An analysis of current events...

[carvin]

sorry, mine got out of the placement

[T2004]

Thanks for the heads up falcon. I wasn't aware that neilsen ratings were only taken into account based on the number of 'legit' subscribers. If that is the case...advertisers love, and must promote, this 'hobby'. For there dollars are reaching far more people than what there paying for, and at no additional cost since 'we' don't factor into the equation

[kumba]

Lets wait and see, what tomorrow will bring to us.

[kneeOfight]

DN could end piracy, except maybe a few hardcore hobbyists, for all time in one simple step....and kick the hell out of the competition to boot. Drop monthly fees to $30.00 for ALL programming. Who then would bother with DTV or cable? A dish on every house in North America!!!

[dangerdarren]

What angers me is that people are still calling this a "hobby" and "testing". Its not really "Testing" anymore. This is an industry, and everyone in it is paying customers who sit and wine or just 'suck up' and dont contribute (for examples 'BL is a god, wait to go'). We don't program cards or 'test' scripts anymore. We rarely anticipate downtime and there is far more dealers than there used to be, who in my opinion are destroying this for everyone by selling to, and providing support to anyone who has a $10 bill in their hand. As far as i'm concerned, I truly hope this goes back to 'plastic' /cards were can get rid of the 1 post wonders and lazy 'tester' (sarcastic quote) who complain non stop because their box has been down for 2 weeks, get rid of the LEACHES who cant be bothered to put in the time read before posting, or research and contribute for all of us. In my opinion the reason why it has taken so long to find a solution is because its turned into an industry instead of a hobby where we felt 'lucky' to get 'free TV' instead of demanding to have it all the time... I dunno, seeing people freak out over nothing annoys the hell out of me.

[cmfinc]

Originally Posted by ddiirrkk

These units aren't useless, They all work equally well for what they are meant for. Free to air satalite viewing. It may be a little harder to set up because the signals aren't as strong, but there is a growing amount of channels in the true free to air line up. ABC, NBC ets, fox movies, nascar in car camera's. In fact, if more people started using them for what they are meant for you would see more program providers move to free to air as they have in Europe. There may be commercials but the quality is great. The maker's of the stb's may find it better to start selling 8' dish kits with c-band and ku-band lnb's. Peace.

yes useless.. kid your self all you want with the what it was made for.. you really belive the 100s of 1000s of $$$ the makers are dealing with is for what it was made for?? LMMFAO
and more ...they have built in com ports to up grade via computer for free TV?? viewsat and others will fix your unit even if you load file on it other than theres and its covered if it smokes.. again bull!!!not if it was made for fta only.. what about people like MR viewsat who post in forums coders working on this or that.. not him self but coders.. because Mr viewsat has 100. of 1000 of $$$ in for what it was made for fta.. HELLO!!!!
they would not sell 10 % of what they have for fta.. pull this site and its 100,000 ++ members and others.. bet less than 10% and thats pushing it bought there fta for free TV.. YES FREE DISH NET AND OTHERS..
so go ahead and try to convinces all of the people and most of all your self that own these units they work for what they were made for.. and again i will say BULL it don't work for what it was made for..
just ask mr viewsat and BL and mr neusat and the list keeps going..

[northcreek]

Try this one on for size. From a business standpoint…imagine this…DIRTV for example stupidly spends 10 million dollars to stop…prosecute…sue…and collect…a whopping few hundred thousand dollars in revenue from people who wouldn’t pay for their services under any circumstances in the first place. (Just try to imagine the DIRTV executives in the boardroom high-fying themselves and doing the bump over that one.)

Now on the other hand…Imagine the folks at DN…quietly monitoring this situation…in the number two satellite provider slot…taking a beating for being accused of turning a blind eye on hackers.

