HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: speers@micro-c.mcds.com (Daniel E. Speers)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Devil's Bargain...
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 92 22:07:16 EDT
Organization: Dan's Domain, Randolph, New Jersey

  Just one point to make about the local Government striking
deals with the cable co's.  In some areas around here, city
council members actually are part owner's in the cable co.
So they have an even greater interest in holding onto the
monopoly.

   BTW:  Has anyone heard if Sammon's cable got their
"monopoly" renewed in Morris County New Jersey?


Dan Speers                                       (speers@micro-c.mcds.com)
Sysop & Dictater - err - Ruler - Hmm.. - How bout BOSS - no - King!
                no - Alright then, Super Genius! - TOO Much... What
                about, Dan The GREAT! - No huh? - ok, what about
                System Guru?  That's good.  Hey Sarah!  Don't touch
                that keyoluboaidkla;lkj,mn.,amnsdklga;lk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan's Domain - THE Best BBS Period! (Ok, semicolon...)
(201) 366-5018 - We use a Telebit T3000 (among other things...)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
From: kaplanr@knish.shearson.com (Roger Kaplan)
Subject: Re: What's this ""bullet"" thing?
Organization: Lehman Brothers
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 22:48:52 GMT

In article <2!!nf7m.tweek@netcom.com> tweek@netcom.com (Michael D. Maxfield) writes:
>In article <Bt755K.AF8@solbourne.com> kucharsk@solbourne.com (William Kucharski) writes:
>>[...]
>>The term "bullet" seems to give the press (and general public) these images
>>of pirate cable boxes bursting into flames or something, but in reality the
>>boxes just stop working.  Then, all the cable company has to do is wait for
>>these people to call saying "my cable just went out."
>
>If you had a pirate cable box.... would you call the cable company to tell
>them that it just went dead????  
>
>Next question:  If you knew you had a pirate cable box, would you still call
>the cable company to tell them it went dead???
>
>(just an opinion, in the form of a question)
>

Many of the illegal cable boxes in Brooklyn/Queens were actually installed
by the cable installer, running a business on the side.  The installer
would offer the user a "flat rate" to receive the pay stations, install
the illegal box, and pocket the "flat rate".  Many people didn't realize
they had illegal boxes!!

This is what I remember from newspaper accounts.

--
Roger Kaplan          | "There are two types of people in this world... 
Lehman Brothers       |  Those that think there are two types of people,
kaplanr@shearson.com  |  and those that know better."
 ..uunet!roses!kaplanr|    -- Tom Robbins, "Still Life with Woodpecker"
From: bc338569@LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Brian Catlin)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Wireless cable info sought
Date: 2 Sep 92 06:19:24 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Colorado State U. Engineering College

I am looking for all kinds of info on wireless cable.  The main things that I
am looking for are what equipment is used at the station, channel
capabilities and approximate costs for construction and operation of a station.

I would especially like to hear from people that may subscribe to this type of
system or who have friends that subscribe to a system.  How good is the
quality?  What size of mast is used?  What are the "ups and downs" of the
system?  I would also appreciate any other opinions you have about wireless
cable in general or about a specific station.

BTW, several months ago I watch a program on satellite where several companies
were demonstrating video compression techniques.  Does anyone have any guesses
on how long it will take for video compression devices to become commonly
available at semi-decent prices?  (I have seen one such device for sale, but I
do not know what it costs)

Any info or opinions would greatly appreciated.

B. J. Catlin
bc338569@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu


P.S.:  Is there any type of E-mail discussions on this?
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
From: kaplanr@knish.shearson.com (Roger Kaplan)
Subject: Re: What's the real bullet story?
Organization: Lehman Brothers
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 13:51:08 GMT

In article <92239.52241.6069870@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM> 6069870@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM writes:
>to side step this bullet story just a tad,
>i'd like to know something...  just how can the cable co.
>tell if one has a pirate box or not?  and if so, what are
>they going to do, send the cable cops to your home with a
>warrant?   i think not.  how many people do you know that
>have gone to jail or paid mega fines for their pirate boxes.
>
>
>please respond as i would like to hear the answer to these
>questions.
>                                    ~~~~M~~~~

I have heard that people in Brooklyn/Queens who were nabbed
were brought to court and forced to pay for the services
they had stolen.  IE: If they had been watching HBO for
a year for free, they were made to pay HBO fee * 12 by
the courts.

