For years I’ve hooked up all combinations of stereo equipment, and never had a problem connecting my TV, VCR, DVD player, audio receiver, etc.
I recently got a new HDTV and upgraded from basic cable to digital HD, requiring a cable box. All the components are Sony. After studying the several diagrams provided by Sony and Cox cable, I tried what seemed the logical one.
Everything worked, except I can’t use the timed-record menu, nor can I record one channel while watching another. I can only record the channel am watching.
I tried a couple of other hookups without success. The calls to both Cox and Sony make it plain that the so-called technical support people are completely lacking in any technical knowledge, other than what is on their PC screens in the help files.
I got several conflicting suggestions, none of which worked.
At first I hooked it up as follows: coax cable from wall into the cable box. Component cables from cable box to DVD-in and other component cables from DVD-out to TV and also audio cables to the TV. Then, composite cable from cable box to VCR-in, composite cables from VCR-out to the TV.
When that didn’t let me record as wanted, followed one diagram that added coax cable from cable box-out to the VCR-in. Also, on a whim, added coax cable from the VCR-out to the TV. No luck.
Following Cox’s suggestion: added a splitter and ran out coax cable from that directly to the TV and the other coax cable to the cable box-in and cable box-out to VCR-in.
Then, looked as though VCR would record OK, but slight problem, could not tune any TV stations. That sort of seemed logical, as the main coax was going directly to the TV, via the splitter.
I then tried the same setup, but disconnected the composite cable from the VCR to TV, same problem.
Finally, after googling a bit, ran across one diagram that was like the last one Cox suggested, except that a couple of the coax cables ran to an A/B switch (I forgot to bookmark the site, so can’t get back right now).
That seemed to make a bit of sense, as it would permit using the setup both ways, but it did not explain which switch did what. I suppose could get a switch and experiment, but am getting sick of the whole deal.
This was just one of the reasons I did not want a cable receiver and was happy with basic cable, as it was easy and logical to hookup.
So, is the A/B switch necessary to get the VCR to record delayed programs or record one while watching another channel? If not, is there some other way to get this system hooked up to do this?
One would think with the several calls I made to Sony and Cox, could find somebody who knew what the hell they were talking about, but oh, noooooo.