BGonaSTICK]

LOL malling!


@ Leecovuk

You need to load software into the CAM to get it to do anything interesting.

It may then work with or without a card, depending on what you load and what you're trying to receive.

It's all very naughty. You just need to read a lot to find out what it can and can't do, but it's basically capable of doing most things that any other sat-hardware can do at the moment.

The loader card is one way of loading the CAM. Programmed by your Phoenix programmer (connected to your PC) you then transfer the data onto your CAM (using the card) and then remove it.

Things that cannot be opened this way will then require a valid subscription card on top (Like ART, which is not available any other way...)

Read, read some more, keep reading until you feel sick, and then take some more reading to bed. Dream about it. Do this for a month, and then you will know everything you need to know. Also a great way to get rid of pesky wives, friends and employers. You'll be very lonely, but you have loads of TV to watch.



STICK

 

[leecovuk]

ok;

It sounds like you're talking about the activity of loading software onto the cam in order to view channels which I haven't offically subscribed to. Is that what you mean? Presumably involving setting PIDs etc in the reciver?

What I'm referring to and asking about, is the official principle of buying a cam and then a subscription card, or buying a cam+subscription card deal. Although this is out of my reach financially at the moment, do these cams need loading with anything? Or do they work by just inserting it into the CI slot with any associated subscription card?

I've already _almost_ tried to find info on this up to the point of tiring of it;

What I'm trying to do currently is decide which scrambled/premium channels I actually want to watch, and then look for an appropriate cam decoder and card or cam+card deal to suit.
I don't want to push my luck or hope for an 'ideal' situation where I may have access to other channels too; I just want to find and learn about a relatively straightforward and stable situation which works and is preferably but not necessarily as cheap as possible.

I don't hide it is the hardcore adult channels I am considering in all this, but am currently having a lot of trouble working my way through the myriad of choices and viewing / buying options.
For eg, it appears to me that the only way to 'guarantee' trouble-free viewing is to buy a cam+card deal direct from the channels themselves?

Thanks again,
lee

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Many folks who want subscription stuff would use a box with a CAM built in and just use the card reader slot, or use a multiCAM like I mention above. There are lots of options including, as you say, some basic CAMs that will only do one encryption type but will run straight out of the box... until the CAM software needs upgrading anyway or you want to switch subscriptions to a provider that requires a different CAM type.

Generally speaking, a multiCAM does give you maximum flexibility, regardless of what you want to watch on it.

Some CAM's have official subscriptions programmed in, and don't use a card.

STICK

 

[leecovuk]

ok;
I can't see where you mentioned a multicam, though.
Presumably that is a cam which can decode 7 or 8 of the encoding types I've heard and read about.

So, for me, would it be best to make a decision of which channel(s) I want and then buy directly from the channel?
I'll try and factor in possible future flexibility; I hear Irderto (sp?) is a good, stable commonly used encryption type.

I also still can't work out how outfits like satcards.co.uk compare to buying directly from the channel; yes there might be a price difference but what is the tradeoff?

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Yeah sorry m8, I've not answered you very well so far.

Most of the CAMs that folks are interested in on here are multi-encryption capable CAMs which they re-program on a regular basis themselves, like the Dragon, the XCAM and the Matrix variants etc. For them, that's part of this hobby.

It's not really a case of whether an encryption is 'good' or not.

You must work out what channels you want first, decide which is more important to you (i.e. cost versus levels of support - in terms of where you buy it from) and then select the hardware you require to decrypt the channels opened by that card. Some cards will not be sold by the provider outside the country of origin, whereas resellers often don't care where you're geographically located.

I would suggest that at the point you buy the hardware, that you shop around and think about future flexibility as far as possible. That's just common sense, as I'm sure you don't want to spend money just for the sake of it.

 

[leecovuk]

ok thanks;

When you talk about reprogramming, is that where people manage to hack themseves into viewing a number of channels without paying for subscription? (assuming the encryption format is supported by their receiver and/or cam)

I don't take a moral or legal stance on this, as it sounds quite appealing, but I just doubt I would have any idea where to start.
Understandably, I haven't managed to find an a-z of how to do it. All the info is dotted around various forums like this and is almost impossible to navigate through.

 

[rolfw]

Not very many individuals are capable of hacking an encryption, have a read down the Matrix reloaded section, there are several posts which explain what is achievable from existing files.

 

[Analoguesat]

Decide what you want to watch FIRST, then see if its available. You can forget anything in PowerVu & NDS / Videoguard as they are secure.

 

[leecovuk]

thanks both of you;

Seems totally meaningless to post this with tears in my eyes from a film on comic relief, but anyway ....

I've indeed been deciding and I'm pretty sure I want to watch s_x mature content.tv and sexplus.tv, preferably s_x.tv too.
The official subscription details are shown here, the first of which would need to be my option:

http://www.s_x.tv/tv/s_x/buy_now.asp

mmm too expensive .... any tips ? ....

many thanks once again everyone.

lee

 

[rapido]

I've indeed been deciding and I'm pretty sure I want to watch s_x mature content.tv and sexplus.tv, preferably s_x.tv too.
The official subscription details are shown here, the first of which would need to be my option:

http://www.s_x.tv/tv/s_x/buy_now.asp

mmm too expensive .... any tips ? ....

Just before you part with your hard earned cash, I thought I'd let you know that you might be interested in getting Taquilla X, XX and XY, and they seem to be available hacked on the D+ package (in S*ca 2 on Astra 1), and there are also adult films on Playboy and Canal + (on the same bouquet). This would seemingly give you a good selection of mature content and straight films for no subscription.

On the other hand, I think there may be talk about these channels changing to slightly harder encryption soon, but I personally don't know as I can't even get these channels! Just thought you might like to know anyway.

An expert will be able to advise further shortly

-rapido

 

[BGonaSTICK]

D+ due to go bye-byes on the 21st March it's rumoured.

 

[leecovuk]

thanks rapido,

Sadly the whole hacking thing continues to be a complex mystery to me; looks like I'll have to wait until I can afford an official cam+card subscription.