Can any TV tuner/capture cards descramble?

[wlepse]

I trying to find a capture card that will descramble my cable signal, so I don't need another box. I would like to be able to record tv to computer while watching another channel, is this possible? If there aren't ready made cards or software available, do you have any ideas on what I could do? TIA

[Doctor Feelgood]

Hmmm... Cool idea. I'd like that, too (and not for stealing porno!!)

[Anonymous65]

The scrambling is normally done at the RF level, or pre-demodulation. So, there is nothing you can do to the video after it has been demodulated. If you want to "fix" scrambled signals, you have to do it before you input the RF signal to the TV-tuner card, not after. So, there is not much you can do with the processing power of the PC in this case. The 3 most common scrambling methods for cable channels are removed video RF carrier, injected RF carrier, and removed video sync. All "fixes" are done at RF level...

[ENaMEL]

I checked the net a few months ago about a software descrambler and couldn't find anything "credible".

You'll mostly get sent to sites that want money to send you "plans" or allow access to their software. Basically pay before you have a chance to see what the site actually contains - a sure sign of a scam!

Some hardware engineer friend at MIT said that it could be possible, but would require extensive knowledge of the cable scrambling system used, and how the TV-Tuner card operates. Then a device driver could be made that could descramble at the RF level - with some software assist.

But she did state it "could be" possible, so who knows if it can actually pan out.

[Dave B]

You can crack some cable scrambling systems using software.

Look for my comments in http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=55214&forum=2

[estariol]

It's not easy apparently but the software you're looking for is FREETV or MORETV you can get the doftware from this German site,
http://www.digital.coolinfo.de/
I never got it to work, m,ainly cos I use wintv pvr usb which is next nigh to useless.....!!!