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Oh, and one other thing. I wish these modern POS boxes had a switched outlet on the back of them, like the older analog cable boxes. I think the older Motorola digital boxes had the switched outlet; but, I don't think the current Motorola big boxes have them. I guess so few people are using non-remote TV's anymore that they didn't figure a switched outlet was necessary.
Somewhere around here, I have one of those old late '70's-early '80's Jerrold cable boxes with a row of mechanical click-style buttons for channel changing. I think those boxes would go to channel 37 and I don't recall actually seeing one in use since around '86. Since then, most people had the digital readout boxes that would turn the TV on and off, as well as change channels with the remote. Some of the fancier boxes would even control the volume. |
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That Jerrold box you're thinking of was likely the "JSX". with a three position switch on the left and a fine-tuning control on the right. Jerry also had a "remote" version called the "JRX".
Talk about crap! They were among the prototypes!!! Quote:
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Reception Reports for Channel 37 TVDX Can Not Only Get You a QSL Card, but a One-Way Trip to the Planet Davanna is a Real Possibility... |
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We had that type of Jerrold box (with the 13 buttons, a fine tuning control, and a switch to select one of three ranges of channels) when Lake County, Ohio got cable service in the early 1980s -- 1982, if memory serves. There was one on the living room TV and one on my Zenith 13" portable in my bedroom, but we never had remote control cable boxes. These Jerrold boxes received up to, IIRC, 39 channels and worked well on the cable systems of the time, but of course they will not work with today's digital cable systems. I wonder if Jerrold has since developed cable boxes that will receive digital channels, and which look almost exactly like the old analog ones. I know Motorola's DTV box is a fancy, computer-controlled affair (I had one when I had digital cable some years ago), but am not sure if Jerrold, et al. have come out with such boxes for digital cable as well. I would think they have, since all cable systems are or soon will be all digital. I just read online an article (from Broadcasting and Cable.com) that stated the FCC will end, shortly, its must-carry regulations which now require all cable companies to carry analog as well as digital channels. The analog service is now used mostly by cable subscribers with old NTSC TVs who want those channels but do not want a cable box (i.e. they want to connect the cable directly to the TV). When this rule is eliminated, however, everyone, regardless of what kind of TV they own (I assume this will also include flat screens), will have to rent a cable box to get anything other than broadcast channels on their sets. Time Warner Cable is one cable operator that may be exempt from this, as every channel they carry is now in digital format, even if the user's TV shows "NTSC" in the info box which appears when one changes channels. The FCC forbids cable operators from scrambling, or otherwise rendering unwatchable, broadcast channels; however, since TW's service (across all tiers, including, if memory serves, standard cable) is now and has been for some time all digital, I do not think any change in the agency's (FCC) regulations will affect them to any great extent. BTW, in my area and across all other systems in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, Time Warner Cable moved the TV Guide Channel from analog channel 13 to digital channel 230, effective today, June 13 (!), 2012. I can't help but wonder what other channels and/or services may be next in line to be eliminated from standard cable. I say "June 13 (!)" because of the date of this change, which is today, June...yup, you guessed it...13th. I wonder if Time Warner purposely planned it this way, i.e. to have the date of the change coincide with the TV Guide Channel's former analog channel position.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. Last edited by Jeffhs; 06-13-2012 at 01:30 PM. Reason: Spelling |
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That's the one.
I also remember seeing some cable boxes that had a single mechanical knob tuner, similar to the single knob varactor tuners in some TV's. IIRC, that Jerrold box had dirty switches in it when I got it. It worked OK after I cleaned; but, of course, it's now only good for a paperweight, since everything above channel 12 is digital. |
Audiokarma |
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Edit: I did not realize Jerrold also made a remote-control version of this box. Would have been nice if they had kept it around awhile, updated of course for DTV. I wonder how difficult it would have been to update the JSX/JRX versions for digital TV. Would it have been a major job to upgrade these boxes, or did Jerrold just give up on this series when DTV arrived?
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. Last edited by Jeffhs; 02-12-2012 at 01:21 PM. |
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There was discussion at a convention for cable system owners/operators that they needed to drop analog.
