-=> Quoting Greg MacLellan to Mark Madronio <=-
 Thanks to all those who replied.
 MM> The cable goes in to the antenna-in of my Hifi VCR. The VCR and TV are
 MM> connected via the antenna-in/out sockets and the A/V sockets.
 GM> it's connected twice? what you should probably do is:
 Sounds ridiculous, but yeah, twice. It goes back to the days when I had poor
 reception and wanted the VCR to boost the antenna signal to the TV instead 
f
 splitting the antenna between the TV and VCR (halving the original signal).
 GM> coax cable
 GM> |    _____ 3-way coax splitter
 GM> v   /
 GM> +-+     +-------------------------+
 GM> Cable ####| |#####*Coax In                  |  VCR
 GM> +-+     |    Out: Video  L  R     |
 GM> #      +-----------*----*--*-----+
 GM> #                  |    |  |
 GM> #                  |    |  |   <- RCA-type plugs
 GM> #                  |    |  |
 GM> #      +-----------*----*--*-----+
 GM> #      |     In: Video  L  R     |
 GM> #######*Coax In                  |  TV
 GM> |                         |
 GM> +-------------------------+
 GM> usually the RCA inputs on your tv will be 'Video 1' or something like
 GM> that, so you'll need to switch to that to use the vcr. Using the above
 GM> method, then your regular antenna on the TV will have a clean signal
 GM> (doesn't go through the vcr) and your vcr will get to the Tv using the
 GM> alternate inputs, with all the separate stereo stuff there.
 GM> if your TV doesn't work well as a converter (ie only goes up to
 GM> channel 13 or something) then you can just hook the vcr straight into
 GM> the TV and use the VCR to switch channels.
 Thanks for the explanation. After reading this, I was set to do something
 similar but I was missing one cable. Maybe I can scrounge one somewhere.
 MM> The TV displays the word "Stereo" when showing off-air
 MM> channels, why doesn't
 MM> it do the same on the cable channel?
 GM> this i'm not sure on, it's probably picking up garbage signals (like
 GM> the video "snow" is) and thinking it's encoded in stereo.
 Since the connection to the black box is via the antenna-in socket, I 
ssumed
 it's not in stereo (despite what the cable guy said). Although I'm not as
 sure now that someone else said it could really be in stereo. Anyway, I
 connected the cable box to the hifi just in case.
 MM> Also, when the VCR is OFF, the TV can show the cable
 MM> channels OK, but if the
 MM> VCR is ON, it looks garbled. Anyone know how to fix this?
 GM> when the VCR is on, the coax signal going through it gets converted.
 GM> Basically, whatever channel the vcr is set to, gets re-transmitted
 GM> only on channel 3/4 (usually a switch on your vcr to select that) and
 GM> no other stations are carried over (although, because of the way
 GM> stations are encoded, some of the higher channels will come through
 GM> weakly). If your TV is not set to channel 3/4, then it will not work
 GM> properly.
 I've forgotten all about this problem when I've switched my TV for one that
 has separate AV inputs. I guess it's time to be reminded of it.
 GM> hope this helps
 Sure did, thanks.
 GM> ttyl, greg
Mark Madronio
n9703261@scholar.nepean.uws.edu.au
mmadroni@st.nepean.uws.edu.au
... TV Truth:  Babies age five times as fast as their parents.
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