I remember as a kid, my two aunts, who lived in West Los Angeles had a similar cable box like that. I lived with my parents "over the hill" in the San Fernando Valley. There was no cable service in that part of town at the time, so we just had the over-the-air TV stations. I liked visiting them so I could watch TV. More channels to watch. There was a long cable, that went around the room, so I could change the channels from the chair. Of course now, there are unlimited channels to watch, but nothing is worth watching. :/
I remember this. My parents got HBO with cable in 1984. I remember when the Disney Channel first came out, there was actually a separate Smaller red power source that connected to the back of the cable box just so we could get Disney....then we got another for showtime. Imagine today if for every premium channel you had to Daisy chain an extra box and cable to the back of your TV...😂😂😆
I had to look this up. Brings back memories waking up, turning on the tube and using this to watch SpiderMan and Amazing Friends for Saturday morning cartoons. A bowl of Boo Berry cereal and the Bionic 6 🤤🤤🤤
My first job was repairing Jerrold cable boxes, way back in the late 70's. Other models had volume control as well, and thus each had an RF video/audio demodulator, and a CH3/CH4 Video/audio RF modulator. This came in handy. With a little know how, and $6 worth of components, you could now turn the Cable Box into a Pay TV decoder, and thus get free Pay TV channels. This circuit decoded the Pay TV channels line by line, rather than frame by frame, and so it required so few components. It blows my mind that the big companies did not think of using the same method.
Was there RF shielding for the RF modulator in those cable boxes? My parents had a cable box that looked like the box in this video. In my bedroom I had a RCA tv set that was built in 1977. Without actually being connected to the cable box, my TV set could pick up whatever channel the cable box was tuned to.
We had one through the 80s, until my cable company finally expanded beyond 37 channels in late 1990...although the switch didn't happen until 1/1/91, we upgraded to a new Panasonic box w/an electronic channel display and remote control that summer.
Remember the notch filter they put on the cable so you could not watch channels didn't pay for those were the first thing that came off as soon as the cable tech left the house.
I used to have this very same cable box controller in the United States. My parents decided to get cable when it first came out in the late 1970's to early 80's, and I remembered how this cable box controller changed how we all watched TV forever before there was even a remote control for our TV's. But once cable started to make more channels in the late 80's to early 1990's, I almost regretted it because that meant I would have to give up mine...it certainly brings back good memories.
I remember this cable box when my father first got cable TV in 1982. There was also a glossy card that came with the box to let you know which channel number was which cable station.
I was born in 88, and up until I was about 8 years old the TV I had in my bedroom had a channel box identical to that one, NO one else my age has a clue what one is when I've tried to explain it to them lol
I was 16 in 1980 my Parents got cable and it had the brown box but in 1981 Mtv was the only reason to keep it! The 80's was a great time to be a teenager! You could still cruise the streets, park and hang out just about anywhere, the Game Places, the grocery store parking lots, Walmart parking lot, the Sonic or the Public Parks, just hang with friends, meet girls and stay out as long as your Parents allowed. Gas was cheap, fast food was cheap, Hot Rods were still on the streets, Z28's and Trans Am's were still some of the sharpest new vehicles on the streets and attracted the girls, ask me how I know LOL
i remember as a kid in early 80s it seemed everyone who drove a camaro or trans am would be blasting the stroke by billy squier from their speakers . i think it was a law in the suburbs that if you owned one of those cars you had to play that song every time you drove 🤣
@@bb-gc2tx ok, you embarrassed me hahahaha and cracked me up l forgot all about that song. Yea the requirement was to pull off the t-tops leave the windows up and crank it never exceeding 5 mph around the Park loop.
I believe the knob on the right is volume, not fine tuning. My household in San Diego had one but I was 3 or 4 at the time and would sometimes try using it upside down (but would get frustrated because I'd be on the wrong button and the wrong band trying that, and my parents would usually get alerted to my attempts at using the TV when I'd try to turn it down but end up turning it up all the way).
