[carpenter1]

I am no expert, but I AM an observer to what has transpired over the last couple of years.
Free To Air receivers have been around more than a decade, but weren't that popular until they started offering solutions to pay provider's encryptions. This didn't happen until DTV tightened up their security issues with the P4.

In the beginning it was the "open source" devices that were first to incorporate algorithms to defeat certain encrypted signals. PCI DVB cards and Dreambox lead the way in opening up these services to the masses. With the ending of the HU stream, and the much tighter P4 platform, Companies already manufacturing a legal device (FTA makers), boldly made a move to increase their product sales. That move was to follow the lead of "open source" devices and incorporate the necessary algorithm in a "firmware" update. Private sources hired coders and adapted new "firmware" to existing units to create the first STB's that boldly offered an alternative to hacking cards. Blackbird was born. Their early units required "private ware" support, and the units were very pricey, but DID work as proclaimed. It didn't take Korea long to see the market for an FTA receiver with 3rd party software updates, that circumvented security features of providers Conditional Access Modules (cards).

Fortec steps up;

The first company to offer a public "free" solution to open secured signals was Fortec. One of their key engineers was assigned the task of "coding" a fix that would make their unit much more appealing to purchase. The name for that engineer was coined from the task at hand. He had to figure a way to incorporate a code to decrypt the signal of pay providers. He had to do this in his off time, & off company premises. Armed with only a notebook and knowledge of what needed to be done, he would sit in bars ALL of his spare time and write in C++ to perfect the code. Hence his nickname ******..(short for ALL 7 days working in a bar till completed) Needless to say he was successful, and Fortec started selling like hotcakes!

Enter Pansat;

Now another smart business man saw the success, and the sales impact of this code creation. His STB unit was being made in the same factory as the Fortec and was so similar in construction, that the newly patched firmware, would work on his units also.
Both Pansat & Fortec were being made in Korea by Globaltech. It was simple to have Pansat engineers look at what Fortec was doing and to start coming out with their own fixes as well. Sales exploded for both of these companies after DTV introduced the P4. It quickly became apparent there was a huge market that was hungry for more Free TV! A spokesman and promoter was brought in to make announcements, add drama to the forums, and overall, push to increase sales. The guy they picked was loud, arrogant, and purposeful about his duties. He quickly found himself banned and BLACKLISTed from the original FTA site. Blacklist was born! Offering a well established product (Pansat) with the added decrypt capabilities, Pansat was an instant winner for the public. Now we had ourselves some competition between coders.

Introducing "market frenzy";

Sales were beyond optimistic, and at one point Pansat was selling 50,000+ units per month! The owner of Pansat was smiling BIG time, and became a multi-millionaire in a years time. Blackbird became obsessed with protecting their product & investment, and tried in vain to prevent "clones' of their product, by adding an encrypted protection chip to their units and were the first to do a "clone kill" and inadvertantly killed their own boxes. Pansat's spokesman became a bit disillusioned over the money he was to receive, and went looking for another company that had a good product but needed exposure, that he could help find their way in this fast moving market.

Enter Coolsat;

The owner of Coolsat had seen Fortec & Pansat take off and sell millions of $$$ worth of product, and also wanted to compete. Originally, all this fast paced sales game had caused a shortage of parts to build units with in Korea. Hyundai saw this and stepped up to provided more parts for ALL competing companies. Hubtech was producing units that were basically the same unit and marketting it under 4 names around the world. Coolsat was among these names and wanted a piece of the North American pie. With Hyundai support & assistance with firmware, Coolsat only needed a spokesman to get the product noticed.

Blacklist switches camps;

Blacklist was contacted by the owners of Coolsat, and in turn contacted me and excitedly told me about Hubtech and the great product being introduced as Coolsat.
It was immediately apparent their engineers were superior to anything we had previuosly seen, as they were first to implement a working Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to the market. Sales Exploded overnight for Coolsat as they offered the world a peak at advanced Hyundai coding that worked better than the rest. Unfortunately for the industry, the owner of Coolsat would prove out to be less than reputable in his dealings with those around him. Blacklist packed up and went back to Pansat and has helped improve their firmware again.

