Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!markf From: markf@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Mark A. Fullmer) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: cable TV and better black boxes Summary: if Keywords: CATV, filters, descramblers Message-ID: <5341@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu> Date: 5 Oct 90 02:48:08 GMT References: <1990Oct4.133730.28246@mlb.semi.harris.com> <229@nachos.SSESCO.com> <8627@milton.u.washington.edu> Sender: news@nisca.ircc.ohio-state.edu Organization: The Ohio State University (IRCC) Lines: 22 >From: whit@milton.u.washington.edu (John Whitmore) > and allows any channel you tune to be descrambled, regardless >of whether you paid extra for that particular 'premium' channel. >It's necessary for the cable company to know exactly which channel >is being unscrambled, and whether that particular channel SHOULD be >descrambled. Not if each channel has information encoded saying 'I'm HBO' or 'I'm V-Cable Pay channel #2' The decoding box could then be programmed (through the cable). I beleive Zenith does something similar to this in one of their high-end tee-vee systems. /* markf@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu, maf@falstaff.mae.cwru.edu Don't take reality too seriously */