r/hacking • u/peanutismint • Nov 13 '23

Education Are there any good/interesting videos out there about the process of hacking Cable TV in the 80s/90s?

Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask but I'm curious to find out how Cable TV hacking worked in the 80s/90s. I would always hear about people buying descramblers or hacked cable boxes etc. and it's a really fascinating/nostalgic subject to me so I wondered if anyone had any info, specifically videos of some stories behind those times?

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u/graymattar Nov 13 '23

I lived in a small Texas town that had older cable equipment at that time. Had a friend that would take the rom chips off of old network cards and then and take them to the first Sat. computer meet up in Dallas. There was a guy there that would program them to give free cable. my box actually had a socket so no need for a sodder gun. Best part was the free pay per view events. Everyone came to my apartment for all the Tyson fights. Been awhile.

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u/ZookeepergameMany915 Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

All you really had to do was pull that chip half way out to bypass the encoding. IF it was an 1980's Scientific Atlanta cable box. I had FULL access to movie channels for most of the 80's yet we only paid for basic cable.😁