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RWCable · 17-03-2021, 14:13

Hi all it's been a while, I hope you are all doing well.

I've been feeling nostalgic on this subject lately... I learned some new things and thought I'd share some updates on the topic.

Between 1994-1998, SEGA worked with cable companies to create a subscription games service called SEGA Channel for their Mega Drive (aka Genesis) console. The games would be delivered via coax into a special cartridge inserted into the console. It's very interesting. If you want to learn more see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel

Anyway keeping in line with the discussion around analogue cable TV, it turns out General Instrument had some role in supporting SEGA Channel. When I did some searches to learn more about SEGA Channel, I found that a System Operators manual for the General Instrument ACC-4000 had been uploaded on a SEGA wiki site. You can find that here: https://segaretro.org/index.php?titl...nstrument).pdf

As previously mentioned in this thread, the ACC is a sort of master computer which General Instrument supplied to cable operators to control the headend equipment, which would then communicate with the set-top boxes on the network.

The manual makes very interesting reading if you're technically inclined (maybe if you're reading this you used one?). It shows what a system operator would see on their end, which we as customers never saw. Obviously the system is obsolete so I doubt there's any harm sharing this.

The ACC has some interesting capabilities for the time. For instance, I was amazed to find it could conduct opinion and viewership polls with the GI boxes!! If you ever used an ACC, was the viewership polling feature ever used? As for opinion polls I know for a fact I never saw an opinion poll on NTL...

I also read a manual I downloaded a while ago for one of the most common set-top boxes used in Britain, the CFT-2100 which I remember fondly. In the example screens in the manual, the Messages feature is shown providing useful info like "today's weather," "PPV Guide", "Customer Service No.". Unfortunately I don't have a link to the manual but surely it's probably available somewhere. It's a shame NTL/local operators didn't use this type of functionality more. It's very cool for its time and would have made the service even better.

The ACC manual also explains the naming and model number convention for the various types and subtypes of boxes (CFT-20XX, CFT-21XX, CFT-22XX) etc. There's actually quite a lot of subtypes based on whether it's one-way, two-way, or "FONE-way."

So I learned a few things from the manual, including that CFT stands for "Consumer Friendly Terminal."

In my research I also saw a CFT-2200 box in America and it seems that particular model can run a custom firmware? It looks physically the same as the CFT-2100/2000 boxes but the menus look completely different. Interesting pictures here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENERAL-I...kAAOSwx79erv5r

But I have some more questions too.

What's SURFview and did we ever have it here?

What's FONE-way? Probably something to do with the box having a connection to the phone line for two-way communication box and headend?

Could the CFT-2100, CFT-2000 run custom firmware like the 2200?

Did the boxes have an internal battery or storage to remember time, settings, channel numbers etc?

17-03-2021, 14:13	#75
RWCable cf.member Join Date: Jul 2018 Services: Virgin Media TiVo / Broadband / Somehow still the landline Posts: 39	Re: Analogue Cable Memories Hi all it's been a while, I hope you are all doing well. I've been feeling nostalgic on this subject lately... I learned some new things and thought I'd share some updates on the topic. Between 1994-1998, SEGA worked with cable companies to create a subscription games service called SEGA Channel for their Mega Drive (aka Genesis) console. The games would be delivered via coax into a special cartridge inserted into the console. It's very interesting. If you want to learn more see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel Anyway keeping in line with the discussion around analogue cable TV, it turns out General Instrument had some role in supporting SEGA Channel. When I did some searches to learn more about SEGA Channel, I found that a System Operators manual for the General Instrument ACC-4000 had been uploaded on a SEGA wiki site. You can find that here: https://segaretro.org/index.php?titl...nstrument).pdf As previously mentioned in this thread, the ACC is a sort of master computer which General Instrument supplied to cable operators to control the headend equipment, which would then communicate with the set-top boxes on the network. The manual makes very interesting reading if you're technically inclined (maybe if you're reading this you used one?). It shows what a system operator would see on their end, which we as customers never saw. Obviously the system is obsolete so I doubt there's any harm sharing this. The ACC has some interesting capabilities for the time. For instance, I was amazed to find it could conduct opinion and viewership polls with the GI boxes!! If you ever used an ACC, was the viewership polling feature ever used? As for opinion polls I know for a fact I never saw an opinion poll on NTL... I also read a manual I downloaded a while ago for one of the most common set-top boxes used in Britain, the CFT-2100 which I remember fondly. In the example screens in the manual, the Messages feature is shown providing useful info like "today's weather," "PPV Guide", "Customer Service No.". Unfortunately I don't have a link to the manual but surely it's probably available somewhere. It's a shame NTL/local operators didn't use this type of functionality more. It's very cool for its time and would have made the service even better. The ACC manual also explains the naming and model number convention for the various types and subtypes of boxes (CFT-20XX, CFT-21XX, CFT-22XX) etc. There's actually quite a lot of subtypes based on whether it's one-way, two-way, or "FONE-way." So I learned a few things from the manual, including that CFT stands for "Consumer Friendly Terminal." In my research I also saw a CFT-2200 box in America and it seems that particular model can run a custom firmware? It looks physically the same as the CFT-2100/2000 boxes but the menus look completely different. Interesting pictures here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENERAL-I...kAAOSwx79erv5r But I have some more questions too. What's SURFview and did we ever have it here? What's FONE-way? Probably something to do with the box having a connection to the phone line for two-way communication box and headend? Could the CFT-2100, CFT-2000 run custom firmware like the 2200? Did the boxes have an internal battery or storage to remember time, settings, channel numbers etc? Last edited by RWCable; 17-03-2021 at 14:41.