Free Starz this weekend

[Throwbot]

It's allways better for free

[toddc79]

It's allways better for free

are these timed free previews, like do they automatically expire some how after the weekend ??? or does dish send down a update to remove the access once the trial ends, i was wondering if i unplugged my receiver for like a few days if they'd stay there or if they automatically expire :-P im evil i know...

[Slordak]

As I understand it, the way Dish does this is they actually turn off the Nagravision on those channels for the duration of the preview or free-view. Hence, the channels become unencrypted and everyone can watch them during this period of time. When the preview ends, Dish turns the encryption back on.

Hence, no amount of tinkering with the receiver from your side will make a difference, since the reason why you were able to watch the channels in the first place was because they were no longer encrypted.

[Cyclone]

Still, they have to mark it somehow in the stream as "free" since the EPG has to change the channels from RED to uh, not red. So I suspect there is something a little more sofisticated than just turning off the encryption.

[JohnH]

You can be sure they do not turn off the encryption. They just enable the channels for all subscribers and it is over.

[toddc79]

yeah so if you unplugged ur receiver for a few days then plugged it back in it wouldnt be able to update the card to tell it to remove those channels... im sure they re-send the information to remove the channels fer a few weeks or so, but im sure there are some people out there that miss it somehow and end up having free channels for ages, there's no way dish could ever know since it's only a downstream signal...

this one guy somewhere was saying if you canceled ur service then unplugged ur receiver etc for a few months you'd have everything you had when u canceled, they dont have the bandwith to continiously send the updates... interesting huh... that's why i was wondering if they had some sorta expiration date set in the cards programmed in that if they dont get a certain update/code within a certain period of time it disables the card.

[JohnH]

Actually they do not change your subscription for the free preview. They change the package codes in the EPG so that any subscriber gets it. If you did the power plug thing, when you plug it back in the new EPG info would not allow the free preview to continue.

[toddc79]

Actually they do not change your subscription for the free preview. They change the package codes in the EPG so that any subscriber gets it. If you did the power plug thing, when you plug it back in the new EPG info would not allow the free preview to continue.

well that would make more sense, then when u plug it back it back in it's gonna redownload the latest version of the epg and it's not gonna include the starz stuff, but if you called dish and canceled ur sub and unplugged ur receiver fer a few months you'd prolly have everything you did when you canceled...

just for the record im not one to try to scam dish or anything im jus trying to get an idea of how everything works more like a curiousity thing...hell i cant even access 1/3 of the channels im paying for but i still pay the bill every month :-P

[Slordak]

Folks... The EPG does not control what you can and cannot watch. Even if you were unable to receive the EPG at all (due to, say, some sort of satellite failure receiving the transponder the EPG is on), you would still be able to tune the channel and watch it normally. The smart card is in control here, not the program guide.

Even if Dish is not entirely disabling the encryption on this channel, they are performing some operation which allows receivers to view the channel without explicitly having to update each and every receiver. For example, they might be temporarily moving the channel into a group which all subscribed receivers get. Thus, the smart card checks and sees "Ahh, this is a public access channel, and you're a subscribed receiver, so yes, you can watch this channel".

[Jarrett76]

I thought the free preview was "weak". The last one for HBO was much better with more top movies, etc. Still not bad for free.

[JohnH]

Try gettng the TV Japan freeviews without an EPG. :)

You could tell ahead of time when a Freview on a particular channel ended. It would change from grey to red based on where the EPG was positioned. Each channel in the Free Preview ended its free Preview at the end of a movie segment.

I could tell on friday that the preview ended this morning just by scrolling the EPG.