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56-719: The term is also used to refer to receiving digital television " backhaul " feeds from FSS-type satellites. Reception of free-to-air satellite signals, generally K u band Digital Video Broadcasting , for home viewing is still common in Europe and India , although the TVRO nomenclature was never used there. Free-to-air satellite signals are also very common in the People's Republic of China , as many rural locations cannot receive cable television and solely rely on satellites to deliver television signals to individual homes. The term "BUD" (big ugly dish)

112-479: A "polarotor" setup). Higher-end receivers did this transparently, switching polarization and moving the dish automatically as the user changed channels. By Spring of 1984, 18 C-Band satellites were in use for United States domestic communications, owned by five different companies. (degrees longitude) The retail price for satellite receivers soon dropped, with some dishes costing as little as $ 2,000 by mid-1984. Dishes pointing to one satellite were even cheaper. Once

168-439: A backhaul is used to obtain live game footage (usually for later repackaging in highlights shows) when an off-air source is not readily available. In this instance the feed that is being obtained contains all elements except for TV commercials or radio ads run by the host network's master control . This is particularly useful for obtaining live coverage of post-game press conferences or extended game highlights ( melts ), since

224-546: A case of "unauthorized reception" by TVRO consumers; and to what extent it was legal for a service provider to encrypt their signals in an effort to prevent its reception. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 clarified all of these matters, making the following legal: This created a framework for the wide deployment of encryption on analog satellite signals. It further created a framework (and implicit mandate to provide) subscription services to TVRO consumers to allow legal decryption of those signals. HBO and Cinemax became

280-540: A consequence of the higher frequency used for DBS services is rain fade where viewers lose signal during a heavy downpour. C-band's immunity to rain fade is one of the major reasons the system is still used as the preferred method for television broadcasters to distribute their signal. TVRO systems were most popular in rural areas, beyond the broadcast range of most local television stations . The mountainous terrain of West Virginia , for example, makes reception of over-the-air television broadcasts (especially in

336-496: A day early in 1985, then did the same with their east coast feeds by August. The two networks began scrambling full time on January 15, 1986, which in many contemporary news reports was called "S-Day". Within two years, encryption through Videocipher II was used by a majority of major cable television programmers. However, lapses in its security enabled some pirate decryption , modifying a consumer descrambler to receive free programming. Beginning in 1991, programmers began to phase out

392-735: A high band K u LNBF using circular polarization . Older mesh dishes with perforations larger than 5mm are inefficient at K u frequencies, because the smaller wavelengths will pass through them. Solid fiberglass dishes usually contain metal mesh with large-diameter perforations as a reflector and are usually unsuitable for anything other than C band. Large dishes have higher antenna gain , which can be an advantage when used with DBS signals such as Dish Network and DirecTV , virtually eliminating rain fade. Restored dishes fitted with block upconverters can be used to transmit signals as well. BUDs can still be seen at antenna farms for these reasons, so that video and backhauls can be sent to and from

448-422: A lower noise temperature to receive digital broadcasts. With a suitable replacement LNB (provided there is no warping of the reflector) a BUD can be used to receive free-to-air (FTA) and DBS signals. Several companies market LNBs, LNBFs, and adaptor collars for big-dish systems. For receiving FTA signals the replacement should be capable of dual C/K u reception with linear polarization , for DBS it will need

504-450: A price ($ 12.95 per month) higher than what cable subscribers were paying. This sentiment, and a collapse in the sales of TVRO equipment in early 1986, led to the April 1986 attack on HBO's transponder on Galaxy 1 . Dish sales went down from 600,000 in 1985 to 350,000 in 1986, but pay television services were seeing dishes as something positive since some people would never have cable service, and

560-479: A satellite, and tuning into the provider's transponder. Two open questions existed about this practice: whether the Communications Act of 1934 applied as a case of "unauthorized reception" by TVRO consumers; and to what it extent it was legal for a service provider to encrypt their signals in an effort to prevent its reception. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 clarified all of these matters, making

616-525: A system called DATE (Digital Audio for TElevision), which used the existing analog video's vertical blanking interval (VBI) to send digital audio. VCI provided this same feature while freeing up the VBI for other purposes like closed-captioning and teletext , making DATE obsolete by the mid-1980s (however, DATE did offer 4 channels of audio as opposed to VideoCipher I's 2-channel stereo). The Leitch Viewguard scrambling system used for satellite feeds as well used

