Posts by babthooka

I am trying to set up TVHeadend (4.1-2131~g3e3cad1) and Oscam (1.20-unstable_svn Build: r11248) to run with three DVB-S receivers at once.
For testing purposes, a friend has given me 3 nLines so I can create three readers in Oscam.
What I want to do is to use three receivers and get the setup to use all three nLines, which I am having difficulty with.

My first idea was to tie each receiver to one of the nLines, so the nLine used as a reader would depend on the receiver used by TVHeadend. I see, however, I cannot do this: I can apparently only create one connection between TVHeadend and Oscam, and Oscam will just use the first and best available receiver with no checks. This results in one of the nLines being used most of the times even when streaming three channels at once and the other two nLines being ignored most of the times.

My second idea was then to set up Oscam so it used the three available readers in an "orderly fashion", but I can't seem to get any control over which reader is picked for a playback, and I find myself in the original problem that one of the readers is being used almost all the time, no matter how I set things up.

Any idea how I can get this to work? Any of the above-mentioned scenarios would be fine with me. I would be very thankful if someone could point me to the right how-to or documentation. I have tried to decipher the official Oscam docs but, honestly, I'm not getting much out of that.

Many thanks!

Thanks a bunch, Codar. I did read the rules before I posted, and I believed I had not broken any of the rules. Rule #2 is my guess as to which one I might have given the impression to be about to "bend", but I am uncertain.
This rule refers to "the supporter of a pay server", and I am not 100% certain what would constitute this: Does being the client of such a service constitute being a supporter? (let me assure you that I am not a client or in any way affiliated with any such service), or is it enough just to mention something positive about one of those services? You being a moderator here, perhaps it is important for you to know that for one such as myself, this might not be completely clear. My honest initial assessment of this rule was that I would not be in breach of it unless I administrate or work in any way for such a service.
Just to be clear, I am not trying to defend any position, I'm just trying to understand the rules better.

So, the FAQ you have sent me to did help quite a lot, I think. I understand that one does not share card secrets but rather, one shares the whole device, which includes the card and card reader, which means that, in principle, it is possible to get started with the whole card sharing scene without owning a single card reader. Did I understand this correctly?

I have earlier set up MythTV with DVB-C devices. When setting up MythTV, you have to make certain you can pinpoint your TV card before tuning for channels can start. I suppose this is the same for DVB-S and card sharing. The fact that I will need some kernel devices listed within /dev jumps at me. Can I assume that these will be created (somewhat) automatically once I have my carsharing scheme running? So the card sharing software will take care of this for me automatically, which is why I cannot find any tutorials on how to create these devices myself?

If I am correct so far, my next concern is, what happens when a shared card that I want to use is already being used over the network by someone else? Will I be prevented from using it? Or does this not apply to devices shared over a network?

I have been reading tutorials, guides, and all sorts of articles, and I honestly still have no idea what is up and down here. I have the impression that there is some preconception that I am supposed to know something that I don't yet know, so I hope you can bear with a few noob questions.

Preamble: I want to buy some DVB-S2 equipment to watch TV channels, and I am willing to hack some to have a decent HTPC environment going. I have a relatively solid knowledge of Linux - less so for Windows but since this is linuxsat-support.com, I am good, yes?

As I have understood it, "Card sharing" is the act of sharing card info among different folks through some ftp server set up (many tutorials I see use proftpd, an fpt server I know well, but have never used for card sharing purposes, obviously). So, as I understand it, "card sharing" does not include the part of the scheme where the shared card secrets are used in the down and dirty act of descrambling TV signals one has not payed for. Is this correctly understood?

There must be another side of this business for which I have not yet been able to find a tutorial (am I blind?). How does one actually *use* the card data one has received from ones friends (or ones card data pushers, if one is inclined to use one such service)? Can any one explain to me how this is done, or tell me where to find a good and concise tutorial on this specific subject?

Furthermore, I have seen documents explaining that card reader emulators can be produced. The Oscam emu README file (https://github.com/oscam-emu/oscam-emu) is a good read, and I infer from it that this card reader emulating business is not easy. I think I understand that the scheme I am principally considering to cheat, Conax for Canal Digital, has its encryption in two pieces: the card reader and the card itself.
So, if I want to see Canal Digital nordic, I will need a Conax CAM module actually installed (this cannot be emulated due to clever scrambling schemes by the producers), with no card in it since I will be getting card data from elsewhere. Is this also correctly understood?

As you can probably see, it is the practical physical set up I am sorely lacking so, if any one can shed some light into this matter for me, I'd be thoroughly obliged!