Coolsat battles "clones"

Not long after Bl left as spokesman for Coolsat, the popularity of their product became apparent as clones from China hit the N.A. market. With Hyundai engineers & support, Coolsat was the first company to successfully defend their intellectual rights (firmware they had developed) by introducing a timebomb that killed ONLY cloned units. This was no easy task, yet they pulled it off successfully. It was mismanagement of the company later on that resulted in loss of Hyundai support and financial problems for Coolsat. Continued mismanagement of the company has caused Coolsat's unfortunate position in the industry now.

Viewsat debut's a new design;

One of the original partners of Coolsat had been squeezed out of that company and decided to introduce his own box and a departure of the usual StMicro mainboard. The purpose of the Viewsat quickly became apparent. They had disected a top of the line Dishnetwork box, and had chosen the Conexant mainboard with a much faster processor and more RAM. I was skeptical at first of the change to Conexant based units, but was assured this design had merit. It's over a year later, and the design has proven itself well. The difference that seperates this unit from the others has been their purposeful commitment to the N.A. market and the leaps & bounds of improvements they've introduced. With some 300,000 units now in service, the company strives to bring the end user what they want. Features have been added that were a direct result of forum members input on what they wanted to see in a unit. With some 70 engineers at their disposal, they are here to stay.

Others follow;

While this post may be a bit long winded, there were alot of milestones that needed to be mentioned. I haven't covered all of these, just the ones I've witnessed or been privy to. As Dishnetwork began the switch to N2, and it wasn't immediately apparent that these companies would have a solution, I staunchly held & reported N2 would fall. South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Much of their knowlege comes from the "shared technology" pool of information available there. While nobody could say for sure that N2 would fall, I firmly believed this country would find a way to beat the system. On Aug 31st. when Dishnet switched 160+ channels to N2, within 6 hrs. Korea responded by adapting a known European N2 hack from Spain into the firmware releases. Coolsat, Viewsat, Pansat, all released N2 fixes that stunned everyone but me. Fortec had already packed it in and given up on the N.A. market due to the competition and their fear that N2 would prove to be secure. Today, some 11 mo. later, they decide to return..

The Saga continues;

Many new companies have cropped up. Many are still forming. Competition is fierce, and the FTA market has grown incredibly. I have NEVER doubted FTA would be the #1 sought after solution. I did however under estimate the total sales figures of all of the players combined. There are some 4 million FTA units currently in service (approx. 1/3 of a certain providers subs). This doesn't sit well with the 2 major providers in Canada & the U.S. We will surely continue to see them pull out all stops to defeat these companies that manufacture FTA units. I have always told you guys the truth to the best of my knowlege. I have predicted much of what has occured, and I still firmly believe that with GREED as a motivation, these companies will continue to provide solutions for whatever they throw at us. My biggest fear is that the S.E.C.,& the F.C.C. will succumb to pressure being applied by these providers and institute some type of sanctioning body that will enforce trade agreements, and limit the importing of these devices. As it stands now, there appears to be no end in sight. Mpeg 4 is awhile off and presents the next hurdle for these companies. New units are in development & future units DO include mpeg4 & HD capabilities.

I hate to say it, but I can see the end coming within a year or so, due to a sanctioning body that WILL permanently curtail pirate devices being imported to N.A. Competition is fierce, new units are cropping up at an alarming rate, and even China is now vying for a piece of "American Pie". I apologize for not including ALL the major advancements or companies that have made an impact on this hobby. There ARE literally dozens. Again, this is a brief assessment of the ones I've been involved with. Competition has driven prices down to the point anybody can afford one of these units, and N.A. is being flooded with products that circumvent providers security measures. For this reason, I see them trying to stop the importing of these devices.

I hope I'm wrong this time, not my words.
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