What will a Smart Card do for (or against) me??

[Lbeck]

I have a 722 and a non-attached 622. I got a smart card for my 622 yesterday in the mail and I'm wondering if I should install it.

I only pay for programming on the 722. The 622 is a drone that I use just to watch stored programming or programming from an external HDD. It is not hooked to a dish because there is no convenient way to wire it to the outside and I don't want to pay a 2nd receiver fee anyway. I talked a CSR into allowing me to keep the 622 when I purchased the 722 upgrade.

I'm happy with the current setup and I'm afraid that if I install the smart card it will trigger somethng that I don't want - like the receiver looking for a signal, not finding one, and shutting down or something. The 622 works fine as-is and my philosophy is if it ain't broke....

Any advice?

 

[Tony S]

Dish is updating the smartcards because hackers have compromised the security of the current cards. The new cards have better security and should shut down the hackers so that they cannot receive dish network for free.

You will have to change your smartcard because at some time in the near future the old smartcards will be shut off and will not function at all. So change your smartcard now!

 

[Cyclone]

I'd say that if your 622 isn't hooked up to a satellite, then don't install the smart card. You don't know what is involved to get the 622 to work with the new card and that might require some kind of validation from the sat signal.

I'd say don't change your smartcard, unless you plan on hooking the receiver back on to the satellite feed.

 

[Lbeck]

Dish is updating the smartcards because hackers have compromised the security of the current cards. The new cards have better security and should shut down the hackers so that they cannot receive dish network for free.

You will have to change your smartcard because at some time in the near future the old smartcards will be shut off and will not function at all. So change your smartcard now!

If I understand the situation that you describe it only applies to receiving programming. In my case, I do not intend to receive programming and only use the 622 for playback. So I'm still thinking that since it works fine for my use now that I probably shouldn't mess with it.

 

[Lbeck]

I'd say that if your 622 isn't hooked up to a satellite, then don't install the smart card. You don't know what is involved to get the 622 to work with the new card and that might require some kind of validation from the sat signal.

I'd say don't change your smartcard, unless you plan on hooking the receiver back on to the satellite feed.

Thanks (our posts crossed in the air). That's my thinking too. I just usually do as I'm told and the letter said that I should install it. But I won't.

 

[Opusnbill7]

Yeah...I'd just put it in a drawer and hold onto it just in case you decide to hook the 622 back up to satellite again someday. If you never do, then you shouldn't need it anyway, but at least you're prepared...

 

[Pepper]

Another thing to consider: when Dish goes live with the new encryption, and the old is turned off, will that affect new stuff that you then try to playback on the old machine?

 

[Smith P.]

Sure - check Foxbat posts in 211 thread; he cleaned his old 622 disk for 211, but moved old recordings to new EHD for 622, but ... (read his post )

 

[Hall]

Another thing to consider: when Dish goes live with the new encryption, and the old is turned off, will that affect new stuff that you then try to playback on the old machine?

Avoid that by .... not installing the new smart card.

 

[AriesGodofWar]

I say don't do it!! What do you have to lose? You risk bricking the box if you do it now. You risk nothing if you do not do it, only to then find out at a future time that you have to. If you find that out, then insert the card and roll the dice at that time.

 

[Lbeck]

Thanks for all the information and advice. I'll not install the card unless/until I have to. The encryption issue is a concern. What I typically do now is to save programming on the 722 that has more memory, download stuff to the external drive that I put off watching, and then port it to the 622 to watch at my liesure. My viewing habits are different from my wife's and we tend to watch TV in separate rooms.

All this works well now, but I'm wondering if there may be trouble in paradise if I save encrypted 722 data to the HDD and try to play it back on the 622. But I figure the time to worry about that is after I have problems - not before.

 

[peano]

Hmm. I thought if a receiver was desubbed, the EHD would no longer work.

 

[Lbeck]

Nope. Mine works fine as described. But there was a problem getting the EHD function activated. I was totally up front with what I wanted to do, but when the installer left my 622 it wasn't activated for EHD (but the 722 was). I called CSR and they asked for a bunch of information like receiver serial number etc. and after our conversation it became activated.

 

[digiblur]

I'd take the card try to put inside the 622 door somehow without pushing it in all the way or just lay it in the door itself. That way you won't have any worries about losing the card. Or tape it to the bottom or top of the receiver. You never know when you might want that card again.