Free cable video on demand QAM?

[ZetaVu]

Not sure if anyone's posted this here, very interesting, I'd be curious if anyone wlse was able to get it working. http://www.slate.com/id/2167389/

[queonda]

Yeah, I get Ondemand channels on unencrypted qam. Some porn, some cartoon and such.

[ZetaVu]

So theoretically, if you ordered VOD, you could record it that way (assuming it is one of the unencrypted shows).

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by ZetaVu

So theoretically, if you ordered VOD, you could record it that way (assuming it is one of the unencrypted shows).

I too get all my neighbor's video on demand and other channels.

However, I think if you wanted to actually order and record something, you'd have to use their cable box to do so. Then I don't think you have control over which channel it's going to come in on. Perhaps you use the box to order a movie for Friday. Then I think (I have no actual experience here) Friday your box knows where to look for it.

I have recorded (using a manual record) a VOD show here without problems. But that was only done after I found the show playing and was able to start up the recording. I missed maybe the first 10 minutes of the show. But the actual recording was not a problem.

So I think EVEN if you subscribed and had a cable company box, the problem would be finding the show on the hdhr.

I would guess that perhaps you could start the playback. Pause it. Find it with the HDHR. Start the HDHR recording the paused channel. Then restart the movie.

BTW, the other day I was watching a nice movie and my neighbor must have had to make a nature call, or answer the phone or some other thing, cause the movie PAUSED for about 5 minutes. So I had to wait until he got his thing done. Then when the movie was over, I wanted to see the credits to see who the director was and one of the actors. (it was that Wil Smith movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness" ?? I thought his actual son in real life also played his son in the movie but wasn't sure. But the dog gone neighbor stopped the movie just after the credits started. Ah .. but a small price to pay I guess.

Does anyone here actual have VOD and can they explain how it works? I was actually thinking of finding my neighbor and inviting him to MY house to watch HIS VOD in an actual home theater with nice seating for six and a six foot screen. Heck I'd even pay for the popcorn !!

[gmijackso]

The cable company deals with VOD in an interesting way. Your house is on something like a cable substation along with a certain number of your closest neighbors. When your neighbor orders a VOD, his cable box requests the VOD to start, the cable company then tells the box where it is going to start streaming the VOD content (which QAM channel) and then his cable box tunes to that channel to view it. It is mostly random, the same neighbor could have watch a different VOD right after Pursuit of Happiness was done, but was placed on a different channel and you would have had to search to find it. Only some of the cable companies send this VOD stuff as clear QAM. There was an article about this on slashdot some time ago.

Oh, and yes, Pursuit of Happiness has Will Smiths son, paying the son in the movie as well.

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by gmijackso

The cable company deals with VOD in an interesting way. Your house is on something like a cable substation along with a certain number of your closest neighbors. When your neighbor orders a VOD, his cable box requests the VOD to start, the cable company then tells the box where it is going to start streaming the VOD content (which QAM channel) and then his cable box tunes to that channel to view it. It is mostly random, the same neighbor could have watch a different VOD right after Pursuit of Happiness was done, but was placed on a different channel and you would have had to search to find it. Only some of the cable companies send this VOD stuff as clear QAM. There was an article about this on slashdot some time ago.

Oh, and yes, Pursuit of Happiness has Will Smiths son, paying the son in the movie as well.

Interesting stuff .. Thanks for the explaination.

[Joe The Dude]

By the way... If you are using Video on Demand, keep the show running while you are looking for it with your QAM tuner.

After you find it, you can restart it, then re-tune that qam channel with your tuner asap.

I've found that sometimes pausing, fast fowarding, or rewinding the QAM Stream (with my Cable Box's Remote) can cause my HDHR to loose it's lock on the QAM Channel.