A conditional access module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which equips a DVB television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware facility to view conditional access content that has been encrypted using a conditional access system. They are normally used with direct broadcast satellite services, although the UK digital terrestrial pay TV supplier Top Up TV also uses CAMs. Smart card used for health insurance in France. ... Official DVB logo, found on compliant devices DVB, short for Digital Video Broadcasting, is a suite of internationally accepted open standards for digital television. ... The term set-top box (STB) describes a device that connects to a television and some external source of signal, and turns the signal into content then displayed on the screen. ... Conditional access (CA) is the protection of content by requiring certain criteria to be met before granting access to the content. ... “Encrypt” redirects here. ... Conditional Access System (CAS) is a system by which electronic transmission of digital media (especially satellite television signals through cable) is limited only to subscribed clients. ... Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception, also referred to as direct-to-home signals. ... Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) is an implementation of digital technology to provide a greater number of channels and/or better quality of picture and sound using aerial broadcasts to a conventional antenna (or aerial) instead of a satellite dish or cable connection. ... Top Up TV is a pay TV service provided in the United Kingdom. ...

Some encryption systems for which CAMs are available are Nagravision, Viaccess, Mediaguard, Irdeto, KeyFly and Conax. NDS Videoguard encryption, the preferred choice of Sky Digital can only be externally emulated by a Dragon brand cam. The NDS CAM which the Sky viewing card ordinarily uses is built into the Sky Digibox thus not visible. Dragon and Matrix, two popular cams with satellite television enthusiasts are multicrypt meaning each is capable of handling more than one encryption system. Matrix is more likely to be used by a novice as it can be upgraded via the PC card port in a laptop personal computer whereas a Dragon cam update is done via separate programmer hardware. Nagravision is a company of the Kudelski Group that develops conditional access systems for cable and satellite television. ... Viaccess is an encrypting system for digital television developed by France Télécom. ... Mediaguard is a conditional access system for digital television developed by SECA (Société Européenne de Contrôle dAccès), which has since become Nagra France. ... Irdeto Access is a provider of content protection technologies for digital video and IP networks. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Conax is a crypting system for digital television. ... NDS, originally known as News Datacom is a DRM and conditional access firm. ... VideoGuard, produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. ... Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcastings digital satellite television service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28. ... The PCMCIA is the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, an industry trade association that creates standards for notebook computer peripheral devices. ... For the band, see Laptop (band). ...

The standard format for a CAM is a PC card which takes a smart card to authenticate, although CAMs with the 'smart card' burnt into memory can be found. In addition, CAM emulators exist for many systems, either providing an interface to allow the use of more than one type of card, or a card not designed for that receiver. Smart card used for health insurance in France. ...

See also

• Conditional access
• Conditional access system
• CableCARD