Wow, this is a great board...ok here's my problem.
I want to connect the items above. My DirecTV receiver has 1-S-Video, 1-RCA, 1-Coax output. My DVD/VCR has component jacks for DVD, RCA jacks for VCR.
I think what I have to do is have RCA jacks coming out of my Sat and into my VCR. RCA jacks coming out from VCR to TV. Of course my DVD interfaces with HDTV thru component connections.
If I set up this way, will I have to have my VCR on to watch satellite?
My second question is, I wish I could use my S-Video output on my DirecTV to my TV. But I can't figure out an easy way to do that. I could have it go to another Video input on my TV, but then I wouldn't have sound, since my only sound outputs are routed thru my VCR. I could plug it into the same input as the VCR, but then I would have to unplug my S-Video connection every time I wanted to watch a videotape, since the S-Video takes precedence over the yellow video cable if both are present.
From reading some other posts, it seems if I want a direct Satellite/TV connection, it would have to be through RF coax which would result in much less quality.
Don't use the RF, lousy quality and mono audio. Get a video switcher, you can get them with RCA and s-video, or either by themself. They sell them at Wally World and Radio shack.
Could I run RF from my DirecTV receiver to my VCR, (since quality really doesn't make too much difference to me for the few shows I'd like to tape) and then run RCA from my VCR to my TV. That should result in good quality for my prerecorded VHS tapes. Then I could run S-Video and the RCA audio outputs directly to my TV from the DirecTV receiver.
Would this work?
Also, would you please elaborate a little on the video switcher...I'm a novice. How would this fit into the scenario I mentioned in my first post?
You can run coax, but it will result in an inferior picture and mono audio. If you're OK with that then do it that way. A video switcher accepts inputs from various sources and outputs to one or two devices depending on the switcher. So you can connect multiple sources to one input, then you just set the switcher to whatever unit you want to use.
Hi David, I've seen you on several posts, so hopefully you can help me solve my problem!! Like a lot of people here, I have an old TV with one cable line. I also have DirecTV receiver. When I bought vcr/dvd player in Feb, I was told I'd need an RF Modulator, so bought it. As it turns out, I didn't need it (and BestBuy wouldn't take it back since opened so had to sell on Ebay for 1/2 price!). I was able to connect my VCR/DVD to my satellite receiver then to the TV without any problems. The DVD part never played well (would stall and pause) and was too late to return + past warranty, so I recently bought a DVD player. Now my problem is that the connections on back of DVD player are fewer than VCR/DVD combo and I cannot get anything connected!! I'm not going to bother to have connect the combo at this time. I just want the dvd player connected. I've tried all different combinations including the same that I had with the combo and even went out and bought an s-video cable thinking that will get the picture (have yet to connect it). I have RCA from dvd to satellite receiver and TV line between TV and sat receiver. What's missing? Will the S-Video from dvd to sat receiver be the answer? thanks!
The DVD player should connect directly to the TV, not through the satellite. I haven't used Direct TV so I don't know what connections it has. It has inputs and not just outputs? Tell me exactly what connections the satellite has.