--
Roger Kaplan          | "There are two types of people in this world... 
Lehman Brothers       |  Those that think there are two types of people,
kaplanr@shearson.com  |  and those that know better."
 ..uunet!roses!kaplanr|    -- Tom Robbins, "Still Life with Woodpecker"
Newsgroups: uiuc.consumers,rec.video.cable-tv,alt.cable-tv.re-regulate
From: bcr@cernapo.cern.ch (Bill Riemers)
Subject: Re: Cablevision lies
Organization: CERN, European Research Center for High Energy Physics
	<Btxpp4.C98@cmptrc.lonestar.org> <1992Sep2.170848.10491@mcc.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 21:10:27 GMT

You have it lucky...  When my mother moved into her current
house in 1982 she wasn't sure about cable because it was to
expensive, but she decided since it was already hooked-up
that she would try it awhile.  Then it was $3.95/month, now
it is $35.95/month.  But hey if half the customers get disgusted
and put rabit ears up to pick up the one local station they
haven't bought up and closed down, they can always charge the
other half twice as much.

The other thing that pisses me off about cable companies
is they get you comming and going...  They charge extra
for things like:

  1) A converter so you can pick up the channels you are
     paying for.  (They always put local-community bullins
     on channels 2-13)
  2) A converter with a remote controle. So now you can have
     one for your TV, one for your VCR (both which won't work
     with a converter anyways), one for your sterio, and one
     for you converter.
  3) An addapter so you actually pick-up the sterio broadcasts
     they already raised your rates to by equipment for.
  4) Some-one comes and puts on a cable connector...  You can't
     do this your-self since you might not lock it properly.
     (Then some-one else might steal their cable...)  If you
     have a really motivated installer and a "special offer"
     they might permently scramble your VCR for you too.

Lastly, I've noticed in areas where thier is no cable compitition,
cable companies block-out programs to comply with Federal regulations.
(Reducing your varity of programming...  The oposite of what was 
intended by this FCC regulation.) In areas where there is
competition, they switch to another station during the dublicate
broadcast.(As was intended by the FCC regulation.)

Thank God, I can pick-up channels in France with-out cable.  (Too
bad that neither the French or the Swiss know how to make good 
television...)

                                   Bill
From: miller@FS1.cam.nist.gov (Bruce R. Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Why converter needed w/ cable-rdy TV?
Date: 26 Aug 92 18:19:01 GMT
Organization: NIST - Computing and Applied Mathematics Laboratory


In article <cchapman.124.714851636@matd.gatech.edu>, Charles H. Chapman writes:
> In article <1992Aug25.211502.17@acavax.lynchburg.edu> teague@acavax.lynchburg.edu writes:
> >My friend is a subscriber to a cable system which requires a converter box
> >for reception.  That is, even though he has cable-ready equipment, he cannot,
> > ...
> He only needs the box to descramble any premium channels (HBO, Cinemax,
> Showtime, etc) that he may be getting.  If he's not getting any premium
> channels then he doesn't need the box and the cable company is probably
> just trying to rip him off.

Nonsense! -- well it _might_ be true, but it is certainly not
necessarily so.  Please, people, realize that there are a number of
different systems and arrangements used by cable co's.   In particular,
they can scramble any and all channels they want to.  Then you need a
converter to descramble them.
Our system used to scramble _all_ channels except their `ID' channel.
From: phn@dde.dk (Per H. Nielsen)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Cable descrambler vs. channel selector
Date: 4 Sep 92 06:48:10 GMT
Organization: Dansk Data Elektronik A/S

brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:

>In article <1992Sep2.110003.2351@dde.dk> phn@dde.dk (Per H. Nielsen) writes:
><
><Because the descrambler needs a pure baseband video signal to operate.

>Wrong.  Many cable-tv descramblers are of the IF type.

When I referred to the descrambler here, I meant the core descrambler
circuit surrounded by other circuits such as tuner and modulator.

Yes I know that there exist scrambling methods that works by putting in an
interfering frequency on the tv-signal. The problem with this method
is that it is very easy make your own pirat decoder, all that is required
is a filter, that blocks the interfering frequency. These descramblers don't
have a channel selector at all and are not relevant in this particular
discussion.

