Did computer hacking destroy ONdigital?

The "proof" was the presenter taking the fat hacker blokes word as fact and calling anyone at NDS liars.

It may well be true, but the presenter stating it all as fact doesn't make it so. Was very poorly put together.
 
Worked fine for me and you can't beat FREE TV :D

They have no sympathy from me though, they used an already compromised encryption (SECA), hacking it was childs play!

Except it wasn't free unless you were stealing it....

I still have a working Nokia 9850 box.

I went through 5 boxes, and ven when we got a decent one the reception sucked, the picture was breaking up more often than not.

Sky was simply superior and cheaper.
 
Except it wasn't free unless you were stealing it....



I went through 5 boxes, and ven when we got a decent one the reception sucked, the picture was breaking up more often than not.

Sky was simply superior and cheaper.


Then your Arial setup was ropey!
I was able to get ALL the channels and they VERY rarely broke up!
This was with pretty much all the box's (Nokia, Philips, pace .etc)

It does seem silly that they didn't use a similar encryption system to Sky at the time.

I doubt Sky would let them use that, all they needed to do was use SECA2 which apart from a very few early cards released in Europe was pretty much secure at the time
 
I believe that hacking sustained OnDigital for longer than it might otherwise have survived. They sold an awful lot of boxes because people could get the premium channels free.

I don't think Sky paid anyone to hack OnDigital per se, but apparently they did have somebody heavily involved in the top end of the hacking scene on their payroll feeding them information. I think was more to protect their own interests and encryption systems rather than sabotage somebody elses.

Don't forget most of the content being viewed for nothing was Sky's.
 
Have you watched the program or assessed the evidence?

The evidence is pretty clear and public domain, hacking was a problem, but this was more due to the refusal to patch/upgrade (after all, Sky's encryption has been cracked several times over the years, and they simply updated it to close the cracked path, as well as relying on the phone line connection to provide a feedback loop of activity).

Incidentally, NDS as a company actually exists to develop and improve the Videoguard system, which is pretty much a legitimate reason to understand how the competition's process works and is breachable...

However, to suggest that this is the sole reason for OnDigital's destruction is to ignore all the other flaws in the groups plans including:
  • Being more expensive than sky for equipment and subscription on launch
  • Basing their operating model on competing with Sky Analogue, then failing to amend it despite sky digital being launched before OnDigital by a number of months.
  • Failing to provide any sort of EPG, and instead relying on newspapers
  • Poor choice of broadcast mode and lack of power meaning most of the country couldn't receive OnDigital at launch, where Sky was practically universal.
  • The 'OnPrepaid' debacle where they 'loaned' thousands of set top boxes to customers with no idea or information of where they were.
  • poor staff management due to excessive use of short term contractors in place of real employees, resulting in key employees leaving at short notice on a regular basis.

It almost makes you wonder if, had the ITC not interfered and BSkyB been allowed to partner Carlton and Granada as originally planned, if they'd have had any better business sense...
 
Just so we're clear Dolph, you think it's legitimate for NDS, a Murdoch controlled company to reverse engineer competitor's products then leak the results to a TV pirating site, which it runs? That's what Panorama alleged FYI.
 
Just so we're clear Dolph, you think it's legitimate for NDS, a Murdoch controlled company to reverse engineer competitor's products then leak the results to a TV pirating site, which it runs? That's what Panorama alleged FYI.

The first part is fine, the second part is illegal. Did panorama offer any actual evidence that the company deliberately leaked the code? The impression I got (when you discounted the unproven claims of the hacker) was that the code was likely to be from that source, but it doesn't follow that the company deliberately and wilfully leaked the code.
 
Well I sorted both parents box's and a good dozen or so friends box's all of which had no real issues!!
You must have been in an area with shocking digital reception!!

In fairness, areas without shocking digital reception were the exception, not the norm.
 
Well I sorted both parents box's and a good dozen or so friends box's all of which had no real issues!!
You must have been in an area with shocking digital reception!!

Aye, and shocking box reliability, and shocking programming and shocking box software also.......

Yep, must be all down to where I live, not the non-existent signal or choice of modulation network that ONDigital chose......
 
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This ****ing contest between our government and Murdoch is getting quite good.

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The first thing they did when Freeview inherited the platform was changing the modulation, and hence forfeit some quality, so that coverage would be decent. Now with the digital switch over happening they're ramping up the kilowatts on the Freeview transmitters.
 
Just watched Panorama - actually the program seems pretty damned convincing - feel free to watch it on iPlayer and try to explain where it has got it wrong.

A Murdoch controlled company in Israel called NDS which appears to specialise in hacking is alleged to have been behind the whole thing.

I simply can't see how the Tories can allow Murdoch to increase his holding in BSkyB . . . still Cameron will undoubtedly want to mend fences with the Dirty Digger ;)

How have you watched that when it says coming soon to iplayer and wont be aired until the 29th?
 
The boxes themseves are worth keeping if your a retro gamer.
Most of them contain modulators. This allows you to plug your RF cable in from your amiga or megadrive for example. Then connect the digi box to the TV using the scart output. Since most new TVs without digiboxes builtin dont have RF inputs, but most do have 1 or 2 scarts.

I still have one of the first edition philips ondigital boxes. It worked great every day no problems until digital switch over, then it just couldnt find any channels.

Yes it was stupidly easy to get a cracked card for £10 quid down the pub that unlocked every channel on the box, including all the subscription nature docs.
 
[TW]Fox;21559358 said:
Guessing voicemail PIN's have not been changed from default is only really 'hacking' in the eyes of newspaper headlines.

Yup.

I had a 'mother of god' moment when they first announced mobile phone hacking, they made it sound like live calls were being intercepted.

In reality, although an invasion of privacy; it's a simple task to undertake. I blame the mobile phone companies for setting it up this way.
 
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