TV -cable/digital converters

nuckels11 · 10-05-2011, 06:09 PM

We have analog TV's in our coach and 2 digital converters were installed. However, we can't get the TV's to recognize cable hookups. We were ok with the AIR channels. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Bill Adams · 10-05-2011, 06:17 PM

Do you have a video control center where you push a specific button for TV, Cable, DVR, etc? Do you know how/where the converters are installed? Do you know if the converters have an "analog pass-through" option (if not you may be dead in the water)? What model converter do you have?

mgscott4 · 10-05-2011, 08:29 PM

Try turning off the power to the power antenna. That is what I had to do on my last motorhome to allow the signal to pass through.

**Gary RVRoamer** · 10-06-2011, 07:21 AM

The cable signal is analog and needs to bypass the digital converter. Some converters have that function built in, but on many converters you must do it by wiring around the converter when using cable. If your cable is wired to come through the same coax as the OTA antenna feed, you may need to put a A/B switch (two inputs and one output) ahead of the converter so you can flip a switch to bypass the converter when receiving cable.

wa8yxm · 10-06-2011, 01:08 PM

If you hooked up properly then you are hooked like this

Ant---Box in wall=====Converters===TV's

When you switch to cable by turning off switch on wall plate you are hooked like this

park-----Box on wall=====Converters====TVs

if the converters do not have ANALOG PASS THROUGH that will not work.

Note: if you have a BOMB (Box of many buttons) put BOMB in place of "box on wall"

Suggestion:

Pick up a pair of small "Barrel" connectors (dual female. Looks like the jack on the back of the converters, no matter which end you look at) and replace the converters with the barrel connectors till you want OTA (over the air) back.

I do it a bit differently,, but then it is not easy for me to do it this way.

nuckels11 · 10-06-2011, 02:03 PM

We have Digital Stream converter boxes and a Winguard Vs0604-6412 video control center. I don't know if we have an 'analog pass thru' or not. Still checking. The real puzzle for us is that when we look at the 'Input Source' on the Digital Stream menu all that shows up is 'AIR' - no 'Cable' option appears. In our other coach which also used a Digital Stream converter both options always appeared. Thanks for the suggestions. It is still a work in progress.

nuckels11 · 10-06-2011, 02:25 PM

We have analog TV's in our coach and 2 Digital Stream digital converters were installed. We have a Winguard VS0604-6412 video control center. However, we can't get the TV's to recognize cable hookups. I don't know if we have an 'analog pass thru' or not. Still checking. The real puzzle for us is that when we look at the 'Input Source' on the Digital Stream menu all that shows up is 'AIR' - no 'Cable' option appears. In our other coach which also used a Digital Stream converter both options always appeared. We seem to have tried everything and neither TV recognizes 'cable' input, but the OTA is fine. We have checked all the connections multiple times, have set the control switch to 'cable' and still nothing. Is there something else that someone can suggest which will allow us to get both OTA and Cable depending on what is available at a given site? Thanks for any help you can give.

texnet · 10-06-2011, 02:37 PM

Apparently the digital stream adapters in your other coach were a different model as the cable selection on the digital adapter would be used to bypass the digital converter i.e. analog pass thru. If your current converter does not have the ability to bypass it via a cable selection or analog pass thru then the only way you will receive cable is to either take the converter out of the circuit or bypass it using your video control center or putting a tv splitter on the input side of the converter and a switch on the tv coax input to bypass the converter. If you use your video control center then you will probably only be able to use one digital converter which means you would have to watch the same channel on both TVs. Your best solution is to replace the digital converters with one that has the ability to do analog pass thru either by a menu selection or automatically.

Your manual to the Digital Stream adapters should tell you if they have analog pass thru. If you don't have the manuals then google the model number of the adapters and you should be able to find the info out online.

texnet · 10-06-2011, 02:46 PM

nuckels11... you have posted 2 threads on this same subject... look at the other one for additional answers :-)

Note from Moderator: the two duplicate threads have been merged here.

texnet · 10-06-2011, 05:27 PM

Your PM says that the model you have apparently has pass-thru... so let's go a little futher.. If the converter has analog pass-thru then that means there should be nothing to configure in the converter. Most converters require that you turn off the unit to activate analog pass-thru, some I have seen actually pass the analog signal without turning off. Not sure how yours works but the manual should tell you.

IF it requires turning off then turn it off. Then connect the park cable connection and go to your menu selection on the TV and change your scan from antenna to CABLE and perform your scan for cable channels.

IF it does NOT require turning off then connect the park cable connection and go to your menu selection on the TV and change your scan from antenna to CABLE and perform your scan for cable channels.

Some digital converters actually have Y/C connections so you can connect your audio and composite or S-Video to those inputs on your TV. If your TV and the converter has these then that is the best way to go as all you have to do is switch the input on the TV from Video (1 or 2) to Antenna.

Can you provide the model # of the digital cable adapter?

FC Ontario · 10-06-2011, 08:28 PM

I just finished the cabelling and finally have all the items working as designed.
We have two TV's, one digital converter which connects to two TV's watching the same channel, one exterior antenna, one cable from the rear electrical hook up bay which we connect to either the Cable TV at the park, or to the sat dish when we hook it up. I have the DVD player and the Sat receiver in the overhead drivers compartment and the Digital receiver and the main switch in the passenger overhead. Since they both have glass doors, the remotes work when they are closed. Most of the connectors and 110 volt electrical connectors are in the cabinet behind the overhead TV.
Looks professional now.

wa8yxm · 10-07-2011, 11:18 AM

Right the converters do not have a cable option. They are ONLY for ATSC (Air) not for QAM or the other cable standards... The televisions very likely can do multiple cable standards if they are new enough... If not they will still do SOME cable.

Try turning the converters OFF, then go to the Television menu and set the input to CABLE and see if that works. Then scan for channels on the TV, not the converters.

NOTE: you need not change back to "Antenna' on the TV's. The converters output either Chan 3, Chan 4 or base video (A/V, red, White, yellow or S-Video or one of the other video cables) Chan 3 and Chan 4 are the same for all versions of input (Ant/Cable, assorted) What varies is zero, 1 and all above channel 5.

nuckels11 · 10-10-2011, 12:52 PM

Just an update on our problem trying to go from 'AIR' to 'Cable'. We finally found the solution! The previous owner of this coach had a satellite system. Since we don't have satellite we assumed that the cable connection was the appropriate place to hook up the cable. After trying everything, my husband said what the hey and decided to try to plug the cable into the satellite plug! Wala! It worked. Maybe they just never bothered completing the cable hookup since they had satellite or whatever. Anyway we are very glad to have it resolved and thought we would pass along our findings in case someone else might come across a similar problem. Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions.