smartcard

[kaka]

hi,what is a smartcard?i am interested in purchasing 5900 receiver with a 36"FS90U dish,the dish does not include a smartcard or lnbf,so what i want to know is what type of smartcard and lnbf for a 40 or 20mm holder?THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[pictureon]

This dish comes with an LNB holder that fits 40mm and it has an adapter for 20mm lnb.
Smart card is a programming card that you insert into your receiver to watch scrambled channels when you pay a provider to watch them. Like Globecast which provide some international channels you could watch by using their smart card. The receiver you're getting does accept smart cards. For the LNBF you can get either 40 or 20mm. Your dish can handle both

[pictureon]

BTW, If you buy a complete syastem from Sadoun, you get the lnbf and you save money, insted of buying a receiver and a dish

[kaka]

hi,i'm buying the s-2 system with an upgrade to a FC90U instead of the regular FS80U dish but the 9- doesn't include the lnb or smartcard and so i ordered the lnb as well.which provider do i subscribe to use the smartcard and what is the price for this card because i requested it with my order.thanks.

[vj9999]

I don't think that Sadoun sells smart cards. It is typicaly something that the provider sells and sends to you. I'm not sure if there are any subscription based services in North America that will let you buy a smartcard from them seperately and insert it in your receiver.

[mikey]

I did a brief review of the 5900 here:

http://www.sadoun.net/viewtopic.php?t=4162

Note well that there are lots of smart card formats, and that the 5900 handles Nagravision ONLY. I got burned on that one, since I needed Viaaccess capability, and the 5900 would not handle that.

Acutally the reason I got into trouble was that I subscribed to TAN (The Asia Network). They sent me the smart card, and then offered me a receiver to go with it, but I chose instead to try the 5900 - to my regret. Ulitmately, I had to return it to Sadoun for refund (minus restocking fees #-o ) and I ended up calling TAN and begging them for a hurry-up shipment of one of their Viaaccess-capable Samsung recievers.

If you decide to go with a subscription service, I therefore STRONGLY recommend that you order the reciever from the same people who supply your smart card.

[Slinky]

I'm not sure if there are any subscription based services in North America that will let you buy a smartcard from them seperately and insert it in your receiver.

A few do but you will have to have the right receiver matching the smartcard.

[kaka]

what is nagravision,how many channels do they provide and how do i subscribe for it?also what subscription company do i contact to receive the correct smartcard for the 5900-receiver,thank and bye?

[mikey]

I’m still very much a newbie myself, but having learned way too much the hard way, I’ll try to help . . .

“Nagravision” is NOT a subscription service, or a company offering programming or channels. It is just one of several ways that video signals can be scrambled.

So, first you need to decide what kind of programming you are interested in. Spanish? Arabic? In my case, I wanted “The Asia Network” because I wanted to watch Korean programming.

Once you’ve decided what kind of programming you want, you need to find a subscription channel that carries these kinds of programs. I honestly don’t know much about all the other foreign-language suppliers, though. You may need to ask around to find out who supplies programming for whichever language you’re interested in.

Once you have decided on a particular subscription channel, you will then need to contact them and ask which scrambling system they use. If they say “Nagravision,” then the 5900 should work for you. If they say something else (like “CrytoWosks,” “MIDIAGUARD,” or “Viaccess”) forget it! The 5900 won’t work!

Honestly, (as I mentioned above) it might be much easier just to buy the receiver directly from the satellite company you get the Smart Card from. That way you will know, for sure, that the receiver you get will work properly with their satellite broadcasts.

I should add that if you don’t have a particular pay-satellite provider in mind, you might be perfectly happy with a “Free To Air” system. These don’t need a smart card. You just watch whatever non-scrambled shows are coming from the satellite you’re aimed at. Honestly, during the short time I had it, the Fortec Star 5900 did NOT impress me much. The only thing it had going for it was the Nagravision “smart card” slot.

If you don’t need the Nagravision slot, the Fortec Star “Lifetime Ultra” is a WAY better unit, in my opinion. It locks on to signals almost instantly, and the “power scan” lets you hunt town every active signal from whichever satellite you’re aimed at. I was absolutely delighted with my Lifetime Ultra . . . until The Asia Network began scrambling their signal and I couldn’t use my Lifetime Ultra any more. The only real problem I’ve seen with the Lifetime Ultra’s is that the clocks are all inaccurate. Not a big deal, I guess, but it’s something so simple that you have to wonder why they’ve never fixed it.

Hope this helps!