Help!! Electrics gurus, can you hook a DVD player and VCR up to the same TV??

[EdiePA]

I have a big screen TV (one of the leftovers of my divorce). My son hooked a DVD player up to it and put the VCR on another TV. Well, most of my Christmas movies are in VHS format and I'd love to watch them. Can I hook both units up to one TV and can you explain how to do it in simple terms?

Or do I have to buy a DVD/VCR combo in order to be able to do this??? (Money is kind of tight, but I think my parents are giving me cash for Christmas.)

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Edie

PS -- I'm not completely inept. I've taken a toilet apart, put it back together and it works without leaking. I'm just not savvy when it comes to electronics.

 

[caitycaity]

well i know it is theoretically possible b/c that is the set up that we have. unfortunately dh did it so i don't know the specifics.

 

[Kirby]

Both of our DVD and VCR are hooked up to our tv. My husband and son did it with lots of trial and error. So it can be done. It should tell you how to do it in your DVD manual. If my two loved ones had looked at the manual first, they would have had less trouble.

 

[RNMOM]

DH is telling me our DVD player's audio in cable is hooked up to the VCR's audio out port. This supplies the signal. ??? That is just what he told me as he is sitting in his recliner recovering from a minor surgery this afternoon. If it is wrong, blame it on the drugs.

 

[Aurora63]

I think I can help you, as a former Radio Shack employee and having done it w/ my own TV.

First, look on the back of your TV. Check to see if you see three holes, which will be red, yellow, and white in color. They should also say something like "Auxillary Input" or "Input" of some type. Your DVD player will also have these holes (which are called RCA plugs, the female end), and probably many others. Look for the ones colored red, yellow, and white, and labeled output.

You'll need a cable which has the three colored male jacks on each end. Radio Shack has them, as do many other places. You probably got one w/ your DVD. Connect the "Input" on the TV with the "Output" in the DVD. To see what your DVD plays, simply change the channel on your TV to the correct channel for the input you plugged it into...probably down near 3.

For the VCR, just connect a regular cable cord from the "out" cable plug on the VCR to the "In" on the TV, which is likely the only one on the TV. If you have cable, just connect the cable into the "In" cable plug on the VCR.

Hope that helps. Of course, if your TV doesn't have the RCA input (the red, yellow and white plugs) then this won't help. But I am assuming that it does, since it is a big screen.

There may be other ways to do it as well, depending on what other inputs your TV has. But this will work!

 

[emmagata]

Originally posted by EdiePA
I have a big screen TV (one of the leftovers of my divorce). My son hooked a DVD player up to it and put the VCR on another TV. Well, most of my Christmas movies are in VHS format and I'd love to watch them. Can I hook both units up to one TV and can you explain how to do it in simple terms?

Or do I have to buy a DVD/VCR combo in order to be able to do this??? (Money is kind of tight, but I think my parents are giving me cash for Christmas.)

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Edie

PS -- I'm not completely inept. I've taken a toilet apart, put it back together and it works without leaking. I'm just not savvy when it comes to electronics.

If your TV is of recent vintage, it should have several sets of connections on the back that will allow you to hook up several devices at the same time.

You should be able to hook both the DVD and the VCR to the TV and just use the remote to switch between regular TV, the DVD or the VCR.

The most common DVD connection was described in another reply. Those are called RCA jacks (they're smooth round and have a hole in the middle and might be color coded as well. If color coded they should be red/white and yellow). Red and white are the right and left stereo sound signal and the yellow is the video(picture) signal.

Your DVD should have the same colored connectors. Just use the proper cables with matching color codes and you'll be set. You'll just need to figure out how to switch the TV to use the set of connectors (usually called VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2, etc) that you hooked to the DVD player.


Your VCR may or may not have them. The most common way to hook a VCR to a TV is by using a cable that screws on to the ANTENNA jack. If you have cable TV service, it's the same type. The cable TV wire that's attached to the TV now will get hooked to the ANTENNA jack on the back of the VCR instead of the TV. You'll need another cable like this to hook the VCR to the TV. That connector is usually called "TV". Sometimes, though, they are called "IN" and "OUT". ANTENNA = IN and TV = OUT.

Once hooked up, set the TV to channel 3 or 4 to see what's playing on the VCR. This setup will also allow you to record one TV channel while watching another TV channel (or the DVD).
If you don't see anything, make sure the switch on the back on the VCR is set to match what channel you have the TV tuned to(either 3 or 4).

Just make sure you screw the cables on snuggly. Not too tight though.

Good luck.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I hooked them both up to my TV...but that was ages ago, and I couldn't tell you how to do it now.

 

[debster812]

Aurora and Emmagata have you on the right track.

My only additional piece of advice, and this is something that I did for all my customer's when doing hookups for them. Label the wires!!!! Let me repeat that, after you have it hooked up and working, LABEL THE WIRES. It can save you hours should you have to dissconnect and reconnect. Masking tape works fine, fold it over itself, over the wire/cable and jot down what it is, what it's connected to, etc.

Good Luck! And enjoy those Christmas movies!!!!

 

[EdiePA]

It took a trip to the local Radio Shack for a longer co-axial cable to run from the VCR to the TV. But after that, the DVD player was already hooked up with the RCA plugs and I just had to add in the VCR. If I had known it was so easy, I would have done this two years ago!!

Thanks again!!

Edie

 

[Scratch42]

After reading this thread, I felt confident to try and hoop up the VCR and DVD to the TV!

Works Great! A special thanks to Aurora63!

Now I can watch POTC, of course after Surviror!



Scratch