Does Dave Track Serial Numbers?

[BrainDamage]

I remember reading something about a year ago about IRD serial numbers not being kept on record by Dave.

I want to start a new subscription with Dave, but I have IRD's that used to belong to someone else. I don't want to raise any questions from Dave though.

Does Dave keep a record of IRD serial numbers from previous subscriptions?

In other words, if I am using an IRD that used to belong to Mr. Jones, is there a way for Dave to know this? Or, does Dave only keep record of the access cards?

Thanks!

[zcubed]

I would highly doubt that DTV keeps serial number info. I don't know why they would, and even if they do, I don't think it matters. They just want the money. They don't care if you call up and activate a real hu in a nonexistant made-up, serial number, ird. :cool: I subbed a card that I got out of the paper that came with an ird that the previous owner had subbed. I subbed that card in an ird that i got at c. city that was an open-box item (used to belong to someone else). DTV said nothing.

[BrainDamage]

zcubed, thanks for the reply.

Here is what I am attempting, and don't know if I can do this or not.

I have a group of 5 people. We have a total of 8 IRD's between us at our homes.

We want to get a subscription and split it between us. This way, we each pay 1/5th of the subscription price. We'd all have our own IRDs in our own homes. Dave has no way of knowing where IRDs are located, so all I have to do is tell them I have a big house if they ask.

But, if they tracked serial numbers, they would know that these IRDs were previously subscribed elsewhere, and I don't want to get stuck with that predicament on my hands.

What do you think?

Thanks!

-BrainDamage

[phoztech]

my experience has been that you need to have at least the originally subscribed card(the first card that will be on the account) hooked up to a phone line when subbing multiple recievers... i tried this before and they cut us off after a few weeks ... but i called and yelled and we were back on ... then a few weeks later same thing ...but when the original card is hooked into the phone line everything works fine... I think they are just looking for at least one ird to dial in fom the account from the subscribing home phone number...

and they are going to be rather suspicious of you subbign 8 irds on one account anyway...

of course the last tie mi tried this was about 2 years ago.

[BrainDamage]

Originally posted by phoztech
and they are going to be rather suspicious of you subbign 8 irds on one account anyway...

Thanks for the info... the fact is, my house could easily use 8 IRDs. I have 4 bedrooms with a T.V. in each, my kitchen has a T.V., we have a play room with a T.V. (that is six so far), the living room has a T.V. with P.I.P. that requires TWO IRD's (now we have 8), and, we have a P.I.P. T.V. in the master bedroom so that would be one more IRD.. so that is 9 so far.. and I have a small house.

Imagine how many IRDs there could be in a large house. The P.I.P. function requires an IRD for each picture, so just 1 T.V. requires 2 IRDs.

I don't think 8 IRDs will cause too much suspicion... it is the re-use of IRD serial numbers that I am worried about.

Thanks again for your input though, I will take it into consideration before I call Dave.

Anyone else have any insight? I really want to make sure that the serial numbers are not tracked before I make this call to subscribe.

-BrainDamage

[zcubed]

When you call them, before they can activate, they're gonna want, for sure, the primary ird to be hooked up to the phone line and probably all seven of the other ird as well. All the ird's will have to be hooked up to the same phone line. You will have to give them the cam id of the card and the serial number of the ird that card will be in. They will then marry that card to that ird. I believe that is their only concern with the serial numbers of ird's. After everything is activated, and everybody unplugs and takes their ird's home then the account will probably be shut down within a month or two. UNLESS, and I know this is a pain, but all the ird's would have to be brought back to the "subscribing" house and connected to the phone line once a month, so that the ird's can call dtv. I don't think they will leave the ird's up without this. You pay $5.00 an ird extra, and they want to make sure nobody is doing what you're thinking of and getting a $50.00 package for $5.00. It might be better for ya'll to split the cost on one sub, and then clone it. DTV uses a caller id system to verify that each ird is connected to the line that it was subscribed on. This prevents your friends from simply plugging their ird's in at their houses. DTV might buy the need for 8 ird's in one house, but 8 phone lines is a different story. :cool: Also, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if DTV has limit on how many ird's you can add at $5.00. Good Luck.

