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From: sorgatz@ttidca.TTI.COM ( Avatar)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Cable descramblers.
Summary: FAQ! BFD!
Keywords: ripoff TV boxes...AGAIN??!!
Message-ID: <22274@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 31 Dec 90 18:26:02 GMT
References: <40170@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 46

In article <40170@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> pous@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Rafael Pous) writes:
+I have a couple of questions about the cable TV descramblers advertised in 
+the back of electronics magazines.
+
 Yeah, you and every other 5th person to come by this froop! ;-)

+1. Are they ilegal, or they use some loophole in the law such as 
+   freedom to receive electromagnetic waves?  

 They are ILLEGAL!  If you are caught using such a  device  to  circumvent
the  nominal  charges  for  video entertainment it could cost you some $$,
like $500 for a first offense in most states.  It's a low probability, but
why bother?

+
+2. Do they work?  I am not familiar with how the cable companies scramble 
+   their signal, or wether all companies do it the same way.  
+
 Most of these units re-sync the picture framing, by adding a whole set of
horiz  sync  pulses.  The  audio  is  normally demodulated from a seperate
sub-carrier adjacent to the video signal, but not in the  usual  TV  audio
trap  region.  Some units are more exotic, some utilize keys, cyphers, and
an algorithm that descrambles the signal using  DSP  technology  -  not  a
weekend project for beginners!

+In other words, I am trying to find out wether it is worth buying one or not. 
+Please, e-mail or post your answer.   Thank you,        
+							Rafael.

 Unless you're out to begin a path of technical  understanding  about  the
subject,  I'd  suggest you just forget it.  Buy the damn service and avoid
the hassles altogether.  Additionally some of these ripoff companies  will
send  you  a  bunch  of junk parts, sketchy documentation and little or no
recourse should you fail to produce a  working  device.  Those  that  sell
complete  units  will  do  so  without  warrantee  and under the banner of
"surplus electronics"...this means if the unit is  detected  and  you  are
busted - only YOU pay a fine/go to jail!

 If you are (or anyone is) serious about  studying  electronics  at  home,
these are NOT the kinds of projects to start with!

-Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY           +-------------------------+
Citicorp(+)TTI                          *----------> panic trap; type = N+1 *
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA  90405     +-------------------------+
{csun,philabs,psivax,pyramid,quad1,rdlvax,retix}!ttidca!sorgatz **
(OPINIONS EXPRESSED DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF CITICORP OR ITS MANAGEMENT!)