A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Hi,

I know someone who has just moved into a house. They have a tv aerial to their main front room, there is also a cable tv point in the lounge and in a bedroom upstairs but they don't subscribe to cable tv nor have any boxes.

When I went around today they said 'guess what, we've got QVC and The Box in the bedroom'! I thought they had a chipped box and connected it but thought that these analogue Gerrold boxes were all obsolete now. Anyway I challenged them and sure enough I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

They had just thought that the 'cable' cable was an aerial and forced it into the back of their TV and sure enough, the five terrestrial channels and QVC and the Box. After a bit of scanning we also found BBC News 24, Sky One and Eurosport. I am yet to see if there are more. Does anyone know how this is possble or shed any light??

Many thanks, Alex.

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Those channels are supplied as part of the analogue TV service and happen to be unencrypted - which is why you can see them.

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Mmmmm, interesting about sky 1, where my cable modem feed comes into the house i've put a splitter, straight to the back of the tv, we have about 13 channels, sci-fi, cartoon-network etc etc, are you saying that with a bit of tunning i could get more ??

I had never thought about it, just accepted what i have. I will look tomorrow, right now it's law laying down time with the g/f's kids........... be right back

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

I think it all depends on which region you're in. IIRC here there is only channels 1 thru 4. Just get your TV to autoscan and find what's there.

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Will do thanks :tu: can't remember what i did after install, but will a have look tomorrow :)

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

So are you saying that if a household has broadband it is possible to split off the back of the modem and get a small selection of channels? I thought that they had to 'switch on' the various services?? Perhaps this is another myth.

This brings me to another question, many years ago I used to babysit and there they had an old Gerrold box with a splitter going to their stereo and they had FM stations from around the UK, is this service still possible or again, does one have to subscribe to such a service?

Thanks, Alex

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Yep, thats basicaly what i've got, cant remember the splitter code / size but will look if need be :tu:

Wouldn't know about that one, sorry
HTH

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

take a look here http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...030#post297030

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Try Altis's site : http://homepage.ntlworld.com/altisuk/fm/

HTH :)

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

A QQ69A 2-way F splitter from Maplins should do the job. Along with some satellite grade coax, with properly fitted F plug connectors, to go from the splitter to the modem (can't remember the code for that though), plus a lead with an F on one end, & a coax plug on the other end, to go from the splitter to the TV. A filter is also needed to stop anything going back up the cable from the TV, & screwing the upstream signal (as Jonboy's link mentions)

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Anyone know which filter is needed, and will this be needed if they aren't even subscribing to cable anyway?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

I think Maplin sell a "High Pass Filter" of some sort. Not sure how ideal it is though.


I think it is necessary, even if not actually subscribing to any cable services, as if there is no filter, "noise" from the TV can travel back up the cable & affect the services of your neighbours etc.

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Hi,

Can anyone tell me which connector I need so that I can connect the wall box directly to my aeriel socket on my TV?

The reason I ask is because my aeriel is rubbish and I understand that I can get chanels 1 -5 through my cable box.

I have the original cable that came with the cable box and set top box but we are now dis-connected from NTL. This cable obviously fits the cable box but does not fit the back of my telly.

Thanks

Stoop

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

do a search plenty of info well documented on these forums if u take the trouble to look

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Jonboy,

I have actually taken the trouble to look and used the search facility. Unfortunately I am not that technically minded and did not see the answer to my particular question.

I have seen threads for people wanting to put cable into another room etc but not for people wanting to connect directly to their tv from the wall box.

Stoop

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Right,

I have located an F socket connector but in order to be able to tape from SKY I have to connect it through my satelite box and then on through the video before it goes into my TV aerial socket.

I get chanels 1-4 on my TV without any problems and my sky tv works fine but when I want to tape from sky I am getting interferance on my video chanel. The other chanels are fine to tape from.

Is there a filter I can use to increase the quality of the picture for when I want to tape from Sky?

Thanks

Stoop

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

hi and :welcome: to the site , excuse me if i have got this wrong but have you tried altering the channel your video is using to see if that cures it :)

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Thanks Paul,

I re- tuned the video when I connected the cbale box but I will try again to see if I can find another video chanel.

As I said, it is only Sky through the video that's affected.

Maybe I could connect the cable box directly to the video thus cutting out the Sky box connection. I will have a look at this. Not sure if it will be possible but I will let you know if I sort it.

If anyone has any other ideas I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Stoop

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

If there is only interference when you are recording Sky then it sounds like one of the RF channels coming through your cable link are interfering with the RF output of your Sky box.

In that case you would need to adjust the RF output of the Sky box so it uses an unused RF channel.

Alternatively, have you considered taping from Sky via scart?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Hi,

looking at the title of this thread, I have the same scenario at my house. I have virgin dish with no subscription outside my house. I get few channels with the cable plugged straight into my tv without any box. Now I want to buy the freeview box to get all channels. Will any freeview box work, if I plug it in between my tv and the cable dish ?
If no then what is the other option ?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Virgin Dish?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

I rent the house and people living/ renting this house before use to have virgin media cable connection. Now that I dont have subscription, I connected the cable from the dish straight into my TV and I get few channels like BBC1,2 ITV1,2, Cartoon N/W, UK TV History Channel 4 E4...etc. I want to buy a freeview box to get all the channels and want to make sure will it work with it?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Freeview boxes do not work with Virgin cables. Sky boxes do not work with Virgin cables.

The only thing that is guaranteed to work with Virgin cables is a Virgin box supplied and installed by Virgin for which some payment would be required

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Thanks for the quick reply. That helps.
Actually as I am renting, when I move to a new house after few months I am not sure if that house will have Sky/Virgin cable.

Will freesat box work with any dish ? or do they need their own dish to be installed?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Freesat will work with any dish.

What are you talking about when you say 'Virgin dish' - there's no such thing ;) Perhaps there's a Sky dish as well as an old Virgin installation?

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

I get what you mean now! Virgin Media TV comes only through underground cable. The dish outside my house could be of sky....Duh me.

But still I cannot use freeview box with that possible sky dish (as I read on some other threads/ forums), I need freesat box for that. Right ??

I am going to see how much freesat box only costs and where is the dish cable point in the house.

Thanks.

Re: A Few Cable Channels without Cable Box?
 

Correct, a Freeview box won't work. A Freesat box, on the other hand, should work just fine, assuming the dish is still pointed in the right direction :)