connecting hdtv converter box to vcr?

15 years ago

I have a tube TV, no cable, and I have been using an indoor antenna which has been great. Really crystal clear reception. I also still have a VCR to record a favorite TV shows if I am not going to be home to see them.

So, in advance of the ballyhooed digital conversion, I bought a converter box with my coupon, the Zenith DTT901. The instruction manual is very basic. I was able to connect the converter box to my indoor antenna and TV in about 5 minutes, and got my digital reception very well. But, there are no instructions on what to do to connect a VCR so that I can record TV shows. Can anyone give me instructions on how to do that? I read somewhere I might even need a second converter box, but can't figure that out either. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

(P.S. I cannot get the subject line of this posting to use capital letters (for HDTV and VCR). What's up with that?)

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Comments (17)

jdbillp
15 years ago
You should be able to run a cable from out of the DTV box to the antenna IN on the VCR.

Then run a cable from the antenna OUT of the VCR to the antenna input on the TV.

Set the RF output option on the DTV box to channel 3.

Set the RF output of the VCR to channel 3.

Put the VCR tuner on channel 3 and the TV tuner on channel 3.

When watching DTV, select desired channel with the DTV tuner and make sure you leave VCR off.

When recording DTV, select desired channel with the DTV tuner, make sure VCR is on channel 3 and record.

Or leave DTV tuner on desired channel and set VCR timer to record channel 3 at the appropriate time.

Make sure if your DTV tuner has any "Auto Off" feature that it is defeated.
alwaysfixin
Original Author
15 years ago
Jdbillp - Thanks. That is exactly the information I was looking for. Much appreciated.
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I'm just now getting back on here. Thank you for the quick reply. I was so excited yesterday evening, as I'd somehow managed getting everything hooked up and working, was almost jumping up and down with joy and disbelief! It only took 2 MORE cables and a little splitter thing from Dollar Tree! However, I'm going to print out your directions right now and go fiddle with it some more, as I do believe your method will eliminate some of the cables. I am still trying to figure out something, though: the VCR... how can I get it so that it will record a program off TV, if desired? I thought perhaps, if such a thing exists... a cable with a male on one end and two males on the other, so that the pigtail one could be connected to both the VCR in and out? I called RAdio Shack, but was told they don't have those, so this morning I added two MORE cables and another of those little doo-dads, and it 'worked', but needs major tweaking, as there's too much interference. Thank you so much!:)
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You will get better audio and video quality with the composite A/V cables. Note that the 'channel 3' RF output from many of the converter boxes have mono sound, not stereo. So if stereo sound is important, use the A/V connections. Most TVs made before 1990 or so do not have A/V inputs - just antenna inputs. (I bought one of the very first TVs to sport A/V connections, a Sony Profeel system, in about 1982. Other manufacturers followed suit shortly afterward.) The RF coaxial outputs are provided to support the older gear. You certainly can use both sets of outputs from your converter box.
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Is the 'channel 10' that you are trying to record an analog or digital signal? If analog, then you probably need to turn the converter OFF, so that the 'analog pass through' feature is enabled. Then tune your VCR to channel 10. (If you want to also watch the broadcast, your TV would need to be tuned to either channel 10 or channel 3 - depending on the specifics of your VCR.) If digital, then yes, your VCR would need to be on channel 3 (as does your TV.) If you are recording a digital signal though, you will get better audio and video quality by using the A/V connections from the converter box to the VCR. And same between the VCR and the TV set. I wonder if the reason you couldn't get the A/V connections to work was because some menu option in either the VCR or TV was not set to the correct input? What you might consider is to connect the VCR to the TV using the A/V cables. Period. Then use the TV tuner in the VCR for all the analog tuning for the next 2.5 months. (When watching/recording digital, you would turn the converter box on and set the VCR to channel 3.) After that, just use the A/V cables between the converter box and the VCR. This gets rid of all the 'channel 3' stuff and gives the best quality possible.
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Anne, Before you go any further- check to see how the converter boxes will work for you. Hook up your antenna co-ax cable to the IN plug. Hook another coax cable from the OUT plug to your TV. You might have to unplug some of your devices to test this. Now scan and see what channels you are going to pick up. If you are getting your locals good and strong - you can proceed forward. If not, you may want to wait a bit. Some say the signals will be stronger after the switchover - but other say they will probably be about what they are now. If you are not getting any good signals - you may need to think about gettting your locals over the Dish instead. We get the locals over the antenna and also over the Dish. We can watch the locals both on the dish and on regular TV. We have a diplexer (I think this is what it is called) installed in our coax line where it comes in the house. This mixes the antenna and the dish lines so it becomes one line. For us - the converter boxes did not work. We are just too far away, even with a rooftop antenna. New digital TV;s (actually HDTV's) did work. I don't know why, but using the same input signal, we are able to get all the stations (although, not always the best signal) but with the converter boxes, we could get about half on a good day. With rabbit ears and the coverter boxes - no signal at all. Our setup is an engineering wonder with the Satellite (TV1, TV2 - can watch different programming on differnt TV's with one satellite receiver box) - off air anntenna signal, which also feeds the HD signal to the dish..etc.. I could not have mastered it without our wonderful local Dish guy. He is a gem!! This is what the splitter/diplexer looks like and to even confuse matters more - our dish programming comes across channels 30 and 33, not 3 like most do. So the converter boxes will not work for that at all - LOL!
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jdbillp
15 years ago
I've heard that some people not being happy with the DTV picture quality of shows taped on a VCR.

Please let me know your results.
alwaysfixin
Original Author
15 years ago
OK. And one follow-up question: When you wrote "leave DTV tuner on desired channel and set VCR timer to record channel 3 at the appropriate time", what if I have a couple of different shows to record while I am away that are on different channels? E.g. channel 11 at 2-3PM, and then channel 9 at 4-5PM. Is it no longer possible to program my VCR with several shows to record? Also, can I watch something while the VCR is recording something else on another channel? (OK, that was two questions...) TIA.
jdbillp
15 years ago
Bad news. Two times.

Unless you buy a DTV tuner that has a built in timer like a VCR has(which I haven't seen), there isn't a way to change the channel of the DTV tuner to allow multi-channel recording.

With the DTV tuner only one channel comes out of it at a time. So no, it is not possible to watch one channel and record another channel at the same time.

Though you can do it with two DTV tuners. One for the VCR and one for the TV.
alwaysfixin
Original Author
15 years ago
Jdbillp - thanks again. I think I am going to have to get Tivo, since I frequently set the VCR to record different shows at different times on different stations.

So, an OT question - I cannot believe Tivo is charging $299 for their HD DVR. Meanwhile, I see them on eBay for half that. Anyone bought a Tivo DVR on eBay? Would you recommend it?
rmo87
15 years ago
Wow, timely post--I just purchased the same DTV box (Zenith DTT901) and am having trouble setting up my VCR, as well.

I can receive audio only if I have my TV set to the "INPUT" channel. But I don't think this is correct, as before I purchased the DTV box, I watched the VCR by having the TV on Channel 3.

jdbillp, I have a couple questions to your first reply above. I currently have a TV with just yellow (video) and white (audio) holes on the front, although the VCR has all three (yellow, red, and white). I am using this colored set of wires to hook up the VCR to the TV (the red is just not connected to the TV, as there is no hole for it). Is not having that red hole a problem?

Also, how is the RF output option set on the DTV box? I don't seem to see anything about it in the owner's guide.

Thanks a bunch!
Ryan
jdbillp
15 years ago
rmo87,

The RF output channel selection is probably an option in DTV tuner set up menu.

The hookup I described earlier is to be used with coaxial cable not the red, yellow, white cables.

Now to help you with the extra red wire. If appears you have a stereo sound vcr and a mono sound tv. This really isn't a problem, but you are only going to hear the left channel of a stereo sound tape. On many shows it really won't matter but on many others there will be sounds on the tape that you won't be hearing.

If you hook up your DTV tuner, VCR and TV like I described above you won't have that issue. All the sounds are mono when sent through the coax cable.
alwaysfixin
Original Author
15 years ago
Anyone have any comments on my Tivo and eBay question in my post above?

Perhaps I should post a new message with that question.
ibgyahoo
15 years ago
I bought a converter box TR40 CRA and installed in on my TV with a VCR. Last night I set up a timer on my converter box for NBC TV show starting at 8 p.m, and I programmed my VCR for this show. I left my VCR on channel 3 and turned it off, as I did before I got a converter box. Today I checked what was recorded and was very disappointed: I saw black lines and very tiny, not visible some images. Till February 17, I still may turn off the converter box and record TV shows as I did before the converter box, but what I would do after the February 17?
What did I wrong and what should I do to record TV show on my VCR?
Is any body tried to record TV shows on VCR with TR40 converter box?
Thanks in advance for you help.
jdbillp
15 years ago
Can you watch the channel you were trying to record? Are you using an indoor or outdoor antenna? Is there an inactivity timer on your DTV tuner?
ibgyahoo
15 years ago
Yes, I can watch the channels I'm trying to record. I'm using an indor antenna, there is inactivity timer that I set off.
The recording occurs at proper time, only I cannot see what is recorded. When I record a show on the same channel with DTV tunner turned off I see the show very well.
jdbillp
15 years ago
This problem wants to be a tough one then.

Double check that the output channel of the DTV tuner is set to channel 3 and the VCR is set to record channel 3. Also, make sure the output channel of the VCR is set to channel 3.

Confirm that you are connecting all 3 pieces together with coax cable not A/V red yellow white cables.
chocolat_madisontelco_com
15 years ago
I have the same set-up: Outdoor antenna to DTV converter to VCR to TV. But we have a problem with the sound. We have to turn the sound up all the way on both the dtv converter and the tv to hear anything. Is there something that we did wrong?
thanks
craftman7900_sbcglobal_net
15 years ago
I have a Digital Stream DTV box from RS. Works wonderfully, except I can't find any way of defeating its auto-off (after 4 hrs). They call it "standby." Whatever. In any case, it prevents advance timed VCR recording because it shuts off before the program VCR is timed to record comes on.
Weliance43_peoplepc_com
13 years ago
Dear Sir,
I have a Zenith Converter Box Model Dtt901 and a LG VCR & DVD Recoder Model LRY-517. I don't know how to connect the Converter Box to the VCR.

Would you help me, please?

Sincerely,

Weliance43@peoplepc.com
bus_driver
13 years ago
Walter, the earlier responses explain it as well as can be done on this forum. Read them and carefully do the job step-by-step. If unsuccessful, hire local help.

connecting hdtv converter box to vcr?

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