# New T.V. & Old VCR: S-Video plug-in problem



## hotskates (Jan 11, 2002)

Our new widescreen t.v. has plenty of plug-in's on the back for vcr, dvd, etc. When I got the t.v. about a month ago I plugged the cable from the wall directly into the vcr and it worked fine. The last two weeks our t.v. has had a "stretchy" thing going on with the picture and we determined that the cable signal wasn't strong enough to the t.v. the way we were running it through the vcr. Once we plugged the cable from the wall into the t.v. directly, the t.v. "stretchy" problem resolved itself.

So, now I see that to plug the vcr into the t.v. I need a s-video cord to connect the two for the video portion. *The older vcr (5 years old) doesn't have the s-video plug-in on the back. I was wondering if there is a cable out there that would work between the two?  * I know I could just go buy another vcr for $50. with the s-video capabilities, AND I know I can get direct t.v. with the digital recorder AND I know I could get TIVO.

BUT, for now I want to see if I can get this to work out by buying a cable?


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

hotskates said:


> Our new widescreen t.v. has plenty of plug-in's on the back for vcr, dvd, etc. When I got the t.v. about a month ago I plugged the cable from the wall directly into the vcr and it worked fine. The last two weeks our t.v. has had a "stretchy" thing going on with the picture and we determined that the cable signal wasn't strong enough to the t.v. the way we were running it through the vcr. Once we plugged the cable from the wall into the t.v. directly, the t.v. "stretchy" problem resolved itself.
> 
> So, now I see that to plug the vcr into the t.v. I need a s-video cord to connect the two for the video portion. *The older vcr (5 years old) doesn't have the s-video plug-in on the back. I was wondering if there is a cable out there that would work between the two?  * I know I could just go buy another vcr for $50. with the s-video capabilities, AND I know I can get direct t.v. with the digital recorder AND I know I could get TIVO.
> 
> BUT, for now I want to see if I can get this to work out by buying a cable?


First, you need to understand that VERY VERY FEW VCR tapes are S-Video. Probably every VCR tape you own is regular video, so all you need is an RCA video cable to go from the old VCR to the TV plus the audio connections. If the old VCR does not have a left and right audio connection, then you need an RCA audio splitter to split the signal to left and right feeds into your television.

Here is and example of what you need (video and audio):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812102113

And if your VCR has only one audio out, then you need this

http://www.ebizenterprise.com/brows...l-Shielded-OFC-Audio-Y-Adapters-ARX-369B.HTML

And don't let some salesman tell you you need these expensive Monster Cables--its a ripoff. Inexpensive cables from Radio Shack are just as good or the ones I linked to online--its only $2.50 although the shipping is $5.00! You could probably get it cheaper at Radio Shack or Walmart.

If you need any help hooking this up, I'll come help you Hotty--just make sure your hubby isn't home. I'll get you connected up just right!


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

The back of your VCR will look something like below with one video (yellow) and two audio (Red and White) connections. It may have only one audio connection (usually white) in which case you would need the RCA splitter. Just match the colors from the VCR to the inputs on the television and make sure you connect VCR OUT to the television (i.e., you would use the other set show in the diagram below, not the ones that are plugged in, which is the VCR "IN"). Also, you will have to set your VCR to "Video" or some similar channel. Its not channel 3 like when you use the cable connection. VCRs have a special channel usually called "Video" or "A/V" or something like that right below channel 2 and if its not set to that, you won't see anything on the television. By the same token, you will need to set the TV input to a similar setting that corresponds with whatever jacks you plugged into in the back of the TV. You'll probably have two or more "A/V" choices on your TV. Just keep flipping until you see the input from the VCR.

And BTW, that's the correct way to go from VCR to television, not the way you were doing it (i.e., using the cable to connect from VCR to television). You get a better picture with RCA connections.


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## hotskates (Jan 11, 2002)

Ok Mulder, even though my vcr is only 5 years old, from what I've seen today after shopping for another vcr, they still have the same features and plugins on the back as they did 5 years ago. So, buying a new vcr isn't going to solve my problem. So, lets see if I'm getting this the way you described.....if I plug the (rca plugs) which I do have....red,yellow,white into the vcr(out) and then into the tv(in) it should be connected and I would use the aux channel? That is kindof how I tried it yesterday and it didn't work, BUT, I was using the "vcr" button on the new t.v.'s remote control, because that is how I got to the vcr before when I had it hooked up wrong...maybe I should have tried getting a picture using the aux. channel. I'll try that. I just thought it sounded too simple to hook it up this way. On our old t.v. there was an aux. channel, 3 and on the new t.v.'s its broken down(as I'm sure you know) into different buttons instead, the dvd button, vcr button, etc. But, there is a "input" button that selects.. I think it said vid 1 or vid 2 and thats what I use for my video camera, I'll bet the other one will work for the vcr now if I hook it up this way. It would be nice to use that vcr button though, just to simplify things.........for my husband I still don't see what difference the "in" and "out" make...its kindof a negative, positive thing in my mind. I'll get this figured out, I just needed a little push into the right direction...Thanks!


