Satelliteguys Website Owner Admits to Suppporting Piracy?

el bandido

el bandido

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We have known for a long time that Kodi/XBMC can allow you to view movies and other content that should normally be paid for. Looks like the owner of Satellite Guys was surprised to find this out? Some FTA receivers that have with Kodi/XBMC installed are supported by Satelliteguys, and some of their Staff openly sell and advertise them.

People like Scott Greczkowski, Brian Gohl, and Rick Caylor need to sit down and take a good long look in the mirror. These people have openly complained about piracy and theft, but they support and sell products that are capable of piracy and theft. These people also brag about contacting Federal Agencies about these illegal receivers. I wonder if they bother to mention the products they sell or support when they are supposedly making these complaints or reports to the Feds?
 
Here is a rant posted recently by Scott, owner of Satelliteguys.

It was a nice bright sunny day and I decided to take my family to the Big E which our big multi state fair here in New England. The weather was perfect for a day walking around and viewing all of the great displays at the fair.

As I walked through the main gate I could see a big red DISH tent at the other end of the midway.

Since the ride was long we decided to go into the Young Building first. Since I have worked at the Big E in years past I knew of a bathroom where there wouldn’t be a mile long wait. Walked inside to go to the bathroom and was shocked at what I saw… a booth advertising “All-In-One Streaming TV Box” “No Monthly Feeds” and a person on a microphone asking why you’re paying DIRECTV to NFL Sunday Ticket when with their box you can watch each and every game in full HD each week live and for FREE?

I went and used the restroom and then came back to watch the sales pitch. They demonstrated how you could watch almost any cable or satellite channel plus showed you how you could even watch live TV from England.

Next they showed you how easy it was to watch almost any movie you wanted. The man demonstrating the system then said you heard about that new movie that came out last FridayÂ… well we have it here and you can watch it for free.

The crowd was going nuts watching the demo and then someone shouted out that this canÂ’t be legal. The person giving the demo didnÂ’t stop a second and said it was all perfectly legal and pointed out that itÂ’s so legal it even is FCC approved and showed a label on the box.

People were lining up shelling out the $299 or $399 for one of these boxes. I saw some folks walk away with two of three of them.

So what was the box? Well it was a Chinese made Android TV box. The box was pre-loaded with the latest version of KODI (formerly know as XBMC) and included with KODI was all the plugins you need to get all the free TV and movies one could want.

In seeing this I was angered because in my humble opinion there was no way this could be legal. I am smart enough to know that just because a piece of electronics has a FCC certification on the hardware it is not a license to ignore the copyrights of the TV channels and Movie companies.

I asked some questions but they wouldnÂ’t answer, they wouldnÂ’t tell me the name of their company or if they had a number to call if I needed help. They had zero litature on display that you could take with you. But if you love TV you would want one.

Some older people were looking at buying one and I told them they could get the software for free on the Internet and pulled up my phone and showed them, they thanked me and walked away. The guy giving the spiel said that the version I showed them has lots of Viruses in it and only their box was guaranteed to be virus free.

I decided I didnÂ’t want to make more of a scene and took some pics and walked away. I couldnÂ’t believe that such a major fair such at the Big E would allow such a product to be sold there.

I walked out the door and we walked around to more places. I walked to the giant DISH booth and talked to the guys running the booth. They told me they were not selling anything because of the box being sold inside. One told me they made a few sales but then a few minutes later people came back and canceled their orders and had one of these boxes in their hands. They were upset and they had a right to be. We left the DISH booth and continued to talk, as we walked towards the state building at the other end of the park we were surprised to find another booth for this box outsideÂ… as we kept working there was another one.

We then went into the Better Living Building thatÂ’s where they have all the demos for stuff you have seen on TV like the Super Shammie, Vegamatic, Super Car Wax etcÂ… Imagine my shock as when we walked around in this building there were not one of these box booths not two of them but THREE of them in the same building. And they had big crowds around them and were selling them like hotcakes.

I noticed that different booths were selling different boxes, some booths had a dual core Android box for $299 and other booths had a a quad core Android box for $399. But all the booths were giving the same spiel, get free TV and movies for life.

I have known about XBMC / KODI for a while now and admitting used it in the past to watch live BBC and ITV from England. The Kodi program itself is not illegal, itÂ’s the add ons that take a legal program and device and turn it into a pirates dream come true.

