TwEE-N-Toast
Banned
What I thought of when I first came into this thread. I just remember those things being regular remote controls.
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Who else remembers cable "black boxes?" (Ah, nostalgia.)
- Thread starter backflip10019
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What I thought of when I first came into this thread. I just remember those things being regular remote controls.
Machine
Member
I remember very early cable boxes where you could fiddle with dip and pot switches to unlock stuff. Eventually you had to buy the black boxes. Finally it seemed like you had to update your box at least once a month to keep up with changes in scrambling.
I also remember the early days of having a satellite dish. Businesses and some people would have these big-ass dishes on their roof or in their yard and pull unscrambled feeds directly from the satellites. All the pay channels were free and network feeds didn't have local commercials or news breaks inserted yet. It was a great time to be an NFL fan as there was a local bar which would be playing four or five NFL games simultaneously from the direct feeds.
I also remember the early days of having a satellite dish. Businesses and some people would have these big-ass dishes on their roof or in their yard and pull unscrambled feeds directly from the satellites. All the pay channels were free and network feeds didn't have local commercials or news breaks inserted yet. It was a great time to be an NFL fan as there was a local bar which would be playing four or five NFL games simultaneously from the direct feeds.
gutter_trash
Banned
the fake wood trim is nostalgia all over my face
The Albatross
Member
Of course I remember it. My best friend down the street had one and we used to watch wrestling PPVs because of it. Also after 6PM, spice network would air and we'd regularly watch that when his parents weren't home. Almost got caught a few times too.
A device that we had was something we called an "a/b box" (but not the a/b box you'd think of that allowed you to switch between RF signals), this was a device that allowed us to record Disney channel shows on VHS. Back in the day, Disney used to scramble their signal when you'd use a VCR, because they often showed movies that they did not release to the public or that were recently being released on VHS, and so we had this thing so that we could tape those old Disney movies. We called an A/B box, but I don't know exactly what it was.
A device that we had was something we called an "a/b box" (but not the a/b box you'd think of that allowed you to switch between RF signals), this was a device that allowed us to record Disney channel shows on VHS. Back in the day, Disney used to scramble their signal when you'd use a VCR, because they often showed movies that they did not release to the public or that were recently being released on VHS, and so we had this thing so that we could tape those old Disney movies. We called an A/B box, but I don't know exactly what it was.
The only thing I remember about old cable was the giant controller we had. It was connected to the cable box with a cord and had an individual button for each channel. You had to push the button down for it to change channels, and it was like a hard click kind of button I've not seen used in years.
You couldn't lose the controller at least.
You couldn't lose the controller at least.
terrisus
Member
oh yeahhhh
I remember this giant wired remote control but I don't remember the cable box though
Came here to post a Jerrold <3
terrisus
Member
Myth: Cable piracy is wrong.
Fact: Cable companies are big faceless corporations, which makes it okay.
Fact: Most movies on cable get two stars or less and are repeated ad nauseam.
It honestly doesn't matter anymore. The internet exists; if you wanted to steal cable TV shows, you'd wait an hour until it showed up on a torrent or website somewhere.
There are even shady sites that live stream PPVs.
Cable companies wish the barrier to entry was still a big piece of hardware you had to hook under your TV.
Uh...
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
oh yeahhhh
I remember this giant wired remote control but I don't remember the cable box though
Damn, man. That clunk when you switch channels. Bringin it all back.
When my parents first got cable it wasn't cable. It was just HBO. HBO was on from like 6am to mignight and then HBO was done for the day. HBO sent you the HBO guide so you could see what was on your HBO.
Later Nickelodeon with the Big Silver Ball came in and I'm pretty sure that remote with the clunky buttons was involved in "changing the channel" within channel 3.
A few years later and we had a satellite dish in the days before all those signals were scrambled. They were just starting to scramble some. My parents would lock the dish to one particular satellite but if you set the thing to F9 and hit the little recessed button you could unlock it and move over to the porn satellite. You had to be sure you had time to set it back to the regular satellite so the dish could physically move in time before they got home. And that was my TV hacker moment I share with OP, my first exposure to porn.
Epsilon-delta
Banned
This right here.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Damn, man. That clunk when you switch channels. Bringin it all back.
When my parents first got cable it wasn't cable. It was just HBO. HBO was on from like 6am to mignight and then HBO was done for the day. HBO sent you the HBO guide so you could see what was on your HBO.
You can't just drop a GIF of that. You have to share the full audio-visual experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1NKoMNy5bY
oh yeahhhh
I remember this giant wired remote control but I don't remember the cable box though
My grandparents had the one on the right!
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Man. I remember all this stuff.
