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I didn't even know this service existed. Broadcasting games in a loop seems pretty clever, but I suppose ZX Spectrum already had games delivered over radio yea

I didn't even know this service existed. Broadcasting games in a loop seems pretty clever, but I suppose ZX Spectrum already had games delivered over radio years before then.

MBCook 2y ago
It’s interesting as a technical hack more as the way they figured out to get it over cable before DOCIS and 2-way communication. Makes a lot of sense. A TV channel is just a stream of data, so just stream all the data you might need over and over and over.
- Kwpolska 2y ago
  Is it really a hack? Teletext also worked like this, and this service does not need interactivity, so it doesn't need 2-way communication.
  - Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    At one point Teletext on some channels had a two way system of sorts - a chat service where people could send messages over SMS to a paid for service, which would then be broadcast over teletext.
  - agent86 2y ago
    The system I'd love to have a better understanding of is the one TiVo deployed for the transmission of data to their boxes in the early 2000s. They would buy a 30 minute paid programming in the early hours on cable TV networks under the name "Teleworld Paid Programming". The box would tune the channel, record the show, and then decode the data from the recording. I always thought there was something interesting there, as the process would need to survive the MPEG encode/decode process on the TiVo itself in addition to whatever they needed to do the broadcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUgT2YoPzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUgT2YoPzI
- epcoa 2y ago
  > figured out ... DOCSIS and 2-way communication. It's not even so much 2 way communication in the local cable system as the fact that cable TV companies were not originally ISPs. Sega Channel was a broadcast over C band no-return-path satellite, it didn't have any Internet related moving parts.
- hed 2y ago
  I don't think of it as a hack any more than Sirius or XM making a "control plane" signal by just interleaving the what's on or channel map in with the music signal.
- IntelMiner 2y ago
  DOCSIS was unrelated, but was absolutely helped by Sega Channel. Sending data down the wire required cleaning up the signal sent out from the cable plant (and into the sega channel unit) a ton relative to analog cable at the time
esaym 2y ago
I remember the TV commercial, but until now I had completely forgotten about it....

I didn't even know this service existed. Broadcasting games in a loop seems pretty clever, but I suppose ZX Spectrum already had games delivered over radio years before then.

MBCook 2y ago

It’s interesting as a technical hack more as the way they figured out to get it over cable before DOCIS and 2-way communication. Makes a lot of sense. A TV channel is just a stream of data, so just stream all the data you might need over and over and over.

Kwpolska 2y ago
Is it really a hack? Teletext also worked like this, and this service does not need interactivity, so it doesn't need 2-way communication.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  At one point Teletext on some channels had a two way system of sorts - a chat service where people could send messages over SMS to a paid for service, which would then be broadcast over teletext.
- agent86 2y ago
  The system I'd love to have a better understanding of is the one TiVo deployed for the transmission of data to their boxes in the early 2000s. They would buy a 30 minute paid programming in the early hours on cable TV networks under the name "Teleworld Paid Programming". The box would tune the channel, record the show, and then decode the data from the recording. I always thought there was something interesting there, as the process would need to survive the MPEG encode/decode process on the TiVo itself in addition to whatever they needed to do the broadcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUgT2YoPzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfUgT2YoPzI
epcoa 2y ago
> figured out ... DOCSIS and 2-way communication. It's not even so much 2 way communication in the local cable system as the fact that cable TV companies were not originally ISPs. Sega Channel was a broadcast over C band no-return-path satellite, it didn't have any Internet related moving parts.
hed 2y ago
I don't think of it as a hack any more than Sirius or XM making a "control plane" signal by just interleaving the what's on or channel map in with the music signal.
IntelMiner 2y ago
DOCSIS was unrelated, but was absolutely helped by Sega Channel. Sending data down the wire required cleaning up the signal sent out from the cable plant (and into the sega channel unit) a ton relative to analog cable at the time

esaym 2y ago

I remember the TV commercial, but until now I had completely forgotten about it....