With increasing pressure from all digital systems, as well as additional space needed for more internet and HD...analog cable is going the way of analog OTA. Sent from my SPH-M910 using Tapatalk
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Audio: SMSL M8 -> Little Bear P5 -> Sansui SE8 -> Yaqin MS-12B -> Denon PMA-770 -> Ohm Model L | Ham: NQ4T - IC-7300 [/SIZE][/COLOR] |
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Think I got one of those non remote Jerold cable boxes stashed away somewhere. If it went a bit higher I'd use it on one of my vintage sets.
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Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
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One of these classic boxes?
Gotta love that simulated wood grain finish. For those expecting a large lineup using a QAM tuner, good luck. Most cable systems have encrypted everything except for the OTA stations, which federal law requires to be transmitted in the clear. |
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My box is similar, but the wood grain top extends farther back form the controls and the grain is darker though.
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Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
Audiokarma |
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Something else I wonder is how long will the cable companies provide boxes that output an NTSC RF signal on channel 3/4?
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Probably as long as there are older NTSC CRT TVs. Once these old sets are completely out of service and have been replaced by flat panels (that day is coming, if it hasn't arrived already), the need for cable boxes will disappear, as will the boxes themselves. Eventually, the only uses for the old-style boxes that convert digital ATSC to analog NTSC will be as tuners for very old NTSC CRT sets such as are owned by VK members in their collections, or as paperweights. Bear in mind, however, that many if not most or all of the older ATSC->NTSC cable boxes, removed from cable company service, may not and likely will not work as-is because these boxes must be activated with a special code to which only the cable company's technicians have access. Once boxes are removed from service, they may well be permanently locked so that they cannot be used for free cable service. There may be an FCC rule which requires cable operators to disable old, obsolete cable boxes in this way when new ones are phased in.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. |
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I don't see cable boxes going away; rather, I see the NTSC RF output connector going away from future boxes. As long as the cable company is sending out it's signal as "non-clear", there will be a need for some sort of decoder between the cable line and the TV.
And, yes, the current digital cable boxes must be activated. When we got our boxes and connected them, there was a message on the screen with instructions to call a phone number. When the number was called, I was directed to an automated system (no surprise). After entering the serial numbers of the boxes and after the system pulled up my account, a signal was sent down the line to activate the boxes and enable them to receive the level of service that I was paying for. I suspect the new way of doing it will prevent a lot of cable theft. In the old days, a crook could climb the pole, connect his cable, and he was in business (until they caught up with him). Back then, cable boxes could be purchased at many electronics stores and they required no sort of activation. The way they used to prevent viewing of certain channels was to install a trap in the line. Many times, I've heard of people bypassing the trap and were able to watch the premium channels. Someone told me that they were once able to watch a PPV movie by fine tuning one TV to receive the sound and fine tuning another TV to view the picture. I've also heard of people, back in the early days of cable, wrapping a piece of aluminum foil around the cable and sliding the foil up and down the cable in order to receive HBO. At one point, I remember some of the premium channels could be clearly heard; but, the picture would be scrambled. IIRC, HBO was the only premium channel in my area that had both the picture and sound scrambled. Back in the late '80's, someone was bragging to me about how he climbed the pole in the middle of the night, connected his cable, managed to get an "under the table" cable descrambler box, and was able to watch everything the cable company offered (for free). I warned him that they'd eventually catch up to him; and, they did. After that, I think he realized that he should have just gone ahead and paid for the service. |
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BTW, if tomorrow's cable boxes will be made without RF output ports to connect to the antenna input of the television, how on earth would one connect such a box to the set, or would the box be physically connected to the television at all? I'm thinking that if the RF connector is done away with, the box will get its signal input either wirelessly or through a hard-wired Internet connection, but that still leaves the question of how the box would connect to the TV. I am not presently aware of any way to wirelessly connect a television set to today's cable or satellite services, particularly the former.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. |
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BTW, In general QAM is the only modulation scheme used on cable for digital channels (scrambled or not) ... ATSC is used for Over The Air transmission. ATSC is more robust for OTA, while QAM allows more channels in a given bandwidth, which cable providers like. Quote:
ADD: WIFI TVs do exist for wireless connection to the internet and other hosts, such as this example: http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-XVT323SV...9861357&sr=8-2 Not affiliated, jr Last edited by jr_tech; 02-21-2012 at 04:47 PM. Reason: add WIFI TV link |
Audiokarma |
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