Viewsat has now offered a $5000 reward for information (bill of sale/sales receipt and cloned unit) leading to the conviction for any dealer selling viewsat clones.
They are quoted as saying "We have declared war on all importers, distributors and retailers selling Viewsat clones."
Coo*lsat has followed suit, and is offering to give anyone 1 full case of Coo*lsat units for information (bill of sale/sales receipt and cloned unit) for any dealer selling coo*lsat clones.
This is meant to destroy or put the clone units underground. It has become a serious problem for them, as well as dealers selling clones and passing them off as the genuine boxes. That is a scam in my opinion.. unsuspecting end users buy the real thing only to get it killed in a clone kill fix, finding out then, they have been ripped off and got a clone but paid for the real deal..
A new site is being setup for end user information with the truth and misconceptions of clones, http://sat-clones.com as well as how to tell the difference between them. Currently there are only 3 known fta box manufacturers that have been cloned
Coo*lsat Pansat Viewsat
SAT-CLONES.COM
Welcome to Sat-Clones: This site is dedicated to one purpose, to inform people of the differences between "real", "genuine" free to air receivers and their cloned counterparts.
This has become a major problem within the last year or two. there are complaints all over the net about dealers selling clones and passing them off as real ones, then shortly after losing their investment to "clone kill" fixes or poor manufacturing workmanship.
UPDATE: Coo*lsat and Viewsat have now began to offer large rewards on information leading to dealers or importers selling their cloned receivers (coo*lsat-1 free Case of FTA units, Viewsat - $5000 usd) this will force everyone that sells clones to stop. all you need to collect the reward is a cloned unit and a bill of sale for it., it is easy to tell whether you got a clone or not, just follow the banner links to the left.
There are many reasons why people need to be informed of this;
Some fta dealers may sell cloned receivers as real ones. wholesale cloned fta receivers are usually sold to dealers about 50% cheaper then genuine receivers. from the outside there is little difference, so it is difficult to tell if the receiver is original or not. Aftermarket updated bin files may kill your cloned receiver. genuine updated (fixes) files have built in kill codes programmed to destroy cloned receivers. if they work today, they may not work on tomorrows fixes. this is a manufacturers prerogative, to protect there investment Cloned fta receivers are cheaply made in China with the cheapest subquality components. the manufacturing cost is a fraction of genuine receivers because they use methods and parts that are not meant to last, just meant to pass. there is a reason why genuine manufacturers use these high quality parts and that is to build a high quality unit. Cloned fta receivers have NO warrantee. clone fta manufacturers are doing so illegally, breaking copyright laws clone fta manufacturers cannot afford to offer warrantees' on cheaply made products that are prone to break down often. considering the "clone kill" bin releases, its usually only a matter of time before the cloned receiver is permanently damaged. Cloned fta receivers are retailed about 10% to 20% cheaper than genuine receivers. although the fta dealer buys them at 50% the price of the genuine counter part, the cost saving is NEVER passed on the end user, the end result is an average 10% savings. This happens only, providing the dealer, tells you it is a clone you are buying. if you do a cost comparison you will see: $175.00 genuine receiver to an averaged priced same cloned counterpart $157.50. considering small price savings, it is not worth the problems later for the saving of $15 to $20. Manufacturers are not getting paid for their development costs and hard work. this will filter down eventually to end users not receiving file updates and new advanced products due to failing profits.