0807 cardsplitter

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TEST REPORT

06-07/2008

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34 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 06-07/2008 — www.TELE-satellite.com

PayTV Throughoutthe Entire House

Smartcard Splitter

CardSplitter

To receive PayTV throughout the entire house, there were upuntil now only three more or less practical solutions: you eitherran coax cable to every room in the house and built up your owncable network or you used video transmitters to distribute thepicture to multiple TV’s. The main problem with these two solu-tions is that the same channel always ended up on all the TV’s.The third option would be to have more than one PayTV subsc rip-tion although for most consumers this alternative is out of thequestion.

becomes interesting when theend units aren’t too far apartand are actually quite close toeach other. A classic examplewould be a second receiverwith a built-in video recorderthat would let you record onePayTV channel while watchinganother one live.

Since two receivers would beneeded for this task, the sup-

plied card could be split forboth units. The CSPRO seriesis available with connectionsfor 4, 8 or 16 reception cards.Don’t let the pictures fool you;every connection on the con-trol unit can handle two recep-tion cards. Even the smallestversion with only two jacks canhandle four cards independentfrom each other.

Everyday UseNo initialization or other

similar preparations are nec-essary before using the Card-Splitter for the rst time. Theuser must merely insert the

PayTV card in the control unitand connect it to a properpower supply. Thereafter, theconnection between the recep-tion card and the control unit ismade possible with the help of the included cable.

We rst chose to play witha Cryptoworks ORF (AustrianTV) card that the control unitrecognized without any prob-

lems. The red LED on the frontpanel went out to signify this.Next we connected the cable totwo receiver cards and placedthese together with the match-ing CI modules into two receiv-ers and waited patiently for thedecryption of the PayTV chan-nels. But they remained darkand both receivers informed usthat invalid cards were beingused. We contacted the manu-facturer who already knew of this problem. He explained tous that the reception cards aretotally blank when rst used inthe receiver and that the ATRmust be transferred to thecard’s EPROM. This only takes

CARDSPLITTERWell designed technically with

exceptional range and excellent quality

Hard-wiredControl Unitfor max. 4 Cards

If you think about it, thanksto new products such as theLaser LNB from Invacom intro-duced in the previous issue of TELE-satellite we can assumethat satellite, cable or IPTVsignals will be made availablein every room in the house atsome point in the future withthe help of modern ber optictechnology. This makes the

problem of PayTV decryptionon multiple TV’s all the moreimportant.

One solution would be cardsplitters that make it possible

to use one card to supply mul-tiple TV’s. The company Card-Splitter sent us a package forthis test report with an assort-ment from their product line:

- Wireless CardSplitter TypeB for Viaccess, Conax, Crypto-works, Mediaguard and Irdetocards

- Hard-wired CardSplitterCSPRO-8 for Irdeto cards

- Hard-wired CardSplitterCSPRO-4 fur Viaccess, Conax,Cryptoworks and Mediaguardcards

Also included was, of course,an assortment of receptioncards (wireless and hard-wired)as well as the necessary anten-nas.

Even while unpacking wecould see that all the prod-ucts were quality-made andleft us with a good impression.

The least expensive versionthat can handle a maximum of four cards was delivered with-out a housing; a housing isonly available with the 8 to 16output versions.

A 6~9V power source isneeded although the controlbox also accepts 12V. A powersupply was not included by themanufacturer.

CardSplitter CSPRO-4/8First of all, the hard-wired

version of the CardSplitterReception Card Connector

Hard-wired Reception Card



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a few milliseconds but for somereceivers this is too long andthus they identify the card asinvalid since the ATR could notbe read.

To get around this problem,

the card merely needs to beremoved from the receivermomentarily and then rein-serted in the CI module. Sincethe ATR is already available onthe card and also stored there,it will from then on be recog-nized without any problems.

The tip from the manufacturerwas right on the money; afterwe momentarily removed bothcards from the CI module andreinserted them, the decrypted

ORF picture appeared on bothreceivers.

Hard-wiredControl Unit

or max. 8 Cards

Because of this rst suc-cess, we became a little moredaring: we took four Cryp-toworks modules and some

receivers out of TELE-satellitestock and built four CI receiv-ers for our test purposes. Wequickly connected the fourreception cards supplied to usby the manufacturer and, asexpected, the four CI receiversdid not disturb the CardSplit-ter in any way. Two colleaguesbegan channel surng at highspeed yet the CSPRO masteredthis test as well without anynoticeable decryption delay.

Tests using Mediaguard andConax Smartcards that we alsosplit to multiple receivers wereequally successful. Last but notleast we also tested a Euro1080

card as well as the Irdeto ver-sion; both of these also func-tioned correctly.

Once the ATR has been writ-ten to the reception card,it must be deleted again if

another encryption system isto be used. For reception cardsthat are used with Viaccess,Conax, Cryptoworks or Media-guard, this is not a problem –the card must rst be insertedmomentarily in the control unit.Unfortunately, it is not as easywith Irdeto cards; once this CAsystem has been used, thesecards must be deleted on a PCwith the help of a card reader.The manufacturer offers a cor-

responding program on its website for this purpose as well as

precise download instructions.

