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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!petsd!peora!jer
From: jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Cable TV
Message-ID: <860@peora.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Apr-85 08:37:37 EST
Article-I.D.: peora.860
Posted: Thu Apr 25 08:37:37 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Apr-85 09:10:22 EST
References: <5250@tekecs.UUCP> <847@peora.UUCP> <134@nic_vax.UUCP>
Organization: Perkin-Elmer SDC, Orlando, Fl.
Lines: 30

brown@nic_vax.UUCP ("Mr. Video" at Nicolet Instrument Corp. Madison WI),
commenting on my description of the scrambling method used by CableVision
of Central Florida, writes:

>  Sounds like sine-wave-sync-suppress to me, which is too expensive
>  to do at the juction box.  Even physically impossible as the
>  electronics needed to do that wouldn't fit in a junction box.
>  Even more expensive to duplicate in each and every juction box.
>  But, I would have to see it to believe it.

But, I have seen it!  Hence, I tend to believe it.  Here is the evidence.

(1) My cable tuner is a "dumb" tuner, not one of the new digital ones;
the inside looks like a typical TV tuner, and tuning is done through a large,
unwieldy box with a slide switch that selects one of a number of
potentiometers mounted on a PC board inside the box.  Thus I don't think
they are sending it commands from outside to program it.

(2) When I discontinued HBO, they did not have to come inside to turn on
the scrambling for HBO.

However, I tend to believe the auxiliary method used to scramble Cinemax is
indeed possibly a sine wave sync suppress method.  Someday when I have time
to take my TV apart, I will connect up an oscilloscope and see what I can
see about it.  More then.
-- 
Full-Name:  J. Eric Roskos
UUCP:       ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer
US Mail:    MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC;
	    2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642