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672-668: A time, many networks, like SportsChannel America , remained on the VC II stream. The Videocipher II+ was a higher-security system with two variants. The Videocipher-RS system (RS for Renewable Security) is the Videocipher II Plus system with a slot in the back of the descrambler module to where a card could be inserted to upgrade the security if the VCII Plus system were ever breached. General Instrument discontinued production of VC II+ RS modules in 1998 in favor of its DigiCipher system. Over

728-610: A universal LNB that is switched electronically between horizontal and vertical polarization, obviating the need for a failure-prone polar rotor. As a complete system they have a much lower noise temperature than old BUDs, and are generally better for digital K u reception. The prices of these dishes have fallen dramatically since the first BUDs were produced for several thousand dollars to as little as $ 200 for an 8 ft mesh started BUD sold on eBay or amazon as of 2014. Typical uses for these systems include receiving free-to-air and subscription services. Backhaul (broadcasting) In

784-403: A user paid for a dish, it was possible to receive even premium movie channels, raw feeds of news broadcasts or television stations from other areas. People in areas without local broadcast stations, and people in areas without cable television, could obtain good-quality reception with no monthly fees. Two open questions existed about this practice: whether the Communications Act of 1934 applied as

840-403: A way to marry audio and video. Viewers found a way to get audio from a cable line and video from satellite with their VideoCipher II and push both to their VCRs and TVs. Due to the advanced VideoCipher II Plus datastream, video could appear to "flicker" or struggle on an old VideoCipher II module (modules with a newer "pirate chip" installed, tended to be less prone to this issue). VideoCipher II

896-608: Is a colloquialism for C-Band satellite dishes used by TVRO systems. BUDs range from 4 to 16 feet in diameter, with the most popular large size being 10 feet. The name comes from their perception as an eyesore . TVRO systems were originally marketed in the late 1970s. On October 18, 1979, the FCC began allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license. The dishes were nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter, were remote controlled, and could only pick up HBO signals from one of two satellites. Originally,

952-414: Is very common. When the medium is satellite, it is called a wildfeed . Backhauls are also referred to sometimes as clean feeds , being clean in the sense that they lack any of the post-production elements that are added later to the feed's content (i.e. on-screen graphics , voice-overs , bumpers , etc.) during the integration of the backhaul feed into a finished show. In live sports production,

1008-422: The 1992 U.S. presidential election named Spin was made in the same way in 1995. VideoCipher VideoCipher is a brand name of analog scrambling and de-scrambling equipment for cable and satellite television invented primarily to enforce Television receive-only (TVRO) satellite equipment to only receive TV programming on a subscription basis. The second version of Videocipher, Videocipher II,

1064-525: The Space Shuttle program. Only seven K u band satellites were in use. In addition to encryption, DBS services such as PrimeStar had been reducing the popularity for TVRO systems since the early 1990s. Signals from DBS satellites (operating in the more recent K u band) are higher in both frequency and power (due to improvements in the solar panels and energy efficiency of modern satellites) and therefore require much smaller dishes than C-band, and

1120-451: The digital signals now used require far less signal strength at the receiver, resulting in a lower cost of entry . Each satellite also can carry up to 32 transponders in the K u band, but only 24 in the C band, and several digital subchannels can be multiplexed (MCPC) or carried separately ( SCPC ) on a single transponder. General advances, such as HEMT , in noise reduction at microwave frequencies have also had an effect. However,

1176-675: The television network with which a station is affiliated , without interruption due to inclement weather . BUDs are also still useful for picking-up weak signals at the edge of a satellite's broadcast "footprint" – the area at which a particular satellite is aimed. For this reason, BUDs are helpful in places like Alaska , or parts of the Caribbean . Large parabolic antennas similar to BUDs are still in production. New dishes differ in their construction and materials. New mesh dishes have much smaller perforations and solid dishes are now made with steel instead of fiberglass. New systems usually include

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1232-528: The USA used VideoCipher I on its satellite feeds to its member stations in the mid-80s to take advantage of the high-fidelity digital audio capability offered by VCI. This was desirable for some of the programming PBS would air in that era, such as classical concerts and other musical programming, some of which were simulcast by partnering public radio stations using the same audio feed. PBS had attempted in 1979 to send its program audio digitally to its member stations using

1288-593: The VCII system in favor of the more secure Videocipher II Plus (RS) system. The system was fully phased out in 1993. Originally sold as a stand-alone decoder box that consisted of a fully electronic decoder and descrambler module, other satellite system manufacturers began to make their receivers with the GI descrambler module installed. This VCII system digitally encrypts stereo audio using the DES encryption scheme and scrambles video by inverting

1344-463: The VideoCipher II datastream in favor of the more secure VideoCipher II Plus (RS) datastream; other programmers followed suit. Having a VideoCipher II module was no longer worth anything unless the viewer wanted to watch adult programming without audio. At the time, most local cable providers did not pass the encrypted audio to subscribers. As such, some viewers who had both cable and satellite found

1400-585: The backhaul may stay up to feed these events after the network has concluded their broadcast. Electronic news gathering , including live via satellite interviews , reporters ' live shots , and sporting events are all examples of radio or television content that is backhauled to a station or network before being made available to the public through that station or network. Cable TV channels, particularly public, educational, and government access (PEG) along with ( local origination ) channels, may also backhauled to cable headends before making their way to

1456-400: The context of broadcasting , backhaul refers to uncut program content that is transmitted point-to-point to an individual television station or radio station , broadcast network or other receiving entity where it will be integrated into a finished TV show or radio show . The term is independent of the medium being used to send the backhaul, but communications satellite transmission

1512-426: The dishes used for satellite TV reception were 12 to 16 feet in diameter and made of solid fiberglass with an embedded metal coating, with later models being 4 to 10 feet and made of wire mesh and solid steel or aluminum . Early dishes cost more than $ 5,000, and sometimes as much as $ 10,000. The wider the dish was, the better its ability to provide adequate channel reception. Programming sent from ground stations

1568-478: The early nineties, programmers increased the frequency of the top tier DES keys from monthly to near daily. Companies (such as Magna Systems) began offering services whereby users could continue to receive keys via fax electronic modifications/add-on boards such as "VMS" modems. These add-on modem modules would dial into a bulletin board system and automatically download the required keys to view all available programming. Eventually (about 1992), HBO completely left

1624-407: The first two services to announce intent to encrypt their satellite feeds late in 1984. Others were strongly considering doing so as well. Where cable providers could compete with TVRO subscription options, it was thought this would provide sufficient incentive for competition. HBO and Cinemax began encrypting their west coast feeds services with VideoCipher II 12 hours a day early in 1985, then did

1680-511: The following legal: This created a framework for the wide deployment of encryption on analog satellite signals. It further created a framework (and implicit mandate to provide) subscription services to TVRO consumers to allow legal decryption of those signals. HBO and Cinemax became the first two services to announce intent to encrypt their satellite feeds late in 1984. Videocipher was invented in 1983 by Linkabit Corporation (later bought out by M/A-COM in 1985, operated as M/A-COM Linkabit). In

1736-474: The higher UHF frequencies) very difficult. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s DBS systems were not available, and cable television systems of the time only carried a few channels, resulting in a boom in sales of systems in the area, which led to the systems being termed the "West Virginia state flower". The term was regional, known mostly to those living in West Virginia and surrounding areas. Another reason

Television receive-only - Misplaced Pages Continue

1792-455: The hobby. Some digital signals remain freely accessible (sometimes using K u band dishes as small as one meter) under the international DVB-S standard or the US Motorola -proprietary Digicipher system. The small dishes may either be fixed (much like DBS antennas), positioned using a rotor (usually DiSEqC -standard) or may be toroidal in design (twin toroidal reflectors focus

1848-470: The incoming signal as a line, not a point, so that multiple LNBs may receive signal from multiple satellites). A blind-search receiver is often used to try every possible combination of frequency and bitrate to search for backhaul signals on individual communication satellites. The 1992 documentary Feed was compiled almost entirely using unedited backhaul from political campaign coverage by local and network television. A similar documentary about

1904-471: The industry was starting to recover as a result. Through 1986, other channels that began full time encryption included Showtime and The Movie Channel on May 27, and CNN and CNN Headline News on July 1. Scrambling would also lead to the development of pay-per-view , as demonstrated by the early adoption of encryption by Request Television , and Viewer's Choice . Channels scrambled (encrypted) with VideoCipher and VideoCipher II could be defeated, and there

