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View Full Version : Frustrated with no cable!!!


Data
03-01-2009, 11:21 PM
Alright, I needs me some help.

I live in an apartment and have cable access through wall outlets. In the living room the cable works fine connected to a newish TV. BUT I want cable in one of my bedrooms. The cable installer dude said all the wall outlets work now that I'm hooked up. So here's the details.

In the bedroom I have an old Orion TV/VCR combo. The VCR part stopped working long ago and I also lost the original remote. I bought a universal remote and it works fine. I used a coaxial cable and plugged into the cable outlet and into the back of the TV. No cable. I press the "input" button on the remote with no luck and have tried all channels. All I get is a blue screen. I've used the PS2 with the TV no problem. So today I bought a DVD player thinking I could hook up the cable through that. I got a basic $30 Magnavox DVD player. I figure I'll hook up the coaxial cable to the player and then the player to the TV. There is no damn coaxial hookup on the DVD player!!! There is an S video hookup, the red, white, and yellow hookups, and a digital hookup, but nothing that will plug directly into the cable wall outlet.

What do I do now? I've successfully hooked up this TV to cable wall outlets in other apartments/dorms. I don't understand why its not working now. Also, because I'm using a universal remote, I can get the TV menu to come up but am not able to select between options, the volume and channel buttons do nothing to navigate through the menu. I'm thinking there's some setting on the TV to switch it to CATV or some such crap I've read on the internet, but I donno how to access it.

Any advice? I know someone will invariably tell me to stop being a miser and go spend $50 on a basic TV with its own remote but I'd really like to avoid it.

moogle
03-02-2009, 12:42 AM
I'm not an expert, but the only thing I can think of is there's something wrong with the wiring (like, in the wall). It shouldn't matter what device it's going through unless it requires a special box. I would check with your landlord and ask if he knows if anything's wrong with that coaxial outlet.

Oh, and try it with another TV if you can, of course.

Data
03-02-2009, 01:18 AM
If your TV has composite inputs (the red, yellow, and white connectors) then you can use another VCR to hook the coaxial into and then run composite cables from it to the TV. Then you can just use the VCR as your tuner instead of the one in the TV.


Thats what I was hoping I could do with the DVD player. Hoping I wouldn't have to find a VCR seeing as I don't own VHS anymore.

Oh, and try it with another TV if you can, of course.

yeah, I think I'll do that now, and try the old tv in the living room to see if it works at all.

Yep, you're right moogle, its the wall connection in the bedroom. The old TV works fine with the living room connection. I should've tried that first, thats almost as bad as not pressing the power button before asking for help.

Damn, thats the one problem I can't fix by myself in a few minutes.

Thanks guys.

Tenacious P
03-02-2009, 01:25 AM
Do you have the cable box plugged in?

Data
03-02-2009, 03:47 AM
No box, just wall outlets in each room.

Everything is better now, I just moved the old TV into the other bedroom. I just need it to watch while I'm on the treadmill. Since I couldn't get the cable to work I'd been watching dvds everyday. No matter how much I love Seinfeld, 2 months of seasons 1-5 were getting old every run.

LataKali
03-02-2009, 04:01 AM
Also, be sure to check what channel the VCR and TV are tuned to. Most VCRs have an option in the back to toggle the default channel to 3 or 4. The TV needs to be set onto the same channel in order to pick up a signal from the VCR.

Tenacious P
03-02-2009, 05:38 AM
I have a short attention pan. Forgive me.

LataKali
03-02-2009, 07:06 AM
Damn those short attention pans.

http://www.lesliehawes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/black-iron-frying-pan.JPG

:p

Devil King
03-03-2009, 12:04 AM
Haha