[BrainDamage]

Originally posted by zcubed
When you call them, before they can activate, they're gonna want, for sure, the primary ird to be hooked up to the phone line and probably all seven of the other ird as well. All the ird's will have to be hooked up to the same phone line. You will have to give them the cam id of the card and the serial number of the ird that card will be in. They will then marry that card to that ird. I believe that is their only concern with the serial numbers of ird's. After everything is activated, and everybody unplugs and takes their ird's home then the account will probably be shut down within a month or two. UNLESS, and I know this is a pain, but all the ird's would have to be brought back to the "subscribing" house and connected to the phone line once a month, so that the ird's can call dtv. I don't think they will leave the ird's up without this. You pay $5.00 an ird extra, and they want to make sure nobody is doing what you're thinking of and getting a $50.00 package for $5.00. It might be better for ya'll to split the cost on one sub, and then clone it. DTV uses a caller id system to verify that each ird is connected to the line that it was subscribed on. This prevents your friends from simply plugging their ird's in at their houses. DTV might buy the need for 8 ird's in one house, but 8 phone lines is a different story. :cool: Also, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if DTV has limit on how many ird's you can add at $5.00. Good Luck.

OK, so it was a nice dream. I suppose I will just bite the bullet and subscribe like a normal person.

Thanks!

[chevychompers]

Why not just get 1 sub and clone the others? I have 5 houses (14 ird's) all running from my Platinum (Premiere) sub. All are running emu's (with bs cards) but when the hashing starts everyone switches over to the cloned H card (NOT plugged in to phone jack, as a matter of fact I have disabled the jacks on everyones ird's). I keep my sub plugged into a phone line and order about a movie a week. Also everyone insisted that THEY all split my monthly fee (about$100) so it's working out well. Just have to wipe PPV every once in a while.

[BigDog4All]

Damn, ya'll making me feel bad....Thought I was the TV nut.

I got 6 EMUs running, and 2 SUBd IRDs as backups, with cable as a backup that if SFS comes.

So, I do know 8 IRDs in one house is not out of the question...or is it?

1 - Master Bedroom (EMU)
1 - Master Bath (EMU)
1 - Office (EMU)
1 - Sons Bedroom (Sub)
1 - Sitting Room (EMU)
2 - Family Room...for PIC (EMU) n PIC (EMU)
1 - Garage (Sub)

So, IRDs can be placed all over the house. Just remember to all TVs to them...lol

All are Sony B50s, except 2, which are A-4's.

[BrainDamage]

Originally posted by BigDog4All
Damn, ya'll making me feel bad....Thought I was the TV nut.

I got 6 EMUs running, and 2 SUBd IRDs as backups, with cable as a backup that if SFS comes.

So, I do know 8 IRDs in one house is not out of the question...or is it?

1 - Master Bedroom (EMU)
1 - Master Bath (EMU)
1 - Office (EMU)
1 - Sons Bedroom (Sub)
1 - Sitting Room (EMU)
2 - Family Room...for PIC (EMU) n PIC (EMU)
1 - Garage (Sub)

So, IRDs can be placed all over the house. Just remember to all TVs to them...lol

All are Sony B50s, except 2, which are A-4's.

Sorry to make ya feel bad. Have a biscuit on me.

I only have two IRD's, the other 6 are not in my house.. I wanted to share a sub between 4 houses, but from the looks of this thread, it is not going to happen. Bummer.

[orvil01]

just sub one and clone the others, yeah theres a risk, but when nisnt there.

[BrainDamage]

Originally posted by orvil01
just sub one and clone the others, yeah theres a risk, but when nisnt there.

Let me make sure I understand. I can sub one card. Then I can make clones of this card? I am sure that there is more to it than that. Some sort of activation script must be needed, right?

Or, do I simply pop the HU in my unlooper with flashed ATMEL, run ExtremeHU, do a READ of the card and save the .bin file? Then write the .bin file to other cards?

Is this right? If so, too easy.

[spyguy]

DTV uses a caller id system to verify that each ird is connected to the line that it was subscribed on.

What do people who travel via motorhome do? I understand that when they're in a park, they can call up and have their sub "reactivated" if it should happen to be shut down while there. However, what happens when someone who travels often has 6 different phone #'s each month? I agree with the "sub and clone" method (that's always worked well) but the above has me a bit confused. Thanks for any light which may be shed upon this, SG

[zcubed]

Originally posted by spyguy
DTV uses a caller id system to verify that each ird is connected to the line that it was subscribed on.

What do people who travel via motorhome do? I understand that when they're in a park, they can call up and have their sub "reactivated" if it should happen to be shut down while there. However, what happens when someone who travels often has 6 different phone #'s each month? I agree with the "sub and clone" method (that's always worked well) but the above has me a bit confused. Thanks for any light which may be shed upon this, SG

The DTV rule is that you can sub and ird for whatever package you want. Then you can add additional ird's for $5.00/month for the same package. To keep ALL the ird's active, they MUST be plugged into the phone line -- the SAME line they were subscribed on -- DTV verifies this through there caller id system. If someone tried to get the $5.00 sub and take that ird to their house and plug it in -- DTV would see that it is on a different line and cancel it. For people who have motorhomes, and they want to use the second ird for that purpose -- then DTV would tell them that they MUST keep it plugged in while they are not traveling, to keep it active. When the person tries to say, "Yeah, but sometimes i travel for up to 6 months per year," then DTV would tell them to get it's own subscription. THE ONLY WAY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $5.00 A MONTH EXTRA SUB IS TO KEEP IT PLUGGED INTO THE SAME PHONE LINE THAT THE PRIMARY IRD WAS ACTIVATED ON. DTV will shut down the extra ird, quick, if it never calls in, or if it calls in from a different number.

[chevychompers]

I use an H card and all I do is write a current image of my sub card to the clones. When the $300.00 limit is up on the clones, I just write the image again. No problems yet.

[spyguy]

chevy,

Presumeably (damn we need a spell check option here.lol), you saved your image before inserting your card into the stream. Of course if you have (which again, I suspect you did) then when your PPV credits are "used up", you can re-write the "virgin" image to your card thus enabeling you to recieve up to 25 PPV credits once again. This I can understand (it was the norm before 3M scripts) but I can't understand a "motor-homer" (for lack of a better terminology) having to call DAVE to receive their programming package every time they park "the home". I understand that IRD's "check in" via the phone line and if Dave hasn't heard from "you" in a while, he assumes "you no longer love him" (he gets his feelings hurt when you don't call) and he shuts you down. I know how to "circumvent" Dave's checks (3M's, emulation, boot-straps, cloning a subbed bin, wedges, 303 mod's, and many other "out-of..up-to date" ways) but I don't understand how someone walks into "Circuit City" and has a dish installed on their motorhome and subs on site, only to leave and have their dish "repositioned" when they get to their destination. You lock into the "new" coordinates and wallaa..t.v. How long can this go on for someone who travels constantly and subs? Further more, (the basis of my confussion) how can someone sub with a phone plugged in when that phone changes #'s every (week, month, day, etc.)? I'm just curious, nothing more (and I mean...I'm nothing more.lol) SG

[BrainDamage]

Originally posted by cellular
You also must have the IRD plugged into phone when you initially activate the PPV order by remote option. The IRD must call in occasionally to download PPV's or this option will also be shut off, regardless of 1 or 10 receivers. You can wipe PPV and add the 69 byte which will then allow the receiver to accept PPV orders from the remote control. It may periodically get wiped by DTV and have to be re-entered in Extreme.

DTV does not track IRD numbers. I am sure of this. I have written extensively of this before. Do a search or take my word for it :).

OK... I trust you regarding the IRD tracking. Is there a way, that you know of, to have 8 IRD's across 5 different homes, with one account, without cloning cards? In other words, all cards will remain unmodified.

Thanks.

-BrainDamage

[zcubed]

No, IT WILL NOT WORK!!! I mean you can try it, but if you do, then you will have to have everyone bring their receivers over to the subscribing house at least once a month, so you can plug them in, and hopefully during that time they'll call out. Otherwise, DTV will shut down the extra receivers. PERIOD!!! Some things just have to be accepted because that's the way they are. No matter how bad we want to find a way around it, sometimes the rules just can't be broken. This is one of those times. Like I say, you don't have to take my word for it, give it a try and see what happens. Maybe you can think of some reason to tell DTV that will convince them to keep all ird's active. If so, let me know, I'd like to hire ya to talk to a few other people for me. :cool:

[ZiGz]

About this phone line thing. There are places in Canada that will hook you up with a subscription to DTV. Do you think Dave will shut me down if I don't plug into a phone line? If I do I know he will because I'm Canadian.