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

Yes, it will work fine as long as you have the right channels selected on both TV and VCR.

Make sure you connect your cable box or sattelite (whatever you have) to the TV using Component connections (Red, White, and Blue) because that gives the best quality picture for your high def TV.

And as a rule, always use the best connection available. They are in order

RF (cable) - fair
RCA - good
S-Video - very good
Component - Excellent
Digital (DVI) - Excellent.

Now of course, with your VCR player, you can't improve the quality past RCA--that's the best you can possibly use for most VCR tapes unless they were recorded is S-Video (rare).

And by the way, if you want to tape programs, split your cable from the wall using a cable-splitter like this:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-rg6vgjBQnUY/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=043561925

The line from the wall goes into the side with the one connection, then on the other side with the two connections, you run one line directly to the TV and the other directly to the VCR. You won't have the problem you had doing it that way and you'll be able to tape one program on VCR while watching another program on the TV. If your signal is poor, you need to have the cable company come out and boost your signal.


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## hotskates (Jan 11, 2002)

Mulder said:


> Yes, it will work fine as long as you have the right channels selected on both TV and VCR..


Yeah, I get that now



Mulder said:


> Make sure you connect your cable box or sattelite (whatever you have) to the TV using Component connections (Red, White, and Blue) because that gives the best quality picture for your high def TV...


We don't have a cable box or satelite, just basic underground cable.......by (red, white and blue)....."BLUE" .....is that the s-video or did you say blue instead of yellow?



Mulder said:


> And by the way, if you want to tape programs, split your cable from the wall using a cable-splitter like this...................
> If your signal is poor, you need to have the cable company come out and boost your signal.


Yes, I might need that splitter..........my cable signal is strong enough so I'm fine there! At $50. a month for basic cable, were on the brink of switching to digital cable, for price and quality and convenience (especially with the tivo feature). THis issue I'm having now is only temporary, but I do want to make it work for now.. Thanks Mulder......   
We tried digital cable for a week and cancelled it because we save to many shows/movies we tape off of cable t.v., and with the tivo feature, we could watch the movies/shows, but not save them......or at least we didn't know to save them. But, thats another thread.......


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

hotskates said:


> We don't have a cable box or satelite, just basic underground cable.......by (red, white and blue)....."BLUE" .....is that the s-video or did you say blue instead of yellow?


Sorry, actually I meant red, *green* and blue. If you get digital cable, your cable box (you have to have one for digital) will have a Component out--red, green, and blue. This provides a better picture than S-Video, which uses two lines to carry the signal--RCA uses only one. Right now it doesn't matter--since you don't have a box, you just hook the cable up directly to the TV and the VCR using the splitter.



hotskates said:


> We tried digital cable for a week and cancelled it because we save to many shows/movies we tape off of cable t.v., and with the tivo feature, we could watch the movies/shows, but not save them......or at least we didn't know to save them. But, thats another thread.......


Well, you can still split the cable *before* it goes to the digital cable box and run that to the VCR and tape programs. You can also get the DVR from the cable company and I would highly recommend that--it is very easy to record programs and play them back later and you can also record from that--run the RCA audio and video lines to your VCR from the cable box is all you have to do.


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## hotskates (Jan 11, 2002)

Mulder said:


> Sorry, actually I meant red, *green* and blue. If you get digital cable, your cable box (you have to have one for digital) will have a Component out--red, green, and blue. This provides a better picture than S-Video, which uses two lines to carry the signal--RCA uses only one.


I've got the vcr all hooked up and working fine Mulder.....now we just need to schedule some time together to work on your colorblindness   Thanks for your help.......once again


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## Mulderator (Feb 20, 1999)

hotskates said:


> Mulder.....now we just need to schedule some time together


No problem--I'll fit you in! The problem is can you fit Mulder in?


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## hotskates (Jan 11, 2002)

Mulder said:


> No problem--I'll fit you in! The problem is can you fit Mulder in?


Oh, don't worry, I can fit you in.....but, Don't run any red lights getting here.......remember red is on top :up:


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## Steven 09-11-77 (Apr 17, 2007)

I have some old tapes that were recorded on a Sony VHS camcorder back in the late 80's and early 90's. I no longer have this camcorder, but my question was this, if I recorded something with this camcorder and then bought a new VCR that had Video Component out would I get the same quality as S-VIDEO? I know S-VIDEO is second, but I just wasn't sure what the quality was coming from the camcorder and going to the tape as supposed to going from that same tape through a VCR with component out. I'm trying to edit these tapes and still get the best possible quality, what should I do?


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

The quality (resolution) of the VHS-C tapes is no higher than the basic recorder quality, (probably lower in fact) but as the tapes are analog there will be a small quality loss however you do it.

But I doubt that the component out or S-Video interconnection will be noticeable as to difference, given the starting quality and inevitable loss with analog.


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