Suddenly the magic **** goes off in DNs’ head…Lets see…We have more than enough revenue from our loyal customers to make a handsome profit…Hmmmm…Lawsuits don’t really seem to be very profitable…Hmmmmm…I think I got it…Why not quietly invest in FTA and break even in revenues from people who would never pay for our services under any circumstances anyway…because now instead of sharing the profit with the greedy *** motion picture industry…we can quietly keep the profit to ourselves…DING!

And thus we all live happily ever after…with the occasional ECM…for show…until…we reach the dreaded paradox of greed…when all the people who would never pay for satellite services under any circumstances have finished purchasing their STB’s…and…the dreaded wormhole of corporate fear begins to open…DECLINING SALES…Ohhhhhhhh mercy me! What to do!!! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure the rest of the story. (The Box Nobodies Got…Yet…Except…a couple of folks)

Don’t get me wrong…I have the utmost faith in the coders and programmers for FTA and I have to give them a whopping two thumbs up for their extraordinary efforts. But from my own experiences at trying to understand what they do…I can say that I do understand indeed it is a truly a mind boggling and daunting task…that if the complainers would try to tackle…the complaints about a fix…would go away.

The truth is that we’re all caught up in a machine that depending on your perspective…has a mind of its own…so why not quietly ride the wave…enjoy…and see where it goes.

Just a thought,

Northcreek

[j.a.z.z.]

if you still have your old 2700 or 3100. yellow card up and running still for last 6 months

[animaljim2]

Do A poll, see how many people would have bought a FTA receiver if there was not a chance in hell that it could have been used to get anything else but free channels like NASA or the shopping channels. I will bet not one would have sold.

[I am Sam]

Originally Posted by T2004

Thanks for the heads up falcon. I wasn't aware that neilsen ratings were only taken into account based on the number of 'legit' subscribers. If that is the case...advertisers love, and must promote, this 'hobby'. For there dollars are reaching far more people than what there paying for, and at no additional cost since 'we' don't factor into the equation

Just a cut and paste of how neilson conclude their data:

Nielsen uses a technique called statistical sampling to rate the shows -- the same technique that pollsters use to predict the outcome of elections. Nielsen creates a "sample audience" and then counts how many in that audience view each program. Nielsen then extrapolates from the sample and estimates the number of viewers in the entire population watching the show. That's a simple way of explaining what is a complicated, extensive process. Nielsen relies mainly on information collected from TV set meters that it installs, and then combines this information with huge databases of the programs that appear on each TV station and cable channel.

To find out who is watching TV and what they are watching, the company gets around 5,000 households to agree to be a part of the representative sample for the national ratings estimates. Nielsen's statistics show that 99 million households have TVs in the United States, so Nielsen's sample is not very large. The key, therefore, is to be sure the sample is representative. Then TVs, homes, programs, and people are measured in a variety of ways.

To find out what people are watching, meters installed in the selected sample of homes track when TV sets are on and what channels they are tuned to. A "black box," which is just a computer and modem, gathers and sends all this information to the company's central computer every night. Then by monitoring what is on TV at any given time, the company is able to keep track of how many people watch which program.

Small boxes, placed near the TV sets of those in the national sample, measure who is watching by giving each member of the household a button to turn on and off to show when he or she begins and ends viewing. This information is also collected each night.

The national TV ratings largely rely on these meters. To ensure reasonably accurate results, the company uses audits and quality checks and regularly compares the ratings it gets from different samples and measurement methods.

Participants in Nielsen's national sample are randomly selected. Every U.S. household with a TV theoretically has a chance to be a part of the sample. The sample is also compared to the general population, and at times Nielsen calls thousands of households to see if their TV sets are on and who is watching.

This research is worth billions of dollars. Advertisers pay to air their commercials on TV programs using rates that are based on Nielsen's data. Programmers also use Nielsen's data to decide which shows to keep and which to cancel. A show that has several million viewers may seem popular to us, but a network may need millions more watching that program to make it a financial success. That's why some shows with a loyal following still get canceled.