I remember when Cable came into the house and couldn't be split into different signals so you'd have one Cable box that would feed to every TV and you'd have to watch the same thing on every TV. We even had a special rabbit eared box to send the signal upstairs instead of running more cable.
Those were tough times.
I remember when Cable came into the house and couldn't be split into different signals so you'd have one Cable box that would feed to every TV and you'd have to watch the same thing on every TV. We even had a special rabbit eared box to send the signal upstairs instead of running more cable.
Those were tough times.
I was lucky enough that my dad got two of them for the house. One for my parents bedroom and one was supposed to be in my bedroom and was for a while but I guess the fear of watching softcore porn (I was about 11 at the time) struck down that idea and the box was installed in the tiny 9 inch kitchen TV. When my parents were gone (which was kinda' rare) I was watching Playboy and Spice. And weirdly enough, Playboy and Spice didn't really play anything during the day. They would play shit at night time or late afternoon. Playboy would literally show nothing but Spice would play softcore ads for phone sex and selling condoms and lube. So I got to see something on occasion.
Watched a lot of movies that way. I made it a point to watch anything that was M rated for nudity.
Watched a lot of movies that way. I made it a point to watch anything that was M rated for nudity.
Delicious Waffles
Member
My family had one. I remember watching a Royal Rumble once... and Playboy. Lots of Playboy.
WesternHeretic
Member
First time being able to watch HBO as a kid in the 90's thanks to the black box. Oh and I got east coast channels too (basically same channel but they were on 3 hours ahead) so I would have like two HBO, two ABC, two CBS, two FOX etc...
Got to watch shows 3 hours earlier than I was suppose to.
Got to watch shows 3 hours earlier than I was suppose to.
PhoncipleBone
Banned
Ah, so awesome, and so many memories coming back now.
I remember always looking for a shady looking cable guy installing cable for someone else at our apartments. Those guy would always hook you up.
I think me and my roommate paid like $300 the first time we had this done (I think it was a Time Warner employee who hooked us up for free). We both watched a lot of porn and free movie for the next few days.
I think me and my roommate paid like $300 the first time we had this done (I think it was a Time Warner employee who hooked us up for free). We both watched a lot of porn and free movie for the next few days.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I never had a descrambler but always wanted one. The best I had was sitting on the PlayBoy channel in the hopes of it becoming descrambled. It happened a few times and each time I didn't touch the remote once. It was literally the plot of a Friends episode too. It was the best I had back then when porn on the internet was really scarce because video didn't exist and everyone had dial-up. Alternatively I had to either rewatch that one scene at the end of the first VHS half of Titanic or the striptease scene from True Lies over and over. Man, anyone remember rewinding?
Black-Wind
Member
The 90s ... aka, my Spice-channel years.
Zantetsuken
Member
I never had one, but I used to watch some scrambled Real Sex all the time.
B_Spooky13
Member
This is what our old cable box looked liked. Well the oldest one we ever had.. before this it was just bunny ears
The Power Of Snap
Member
Woah, imagine having a console booting with an intro like that!
Himynameischris
Member
Yup we had one my uncle worked for Time Warner so we got it for free, it was awesome. I eventually figured out the code to unblock the adult channels...good times.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Thanks for that man, been a long time since I've seen the full version.
All the time.
bengraven
Member
There isn't a single fucking channel that has ever existed that had an intro as epic as that.
CLACK
CLACK
CLACK
CLACK
CLACK
"Are you down there in the living room watching TV you little shit?"
"n-no, I was getting water..."
"Don't lie to me!"
"I'm not! God."
CLACK
CLACK
"-BANGER'S BALLLLLLLL! We got some great stuff by Iron Maiden---"
*furious volume going down*
"I HEAR THAT! YOU'RE ASS IS MINE..."
Bobby Roberts
Banned
This is fucking great. I had no idea.
Friend of Sonic
Member
I had no idea about this, but this was a great read. Thank you
my uncle would bring his over for wrestlemania, boxing and movies from time to time. fun days when that happened. go to the grocery store and get a couple subs, a bunch of chips and drinks and just chill out. I was a little kid at the time so that was rad.
Junior Asparagus
Member
It's pretty great that most of our memories of these things are tied to wrestling PPVs. We watched all of those at my house too.
ShooterMcGavin
Member
Just hearing that term reminds me of the Attitude Era of the WWE.
umop_3pisdn
Member
Witchcraft, yeah. Obscurus Lupa did some hilarious reviews of all of those movies.
Rawr Its Ry
Member
Wrestling PPVs and thinking you saw a scrambled nipple while watching Spice TV
shacklesmcgee
Member
c'mon, we're all friends here, no need to lie
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