1960-558: The last major television network to utilize the VideoCipher II system, discontinued its analog signal on AMC 11 transponder 13 on June 26, 2014, effectively ending the Videocipher era. Within the years of the change of signal scrambling from VC II to VCII+, DirecTV began to take on many former C band VideoCipher subscribers and illegal receivers of programming. Many who were involved with providing illegal VideoCipher II programming moved over to hacking and providing users illegal access to

2016-405: The mid 1980s, M/A-COM began divesting divisions which fell outside their core RF & Microwave component and subsystem products. The Linkabit division was acquired by General Instrument in 1987. Videocipher was used throughout the 1990s by RCTI and SCTV to encrypt some foreign programs (such as sports events and movies) as part of the term of their rights, to prevent overseas access so that

2072-498: The next ten years, broadcasters migrated to digital transmission delivery and discontinued their analog feeds. In October 2008, Motorola (who acquired General Instruments in January 2000) announced that their authorization center would no longer authorize any new decoders after December 31, 2008, and that the current remaining analog Videocipher channels would switch entirely to digital transmission after that same date. The Weather Channel ,

2128-663: The number of systems in existence, their lack of usefulness, and because many people consider them an eyesore, used BUDs can be purchased for very little money. As of 2009, there are 23 C-band satellites and 38 K u /K a band satellites. There were over 150 channels for people who want to receive subscription channels on a C-band dish via Motorola's 4DTV equipment via two vendors Satellite Receivers Ltd (SRL) and Skyvision . The 4DTV subscription system shutdown on August 16, 2016. The dishes themselves can be modified to receive free-to-air and DBS signals. The stock LNBs fitted to typical BUDs will usually need to be replaced with one of

2184-555: The programs could only be accessed through the RCTI and SCTV networks via UHF/VHF frequency in Indonesia . Indovision also used Videocipher to encrypt their channels as a counteract against piracy between 1994 and 1997. There were several variants of the Videocipher scrambling system: This was the first version of the Videocipher system that was first demonstrated by Linkabit in 1983. Also known as Videocipher IB, this variation on Videocipher

2240-484: The same video line re-ordering as well, while also leaving the audio intact. ABC and Fox used Viewguard as well on their analog network feeds to their affiliate stations shortly before switching to digital satellite distribution in 2005 (for ABC) and 2004 (for Fox). Videocipher II was the first consumer TVRO scrambling system. HBO and Cinemax, which had transponders on Satcom 3R and Galaxy 1 , began encrypting their west coast feeds services with Videocipher II 12 hours

2296-513: The same with their east coast feeds by August. The two networks began scrambling full time on January 15, 1986, which in many contemporary news reports was called "S-Day". This met with much protest from owners of big-dish systems, most of which had no other option at the time for receiving such channels. As required by the Cable Communications Policy act of 1984, HBO allowed dish owners to subscribe directly to their service, although at

Television receive-only - Misplaced Pages Continue

2352-428: The satellite, and each satellite had a fixed number of transponders, dishes were usually equipped with a modified polar mount and actuator to sweep the dish across the horizon to receive channels from multiple satellites. Switching between horizontal and vertical polarization was accomplished by a small electric servo motor that moved a probe inside the feedhorn throat at the command of the receiver (commonly called

2408-476: The ship rather than its own gyros, improving accuracy and reducing maintenance. As of 2010, SeaTel continues to dominate the market for stabilized TVRO systems and has according to the Comsys group, a market share of 75%. Other established providers of stabilised satellite antennas are Intellian, KNS, Orbit, EPAK and KVH. Most of the free analogue channels that BUDs were built to receive have been taken offline. Due to

2464-444: The subscriber. Finished network feeds are not considered backhauls, even if local insertion is used to modify the content prior to final transmission. There exists a dedicated group of enthusiasts who use TVRO (TV receive-only) gear such as satellite dishes to peek in on backhaul signals that are available on any of the dozens of broadcast satellites that are visible from almost any point on Earth. In its early days, their hobby

2520-563: The two million satellite dish users in the United States still used C-band. ABC and CBS were considering scrambling, though CBS was reluctant due to the number of people unable to receive local network affiliates . The growth of dishes receiving K u band signals in North America was limited by the Challenger disaster , since 75 satellites were to be launched prior to the suspension of

