If you want to record the digital channels that the VCR can’t pick up with its tuner via the coax cable, then yes, you do need to run a composite (or preferably S-video) cable AND audio cables from the cable box’s outputs to the VCR’s inputs.
Yes, go ahead and connect the composite out from the cable box to the composite in on the VCR. This will probably be labeled something like “Line In” or some such. Then, when you want to record one of the digital channels, you can tell the VCR to tune to “Line In” and record at the appropriate time. You will have to set the cable box to the correct channel and leave it there. If you change channels, the VCR won’t get your program.
Which brings up another point. If you think you’ll be recording from the digital tier while also wanting to watch a different analog channel in real time, you may want one other connection. You could get a three-way splitter and make a connection wall → splitter → HDTV analog tuner. So, you’ve got one coax coming out of the wall and splitting three ways (cable box, VCR ANT In, and HDTV analog tuner). You would only want to use the TV’s tuner when watching analog cable while the VCR is recording a digital channel.
I’m glad I could be of service. Have you invested in a good sound system? If not, get one. It will allow you to go from watching a movie to experiencing the movie. After spending bucks on an HDTV, might as well get the whole deal. Of course, we’re talking still more wires. 
ahem
Good point. With HDTV, you should definitely consider a surround system. Even an inexpensive one will really enhance the experience.
Ya know, Commasense, I thought I read such brilliant advice somewhere!
I hope that I haven’t stomped on your toes too hard. Sorry about that.
Hey, I’m just kidding around. Repeating accurate info is not a problem, and your posts have been clearer and more detailed, and therefore apparently slightly more helpful to Geoff than mine.
What I hate is when people contradict you with inaccurate info! I had a long debate a year or two ago with another poster who was certain that European movie projectors run at 25 fps, not 24. It took quite a while before he finally granted the accuracy of my numerous cites and realized that an unwarranted assumption he had made many years earlier was wrong. Fortunately he was very gracious about admitting the error, but only after serious bodily harm was threatened!
See the depressing item No. 3 below, taping still not working, but first:
- No need for this now.
- Oh, heavens yes I’ve been a hi-fi fan way back to when they called it hi-fi (pre-“stereo”). I build Heathkit amp, pre-amp, tuner, etc, then a couple of Knightkit components. Finally built a Dynaco amp and pre-amp, really great things for the time. Since then have realized that a good receiver is now very satisfactory. It was heresy in the old days not to have seperate amp and pre-amp. Anyhow, have good Denon receiver, CD jukebox, dubbing cassette deck (had an old reel-to-reel, but it died), etc.
I’ve routed the audio from the TV to my sound system for some time, and no problem doing that with the new TV.
- GAH, BAH! Step by step, I hooked everything up exactly as outlined, double and triple checked it, and then did the smoke test. It passed that, it got all the analog and digital channels on the TV, it still plays DVDs OK.
Went to the VCR inupt on the TV, turned on the VCR, sure enough, using the VCR remote it scrolled through the analog channels just fine. BTW, it is set on Ch 3.
Only one little problem. It still does play tapes but still won’t tape anything. I set it with the VCR menu as before, it took everything, turned it off and the little clock appeared showing it was programed to tape. When it reached the time selected to start, absolutely nothing happened. Retried it a couple of time. Then unplugged the cable box to VCR composite cables, tried again. Still nada.
Also tried it leaving it on the TV VCR input, and going back to the cable box to see regular programs. No difference. When I go to the VCR input and turn on the VCR, it is on Ch 3, but can go to other channels as I said.
What am I missing now? I’ve sworn and shouted at the damned thing, but that does not seem to help either.
Oh nuts, forgot to add that If I go to a chanel and hit the Rec. button on the VCR remote, then it does record. Just the delayed time not working. The VCR won’t even turn on when it reaches the programmed time, let alone record.
Yep, this would be a useful thing. I know I’m coming in late, but let me describe my own TV cabling setup to you, maybe you’ll find it of some use.
I’ll describe it one item at a time. I have five devices to describe: cable box, DVD player/audio receiver combo, VCR, Xbox, and TV. My TV has a total of seven (7) inputs, besides the coax input. I make use of four of them.
The coax from the wall goes to a three-way coax splitter. Line 1 goes straight into the TV, line 2 goes straight into the VCR, and line 3 goes to the cable DVR. There are no other coax lines.