Holy shit that dumb box brings back memories. Wow! I just hated the dumb wire. And TVs already had remotes in the 80s. But they couldn't figure it out with Cablevision.
I had this box when they first came out, with a paperclip you could get pay channels like Cinemax, you slid it inside the rear of case and bridged something. That was almost 40 years ago.
Ah, I know these! I bought one at a garage sale for 25¢ sometime back in the early 2000s. I mostly bought it because it was so cheap but I also figured that maybe it would be good for electronics parts. Never found a use for it, until I went away for college. The dorms still apparently had analog cable in the late 2000s, so this cable box still worked for the job (well, for the channels that this could tune in anyway, which was basically everything I wanted to see anyway).
I still have a Jerrold I should hook it up and see if it works. I remember you could stick a tooth pick in between buttons and get Hbo or something like that.
I just happen to see this video on You Tube & damn,this old Cable device brings so many memories! TG we are not using that old wood grained paper weight to change channels.
With this box, one could unscramble the images of Cinemax, SHO, Playboy, etc, but NOT HBO. There was one catch. You had to have ordered one subscription channel to be able to unscramble the rest.
I hope they remake this cable box for smartv. I prefer this cable box because is free you only get like normal channel like ESPN Nickelodeon and other channel. I hate antenna tv problem is they only give lame channel
I work for a cable company and we got rid of analogue single because we realized people were paying for one cable box on local channels and splitting that cable 4 ways. Now cable companies are all digital plus we scramble singles using lockout chips and gps that require a handshake.
This was back when cable TV was brand new and people were excited to get it. Now, cable is becoming obsolete and people are getting rid of it, some people replacing it with even more old-fashioned over-the-air TV. In a lot of areas, the reason why people starting getting cable was because the reception wasn't very good. Now people would rather watch something that isn't as good. And you can't get channels like CNN, ESPN, Nickelodeon, MTV, or any of those. You can get a lot of subchannels but most of them are junk.
whats more insane is the price of cable and its channels now. id gladly go back to 1986 cable in an instant if i could. 37 relevant channels was enough. and the only channels you had to pay extra for was HBO Showtime Cinemax The Movie Channel which were only $5 each and basic cable was $15 monthly total. and all ya needed was 1-2 of them cuz they all showed the same movies. now you have to pay extra for the channels that were free then and the bill $200 month.
@@brihiggins lol I do somewhere. They used to send them with the monthly bill. I also got old Atari booklets that came with every cartridge. Idk why I held on to that shit. I guess someday it would be like a relic. Now I feel like gotta go look for them make sure they’re still there.
I remember as a kid, my two aunts, who lived in West Los Angeles had a similar cable box like that. I lived with my parents "over the hill" in the San Fernando Valley. There was no cable service in that part of town at the time, so we just had the over-the-air TV stations. I liked visiting them so I could watch TV. More channels to watch. There was a long cable, that went around the room, so I could change the channels from the chair. Of course now, there are unlimited channels to watch, but nothing is worth watching. :/
I remember this. My parents got HBO with cable in 1984. I remember when the Disney Channel first came out, there was actually a separate Smaller red power source that connected to the back of the cable box just so we could get Disney....then we got another for showtime. Imagine today if for every premium channel you had to Daisy chain an extra box and cable to the back of your TV...😂😂😆
I had to look this up. Brings back memories waking up, turning on the tube and using this to watch SpiderMan and Amazing Friends for Saturday morning cartoons. A bowl of Boo Berry cereal and the Bionic 6 🤤🤤🤤
My first job was repairing Jerrold cable boxes, way back in the late 70's. Other models had volume control as well, and thus each had an RF video/audio demodulator, and a CH3/CH4 Video/audio RF modulator. This came in handy. With a little know how, and $6 worth of components, you could now turn the Cable Box into a Pay TV decoder, and thus get free Pay TV channels. This circuit decoded the Pay TV channels line by line, rather than frame by frame, and so it required so few components. It blows my mind that the big companies did not think of using the same method.