As I live in Europe and know very little about American cable tv, there
might exist other descramblers that I don't know of. I just assume, that
the technology used is not that different from what's used over here.
Please feel free to correct me.

-- 
Per H. Nielsen                                 Telephone:  Int +45 42 84 50 11
Basic Applications                             Fax:        Int +45 42 84 52 20
Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark     E-mail:     phn@dde.dk
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
From: jhansen@convex.com (James Hansen)
Subject: Re: What's this ""bullet"" thing?
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:09:11 GMT
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In <1992Aug26.224852.10158@shearson.com> kaplanr@knish.shearson.com (Roger Kaplan) writes:
>Many of the illegal cable boxes in Brooklyn/Queens were actually installed
>by the cable installer, running a business on the side.  The installer
>would offer the user a "flat rate" to receive the pay stations, install
>the illegal box, and pocket the "flat rate".  Many people didn't realize
>they had illegal boxes!!

A similar thing has occured in the satellite world were people were sold
"lifetime subscriptions" to all pay services.  These people were buying
illegal/modifed VideoCipher modules.  They're all about to get their goose
cooked because the VideoCipher datastream is being changed, rendering
all modified modules obsolete.

--
James B. Hansen                                  {sun,uunet}!convex!jhansen
CONVEX Computer Corporation                              jhansen@convex.com
3000 Waterview Parkway, P. O. Box 833851
Richardson, TX 75083-3851                              Phone: (214)497-4802
Newsgroups: uiuc.consumers,rec.video.cable-tv,alt.cable-tv.re-regulate
From: covert@cactus.org (Richard Covert)
Subject: Re: Cablevision lies
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 21:37:42 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.205213.761@m.cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes:
>[Posted to both uiuc.general and the non-local cable newsgroups. - Carl]
>
>kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes:
>
>>I have mixed feeling about the cable-tv regulation, but not about the
>>slimy insert I just received in my cablevision bill. For example, that
>>figure of a $23 dollar increase comes not from the Commerce department
>>but from the National Cable Television Association.
>[...]
>
>I talked to the marketing manager of Cablevision of Champaign-Urbana
>(for about half an hour).  He called the NCTA to verify the
>attribution. He says that the NCTA says that the Commerce Department
>says that the number is right. He couldn't suggest any way for me to
>verify this independently.
>
>- Carl
>-- 
>Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Well, I have a bunch of relatives who live in Champagin-Urbana
Ill and they tell me that CableVision is owned by HBO. They can't
get SHOWTIME and The Movie Channel because HBO won't allow them
on THEIR cable.

So, just because HBO owns the local cable company, my relatives can't
get SHOWTIME and TMC. Shows what a monoply really means.


-- 
Richard E. Covert                 covert@cactus.org
CACTUS                  ..!cs.utexas.edu!cactus.org!covert
From: phil@phunt.MV.COM (Phil Hunt)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Cable Trouble
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 13:43:36 EST
Organization: Howtek, Inc.
Reply-To: phil@phunt.MV.COM
X-Mailer: uAccess - Macintosh Release: 1.5v4


In article <27AUG199221481032@jane.uh.edu> (rec.video.cable-tv), vpaf5@jane.uh.edu (Kal) writes:
] Yesterday, the cable company that services this apartment complex upgraded
] us from 18 channels to 55 (wheee!!). I have two "cable-ready" TV's. A 
] coax cable comes out from the wall outlet and screws into the back of
] each TV. No cable boxes. The problem is, although one TV gets all 55 channels,
] The other one, a Sony Trinitron, only gets up to channel 36. Every channel
] above that is blank. The TV has a "NORMAL - CATV" slide switch, which is
] in the CATV position. The TV is supposed to be cable-ready. The channel
] display reads up to 99. Why am I not getting all those other channels?
] Can anybody please help? This may be in some FAQ somewhere but I'm at
] 1200 baud and can't really go through all those messages to find the FAQ,
] if one exists. If you can help me, please respond thru E-mail and I will
] summarize and post the solutions for the benefit of everybody.
] 
It sounds like your sony is older.  CATV ready in the early 80's was defined
as 2-36

Phil
Xref: sparky rec.video.cable-tv:1319 alt.cable-tv.re-regulate:168
From: rxv9839@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Newsgroups: uiuc.consumers,rec.video.cable-tv,alt.cable-tv.re-regulate
Subject: Re: Cablevision lies
Date: 3 Sep 92 02:12:41 GMT
Reply-To: rxv9839@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology

It may be of interest to know that Showtime (owned by Viacom) sued ATC
(owned by Time, Inc.) for monopoly practices regarding the issue of 
Showtime carriage on thier own owned cable systems(ATC's systems) several
years ago (89 or 90, I think but I have not verified).  They have just 
recently settled the action with an undisclosed payment by Time to Viacom
and an agreement for ATC systems to carry more Showtime & Movie Channel
and to do some joint advertising.  This was all accomplished without the
intervention of Congress or anyone else.  One of the reasons that Showtime
came into business in the first place was because for a few years (late 70's)
HBO was the only movie programmer on satellite and they started to charge
high rates, rates that were so high that Viacom began their own movie service
to keep their costs reasonable.  Showtime grew from there and has forced
alot of the innovation and improvement (24 hours, for example-though you
might argue whehter that's an improvement or not) on to HBO to compete.
Bob Vogel
From: phn@dde.dk (Per H. Nielsen)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Cable descrambler vs. channel selector
Date: 1 Sep 92 10:48:38 GMT
Organization: Dansk Data Elektronik A/S

alan@acpub.duke.edu (Alan M. Gallatin) writes:

>Why not simply have a box which was a descrambler ONLY, but not
>a channel selector?  Such a box might work as follows:  CATV from
>wall to cable box.  Cable box will descramble all appropriate channels
>(PPV, etc.) according to authorization and then pass a full array of
>channels out to the TV.

Such a box would be extremely expensive to produce because it would need
a separate tuner, descrambler and modulator for each channel.
-- 
Per H. Nielsen                                 Telephone:  Int +45 42 84 50 11
Basic Applications                             Fax:        Int +45 42 84 52 20
Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark     E-mail:     phn@dde.dk
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv,alt.cable-tv.re-regulate
From: kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Challenge the lies!
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 19:27:56 GMT

If estimated increase really came from the National Cable Television
Association and not the U.S. Department of Commerce, the cable
companies should be challenged.

The way I'm doing this is to call up my local cable company and ask
them if is really a Department of Commerce estimate. When they say
yes, ask for a reference. (But don't accept the NCTA as a reference
since they are the ones accused of fudging the attribution.)

Effects:

The truth may come out.

Makes your local cable company responsible for the material that they
mail.

If many local cable companies "phone home" for the truth, the truth
may be more forthcoming next time.

Quite fun.

- Carl




--
Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
From: laird@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Kyler Laird)
Subject: Re: Cable descrambler vs. channel selector
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date:  2 Sep 92 20:34:24 GMT

phn@dde.dk (Per H. Nielsen) writes:

>wex@cs.ulowell.edu (Paul M. Wexelblat) writes:

>Because the descrambler needs a pure baseband video signal to operate.

>This is why descramblers usually have a built in tuner with a
>channel selector. The tuner simply receives the selected channel
>and converts it into an encrypted video signal which is fed to
>the descrambler. The descrambler outputs a normal unscrambled
>videosignal which is fed to a modulator which produces a
>tv-signal on a certain channel that can be received on a tv or VCR.

>Normally all this happens in a single box.

O.k., I'm going to start from here to attempt to re-launch a thread
that died a fruitless death before...

Are there any descramblers that don't have tuners built-in and
aren't tightly coupled to a special tuner?

I want a descrambler that will sit in the loop of my TV and
descramble whatever I tune to WITH THE TV'S TUNER.  I can get to
the signals coming out of the tuner, and those going back to the
display circuits; I just need a descrambler to go in between.

I got only stupid non-answers before.  I have a tough time believing
that people on this newsgroup don't know about this.

Thanks!

--kyler
From: ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Why converter needed w/ cable-rdy TV?
Date: 28 Aug 92 22:32:49 GMT
Organization: Purdue University

In article <1992Aug28.003121.8341@seas.smu.edu> dleon@seas.smu.edu (David  
Leon) writes:
> Let's see, they can compensate by charging people for box rental, remote
> control rental (!), multiple boxes in a house all while taking advantage
> of people who dont know that their tv is cable ready.  

