Not exactly a newb, but need some help...

[DefStatic]

Ok, my parents bought a new 55" rear projection LCD TV. It's really nice, and a heck of a deal. They had a 36" tube before, and the setup is not a LOT different, but there are some changes, as this is an HDTV.

So they had to get a new cable box to get the HDTV channels and be able to see HDTV broadcast. So that was fine.

Here is how I have it connected now...

Directly connect the CABLE to the IN on the cable box
Composite Vid going from the cable box to the composite in on the TV
The OUT on the cable box is going to the DVD/VHS combos IN
RCA cables going to the VID1 Component vid ont he TV
The OUT on the DVD/VHS going to the ANALOG Signal on the TV

I can get DVD/VHS playback on the VID1 on the TV... great.
I can get the CABLE BOX to play on the CMPST Channel on the tv... great.

However, I can not seem to get regular cable to work on the analog channels on the TV. I get the CABLE BOX on channel 3, and thats it. And I can't get regular cable on the DVD/VHS. However, if I directly connect the CABLE into the analog on the TV, I can get my standard cable.

Do I need to split the cable to do what I want or am I just missing something? Thanks in advance!

 

[zipper]

You're going to need some new/ different cables.........

get some COMPONENT cables (RGB = red/green/blue) & attach them from the cbl box to the TV. You'll want the same going from the back of the DVD portion of the unit to another component input on the tv (should be more than 1 set of component inputs ).

Take the COMPOSITE cbl out of the tv & plug it into the input on the back of the vcr......for the vcr only. This enables the vcr to record.

It doesn't sound as if you're connecting this through an A/V receiver so you'll need to hook some composites from the cbl box to the tv to get sound. The tv may have a digital coax input on it..........if it does use it instead of the red/white composite.

There are analog & digital signals coming in on the cable but you should be able to get them all on the same input from the box to the tv. COMPOSITE cables won't allow any HD signals to the tv, or at least hooking to the composite outputs won't. You need to use either the HDMI or COMPONENT inputs/outputs.

Without more info it's hard to know exactly what you got going there but that should help.

 

[Sheep]

Zippers got it.

Only DVI, HDMI, and Component cables pass high def. So find the input on your TV that is marked HD and plug in the corresponding connection (HDMI, DVI, Component).

If you are using a receiver, you can run the optical or coax single to it. If not, run the red and white analog inputs to your TV's audio inputs on the HD input.

SheepStar

 

[DefStatic]

Sorry, thats what I meant by the cables from the cable box to the TV, the 5 wire RCA ones. I thought they were called composite, and the reg 3wire RCA cables were component. Other way around LOL. And I think there was only one set in the back of the TV, as well as a DVI (the one like on some video cards). This TV is last years model.

Supposidly the cable box does not pass through cable like a VCR will. So my father split the cable and has one going to the cable box, and one going to the ANALOG input on the TV.

Now if we go to the component channel, we got the cable box, and can go to analog channels and get regualr cable. The DVD/VCR is on VID1.