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Re: FTA in Canada said by Mark Z:Is it for real? Is it theft? Any Canadian content? Will my Bell TV dish work with FTA? If this is real, why isn't everyone doing it? Very curious, seems to good to be true. 1. No it's not real. Don't listen to what anyone says. 
2. The signals are being zapped into your backyard. You are just shoving them towards your tv. Make your own decision.
3. Sure.
4. Bigger is better.
5. Because it's not real. |
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 SnickerdoPremium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON | reply to JayMan26
said by JayMan26:the chatter is Nagra 3 is already cracked in Europe where it's already active. Indeed, word on the street is that it has been for a while. |
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 EveryNamePremium
join:2001-12-05
Montreal
kudos:1 | reply to Mark Z
Is it for real? Absolutely. Satellite piracy has been around for decades. It started big with DirecTV. One of the big advantages was that Canadians could now watch some of their favorite American shows. ESPN, Comedy Central, HBO were top picks.
Is it theft? Yes and no. FTA stands for Free To Air. There are actually many satellites that you can point your dish too that are 100% free. Nothing illegal about that. Its kind of like Over the Air TV broadcasts.. except on a big scale with a satellite. You can also program your receiver (usually by putting the update on a USB thumbdrive, then sticking it into the receiver) to receive either Bell ExpressVU or DishNetwork. Those are the two main ones, but there are also others. StarChoice and DirecTV DO NOT WORK with FTA.
Any Canadian content? If you pointed it to Bell ExpressVU, you'd have tons of Canadian content.
Will my Bell TV dish work with FTA? Yes, it would work without a hitch. You'd just have to unplug your old receiver from the dish and plug in your new one. Very simple.
If this is real, why isn't everyone doing it? They are! In Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto, especially in the Arab, Chinese, or Spanish neighborhoods, you will see houses and apartments with up to 5-6 dishes. This is mostly due to the fact that Canadian TV doesn't have very much foreign content, and their only way of getting it is through FTA. Please note however that a lot of foreign content is available for free, so they are not necessarily stealing anything.
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Now, a few things you should know. It is not illegal to own the receiver, as it does have a legitimate purpose (FTA channels). But it is illegal once you reprogram your receiver to receive Pay-TV content (Bell, Dish, etc.)
FTA is massive in Canada, and your chances of getting caught are slim to none. There are even quite a few FTA stores that i've seen throughout Canada. I've seen some in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver. So its not illegal to have the box... just what you do with the box is illegal. Such as its not illegal to own a computer, but you could get into serious trouble if you used it for hacking.
Another thing that you should know, is that when using FTA to receive Pay-TV, the providers will be constantly finding new ways to shut it down. It may only be down for a day, but it could be down for much more than that. Its a cat and mouse game between the television providers and the people who write to code to circumvent the encryption of the satellite signal.
If you do plan on doing this, I strongly urge that you keep your existing subscription, not only as a backup when it does go down, but to continue supporting our Canadian Television economy.
If you have any other questions, feel free to IM me. |
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1 edit | reply to Mark Z
I know someone who has an IKS receiver. It connects to the internet and any time the box goes down due to an ECM, when the new file is available it auto downloads from the net. His box is like $450 though pff. he gets like 4 sats from 1 dish. |
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| reply to Mark Z
You guys sure know your stuff! Some excellent answers, very much appreciated!  Locked into Bell TV for another 6 months, doubt I would cancel but a serious downgrade is in order as I pay $80 a month after all fees and there still ain't nothing on 
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»www.norml.ca/ |
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| reply to alexpb1
said by alexpb1:I know someone who has an IKS receiver. It connects to the internet and any time the box goes down due to an ECM, when the new file is available it auto downloads from the net. His box is like $450 though pff. he gets like 4 sats from 1 dish. Given the nature of the "hobby" I'd seriously reconsider having any receiver hooked to the internet with a traceable IP address.
Always gotta watch your back in this game.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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SnickerdoPremium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON | reply to alexpb1
said by alexpb1:I know someone who has an IKS receiver. It connects to the internet and any time the box goes down due to an ECM, when the new file is available it auto downloads from the net. His box is like $450 though pff. he gets like 4 sats from 1 dish. I have an IKS receiver, it cost $190 including tax, I have those same benefits you talk about, and I four sats from two separate dishes.
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I swear that I will faithfully and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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SnickerdoPremium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON | reply to mr weather
said by mr weather:Given the nature of the "hobby" I'd seriously reconsider having any receiver hooked to the internet with a traceable IP address. That whole issue has been debated to death, and for the most part the general conclusion is that no one has anything to worry about in either the US or Canada.
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I swear that I will faithfully and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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| You never know.
That's why I also paid cash for my receivers.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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SnickerdoPremium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON | In the grand scheme of things, we should all be more worried about downloading movies and MP3s - in Canada, this is a non-issue, so you see my point. 
said by mr weather:That's why I also paid cash for my receivers. I paid cash for my Nfusion. No tax, either.
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I swear that I will faithfully and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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2 edits | reply to Mark Z
The reason he paid so much was because it was one of those HD PVRs. It seems if you go HD PVR the price shoots up a LOT.
»www.ftadiy.com is a good site. They are based in Toronto too. You just got to make sure you remember to hit "Canadian shopper" so the prices adjust to CAD (no price difference, you just dont get dinged on exchange rate difference) |
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SnickerdoPremium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON
1 edit | said by alexpb1:The reason he paid so much was because it was one of those HD PVRs. It seems if you go HD PVR the price shoots up a LOT. Um, mine is a network PVR and it only cost $190. No FTA PVR I've seen - IKS or not - is $450. Some top out in the mid-300s but those are the dual tuner Viewsats. He must have an Nfusion HD, that's the only way you're ever going to get above $400.
Edit - HD PVR, right. That explains the price. I should read more closely 
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I swear that I will faithfully and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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EveryNamePremium
join:2001-12-05
Montreal
kudos:1 | reply to Mark Z
I would have to strongly recommend either Viewsat or Sonicview. |
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| reply to Snickerdo
I've got a Diamond 9000HD PVR and it works well for OTA and true FTA. I added a 160GB drive and can record HD programs.
It's not as seamless as my Rogers PVR but it does the job and OTA HD picture quality is stunning.
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"It's all coming down!!" - Mike Holmes |
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| reply to Mark Z
For beginners get the Viewsat Ultra. It probably has the best firmware support around. Also don't be fooled in purchasing a clone receiver. They look almost identical except for small details on the sides and back of the unit. |
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 kingb71
join:2000-10-09
Mississauga, ON | reply to Mark Z
Will we ever see set top boxes that you can connect to the internet (for programming, not updates)instead of needing a dish? |
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| reply to Snickerdo
I have a Sonicview 8000 that I love. I'm a bit disappointed in the amount of HD I can get, but that may just be due to where my dish is pointing.
I kind of wish there was a good HD with PVR and Ethernet update support though. |
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EveryNamePremium
join:2001-12-05
Montreal
kudos:1 | reply to kingb71
said by kingb71:Will we ever see set top boxes that you can connect to the internet (for programming, not updates)instead of needing a dish? Nowhere in the near future. |
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 andybPremium
join:2003-05-29
SW Ontario
kudos:1
 ·TekSavvy DSL
1 edit | reply to Devanchya
The vs9000HD is coming out with a firmware update late this year supposedly that will turn it into a dual tuner using the addon module or something like that but it doesn't do IKS.NfusionHD does and has recording but is still a single tuner so if recording you have to watch something on the same transponder. |
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