Hack comcast digital box

Someone should take an oscilloscope and probe those pins, one at a time, during boot up and changing channels. I went down to circuit city today, and bought 2 Apex DTV converter boxes.

The box is rated middle road.. You may be able to salvage some of the connectors, ect for a different project, Like one for an old console.

Not only this post, but all the posts that interest me give me information. Thank you to all of you who post and comment so I can learn from you. I picked up to cheapo Magnavox stbs from wally-world. They picked up signals from the 2 closest cities both about 25 miles away with just a pair of rabbit ears.

The PCB has 2 internal connector spots ready to be soldered. One is for an RS port. Could this be for digital Audio out? Is there an way to get it to decode cable TV? Research the MPUs and find out how to init all the goodies tuner, dacs, scalers, etc and write your own custom TV tuner, perhaps throw up graphics and useful text with the OSD engine. Most of those MPUs have handy dandy Cpp toolkits. Unfortunately, the Channel Master CM the only decent coupon-eligible converter with S-Video out does not have analog signal pass-thru.

I have the Channel Master D2A. Love this thing. Great images and with the S-Video Output. Only problem it converts HD into Analog just like any other box. Any Ideas? Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. Comment Policy. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

By using our website and services, you expressly agree to the placement of our performance, functionality and advertising cookies. Learn more. Report comment. From there, you can burn shows to DVD for archiving.

Everything you need to know—well, at least until the next game-changing variant. Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. Like science, tech, and DIY projects? I got a Leaf antennae from Fryes it works so-so. What a damn nightmare and a rip-off! It works worse than the Leaf. Amazon only offered PART of my money back. There are so many variables when it comes to over-the-air television including line-of-sight, distance to towers, weather conditions, etc.

I tried your suggestion with a bit of a workaround. Any suggestion on how to get those channels? The scan function on my TV worked quickly, what took the most time was figuring out where the cables go.

With satellite, you have zero access at all without paying, my guess is that your dish is actually acting like an antenna of sorts. Eric, Thanks for the reply. A lot of articles say I need to hook up an antenna to the dish to be able to get several of the free TV stations I want.

I live 70 miles away from Orlando and NO antenna works for me on a brand new roku tv. Please help if you can!

Have you tried changing the position of the antennas? I know sometimes the positioning is something we have to live with. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to cable, have you considered trying Hulu or Sling? I unhooked my TV and I bought a antenna. I now get 40 free stations. One big downside to antenna is it get rid of shows without any warning used to come home to plug in my TV watch yes I unplug because I have a cat likes to playing with cords on occasion.

This takes time be patient, it will tell you when its done as its basically locating the TV Stations. We did this a few times getting more stations added each time. We have been doing this for the past 12 years… :.

So back in the day pre digital this was a legitimate thing. If you subscribed to the internet package you could simply place a splitter on your coax and hook up the tv and get the complete basic package you had to subscribe to the internet package for this to work I tried it a few months ago on a older tv and it no longer worked.

Just tried it on a modern tv Samsung ru series and same result. If your cable provider has gone digital this life hack will no longer work. As I said it is obviously going to vary by provider and location but there are certainly people who it works for.

I have zero cable, never have had cable in this house. Just bought a new TV, did the autoscan and I have all the local channels. How is this possible with no cable, no antenna. The only thing plugged in is my TV power cord to the wall.

I have 3,6,7,15,42,etc. What am I missing? I had done this when we first got our smart Tv……. I have a rocky television. I bought an antenna from Walmart nothing. What can I do to get some kind of channels without paying for it. Struggling mother just needs to be able to watch the news and weather at least.

Unfortunately, not everyone will be in a location that gets good reception using an antenna. A clear line of sight to the outside makes for the best reception. Most of the HD TV antennas are directional so they need to be pointed in the direction of the towers. There is a website that you put in your ZIP code and it will tell you what direction to point the antenna and how far away the towers are. It will also tell you what channels you should get. I pick up about 80 channels here in AZ.

You could try a digital converter box. Then use remote that comes with converter box to scan for channels. I tore down my dish from the side of my house and made a planter out of it.

Then unplugged everything from my older flat screen TV. Been two years without cable of any kind. Occasionally move antenna and rescan. Must say however I did eventually invest in one of those 30 dollar flat antennas you put in the window to get better reception and I got it. Never used it because we had cable.

Just moved and cable is too expensive, so I thought about the paperclip and then remembered I had the rabbit ears. The U-shaped clips had been stripped off, so I was able to twist the exposed wires to create a single input wire and stick it into the cable hole of our flat-screen kitchen TV. Thank you, Beth! I just tried this hack on my TV and it picked up over 40 channels but there is no picture or sound. I get a square box in the middle of the TV that says Audio Only on some channels.

I have re-scanned for channels several times but get the same result. I also tried hooking the tv up to an antenna but all I got was no-signal. I have the right antenna, researched where the broadcast tower is and best antenna for my location but no -signal. I have moved the antenna and tv to other locations in the house but still no signal.

I even tried the antenna with a different tv but still got no signal. What is frustrating about this is I live in an area that is slight hilly. I am at a higher elevation than these two neighbors and I get no signal. My cable bill just went up There has to be a way cut the cable cord once and for all. It could be a combination of things like the TV, the direction you face, the distance from the towers, the makeup of your home which blocks the signal, etc.

I have read the article on how to get free T. Can you help me to get this going. I would love to stick it to the cable companies who like to charge an arm and leg for there so called service. The best way would be to do a search for your TV model number and add manual at the end.

All fine and dandy until the cable company does a tap audit and decides to come after you for cable theft. I get it cable is expensive, but so is the infrastructure that delivers the service. And leeching on the infrastructure can actually degrade the quality of service for paying subscribers.

Not worth it folks. Trust me. This is in my own home that I do technically pay for, although my television decodes additional channels in-between the normal stations.

You need to find the manual for your particular television and look up how to manually scan for channels using the cable not the antenna option. Skip to content. Quick Summary. Thank you! You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

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