I have my TV, a modulator, a satellite box, and DVD connected. When I want to use the VCR I have to unscrew the cables from the TV and the satellite box that are connected to the modulator and screw them into the VCR. Is there some kind of splitter I can use so that they can be connected to the DVD and VCR at the same time and I can play a tape or disk without having to unscrew and reconnect the cables?
What you need is a switch box. You can pick up a three input model at most places that sell video equipment (Walmart, Radioshack, Circuit City, etc…).
Are all three devices being connected using stabdard coax cable (with the screw-on connectors). Most switch boxes I’ve seen are built for either coax cables, or for RCA-plug (the red-white-yellow cables) with some adding S-Video cabling for the video portion. I can’t recall ever seeing one that could accomodate all.
Well, shut my mouth, here’s one at Walmart that does look like it will input 75-Ohm Coax as well as standard AV cables for $35.
Thanks Whiskey. Will it just switch back and forth automatically depending upon which one is being used? Sometimes I feel like all this technology is just going to finally engulf me and I will be swept away, kicking and screaming, waving yet another sheaf of hookup instructions.
The one in the link is a manual (push the button for the input you want to watch). There are remote controlled and automatic switch boxes (or video selectors), but those tend to be a lot more expensive (>$200).
Couldn`t you continue to daisy chain the VCR through the signal circuit?
Like this,
Satellite output to the DVD input,
DVD output to the VCR input,
VCR output to the TV input.
Ive got mine hooked up this way and everything works. Ive actually got TWO VCR`s in the loop.
Maybe your TV is older?
I’ve never seen a DVD player with an input.
My suggestion us get a new TV.
I had exactly the same problem as the OP. Our DVD player was given to us by my in-laws, and it only had the 75-Ohm coax connector slots. My television only has a standard coax input. The satellite receiver only has standard coax input. The VCR has both standard coax and 75-Ohm coax input slots, but the output slot is standard coax.
I wound up purchasing a junction box from Wal-Mart (although not the one pictured; this one was designed to simply switch the cabling from 75-Ohm coax to standard coax) for $23. It was the missing piece in the puzzle to connect all my video components, although right now I can’t tell you how the signal flows. The back of my entertainment center looks like a Rube Goldberg contraption that’s been attacked by a syphilitic octopus.
Most of the time you can’t put the output of your DVD player into the VCR input, because most devices these days are Macrovision-enabled and it’s highly possible that you’ll get horrible picture that way (“fading in and out,” especially). It’ll probably do this even if you’re not trying to record. YMMV depending on your equipment models, etc. I tried the DVD player through the VCR to accomplish input management and it didn’t work.
The way I would hook it up is Satellite box -> VCR -> Antenna in on RF Modulator. Then DVD player to A/V connections on RF modulator. That’s assuming your RF modulator has both an antennae and A/V input, mine does and switches automatically. YMMV.
electronics boutique has a video game switch box, I use one of those, it has s-video & a/v connections for each machine. Can connect up to 4 machines to a tv that way. No RF out on the one I have.
If you have a stereo receiver, you could run every thing into that with a single output to the TV (or dual outputs, one to the TV, one to the VCR.)
Most modern (w/in the last 10 years) receivers have input/output for sat/digital signal as well as VCR & DVD, so you should be able to pull it off that way.
The added benefit, of course, is that you get your home stereo speakers in on the act for movies and tv, which makes viewing a much more pleasurable experience, IMO.
suezeekay,
The big question is what type of inputs does your TV have (should’ve asked this last night)? Does it have a coax antenna input plus AV connections? If it’s an older TV with only a singe antenna-in, then you’d need to feed everything through a simple A-B-C antenna switcher. Satellite coax->switch, DVD AV->RF modulator->switch, and VCR->switch.
The specific cabling will be dependent on what your TV can handle for inputs.
I have an Apex DVD player that goes into my Philips VCR, which in turn goes into my digital cable tuner, which in turn the audio signal goes into my stereo amplifier and the video signal goes into the TV. I just set the VCR to its auxiliary input to watch a DVD, and while I have never tried recording to tape from a DVD I never see any picture corruption or other evidence of Macrovision while watching it.
dwc1970, if I understand your setup, you can’t record live anymore, can you?
He would need to switch the cable tuner and the VCR, right?
You want the cable tuner running through the VCR then to the TV.
Ive got audio-out on the TV, so I can play the sound through the stereo tuner independent of which device I use. I only have two speakers so Im not worried yet about other channels or 6.1 stuff.
When I finally decided to get a DVD player, I got a combo unit that plays both VHS and DVD. It works fine, although I understand that it lacks some of the more advanced features…but then, we don’t use either DVD or tapes that heavily and don’t miss the advanced features…
I think ours is set up very much like troub described. We have an RF modulator, and it has all the connections needed to plug in a DVD player, a PlayStation One and a 23+ year old VCR into a 23+ year old Sony television, which also has an antenna. It switches things automatically, depending on which machine is turned on at the time. IIRC (cuz I never remember when I actually want to use it) the Play Station and DVD player share channel 4 and the VCR uses channel 3 on the TV. Seeing as we only get two channels through the antenna - 9 and 11 - its a pretty simple setup.
I got the DVD and RF modulator for christmas, but I believe the modulator was about 35$ canadian at Future Shop (I was with my mom to choose the DVD player because of the age of our TV, but I tried to not listen/look at the prices). We had to buy a couple of additional cables to hook it all up, at maybe 5-8$ each at RadioShack.
There’s your answer right there: APEX
Apex was a brand once upon a time that was very lax on the macrovision thing. What model do you have dwc1970? I have one too and it won’t work the way you describe.
prisoner6655321, some dvd players look just fine if you turn them through a vcr & the copy protection only comes in when you try to record something.
Wow, people that have those DVD players are lucky. I thought those were pretty rare.