Was there RF shielding for the RF modulator in those cable boxes? My parents had a cable box that looked like the box in this video. In my bedroom I had a RCA tv set that was built in 1977. Without actually being connected to the cable box, my TV set could pick up whatever channel the cable box was tuned to.
We had one through the 80s, until my cable company finally expanded beyond 37 channels in late 1990...although the switch didn't happen until 1/1/91, we upgraded to a new Panasonic box w/an electronic channel display and remote control that summer.
Remember the notch filter they put on the cable so you could not watch channels didn't pay for those were the first thing that came off as soon as the cable tech left the house.
Tigo 37 canales
really cool that you guys still have analog cable in Costa Rica
I used to have this very same cable box controller in the United States. My parents decided to get cable when it first came out in the late 1970's to early 80's, and I remembered how this cable box controller changed how we all watched TV forever before there was even a remote control for our TV's. But once cable started to make more channels in the late 80's to early 1990's, I almost regretted it because that meant I would have to give up mine...it certainly brings back good memories.
Brings back memories. My grandparents had this same box.
Hoping to see the old corded remotes.
We had one like that when I was a kid that is so cool that it still works
I remember this cable box when my father first got cable TV in 1982. There was also a glossy card that came with the box to let you know which channel number was which cable station.
Hello from USA- great video, excellent job! This brought back many childhood memories, thank you!
I was born in 88, and up until I was about 8 years old the TV I had in my bedroom had a channel box identical to that one, NO one else my age has a clue what one is when I've tried to explain it to them lol
Very cool 👍🏻Great Retro video!
We had those cable boxes here also in NY!
I was 16 in 1980 my Parents got cable and it had the brown box but in 1981 Mtv was the only reason to keep it! The 80's was a great time to be a teenager! You could still cruise the streets, park and hang out just about anywhere, the Game Places, the grocery store parking lots, Walmart parking lot, the Sonic or the Public Parks, just hang with friends, meet girls and stay out as long as your Parents allowed. Gas was cheap, fast food was cheap, Hot Rods were still on the streets, Z28's and Trans Am's were still some of the sharpest new vehicles on the streets and attracted the girls, ask me how I know LOL
i remember as a kid in early 80s it seemed everyone who drove a camaro or trans am would be blasting the stroke by billy squier from their speakers . i think it was a law in the suburbs that if you owned one of those cars you had to play that song every time you drove 🤣
@@bb-gc2tx ok, you embarrassed me hahahaha and cracked me up l forgot all about that song. Yea the requirement was to pull off the t-tops leave the windows up and crank it never exceeding 5 mph around the Park loop.
Lol. Yes, I remember those boxes. Cablevsion, on Long Island, NY
I remember this! You had to get off the couch to change the channel....and then thinking how lazy the remote made people fat!
I still have this hardwired box. I think #6 was HBO in NY? It's been like over 30 years since the last time I used one of these. Lol.
Correct 6 was HBO :-) - Fellow NY'er here.
14 for me 1981 in Yonkers
My uncle in Hammond, IN once had that CATV decoder box back in the 80's.
I believe the knob on the right is volume, not fine tuning. My household in San Diego had one but I was 3 or 4 at the time and would sometimes try using it upside down (but would get frustrated because I'd be on the wrong button and the wrong band trying that, and my parents would usually get alerted to my attempts at using the TV when I'd try to turn it down but end up turning it up all the way).
We had a box like that in the 70s, it had like a 20ft cable to reach all around the living room. I think ours was a Zenith box.
Holy shit that dumb box brings back memories. Wow!
I just hated the dumb wire. And TVs already had remotes in the 80s. But they couldn't figure it out with Cablevision.
