Octagon SF8008 Videoguard NDS CAM for local Sky card ~ help

[andynz]

Hi,

I've recently bought an Octagon SF8008, to replace my ageing Ultraplus X-9200 HD twin tuner PVR.
The Ultraplus runs Linux, and has a MCAS plugin that automatically reads my Sky NZ card (NDS/Videoguard), allowing me to watch all the pay channels I subscribe to, as well as Freeview.
No programming required, but various settings/keys can be viewed/edited, if you ever needed to (I haven't).

The receiver is about 7 years old and is now randomly crashing to the boot loader, requiring a power off>on (very annoying).
I've been advised (by the importer I bought it from) that it may be a bug in the MCAS plugin.
Hence the new Octagon box. I have been trying various softcams, without success.
I don't need card sharing, just a cam that will work with my local card, in the built in card reader.
I have got as far as the card being recognized, but it shows 'no entitlements' on the webif Oscam page.
(but the 'emulator' section shows 568 entitlements).

Can anybody point me in the right direction, i.e. what CAM OR EMULATOR I should be using, and any help with config files?
I have tried various edits to the config files, but still get only a black screen on the premium channels.
The files I have been working on (oscam.conf oscam.server oscam.user) are located in etc\tuxbox\config.

I'm currently running PurE2.
Would I be better off trying Openvix or OpenATV?

Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Andy
N.Z.

 

[kegnkiwi]

I think it will be hard to get real help here as most of us have no access to the sky NZ signals. I had it working on the old NZ blue card but I understand they have changed cards maybe to a red card. I do think it's still possible but you will need the sky NZ configs for Oscam. I use to be able to also use scam softcam but ita not in the plugins section of pure2 for arm receivers.

A very quick search says Oscam needs the box id to work.

 

[andynz]

The sky card is blue ('Lights Camera Action' on front). Have had it a few years.
On the back it says Country of Origin UK. There's a 12 digit serial number, beginning 0000.
Under that is a string of letters/numbers, beginning NZ07K.

I would imagine that the setup and config files would be similar to that for Sky UK (or other European countries).
Oscam shows various emulators (CCAM, NEWCAMD, GBOX, etc.) and settings for each in the webif.
I've not been able to figure out how all of these work together.
How does Oscam know which one to use?

Maybe I should ask on Streamboard.

Thanks.

 

[MeanMachine]

I might not be able to help you much, but here are my $0.02.

Forget about the 'emulator' part. It is of no use to you. You need to find correct softcam and corresponding configuration.

I would imagine that the setup and config files would be similar to that for Sky UK (or other European countries).

That's not necessarily true. Conditional access systems providers like NDS tend to tweak the implementation to some extent for every operator.

Oscam shows various emulators (CCAM, NEWCAMD, GBOX, etc.) and settings for each in the webif.
I've not been able to figure out how all of these work together.
How does Oscam know which one to use?

These are the softcam protocols which can be used as 'readers' in OScam. You need to create a new 'reader' to use these softcams as a bridge between your smart-card reader and OScam. I'd suggest to try each softcam (CCCam, mgcamd, scam etc.) independently before trying to bridge them with OScam.

 

[andynz]

Thanks for your advice. I'll look into that.
Presumably I should uninstall OScam and install CCCam (for example), and then configure it.

 

[MeanMachine]

Multiple softcams can be installed at the same time. You should be able to switch the active softcam using 'softcam manager'. At least OpenATV provides this option and I think PurE2 must be similar.

 

[kegnkiwi]

I would stick with oscam and play about with the oscam settings. You are using a arm box not a mips box and cccam is working on arm boxes but maybe not as good as with mips boxes. Mgcamd does work on arm boxes but only one type. I tried helping some one out a couple of years ago and a google search shows my configs for the old blue cards that where in use 2012-2013 and issued with the panasonic boxes. A slightly later post shows the op got his card working and this is what he posted about his oscam server he had to put his box id in.

Ok got it working with Oscam

Oscam server

[reader]

label = sky nz
enable = 1
protocol = internal
device = /dev/sci0
boxid = #########
detect = cd
group = 1
emmecache = 1,3,2
blockemme-g = 1
caid = 0958
ident = 0958:000000
ndsversion = 2

You need to do boxkey dec to hex mine was 11 s/n numbers that converted to a 9 digit hex
Unlocks all subscribed channels including ha channels just like the old nz45 card
Hope that helps
I use cccam for clients in rooms n lines in the cccam config file

 

[andynz]

It works!
All pay channels now working, although sometimes there is a slight delay before the picture shows, when switching channels.

I gave up on CCcam, as could not get it to work (maybe a config problem).
So I downloaded the latest OScam, and created the oscam.server file (below) and uploaded it.
I didn't need to create any other files.

[reader]
label = sky nz
enable = 1
protocol = internal
device = /dev/sci0
boxid = xxxxxxxxx
detect = cd
cardmhz = 357
group = 1
emmecache = 1,3,2
blockemm-unknown = 1
blockemme-g = 1
caid = 0958
ident = 0958:000000
ndsversion = 2
lb_weight = 101
# for load balancing - can be commented out.
# oscam.server end

I added some lines (cardmhz, blockemm-unknown, lb_weight), but not sure if they are really necessary.
I suspect one reason I couldn't get it to work before was that the boxid was wrong.
I used a converter tool that converted the 11 digit s/n to 8 hex characters.

Many thanks, KEGNKIWI.

 

[andynz]

Spoke to soon.
I powered down the box, to rearrange some cables.
Powered up, and now some of channels are now blank, including all movies and (strangely) all of the free channels (TVNZ, PRIME, etc.).
Some pay channels are working fine (e.g. BBC UKTV).

The config file is unchanged, so not sure what has happened.
Perhaps I need to reinstall the plugin, or try a different version.
Any suggestions would be great.

 

[cactikid]

Any time with blank channels is run a network test to see if all is green,then if needed stop/start cam again.
Sometimes the easy fix is overlooked.

 

[MeanMachine]

Any time with blank channels is run a network test to see if all is green,then if needed stop/start cam again.
Sometimes the easy fix is overlooked.

He has a local card. I don't think network reset would help.

 

[kegnkiwi]

You could try putting it back in the original box overnight. See if it gets some ecm's to the card to up date it. That could point to a problem with the config you have.

 

[XIL1NX]

Spoke to soon.
I powered down the box, to rearrange some cables.
Powered up, and now some of channels are now blank, including all movies and (strangely) all of the free channels (TVNZ, PRIME, etc.).
Some pay channels are working fine (e.g. BBC UKTV).

The config file is unchanged, so not sure what has happened.
Perhaps I need to reinstall the plugin, or try a different version.
Any suggestions would be great.

high recommend to check your oscam log