Programming a Universal Remote for Secret Cable?

September 15, 2009 3:22 PM

Help with programming a universal remote for cable with no cable box?

Comcast has installed our internet and the man who installed it was kind enough to give us free cable (for which I did not ask nor did I decline). We don't have a cable box so I'm wondering if there is a way to program our universal remote to access the cable menu and guide.

Anonymous because it is secret cable and I feel less sketchy as it was provided to us by someone actually from Comcast but none-the-less we are not paying for it.

posted by anonymous to technology (6 comments total)

those features are provided by the box, not the remote.. you're gonna have to pony up for actual cable if you want them, or get a TiVo (which gets its guide from TiVo). you might still get the old, non-interactive TV Guide channel on one of your sketchy channels, though, and you'll probably have to tell your TV to scan before it'll figure out you have channels (you would have to do this if you'd gotten cable non-sketchily and didn't get a box for that TV).
posted by mrg at 3:34 PM on September 15

You can't do that. The onscreen guide and whatnot are on the box. Now, your TV might have a TV Guide (mine does) but information on if your TV does that and how to operate it would be found looking at your instruction manual that came with the TV (or googling the model number).

Note your secret cable may be temporary. Often times the cable system uses the drug dealer's "first taste is free" sales tactic to get you hooked before shutting it off. There's a shunt they install that at the utility box outside that will filter your line to block the TV cable and keep the internet flowing. Once they apply that, no more free cable TV. They'll get around to shutting that off when they feel like it (perhaps tomorrow, next month, next year or whenever someone in your neighborhood hooks up cable or doesn't pay their bill).
posted by birdherder at 3:35 PM on September 15

The cable menu and guide are part of digital cable service and they actually come right from the box itself. If you have just the cable but no box, there's no menu or guide facility other than whatever might be built into your TV.

Also, not to cast unnecessary doubt, but are you sure you aren't being billed for the cable? Cable internet installers typically get a substantial commission if they sell you TV while they're there, so he may have just added it to your order, counting on you being too embarrassed to call Comcast and tell them the TV was "supposed" to be free.
posted by pocams at 3:35 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

For the benefit of future searchers, Googling 'universal remote codes' plus the manufacturer of your remote (not the component, the remote) is a good strategy.

As noted above, though, the menu/guide are built into the box.
posted by box at 3:56 PM on September 15

features aren't "on the box"--the box decodes them. no box, no digital features.

not quite a "sales tactic" so much as a harebrained installer forgetting to put in the trap. the audit guys will get to it eventually.

Comcast has been running some free basic cable + internet specials lately; you should probably call just to make sure what you're being charged and billed for.
posted by Electric Elf at 4:00 PM on September 15

Comcast has been running some free basic cable + internet specials lately; you should probably call just to make sure what you're being charged and billed for.

Yes, we got free Showtime once without ordering it. Fortunately we had the good sense to monitor the bill for when the "promotional period" ended and canceled.
posted by mrmojoflying at 5:19 PM on September 15