HPAVC/HPAVC CD-ROM.iso/pc/TV.ZIP/TV

Text File | 1998-01-26 | 10.5 KB | 211 lines

..Digital Logic Data Service..



-=+*> The Stone Ship AE/BBS/Gaming System * 312-772-0347 <*+=-

Captured From The Ripco BBS <> 528-5020 <> 4/9/88

most of you are a bit in left field about this cable shit... some
of the methods brought up are really out of date especially with
the systems around the chicago area.

a few explainations are in order i guess...

first off, the bit about tuning your tv up or down one channel is
valid but i doubt if any systems in the country are still using
it. in that type of system none of the channels are scrambled,
only locked out. most of these systems were 35 channel or less
and used a converter which had no remote control. the idea
was simple, the box the company supplied you with had a tuning
pot or slug for each channel. if you ordered basic service, the
company simply re-tuned all the pay channels off band somewhere.
if you changed serviced and wanted one of the pay channels,
either they sent out a new box or sent someone out to re-tune the
old one. turning the tv up or down one channel would work but its
a whole lot easier to get a cable ready tv.

the companies got smart to this and started to use devices called
traps and filters. traps are small round cylinders which do what
the name implies, they trap one or a band of channels. they are
made up of a simple combination of coils and capacitors which are
tuned to block out certain frequencies. thus if the company
wanted to lock out channel 23, a channel 23 trap would be
installed somewhere between the pole and the customers house. it
should be noted that in some areas all the premium channels are
together, lets say starting with channel 30 and going through
channel 36. in this case if the subscriber elects not to take any
of those channels, a single filter is installed to block out all
7 channels. the simpliest way around a trap is just
to remove it. the two problems with this are
1) since the trap is gone, if the company checks or does an
install in the area and finds it missing, they'll just stick
another one in.
2) traps usually have collar locks on them meaning
you can sit there all day turning it but it'll never back out.
footnotes to this are
     1) if the trap is removed, opened then modified and
re-installed, it will remove problem 1.
     2) the collar lock tools are avaiable from major
electronic distributors.

filters look similar to traps but work opposite meaning they have
to be in the line to get the channel. usually you can tell if
you need a filter if you have one or more channels which 'beep'
in the sound and have bars running through the picture. this beep
and bar shit is injected into the cable channel and the filter
removes it via a deep notch, narrow band filter.

all of the above is a breif explanation of the older systems out
there. take note that none of those systems really scramble
anything, just either hide the channels, block them or inject
noise to stop common tv and vcr's from getting the signal. it
should also be noted that most systems today do not used the
above methods exclusively. most systems use some kind of
scrambling but many use combinations of different things. one
example is chicago cable which services the south and east areas
of chicago. on thier system, the 5 pay channels are setup so that
2 of them are trapped, 1 requires a filter and the other 2 are
scrambled by a encoding method called scientific atlanta. one
point to keep in mind is that the chicago cable company does not
use what is called 'an addressable system' at the current time.
i'll explain this later along with some notes on group w's
system.

in general some other things to keep in mind are besides the beep
and bar method, you will always get audio from a scrambled
channel. basically what i am saying is that the audio is never
altered in any encoding technique. the exception to this could be
a decoder known as the oak sigma which is rumored to
have a digital encoding scheme similar to the type used on
satellite. in any cable system there is always a way around it.

in larger more up to date systems like group w of chicago, it is
easier to order the equipment needed than try to screw around
with their box. one warning in order is that whatever you buy may
become junk soon and there is always the possiblity of a mail
order rip-off. cable companies are always working around
ways to stop the cheaters. what worked for years could easily
become a boat anchor at the push of a button.

group w uses a system which is quite common in many areas of the
country. it is an addressable system, quite sophisicated. the
actual encoding technique however is rather stone age and there
are many ways around it. here is an explanation on the
addressable system.....

