How to get your hands on a free digital TV decoder

Geoff.D said:
Aboutvas dangerous as watching ANY video service when driving, INCLUDING that fancy digital display, and GPS now available on some cars.
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Yeah try using the new or even a slightly older MMI system from Audi and I bet you it would be safer using a phone while driving
 
Trying to find out from my cousin on the farm in NC.

Edit:
Sentech published a link to a dead website where you are supposed to be able to see the status of areas in SA.
But, since the original announcement, that page has been dead, missing in action.
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The amount of those new SABC decoders is going to flood Gumtree and FB marketplace?

I wonder, if they have any encryption, and surely, someone here in SA is going to try and dump keys if they have it.
It shouldn't be long before this thing is hacked..

Tinkerers, hardware hackers and software engineers can join the challenge on getting something to work...
 
MeestaR said:
The amount of those new SABC decoders is going to flood Gumtree and FB marketplace?

I wonder, if they have any encryption, and surely, someone here in SA is going to try and dump keys if they have it.
It shouldn't be long before this thing is hacked..

Tinkerers, hardware hackers and software engineers can join the challenge on getting something to work...
Click to expand...

There's no encryption at all.
 
A DVB-T2 TV box from China costs less than a single TV Licence payment. Does the job just fine and is not nearly as ugly as that abomination supplied by the SABC.
 
Totempole said:
A DVB-T2 TV box from China costs less than a single TV Licence payment. Does the job just fine and is not nearly as ugly as that abomination supplied by the SABC.
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Any suggestions as to where one can purchase these? No way am I going the SABC/Post Office route.
 
MeestaR said:
The amount of those new SABC decoders is going to flood Gumtree and FB marketplace?

I wonder, if they have any encryption, and surely, someone here in SA is going to try and dump keys if they have it.
It shouldn't be long before this thing is hacked..

Tinkerers, hardware hackers and software engineers can join the challenge on getting something to work...
Click to expand...
Have you been living under a rock all this time?
 
Totempole said:
A DVB-T2 TV box from China costs less than a single TV Licence payment. Does the job just fine and is not nearly as ugly as that abomination supplied by the SABC.
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The technology in those boxes is already 15 years old.
A simple DVB-T2 tuner card is all you need. In fact, on modern TVs it is just about a few extra chips on the board.

On my Hisense TV, there is no DVB- T2 facility. BUT if you look closely, the functionality is there on the motherboard. What is missing is nothing more than the cabling interface and the correct sw version.
 
MeestaR said:
The amount of those new SABC decoders is going to flood Gumtree and FB marketplace?

I wonder, if they have any encryption, and surely, someone here in SA is going to try and dump keys if they have it.
It shouldn't be long before this thing is hacked..

Tinkerers, hardware hackers and software engineers can join the challenge on getting something to work...
Click to expand...
I hope they have encryption actually. That way even if you have a TV box, you need to have a up to date licence. Those of us that done have a decoder then can say there is no way I can receive a signal and dont need a license. What would be the incentive to hack these boxes for keys? So you can watch a bunch of BS TV shows and listen to the ANC news bulletin? NO THANK YOU!
 
Ockie said:
I hope they have encryption actually. That way even if you have a TV box, you need to have a up to date licence. Those of us that done have a decoder then can say there is no way I can receive a signal and dont need a license. What would be the incentive to hack these boxes for keys? So you can watch a bunch of BS TV shows and listen to the ANC news bulletin? NO THANK YOU!
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Ignorance even amongst technical people is obviously bliss!
 
Ockie said:
Care to enlighten me then? I am serious. Perhaps I have the wrong end of the stick.
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The key is in the thread title, which is a misnomer. The set-top box is not a decoder, and the signal is never encrypted. It is simply a digital to analog conversion, as per ITT standards. The whole process is done in order to maximise frequency spectrum allocation, and increase the number of DTT channels (and HD).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T2

Edit: There is quite a lot of discussion in an earlier thread. The rollout has been endlessly delayed, but the facts haven't changed: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/sabc-through-dvb-t2-on-hd-tv.955875/
 
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Gordon_R said:
The key is in the thread title, which is a misnomer. The set-top box is not a decoder, and the signal is never encrypted. It is simply a digital to analog conversion, as per ITT standards. The whole process is done in order to maximise frequency spectrum allocation, and increase the number of DTT channels (and HD).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T2
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Well, if in the thread title they say decoder then I dont know why it does not have encryption. In my view, it would be best to have it encrypted and you have to have a paid up TV license to have your "smart card" activated. If you fall in that category of subsidized households, then it gets done for you for free, if not, then you have to provide a paid up TV license, or you dont receive signal. Issue with this is I guess, they will only get the freebies. None of the higher income households will want it because they are watching Netflix or Showmax which dont carry SABC so no license required.
 
Gordon_R said:
The key is in the thread title, which is a misnomer. The set-top box is not a decoder, and the signal is never encrypted. It is simply a digital to analog conversion, as per ITT standards. The whole process is done in order to maximise frequency spectrum allocation, and increase the number of DTT channels (and HD).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-T2
Click to expand...
Not sure what the one available at the post offices looks like or its functionality. It is a decoder in the broadest definition and if the terrestrial and satellite functionality is combined in one box as was the original intention, then it is a decoder.
There is no Encryption, nor Conditional Access functionality activated, even though that functionality might actually exist in the boxes and some might even still have a Smart Card reader.
These days the card functionality is built in as in the OVHD decoders.
The press briefings from the SABC and Sentech all say that the STBs are not yet available for purchase by those not eligible for the ones available at the PO.
Frankly, anyone that wants to buy one should seriously consider simply putting the cash into a new IDTV rather.
 
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Geoff.D said:
Not sure what the one available cat the post offices looks like or its functionality. It is a decoder in the broadest definition and if the terrestrial and satellite functionality is combined in one box as was the original intention, then it is a decoder.
There is no encryption, nor Conditional Access functionality activated, even though that functionality might actually exist in the boxes and some might even still have a Smart Card reader.
These days the card functionality is built in as in the OVHD decoders.
The press briefings from the SABC and Sentech all say that the STBs are not yet available for purchase by those not eligible for the ones available at the PO.
Frankly, anyone that wants buy one should seriously consider simply putting the cash into a new IDTV rather.
Click to expand...

For many people TV is a legacy technology, and not frequently updated. A lot of sets were manufactured with built in capability, but the firmware was not enabled, and is no longer supported. I have a (second hand) Samsung 46in SmartTV, which I use as an LCD screen. It is relatively modern, but no sub-menus for digital tuning.

A look at the specifications (2012 model) shows support for DBV-T(1) only: https://www.comx-computers.co.za/UA46D7000-specifications-51554.htm

Jargon alert: IDTV Integrated Digital TV (built in tuner for DBV-T2)
 
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