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The Eurovox is a Digital Cable set-top box, notoriously known for its ability to decode cable television services without a subscription, which has been imported into the UK from Korea since 2004.
The Eurovox product heralded the 'new generation' of proprietary non-Linux based receivers and was designed to fill the market previously occupied by the DBox2 . The DBOX was a Linux-based German cable receiver — which became available through markets like eBay as second-hand receivers in the late 1990s / early 2000s.
Dream Multimedia produced the incredibly popular Linux-based Dreambox 500 receiver - which became the 'unofficial' new DBOX for Linux enthusiasts to enjoy. To ensure maximum market coverage these were available with a variety of tuners allowing the same Dreambox 500 shell to be used in Satellite, Cable and Terrestrial areas.
The ability to manipulate the code on the Dreambox/DBox2 was hugely popular within the UK cable community as it allowed hackers to produce firmware which could decrypt UK cable channels without subscription. [1] [2] [3]
The Eurovox product became the fastest selling 'brand' name non-Linux based receiver in the UK[ citation needed ] as the huge uptake of free or low priced 'Internet Forums' allowed users across the country to share information about the product.
The Eurovox 2 was initially imported by one individual in the West Midlands. However, the questionable legality coupled with the huge potential market were sufficient to make larger organizations interested in re-branding the earlier product.
In 2005 a rival group headed by Rayyonics Ltd rebranded the product as the Eurovox MAX. Using a dedicated sales force and allowing only selected resellers to acquire the product wholesale, the 'MAX' became the best known 'non-Linux cable receiver' in the UK within a year.
It is believed that over 600,000 units are currently being used in the UK and Ireland.
While never explicitly stated, it was widely known that the main purpose of the Eurovox to decrypt free channels from the main UK cable providers of that time (namely Telewest, ntl and Cable & Wireless Communications). The use of the Eurovox (and similar cable receivers - The Starview/Kryptview/Dreambox/ITGate etc.) and many other units of this type is strictly prohibited by Virgin Media's Terms of Service.
Following the merger of ntl and Telewest into NTL:Telewest and subsequently Virgin Media, there has been considerable pressure on importers, re-sellers and individuals trading online to stop the distribution of these units.
TiVo is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "OnePass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList" searches which allow the user to find and record shows that match their interests by title, actor, director, category, or keyword. TiVo also provides a range of features when the TiVo DVR is connected to a home network, including film and TV show downloads, advanced search, online scheduling, and at one time, personal photo viewing and local music playback.
Telewest was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
NTL Incorporated, branded as ntl:, was a United States-listed British company founded in 1992, which provided cable television, cable internet and fixed-line cable telephone services. While NTL had its headquarters in New York City, the company's activities focused heavily on the United Kingdom, with operational headquarters in Hook, Hampshire.
Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting.
VideoGuard, produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News Corporation, which owned about half (49%) of NDS until its sale to Cisco in 2012. Since 2018 VideoGuard is improved and maintained by Synamedia. Its two most widely used implementations are Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland and DirecTV in the United States, the former of which launched the digital version of the system in 1998.
Analogue television in the United Kingdom includes terrestrial, satellite and cable services that were broadcast using analogue television signals. Following the termination of Virgin Media's analogue cable television service in Milton Keynes in November 2013, all television in the United Kingdom is broadcast in digital only.
Dreambox is a series of Linux-powered DVB satellite, terrestrial and cable digital television receivers, produced by German multimedia vendor Dream Multimedia.
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company, founded in 2007, which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. A range of videos advertising the company remain available on YouTube. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica.
V+ is a set-top box for Virgin Media's Virgin TV service, which provides personal video recording (PVR) and high definition (HD) functionality to customers who subscribe to the service. Virgin TV have taken a different approach from rival Sky's Sky+ and later Sky+ HD services, by implementing a rental scheme for the V+ Box. When Virgin TV was launched, there was an installation charge and a monthly charge for all customers with a discount for XL customers. On 1 June 2007 pricing was revised, with all customers paying a one-off set-up fee and TV M and L customers paid a monthly charge, while TV XL customers had no extra charges. Various deals to lower the set-up fee have been made available to all customers in order to compete with rival Sky.
