Thursday, February 7, 2019

Bullet Busters :: essays research papers

On Wednesday, the 13th of March 1991, American Cablevision of Queens, NewYork, displace the first electronic "Bullet". This so-called "Bullet" was infact, an electronic channelize directed to unauthorized product line boxes causingthem to turn-off. Approximately three hundred+ unsuspecting customers then called thecable go with to complain and were subsequently interpreted to court for cabletheft.The "Bullet" works by ordering the reckoner processor within the cable boxto lock-up if it is authorized for all channels. Since freebooter chipsinstalled in a cable box would authorize all channels, the TV "goes black".HOW THE CABLE COMPANIES CATCH PIRATEST here be several methods here are some of the more popular. The firstmethod is somewhat high-priced to the cable company, and is used usually onlywhen they think they have a thief. A device called a Time-DomainReflectometer(TDR) is used to send a measure signal from the cable farm animaloutside you home to your decoder.The reflected energy of the signal is measured and then compared toprevious measurements to find a time disparity which would indicate thatthe box has been tampered with. Pirates were able to get around this by facility an in-line amplifier which would weaken the reflected signal.One problem with TDR is that you need previous readings, which are notusually taken at the time of installation for a prolongation point.The second way is to modulate an identification signal onto the cable lineat about 108 MHz. This signal sounds something like a "cuckoo", and "leaks"from the convertor box where it can be picked up by cable company employeesoutside of suspected pirates homes using hand held receivers. Unfortunatelythe signals sent by the cable companies can also cause interference with FM answer within the home.A third method is to program all cable boxes from the headend to display amessage. This message is displayed only by boxes which have had a test chipinstalled and left in. The message informs the customer that they have wona free t-shirt or something similar. They only have to go to the CableCompany HQ to pick up their loot. And what a prize it is A FREE trip tojail Dont fall for this. There is no free lunch.IS THERE A FIX FOR THE BULLET?Yes, there are several solutions to the problem. The "Bullet" as sent fromheadend causes the box to lock-up, and not output signal a picture. The fix issimple - unplug the power cord. After a few minutes, plug-in the box againand it should reset. At worst, the box may chip dead for up to 24 hours.

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