Wireless

CardSplitter In addition to the hard-wired versions, CardSplitteralso offers a wireless version.Compared to the CSPRO, thewireless version can handleve di fferent encrypt ion sys-tems: Irdeto, Conax, Viaccess,Cryptoworks and Mediaguard.

On the front panel are a redLED and a green LED that showthe unit’s operational statusas well as, of course, a card

reader. On the top side is theWLAN antenna and on the backis the power connection thatwould like to be supplied with6~9V but can also handle 12V.

Everyday UseUnlike the hard-wired ver-

sion, the wireless version mustundergo an initialization pro-cess before it can be used forthi s rs t t ime. The reason forthis is fairly obvious: you reallyonly want authorized cards tobe processed and not the entire

apartment building.First the control box is

turned on without a card andthen the PayTV card to be usedis inserted. It is then automati-cally checked and its reactiontime conrmed. This is criticalfor later use of the CardSplit-ter since the control unit knowsexactly how much time the cardneeds to react to commands. Aconstant, slowly-blinking LEDsignies that the test is com-

plete and that the card can beremoved.

Next, all of the cards aremomentarily inserted in thecontrol unit to initialize them,conrm the t ransmiss ion f re-quency and read in the ATR.The control unit only serves asa power supply; the transmis-sion of data and other param-eters occurs wirelessly.

According to the manufac-turer, up to 64 cards can be

used simultaneously but sinceour test unit only came withthree cards, we could not testthis.

Once all the cards have been

Wireless

Reception Card

WirelessControl Unit

initialized, it is suggested tolock additional cards out of the control unit so that noadditional unauthorized cardscan be set up. This is actuallyquite easy: simply disconnectthe power from the controlunit momentarily and with thecard still inserted reconnectthe power. To unlock simply

remove the card and power thecontrol unit back up.

Just like the hard-wired ver-sion, the wireless CardSplitteralso had to prove itself with a

Cryptoworks, a Conaxand an Irdeto Smart-Card. Once all of thecards were preparedand coded for thematching CA system,we inserted them intothe waiting receiv-

ers. The three boxesimmediately begandecrypting the desiredchannels.

Just like the hard-wired version, thewireless system wasalso unaffected byreckless channel surf-ing and delivered aconstant, interference-free decryption. Evenreprogramming to a

new CA system washandled quickly andwithout any difcul-ties.

Naturally, we were



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DATA

TECHNIC

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quite interested in the range of this wireless system and werequite surprised at the results:The reception cards placedon the third oor of our ofcebuilding functioned effortlesslydespite the control unit beinglocated on the ground oor andeven through relatively thickwalls. Outdoor results wereeven better; we tested the

PayTV signals u sing the gazeboof a TELE-satellite employeesome 300 meters away. Thesystem worked perfectly with-out any delays or interference.

The modul we tested had apower of only 1 mW; accordingto manufacturer, soon a modelwith 250 mW will be released.Future plans include modelswith 0.5 W and 1 Watts. Even amodel with LAN connector is inthe pipeline!

This means, signals in urban

Manufacturer Decibit, 59/273 M.2, S oi Sukhonthasawat, Ladprad 71,Bangkok 10230, Thailand

Website www.decibit.com

Distribution www.splitter.cc

Email [email protected]

Model Hard-wired or WirelessSmartcard Splitter System

Supported CA Systems Irdeto, Mediaguard, Viaccess, Cryptoworks, Conax

Hard-wired Connections 4, 8 or 16 Reception Cards

Wireless Connections up to 64 Cards

Range max. 500m in urban useup to 2km direct line-of-sight with higher power models

Power Requirements 6~9V

Expert Opinion+The link between control unit and reception

cards functioned nicely even with longer dis-tances; distances of several hundred meters ispossible out in the open. Inside a building the set-

ting up of a connection between multiple receiv-ers and transmission units was easily possible.Through the card-reader programmed cards youcan be sure that no unauthorized access will occur.

The manufacturing quality of the products is quite good as isthe support of the various encryption systems.

-If a few other CA systems such as Nagravision or NDS were also

supported, the system would be perfect. The interference put out

by the control unit should be r educed.

Thomas HaringTELE-satellite

Test Center Austria

Hard-wiredSplitter System

areas have a range of 100-500meters while direct, line-of-sight transmissions without anyobstacles could have a range of as much as 2 km!

Compared to similar systemsfrom other manufacturers, theproducts from CardSplitter havefar better range. To achieve

this, the user must utilize vis-ible receiving antennas on thereception cards. But since thesecan be adjusted 360° horizon-tally and 90° vertically, youshould surely be able to nda position that doesn’t get inthe way and yet still deliversexcellent reception. Especiallypractical is the ability to cas-cade multiple control units sothat when serially cascaded therange is extended and when

cascaded in parallel the recep-tion capabilities are increased.For our tests we used theappropriate CI module for eachCA system; multiple tests withthe internal card reader did notresult in any problems.

The Internet support forum(English, Greek and Swedish)provided by the manufactureris also worth mentioning; itoffers numerous tips and alsoquick help should any problems

arise.

3 Control Units, 3 Wireless Reception Cards, 6 Hard-wired Cards

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