I had this box when they first came out, with a paperclip you could get pay channels like Cinemax, you slid it inside the rear of case and bridged something. That was almost 40 years ago.
Ah, I know these! I bought one at a garage sale for 25¢ sometime back in the early 2000s. I mostly bought it because it was so cheap but I also figured that maybe it would be good for electronics parts. Never found a use for it, until I went away for college. The dorms still apparently had analog cable in the late 2000s, so this cable box still worked for the job (well, for the channels that this could tune in anyway, which was basically everything I wanted to see anyway).
Back in the day when hbo and showtime was 14 and 16. Yall remember that?
@@sz42781 Yea. I remember. Channel 43. Good memories.
Thought HBO was 6 and the TV Guide was 14? Or was that after this box?
@@CoreDreamStudios not in 1984.
@@kevinholmes1762 Ah, nice to know, I was 5 then so forgot.
I think 16 for me was The Movie Channel
I remember how loud those buttons were and how my mom could here me clicking away at night when shes trying to sleep
I still have a Jerrold I should hook it up and see if it works. I remember you could stick a tooth pick in between buttons and get Hbo or something like that.
Good lord. I remember the sticker of all the channel logos
I remember those. lol I grew up in a place with one channel and when I saw this it was amazing.
That's the box my family had when we first got cable in 1981.
I remember this as a kid,im old lol
Shoutout to Channel 35 in NYC
I just happen to see this video on You Tube & damn,this old Cable device brings so many memories! TG we are not using that old wood grained paper weight to change channels.
With this box, one could unscramble the images of Cinemax, SHO, Playboy, etc, but NOT HBO. There was one catch. You had to have ordered one subscription channel to be able to unscramble the rest.
yup. we had a scrambler for years.
Talk about sneaking out of your bedroom listening to snoring parents and watch Showtime After Hours
I hope they remake this cable box for smartv. I prefer this cable box because is free you only get like normal channel like ESPN Nickelodeon and other channel. I hate antenna tv problem is they only give lame channel
I work for a cable company and we got rid of analogue single because we realized people were paying for one cable box on local channels and splitting that cable 4 ways. Now cable companies are all digital plus we scramble singles using lockout chips and gps that require a handshake.
This was back when cable TV was brand new and people were excited to get it. Now, cable is becoming obsolete and people are getting rid of it, some people replacing it with even more old-fashioned over-the-air TV. In a lot of areas, the reason why people starting getting cable was because the reception wasn't very good. Now people would rather watch something that isn't as good. And you can't get channels like CNN, ESPN, Nickelodeon, MTV, or any of those. You can get a lot of subchannels but most of them are junk.
Think 1981 14 was HBO and 16 was the movie channel in Yonkers NY?
Used butter knife to get play boy channel
Omg we had one in the early 90s in trinidad
I'm I the only one as a kid who tripped over the cord when walking passed the tv
whats more insane is the price of cable and its channels now. id gladly go back to 1986 cable in an instant if i could. 37 relevant channels was enough. and the only channels you had to pay extra for was HBO Showtime Cinemax The Movie Channel which were only $5 each and basic cable was $15 monthly total. and all ya needed was 1-2 of them cuz they all showed the same movies. now you have to pay extra for the channels that were free then and the bill $200 month.
The more channels they created, the less there was worth watching on television.
dident you need an antenna to use that??
Nice!
Take it apart on cam
2 = NBC 6 = CBS 8 = ABC 14 = HBO 15 = Cinemax 26 = MTV
they used to send a sticker to put on box, so you showing all the stations, and a mini monthly guide schedule of programs / movies.
@@crokkadoodledoo9956 I remember the mini HBO schedule programs. I wish I had kept a stack of those.
@@brihiggins lol I do somewhere. They used to send them with the monthly bill.
I also got old Atari booklets that came with every cartridge. Idk why I held on to that shit. I guess someday it would be like a relic. Now I feel like gotta go look for them make sure they’re still there.