Wide World of Women

I recently posted here that I just bought a new LED LCD TV and a new DVD RECORDER/VCR combo. I had a Direct TV guy come to the house and upgrade to their HD Receiver too. He connected everything and all seemed okay. I was able to view both DVD's and VHS tapes normally on AV input mode. I didn't try to record anything off of TV until today, and when I did onto a VHS tape it did not record. The ticker was moving but after the show was over and I went to watch it back, all I got was a black screen. Do you mean to tell me I cannot ever record a show off of TV now?

You need to connect the DVR to an input feed on the VCR/DVD recorder. I have mine in Input 1. Also, you have to scroll through the various input channels on the HDTV. Don't stress, it takes a bit to figure out what will get the show recorded. Last point... Why record HD to VHS????!!!! You will lose HD more that way! Record straight to DVD.

So what kind of wire should I buy Rocky? I don't have a DVR in my receiver as far as I know, but it is a HD receiver and the guy changed the dish on my roof to much larger one.

As far as connections go, here's what I got:

-Red, White, Yellow cable from TV to DVD/VCR

-HDMI cable from TV to DirectTV Receiver

-Main wire running from cellar to DirectTV Receiver

I just stuck a VCR tape in to test it, but of course eventually want to record to DVD. Thanks for the help. This stuff overwhelms me and is a pain in the you know what.

You need an output from the DTV box to your DVD/VCR (you stated that the current connection is from the TV to the VCR and I assume that its from VCR "out" to TV "in" for the composite cables).

Depends what connections you have on your VCR that will help you figure out which is the best cable configuration to use.

Best to not-great order of connections:
1) HDMI
2) Component Cables (three video & 2 audio)
3) S-Video (also needs 2 audio cables)
4) Composite cables (2 audio, one video)
5) RF (Coaxial). Many HD receivers don't even have these any more.

You are correct, the Red-White-Yellow is connected from the VCR "out" to the TV "in". On the back of my DVD Recorder/VCR Combo I have the following:

-HDMI Out

-Set Top Box Control

-AV IN (YELLOW-WHITE-RED)

-AV OUT (YELLOW-WHITE-RED) which is currently connected to my TV "in"

-AUDIO OUT (WHITE-RED-BLACK)

-COMPONENT VIDEO OUT (GREEN-BLUE-RED)

Of the connection choices you listed I obviously want the best quality I can get, but here's a problem: I only see one HDMI connection option on the back of my DTV Receiver box - and it is already filled by being connected to the back of my TV. So if I buy another HDMI cable there is no place to plug it into on the back of my DTV Box. What do you think I should do?

VCR's won't have an HDMI input - VCR's analog and not HD, so don't waste money on another HDMI cable. VCR's won't have the Component Video Inputs, either (look like regular composite or rca jacks, but are labled YPbPr, these cables and jacks come in sets of three, one Red, one Green and one Blue (RGB). You have the DVD player included, so that's why there is the Component Video Out..... So neither of these will work for you and that settles that

There isn't an S-VIDEO in on the VCR, so that's out too.

Your VCR/DVD combo has composite (or RCA) connections which are labeled as "AV IN", and the DTV receiver will have the outputs that you can use for this. Yellow is the video, White & Red are both for stereo enabled audio. Simply match up the colored cables to the matching output jacks from the DTV box to the corresponding colored inputs on the VCR/DVD combo. The image quality isn't all that bad using this configuration, but DTV's HD box puts out barely good enough SD signals (in my experience).


Last and hopefully its not your only option is plain old coaxial cable (RF).


Let me know if you need me to clarify anything further.

- Slash


EDIT to add: Is your VCR/DVD combo connected to your TV using the Component Video Out cables??? If not, then you should consider hooking those up too, because that will make the DVD quality substantially better whenever you use the DVD player. On some TV's you may need to enable the component in.....



ONE MORE EDIT - lol - if you need cables now or in the future, I always get mine from http://www.monoprice.com Excellent quality and great prices. And no, I don't work for them!

??????????

Only issue with this is you won't be able to record DTV program on to your VCR/DVD recorder since it's not directly connected.

If recording programs is #1 priority,then i'd plug AV out from my DTV receiver to AV in on the DVD/VCR then run the HDMI between DVD/VCR to TV.

Thanks for the help slash and marlboro. I will take your advice and let you know how it goes. I'll keep you updated.

Just looking at that thumb, I thought it was a picture of fallopian tubes.


OK back on topic....

Yah, I thought the same exact thing. But I didn't say anything because I didn't want anyone thinking I was a perv

Just a note to say I finally got this mess all situated. I bought another HDMI wire for 20$ and ran it from the DirecTV receiver to my DVD/VCR and repositioned the Y-W-R wires and now I am able to record from TV on Input - HDMI 2. Disappointed in the quality though.
Buying a new TV has been nothing but a pain in the a$$. The quailty of my non-HD channels suck, the sound sounds like I 'm listening through a transistor radio from the 1970's, and recording off of TV is horrible quality too even if it is telecast in HD. I should of kept my 15 year old TV. lol Thanks for the help though guys.

SD channels don't look too great on LCD's. I don't think it's necessarily the TV. If your old TV was a CRT you may just be used to that.

You may be right. Guess I just thought buying a new TV after all these years would be a huge improvement and sadly it isn't. Maybe my expectations were just too high? It's been nothing but a headache from the many trips to stores, buying several different wires, and having to buy a new HD receiver and have a guy from DirectTV come to my house and install it and put a newer larger Dish on my roof. All that and I get some channels in HD, but many I watch aren't in HD so the quality is worse than I used to have. Live and learn I guess. Next time I will at least be more prepared and knowledgable about buying a TV.

I think you'll just get used it after watching it for a while.

For the audio check the output of the device. Sometimes 5.1 (surround) sound doesn't sound right on 2 channel (stereo) speakers.

Also.. Not all channels are in HD on DirecTV (QVC, HSN) due to contracts. I think all will be in HD eventually as the price for the equipment comes down.

JT, if you don't mine post the picture settings for your TV. We might be able to tell you some better settings for viewing the SD channels.

When I first got mine I was just like you. Fitz gave me a few settings to try. While the PQ isn't best, it is better then what I did have.

Hopefully I will get used to it and more channels will be in HD soon, especially the shopping channels.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by my picture settings but here's what I know of:

Aspect Choices: Full - Normal - WaterGlass - Cinema
Picture Choices: Standard - Movie - User - Dynamic

When I click Menu on my remote it brings up my picture settings (Standard - Movie - User - Dynamic). "User" is the only one I can adjust manually. The others (Standard - Movie - Dynamic) are locked presets and cannot be adjusted.

Same goes for the sound. Standard - Soft - User - Dynamic are the choices and the only I can adjust is "User" where I can adjust the Bass, Trebel, and Balance.

Also concerning sound, the Surround Box is unchecked. And there is a Equalizer that has presets titled "Jazz", "Pop", "Rock" and "User". I was able to get the sound a little better by adjusting the User mode here.