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Author Topic: RCA to Coax conversion Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-31-2003 06:40 PM                        This will probably be a really simple thing, but I'm curious as to hwo I can take the RCA outs from the DVD player and tie them in to the coax running down to the lobby televsions. We originally had a self-repeating VCR but they like to eat heads due to the continual playback (the HO wouldn't hear of making a full length 2.5 hour trailer video - which would cut the wear/tear on the heads say, by, 500% or better) so I finally convinced them to get a DVD player. I must have been asleep at the time, becuase I forgot the fact that the DVD out's don't use coax.. or this one doesn't... I'm also going to Rat Shack and see what I can find there.. Any help?  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-31-2003 07:01 PM                        Assuming you still have the VCR, and that it has RCA inputs, you could just run the DVD player through the VCR (you'll likely have to select video or input on the remote). Radio Shack sells a distribution amp that is probably about $50 to $75 that would effectively do the same thing.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-31-2003 07:31 PM                     It may not be possible to send the output of the DVD player through the VCR if the DVD your playing turns on the macrocrap (macrovision) in the DVD player. That will drive the auto level in the VCR nuts, which will, in most cases, show up even in E/E (just going through the VCR even though it is not in record). If your TVs are fed base band video, and they have looping type video inputs, or there is a video DA used to feed them all, then all you need is an RCA to BNC adaptor. If you TVs are feed RF (that is, using the antenna in), then you need a modulator. Radio Shack has this as well. You can try to use the VCR as a modulator, by hooking the video out of the DVD to the video in of the VCR (with an RCA to RCA VIDEO type cable (do not use a cable made to just handle audio, they are crap), then the RF (TV) out to the TVs, but you may end up with macrocrap problems (the picture will get brighter and darker, at times loosing color, and sync).  |  IP: Logged Chris Markiewicz Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: Glenaviegh, County Tipperary, Ireland Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-31-2003 07:32 PM                     Second that.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-31-2003 07:43 PM                        After a quick google search (How I love GOOGLE) I found that I'd need an RF modulator that I ran out and picked up at Rat Shack for $29.95. Hooked it up, plugged it in and it works like a champ. Why would the modulator need an a/c source tho?  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-31-2003 07:50 PM                        quote: from Jason... Why would the modulator need an a/c source tho? Think of the modulator as a miniature television transmitter. You plug in the video and audio feeds from the DVD player & the modulator turns it into a TV signal on the channel you selected and feeds it down the coax to your TVs. Your VCR has the same thing built into it, which technically has nothing to do with the tape playback section itself. The modulator is an active device that gets no power from the DVD player... hence the power cord!  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-01-2003 08:38 AM                     If you need video and audio, the RF modulator may have been the best solution since you can take the DVDs video/audio and made a composite signal out of them...if you just needed to send the video down to a monitor screen, then a simple RCA to BNC adapter would have done the job. Steve  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-01-2003 08:56 AM                        ... and would have given a slightly better picture, bypassing the demodulation from channel 3's (or 4's) carrier to get the composite video signal back. Of course, I'm against hooking up a DVD player with anything less than an S-Video cable. I can spot composite artifacts in TV pictures a mile away since I'm not used to seeing them on my set when watching DVDs.  |  IP: Logged

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