pwrsurge
I tend to agree with you, except I think its too early in the game to predict the court ruling. There's a big difference with Coolsat case. Coolsat owner was caught paying hackers to buy a microscope to analyze DN CI card chip, which handles N3 decryption, as was explained.
This was Viewsat and not Coolsat.
In Sonicview case, the allegations are, the devices they supply are primarily intended for TV piracy. Its a much softer claim after all.
Sonicview receivers are designed strictly for Satellite TV piracy. The 3rd party and factory firmwares for all their receivers are actually using the exact same software but the piracy features are commented out in the code when the factory firmwares are compiled. If you don't believe me then open any so called "factory firmware" with a hex editor and you will see some very interesting information.
Earlier this year, Sonicview posted a factory firmware for the SV8000 with piracy features enabled on their main corporate website by mistake. A coder had apparently forgotten to comment out these features before compiling the firmware. The firmware was on their website for over 1 month until I noticed it and informed them. They gave me a free SV360 Elite in appreciation for letting them know but alas, it was too late as Echostar had already noticed this.
Work may hopefully be underway to make iHub network device, mentioned in the allegations, do things like AZBox does.
The only thing the iHub can do and will do in the near future is connect to Sonicview's public Internet Key Sharing (IKS) server in order to gain access to their shared Dish Network subscription. The advertised capabilities for the iHub are the playback of MP3 files and pictures over the network along with the ability to automatically install firmware upgrades. However, even after being available for sale since June now, none of these features are currently enabled in any receiver's firmware.
I red that a lot of people use SV 8psk Boards to watch clear 8psk channels, which is legal.
The SV 8psk boards only work on DVB-S Turbo 8PSK channels which are only used by Dish Network and Bell TV. The only clear channels available would be ones that Dish Network forgot to encrypt.
Certainly, a lot more people use SV receivers to watch a variety of clear channels with a motorized or stationary dish setup than watch piracy stuff.
This would be true if their receivers did not have so many outstanding bugs, especially the SV8000. However, Sonicview staff have their hands full making their IKS server working properly and banning people who complain on their forums so no bugs will be fixed anytime soon!