TiVo newbie - would love help with basic connections

Hello,

I just received TiVo from my sister, who bought it from a couple who
is moving to Canada. (it's a new unit). She purchased a lifetime
subscription for me.

My first problem is in trying to set TiVo up - when I go online and
enter the "Service Number", I get the "oops, that number has already
been set up" message, and of course customer service is closed. So,
I've left a msg with my sister to find out if they gave her a new
service number.

My next problem is the connection (or apparently, the lack thereof) of
the rest of my multi-media components. While I'm not a *complete*
idiot when it comes to connecting and setting up electronics, damned
if I can figure out how to connect all this stuff so everything works
properly. Here's what I have:

RCA TV
DVD Player
Comcast Digital Cable
Stereo Receiver
Tape Deck (which can probably go away)
AT&T TiVo Series 2 Model TCD130040
Turntable
VCR

My main connection problem is my DVD player. Last Christmas I
switched from a single-disc player to a 6-disc changer. When I had the
single-disc, I was able to play CDs on it with no problem. When I
switched to the 6-disc, I found I was only able to play CDs with the
television on, and the sound running through the receiver. Clearly I
connected the new unit differently than the previous one had been.
Now my problem with the DVD player is that since I connected TiVo
tonight, I can play a DVD with perfect picture, but there is no sound.
I checked all the remotes, and nothing strange is on "mute"... I can
find no reason why it should not be working.

Currently (post-TiVo-hookup):

*The VCR plays tapes just fine, with sound and perfect picture.

*When I play regular (cable) TV, the picture is not as clear as it was
prior to connecting TiVo. There is a definite faint snowiness to the
picture on all channels - digital and analog.

*Stereo(tuner/speakers) is working fine. Sound is normal.

What I want to do is be able to watch and record VHS, watch TV, video
tapes and DVDs with the sound running through my stereo receiver and
speakers, and have the ability to play my music CDs on the DVD player
without having to have my TV on.

If there is some brave, kind soul out there who would be interested in
helping me start from scratch to hook all this stuff up, I would be so
grateful, as would my blood pressure. I just know there has to be an
easier way! My e-mail address is above, and I would appreciate any
help anyone is willing to offer.

I know I've made these connections more difficult than they need to
be, but I can't determine a simpler way.

Thanks in advance.

-Ginny

"Ginny" wrote in message
om...

If there is some brave, kind soul out there who would be interested in
helping me start from scratch to hook all this stuff up, I would be so
grateful, as would my blood pressure. I just know there has to be an
easier way! My e-mail address is above, and I would appreciate any
help anyone is willing to offer.



I can't help you but just wanted to offer sympathy.
I've spent so many hours behind our big screen that I keep a flashlight, a
pair of glasses and a small chair back there g.
It is *very* frustrating hooking things up the way you *think* they used to
be and then getting poor results.
I did learn that once things are working to *label* the end of each cord and
the connection it goes to- color code them, ABCD, whatever. Just label
everything.

I had the best results by hooking up the TV to cable, checking it, then
adding the receiver and DVD then checking, then add Tivo etc. At least you'd
know what was and wasn't working.

Good luck.
Couple more days and you'll have it.
g

-Toni

In article ,
Ginny wrote:
My main connection problem is my DVD player. Last Christmas I
switched from a single-disc player to a 6-disc changer. When I had the
single-disc, I was able to play CDs on it with no problem. When I
switched to the 6-disc, I found I was only able to play CDs with the
television on, and the sound running through the receiver. Clearly I
connected the new unit differently than the previous one had been.
Now my problem with the DVD player is that since I connected TiVo
tonight, I can play a DVD with perfect picture, but there is no sound.
I checked all the remotes, and nothing strange is on "mute"... I can
find no reason why it should not be working.

You mean you have DVD - Receiver - TV (for video of course), right?

So obviously check whether the audio outs of the DVD player are going into
the right inputs on the receiver.

*When I play regular (cable) TV, the picture is not as clear as it was
prior to connecting TiVo. There is a definite faint snowiness to the
picture on all channels - digital and analog.

Do you mean when you are watching *through* the Tivo? Or through the
TV's tuner, or both?

Have you added a splitter to the system so that you can tune (analog
channels) on multiple devices simultaneously? If so, that may have
caused some noticable signal loss and/or interference.