Homemade low power TV transmitter?

[thisOne]

I don't believe that the cable company would be thrilled to know that their signal is split into several different TV units throughout the house.

I'm pretty sure that the cable box is for ONE TV and if you want to watch cable (different channel) on another TV they will offer you a second TV discount and a second box.

If you want the hook up several TVs in series and watch the same channel on all of them (just in different rooms) then that ought to be fairly easy with a spliter (and perhaps a signal apmplifier), but I wouldn't advertise that to the cable co.

Splitting the signal into separate channels would be considered theft of service subject to a 3am visit by the Feral Broadcast Inquisitor Gestapo resulting in your mysterious dissapearance.

[RetroHacker]

Originally Posted by thisOne

I don't believe that the cable company would be thrilled to know that their signal is split into several different TV units throughout the house.

I don't see why it makes any difference to the cable company. It's not like they own or rent cable boxes. I mean, everything these days already has a cable tuner in it. And the tuners I would be using would probably just be old VCR's. (Pretty much what I do now). The only difference would be that now, instead of being on top of the TV, it would be in the basement. Connected through a long cable.

Likewise, if you chose to do this with digital television, you'd own the converter box, and it would be hooked up to a roof antenna. Provided that you didn't somehow wind up with more than your alotted two $40 off coupons, it doesn't matter what you do with your new digital TV converter box, or how many of them you buy.

Really, the only deviation I'm suggesting is a way of modulating the signal on something other than just channel 3 or channel 4. And, if done through a cable and not over the air, there would be no "broadcasting", so therefore no FCC problems.

-Ian

[thisOne]

Originally Posted by RetroHacker

I don't see why it makes any difference to the cable company. It's not like they own or rent cable boxes.

Here is what Northlan Cable says about it on their website:

• How many television sets can I connect to digital cable?
You can connect to digital cable to any number of TVs in your home for a low fee per month for each additional TV. Alternatively, you can receive the Deluxe Basic lineup on each additional TV for no charge and without any additional equipment.
• Do I need a separate digital cable box for every TV?
No. You only need a digital cable box if you wish to view the channels above 99 or would like to use the digital guide.

Here is what Optimum says about a Theft of Service

Cable television theft is the illegal interception of cable programming services without the express authorization of, or payment to, a cable television system. There are two types of cable theft, passive and active. An example of passive theft is when a potential customer moves into a home, finds the cable service is on, but does not notify the cable company. Active theft occurs when someone knowingly and willfully makes an illegal physical connection to the cable system and/or attaches or tampers with equipment to allow the receipt of unauthorized services. Active theft can occur at either a consumer or commercial level. Commercial theft usually happens in an environment where the proprietor receives financial gains from the illegal services (i.e. a bar or restaurant).

Here is whare you can read about cable TV regulations:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/csgen.html