Preview Subscription Television in the Scrambled Mode IMPRO

This is a video tape recording of WSMW TV Channel 27 from Worcester, Massachusettsas it broadcasts to subscribers of Preview. This scrambling method was known as Sync Suppression Active Video Inversion and was developed by Zenith. This subscription service broadcasted over the air from 1980 until its demise on december 31, 1985. Pirates ultimately doomed the over the air UHF subscription television industry. Although the VCR was not kind to recording scrambled signals, this tape became possible. This was recorded in 1984. THIS IS AN IMPROVED UPLOAD QUALITY OVER MY PREVIOUS UPLOAD BY POPULAR DEMAND...ENJOY!!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Preview
• stv
• ssavi
• subscription
• tv
• television
• wsmw
• channel
• 27
• worcester
• massachusetts
• on
• wqtv
• 68
• boston
• 1983
• 1984
• wuni

[kargaroc386]

skiggly, what's the thing at the end?

[skiggley]

That is a Preview slide that was recorded onto the tape I used. Preview must have been broadcasting it either before sign-off or early in the morning or during some dead air time.

[KamionRenokai]

This looks just like OnTV's alternate audio trick and Tele1st if it was stuck in the inverted video mode. I wonder why nobody thought to use the Tele1st audio scrambler along with Videocrypt? It would've been fun to see pirates try to unscramble that!

[skiggley]

A little history - Preview/WSMW TV 27 went to subscription TV in September of 1980. At the time, Zenith SSAVI was considered to be sophisticated enough to thwart pirates. Once committed, they had to stick to SSAVI. Over time, pirates broke SSAVI. It was not cost effective to change all subscriber hardware so SSAVI was the standard until STV in general bit the dust.

[marc1178]

My local cable co. used the Zenith SSAVI. I think it was very common here in North America.

[bradhig]

KNDL 30 in st louis had that service and the picture got that scrambled.

[Eddie62070]

I remember that, growing up in eastern-Mass

[somethinsuavetheater]

@mbrstooge That line is the bottom of the picture while scrambled.

[homeofthebadguys]

what happens if you put the decoder in the video OUT instead of IN?

[flycar817]

WOW does this bring back memories. Thanks for posting!

[Kargaroc286]

huh, I believe cable TV destroyed OTA STV. Other wise, they would of been gone long before 1985

[mbrstooge]

BTW, what are those white boxes in the black line at 1:25? I'm sure they're probably used for scrambling/decoding, but I need to verify for sure.

[HunterM28025]

1:17 LOL..zzzzLzzzzzzzzzozzozozoozo­oozzzzl.