Receiver
For my own convenience, I leave the differences between analogue and digital signals for what they are. I write about digital satellite only.

A satellite receiver in fact functions as a tuner for the satellite signals your dish has catched. The receiver will transform the satellite signal to a TV signal. Some of those signals are FTA (Free To Air). Most of the signals are not free though. There are a lot of companies (called providers) that earn money by offering services via satellite signals. Pay TV is one of those services. But also Internet services are offered via satellite and some special bank services like Stock Exchange information.

All those commercial services are coded. The receiver does get the signals, but if it cannot decode them, it will ignore them. You will be shown a black screen, sometimes displaying a message that the signal is coded.

By subscribing to such a provider, you can become the happy owner of a smart card with which you can then decode all channels that you have paid for by subscribing to that service. But there is one very annoying problem. You cannot subscribe to all providers you like. I know that sounds strange, but if you know why that is, it doesn't look that strange anymore.
Some explanation:
 
A company like Canal Digitaal pays royalties to the film producers for broadcasting their movies. The amount of money for the royalties is determined by the number of potential viewers in the broadcasting area. So if Canal Digitaal can limit the subscriber base to the Netherlands, the royalties will be much lower than when they would offer subscriptions in entire Europe.
So not being able to subscribe to a certain provider is just a consequence of the contracts which the film producers force the providers to sign.
But, as in the music industry (see Napster, Gnutella etc.) the curious and resourceful satellite hobbyist will not let himself/herself be forced to obey the consequences of such contracts.  

OK then, back to our topic. Receivers. Common Interface receivers to be precise.

There are 2 types of CI receivers:
1. Receivers with only embedded CAM.
In general, these are the boxes that are built and sold with only 1 provider in mind. They are dedicated and not at all flexible. If you are looking to buy a receiver, don't even take these types into consideration no matter how cheap they are offered.

2. Receivers with separate CAM's.
If you feel that satellites might be your new hobby, then this is the type of receiver you should go for. In these receivers you can put any CAM you like. So with these, you are much more flexible than with embedded CAM receivers. Because of the possibility to utilize more than just 1 CAM (coding system) these receivers are also sometimes called multicrypt receivers.
There are also receivers with a combination of embedded and separate CAM's available.

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