What is a good digital cable descrambler?

What is a cable descrambler?

• Answer:

  Many premium channels such as HBO scramble their signals so that people cannot get these for free on their television sets. A descrambler is a gadget that allows you to restore the picture and sound of a scrambled channel by "unlocking" the signals. A descrambler has to be used in combination with a cable converter. Both these devices are perfectly legal although it may not seem so. You can get a converter from your cable company and attach a descrambler to it or you can purchase both the devices on your own and use them to access channels. What is illegal though is if you do not inform the cable company that you are receiving their signals. If you do not pay for these services, then it becomes illegal. There are many descramblers and converters available in the markets. These also vary in their cost depending on the quality and features that you want and also if you want a new one or are alright with buying an old one. A combination descrambler/converter device is also available. This is a one piece set top box with an in-built descrambler. The converter lets you access the cable channels on a television that is not cable ready, and the built-in descrambler allows you to view premium channels. A descrambler cannot work with any cable signals but has to be compatible to the signals provided by the cable company in your area. So you cannot just pick it up and attach it to a television that is served by another cable service.