Cable DVR: has one incoming line, which is the incoming coaxial line from the three-way splitter. On the outbound side, there is one outgoing HDMI line to the TV, and one outgoing optical audio line to the audio receiver/DVD player (all-in-one unit). In addition, an S-video connection, along with red and white composite audio, goes from OUT on the cable box to the IN connection on the VCR. There is nothing connected to the coax OUT jack on the cable box.
VCR: has two incoming paths–one coax line from the three-way splitter, and the S-video and composite audio from the cable box. On the outbound side, an S-video connection with composite audio runs from the VCR to the TV. There is nothing connected to the coax OUT jack on the VCR.
DVD player/audio receiver: has two incoming paths: a digital audio line from the cable box, and a red and white composite audio cable coming from the TV. On the outbound side, a component video connection runs from the DVD player to the TV. Since the receiver and DVD player are one unit, no audio connections are necessary.
Xbox: has no incoming paths. Outbound, a component video connection runs from the Xbox to the TV, and a red and white composite audio connection also runs to the TV.
Finally, the TV: has five incoming paths: HDMI from the cable box, component video from the DVD player, component video and composite audio from the Xbox, S-video and composite audio from the VCR, and the coax cable from the splitter. Outbound, a composite red and white audio cable runs from the TV to the DVD player/audio receiver.
What does this all mean? Well, most of the time, I watch TV through the cable box, meaning that my TV is set to the HDMI connection and my audio receiver is set to the optical audio input, which comes from the cable box. Very nice picture and sound. To watch a DVD, I switch to that composite input and push PLAY; the receiver itself takes care of the audio. To play on the Xbox, I switch to that composite video input and switch the audio receiver to TV; it’s a bit messy, in that the audio passes from the Xbox, to the TV, to the receiver, via composite cables. Unfortunately, that’s the way I do it, because I only have one optical audio connection on my receiver. If there’s a switchbox out there, point me to it, and I’m there.
Now, the VCR, which is what vexed the OP at the outset: since the coax cable goes straight from the wall into the VCR, the VCR can record on any of the basic cable stations (those which don’t require a cable box to view) without any problems. Since those are the channels I record from most often, this usually works out great. In order to record stuff onto videotape off the premium channels, I can do one of two things: first, I can set my VCR to its line input (remember, there’s an S-video cable and composite audio running from my cable box to the VCR), which on my VCR is done by pushing the DOWN channel button while on channel 2, which will let it see whatever’s on the cable box. Then, when I push RECORD, it’ll record whatever channel the cable box is showing.
The second and better option is this: step one is recording whatever I want on the cable DVR. Later, at my leisure, I set my VCR to its line input. Then, I play the show back on the cable DVR, and push RECORD on the VCR, and let that sucker run until the show is done. Meanwhile, I can watch the non-premium cable channels by switching the TV to the coax input and the audio receiver to the TV input, or I can play on the Xbox, or I can go to bed and let it finish.
Phew. It doesn’t seem like much until you try to put it on paper. Anyway, the three-way splitter thing works great for me, so you may want to give it a shot. I hope the above makes my system clear, but if you need clarification, just say the word.
I know, but I’m going to let DrumGod answer first, and if he leaves anything out (or, heaven forbid, gets it wrong), I’ll be back. I’ve learned that it doesn’t pay to be early and right here.
I just noticed that Drum God, who was logged in just a couple of minutes ago, isn’t anymore. I thought he’d be in here right away.
If I understand you, all the signals are showing up, it’s just that the VCR timer isn’t working. It doesn’t start recording at all. This can’t be related to the wiring. Either it’s a malfunction in the VCR itself, or you’ve programmed it wrong.
I know you said you tried programming it a couple of times…
But did you set the date for 2007 or 2006? And is the VCR’s clock set for 2007?
If it’s not that, or a busted VCR, I got nothing.
Good luck.
Oh, great, you’re never going to let me live that down, are you? Solve this problem and I’ll buy you a virtual beer.
I want to get to Max’s cabling issue, but I will need to save that for morning. It’s getting a bit late.
As to Geoff’s VCR thing, I will have to go with commasense and say that it’s a VCR error. If it is manually recording as desired, then there is an issue with the delayed recording. Some ideas: (Please forgive me if these seem of the “plug it in” variety, but we need to cover all the bases)
[ul]
[li]As commasense suggested, check the date. Is the year correct? Remember, that just changed.[/li][li]Is the time zone correct? What about daylight saving time?[/li][li]Does the clock set automatically? If so, it is using a signal on the PBS station. Have you told it where to find PBS? Check that you gave it the correct channel.[/li][li]If the clock auto-sets, is it setting correctly?[/li][li]Maybe the cable co isn’t sending the time signal through to your auto-setting VCR. Set the clock manually and see if that fixes it.[/li][li]Are you making an AM/PM error? Also check the day of the week. Often, the day is set when you set the date and year. Is it correct?[/li][li]Has the VCR functioned correctly before? Has it been struck by lightning or some other power surge?[/li][/ul]
I’ll mull it some more and try to get back to you in the morning.
