Reverse RF Modulator

[Mudcat]

We all remember how useful RF Modulators were prior to the day when there were a plethora of A/V receivers and what not. Not my problem is the reverse. My TV (a huge zenith CRT) was given to me because the sound system is shot. None of the audio outputs or speaker connections worked. But it is big and has a nice picture.

Normally this would not be a problem because I mostly watch movies on the system in which this TV was hooked up to. If I wanted to watch the news I would be in another room. I DO NOT HAVE CABLE. Anyway, this past weekend when I wanted to watch the Indy 500 I hooked up the antenna and watched a very wet race. Only I have know freakin idea what was going on because I could not hear anything.

Now for the question. Is there a reverse RF Moduolator? A box which would convert the RF signal from the antenna to at least composite video an stereo audio? This would enable me to hook the antenna to the box and the box to my Yamaha RX-V1400. I've done numerous searches and could not determine whether any of the RF modulators would do what I want.

I have an RF modulator on the bedroom system, and it has an A/V output, but that output is from any of the four A/V inputs, not the RF signal from the antenna.

PS. The antenna works great too! And connecting the antenna directly to the yamaha did not work.

 

[markw]

Your cheapest option is to score an inexpensive Hi Fi Stereo VCR.

 

[joelincoln]

You're missing an entire step in the chain.

First, what you're talking about is an RF demodulator which will take the RF signal and change it into a video one.

However, the device that must be connected to the antenna is a tuner. You first need to "tune in" the signal that you want to watch. Input from the antenna would include every station on the air (of all types). So you first need to filter out everything but the desired station which is what a tuner does.

The receiver has a tuner built in, but it is restricted to the AM and FM audio bands for obvious reasons.

As stated above, you're best bet is to acquire a cheap stereo VCR which has all of these capabilites built-in. Use it as a tuner/demodulator and ignore the tape section. If you get a VCR with S-Video outputs, you can make use of those cleaner signals.

 

[DaveHere]

More on Reversr RF Modulator

My experiences with this are that I hadn't thought about the need of a tuner but it makes sense, since the signal would have no built-in channel to display. I was thinking that by setting the modulator to the usual channel 3 or 4 would be all that was needed... WRONG. Anyway the reason I was wanting to do this was I have Dish Network with a 2-set DVR unit and I wanted to enjoy the Sirius music channels at the "set #2" location. Therefore I would either have to run A/V cable to the 2nd location OR tap into the coax cable that is feeding set #2 - without actually have set #2 turned on. I just wanted to audio signal to plug in to the stereo system that is in the same location. AND it turns out the VCR does work fine for this. I was hoping I could bypass the VCR so that it didn't have to be on all the time. As it turns out I am running the coax through the VCR which allows me to listen to the satellite stations without having the TV turned on AND I can also have the TV on and pipe the sound through the stereo for that enhanced audio experience as well. Not only that, I can still use the VCR to record shows instead of the DVR if I should wish to do so... wah-lah!!!