[mythtv-users] Need advice: NYC = Scrambled Analog?

[Joseph A. Caputo]

On Friday 07 May 2004 15:06, Z Rosen wrote:
> I currently have Time-Warner digital cable with their Scientific
> Atlanta Explorer 8000 POS PVR.  You'd think that after 3 years of
> this box being on the market they could have worked some bugs out. 
> They didn't and it forced me to say, hey I could build a better PVR. 
> So now that I've built my kick-ass MythTV box with multiple tuners I
> find that I can only view network stations.
>
> What to do...
>
> If I switch to analog service, T-W tells me that I'll still need a
> cable box.  Is it true that T-W NYC analog is all scrambled and/or is
> this just their way of getting more money by renting boxes?
>
> I've read on the list that some people in other locations with T-W
> digital were able to get analog channels as an add-on.  This doesn't
> seem to be available in NYC (at least its not advertised, anyone know
> differently?).
>
> Is there any feasible way to descramble the entire analog signal
> before it gets to the tuner cards?
> Is there any way to get this working besides getting multiple analog
> cable boxes and multiple IR-Blasters?
>
> I'd appreciate any help people can give, otherwise look for my MythTV
> box on eBay...
> -ZR


I don't know about T-W in NYC specifically, but generally speaking the 
non-pay analog cable channels are not scrambled by most providers.  You 
*do* need a cable box if:

- your TV, VCR or tuner is not cable-ready (i.e., really old :-)
- you want to watch Pay-Per-View events
- *possibly* some providers require a box for premium channels like HBO
- you have digital cable and want to watch channels higher then Ch. 125 
or so.

Again, for most (?all?) providers, you shouldn't need a cable box 
(analog, digital or otherwise) if you just want to watch non-premium, 
non-Pay-Per-View analog cable channels below channel 125.

Somebody chime in if they know that T-W/NYC is doing something out of 
the ordinary...

*If* T-W/NYC is really scrambling the regular, non-premium cable 
channels, then you will need to have 1 cable box for each simultaneous 
tuner you would like to use with your cable.  That means, if you have 1 
TV and a 1-tuner Myth setup, you'll want 2 cable boxes (1 for 
direct-tuned TV, 1 for Myth) and 1 IR-blaster (or serial cable if 
you're lucky) for Myth to control its tuner.  I don't know of any other 
way to tune/capture scrambled or encrypted content.

-JAC