Keys, SoftCams and Emulators (EMU)

**Devilfish** · 27th March, 2008, 02:39 PM

There are two types of channel that are sent out by the cable company; FTA (free-to-air) and encrypted.

Free-to-air channels are basically freeview channels. You don't need to subscribe to a package to get these channels. If you use an image without an emu or keys you would still get these channels.

Encrypted channels are channels that the cable company want you to pay for. These channels are encrypted before being sent out and normally you would pay the cable company for a smartcard which you would slot into your recevicer and this will allow you to receive the encrypted channels. It's kinda like when you buy software and you get a key with it. You won't be able to use the software without knowing the key.

Keys are also included in the cable stream. Normally your digital smartcard will extract the keys from the stream and store them in memory. It would then use these keys to decrypt the channels when you flick through them. Since we don't use a smartcard with a dbox we need something else to decrypt the channels. This is where the softcam (also known as a cam or emulator (emu)) comes in. The box or image itself doesn't know what to do with the keys, it's the softcam that grabs the keys from the stream and stores them in a file (keylist.txt, Autoroll.key, Autoupdate.key). If the keys are changed by the cable company the softcam will update the keys stored in the file.

The enctytion that the cable company usesis called Nagra1. So we also need to include nagra rom files in our images. These go in /var/scce and /var/keys.

There are several different softcams that we can use; evocamd, mgcamd, newcamd & gbox. It doesn't really matter what one you use, they all do the same thing. Some emu won't work in certain areas or on certain providers so it's good there are alternatives. The emu can also cause problems with direct recording over ethernet so if you have a blocky recording, try changing the emu or the tuner driver.

**burr1545** · 14th May, 2008, 02:18 PM

thanks for the concise and informative post Devilfish , im new to the dbox , though not to linux , just starting to build up a picture of how all the pieces fit together

**pabble** · 24th June, 2008, 09:28 AM

always wondered how it all happened

**balikuyu** · 9th July, 2008, 08:07 PM

Rom 7 is the only rom needed this was new to me, of all the other forums this forum is impartial and teh most informative, thanks mainly to good administrators and members

Keep up the good work

Cheers

**angus1972** · 14th July, 2008, 02:00 PM

Good stuff, im learning all the time on here.

**DrKahn** · 24th July, 2008, 07:06 PM

Thanks m8. My Commando 6 is not auto updating, what should I do? The dbox was switched off for one year.

**father ted** · 24th July, 2008, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by DrKahn

Thanks m8. My Commando 6 is not auto updating, what should I do? The dbox was switched off for one year.

its because the roms in that image are now out of date you either flash a new image to your box with up to date files or you can try and install the new ones into your image you have

**shy9010** · 30th July, 2008, 01:29 PM

i have the latest blade trinity image, is that capable of auto updating

**aftermath** · 30th July, 2008, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by shy9010

i have the latest blade trinity image, is that capable of auto updating

its like any image m8, if where you got it deleted the keys and roms, then no it will not auto update.

If you can ftp to your box, and look in the keys and scce folders, you will find out.

**sieveis** · 19th August, 2008, 04:55 PM

Thanks for the info on where things go...

**Consolez** · 31st August, 2008, 01:25 PM

Thanks for sharing !

**superchipper** · 12th September, 2008, 08:22 PM

Can i decrypt nagra2 channels using this DIGITAL KAOS v1.1 image ? I have a dump from a local smartcard, which keys i need and how do i store them on dreambox ? Thank's

**davmac** · 20th September, 2008, 06:25 PM

just need to jump in here,probably feet first, i have just flashed sportster and done a channel scan but only freebbies are working' its my understanding that i needs keys to unlock these, i have downloaded some files and used my ftp to try and put them on my dbox2 but there's no change. so i must be doing something wrong. can anyone help with some files that work and maybe a guide as to how to do it, not asking much hey
thanks

**Devilfish** · 20th September, 2008, 06:33 PM

All rom files go in /var/scce and all key files go in /var/keys.

The rom files will end with .bin. It's probably a good idea to put them in /var/keys and /var/scce to be safe.

All other files, i.e. Keylist.txt, Autoroll.key, camd_cfg, Softcam.key, Autoupdate.key, etc. these go in the /var/keys folder.

Once you've got the files in the right folders, go to sky sports 1 then restart the EMU....there's usually an option in the blue button menu. Give it a few minutes and see if it auto updates the keys and the channels should come on.

**davmac** · 21st September, 2008, 02:48 PM

i have tryed the above, i am sure i am doing it right,however i am getting a message files failed to transfer, and i am still locked out ,any idea's were i am going wrong, have i got the correct files?,there just look the same as what is all ready there if it asks that the files are allready there i click on overwrite,
thanks
aback again (hours later and after reading loads of posts) finally got it all working, how, well two main things i checked first the ip address on my pc and dbox2 were correct,that got the files moving but box was still not working till i read a post about deleteing the files form the keys folder and than transfering the new ones the same with the other file. and its working great.
so a big THANKYOU to all that replyed to my posts, and all the other posts i got info from