Card sharing, also known as control word sharing, is a method of allowing multiple clients or digital television receivers to access a subscription television network with only one valid subscription card. This is achieved by electronically sharing a part of the legitimate conditional access smart card's output data, enabling all recipients to gain simultaneous access to scrambled DVB streams, held on the encrypted television network.
The DBox is a DVB satellite and cable digital television integrated receiver decoder. They were distributed widely for use with Pay television channels. It was commissioned by the Kirch group's DF1, an early German provider of digital television that later merged with Premiere. The hardware was developed and produced by Nokia though later also produced by Philips and Sagem under license.
CableHell was an independent consumer lobby group designed by customers of Virgin Media to discuss issues and create a community where people could submit their own views of the company, and opinions on how to improve products or services. The forum membership included a number of Virgin Media employees who helped out customers of Virgin Media and provided a source of official information.
Virgin TV is a digital pay cable television service in the United Kingdom, owned by Liberty Global (50%) and Telefónica (50%) after the merger its UK businesses to form Virgin Media O2. Its origins date from NTL and Telewest, formerly two of the UK's largest cable operators, which merged on 6 March 2006. All NTL:Telewest services were rebranded as Virgin Media in February 2007. Since the acquisition of Smallworld Cable in 2014, Virgin is the sole national cable TV provider in Great Britain. Currently about 51% of UK households have access to Virgin's network, which is independent from BT's Openreach network.
Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital (VoIP) telephony to 1 million customers. Until 4 May 2010, Virgin Media Ireland traded under the name Chorus NTL and UPC Ireland until 5 October 2015. Its main competitors in the Irish pay TV market are Sky Ireland, Eir and Vodafone Ireland.
There are four major forms of digital television (DTV) broadcast in the United Kingdom: a direct-to-home satellite service from the Astra 28.2°E satellites provided by Sky UK, a cable television service provided by Virgin Media ; a free-to-air satellite service called Freesat; and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition, an IPTV system known as BT TV is provided by BT. Individual access methods vary throughout the country. 77% of the United Kingdom has access to HDTV via terrestrial digital television. Satellite is the only source of HDTV broadcast available for the remaining 23%.
Virgin Mobile Telecoms was a mobile phone service provider operated in the United Kingdom. It was owned by Virgin Media which is part of Virgin Media O2. The company was launched by Virgin Group in 1999 as the world's first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). As a virtual operator, Virgin Mobile does not maintain its own network but connects customers through the O2 network. Virgin Mobile offers contract mobile packages, as well as mobile broadband services. It sells its services directly, as well as through price comparison sites.
The Vu+, is a series of Linux-powered DVB satellite, terrestrial digital television receivers, produced by Korean multimedia brand Ceru Co., Ltd.
This is a timeline of cable television in the United Kingdom.
HGTV (formerly Home) is a British free-to-air television channel interior home and garden-orientated lifestyle television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel originally launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Style and then was rebranded to Home on 30 April 2009 and was rebranded to its current form on 21 January 2020. HGTV is broadcast 24 hours a day on Sky and TVPlayer. UK Style was transmitted by terrestrial provider ITV Digital 24 hours a day until the company's collapse in 2002. After a slight rebrand to UKTV Style, the channel made a return to terrestrial screens for a time in the mid-2000s as part of the now-defunct Top Up TV system. Home became available as a free-to-air linear service on Freeview from 1 March 2016.
Enigma2, the second generation of Enigma software, is an application used in Linux-based Digital Video Broadcasting receivers or TV set-top boxes and Internet Protocol television receivers. It creates a graphical user interface to control the said devices using a remote control and provides features such as tuning available satellite transponders, cable channels and terrestrial television transmitters or accessing material via Internet Protocol television (IPTV), watching a TV program or listening to radio, time shifting, Digital video recorder, streaming media programs to other devices, etc. Other features are available through plugins – for example Electronic program guide (EPG), Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV), access to TV archives and movie databases, playback of multimedia files, viewing photos, etc.