Need help with TV as monitor-only.

K

komondor

Joined
Jul 2, 2001
Messages
4,264
I can't figure this out:

I have an old TV, an RCA XL100. I replaced it this summer with a new HD flat screen unit.

So now I have this old 25" TV that I wanted to use for just watching DVDs in my basement while I work out. So, in other words, using it just for a video monitor.

I connected the red, white, yellows b/w the dvd and tv, and started it up. I can't get the TV to play the dvd, which is running and working properly. I've been told by someone at Radio Shack that I need to change my TV setting (inside it's electronic menu, maybe?) to video 1, or something.

I can't do that. I don't have my original remote and the basic buttons on the TV do not get me to this choice.

What do I do? I bought a new universal remote today, but that didn't help me. The guy at Radio Shack said I didn't need to have the TV set to any specific channel, just video 1.

Should I try a coaxial connection instead?
 
All sorts of scart (I don't know what you have there if not scart) gadgets like DVD players and gaming consoles usually show on channel 0 (I believe they cannot be set to show TV channels)...

Could it be the oldschool way of sticking on one channel and trying to "search" for the signal? I haven't done that in ages since we changed to digital broadcasting system.
 
Some universal remotes will not operate all the functions of a TV. If you have a "source" or "video" button that is what you should be pressing. Sometimes just changing the channel will work too, start at channel 2 and go down, one of two things will happen, it will say video 1 or go straight to the highest channel. If it goes to video then your good but if it goes to the highest channel then you need to get to the menu of the TV. Since you do not have the button on the front of the TV to do so you will need to use a remote. If you are unable to find a universal remote that will work you can sometimes call the manufacture of the TV and have them send you one.
 
Most VCRs have a switch that the TV channel needs to be set on either 3 or 4 for it to work,it should be on the rear of the VCR and the tv and vcr need to be set the same.If a TV needs to be set to auxillary or a line in,there should be a menu button on the tv to set it to that.
 
Try this...

Change the channel to "2" (or 1) and then hit channel down a few times. Older TVs usually go into the "Video 1" "Video 2" when you take the tuner down past 0
 
Or you could just bypass all that by using a coax cable, which will send the signal to the tuner instead of to a video input.
 
Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it.

:thumbup:


I followed A.L. and MutedRaccoon's advice and "subtracted" all of the channels from my channel programmer option. This took it down to 0 and it became "A/V Input." That works now.

Awesome. Thanks again everyone!
 
A.L. said:
All sorts of scart (I don't know what you have there if not scart) ....
Click to expand...

For future reference, SCART is virtually unheard of in America.

For the Americans here, SCART is an A/V interface popular in Europe. It is a single connector/cable to connect the audio and video between a TV set and a source such as a DVD player.

In America, that interface may require as many as nine connectors on each end (component video plus 5.1 sound with the channels separate). Even the simple interface being discussed in this thread requires three connectors on each end (composite video and left- and right-channel audio). The connectors, which are typically all RCA-style plugs, are color-coded: yellow for composite video, red for right-channel audio, and white for left-channel audio.

That SCART is a better idea is without doubt; it's just not how we do it.

And now, as we move toward digital interfaces, that argument is moot. For digital, the emerging popular interface is HDMI which connects video, audio, and even controls, all with one small cable.
 
Gollnick said:
For future reference, SCART is virtually unheard of in America.

For the Americans here, SCART is an A/V interface popular in Europe. It is a single connector/cable to connect the audio and video between a TV set and a source such as a DVD player.

In America, that interface may require as many as nine connectors on each end (component video plus 5.1 sound with the channels separate). Even the simple interface being discussed in this thread requires three connectors on each end (composite video and left- and right-channel audio). The connectors, which are typically all RCA-style plugs, are color-coded: yellow for composite video, red for right-channel audio, and white for left-channel audio.

That SCART is a better idea is without doubt; it's just not how we do it.

And now, as we move toward digital interfaces, that argument is moot. For digital, the emerging popular interface is HDMI which connects video, audio, and even controls, all with one small cable.
Click to expand...

Bet if you made a PAL NTSC comment only a handful of us would know that it meant or what area each one applied to...
 
Gollnick said:
For future reference, SCART is virtually unheard of in America.

For the Americans here, SCART is an A/V interface popular in Europe. It is a single connector/cable to connect the audio and video between a TV set and a source such as a DVD player.

In America, that interface may require as many as nine connectors on each end (component video plus 5.1 sound with the channels separate). Even the simple interface being discussed in this thread requires three connectors on each end (composite video and left- and right-channel audio). The connectors, which are typically all RCA-style plugs, are color-coded: yellow for composite video, red for right-channel audio, and white for left-channel audio.

That SCART is a better idea is without doubt; it's just not how we do it.

And now, as we move toward digital interfaces, that argument is moot. For digital, the emerging popular interface is HDMI which connects video, audio, and even controls, all with one small cable.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the info.
 
MutedRaccoon said:
Bet if you made a PAL NTSC comment only a handful of us would know that it meant or what area each one applied to...
Click to expand...


NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are the three major systems used for analog television broadcast throughout the world. In America, we, until just a few months ago, used NTSC, Never Twice the Same Color. In France and many of the formerly-Soviet countries, they use SECAM, the System Essentially Contrary to the American Method (the French copy nobody... and only the Soviets copied the French.) The rest of Europe and a lot of the rest of the world use PAL, which stands for Perfect At Last.
 
Gollnick said:
NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are the three major systems used for analog television broadcast throughout the world. In America, we, until just a few months ago, used NTSC, Never Twice the Same Color. In France and many of the formerly-Soviet countries, they use SECAM, the System Essentially Contrary to the American Method (the French copy nobody... and only the Soviets copied the French.) The rest of Europe and a lot of the rest of the world use PAL, which stands for Perfect At Last.
Click to expand...

Close enough :D

I used to work in video productions so we had our own little jingle to go with them. Used to have a great deal of fun doing certain unsavory things to the local video rental place.
 
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