DTV issues

[Scott Fybush]

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> On 7 Dec 2008 at 17:14, Sid Schweiger wrote:
> 
>> Play?  Yes.  Record?  Probably not.  The few current models of VCR are
>> being sold without tuners, because it's considered a nearly-dead tech
>> by the manufacturers.  DVD recorders would need a digital tuner, and
>> so far I haven't seen any that have it.
> 
> But all I want to do is continue using the VCR and DVD player that I 
> already have.  I have cable, and I assume that if my VCR (which has 
> an analog tuner) is connected to cable, I'll still be able to record 
> shows with it, just as I can watch shows with an analog TV.  And I 
> assume that if I connect the adaptor to a VCR, it will record a 
> program just as it always has.

Indeed it will. There are two ways to do it - either use the RF (channel 
3/4) output of the DTV converter, connected to the antenna input of the 
VCR, or the line out (RCA video/L-R audio) of the DTV converter, 
connected to the line input of the VCR. The latter hookup is preferable 
on a stereo VCR, since the DTV converter doesn't pass stereo through the 
RF output, AFAIK.

The drawback here is that you're limited to recording from one channel 
at a time when you're away from the VCR, since the converter box has to 
be left on whatever channel you're planning to record. (A word of 
warning, also: some boxes, including the Zenith, have an auto-off 
feature that will turn the box off after a set amount of time if the 
channel isn't changed. This feature can, and in this case should, be 
disabled through a menu setting.)

As for cable, you'll be able to continue to use analog cable with the 
VCR just as you always have - as long as analog cable continues. It's my 
understanding that Comcast aims to do away with analog cable entirely 
within the next couple of years, at which point you'd need a cable box 
to sit between the digital cable and the VCR.

>> The few digital TVs I've seen have at least one regular set of line
>> inputs (video, audio-L and audio-R) and one set of 480p
>> color-separated inputs for a DVD player (labeled Y, Pr and Pb).
> 
> Since an older VCR doesn't have those connections, I hope there is a 
> regular input jack to connect a regular coax. 

Even the oldest VCR I own, which dates to 1985, has RCA line-in and 
line-out jacks on the rear. That said, any digital TV now being sold has 
an RF input and a tuner that can view both ATSC digital and NTSC analog 
transmissions, which means you can use the RF output from the VCR into 
the TV, though the quality will obviously be less than optimal.

> For that matter, I've occasionally wondered how I would connect a DVD 
> player to one of my older TVs, which has neither the three-plug video 
> inputs nor an S-video jack.

Some DVD players have RF modulators, so you can just connect them to the 
RF input on your TV. Most do not - and in such a situation, you'd need 
an RF modulator, which can be obtained at any electronics store (or even 
a big-box retailer) for no more than $25 or so. Plug the RCA line-outs 
from the DVD player into the line-in on the RF modulator, then the RF 
output of the modulator into the antenna input on the TV. Again, you 
won't get all the benefits of the high-quality DVD medium, but it will work.

I travel with an RF modulator in my "hotel room" kit, since the DVD 
recorders I use for TV airchecking on the road don't have RF outputs 
(though they do have an RF passthrough), and many hotel-room TVs don't 
have RCA inputs...at least, not working ones.

s