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| DVR/DVD problems | |
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| Topic Started: May 26 2014, 10:49 AM (437 Views) | |
| haili | May 26 2014, 10:49 AM Post #1 |
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Gold Star Member
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I rented a DVR and paid the cable guy to install it and it's great but now the combo. VCR/DVD player doesn't work. I called the cable co. and was told it might have been the input which is no longer cable but HDMi. This is all bewildering to me and I just left it as I get very frustrated and don't want to mess it up again as I did last week - and spent most of the afternoon trying to get the picture back. The picture is back and it records, etc. now that the input is on HDMi but the DVD menu doesn't come up though it turns off and on. Any ideas? Has anyone else had this problem? |
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| Delphi51 | May 26 2014, 01:50 PM Post #2 |
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Member title
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Tell us how it is hooked up. All signals must reach the TV, so start there. I am guessing there is an HDMI cord connecting the new DVR to the TV. This cord has ends that resemble USB ones, though somewhat larger. How is your DVD connected to the TV - direct or through the DVR? It might connect direct through an HDMI cord, in which case you would use your TV remote's input button to choose the number of the HDMI jack on the back of the TV that it is plugged into. It might connect with an older style cable TV coaxial cable with one wire projecting from the end into a little hole in the center of the jack on the TV, in which case you use the input button to choose video input. If the VCR connects to the DVR then you must use the DVR controls to select that input source. Maybe it isn't connected at all. |
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| wildie | May 26 2014, 03:03 PM Post #3 |
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Veteran Member
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Hopefully your TV has various types of input jacks! Your DVR would plug into a HMDI JACK, whereas your VCR would be a coaxial cable connection. You, the user must make a selection by using the remote control. TVs can be different, so without knowing your type of TV its impossible to advise you how to chose inputs. Perhaps if you post the make and model of your TV we can be of better assistance! |
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| haili | May 27 2014, 01:09 AM Post #4 |
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Gold Star Member
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Thanks guys. The cable guy on the phone said something similar - to just keep trying different inputs. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that having paid the cable guy to install the DVR, he should have made sure everything is working. I hate to tinker with it and mess it up again as I spent most of one afternoon on the phone last week trying to understand thick accents about tech stuff I don't have a clue about in the first place and it took ages to get the TV working again. Should the cable guy come and fix it? |
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| Darcie | May 27 2014, 01:29 AM Post #5 |
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Skeptic
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Phone the cable company and tell them you want the installer to come back and do his job correctly. Tell them part doesn't work. I had a similar problem after installation of my phones here and the bedroom one was not working. When I called them they wanted to charge me again for a service call. I asked them if it was their policy to charge customers for incompetent employees, said I refused to do so and that I wanted things fixed as they should be. They came at no charge. Just phone and be forceful and refuse to pay and say you want the bungled job fixed up. You have nothing to lose by trying. |
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| haili | May 30 2014, 09:23 AM Post #6 |
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Gold Star Member
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Darcie: I took your advice and called the cable company and thought I was being quite assertive but they outtalked me. The woman in the office shoved me onto tech. support again and the cable guy said they only have to make sure the DVR is working, not the DVD player and now I have to deal with Toshiba. When I complained about the accents at Toshiba being so hard to understand he said to ask for service in French because they speak better English. I will give that a try when I'm feeling more energetic. |
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| Trotsky | May 30 2014, 10:04 AM Post #7 |
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Big City Boy
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haili. Tell us what cables are connected to the VCR and DVD...yeah, they connect separately. Describe them as best you can by type and color. You likely have a co-ax in and a yellow-red-white for VCR signal pout or just coaxial in and out (primitive) but for the DVD you might have 5 cable R-W-R-B-G component connections or R-W-Y or a 5-pin round connector and red and white. The two function units (VCR and DVD) are a pain in the ass because both parts must connect separately. I have one duplex unit that I use just for VHS, and I hate it especially because the remote must have 100 buttons...I use uit ONLY for ARE YOU BEING SERVED Best way to show us is with a picture, haili. Edited by Trotsky, May 30 2014, 10:55 AM.
