tkoppel@udenva.UUCP (Ted Koppel) (05/07/85)
I just purchased a cable-ready TV; it really does accept/convert the cable signal on all 56 (?) channels that United Cable of Colorado sends out. I went to return my converter box this morning, and the people at the cable office said that EVEN THOUGH I had cable-ready, operational equipment, I still needed to run the cable signal through their box, because of something called 'influx' or something like that. It was explained that my TV accepts signals between 50 and 300 (ohms? mhz?) and that United Cable sneds the signal at 500 (ohms? mhz?); since my TV can't handle the excess signal then it screws up the viewers down the line. My question: Is this for real? Why buy cable-ready if I have to keep the converter box? Etc. Thanks... Ted Koppel : University of Denver Penrose Library : 303-871-3429 {boulder, cires, cisden, denelcor, hao, nbires}!udenva!tkoppel {bilanc, csm9a, elsi, koala}!udenva!tkoppel
brown@nic_vax.UUCP (05/09/85)
> I just purchased a cable-ready TV; it really does accept/convert the > cable signal on all 56 (?) channels that United Cable of Colorado > sends out. I went to return my converter box this morning, and the > people at the cable office said that EVEN THOUGH I had > cable-ready, operational equipment, I still needed to run the cable > signal through their box, because of something called 'influx' or > something like that. It was explained that my TV accepts signals > between 50 and 300 (ohms? mhz?) and that United Cable sneds the signal > at 500 (ohms? mhz?); since my TV can't handle the excess signal then > it screws up the viewers down the line. > > My question: Is this for real? Why buy cable-ready if I have to keep > the converter box? Etc. Boy, is this one weird. 1. A 56 channel system is 50 - 400 MHz. 36 channel system is 50-300 MHz. 2. Infux? You got me. I have never heard of whatever they are trying to tell you. A good cable system will have taps (feed to individual house or apartment building) that is meant to withstand things like shorts and signals being fed back into the cable system. Nothing the users does to the line, bar putting 120 vac on the line, should cause any problems. I suggest that you call and talk to their chief engineer. Get the scoop straight from him. Never, and I mean never, trust font office poeple. They are just hired help, and normally don't know what they are talking about. (Here come the flames!) If that engineer says that you have to use their box, get accurate details about why, send them to me and I will talk with our cable engineers and find out why. If they say you have to use their box you could also sue them for the cost of the TV that you didn't have to buy. Either way I still would like to find out their reasons. -- |------------| | |-------| o| JVC HRD725U Mr. Video | | | o| |--------------| | | | | | |----| o o o | | |-------| O| |--------------| |------------| VHS Hi-Fi (the only way to go) (!ihnp4!uwvax!astroatc!nic_vax!brown)
ogre@mhuxl.UUCP (LO COCO) (05/13/85)
> talk with our cable engineers and find out why. If they say you have to > use their box you could also sue them for the cost of the TV that you > didn't have to buy. Either way I still would like to find out their > reasons. > (!ihnp4!uwvax!astroatc!nic_vax!brown) Could you really sue a cable company for the cost of the TV that you didn't have to buy? I'm in a situation right now where I'm a slave to the converter box in order to get the pay channels. It is especially frustrating when I want to program recordings of different channels and I have to be there to change the channel on the converter box. (...mhuxl!ogre)
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/15/85)
> Could you really sue a cable company for the cost of the TV that you didn't > have to buy? You could always sue, I doubt you'll win.
brown@nicmad.UUCP (05/16/85)
> > talk with our cable engineers and find out why. If they say you have to > > use their box you could also sue them for the cost of the TV that you > > didn't have to buy. Either way I still would like to find out their > > reasons. > > (!ihnp4!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!brown) ^^^^^^ system name change > Could you really sue a cable company for the cost of the TV that you didn't > have to buy? I'm in a situation right now where I'm a slave to the converter > box in order to get the pay channels. It is especially frustrating when I > want to program recordings of different channels and I have to be there to > change the channel on the converter box. > > (...mhuxl!ogre) Ah, the converter box that is needed for pay channels. I'm afraid that you are a loser on that one. Read the manual carefully. Just about every manual that I have read for a cable ready device, has a disclaimer about pay channels. The bottom line of the disclaimer says that some cable companies require a special decoder in order to receive the pay channels. But to buy a cable ready TV or VCR that can't be used on a cable system, without getting pay channels that are scrambled, is a problem that the cable company has to address. They should send out a mailer about cable ready TVs and VCRs indicating that they can't be used (which is still find strange) and to inform potential customers about such. The cable company could be in trouble over not telling anyone. I am still waiting for mail for net news about that cable company. -- |------------| | |-------| o| JVC HRD725U Mr. Video | | | o| |--------------| | | | | | |----| o o o | | |-------| O| |--------------| |------------| VHS Hi-Fi (the only way to go) ({!seismo,!ihnp4}!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!brown)
ewiles@netex.UUCP (Ed Wiles ) (05/17/85)
> I just purchased a cable-ready TV; it really does accept/convert the > cable signal on all 56 (?) channels that United Cable of Colorado > sends out. I went to return my converter box this morning, and the > people at the cable office said that EVEN THOUGH I had > cable-ready, operational equipment, I still needed to run the cable > signal through their box, because of something called 'influx' or > something like that. It was explained that my TV accepts signals > between 50 and 300 (ohms? mhz?) and that United Cable sneds the signal > at 500 (ohms? mhz?); since my TV can't handle the excess signal then > it screws up the viewers down the line. > Unfortunately, some cable companies seem to go out of their way to make things hard. Since you seem to be saying that they transmit at 500 ohms, then you will either need their box, or a simple transformer to convert from 500 to either 300 or 75 ohms. Sorry, but the only transformers I know of for certain go from 75 to 300 and vice versa. Hope You find one that works! E. L. Wiles Net Express Mc Lean, Virginia