The sticker-on-screen hack seems a bit easy to detect.
I've always wondered why there isn't (or maybe there is?) a black market for a wee box that takes the Sky box video output and overlays a pint glass icon in the corner.
But I didn't know until this article that the pint glass volume and colour changes each day; that would make it a lot tougher. Plus I guess the pint glass isn't always shown, e.g. during adverts.
Maybe there can be a server with a genuine subscription that would capture the video (genuine), process it, and extract the pint's features.
Then it'd broadcast that information to the other wee boxes that would have 3G and will always overlay the "right pint".
The cost of Sky pub subscription is €1,224 (about $1314.65).. I think you can go wild on the box's features and still be cheaper than a one month subscription.
That could be interesting..
Oh, the publicans have to pay you, of course, a subscription for your subscription avoiding scheme.. You could send inspectors to verify the box is operating properly, and have a drink with Sky's inspectors.
The suggestion is for an illegal device, no need for licenses in that case ;)
The easiest way would be to extract the pint glass graphic over the wire (sitting in middle of the HDMI cable the set top box to the TV) then transmitting that to other establishments and overlaying that graphic in between the set top box and the TV (the best bit is that you wouldn't even need to decrypt the video, just overlay the graphic).
The pint glass is generated by the box software, so it already knows the viewing card number and, potentially, can ascertain where that card should be, geographically. So it's absolutely possible.
They could though, your subscription is tied to a viewing card, which should be tied to your address. They could use firmware on the box to generate a modified pint glass based on that. It'd be a fun game of cat and mouse.
I've always wondered why there isn't (or maybe there is?) a black market for a wee box that takes the Sky box video output and overlays a pint glass icon in the corner.
But I didn't know until this article that the pint glass volume and colour changes each day; that would make it a lot tougher. Plus I guess the pint glass isn't always shown, e.g. during adverts.