Need a little help fellers. I'm just a dumb infantry guy and get figure this out. I bought the wifey an RCA DVD-R/VCR combo so she can get of my bac... uh, record stuff. Ran into some difficulties in getting all the setup sorted out. I just sat for 3 hours with 3 different component instructions (cable, theater system & dvd-r/vcr) trying to figure out how to get the SOB to work. Little help please - and don't be afraid to get as simple as "yellow cable from x area on dvd goes to y area on home theater receiver." I won't be offended and might even ask for clarification of what "yellow" is. Components: Cable receiver JVC tv RCA home theater system RCA DVD-R/VCR combo Advise if you need more info or just want pictures of me wrapped up in all the wires. Many Thanks, Chuck
Is your cable box, a digital cable box, or just a regular box? Is the tv an HDTV? If so, does it have HDMI or DVI inputs? Does it have component inputs (red, blue, green, color coded)? Does the A/V receiver have HDMI inputs? How many component inputs does it have (the red, blue, green, color coded ones)? Know this stuff will help a lot........ )
Thanks for the reply - sorry for my lateness in getting back. I have a digital cable box, non-HD TV. Here's what it looks like from behind as in the entertainment center: TV Model AV-32320 AUDIO VIDEO R W G (Y) R W B (PB) R (PR) The audio r/w are to the left. Video stacked on top each other on the left. CABLE BOX CABLE AUX AUDIO IN (OUT) (IN) R W R W Y AUDIO OUT HOME THEATER SYSTEM IN IN IN IN VIDEO Y Y Y Y AUDIO L W W W W W W W W R R R R R R R R R DVD SAT TV VCR CD TAPE DVD-R/VCR VIDEO AUDIO (IN) Y R G B Y R Orange (OUT) W R W CABLE INPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT My preview here doesn't allow me to put in spaces where i need them. If you wish, I can e-mail you the excel schematic I drew. The problem is that each component tells a different way to hook-up to each component. I haven't been able to find the right mix yet. Thanks for any and all help.
Ok............On back of the tv, there should be a marked section, with inputs, called "Video 1". Run composite cables (red, white. yellow), from Mon. Out or Monitor Out (on back of receiver, to the "Video 1" inputs, on the tv. (I'm taking it for granted the tv nor receiver, upconverts to component) From cable box, run some composite (red, white, and yellow), to the "TV" inputs, on back of receiver. Then for DVD/VCR combo, run composite cables from VCR part, to VCR inputs, on back of receiver, if you have them. If you don't, run the video cable (yellow one), to the tv, in to "Video 2". You'll need to put tv on "Video 2" input, when you want to watch a tape, if you do it that way. From the dvd player's part, run the yellow video cable, to the dvd's input, on back of receiver. Then use digital audio or optical cable, out from dvd player's audio output, to the digital input on back of receiver, that's labeled for DVD. If your dvd player has an optical output only, for digital audio, and your receiver has factory set the digital coax for dvd, you'll need to re-assign a digital input for it. You can replace each of the yellow video cables, with s-video cables, if you have the outputs and inputs. You'll get a little better picture, than with the yellow ones. You can also hookup the dvd player, using component cables (red, green, blue, color coded), for the best video, along with your digital audio cable. If tv has the component inputs, go straight from dvd to tv for video, and from dvd to receiver for audio. I hope you understand that since you have a regular cable box, with no digital audio outputs, the best you'll ever get from the tv, is simulated surround, if you'll use the Dolby ProLogic II setting. So, at this point, all that will be in actual 5.1 surround, is movies or concerts on dvd............... I didn't know what all that stuff meant, for your inputs and outputs. I just went by the fact you have cable and dvd/vcr player. I hope this helps some, instead of confuses. Let us know how it goes.
JVC - thanks for the effort. I've been able to get everything working, just a matter of training myself to use the right remote. The dvd-r/vcr combo only has one set of video/audio connections for in/out. Not seperate for each component since it's a combo. I do have one problem still unresolved. When attempting to schedule a recording from tv to dvd-r, after setting the timer and pressing enter I get an error message stating "no signal from recording channel". I also noticed that during the setup, it only found 3 channels. So apparently there's a problem getting tv signal from the cable box or the box is scrambeling the signal. Any ideas?
For setting which "channel" you want to record, on the recorder, I think you push the "source button", until it displays whatever the code is for the inputs you used (the ones on the back, or the ones on the front). The cable box has to be on the channel, you want to record, because you're using line in, instead of the tuner. I'm having trouble explaining this. I've never used the timer to record with mine. I've always recorded, while I watched it. Maybe someone else can explain this better than me.
Get yourself a Harmony remote. Then, everything you have, will work from just one remote! You won't have to worry about using the right remote....... )
Thanks again. Figured out the problem to be with connecting the digital cable box. I bypassed the cable box and set up the dvd-r. It has since found all the tv channels and I can properly program the recorder timer and watch another show if desired. Now I need to figure out how to connect the cable box and make it detect all the channels.
