VCR to Plasma
 

I know this will be REALLY easy and obvious when I finally hear the
reply but here we go.
I have a VCR that I have hooked to my plasma HD TV for playback,
but I want to also be able to record from Cable. I have a cable card
instead of a box. I have tried the obvious of plugging the cable in the
back of the VCR and then from there to the TV. However, I am at the end
of a long run and the signal strength isn't all that hot. We had to put
an amplifier on the line AND redo the cable from the street to that
particular outlet to get anything at all and even then it falls out
occasionally, so needless to say that only made the signal loss worse
and I got less than bupkus.
So... any other suggestions for plugging things into the back of
either or both that might help me? Could I do a second amp without
blowing things to kingdom come?

VCR to Plasma
 

On Mar 7, 2:04 pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
I know this will be REALLY easy and obvious when I finally hear the
reply but here we go.
I have a VCR that I have hooked to my plasma HD TV for playback,
but I want to also be able to record from Cable. I have a cable card
instead of a box. I have tried the obvious of plugging the cable in the
back of the VCR and then from there to the TV. However, I am at the end
of a long run and the signal strength isn't all that hot. We had to put
an amplifier on the line AND redo the cable from the street to that
particular outlet to get anything at all and even then it falls out
occasionally, so needless to say that only made the signal loss worse
and I got less than bupkus.
So... any other suggestions for plugging things into the back of
either or both that might help me? Could I do a second amp without
blowing things to kingdom come?





I don't quite understand what you are saying. The cable from the
street is going directly to the outlet that you are having problems
with?

You should have one cable coming from the street/pole/whatever into
the house, to the amp, and then splint from the amp to all of the
different rooms.

Adding an amp to an already ****ty signal isn't going to make it any
better.

Amps are only for keeping the signal coming into the home intact after
it is split 3- 4- 5 times or more.

VCR to Plasma
 

In article . com,
"Ron" wrote:

On Mar 7, 2:04 pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
I know this will be REALLY easy and obvious when I finally hear the
reply but here we go.
I have a VCR that I have hooked to my plasma HD TV for playback,
but I want to also be able to record from Cable. I have a cable card
instead of a box. I have tried the obvious of plugging the cable in the
back of the VCR and then from there to the TV. However, I am at the end
of a long run and the signal strength isn't all that hot. We had to put
an amplifier on the line AND redo the cable from the street to that
particular outlet to get anything at all and even then it falls out
occasionally, so needless to say that only made the signal loss worse
and I got less than bupkus.
So... any other suggestions for plugging things into the back of
either or both that might help me? Could I do a second amp without
blowing things to kingdom come?





I don't quite understand what you are saying. The cable from the
street is going directly to the outlet that you are having problems
with?
Sorry. I was trying to make the point that the most obvious way to
get the record set-up (the cable in and cable out coaxial hook up on the
back wouldn't work. I guess I gave a little TOO much information and
confused things.

Amps are only for keeping the signal coming into the home intact after
it is split 3- 4- 5 times or more.

My question was SUPPOSED to be. Are there any other options for
getting the signal to the recording part of the VCR since the obvious
one (cable in and then cable out in the back) won't work..

VCR to Plasma
 

On Mar 8, 2:18 pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article . com,



"Ron" wrote:
On Mar 7, 2:04 pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
I know this will be REALLY easy and obvious when I finally hear the
reply but here we go.
I have a VCR that I have hooked to my plasma HD TV for playback,
but I want to also be able to record from Cable. I have a cable card
instead of a box. I have tried the obvious of plugging the cable in the
back of the VCR and then from there to the TV. However, I am at the end
of a long run and the signal strength isn't all that hot. We had to put
an amplifier on the line AND redo the cable from the street to that
particular outlet to get anything at all and even then it falls out
occasionally, so needless to say that only made the signal loss worse
and I got less than bupkus.
So... any other suggestions for plugging things into the back of
either or both that might help me? Could I do a second amp without
blowing things to kingdom come?

I don't quite understand what you are saying. The cable from the
street is going directly to the outlet that you are having problems
with?

Sorry. I was trying to make the point that the most obvious way to
get the record set-up (the cable in and cable out coaxial hook up on the
back wouldn't work. I guess I gave a little TOO much information and
confused things.

Amps are only for keeping the signal coming into the home intact after
it is split 3- 4- 5 times or more.

My question was SUPPOSED to be. Are there any other options for
getting the signal to the recording part of the VCR since the obvious
one (cable in and then cable out in the back) won't work..


Not w/o having to watch the same channel that you are recording.

Which would be TV RCA audio-video out to VCR RCA audio-video in. VCR
RCA audio-video out to TV RCA audio-video in.

I don't understand how the TV is working fine from the outlet but not
the VCR.

Sounds like a bad or loose coax cable. Maybe the OUT cable from the
VCR? Or maybe the VCR itself is bad.

Have you tried the VCR on another TV and outlet using only coax cables?

VCR to Plasma
 

In article om,
"Ron" wrote:

I don't understand how the TV is working fine from the outlet but not
the VCR.

It works with a direct run from the outlet to the TV, most of the
time. However, the signal is weak, so occassionally, it fades out or I
get a cannot connect message (usually all I have to do is to change the
channel and then change back to get it on the second try. This is mostly
for the HD and digital stuff, the "old" channels work okay. )
When I plug it into the VCR and then out to the TV, I lose the
signal. I am guessing that feeding it through that extra step degrades
the signal too far.


Sounds like a bad or loose coax cable. Maybe the OUT cable from the
VCR? Or maybe the VCR itself is bad.
I have tried the VCR elsewhere, have tried other VCRs and have tried
2-3 different kinds of cable (from cheap to the gold plated ones).
Basically about all permutations I can think of. It looks like I have a
marginal but useful signal, but anything else screws it up.