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| haili | May 30 2014, 11:38 AM Post #8 |
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Gold Star Member
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Trotsky: in order to find out about the cables I have to take the back off the stand and probably disconnect things. The DVD/VCR is a combo. unit. I'm beginning to think I should forget the whole thing, though it would be nice to play a movie once in awhile without fast forwarding commercials. The reason I had the cable guy come in and install it was to avoid all that messing around with cables and things I'm clueless about. I have found a couple of movies to record and maybe I can build up a collection of recorded stuff. Everyone I know who has a PVR no longer bothers with DVDs or videos, but I still like watching some of those old movies. |
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| haili | May 30 2014, 11:39 AM Post #9 |
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Gold Star Member
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p.s.: the only cables I can see are various shades of beige, ecru and taupe! |
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| Trotsky | May 31 2014, 02:13 AM Post #10 |
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Big City Boy
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haili, Perhaps you can pull the DVR/VHS out a bit and turn it 90 degrees to have a look at the back. Of course that means you need excess cable length, not always a reality. To watch your VHS tapes, the minimum connection would be with a single regualr co-ax cable from VCR OUT to the TV connection called ANTENNA. There are better ways to connect but this is the easiest and will do the job. Then when you select "ANTENNA" from your "TV INPUT" with your TV's remote, it will be the VCR feed. I think you should be able to pull this off. Edited by Trotsky, May 31 2014, 02:30 AM.
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| haili | May 31 2014, 05:43 AM Post #11 |
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Gold Star Member
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Thanks for the advice Trotsky. I'm sick of the whole thing and will probably watch a couple of movies I recorded this week and leave it until next week to call Toshiba. I hooked up the VCR years ago but it all seems more complicated now and I have a lot less patience. I think you're probably right about it being a cable connection of some kind but it looks like spaghetti back there with all the wires. |
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| wildie | May 31 2014, 05:46 AM Post #12 |
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Veteran Member
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Haili, as I mentioned earlier, if you would post the make and model number of your TV and DVD player, we could give you more assistance! Otherwise, we are just speculating! With this info we can read the user guide on the internet or better still, someone may have the same setup as yours and describe exactly how to use yours! |
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| haili | May 31 2014, 12:05 PM Post #13 |
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Gold Star Member
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They are both Toshiba but I didn't write down serial or model numbers and forget how long ago I got the DVD player since I must have thrown out the receipt when the warranty expired. I really need a break from all this so will wait until next week to call Toshiba. If the DVD player is more than about 5 years old, maybe it's not compatible with the HD TVs. |
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| Trotsky | Jun 1 2014, 01:06 AM Post #14 |
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Big City Boy
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Haili, Just ask a reasonably tech savvy guy or gal to have a look at it. No problem with old DVD's except for the possible lack of HDMI ports and high definition. But any old DVD player will still perform well. I had a 5 year old Toshiba with "upscaling" that made plain DVD discs looked nearly as good as the Blu-Ray player that replaced it...it's still in the closet "just in case." Same cannot be said for VHS which really looks pretty awful when blown up to large TV size. VHS is a dead technology worth keeping only for the precious stuff, but even that can all be transferred to DVD, AT A COST. PS...Don't waste your time calling Toshiba. Edited by Trotsky, Jun 1 2014, 01:10 AM.
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| haili | Jun 1 2014, 05:31 AM Post #15 |
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Gold Star Member
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Trotsky: believe it or not, my friends are even less tech savvy than I am! They just don't bother using the DVD any more and just watch whatever movies they can find to record. One thing I'm going to try to remember to do in the future is write down the serial numbers of anything I buy on the front of the instruction book. They always seem to be on the back of things that are a pain to move. If I could be bothered with the hassle, I could move the DVD player upstairs to the tiny TV in the bedroom but then I'd have to watch movies in bed. |
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