TV/Audio-Visual help needed !

[sheepherder]

Pics attached...

I want to slave one TV to another. I want to connect the 'big' TV to my cable box and then slave a second TV to it. I have the three-wire cable that should do it, and the 'small' [slave] TV has the correct color coded ports, but the 'big' TV has too many and the third color doesn't match (and of course it's the video port).

The idea is that I'll set the second set to channel 3 and use the 'big' TV w/cable box & remote to control the selected channel. Both sets will show the same channel simultaneously, and will flip to whatever channel I want with the one remote.

I've done this before, with my 10 year old Toshiba CRT TV and a small Sanyo CRT. But that crashed and I had to replace both with two LED/LCD TVs. Right now, one receives basic cable, the other gets the cable converter box w/'many' channels.

I'm paying for three outlets & the converter box, so I'm not 'stealing' cable.

I just can't figure out what port on the 'big' TV gets the yellow cable. The red & white are for audio...but which of the blue, green, or other red get the yellow???

Anyone got any ideas???

The slave is for my workshop.

Thank You!

[mrerick]

The "Yellow" wire carries "composite analog video" in Standard Definition. All the video signal including all colors and luminance are combined on the one wire, but with some compromise of quality.

The "White/Red" wires carry left and right channels of analog audio.

It will all look better using the digital connections if they are available from your cable box.

The Red/Green/Blue input is for analog component video, and can work in high definition.

Your set may double use the "green / Composite" input for composite and component analog video, depending upon the input setting of the TV - either "AV" or "Component" from the list...

If both TV sets and the cable TV box are connected to a cable TV connection, they should all be able to receive the non-encrypted channels (premium but not pay per view). Just make sure that you've used the menu in each TV set to set the tuner to "cable" rather than "antenna" and then re-scan channels. "Cable" scans a broader range of frequencies that are sent down the cable system's cable. There is a narrower band of frequencies used over the air with antennas.

On most cable boxes, you can connect more than one output from the cable box to more than one television. This would allow the cable box to control both.

You can get some very long HDMI cables from Ebay very inexpensively... Search "HDMI cable 50ft".

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by mrerick

The "Yellow" wire carries "composite analog video" in Standard Definition.
The "White/Red" wires carry left and right channels of analog audio.

The Red/Green/Blue input is for analog component video, and can work in high definition.

If both TV sets and the cable TV box are connected to a cable TV connection, they should all be able to receive the non-encrypted channels (premium but not pay per view).

Marc -

Thanks for your reply! Using a Y-splitter after the converter box and to the two TVs, I can get simultaneous channels throughout the channel list (coax cable & coax Y-splitter). But the signal is seriously degraded (lots of pixelization). The upside is that I can control channel selection on both at the same time via the single converter box remote.

According to my TV set instructions, I should be able to slave a second set (or PC or VCR or DVD player) via the three-colored cable bundle. I just have no idea which port to connect the yellow cable to on the 'master' TV. There's too many ports and none are coded yellow.

I don't know enough about TVs to know if I can fry some component by hooking it up wrong, and that's one piece of knowledge I'll gladly stay oblivious to.

Right now, I have one TV receiving the converter box signal and the other receiving the basic signal.

A second converter box might be a cheap solution (only about $7 month) but then I'd either have two remotes to control them, or if it is possible, one remote controlling two stacked converter boxes. And a rats nest of cables.

It probably shouldn't be all that hard to slave the second TV to the first. I simply don't have the background to identify the leads/ports and the manual is not written for the average user (i.e., bored housewives).

[Mac Cat]

There are multiple video connections on your Master TV, some of which your slave doesn't have.

The 5-wire combination (Component) is not compatible with the 3-wire (Composite) version.

Both use red/white for audio, but the yellow on that 3-wire is a composite video signal, lower quality resolution, and most suitable for video games. You will probably need a composite video amplifier, which were not popular - that connection requires a very heavy and awkward set of 5 RCA cables. Bulky, but it was close to HD quality.

