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New Contributor
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How to hook up a vcr (analog) but has a tuner, to record with a HD tv?
Have an old VCR. It has a tuner, but don't know how to hook it up to the mini box and HD tv. Also, does the mini box need to be updated or something? There is no signal going to the vcr at all.
Questions:
Does the mini box act as a tuner, if an old vcr does not have one.
Do I still need to go through a tuner, if my*different ) vcr has no tuner and has to be inline
My cable comes in from a wire (not a box)
I have try everything I can think of to hook up the vcr's and record but can't. I can play video's on my vcr and it works fine. Just can't get a signal when I try to scan the vcr for signals. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you use a splitter to hook up the vcr or another tv? or do you have to have a mini box with every tv?
wees41
+5 more
Contributor II
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I would think it would be like any vcr cable box cable from wall to mini box mini box to vcr vcr to tv
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chris_c21
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Contributor III
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Yes, you will need at least a minibox for every single TV in your home to continue receiving service.
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battleax
New Contributor
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I'm having the same problem as rratliff. Since I installed the minibox, my VCR no longer receives a signal to record.
I have connected the cables according to Cox TV instructions, but still cannot record.
Can anyone please help me! Am missing all my favorite late-night programs!
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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How do you have it connected?
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Bruce
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Honored Contributor III
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The mini-box is providing a signal to your old VCR...but it's a digital signal. Your old VCR has an analog tuner and it can't discern which frequency, or channel, to "listen" to and display/record.
Even if your VCR had a digital tuner, you'd still need a min-box to decrypt the bulk signal from Cox, that is, the signal from the wall outlet.
Any tuner in a VCR nowadays is useless; however, a digital tuner can display/record a digital signal from the mini-box. Meaning, if your mini-box is tuned to channel 1072, it will only pass the data on channel 1072 to your VCR. Meaning, again, the digital tuner in your VCR doesn't need to isolate channel 1072 from the hundreds of channels. It's the only channel the mini-box is providing the VCR. That's why if you want to record something, you'll have to set the mini-box...not the VCR.
Your analog VCR is only good for playing VHS tapes.
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AllenP
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Valued Contributor
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Bruce, where did you dig up this answer? The coax output of the minibox is analog, not digital. Only the hdmi output is digital. If you connect the coax output of the minibox to the input of an analog tuner VCR, you are good to go. Just set the VCR tuner to channel 3 or 4, depending on how you have the switch set on the back of the minibox. You must change channels using the minibox, not the VCR tuner. The VCR tuner must stay on 3 or 4. Where did you get the mis-information that the coax output of the minibox is digital???? If that were so, the mini wouldn't work with legacy analog TV's but it does.
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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I think the main difference now is you can't record one thing and watch another. To do that you need two tuners. Since the only tuner that will work now will be the one in the mini box, you can only watch and/or record that output. The output from the Mini box is NTSC, which is analog, but it is decrypting a digital signal. I think if you subtract the last part "if you want to record something, you'll have to set the mini-box." pretty much sums it up.
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Becky
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Moderator
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Hi Battleax,
Is your VCR connected to your mini box as shown in the connection diagram?
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Bruce
+4 more
Honored Contributor III
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Allen, you're correct. The transmission from the mini-box is analog. It's analog by virtue of the data being modulated onto the coax cable and carried via a waveform. However, I'm talking about the signal being modulated and transmitted...not the resulting analog waveform traveling on the coax.
The mini-box modulates the signal (channel 3 or 4). The data transmits on the coax by carrier waves (analog). The analog VCR demodulates the signal (channel 3 or 4)...but it gets digital data. It's expecting varying voltage levels from 0.1 to 1.0...but it's just binary data. It's not "good to go."
The carrier is an analog signal, even if it is carrying out the function of a digital transmission. By definition, modulating an RF carrier will result in an analog RF waveform...regardless of whether it is modulated by a digital or an analog signal. It's a digital signal but in an analog domain.
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Could you explain or quote a source? Cable > Encryped ATSC > Mini Box > not enecypted NTSC > VCR >NTSC > TV?
But before we get lost in a whirlweed of facts, the main point is VCR's should still be able to record mini box output.
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Bruce
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Honored Contributor III
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Why do you assume the mini-box outputs "not encrypted NTSC"? Couldn't it output not encrypted ATSC? Hmm?
I just thought of a possible solution. It's a stab in the dark...but DTV converter boxes.
If rratliff and battleax have hoarded analog VCRs, there may be a chance they've also hoarded one of those free Digital TV converter-boxes from 2009.
Mini-box to Converter via coax...Converter to VCR via coax...RCA audio and video cables from Converter to VCR. Viola...NTSC signal!
If you don't care about HD, use a splitter between the mini-box and converter. Connect both converter and TV via coax...RCA audio and video cables from converter to VCR as well as from VCR to TV. Viola...use VCR to watch one channel while recording another!
Cox...where are all those converter boxes?
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AllenP
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Valued Contributor
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Bruce, Teck's is correct, the coax output of the minibox is unencrypted NTSC analog. For a friend, I connected her minibox to a 20yo analog only TV in her kitchen. It worked fine. If it was digital ATSC, no way would this TV play it. I'm a EE, I understand everything you said, it's still not true. An analog VCR will record off the coax output of a minibox just fine. There was an issue with copy protection but, per Cox posts, it has been resolved.
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Tecknowhelp
Valued Contributor II
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Because I read the spec sheets?
Video Decoding
Standards Supported MPEG-2: MP@ML, MP@HL, H.264: MP@L3, HP@L4
Formats Supported HD and SD for all supported encoding standards
Output Resolutions 480i 30 fps, 480p 60 fps, 720p 60 fps, 1080i 30 fps
Output Format Type NTSC
For what purpose? Output of mini box is already NTSC, why would you want it anything else? A DTV adapter will turn ATSC to NTSC, but the signal out from mini box is already NTSC. If if you could some how reverse the signal or find a NTSC>ATSC, why? Any conversion from digital to analog would lose any picture benefit in the transition.
Good idea, but nope. The DTV adapter wouldn't get you a picture because the signal is encrypted. If you could do that, why not just use 2 DTV adapters? I think what you are looking for is a device that decrypts the signal WITHOUT modulating it, which I do not know of.
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