How do I connect an analog VCR + converter box to a digital TV?

I have the cable from the rooftop antenna on a splitter. One cable from the splitter is in the ATSC port. The other is connected to "antenna in" on the converter box. Another cable goes from the converter's "TV out" to the VCR's "in from antenna." A/V cable connects the VCR and the TV. The TV works fine, but all I can do with the converter box and VCR is turn them on--no menus or any functions. Can you help?

coblas Jan 01, 2009

Nice of you to go to so much trouble to help me. I'm not familiar with some of the terms you used, but I'll explain as well as I can. I don't know what a cable connector or cable box or rca outlets are. If they have something to do with cable TV, I don't have them--just a rooftop antenna. The only ports on the back of the TV are the ATSC antenna port for digital reception via the rooftop antenna, a VHF/UHF port for analog reception via the antenna, and various A/V ports. The VCR has an In From Antenna port, an Out to TV port, and A/V ports. The converter box has Antenna In, TV Out, and A/V ports. The converter box is set to channel 4 (there's a switch on the back), which is the unused channel in my area. (Channel 3 is NBC here.) The VCR was programmed to channel 4 when I used it with the TV set to analog (& connected to the VHF/UHF antenna port), but it doesn't have a manual switch and I'm unable to access the menu to be sure it hasn't changed to 3 for some reason. If I try to tune to channel 4 on the TV in digital mode with the ATSC antenna hookup, it doesn't detect a signal for that channel. I also wonder if I'll need to program the converter to work with the VCR. Sigh!
.

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Anonymous

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Posted on Jan 01, 2009

Anonymous

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First of all does your television and/or vcr have a cable connector and/or a set of rca outlets? if they have a cable connection in the back all you have to do is hook the cable from the antenna to the "in from antenna" on your cable box and then connect a cable from "out to tv" to "in from antenna" on the vcr and a cable from "out to tv" on the vcr to "in from antenna" on the tv. then you need to make sure on the converter box and the vcr and look for a channel selector and see what channel they are on. most vcr's have a selector for either channel 3 or 4, look at what channel it is set to and if your converter box has the same thing then match it with the vcr. then tune your tv to that channel and you should be able to work your vcr as long as the vcr/tv button shows that you are on the vcr. now if your tv and/or vcr have rca outlets and your converter box has the same then just hook the cable from the antenna to the cable box and substitute the rca cable for the regular cable and tune your tv to video or line input.

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I hope that you find this solution helpful. Please take a moment to rate tis solution.

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