Newbie Question regarding Magic Card

[Jakeoooh]

First off, hello everyone and thanks for the great resource and all the posts and everything. I have only been reading about the Dish Network testing for a few days now, and to be honest I haven't even gotten all the necessary equipment to give the magic card a trial run. I have however generated a few questions, and was hoping that someone out there could help to guide me through.

I am (and will continue to) slowly sorting through the seemingly infinite posts already up on this discussion board, and I apologize if any of these questions have already been answered...

I read and downloaded the 'Getting Started' material on the bellexpress website, and a lot of the questions I have generated from that reading.

1) If the magic card allows you to operate in Camless mode, without a Rom card, what advantages would there be to working in married or unmarried mode? I don't have a Dish Network subscription, and as I'm unincombered by any existing hardware, so what benefits would there be to working with anything other than a cardless operation? Along that same line,are there any drawbacks to a cardless operation?

2) Assuming the answer to the above question is that there are no significant drawbacks to the M.C. only operation, what additional downloads or equipment is required for this type of setup? It looks like the scenarios set out in the getting started info suggests that you'll need a Jtag Programmer, as well as the magic card programmer. I see from the 'how to guide' that the magic card seems to rely only on the Echostar software that you can download from this site, and the Key's which are also posted. Am I to understand that there are no other significant downloads required to make your M.C. work? Additionally, I am not sure after reading the getting started info exactly where the JTAG programmer comes into play.

3) Building upon the previous question, what is the purpose of the JTAG programmer, and at which point in your programming does it become necessary? I have gathered that the JTAG programmer is used on the EEPROM IC, and that you remove it and then back it up, in case your system gets zapped by Charlie. It also looks from the photos like it's an IC which just plugs into a port, and doesn't require any soldering or anything (which is good because my soldering sucks). What isn't clear to me is why you would need to get a JTAG programmer if you've purchased a digital lock-- isn't the lock supposed to keep them from zapping your box? And vice-versa, if you've got a JTAG programmer, why it would be necessary to get a digital lock?

4) I also want to be clear on this-- your EEPROM IC is not something that you will program with any file you'd download from the web correct? It's just something you would copy info from onto your computer, and then re-load if your box got zapped? It isn't 100% clear to me from the discussions I've read so far that this is the case.

5) Lastly, in purchasing a Receiver, I understand that there are many varities that will work, and some that will not. As I've said, I don't have a receiver yet, I am looking for one that is going to be basically user-friendly as far as testing is concerned, and one which will have the capabilities to handle the full spectrum of channels that I will be opening up through testing. I have read that some older units are not equipped to handle the full breadth of programming that the Dish offers, and that you will manually have to remove some channels. I would prefer to avoid this step, and am wondering if there is a bare minimum of receiver which I should look for. I have reviewed the info on different receivers on the bellexpress page, but am still a little unclear on which units will be unable to handle all the channels.

Thanks so much in advance, please let me know if I'm off base on anything, and if there are any tips you can suggest.

Thanks,

Jake

[BirdieMod]

Quite the post, But very good and detailed. I think you will have fun joining our family on the boards here, Welcome aboard! :)

Basically your answers are
Magic card opens more without a sub in unmarried mode, I think forget the sub married.

Receivers are " Hit" thus causing them not to work untill the memory in them is restored or repaired, This is were the Jtag comes into play, It connects the receivers memory to your computer so that you may reload working firmware back to the receiver. These are called ECM's or Electronic Counter Measures to shutdown us testers, From time to time we get wacked and need to fix our units. Receivers also have Electronic keys called boxkeys, By Jtagging to read the memory we can retrieve these keys. The card used must be preloaded or married to that receiver with these matching keys.

For receivers, Models with a jtag port are the best, Older smaller memory models like 2700/2800/3700 are the simplest, But have less fetures and the smaller mem of them sometimes causes problem with too many channels, They are however very easy to fix after ecm's. Next are 3800/3900/4700/4900, Then 301/501 etc. The last are nice units, But getting a little more advanced for newbies if things go astray.

If I were to suggest a newbie setup I'd go MC, Jtag, 2700 at first. Once you are running and learned how to fix your first few ecm's then time to upgrade.

Just one other note, Buy a used or new unit outright, Don't hack a subbed one, Just common sense. SOmetimes they can get wrecked and how do you explain to the service provider you ruined your receiver hacking there signal, Not a good situation to end up in.

Welcome Jake !

[Budlizard]

If I get the MC, Jtag, 2700 combo, do you think the coming out with the new yellow cards will effect this? I am a newbie as you can tell and I don't wont to end up with another ice scraper like my p4. I bought everything I needed 3 months before Dave killed me.
Thanks

[Cimba]

There is always a risk, the most widely held rumour is that the swap out to Nagra 2 will be done by August next year, some say as early as spring, some say later. There are many rumours about Nagra 2 being busted but we'll not know till we see it, so the risk is there, take it or forget about it. That's all you can do.

[Budlizard]

Thanx Cimba!
Even if it is as early as spring, it could still be worth it then.