I know that the tuner section on the Voom STB only uses 8VSB decoding for Over-The-Air broadcasts. My question is that will this be able to decode digital signals running through cable tv wire? I'm just wondering since I read some things on the internet about certain cable providers using 8vsb modulation instead of the usual QAM modulation. Notice I do not want to get an kind of scrambled programming for free from my cable company. I only want to get what is legally out there being broadcast in the open on the cable line. Right now, I'm only getting analog cable broadcasting since I didn't want to subscribe to digital. I had heard that some cable companies get the locals in digital and feed them through the wires without modulating them to a QAM carrier signal. Can I legally hook up the OTA tuner section to my cable and see if I can decode any channels that are available in the clear or will my cable company find out I'm hooking up a foreign device, think I'm trying to steal cable and send the FBI, CIA, cops,etc, and slap a huge fine on me?
Question about OTA tuner
- Thread starter lilyarbie
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As far as I know no cable provider uses 8VSB. However, some cable providers have passed through signals that just happen to be received from their antennas. These stations aren't processed or carried by the cable system. This is how some have been able to receive stations by connecting their OTA-STBs to the cable.
You can try connecting the cable to the 8VSB and see if anything decodes. You can legally hook your cable to anything you want as long as what you hook it to doesn't disrupt the cable system (IE: a transmitter). Most cable systems offer FM service so you might be surprised what you receive connecting your cable to your stereo.
The cable companies are not all powerful thay can't sick the FBI, CIA, etc... on you. Nor can they fine you, only the courts can issue a fine and in this case connecting the cable to an OTA-STB isn't a finable offence.
There is also no way for the cable system to know if you hook up an OTA-STB or a dozen TV sets. The only way a system would know you did something is if what you hooked to it sent data to the cable systems computers.
Don't worry about it and let us know your results
You can try connecting the cable to the 8VSB and see if anything decodes. You can legally hook your cable to anything you want as long as what you hook it to doesn't disrupt the cable system (IE: a transmitter). Most cable systems offer FM service so you might be surprised what you receive connecting your cable to your stereo.
The cable companies are not all powerful thay can't sick the FBI, CIA, etc... on you. Nor can they fine you, only the courts can issue a fine and in this case connecting the cable to an OTA-STB isn't a finable offence.
There is also no way for the cable system to know if you hook up an OTA-STB or a dozen TV sets. The only way a system would know you did something is if what you hooked to it sent data to the cable systems computers.
Don't worry about it and let us know your results
Tried it, but no channels at all
I tried it to no avail. The signal meter does show signals on the same channels I get and some that the cable company gets that are too far away for me to receive, but there are no channels coming in. I think the signal meter could be showing the amount of analog signal coming in instead of any digital coming in which is resulting in high levels of signal but no picture.
I tried it to no avail. The signal meter does show signals on the same channels I get and some that the cable company gets that are too far away for me to receive, but there are no channels coming in. I think the signal meter could be showing the amount of analog signal coming in instead of any digital coming in which is resulting in high levels of signal but no picture.
But wasn't it fun trying? The signal meter does show a level for analog. I'm not sure why it does that. Usually it will show the analog below 82. When the scanning feature first came out there were many people trying to figure out why they couldn't get stations to come in only to find out the thing gives a level for analog.
Strange... on mine, while scanning, it picks up analog channels, but won't lock them in. While using the aim function, it picks up the analog and pegs some out, but stays "RED". Of course it's a digital tuner and not an analog tuner.bryan27 said:
No it won't... But, theoretically speaking, it could possibly decode channels 2 thru 13 (the VHF channels) off of cable (provided they are "digital"). Who knows what is in store for us in the future. Perhaps Voom will integrate an QAM tuner into the DVR. Or maybe a software/firmware upgrade can be done in our current boxes.lilyarbie said:
