help! newbie with bad equipment!

[bhamel]

Hi all, hope I'm posting this in the right place...

I'm running a composite RCA video signal from my computer to my VCR. Because they are in different rooms, the distance is approximately 50 feet, and I get terrible signal loss. (not that the quality was good to begin with) My proposed solution: use two 25 foot cables, and place a signal amplifier in between. Complicating matters is the fact that the signal amplifier has coaxial input/outputs, requiring me to use coax cable with coax to RCA adapters on either end. So... will this work? Thanks!

[Burke Strickland]

Welcome to HT Guide. Thank you for posting, and for your desire to post your question in the right area. Sometimes the choice is obvious, while other times it is less so. Don't worry -- if it is in the wrong place, someone will move it to the right section. ;>)

As for your question, if the signal booster has F-type coax inputs, then it is designed to deal with RF broadcast band signals, not line level audio and video signals. While the cable itself will probably work OK (since it is OK to use 75 ohm cable for either video or audio as well as LAN and RF broadcast band transmission, but not to use audio cable for video), the signal booster might not work quite the way you had hoped, since it might be designed to work with a frequency range that does not include the range you need. (If it is full range from 0 hz to say, 600 mhz, then it would include the correct range, but its effect on the signal within that range might not be suitable for your purpose.) Might be worth a try, but be sure you can get your money back.

A better bet would be a device that is specifically designed for boosting audio and/or video signals. For instance take a look at this one. (Not a recommendation, just an example.) You'll note that it has separate inputs for audio and video. There's a reason for that -- so that the boosting circuitry can be optimized for the affected frequency range and not deal with frequencies that are outside that range. There are undoubtedly other products out there that are for audio only or video only (composite or S-Video or component -- not RF). A quick search with Google would probably yield more choices than the Texas primary ballot. :>)

Good luck.

Burke

[aud19]

Burke,

While I can only assume he's sending audio as well as video to his VCR I believe his most pressing concern is the video and not audio signal.

Other than that I got nothing ops: ...lol

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide

[Andrew Pratt]

i'd guess it won't help much at all. First you're typically better off avoiding converters from one connection type to another if possible and second you're likely just going to amplify noise already in the line. You might be better off placing the amp closer to the source but IMO it still not going to work that well. How thick a cable is your composite cable? If its pretty thin I'd suggest buying a higher quality one or making one from thick coax cable.

[bhamel]

Thanks for your informative (and quick!) response. I've ordered one of these and will post the result when I get it.

[David Meek]

Ben, hello and welcome to The Guide. :later:

I took the liberty of modifying the URL in your last post. Just edit it to find out how, if you are interested. Good luck with your solution. Burke and Andrew both have good points on this. A video booster will definitely help the issue, but you may want to look into replacing your cable with a heavier-duty one, too.




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[Lex]

I'm not sure what the goal of this is, moving a computer signal to a VCR. Maybe it's about recording, maybe? Composite signals are notoriously bad, so even amplifiing something that is bad to begin with, will have marginal at best results. Heck, even computer S-video signals are marginal.

If it's about movies, you'd be much better off to get a 70.00 DVD player, and hook it in with at least S-video to your TV.

There's no problem converting from composite RCA to F-type and back. It's all 75 ohm coax anyway with merely a different connection to transmit the signal and ground.

Lex

[bhamel]

Well... it worked. In light of the fact that my motivations were poorly explained, let me describe the problem in a little more detail. It’s a bit of a long story, so please forgive me if I ramble, but it’s been quite an experience, and this is catharsis.

My office computer has a DVD player, a 21-inch flat monitor, a 5.1 channel soundcard, a 5.1 amplifier/speaker set, and a 128 M video card with TV output. I was happy to use this as an entertainment center. But despite my vociferous protestations, my girlfriend insists she'd rather watch movies on our old 'stereo' TV in the living room, where, apparently "it's more comfortable."

(Sigh. Women.) So for the sake of watching movies with her, I'll sacrifice picture quality. Then I thought to myself, "Hey, why not run the video signal from the computer to the TV? It'll be easy..."

Ah, famous last words. It ended up costing me more time and money for this "bad" solution then I care to contemplate. But at a given point in time, hooking up the computer to the TV became more than just a means to an end… it was a matter of principle.

First I re-positioned the computer speakers to the living room. (This was no small task in an of itself, requiring about half a kilometer of cleverly ensconced speaker wire running across walls and ceilings.) Next I had to reconfigure my video card to use the TV/out connection. (Wasted hours on this, finally found out I had to lower my computer screen refresh rate to 60 Hertz for it to work) Next I ran a composite video cable to the VCR
(which acts as an RF modulator) which is in turn connected via coax to the TV’s only input. (No s-video here.) This proved a partial solution... I was able to get a weak signal, but it was unwatchable – the picture ‘blinked’ every 5 seconds. That, of course, was what prompted my original post; and thanks to some sage advice (kudos Burke!), this issue was resolved using a signal booster. But it was not yet over. Though I was now able to see my computer monitor output on the TV, playing a DVD would cause the picture would fade in and out, green ‘noise’ lines to appear, etc. The problem is DVD encryption, designed to prevent copying. The solution to that conundrum is a neat little device called a digital video stabilizer With all of this in place, things worked 95% of the time… but after all I’d gone through, that was a biting thorn in my side. I tried vainly to get it to work right – editing the DVD player properties, re-wiring everything, and in general pulling my hair out – until I tried the replacing the 9-volt battery on said device.

At last, sweet victory. Yes, in hindsight there were cheaper/faster ways of achieving a better result… but in the end, I have no regrets. I proved I could do what I originally set out to do, and I learned some things in the process. I am now able to watch DVDs on my living room TV, with my girlfriend curled up next to me. Or rather... I will be able to, as soon as I convince her I’ve not gone insane, and she’ll come near me again.

[aud19]

lol... wow! Glad it's working but man, it's time for a new TV! perhaps one with at the least HD capabilities and component inputs. Even better would be one with DVI! I mean you need a display that can at least compete with your monitor

Jason




Need a new display? Questions about new display technologies? Visit RPTVs, plasmas, and other monitors @ HTguide