But their charges are already based on what the market will bear. They  
certainly don't need the excuse of additional cable boxes to raise prices.

> On top of that, if you want premium channels, you really dont have much
> of a choice...

You have a choice if only the premium channels are scrambled. You can rent  
just one box and still use TV's and VCR's in other rooms for non-premium  
channels.

--
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
From: sharpe@tol-ed.com (Rick Sharpe)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: What's the real bullet story?
Date: 26 Aug 92 09:50:21 EDT
Organization: The Toledo Edison Co., Toledo Oh

I've seen quite a bit of discussion lately about the cable TV "bullet". Does
anyone out there know what the "bullet" which supposedly disables illegal boxes
really does? I've seen posting that claim that it destroys the box, but I find
it hard to believe cable companies would damage their own equipment.

							Rick Sharpe

							sharpe@tol-ed.com
From: MJV@brownvm.brown.edu (Marshall Vale)
Newsgroups: rec.video.cable-tv
Subject: Re: Why converter needed w/ cable-rdy TV?
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 14:58:07 EDT
Organization: Brown University - Providence, Rhode Island  USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: brownvm.brown.edu
News-Software: BNN via BNN_POST v1.0 beta

In article <cchapman.124.714851636@matd.gatech.edu>, cchapman@matd.gatech.edu
(Charles H. Chapman) said:
[stuff deleted]
>He only needs the box to descramble any premium channels (HBO, Cinemax,
>Showtime, etc) that he may be getting.  If he's not getting any premium
>channels then he doesn't need the box and the cable company is probably
>just trying to rip him off.
>Chuck

  Not necessarily true. The company that services the town I live in,
Pawtucket, RI, scrambles everything. This includes the 'basic' and
'basic +' channels. So although you are forced to use a cable box, you
don't have to pay any extra for it. (at least it and the remote are not
itemized on the bill) The company is Colony Cable, btw. Now I could
go into the quality aspect of this system but I don't have till tomorrow
to rant.
  Granted, this system makes it easy to order pay-per-view and change
premium channels, sneak previews and the like but I'd chuck any day

Marshall
--mjv@brownvm.brown.edu
From: kucharsk@solbourne.com (William Kucharski)
Subject: Re: What's the real bullet story?
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc., Longmont, CO
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 23:42:12 GMT

While reading article <92239.52241.6069870@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM>, I noticed that
6069870@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM said the following:
 >to side step this bullet story just a tad,
 >i'd like to know something...  just how can the cable co.
 >tell if one has a pirate box or not?  and if so, what are
 >they going to do, send the cable cops to your home with a
 >warrant?   i think not.  how many people do you know that
 >have gone to jail or paid mega fines for their pirate boxes.

There are a variety of ways to tell if you have an unauthorized cable box.  As
stated before, if the box is addressable one way is to deauthorize all boxes
and then only reauthorize boxes they "know" belong to legal subscribers.  For
example, the "bullet" that received so much press coverage did just that.  As
Barnum said, "there's one born every minute," so many of the people called the
cable company and complained that their cable went out.  Many of these same
folks were silly enough to take their converter boxes into the cable company
for "repair", and warrants were obtained for some others.  I believe there
were quite a few actual fines paid, though I don't believe any arrests were
made.

BTW, the tips some here have suggested (FM Trap on cable line to avoid
authorization frequency) will "protect" you from a "bullet" if that's how your
particular cable system works.  However, this "protection" will indeed cause
problems with some cable systems, as some cable boxes require a periodic
"reauthorization" signal, otherwise the box will shut down.
-- 
| William Kucharski, Solbourne Computer, Inc.     | Opinions expressed above
| Internet: kucharsk@solbourne.com   Ham: N0OKQ   | are MINE alone, not those
| Snail Mail: 1900 Pike Road, Longmont, CO  80501 | of Solbourne Computer, Inc.
| President, "Just the Ten of Us" Fan Club        | "Dittos from Longmont, CO"
Newsgroups: uiuc.consumers,rec.video.cable-tv,alt.cable-tv.re-regulate