Scrambled TV?

[GirlySports]

Couple of guys in the office are having a discussion about how PPV or superchannel used to be scrambled? And they would get the sound but try to watch the channel through a bunch of scrambled lines?

Is this true? I don't remember that.
Nowadays on Shaw Digital if you go to a channel you don't have it'll just be a blue screen with ordering information!

[ShotDownInFlames12]

That was a long time ago (late 90's early 2000's) before cable boxes. You could get audio but everything was scrambled.


Ps. they were trying to watch porn, not movies.

[valo403]

Yes this is true. Elbows were often mistaken for boobs.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Uh......anyone that was a teenage boy during the 80's or 90's will know about that.

[Envitro]

yup, back in the day all pr0n was scrambled, and movie channels too. This was in the days of the analog cable, etc.

You had to get a descrambler box from the cable company and then order the PPV or whatever specialty channel, and they'd descramble it for you.

[Scoopdogg]

Yeah its true. I remember that as a kid.

[Misterpants]

Yup. It was always tricky though. You could never be 100% sure if it was a hot chick or a non-hairy dudes butt you were looking at. 50/50. I never liked those odds. Every once in a while though it would unscramble for a minute or two. Made the checking in on that channel every once in a while worth it.

[firebug]

Oh yes, the days before the internet...

Not only were the images scrambled, they were 'negative'.

When the folks were out of town one weekend I set up our video camera which had a 'negative' function to record a, uh, movie off of the TV screen.

It didn't make things any better. Nor worse for that matter.

[Jimmy Stang]

Stuff like this makes me feel old. Some young 'un comes along and genuinely asks "was it really like this back then?"

Yes. And we used to all use dial-up for our internet. And then you'd get disconnected because Mum picked up the phone upstairs. Again.

Frig. I'm only 31 too.

[Shazam]

What scrambled porn may look like:

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by Envitro

You had to get a descrambler box from the cable company

Cable company? I had three or four I bought from some Lebanese guy's van that did the job just fine!

[firebug]

Originally Posted by billybob123

Cable company? I had three or four I bought from some Lebanese guy's van that did the job just fine!

As a 12-year-old boy, what kind of payment were you making?

[Hack&Lube]

Every male of a certain age knows about trying to watch scrambled porn. Sometimes it would work but everything would be a negative image with a bit of waviness on the sides but that was enough when you were 12.

Girls are so silly!

It wasn't even that long ago. In the late 90s channels were still analog scrambled.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Shazam

What scrambled porn may look like:

Pfft, no way was it ever that good..

[Hack&Lube]

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by firebug

As a 12-year-old boy, what kind of payment were you making?

You'll need a Lebanese cable descrambler to learn the answer.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Madman

Pfft, no way was it ever that good..

Sometimes you'd get a decent clear negative

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Sometimes you'd get a decent clear negative

Ah, true - but never an actual skin tone chick.

[GirlySports]

Thanks. Now I know what it looks like!

[Madman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Thanks. Now I know what it looks like!

Try and contain yourself - you spoiled brat.