2576-498: The video polarity and moving color information to a nonstandard area frequency. It is noteworthy that the Videocipher II Plus design did not alter the video scrambling scheme (only the audio encryption was improved). As such, a Videocipher II decoder is still capable of decoding the video portion of a Videocipher II Plus encrypted stream. In the late eighties and early nineties, VideoCipher II modules that had been pirated, began to receive constant Electronic Counter Measures (ECM). In

2632-523: Was a black market for illegal descramblers. By the end of 1987, 16 channels had employed encryption with another 7 planned in the first half of 1988. Packages that offered reduced rates for channels in bulk had begun to appear. At this time, the vast majority of analog satellite TV transponders still were not encrypted. On November 1, 1988, NBC began scrambling its C-band signal but left its K u band signal unencrypted in order for affiliates to not lose viewers who could not see their advertising. Most of

2688-504: Was commonly used by sports backhauls . CBS used this system from 1987 to the mid-1990s to encrypt its transmissions to affiliates on the Telstar 301 and Telstar 302 satellites. In Canada, the CTV television network also used this technology on its network feeds. With this system the video is scrambled by means of re-ordering the video scan lines, while all audio remains in the clear. This system

2744-409: Was in use as late as the early 2000s. Videocipher I (VCI) system was initially considered for use by HBO in the 1980s. HBO tested VCI extensively, but was ultimately rejected in favor of Videocipher II. HBO's use of VCI would have required descramblers for home satellite viewers. Due to costs involved with VC1, maintaining VCI a descrambler was determined to be too expensive for consumer use. PBS in

2800-552: Was introduced around 1994. Many long-disconnected dishes still occupy their original spots. The term TVRO has been in use on ships since it was introduced in the 1980s. One early provider of equipment was SeaTel with its first generation of stabilized satellite antennas that was launched in 1985, the TV-at-Sea 8885 system. Until this time ships had not been able to receive television signals from satellites due to their rocking motion rendering reception impossible. The SeaTel antenna however

2856-545: Was relayed from 18 satellites in geostationary orbit located 22,300 miles above the Earth. The dish had to be pointed directly at the satellite, with nothing blocking the signal. Weaker signals required larger dishes. The dishes worked by receiving a low-power C-Band (3.7–4.2 GHz) frequency-modulated analog signal directly from the original distribution satellite – the same signal received by cable television headends . Because analog channels took up an entire transponder on

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2912-418: Was stabilized using electrically driven gyroscopes and thus made it possible to point to the satellite accurately enough, that is to within 2°, in order to receive a signal. The successful implementation of stabilised TVRO systems on ships immediately led to the development of maritime VSAT systems. The second generation of SeaTel TVRO systems came in 1994 and was the 2494 antenna, which got its gyro signal from

2968-409: Was strengthened by the fact that most backhaul was analog and in the clear (unscrambled or unencrypted) which made for a vast smorgasbord of free television available for the technically inclined amateur. In recent years, full-time content and cable channels have added encryption and conditional access , and occasional signals are steadily becoming digital , which has had a deleterious effect on

3024-573: Was subject to ITAR restrictions on export of cryptography from the United States because of its use of DES, but an exception for consumer descramblers was added to the US Munitions List in 1992. In 1992, following years of security breaches with the Videocipher II system, General Instruments introduced the Videocipher II Plus descrambler module. In 1993, some VCII programming was phased out, especially premium movie channels and pay per view. For

3080-525: Was the large sizes of the dishes. The first satellite systems consisted of "BUDs" twelve to sixteen feet in diameter. They became much more popular in the mid-1980s when dish sizes decreased to about six to ten feet, but have always been a source of much consternation (even local zoning disputes) due to their perception as an eyesore . Neighborhoods with restrictive covenants usually still prohibit this size of dish, except where such restrictions are illegal. Support for systems dried up when strong encryption

3136-510: Was the primary encryption scheme used by major cable TV programmers to prevent TVRO owners from receiving free terrestrial television programming. It was especially notable due to the widespread compromise of its encryption scheme. Though the first half of the 1980s, HBO , Cinemax and other premium television providers with analog satellite transponders faced a fast growing market of TVRO equipment owners. Satellite television consumers could watch these services simply by pointing their dish at

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