Now will the sales people say these boxes are plug and play, I can only wonder if they get it home and turn it on and it only has Kodi loaded and no plug ins. If this was the case then honestly they would be legally selling these boxes, however if they are selling these boxes fully loaded then they would be in violation of the law.

As I was in the better living building I stopped by the DIRECTV booth that was there, and just like the DISH tent outside it was dead in the DIRECTV booth. In talking to those in the booth trying to sell DIRECTV it was the same story no sales because of the illegal boxes being sold.

I even stopped by the Comcast XFINITY booth and same story there, it was a ghost town and no one was buying anything.

It is obvious that these boxes are causing an issue for them. In all my years I have not seen such blatant stealing of service then what I saw here at the Big E.

What if anything can these companies do? Most consumers who were there believed the boxes were legal just because they were FCC certified.

What will this due to the future of TV? I mean why anyone pay for it when you can get one of these boxes or build your own and watch TV and any more for free.

Is stealing TV what the industry is being reduced to?

As I left the fair feeling full my stomach was in a knot over what I saw here as I am not sure what can be done about thisÂ… if anything.

I ended up seeing 6 of these booths setup around the fair and it honestly shocked me what I saw. My only hope is that people who purchased one find it not as easy to use as they saw at the fair and the quality will not be as good and many of the channels might not work when they want to watch TV. If this happens then hopefully these folks figure out that free service isnÂ’t worth the money they paid for it.

Sometimes FREE isnÂ’t always what itÂ’s cracked up to be. Buyer beware!
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https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-android-tv-box-sellers-raided-by-police-150612/

Sellers of Android boxes loaded with software enabling the free viewing of movies, TV shows and live sports have been raided this week by UK authorities. Trading Standards officers, police and representatives from Sky TV carried out raids in several locations, causing other sellers to quickly reconsider the tone of their marketing efforts.

kodi While paying subscriptions to services such as Netflix, premium satellite and cable channels, sports broadcasters and PPV outlets are legitimate ways to obtain content on a TV, there are others that require very little outlay.

Apple TV boxes, Android set-top boxes and even the lowly Raspberry PI can run software such as Kodi (previously XBMC) alongside third-party addons to provide all of the above at virtually zero cost. Unsurprisingly, this annoys content providers no end.
Click to expand...

Looks like it would be best for Satelliteguys to limit discussion and support to the MicoHD and the Manhattan 1933 because these two boxes would be hard to pirate? Android fta boxes that contain Kodi are designed to promote theft!

We could also say that any handgun may be used for killing Or that any handgun can be used for target practice.
IMO, People like Scott of Satellitegys should avoid promoting any product that may be used for theft because of the constant anti-theft theme they preach.
 
That's awesome. I usually go to the Big E every year but didn't get a chance to this year. I am sure these are being sold at other fairs throughout the US.
 
El Bandido, I have never sold theft enabled products and have never provided support to enable the theft of service. I am sorry that you believe that I am a hypocrite for reselling an Android or Linux OS based STB. The strength of the OS to be updated and enabled to be the media center becomes the enabling factor in this accusation.

It certainly never has been my intent to promote or enable theft of service. In my opinion, there is a big difference between knowingly distributing or selling a product enabled for theft and selling a product that is modified by the end user without the support or knowledge of the reseller.

Thank you for your consideration.
 
I have never seen anyone actually admit to supporting signal theft or piracy. Pansat. Viewsat, and Sonicview did not admit to supporting signal theft, even when confronted with the Nagra code being installed in their factory bin files for fta receivers.

Your earlier Geosat products would have been difficult to use for IKS or any other form of signal theft, but looking at your Titanium line of fta receivers shows receivers designed for signal piracy and other forms of theft. Most of your Titanium receivers are imported by a convicted criminal, and IKS boards or forums have appeared to support the receivers that you sell under your Titanium name. XBMC or Kodi has also been tied to theft as mentioned earlier in this thread. Also, most of the receivers in your Titanium Store do not appear to have FCC and UL markings on them which you have been saying is required for legal receivers. You and others have accused receiver manufacturers such as X2 of supporting piracy and importing receivers illegally. But it looks like you are doing the same thing with the receivers in your Titanium store. When you make your bed with dogs, you catch fleas!
 
