Home Theater Hell
Houston, we no longer have a problem. It was the damned channel button.
For the last several months, I have lived in a state of worry and emasculation, unable to get my “home theater system” fully operational. I tried several times, under varying levels of intoxication, to hook up this collection of black boxes and cable spaghetti in just the right way, so that the stuff would actually fucking work as advertised, to no avail. Inevitably, one or more things would not behave. Couple this with an untimely demise of our old DVD player (first it showed movies in black&white, then it started refusing to even play audio cds), and you have me down at the BestBuy looking at DVD recorders. Luckily, my friend Perry was able to recommend a decent DVD recorder that was reasonably priced and was purported to do what I need, namely, a device that I can save TiVo and VHS recordings to, as well as play music and DVDs. I picked one up. After much cursing, I finally got the damned thing hooked up and playing DVDs. But the recording thing was still not working. The whole thing is made more annoying by the fact that my A/V components live in this little cubby next to the tv that is barely wide enough to turn the components around so you can look at the cable connections for the eight hundredth time. I tried a few more times, I cursed some more, and after a definitive “fuck it all, goddammit all to hell, I’m fucking done with this bullshit”, we (I) settled for playback-only mode for the time being. That was a few weeks ago.
Then, on Thursday, the sound died. There was no warning, and I assure you I made no changes, but all of a sudden we stopped getting sound from the main TV. It was time to get this sorted.
And so on Saturday, I pulled the entire rack out and placed it on the dining room table, so I could plug component video cables, audio cables, rca jacks and speaker wires in and out and in and out until I either had a heart attack, an orgasm, or everything was working as planned.
And I got it. Everything was working. I could watch TV, or I could switch input sources and watch a movie from the vcr or the dvd player, and I could also get a TiVo signal through the DVD recorder.
Then I disassembled everything and stuffed it back into the cubby, violating rule number one of final assembly: I buttoned everything up nice and neat, as if I wouldn’t have to take it apart again. And so of course I was greeted by a blue screen when I was supposed to be watching a fucking DVD.
Well, it turns out that when you want to watch a TiVo recording through the vcr and through the dvd recorder, you need to set the vcr to channel 3 on the box, and hit tv/vcr on the vcr remote, set the input source to color stream on the TiVo remote, and then make sure the stereo is on and set to dvd so you have audio, and like fifty other things that I’ve already forgotten, and god help us when our cat walks on the remotes again.
So, I finally have the ability to save to DVD things I’ve recorded with TiVo. More on this later. In the meantime, DON’T TOUCH THE REMOTES! DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING! IT’S WORKING!
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12 comments
Congrats, Rob.
I bought a Panasonic combo VHS-DVD recorder as an after-Christmas treat for myself, for the same reason as you. (Who should know what toys I like, better than me?) Replaced a VCR and just plugged this in its place. Works great, other than not liking DVD+RW disks, despite what’s documented.
Black-cable hell is no fun. I’ve got that mess going on behind in my stack, and I’m not looking forward to replacing my receiver/amp. I have a baggie with forty or so twist-ties, and on each one is a legend tag; if I ever unplug a cable from the back of the receiver/amp, I tag it.
But yes, the “Don’t touch anything! It’s working” mantra is constantly repeated in my house.
-Jack
Rob, you need to downgrade… You simply roll way too large. Dial it back a few notches. Here’s my setup – No cable, A lame excuse for a pile of shit (aka a TV), 0.75 good channels, 4.25 channels of snowy shit at best. Worse when it rain. Bought an antenna for it… Not much improvement. Record stuff? I use my brain for that. Don’t own a remote, or a cat :) ... just a damn expensive bicycle ROFLMAO.
Mike, trust me. My home video setup cost less than your frame alone! 0.75 good channels, lol.
I don’t have a complicated set up but I still had problems. When I finally figured out the right hook up, I did a sketch for future reference:
http://161.blogspot.com/2006/01/copying-your-vhs-tapes-to-dvd.html
i just rolled up the paper sketch (Argh! old technology) and stuffed it in the cabinet next to the DVD player. I am pretty happy with the current set up. I can operate VHS/TV with one remote and I just use the DVD remote for the DVD player. Don’t tell there is a better way to set it up because no way I am touching this set up. ;-)
LMAO Glad you got it working, Rob. I sorta have a similar thing going on at my place, but w/out the added complication of TiVo. Just WAY TOO MANY remotes to use at once, depending on what I’m trying to do! hahahaha
Jack is correct. Tagging is the only way to go. I may be Oscar Madison in most facets of my life, but when it comes to media and all that goes with it, I am Felix Unger all the way.
I just saw this related item on metafilter. Worth a look for any home theater nerd:
http://www.reighn.com/theaterphoto.html
[warning: site is slow and does not exactly boast design awards]
Rob,
Why not spring for the TiVo with the built-in DVD burner? That’s what I’m trying to convince the wife we need now! Then we can move the 40 hour TiVo upstairs. And I won’t have to keep tranfering my programs that I want to save to DVD to my computer via the home network anymore.
They look nice, but I already have the TiVo, and I had to replace the DVD player anyway. Buying the DVD recorder was way cheaper than those burnable TiVo.
Uhm, didn’t you JUST GET the regular TiVo? Sheesh.
Well, Rob, I kinda-sorta-maybe agree with Mr. Zagorski. Not necessarily downgrade, though – just consolidate. To hell with a TV. It’s all garbage anyways. I haven’t had one in two years, and I like to think I’m better for it. Instead, just spring for a pretty new iMac. DVD player and burner – hell, even a remote control – and no cables (especially if you go for the bluetooth keyboard & mouse)
Mino! So nice of you to weigh in. Yeah, TV is shit, I know this. I have known this since childhood. BUT, I also live and breathe TV so kindly go fuck yourself. =8-)
Tonight’s “Project Runway” was the stuff of pure theatre, and if I didn’t grow up watching “The Odd Couple” I probably would be in jail by now. TV is crap, but there are tasty morsels lingering within the cesspool. And that’s why TiVo is critical.
Living in Boulder, I run across a lot of TVphobes, and they all adopt this holer-than-thou ‘tude about their professed distain for the beamed airwaves. I don’t buy it. Either they are too dumb to ignore the obvious sales pitches, or they are hippies. Pure and simple.
I hear ya, I really do, but I am my television’s bitch.
Yeah, I just got the regular TiVo, but now I find that that just doesn’t do it for me! I need MORE TiVo! I need to upgrade!
My first upgrade was to get the home network up and running. That was cool, but now I MUST HAVE MORE! I must have TiVo in the bedroom and in the living room!
The only problem is that while the service is here in Canada now, I still have to find someone who is willing to buy the unit for me and then either ship it to my or hold it for me unit I come for a visit.
Ah well, I figure that it is only a matter of time before the boxes start being sold here too.
TiVo Rocks!
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