Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - TV/DVD Incompatibility??

I am a complete newbie to DVD players. We recently purchased our first DVD player, a Toshiba SD-3980. I have tried connecting it to a 5 year old JVC TV (model AV-32230) via a red/yellow/white audio/video cable as well as an S video cable. In each case all I get is the TV output from our cable box, no DVD picture or sound. In reading over the owner's manual for the TV I see a note that says: "Progressive DVD players (players with an output scan of 31.5 kHz) will not work properly with this television." I check the box on the DVD player and it says "Digital Cinema Progressive Scan". I check the owner's manual to see what the output scan frequency is and it does not list that parameter.

Do I have a fundamental hardware incompatibility problem here? Are there any tricks/converters/adapters I can employ to get around this problem? If I have a progressive scan DVD player at a frequency of something other than 31.5 kHz will I be OK? (I don't know if 31.5 kHz is a universal standard or not). Do I need to unplug the TV output signal from the cable box or should the DVD signal override that (that's the case with our VCR player)? Help! I'm in consumer electronics hell.

While true, the progressive scan statement is misleading you. Progressive scan is something that can be turned on/off on DVD players.

TVs with multiple inputs have some way of letting you cycle thru the various inputs. I have older TVs where the RF caox input is viewed on channel 3 and the red-yellow-white and s-video input is viewed on channel 00. The TV will not automatically switch for you. You have to press a button on the remote (labeled INPUT?) or manually enter the channel. Did you do this?

How is everything hooked up now? Cable box to vcr to tv using rf coax?
What other inputs do you have on the tv?

Most mid end DVD players should have 480i outputs yout TV supports. Being as the player has composite and S-video, it has the 480i you need ,as 480i is all those connections use.

You don't need to use the both the composite (yellow, red, white) and S-Video cable. Choose one or the other, and it will work fine.

As someone mentioned, try to find out if you're checking the input channels on your television. Some tvs have more than one input, and therefore have more than one input channel; be sure to check them all.

Check for a button on your DVD remote that says something like P/I. You want to set your DVD to use Interlace, not Progressive Scan. It should work properly.

Thanks to those of you that responded to my original post. I have tried several things since then and have the following additional information.

I verified that the DVD player was functional by using a TV at work and the red/yellow/white audio/video cables. I tried this same connection between the DVD player and our TV at home using the TV front panel jacks and it worked fine, both audio and video. I then tried using the component video output and the red/white audio output jacks on the back of the TV. I cycled through all 3 input selections on the TV without any success--no video or audio. I also tried toggling between progressive and interlace scanning on the DVD while using the component video connection--no luck there either. So things are OK using the old red/yellow/white audio/video path but the component video connections does not work. Any suggestions on what else to check or try? Thanks.

The fact you did not get any audio is a big clue. Try connecting the DVD player using regular audio/video output from the dvd player but connect to just the rear audio input jacks. Then select component input on the TV. If you get audio that means the DVD player is outputting audio correctly when you select regular outputs but not when you select component video. So the problem is in the DVD player. If you don't get audio this would indicate the problem is in the TV.
Post back when you have tried it.

You say to "select the component input of the TV". That sounds reasonable. The problem is I don't know for sure which Video In position corresponds to the component jacks. Is there any standard convention for referring to the jacks, or does that vary by manufacturer? I have 3 video inputs. I know the front jacks are Video In 3. In the rear of the TV are another set of red/yellow/white audio/video jacks as well as the component jacks. Any way to tell which is which?

I could be wrong, but I believe many, if not all, DVD players use the component video for progressive scan output. As a rule, non-HD and non-ED tvs cannot handle a progressive scan input. So, the component connection won't work for you.

Stick with the red/white/yellow connections.

By process of elimination I figured out which video in setting corresponded to the component inputs and tried the test suggested by texasbrit. There was no sound which would implicate the TV according to texasbrit's logic. Since the TV is not that old and we have never used component input it seems unlikely it would fail.

I dug deeper into the owner's manual for the DVD player. It looks like I need to customize some settings to get the component output to actually deliver a signal. Otherwise, it appears the only active outputs are for composite and S-video. The manual for my TV confirms what BobF says: progressive scan will not work with this TV. However, the DVD manual says that progressive scan can only be turned on when component output is selected, which implies I can turn off progressive scan on component output as well. Indeed, there is a progressive scan toggle button on the remote for the DVD player.

So my next attempt will be to switch the DVD player output from composite to component, and also make sure I'm getting interlaced output, not progressive. Seems like it might work. If not, the DVD player is thin enough I could use it for a shim for that wobbly table on the porch......

...I needed to program the DVD player to actually send an output signal to the component jacks. When I did that and selected the appropriate video input on the TV it worked fine. Apparently the default setting is interlace since I didn't have to fool with the progressive/interlace button on the DVD remote. So I'm finally in business. Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.