Connection Question

[cengstr]

We have a Hitachi 55" plasma HDTV, a Comcast Digital Cable converter box, a TiVo and a Sony DVD player - what is the best way for me to connect them? I also have a splitter and an A/B switch.
Thank you,
Carole

[Jonathan Kramer]

We have a Hitachi 55" plasma HDTV, a Comcast Digital Cable converter box, a TiVo and a Sony DVD player - what is the best way for me to connect them? I also have a splitter and an A/B switch.
Thank you,
Carole

Hi Carole:

Welcome to the Forum. Take a look at hookup41.pdf as a starting point.

Generally, you'll want to hook up the cable box to the TiVo, and the TiVo to the TV. Then you'll hook up hte DVD player to the TV using an alternate input (such as an AUX 1 type input) and switch to the Aux input when viewing the DVDp.

If you wan to use the splitter and the AB switch, a common way is to split the input to the cable box into two feeds. One goes to the cable box, and the other goes to the "B" side of the AB switch. The "A" side of the AB switch goes to the RF output from the TiVo. The common leg of the AB switch goes to the ANT input on the TV. Note that this is NOT AS GOOD as using the higher quality audio/video/digital connections otherwise available, so consider trashing the AB switch and the splitter.

Another reason to trash the use of the splitter and switch is that Comcast, like most major operators, is moving to an all-digital transmission system. Within the next year or two, there won't be any analog channels transmitted over Comcast's system, and at that time the AB/splitter set up will be useless.

Good luck!

Jonathan

[cengstr]

Thanks, Jonathan. My other question is - will going through the TiVo degrade the quality of the signal?