El Bandido,

BS If you are going to accuse me of something, you better have your facts straight. What receivers on my site? Haven't visited the site in a long time?

The last STB that I developed or manufactured was the GEOSATpro HDVR1200 in 2013. I have never sold a Titanium line of receivers. I no longer resell satellite receivers or have them listed on the Titanium Satellite website. I may develop a true FTA STB again in the future after the expiration of the non competition sale agreement, but not sure where the market will be in a year or two.

The last receiver was the GEOSATpro HDVR3500 in July. Titanium Satellite has only sold 3 receivers: GEOSATpro HDVR3500, the AMIKO A3 and Amiko mini HD SE. All three receivers are provided by the distributors with FCC part 15 compliance and US electrical safety certifications. I am not aware of any investigations or legal issues regarding these receivers.

Yes, I had an issue with X2 back in 2012 when X2 linked to the micro HD certification, compliance and licensing documentation and presented it as their sales as their certification and compliance documentation. Don't steal from me then use it as a tool to sell against me... you bet I fought back against this BS...

Thank you again for allowing me to post on your forum.
 
Almost any receiver that has a full version of XBMC/Kodi installed and is able to accept third party plugins can be used for theft!
Almost any receiver that has IPTV capability can be used for theft!
The Amiko A3 was advertised on IKS boards aimed at North America.
So if you sell or sold any receiver with these capabilities, then you may have contributed to theft! The odds of contributing to theft would increase each time a receiver is sold.


I have seen messages posted by U.S. sellers claiming that the X2 receiver is illegal. These messages may even imply that FBI or other federal Investigations of this receiver are being conducted at that you may be in trouble for even purchasing a X2 receiver. Investigations of this type are not advertised, but that does not stop some from acting like they know!

I have seen messages wanting X2 to produce Proof of licensing for different aspects of their products. This seems to be a one-way street because the people demanding these proofs do not provide any proof of compliance for the products they sell! This crap needs to stop. The X2 is one of a very few fta receiver brands on the U.S. market that puts the FCC stamp on their receiver.
 
First, let's be perfectly clear that the receivers that I have resold have been provided by their distributors with all applicable compliance, certification and licensing for North America. I did my homework and you should do the same before suggesting otherwise. Second, you should clarify that Titanium Satellite is not one of these resellers that you are calling out for currently engaging with X2. My issue with X2 was resolved in 2012.

Yes, satellite receiver development continues to rapidly move away from closed source OS and are becoming mini personal computers with satellite receiver capability. With closed source OS the developers compiled code was necessary to enable theft of service. Now with STBs running standard OS and open source, the unit is easily modified to the end users preferences by simply installing apps or add-ons. The customers own moral compass is the deciding factor for determining how a device is used.

I believe that the open source and standard OS on STBs is a great step in the right direction for hobbyists. It allows the end user to program and update functions rather than depend on often absent developers or end of support / abandoned receiver plattorms. While it is true that the sale of each Android or Linux receiver increases the chances of one being used for theft of service, wouldn't the same logic suggest that no computer, tablet or smart phone should be sold as XBMC/KODI can be downloaded or a stream viewed via VLC?

I will never knowingly develop, distribute or resell a product that is enabled or contains firmware, apps or add-ons for theft of service. While it may be possible for an end-user to modify for this purpose, I have only promoted, sold and supported the reception of free to air or public streams.

You are right, this crap needs to stop!

Thank you again for allowing me to address this incorrect information on your forum. As always, I am always available and happy to help FTA hobbyists!
 
Thank You for taking the time to come here and post. We appreciate your points of view and perspectives. Perhaps Scotty will think about some things, but I doubt it...

Please understand people get offended when the product(s) they have purchased for legal reasons are claimed to be products made only for illegal reasons. Or the product itself is deemed to be illegal without any proof being offered to prove it!

Some of the tactics that the North American FTA vendors use is mind blowing to me. Could you imagine the commercials Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge would have if they advertised like FTA vendors?

All I want is FTA products to be judged by their merits, and not by what they could be possibly used for. I realize that companies like X2 are hard to compete with, and they can make life very difficult for a small vendor who has 100 plus units of FTA receiver in the backyard storage shed/warehouse. But there are ways To compete with X2 type companies in a more efficient manner than mud slinging.
 
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