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January 15, 2011 7:28 AM   Subscribe

vintage technology fi: help me connect a VCR to a TV

I'm trying to connect a VCR to a TV but am getting no results. I have attached pics. I have a cable with white, red and yellow ends, and I've tried the obvious solution of connecting these to the corresponding "out" nodes on the VCR and "in" nodes on the TV, but get nothing. Any suggestions?

VCR front

VCR back

TV front

TV back
posted by crazylegs to Technology (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
You want the "outs" on the vcr from "VCR back" (the lower 3)

Connect that to the "ins" on "TV back" (the lowest 3)

Because your tv does cable, over the air, and also has a built in DVD player, I expect the difficulty might be in actually choosing the correct inputs. It won't simply autoselect whatever is giving a signal, you'll need to futz with either a) the remote or b) "TV/DVD" and/or "menu" buttons on the front.

And of course be sure that the vcr has something to play. I would put in a videotape you care about least and press play while troubleshooting it all. Some tvs, when they don't get a signal, will just go blue or black, even if there is a weak signal.
posted by artlung at 7:38 AM on January 15, 2011


That's the correct configuration -- you want to go from red, white and yellow OUT (the second row down) on the VCR to red, white and yellow IN on the TV (the bottom row).

You likely need to change the channel to VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2 or something similar, or use the menu to change to the VIDEO inputs. These types of inputs are also called "composite" inputs, so it might be listed as that (and need to be enabled) in the menu.

If all else fails, you might want to try a different cable.
posted by eschatfische at 7:40 AM on January 15, 2011


The bottom row of the vcr red white yellow to the bottom row of the tv red white and yellow. Make sure its video to video - yellow to yellow. Back or front.

After that, you've got to find the button on your tv or remote that tells the set to accept signal from that source. Typically it says something like "input" or "tv/video". It might be that one on your tv that says "tv/dvd"

Put a tape in that you know has content, play it on the vcr, and just cycle through that buttontill the vcr signal is displayed. Sometimes you also have to set the tv to channel 3
posted by jasper411 at 7:41 AM on January 15, 2011


You won't have to set it to Channel 3 ( or 2 in some areas) That is reserved for the old coax cable input or antanae input.
posted by Gungho at 7:54 AM on January 15, 2011


My old (guess their all old now) VCR would send only DVD signal over the A/V cables. To watch a VHS tape you had to use coaxial (the kind that screw on).
posted by token-ring at 8:00 AM on January 15, 2011


You won't have to set it to Channel 3 ( or 2 in some areas) That is reserved for the old coax cable input or antanae input.

True. But on some older tv's, rather than having an input select (as suggested by a few posters here), there is an auxiliary "channel" down below channel 1. One thing you might want to try is flipping down past channel 1 and seeing if you get a channel with a name like "aux" or "video". If so - that's probably what you need to set to see the signal from the VCR. Not sure if that's the case here, but maybe worth looking into?
posted by ManInSuit at 8:05 AM on January 15, 2011


Also - do you have the remote that came with the TV? If so -posting a picture of that would probably help a lot.
posted by ManInSuit at 8:08 AM on January 15, 2011


According to this thread (which may not be accurate), you might need to original remote to do this.
posted by ManInSuit at 8:15 AM on January 15, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for all the help! Putting the TV on Channel 3 and pushing the Input button on the remote did the trick. My wife can now use her ancient exercise videos again, and we thank you.
posted by crazylegs at 8:20 AM on January 15, 2011


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