Grex Consumer Conference

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Grex Consumer Item 56: VCR recording of TV channels
Entered by wh on Wed Jan 24 19:31:22 UTC 1996:

I bought a Panasonic VCR. It records well and plays back well.
The problem is it will only record channels 2 through 13. Anything
above that will not come in with the VCR turned on. With the VCR
turned off, all channels come in as well as ever. My input comes
from an outlet in the wall that leads to an antenna on the 
apartment roof. The signal goes through the VCR to get to the TV.
What can I do to make it record higher channels?

The signal splits into VHF and UHF before feeding into the TV.
I don't see a good way to split the signal at the VCR.

13 responses total.

#1 of 13 by n8nxf on Wed Jan 24 21:04:55 1996:

I take it this is a used machine.  I suspect the "relay" that routes
the signal from the the UHF tuner to the VCR is bad.  (Relay could be
many things.  Most likely some sort of solid-state analog switch.)

#2 of 13 by wh on Thu Jan 25 01:15:23 1996:

No. This is brand new from Best Buy. I have taken it out there once
and they don't understand why it won't get higher channels.

#3 of 13 by kaplan on Fri Jan 26 02:17:02 1996:

Gee, this sounds like a grexer sighting, doesn't it?  I'm the one at Best Buy
who couldn't solve this problem!

#4 of 13 by scg on Fri Jan 26 07:30:20 1996:

Most VCRs I've dealt with have a switch to switch between "cable" (where it
all comes in one input), and "antenna" or "ant" (where it uses both the VHF
and UHF inputs.  If you have such a switch you may have it set wrong (I'm
assuming "cable" would probably be the default these days).

#5 of 13 by wh on Sat Jan 27 00:36:05 1996:

Re #3. Omygoodness! Glad I didn't say anything insulting. You were
very helpful in attitude even though we couldn't solve the problem.
I am confident of a solution now. I don't know where you live...
more important, I know where you sign on, Jeff!

Re #4. I will try this once again, as I was directed to do by Jeff
on the phone before I went back in. Maybe this switch is bad on mine.

Re #3 again. I will bring it in as you suggested if nothing else works.
I thought maybe I could buy something small to make the connection.
I must say you are the only person I talked to out there who stayed
with the problem longer than thirty seconds. I had you pegged when
I went out there as the one person there with a chance of solving 
the problem. I stand by that conclusion.

Grexers, beware! And be careful in the Consumer conference. The person
who waited on you may be a Grexer. We're everywhere, we're everywhere!
[Bill's voice trails off in the distance, hands waving, running into
the sunset, "Grex sighting! Grex sighting!"]

#6 of 13 by n8nxf on Sat Jan 27 16:52:11 1996:

Ahh, why don't you just return it and get a working new one?  Perhaps
a call to the manufacturer is in order?

#7 of 13 by wh on Fri Feb 9 23:11:25 1996:

Took it back for an exchange. Still no recording or viewing of stations
above channel 13. Can view when VCR off. The tv is a 1989 Hitachi
model CT1384W.

#8 of 13 by scg on Sat Feb 10 05:59:08 1996:

Since the signal presumably goes to the VCR first, and you're presumably
changing channels on the VCR and not the TV when the VCR is on, the VCR being
off, what kind of TV it is shouldn't make a difference.  I'm assuming you
exchanged it for the same kind of VCR.  Have you found anything in the manual
about how to view channels above 13?  I've seen some really early VCRs that
just didn't support that, but I would have a hard time believing that about
something modern.

#9 of 13 by mcpoz on Sat Feb 10 13:04:28 1996:

 I don't know if this relates, but I have had experience with two new tv's
lately in which they couldn't get anything above ch #13.  (The last tv I
bought prior to this was a completely different type of tuner).  These tv's
have a built-in menu accessible by either the remote control or the panel
buttons and all channels above 13 had to be programmed in, either manually,
or they had an "auto-program" feature.

#10 of 13 by scott on Sat Feb 10 13:56:54 1996:

Duh!  I think I may have figured it out.  There should be a "cable/broadcast"
switch on both the TV and the VCR, and one or both is set wrong.  Above 13
is either cable which is still VHF, while broadcast goes UHF which is a whole
different set of frequencies.

#11 of 13 by wh on Tue Feb 13 19:12:50 1996:

Re #8. I agree, I don't see how the type of TV could effect this. I
mentioned in case I was completely missing something (which I am, but
maybe not this).  I exchanged for the same model.

Re #9. This TV has always received channels through 67, when reception
permits. It counts up to 69.

Re #10. The switch on the back is set to Norm, which I assume means
antenna. The other two settings are CATV 1 and CATV 2. The VCR is
set to antenna.Autoset programs through 69,
which indicates it is reading the channels that the TV can pick up.
But it only will pick up through channel 13 when in VCR mode.

Connections: I have a cable from the antenna feed in the wall leading
to the VCR. From the VCR, the cable supplied with the VCR leads to the
channel splitter, from which wires go to the UHF and VHF connections
on the TV.

#12 of 13 by wh on Wed Feb 14 00:06:29 1996:

Called Panasonic. They suggested a band separator before the VCR.
It worked! A little shaky once, turned VCR around checked connection,
didn't change anything, has worked since then.

I think Jeff suggested I separate the signal before the VCR. I didn't
know you could use a separator in reverse, which is what I did since
the VCR only has one input for an antenna connection.

#13 of 13 by n8nxf on Wed Feb 14 15:04:10 1996:

Yep, they work both ways.  Only the avtive ones work one way.

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