[linux-dvb] CAMs - the never ending story...

[Klaus Schmidinger <Klaus.Schmidinger@cadsoft.de>]

As we all know, the CAM topic is still one of the big problems
with LinuxDVB. Some CAMs don't work at all, others work, but with
several problems (see http://www.linuxdvb.tv/documentation/cim.html).

One of the most annoying things is that, AFAIK, all CAMs work just
fine under Windows. So whenever there's a discussion about DVB on
Linux vs. Windows, as soon as it comes to (legally!) watching pay
tv, the Windows users get that big grin on their face and say: "Hey,
why do you use Linux, when everything works fine under Windows?".

Another, IMO even more dangerous point is that with the availability
of the infamous "SoftCAM", even people who have legally subscribed
to a pay tv service tend to use the software solution instead of
their original smart-card and hardware CAM, since the software CAM
apparently works flawlessly. In the long run this could give LinuxDVB
(and applications like VDR, for that matter) a "hacker" image, which
I believe can't be in anybody's interest.

The big question is: Why is this so? Why don't (some) CAMs work with
the LinuxDVB driver, while they do work fine under Windows?

I don't think that there is something in the Windows driver or
application software that has to be implemented specifically for
every type of CAM. It must be something in the Linux driver and/or firmware
that is just not implemented the way it should be in order to handle
all types of CAMs and to allow the use of several CAMs in one system,
or to replay a recording on a DVB card containing a CAM (in some cases
after that the CAM only decodes the channel that was tuned to before
startig replay, and a driver reload is necessary to fix this).

So, what can we do to change this? Apparently the LinuxDVB users can't
do anything, because the driver firmware is "closed source". So the
only people who could really do something about this are the driver
developers. I sometimes get the feeling that they are somehow afraid
of making all this work fine, and fear possible conflicts with pay tv
providers. But how can making an industry standard interface work with
Linux cause any such problems? IMHO quite the opposite is the case: the
fact that CAMs do *not* work flawlessly under Linux indirectly
promotes the use of illegal (software) solutions - even by users who
actually *have* a legal pay tv subscription. Ok, this was quite a big
statement, and please don't get it wrong: I am NOT saying that the driver
developers actually ARE actively promoting the use of illegal CAM software!
All I'm saying is that making CAMs work with Linux is IMHO becoming
more and more important!

To bring this posting to a conclusion, I'd like to ask the driver
developers: is there any interest on your side in making (all!)
CAMs work with LinuxDVB, just as they do with DVB under Windows?
What can we (the LinuxDVB community) do to help you with this?
If you need a CAM interface (the card that gets connected to the
DVB-S card with a flat ribbon connector) I would be more than glad
to lend you one, and I would assume that there are also people out
there who have CAMs that don't work with LinuxDVB (like the AlphaCrypt)
who would be willing to lend you their CAM and smart-card for testing
(or would test new driver/firmware versions on their systems).

Please note that all the above is based on postings I have read on
the linux-dvb and/or vdr mailing lists, and in private emails I have
reveiced from various VDR users. I do not have hands on experience
with CAMs other than my own Irdeto AllCAM 4.7, and especially not
with DVB/CAM under Windows. So if anything I wrote is wrong or
otherwise misguiding, please, by all means, correct me.
My sole intention is to help making DVB under Linux as powerful
and easy to use as under Windows, and to allow the *legal* use
of pay tv services. The LinuxDVB driver developers have made an
enormous contribution to the Linux community by making the DVB driver
available as an Open Source project. However, all these efforts may
be endangered if we don't take that final step and make subscription
tv possible under Linux. After all, if the driver is ever to be used
in any commercial STB, it will HAVE to support CAMs - or am I missing
something here?

Klaus
-- 
_______________________________________________________________

Klaus Schmidinger                       Phone: +49-8635-6989-10
CadSoft Computer GmbH                   Fax:   +49-8635-6989-40
Hofmark 2                               Email:   kls@cadsoft.de
D-84568 Pleiskirchen, Germany           URL:     www.cadsoft.de
_______________________________________________________________


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