So, it looks like I may be relegated to using the way that I have to
have the TV turned on and to that channel. Since this is for "overflow"
when we want to record two shows at the same time, I guess that is not a
great burden (g0.

VCR to Plasma
 

In article
,
says...


In article om,
"Ron" wrote:

I don't understand how the TV is working fine from the outlet but not
the VCR.

It works with a direct run from the outlet to the TV, most of the
time. However, the signal is weak, so occassionally, it fades out or I
get a cannot connect message (usually all I have to do is to change the
channel and then change back to get it on the second try. This is mostly
for the HD and digital stuff, the "old" channels work okay. )
When I plug it into the VCR and then out to the TV, I lose the
signal. I am guessing that feeding it through that extra step degrades
the signal too far.


Sounds like a bad or loose coax cable. Maybe the OUT cable from the
VCR? Or maybe the VCR itself is bad.
I have tried the VCR elsewhere, have tried other VCRs and have tried
2-3 different kinds of cable (from cheap to the gold plated ones).
Basically about all permutations I can think of. It looks like I have a
marginal but useful signal, but anything else screws it up.

So, it looks like I may be relegated to using the way that I have to
have the TV turned on and to that channel. Since this is for "overflow"
when we want to record two shows at the same time, I guess that is not a
great burden (g0.

Your signal is too weak, probably due to one or all of the following:

- Too many splits in the line

- Poor connectors/cables/connections/spltters

The above are your problems unless you pay for the cable co. to fix it or
you're in a building where the wires are all privately owned then it is the
building owner's issue.

For digital, standard spltters and cheap singnal amps may be problematic. If
you get a good amp and put it at the point before splits, it may improve
things.

- Bad drop or low signal coming into house/unit. The cable co. has to fix
this. Generally, they have to provide a signal to provide a good analog
picture on at least 3 split connections when it comes in to a private home.

whosbest54
--
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Unofficial rec.audio.opinion Usenet Group Brief User Guide:
http://www.geocities.com/whosbest54/

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http://www.geocities.com/whosbest54/rmb.html

VCR to Plasma
 

In article ,
whosbest54 wrote:

Your signal is too weak, probably due to one or all of the following:

- Too many splits in the line

- Poor connectors/cables/connections/spltters

The above are your problems unless you pay for the cable co. to fix it or
you're in a building where the wires are all privately owned then it is the
building owner's issue.

That has already been addressed. Basically, I am at the far of the
line according to the cable company.



For digital, standard spltters and cheap singnal amps may be problematic. If
you get a good amp and put it at the point before splits, it may improve
things.

The Cable guys put an amp on it when I first got the TV and the HD
service. It was before the splitter, although just before. IIRC they
also replaced the (19 y/o) splitter.



- Bad drop or low signal coming into house/unit. The cable co. has to fix
this. Generally, they have to provide a signal to provide a good analog
picture on at least 3 split connections when it comes in to a private home.

We spend the better part of the day working on this. THey put in a
whole new coax line from the street box to the house. When it was still
not strong enough they put in a whole new line from the box to the amp
and then the splitter. When it was STILL not strong enough, they put in
a new coax from the splitter to the outlet. Then, of course, a new coax
from the outlet to the back of the TV.
ANything we missed?

VCR to Plasma
 

On Mar 9, 11:25 am, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,

whosbest54 wrote:
Your signal is too weak, probably due to one or all of the following:

- Too many splits in the line

- Poor connectors/cables/connections/spltters

The above are your problems unless you pay for the cable co. to fix it or
you're in a building where the wires are all privately owned then it is the
building owner's issue.

That has already been addressed. Basically, I am at the far of the
line according to the cable company.



For digital, standard spltters and cheap singnal amps may be problematic. If
you get a good amp and put it at the point before splits, it may improve
things.

The Cable guys put an amp on it when I first got the TV and the HD
service. It was before the splitter, although just before. IIRC they
also replaced the (19 y/o) splitter.



- Bad drop or low signal coming into house/unit. The cable co. has to fix
this. Generally, they have to provide a signal to provide a good analog
picture on at least 3 split connections when it comes in to a private home.

We spend the better part of the day working on this. THey put in a
whole new coax line from the street box to the house. When it was still
not strong enough they put in a whole new line from the box to the amp
and then the splitter. When it was STILL not strong enough, they put in
a new coax from the splitter to the outlet. Then, of course, a new coax
from the outlet to the back of the TV.
ANything we missed?

If you don't have to pay any service charges, I would KEEP calling
them until they find a resolution.

I had the same problem with one of my outlets one time and the finally
ended up rewiring the entire house and installing a new amp.

During the rewire they found that one of the original cables -the one
that I was having a problem with - had a staple in it from new
construction.

Took 'em a yr but they finally got tried of me calling them.

Do you other TV's work OK?

VCR to Plasma
 

In article . com,
"Ron" wrote:


Do you other TV's work OK?

Yep. And the HDTV works more than adequately the majority of the time.
It is just that I don't quite enough "juice" as it were to put in the
VCR. As I said it is a second one, so I am not going to spend a bunch
of time messin' with it.

VCR to Plasma
 

On Mar 9, 12:04 pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article . com,

"Ron" wrote:
Do you other TV's work OK?

Yep. And the HDTV works more than adequately the majority of the time.
It is just that I don't quite enough "juice" as it were to put in the
VCR. As I said it is a second one, so I am not going to spend a bunch
of time messin' with it.


Did they happen to run the MAIN cable directly to that TV to see what
the picture quality was like?