Best way to slave a TV now days is to use a wireless digital repeater. They run about $100-200 and work. (Slingshot, DVDO is good, but only works with HDMI)

The only slave or passthrough most TV sets have is the Coax Cable. Your TV may have one input and another cable output. That's a good option if you have it - transmits long distances.

[sheepherder]

I dug through all my old A/V equipment and found an unused RatShack® "Cable TV Amplifier" [part # 1502505, $39] described as 'amplifies a single RF signal'. I had tried it several years ago but it wasn't needed then (I used a Hauppauge WinTV PCI card & supplied cables to connect the TV signal to my PC). I had forgotten I had it, but...It works! I am amazed!

I have the cable from the street going into the converter box and the output from the box into the amplifier. The output from that into a coax Y-splitter that goes to each TV. Even at minimum gain from the amplifier, I get an excellent signal to each TV. And I can control both TVs simultaneously from the converter remote.

I checked it by unplugging the amplifier. Yuck!

I also connected PC speakers to each TV via the 3.5mm headset ports so I could get independent sound to each TV. Works great!

I am now a happy couch potato!

[sheepherder]

Thanks for your help, Marc!

Even though your comments didn't directly affect the solution, they prompted me to explore an avenue I hadn't initially considered.

Whoda thunk Luger collectors would be TV/PC geeks!

[mrerick]

Good that you've resolved it. That approach works...

I worked in broadcast TV for 10 years, and helped many viewers resolve reception problems.

Nothing I saw pictured on your TV connectors is an output. They are all inputs. The only device with outputs is the cable box itself.

Marc

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by mrerick

The only device with outputs is the cable box itself.

A definite hindrance.

I had to replace a stripped Y-connector/coax cable, and while at Ace Hardware I noticed they had the RF Signal Amplifiers there for ~$25...

My setup (simultaneous programming) is probably not what others may be seeking. I suspect most would want separate channel selection on the two TVs. My preference is due to my constantly moving between rooms (taking pictures of work in progress, moving to PC room and transferring/resizing/captioning pics, uploading to Net) and wanting to maintain my attention to the show in progress.

Some years ago, I was walking through Sears and noticed a dozen or so TVs all tuned to the same channel. They were all different color shadings. I stopped to try to determine what TV had the best/truest color and a salesman engaged me. He tapped his remote and all the TVs changed channel at once. I don't know how they were all connected, but they must have had some sort of 'gang' connector for all them to be controllable from one remote.

[sheepherder]

Member mrerick has been coaching me on Over-The-Air TV. I have two 10-year old CRT TVs that I thought I'd try the OTA reception on.

I used http://tvfool.com to check out what stations & channels might be available here, and bought an amplified indoor HDTV antenna with an advertised 'range' of 60 miles. Mounting it on my window behind my TVs was pretty much a failure. (I live at the bottom of a long East-West ridge called "The Escarpment". It runs from the Canadian border to somewhere in central New York State. It's 167' high and represents the difference in height between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It's what made Niagara Falls. The Erie Barge Canal is 2 miles upslope from me.)

Putting the antenna in my 2nd floor window and using the amplifier I was able to receive 6 stations with 12 channels with a Toshiba, 7 stations with 11 channels with a Philips. All OTA channels, a pretty eclectic selection. But nothing I really watch here on Time Warner cable.

As an experiment, it was mildly interesting, but my location, where only the Toronto CA and Buffalo NY channels come through without any disruption, was disappointing. Besides being at the bottom of a ridge, in a rural area, I'm surrounded by trees twice as high as my house. Even boosted, I only get signals from line-of-sight stations.

Pic below is from TVFool and represents the channels reported in my area (but not my address). The most are the NorthWest and SouthWest stations, which is the two directions to Toronto and Buffalo. Anything over 46 miles doesn't come in here.

Green indicates good reception, yellow fair, and pink & gray progressively poorer as the distance increases.

My lensatic compass grew legs, or I would try shooting a bearing and aiming my antenna directly. That might help reception.