Oops. Max doesn’t have a cabling issue. It was late last night and I just skimmed without really paying attention. I am a middle school teacher and had had a long day.
Anyway, Max has nearly an identical setup as to mine. The only difference is that I use DirecTV, so everything has to go through the DVR (a TiVo!) to be decoded. We have almost exactly the same setup for the VCR and XBox. My amp has an input for the XBox, so the sound goes directly there, rather than through the TV. With DirecTV, everything is digital (and encrypted), so there is no need for any of those direct coax connections. I used to have Max’s exact setup when I had digital cable and when I had a different amps. It works great. Even my wife understood how to watch TV, record, and change channels.
I’ve gone through the VCR manual and programmed it according to specs, but it is a bit complex and not sure got it right. Next step is to call Sony again and insist that I get somebody who actually knows what they are talking about. Maye Mr Sony himself.
As to your suggestions, I’ve checked them all, but did it once again just to be sure. The time and date was correct, but I set them manually just to be sure.
I’ve tried numerous times to time-delay record, so am sure had it set each time at the correct date, year, day and am/pm setting, etc It worked perfectly up until the time I upgraded to HDTV and got the damned (excuse me, D. God :D) cable box.
No lightening strikes. Yet. Do you suppose that it being submerged during the flood may have caused a problem?
As I wrote, it is time for Sony to get off its collective ass and solve this, so will try again, but only with faint hopes. Meanwhile, if you get any other bright ideas, let me know, and many thanks again for everybody’s help in trying to solve this knotty problem.
Oh for the days when you bought a TV, plugged it in, attached the rabbit ears and everything worked.
I have questions about the items in bold above. What do you mean by set on Ch. 3? Is the VCR set on channel three and you’re using the cable box to switch channels? If so, then you’re using the RF converter in the box and not using the VCR’s tuner. Use the splitter to bypass the cable box altogether and head straight from wall to splitter to VCR.
Also, when you say nothing happens, do you mean that the VCR just sits there, or does it record, but there is nothing on the tape? If the VCR just sits there, then there is a clock issue somewhere. If it records, but there is nothing on the tape, then we have a cabling issue.
Somehow, I don’t see how this is related to the addition of the cable box. Maybe lug the VCR to the bedroom TV and connect it up there. Does it work as desired?
Here are the suggestions from Sony’s website :
- Ensure the coaxial cable from the wall is properly connected to the VCR.
- Turn on the VCR.
- Ensure the VCR has been set to receive cable signals.
- Autoprogram the VCR tuner.
- After the autoprogram sequence is finished, tune the VCR to the channel you want to record.
- Begin recording or set the timer to record the desired channel.
Did you autoprogram the tuner? That hadn’t occurred to me.
Great balls of ecclesiastical crimson fire!!! Y’all are not going to believe this, but I got it working.
Before spilling the secret, to answer Drum God’s question, when I said nothing happened, it meant that when the VCR got to the time set to start, it did not turn on, nor did it record, nor did it do anything but stupidly sit there.
So, I am kicking myself. After 20 years of messing with computers, I should have known from Microsoft that when all else fails, reboot the damn thing.
So, I unplugged the VCR for a minute, plugged it back in. It blinked “auto” meaning it was setting itself and acquiring the time. When that stopped, I went back, set the thing to record in a minute or two.
At the apointed time, it started and recorded. Ain’t that amazing? Why in the world you have to reboot a VCR is beyond me unless it was designed by Bill Gates, but I had to do it once with the cable box when that got all hinky.
In Sony’s troubleshooting page and online, this procedure is not mentioned. Why not? Who knows?
Problem solved. Once again, thanks to all you guys who went to a lot of trouble to outline possible fixes and suggestions. Really appreciate it. All’s well that…
HA! Congratulations!! I just knew it was the VCR’s fault, and not an issue with the cable box. Who knew that Microsoft had taken to writing VCR operating systems? It sounds like you’ve got some kinda fancy VCR there, with tons of microchips.
Glad you got 'er working. Keep posting if I can be of further help or frustration.