in the last message i brought up the older systems and how if the
customer wanted to change service the company would have to
replace or modify the box. in an addressable system this is no

longer needed. each box contains what would be easiest to explain
as a computer in it. there is a cpu, rom and ram. each box also
contains an electronic serial number programmed in by the
company. in the cable system itself there is a special data
carrier buried in the spectrum somewhere. in group w's system the
carrier (i think) is at around 106.5 mHz which by chance is in
the normal FM band. another words if you detach the cable
from your box and hook it up to a normal FM radio, tune the dial
down around 106-107, you should hear something similar to a modem
carrier.

this carrier instructs the cpu for a particular box on how to
operate. think of the system as a 'chat line'. the data is sent
to all boxes at the same time but only the one with the serial
number its looking for will respond.
this is why the person who said to change your service then take
the box to a friends house won't work. it doesn't matter where
the box is hooked up on the system, the point is if its hooked up
at all, it'll get the message.

another feature of the addressable system is that each channel
can be controlled independant of the others. each channel on the
system has something called 'tag data' which is a set of bytes
creating an electronic signature unique for that channel. the
tags are usually 4 bytes. thus hbo could have something like 1010
while showtime is 1100 and so on. these tags are actually
what controls what you watch. when you first get service the box
is usually 'open' meaning all services are available then in a
day or 2 (sometimes less) you loose all the channels except what
you pay for. when the box is addressed for the first time, a
'look-up' table is established. this table, stored in ram,
contains all the tag codes you are authorized to watch. when
you go to a channel, the box looks at the table and sees if it
can find a match within the table. if it finds one, you get to
watch, if not it either goes to snow or jumps to a different
channel.

this is why group w offers pay per views and chicago cable does
not. since chicago cable uses a non-addressable system, there is
no way for them to control the boxes besides sending someone out.
this may change.
on group w when you order a PPV or change service, your box is
once again addressed and a new table is setup. no one is needed
to come out to your place.

now you have to understand that the addressing system is far more
complex and is really a bitch to get around. another feature of
it is that things just don't happen once. there is a function
called 'global addressing' which is a set of data sent to all
boxes. these globals are not for any one box in particular but
for all authorized boxes on line. global takes care of you guys
that think by changing service then unplugging the box for a
couple days will give you free service. globals are usually sent
several times a day and many occasions, all the time during
normal business hours.

another good feature of this is even if you block the data
carrier, the box will go dead by itself. it needs the global just
to run normally.


another words you need the global to keep the box running but if
you get one and the company is supposed to change your service,
you'll get knocked out anyway. damned if you do, damned if you
don't i suppose.

a few footnotes again... yes the model 450 they use can be jumped
out however the information is illegal so don't bother to ask.
the turn on method is not 100% anyway and fucks up the regular
channels. plus if you plan on returning the box, they'll know you
have been in there. for those of you that have the tempation on
opening things... don't bother with the pioneer boxes group w
also uses on thier system. they have a tamper switch in them
which will kill the box 100%. the only way to get it restarted is
to return it but they'll know why the box went dead. there is an
error code the cpu puts out. by the way the programming port on
the pioneer is on the bottom under that small peice of plastic.

summing all of this up, if you really have to cheat the system
the best way is to order the stuff you need. radio-electronics
and nuts & volts magazine have many ads from companies that
supply tricked out equipment, usually the same stuff the
companies use. many of these companies are rip offs. the larger
ones that take out full or half page ads usually are not but
there is always the chance. the other point to keep in mind is
that the stuff may not work in the first place. rumor has it that
group w at least is changing the system so that all
non-authorized boxes on line will go bad. things heard from
thier southern area seem to point that this is true.

the funny thing about stealing cable is that you have to spend
some money to do it. it seems to me if you can afford it, you
might as well pay for it. the $250 or so bucks you spend for that
pirate box buys a shitload of programming for the next couple
years, without the worry of chucking the box because they
jammed it.

this and the last 2 messages are just an intro and some of the
information does not apply to other cable systems. maybe one of
these days i'll write a file about it but not now. there are at
least 8 major encoding systems out there, each one unique and
with the posibilty of combining 2 or more onto a single
system, it gets complicated.

general questions are welcome but anything going over the line to
actually breaking the law is out. all information provided above
is available from different publications and public domain
sources.

                                                Dr. Ripco