Technical > Electronics > Camera/microphone in Magnavox digital conversion box

Camera/microphone in Magnavox digital conversion box

BS alert !!!!!!!!

The "camera" looks like it's glued to the transformer and the "mic" looks like something stuck to a pot.

The "mic" just looks like a pot to me. I've seen many of those pots with the white turning piece, and the 3 leads are a dead giveaway, microphone elements have 2 leads only. Besides, that would be a terrible placement for a microphone especially inside what appears to be an unvented enclosure.

As for the camera, again, illogical placement and it appears to just be stuck to the transformer with a piece of adhesive foam. No wires to be seen.

You know, all these types of videos are always just out of focus and wobbly enough that you can't really tell what's there.

reply to McSummation
Show me a high-res pic with all the connections and I might believe it, but until then it's a hoax.

reply to McSummation
Even if the parts were in there, how would it send the "information" back?
I thought tin-foil hats were out-of-style.....guess I'm wrong!
--
One man's Magic is another man's Engineering.

reply to McSummation
I have two comments.

First "mic" looks like a miniature speaker, perhaps to provide click feedback.

Second lets assume Converter box actually has a camera and microphone. How does information captured get back to big brother?

Here is a link to converter box technical specification. There is a list of mandatory features and ones that preclude participation in Coupon Program. Basically the output of the box can not be better then ordinary analog TV.
»www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/DTVma···rers.pdf

Nowhere in spec do I see spy camera and microphone.

We have a couple of Insignia converter boxes (BestBuy private label of Zenith box). Just for fun I opened it up, nary a camera or microphone in sight.

/tom

reply to McSummation
so stupid, I hope Magnavox sues this "professional blogger" cause this sure isn't real journalism of any kind

reply to tschmidt

reply to McSummation
I have to get one

Some of the comments at this site are, ummm, amusing. »www.prisonplanet.com/hidden-spy-···box.html

The other thing he doesn't mention is how the "camera" is seeing through the dark plastic front. Even in the IR that plastic doesn't cut on until about 800-900 nm. You need some big incandescents to give you enough IR.
--
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." - Aldous Huxley

I've got this particular model. I'll have to open it up and take some hires pictures. You're right, some of the comments are...interesting, especially with a speech synthesizer.

I'll try to open the receiver when I get home from work.

Well, maybe the Men In Black aren't after you like they are the guy in the video.

reply to McSummation
I bet his wife put it in there to try to catch him with a whore.

reply to alphapointe

Walked right into that one, I must need a new cane.

reply to alphapointe

reply to McSummation
This is clearly a hoax. Actually, that 1m37s video the guy posted is good enough for anyone with basic electronic knowledge to see it's a fake, like SparkChaser's said.

On the other hand, it's kind of a confusing hoax, since it's only a matter of time that eventually boxes like these and other equipment will be fitted with cams and mics, like mobile phones and laptops do since a bunch of years.

It's just a matter of using that stuff wisely, unlike the absentminded people who forgot to switch off their gear during a Halo internet game while having (solo) sex

reply to McSummation
even if it did have a camera and microphone inside of it, how far do you expect the wireless RF transmission of both to go ?

TinfoilHat

...to that new box the phone company put on the pole outside my house!!!

/Tinfoilhat