[linux-dvb] SECA-Mediaguard Soft CAM

[h.berlioz@freesurf.fr]

There are several drawbacks using PCMCIA conditional access modules (CAMs)
with the Siemens DVB card : 

- you have to buy one PCMCIA for each conditional access system (Viaccess,
MediaGuard, Irdeto, Alphacrypt, Conax, ...) 
- CAMs are not available for all systems (VideoGuard) 
you have to buy a CAM interface 
- if you have several DVB cards, you must buy several CAM interfaces and
CAMs and subscriptions 
- the current DVB driver doesn't support the CAMs very well 

But there is another solution. The AV7110/7110 contain a DVB hardware
descrambler. There would be several advantages to develop CAM software : 
- Much less expensive 
- You can share a smartcard between several DVB cards, so record several
programs with only one subscription 
- The CAM software can be changed each time you switch to another channel
using a different CA system. You no longer need to dedicate a DVB card for
each CA system. 
- you need only a smart card reader (for example a Phoenix interface) thats
costs only from 10 to 20 euros. 

So I have decided to write a quick and dirty CAM software to validate the
idea. I have choosen the SECA/Mediaguard system, because there are problems
with Aston CAMs (even with commercial receivers). 
In the first version, only ECMs (Entitlement Control Messages) are
processed, but I plan to add support for EMMs (Entitlement Management
Messages) as soon as the first version is functional. 

I have tested it, but at this time, it only displays the OCW and ECW (Odd
Control Word and Even Control Word), since the DVB driver lacks the
functions to send the control words to the AV7110. I hope that the driver
developers will quickly add these functions, since the AV7110 software is
not open-sourced. 

If you are interested you can download the test program at
http://www.angelcities.com/members/berlioz

Regards,

Henri


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