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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!shaprkg
From: shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Buying a 19 inch color television--naming brands and prices
Message-ID: <1630@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Dec-84 17:38:17 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.1630
Posted: Fri Dec 28 17:38:17 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Dec-84 01:07:40 EST
References: <293@mhuxm.UUCP> <609@cbosgd.UUCP>
Reply-To: shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro)
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 73
Summary: 


   I have cable with Valley Cable in LA. They use a system which permits them
to scramble all pay channels and they can send a signal from headquarters to
my decoder/switch box which will descramble any channel they wish (usually the
ones I pay for but occasionally a promotion or even an error).  Since I do not
have a cable-ready TV but do have a VCR with capability up to channel 55 I
bought a box for $50 which does the following:

		    |-----------------------------------<|
    Antenna   VCR   |          |  Cable from street      |
	|      |    |          |                         |
	|      |    |          | Splitter                |
	V      V    V          /\                        /\
      |--------------|----<----  --------->------>|---------------|
      |    BOX       |>------TV                   |  Decoder      |
      |              |>------VCR                  -----------------
      |              |
      |              |
      ----------------

   Now I can input to my TV from the cable when I am not watching scrambled
channels or channels higher than 55 by switching them through my VCR and I
even have a remote control capability.

   If I want to watch pay TV I set the decoder as input and watch it on
channel 3 either with or without my VCR. (I can record it with the VCR and
watch if I want or record and not watch).

   If the cable goes out then I merely switch the box to antenna in and I am
exactly where I was 10 years ago and switch the channels on my TV to get what
I want.

   If I had a cable-ready TV I would not have to send the signal through the
VCR in order to bypass the box.

   A friend of mine has cable through a company that is a little older and
they control what you see via filters on the telephone pole. While this is not
nearly as good as mine when you want to call up the company and change your
pay channels or latch onto a special like a fight or new movie it does provide
the capability to switch the pay channels without needing a decoder box.  As
a matter of fact all his decoder box does is convert the cable signal from
the allocated cable 6mz channel to channel 3 of his TV - it does absolutely
no unscrambling.  In his case the company charges for the box and if you have
a cable-ready TV you are not required to get it saving yourself money. In my
case the company requires that you have a decoder and even though you have
a cable-ready TV and don't need it you still must pay for it.  Part of the
reason is that my company will eventually get involved in 2-way communication
on the cable offering services like security, question-answering, home
selection of special offerings, etc. Their decoder has several buttons which
presently are inactive and this is how they plan to control these services.

   The original question of should you have a cable-ready TV is now ready to
answer. If you have a modern cable system like I do and pay for a lot of
scrambled channels you may be wasting your money.  If you have a cable-ready
VCR you can convert your TV to cable-ready for about $50. The real payoff is
if you have an old cable system based on filters rather than scrambling like
my friend. Then you get full use of your cable-ready TV.

   Also beware of the number of channels which you get with your cable-ready.
I have seen numbers as low as 105 and as high as the 130's. These numbers
mean the following:

   84 of them are allocated for VHF and UHF. Cable TV does not handle UHF. It
either puts key UHF stations on unused VHF channels or on cable channels. Thus
there are only 21 cable channels available on a 105 channel system. This only
takes you to cable channel 35. In my cable system the company goes well into
the 60's so I would not be able to see all of the channels with a 105-channel
set. I think my VCR goes through channel 125 which is the reason I can't see
the high channels on my system.  The reason behind the increase in channel
capacity has to do with the improvement in the technology. It used to be very
difficult to deal at high band widths but the equipment has improved to the
point that it is relatively common now so the newer cable companies now
provide more channels than the older ones.