I am just out of my wits.

...have been living in an apt. for the last 4 yrs and didn't know that a white cable running along the ceiling is actually a UBC cable?????

It goes to connector to which a decoder box must be connected in order to watch UBC channels over the TV. I already tested it with a box borrowed from my friend last time but somehow I failed to get box details from him.

*removed*

Any inputs on type of decoder, from where I can buy it and its approx. price?

Thanks in advance

Have you subscribed to True Visions?

Ave a look out on your roof to see if the cable is attached to a dish of some sorts, If it aint your gunna need more than a decoder box.

If this is an apartment it may well be a service available to tenets and properly paid for and cost figured into the rent. Suspect OP should be asking questions of apartment owner first.

The cable may or may not be hooked up on the cable/dish input end....just left over cable from a previous hook up.

Plenty of legally sold settop boxes which have the required Iredeo decryption built-in (Iredeo is used by many cable/satellite broadcasters worldwide), but you need a subscription card from TrueVisions/UBC to allow the Iredeo decryption to work properly for TrueVisions channels.. Consider the Iredeo the standard lock and the subscription card the special key.

A box is probably going to cost you from around 2500 Baht to 5000 Baht depending on the manufacturer and quality...lots of places the boxes can be bought. And the box may or may not come with the TrueVisions setup menu system build-in which will automatically update frequency changes/additions of TrueVisions channels; if the box doesn't have the built-in TrueVisions menu they you'll need to enter and scan about a half dozen different frequencies to get all the channels your subscription card will allow....nothing really hard about a manual setup....mainly an initial setup thing. But personally, I would only buy one that had the TrueVisions type menu built-in if TrueVisions channels are the only channels you plan to watch.

Also, some folks have reported that if subscribing to a certain TrueVisions package (ie., Platinum, Gold, etc) that TrueVisions now won't provide a subscription card unless you rent one of "their" boxes which comes with a 2000 Baht deposit and an approx 200 Baht per month box rental fee on top of the month subcription card fee...and the card is sometimes matched to the box which means the card will only work in that box.

You can even view about 20 TrueVisions channels (Thai) with no subscription card inserted as these channels are not encrypted (i.e., TNN, TSPT, Mony, TGN, ETV, and DLT1 thru 15).

The OP said...

I already tested it with a box borrowed from my friend last time but somehow I failed to get box details from him.

That would mean a signal is available. Only the owner of the building will be able to answer how to get legally connected to UBC (TRUE vision).

If it is an analogue signal via cable (not satellite!) as we have at our home then no card is needed but the box will have to be activated by phone providing serial number and other data to UBC.

opalhort

The OP said...

I already tested it with a box borrowed from my friend last time but somehow I failed to get box details from him.

That would mean a signal is available. Only the owner of the building will be able to answer how to get legally connected to UBC (TRUE vision).

If it is an analogue signal via cable (not satellite!) as we have at our home then no card is needed but the box will have to be activated by phone providing serial number and other data to UBC.

opalhort

When you say analog signal are you really saying a standard 75 ohm cable from an outside TV antenna? In that case the cable could be hooked directly into the TV to get the free channels broadcast over air (ie., Ch3, 5, 7, 9, 11, etc) although you can pass the signal through the box but it's really just a pass-through to the TV with no decryption. I'm assuming all TrueVisions type boxes need subscription cards, and along with the serial number from the subscription card and the serial number from the box, TrueVisions will activate your subscription. I could be wrong as I'm pretty good in that department sometimes. (grin)

When you say analog signal are you really saying a standard 75 ohm cable from an outside TV antenna? .....

No, we got a direct cable from UBC in our area. They can run analogue or digital over it but we stick with analogue due the additional costs for a digital box rental and change-over fees. It serves our needs just fine and we don't have this rain-fade of the signal as you have with a KU sat dish. Only the cable from the box to the TV is a standard 75 Ohm cable. The box doesn't even have any other output.

In the UBC magazine many channels have a number with A(analogue) and D(digital). But I guess the day will come when they stop the analogue service and we'll be forced to make the switch.

opalhort

As said the analog cable system was the first used in Thailand and TRUE never offered an economical way to convert to digital when they started to offer that service; demanding customers pay for new service and equipment fees. We (subscriber from day one) refused and have since changed to a local cable provider as a result.

Opalhart and Lopburi3,

Thanks....makes sense to me now....just like my cable TV back in the States...I get a little smarter everyday reading and responding to TV posts. Would agree the analog days are probably numbered since it causes TrueVisions to have two sets of transmission equipment.

I had a similar issue back in the States years back when I still had an analog signal cell phone; got the letter in the mail one day the carrier was switching to digital only (i.e., nice way of saying they were switching off their analog cell service). I switched to a digital cell phone....signed up for the digital cell service with the same carrier....in my case and for basic voice service there was no change in voice quality between the analog or digitial service. Technology marches on, whether it's much of an improvement or not.

Cheers,

Pib