Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - Cable Routing

Hi folks;
Need some help here. I once had everything hooked up and humming but had to remove everything due to new carpeting being put down and can't remember how it was all hooked up.:wall:
I have the following items to link together;

1. Home cable box(basic) Scientific America Explorer 4200 home gateway.
2. Poloroid portable DVD player
3. Sharp VCR
4.JVC AV3589S color monitor/receiver

I also have a TV in another room that is a slave to the main TV while on cable reception but can receive standard TV channels independently. This has experienced extremely low sound volume while on cable but received normal levels on regular tv. Any ideas? I have tried a video signal amplifier with no luck. Unless it is linked in at the wrong spot.

I had the tv hooked to the VCR with a A/B switch but with the additions I obtained a Audiovox video switch for 4a/v components and am now really mixed up.

:confused:

Any help appreceiated.

There are a bunch of possible ways to wire this,

how do you use the VCR? Do you record shows or just use it to play tapes?

What do you mean by standard TV channels? Is this cable w/o a box or an antenna?

On the slave TV, are you just trying to get channels you need a cable box to receive?

Chris;
Thanks for the reply. I have been working on this and went with a multi RCA input selector instead of the A/B switch. This seems to have allowed all the components to be selected as desired. (so far:thinker: )
I use the VCR for record/playback and also for taping the normal O.T.A. channels while watching the cable.(optimum network) All my non OTA channels come in through the cable. I do have a regular attenna in the attic attached in line so that I can turn the slave to normal OTA channels and watch them there. By turning the channel on the slave to three(3) (our local non-use channel)I can then watch what has been selected and is being received on the cable box.That way the slave works as both ways. The problem there seems to be when on three (cable) the audio has to be turned waaaaaaaaaaay up on the slave for it to be heard while on OTA it is normal.
I think it may be length of cable run but I have a Amp(brnd name) amplifier on the line which is normal TV cable wire. That part is the perplexing part.
When I finish I will post what I use for the routing. Then lets compare. :) Maybe you might come up with something I'm missing.
Sorry about length but trying to get it all in.

I'm a bit confused. You're using RCA (line level) cabling to connect all the devices and TVs?

If the cable box connects to the input of the VCR with RCA's, this could be your problem. The RCA audio outputs out of many cable boxes are variable, which may be a simple matter of turning up the volume using the cable box remote.

Unless you're splitting the signal several times or running the RF cable very long distances (150 feet of RG59 cable, for example) you shouldn't need an RF amplifier. Try bypassing it. Too much signal can be just as bad as too little signal.

For the record, most RCA switches -- even those designed for video -- shouldn't be used for RF cable. They are line-level devices that expect a bandwidth of under 6MHz. Above that, they attenuate the signal. RF (cable and OTA) TV starts at 50MHz and goes well into the gigaHertz. If you're using F to RCA adapters, you're probably giving the switch too much bandwidth.

Hi guys;
I may be confusing the issue with the way I am describing this but I will write out what I presently have configured.
Following devices are used in this. (1) S.A. cable box (1) 2x splitter (1) signal amplifier.(1) Audiovox 4x Video switch
The following is the initial configuration ;
- Wire in to house from cable company to scientic America cable box input.
- RG6 wire to amplifier from Cable Output terminal on back of S.A. box
-RG6 connected to input of 'Drop Amp EDA 2100' signal amplifier.
-Out put of D.A. 2100 to 2x splitter
- OUTPUT OF SPLITTER= 1 to slave TV (long run)
1 to input on VCR

RCA connection(s) output on back of S.A cable Box
-yellow terminal 2x split: (1) to Audiovox switch input (1) to input of VCR
-white terminal ----do-----
- red to Audiovox input

VCR connection.
- (1) RG6 from output of spitter to input on VCR
- (1) from output of VCR to input of TV
- RCA output (yellow /white only connections) to Audiovox with Red wire.

Audiovox connections

inputs
OUTPUT to INPUT terminal (RCA) on TV
connections on AV switch inputs as follows;
-Scientific America ouput
-DVD player
-game set
- VCR

Tested and seems to work except for having the VCR TV channel selected visible on the TV. Working on that. Not sure if cable supplier is HRC or IRC. The channels are coming in crystal clear and the movies from the VCR can be played.

Major obstacle right now is the audio signal drop to the remote/slave TV.
That has me stumped. :confused:

I hope that I am not confusing anyone more than I have, or I am!:) .

Hi folks and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is what I found that seems to address some of my problems. I found at a website info that when the a/v cables are attached on this model of a Sharp VCR that the tv tuner is internally disconnected! That solves that problem, as the VCR records and plays well, just no TV tuner. For some reason I can't properly connect the TV IN/OUT to the TV to give a good picture. Everything is grainey and lousy audio using that method.
Second was the sound. I don't know how but after fussing with the main TV configuration somehow the volume picked up in the remote TV. We never touched them but have had several local blackouts in the last several months, maybe that was the problem there. Anyway THANKS for the input!:D