The DE-FACTO consumer satellite dish
descrambler is the VIDEOCIPHER system which is manufactured by
General Instruments (G.I) in the USA. There are stand alone
decoders still available. However a major consideration is that at
the present time, descrambler technology is changing and older
descramblers will not work under the new standards. Beware when
buying an IRD (INTEGRATED, RECEIVER DESCRAMBLER) that the unit can
be upgraded to the new VC-II+ and forthcoming VC-II+ RS (Renewable
Security) if you plan on watching scrambled (Mostly Cable)
services or Pay Per View movies and sports events.
A variety of satellite dish descrambler
systems are in use. In Canada, the OAK ORION system was used by
TELESAT CANADA on the ANIK (Canadian) satellites. CANCOM dumped
OAK, in preparation for EXPRESSVU DBS. There ARE some USA programs
transmitted with the OAK-ORION system, primarily Horse Racing and
Hospital programming. While it is LEGAL to own a OAK-ORION
decoder, there are not enough services available in this format to
warrant doing so. Unless a person is a REAL horse racing nut, and
even then, getting the decoder AUTHORIZED to descramble the horse
races is questionable.
In the USA, there had been a serious
market for "pirate" or "chipped" satellite dish descramber
systems, which receive scrambled services without the payment of
subscription fees. This situation has lead to the change to the
revised VC-II+ and forthcoming VC-II+ RS systems, which hope to
thwart this piracy through the use of a renewable "credit card"
type of chip system. Of course, this technology costs the consumer
additional money, on top of subscription fees that for the most
part are higher than comparable cable prices. Since the majority
of the scrambled channels are owned by the cable TV conglomerates,
who would prefer people subscribe to cable rather than view by
satellite, the reasoning here is obvious. For this reason,
satellite TV popularity in the USA has declined with the exception
of those offered by Dish Network and DIRECTV.
For more information on satellite dish
descrambler systems or to choose from a variety of related
products and services, visit the following:
