DirecTV / NDS newest card is named D1

[Seymour Butts]

Quote from Yahoo Financial News:
Press Release Source: DIRECTV, Inc.

DIRECTV and NDS Announce Stay in Litigation
Tuesday August 5, 12:01 pm ET


EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2003--DIRECTV, Inc. and NDS Group plc announced today that they have agreed to stay the litigation between them pending in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Calif. The stay will continue until the anticipated closing of the acquisition by NDS' parent company, The News Corporation Limited, of 34 percent of DIRECTV's parent company, Hughes Electronics Corporation. The acquisition is currently undergoing regulatory review and is expected to close by year-end, upon which the litigation and all claims and counterclaims alleged therein, will be dismissed with prejudice.
The companies further announced that DIRECTV will begin deploying a new conditional access viewing card, known as the D1 card, which contains technology contributed by both DIRECTV and NDS. NDS and DIRECTV have also agreed to discuss plans for future generations of conditional access viewing cards to be used by DIRECTV.

In connection with their agreement to stay the litigation, the parties have entered into specified commercial arrangements, which include resolving outstanding payment issues with respect to the P4 and D1 viewing cards.

About DIRECTV

DIRECTV is the nation's leading digital multichannel television service provider with more than 11.5 million customers. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design logo are trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp. HUGHES is the world-leading provider of digital television entertainment, broadband satellite networks and services, and global video and data broadcasting. The earnings of HUGHES, a unit of General Motors Corporation, are used to calculate the earnings attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock (NYSE: GMH - News). For more information, visit DIRECTV.com

About NDS

NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS - News; NASDAQ Europe: NNDS) is a leading supplier of open end-to-end digital pay TV solutions for the secure delivery of entertainment and information to television set-top boxes and IP devices. See nds.com for more information about NDS.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: DIRECTV, Inc.
(Edited email and internet links)

[RiseStar]

Oh goody, yet another new access card unveiling coming in the near future.

Looks like the Directv stand-alone series card is going to be the shortest run in history.

[BRAT]

change cards like i change socks

brat

[Justin]

Well knowing how these guys work, considering that DTVs in house card was based on NDS's system to begin with. I'm betting the in house card we have already seen (not P4 but the more recent pics) is the D1 they are talking about.

[RiseStar]

Its possible, however at the moment, there is no reference to NDS anywhere on the new access card, if what you say is true, then NDS at the very minimum will demand that they put their usual logos and copyrights on it...



Originally posted by Justin
Well knowing how these guys work, considering that DTVs in house card was based on NDS's system to begin with. I'm betting the in house card we have already seen (not P4 but the more recent pics) is the D1 they are talking about.

[mouse01]

just send the people who allready ot one of those cards a new one with logos and blacklist the old ones. it will cost directv some money but nothing they can't handle.

[FISHMAN]

F-H-HU-P4-D1... one more to play with huh//

[BUKSING]

how do you play with a p4 and a d1?

[mouse01]

Originally posted by BUKSING
how do you play with a p4 and a d1?
it involves about a six pack of beer and some jello. ;)

[Bone Daddy]

Originally posted by mouse01
it involves about a six pack of beer and some jello. ;)
:eek: Or if you're CPB it's a 9v battery some tin foil, oh and keep the jello there's always room for jello...

[BUKSING]

then when does the popcorn & nachos come in?

[jmackabus]

Man, this forum has really fallen off......

[choctawba]

SCID (smart card ID) sydrome as it now should be called is or will be affecting many soon. Caused by exposure to too many smart card revisions in too short a time span. Symptoms range from shortness of breath and sweating to body undulations, cigarette craving and all seem to suffer from an odd compulsion to watch pornographic channels on DirecTV for hours and hours and hours on end. There is no known treatment for this ailment at this time. If you suffer from any of these symptoms contact your local -----house operator at once. They seem to have had some success with one on one treatments of several varieties. Handcuffs, leather and chains may be required for the severely afflicted.

[Dbltrimmer]

I posted before that the DTV numbskulls wouldn't have the brain power needed to keep up their own secure access card. But did anyone believe me? No.
In fact legions of you ranted and raved about the intellectual superiority of DTV technichians, hah!

[Seymour Butts]

It may be all about the almighty dollar and they're trying to save some coin.
NDS can mass produce cards cheaper than DTV I would think.

[CISCOKID]

This smells fishy to me,I think this is a ploy from Dtv to get whoever has the fix for the P4 to show their hand,if someone does have a fix for the P4 this will make them in a panic put out their investment fast to recoup thinking there is another access card in the making and bam!Dtv will find out where there security in the P4 stands and counteract,or maybe Dtv and Nds are cuddeling up with one another again which is highly unlikely with all the hashings going on lately and 3ms dropping like flies,why would they need Nds any more?Just doesn't sound right at all,in fact with all the hashings every Tuesday and Fridays it looks like they really don't need the P4 since they have the fuse and A.I.3ms cloaking techniques down to a science,since it is getting closer to football season they will probally switch up hashings to Sundays right before kick-off times.Time will tell!

[Phantoms]

You may be right about trying to flush out someone who may have the fix, but I would bet on Sunday hashing anyway.

[ricter]

Does the new card mean that direct is already replacing the p4 or what, just a little confused here.

ricter

[inDSS]

there are no adjustment packets in the stream to indicate that dtv is supporting anything other than HU and P4 cards currently. no matter how it is painted or which letters you use to refer to it, inside it is either running as a HU or a P4 or you aren't watchin' tv.

iD

[f117stealth]

But like taxes, we all will end up paying for it in our subscriptions. So I wonder if we will have to send back our Access 4 card? I also wonder if it will eventually be illegal to have Kazaa installed, since its only intended purpose is to trade files which are pretty much illegal?

Originally posted by mouse01
just send the people who allready ot one of those cards a new one with logos and blacklist the old ones. it will cost directv some money but nothing they can't handle.

[Justin]

The reason for the D1 is when NDS and DTV where busy suing each other some of the techincal documents about the structure of P4 were leaked. Even if the card hadn't of been broken there was a good chance it would be. That's why the D1. And the cards cost them next to nothing, less than $5 each. It costs them more to design the card, mail them, and pay for customer service phone support.


Also there is a possibilty that the only difference between P4 and D1 is some phyical security measure that was added so they might run on the same datastream.

[choctawba]

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE DATASTREAM THINGY....EVERY FEW MONTHS SOMEONE HAS TO BRING UP THE IDEA OF SEPERATE DATASTREAMS....FOLKS THERE AINT BUT ONE DATASTREAM...THERE HAS ONLY BEEN ONE...AND THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE....ITS NOT A FUNCTION OF CARD ISSUE FOLKS...THEIR ENTIRE NETWORK DEPENDS ON ONE COMMON DATASTREAM....SO BEFORE THIS RUMOR GETS GOING AGAIN ABOUT SEPERATE DATASTREAMS....

STOP

LOOK

LISTEN

THERE IS ONLY ONE DATASTREAM....ALWAYS HAS BEEN....ALWAYS WILL BE!

[thumpar]

Hey choctawba! Good to see you around.

I think people are just used to saying stream when they mean packets, but you are right others don't understand.

As for the new card using the same packets, it would not make sence to design a new card that uses the same packets as the old card. There are enough p4 cards out there that if it was compromised people could easely find one. It would be like changing to laser cut keys on your locks but the old ones would work still. Not really an advantage.

Thumpar

[Justin]

choctawba,

I meant what you said. I should have been more specific so I wouldn't confuse the newbies. There is only 1 datastream. When the HU card was introduced the structure of INS 40 packets changed and a whole new set of encrypted packets showed up. Same might happen when the D1 starts being used (or not). That's what I meant, not that we switch to a different datastream but what we see in the datastream changes.

[morgana]

DTV had accused NDS of being behind more then a few breaks in the cards they made for them, and the contract under which NDS produced cards for DTV was up this Aug 2003. I Belive the date of expirey was the 20th but not sure on that. DTV knowing that they wanted to dump NDS then did produce a smart card withing their own house and planned to start using it after the contract was up. That way getting rid of NDS completely, but NDS like the house guest from hell, knew their very survival depended on keeping DTV's contract, but that is a little hard when the company you want to stay with, wants nothing more then to see you gone and destroyed. So they took the only path avaiable to them, and that was to sue DTV for using code they produced while making cards for them. This would tie up the release of the new card and make major head aches for the company. It was a lever they were going to use to back DTV into making deals with them. As you can see by the deals made the leverage worked.

Now before you all go running off thinking the new card has the same code as the P4, it is not that way. If you look into what NDS claimed about code being theirs, it was not very much, but even small things can give large problems. If the code was close to the P4, the court case would have been an open and shut issue. So for those who think about this, it is going to tell you that there are only minor things the same with the D1 and P4 cards. That should put all the rumours in their place. It is one thing to base things on rantings of people in the forums who have a friend of a friend...... and quite another to base things on court documents filed between NDS and DTV. The lawsuits will be based in fact not rumour, as far as similarities go. So I will put my faith in that.

Now that DTV and NDS are again working together I am not sure that going to last, but it definitely is not going to do us any good in the end.

[BlueCop]

some of you guys made some interesting points on perhaps using the D1 to flush out the P4 hack or whatever your conjecture was. I personally think differently. well anyway im a ultimatetv hacker and back a around in march i obtained internal memos on the new software version for ultimatetv. it has one line you guys might find interesting

As always, updates are noted below in blue.
*******************************************************************
Decisions and Noteworthy Accomplishments From Last Week
FAT updates:
* FAT bug count = 2; P1 FAT bugs = 1 (as of 2/3)
* Build 28217 passed quicklooks
* QA currently working on regression testing, this may be our FAT build!!!
* All UTV issues have been addressed with DTV, we are still awaiting their feedback on 12 open issues (we cannot move forward until DTV has resolved them)
Schedule updates:
* We are working towards a FAT entry date of 2/14/2003, this is currently in DTV hands. See DanyJ w/questions
* Beta Trials is now on build 28215.
* QA is testing 28217 (FAT build?) in an attempt to get into trials this week
* We created a discussion group for 1.2 beta users: <http://msntv/Mercury1.2/Lists/12%20...up/AllItems.htm> Thanks to all who have posted on the site. Please help respond to 1.2 questions, comments, or concerns. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and it will make our jobs as trial coordinators a lot easier as well!
Risks (Red / Yellow Flags)
Red
* Meeting our new FAT date of 2/14/2003, DTV has not been very responsive or helpful regarding bitstream errors
* We do not have the resources to review every (Bitstream) bug for DTV like we have in the past (although Steven has done an excellent job) and we continue to de-bug DDI errors for DTV
* DTV did not agree to our original proposal regarding bitstreams. They have agreed to review bitstream tests on a case-by-case basis.
* DTV is implementing D1 access cards early this year and have asked us to provide a test plan and procedure. See DanyJ for details.
* DTV is requesting a fix for the "multiple AC-3 frames per packet" issue. Estimated Dev time for this is six - twelve weeks. See DanyJ with questions.
Yellow
Other Noteworthy News & Reminders:
* DIRECTV status business meeting notes: http://msntv/mercury1.2/Project%20%...%2001-16-03.htm
* We’ve created a discussion group on the MSNTV site for 1.2 beta users: <http://msntv/Mercury1.2/Lists/12%20...up/AllItems.htm>
* Weekly UTV Activations (see report 2): <http://utvdwweb/ultimatetv/Pages/Bu...Key_Metrics.htm>
* OOTO calendar (Pls put trainings, work-at-home days, and vacations in there!): <http://colliers/calendar/default_merc.html>
* Vacation Days: SteveO 2/3-14; DanyJ 2/13-17.
As always, if you know what you're looking for but don't see it here, please ask your manager or email Merc-PM. Thanks!

i posted this on dsschat severla many monthes ago but with these new changes the post disappeared.

sorry for posting all the useless stuff to you guys along with the one statement but i didn't think i would be believed if i just posted the one section.