Help with converter installation
January 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm by Dennis Majewicz under TV Tech Talk
We get calls all the time asking what to do after you get your new converter set top box so we decided to place a how-to video on our site.
Check out the DTV page on wivb.com to see an instructional video on a simple installation of a DTV converter box. Click on the “Digital TV” link at the bottom of our home page and then click on “HOW TO: Hook up a converter box”. It’s the second story near the top of the DTV page.
-dm
Tags: Converters, Help
Just watched the video. It’s pretty basic for most antenna applications, however, some of the much older TV’s only have screw type antenna connection on the back of the set. I get many questions on these type of connections, so here goes my explanation !
First of all, if your are now using an old antenna with the old type of 2-wire flat cable, you will have to add a 75ohm balun onto your antenna and upgrade your cable downlead to a RG6 coaxial cable.Connect the coaxial downlead to the antenna input on the converter box and then use a short coaxial jumper cable from the converter box output to your TV. Note: you will have to use another 75ohm balun in order to convert the new coaxial cable to the 2 screw terminal labelled ‘VHF’.
Once you have all your connctions done, just tune your UHF tv tuning dial to channel 3 or 4 and then follow the instructions provided with your new converter box to finish set up & scan for channels.
Please note: edit to my previous post. It is the ‘ VHF ‘ antenna terminals and the ‘ VHF ‘ tuning dial that is used to tune into channel 3 or 4 on vintage sets.
“Once you have all your connections done, just tune your >> VHF << tv tuning dial to channel 3 or 4 and then follow the instructions provided with your new converter box to finish set up & scan for channels.
Good point Dennis. The idea here, though, was to cover what the majority of our viewers would run into. When you start throwing VCR’s and DVD recorders into the mix it gets complicated and we instruct callers one-on-one on how to proceed.
Regarding coax, baluns and twin lead, when a viewer tells us that they are still using the old 300 ohm stuff, we strongly suggest upgrading an antenna system that is probably well beyond its expected life.
-dm
Try reading the user manual that came with it! Can’t believe something so simple becomes a major issue. These people should be in politics since most of them clueless also.
Which direction do I point my digital antenna to get the wivb digital signal?? I can get 2 and 7, but not channel 4. What are the coordinates to point my antenna?
if you have rabbit ears on your tv do you have to attach the rabbit ears to the dtv box in order to get a signal?
Dee,
Yes, you need to have an antenna attached to your converter for it to receive digital transmissions. Connect the rabbit ears to the converter connector marked “antenna” and then connect the short jumper cable from the other connector on the converter called “to TV” to your set’s antenna input.
-dm
dm, i have a question on converter boxes, first off i know i want an analog pass-through box because of the canadian channels, i also know i want scan/direct for adding channels, and 608 and 708cc so i want the basic/advanced decoding, where i’m getting stuck on my choices of converter boxes is the power supply some being external and others being internal, however in the power supply itself some of the internals have voltage as from 5v to 110v and some externals have from 5v to 110v as shown on solid signals site, can you clearify what that is all about? mike
Mike,
What converter are you looking at, specifically? I’m not sure what you’re asking. If there is an external supply, you’ll never have it providing 110V on the connector. That’s too dangerous. The 110V is the input to the supply, the current from your wall receptacle. The connector to the converter will typically provide 12V.
-dm
we are connected to the converter box,but our vcr will not record with the box on.can you explain the hook up for that please?
Rick,
Your VCR should be wired between the converter and the television. In other words, it goes like this: antenna connects to converter, converter connects to VCR, VCR connects to the TV.
Your VCR tuner should be set to whatever the converter is set to. If your converter output is channel 3, make sure the VCR is tuned to that channel. Then be sure the TV is set to whatever your VCR normally puts out.
Set the converter to whatever channel you want to record. You can only record what the converter is tuned to. You cannot watch one channel and record another.
-dm
Ok thank you for the explination. Both the vcr and converter output to channel 3. I turned the converter to channel 4 and tried to record off of channel 3 but with no luck. I have tried every other way of recording I can think of.
The setup was originally done by the dish installer. I have a roofmount antenna that traveled into the dish box, then to the vcr, then to tv. This is all done with coxial cable. I installed the converter box by taking the roofmount antenna into the converter, then into the dish box, then to the vcr, then to the tv. I have also never been able to record off of the dish but that is not as nearly a big of deal.
Rick
Sorry Rick, I didn’t realize that a satellite receiver was involved. It gets really complicated then.
You can make it easier by running the antenna into a splitter with one output going to the satellite receiver and the other to the converter, into the VCR from there and using the audio/video output of the VCR into your TV if you have audio/video inputs (and most of them do).
Do you have a local channel package with your satellite subscription? I’m not sure what you are accomplishing by puting a converter before the sat receiver. Can you clarify that for me?
dm
I do not have a local channel package through the dish. I have a roofmount antenna that we have been using for years for local stations, and we have been trying to get away with not having to pay more then we already do for the dish. Thanks for plan, I will try that setup later when I can get some help.
Rick
The topic is quite trendy on the Internet right now. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write ?