help hooking Tivo DVD recorder to tv/cable

[ErinLindsey]

My tv (a piece of crud and less-than-a-year-old Westinghouse) died today. It's basically a radio right now. No picture. So, I have to wait till tuesday for Best Buy to come and declare it dead and give me a new tv (I have a warranty), or for them to fix it.

So, I'm borrowing another tv from my dad till then. Problem is, I cant remember how to hook the tv to my Toshiba TS-RX20 Tivo.

I have MS, got diagnosed with it last year, and apparently it's screwing with my cognitive abilities. I tried hooking it up by looking at a schematic on the internet. I cant understand it for some reason.

I tried calling my cable company, but as soon as I mention that there's a Tivo involved, there's a nearly audible squeak from the person, and then "We DONT do Tivo's" (as if Tivo was cable's ugly stepchild or something) and then a *click* of them hanging up on me.

I tried to call Tivo tonight, but they closed 20 minutes before I called them.

I tried the cable company again and the lady who got me (and is probably cursing my name right now) really did try to help, because I pretty much begged for a supervisor and then told her how the MS has cognitively screwed me up and I nearly started to cry, so she found the secret manual to try to help me...it didnt help.

I was able, on my own, to get the cable hooked up to the Tivo, I can get into the menus and I can record and everything, I just cant get the freaking tv to give me any audio, and the picture is black and white for some reason. (I think I'm missing a cable somewhere)

So I gave up for the night. At least I can get the Tivo to record stuff, and I'm pretty sure that I can burn a dvd. (going to test that in a little bit to make sure)

I was wondering if anyone here can put into really really simple terms what cable connects to what (coax from wall to ??, composite cables where? more coax cable to where?)

Tomorrow is a day where I dont really watch or record anything on tv...so I'm kind of planning on pulling the tangle of spaghetti wires out and starting from scratch to hook this thing up so that I can hopefully be able to watch tv on the loaner tv till I get my piece of crap Westinghouse fixed or replaced (oh, please replace it!)

I was surprised it was the tv that crashed...I was really expecting the Tivo to go boom first.

Hopefully someone here can help me. I dont want to be TV/Tivo-less till tuesday. (just glad my Tivo and my tv both have warranties still) I still have my Pioneer Tivo dvd recorder in the other room, but I've been spoiled having the Tivo in my bedroom. At least it's still alive and kicking...it's just the tv that killed itself.

[classicsat]

You could have composite A/V connected to component, or the other way round.

When you use component, you need to run separate audio lines.

[chip_r]

From your description you're mentioning coax and composite cables so I'll give this a swag.

A very basic setup where you can record and watch Live TV on your Tivo:

Assuming you don't have a cable setup box.

1) Coax cable from the RF outlet on your wall goes to the TOP RF connector on the TIVO.

2) Red/White/Yellow RCA cables connect from A/V outputs on the Tivo to the A/V inputs of your TV (Match the colors)

A quick setup guide for the Toshiba TS-RX20 Tivo here (http://www.tivo.com/assets/kdb/Toshiba%20DVD%20Recorder%20Start%20Here%20poster.pdf) has some pictures that may be of some help for your specific model. If I linked to the incorrect model, here (http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/usermanuals/index.html) is a link showing manuals for all of the models.

Black and white only usually means that an S-Video connection is involved (the round DIN connector) but you didn't mention that so I'm assuming it's just a mis-hookup with a composite cable set. No audio usually just means your red/white pair TiVo output isn't connected to your red/white pair TV input correctly. For composite video, your yellow video TiVo output needs to be connected to your yellow video TV input.

[ErinLindsey]

I called Tivo's customer service number today. The girl who helped me was SOOOO patient. I discovered a secret panel on the back of the tv where it was hiding the red, yellow, white connections. This is why I couldnt figure this out...the tv was hiding them from me.

So, I finally got the tv and tivo and cable box all communicating like they should. The girl who was helping me was so nice, so much nicer than the people at my cable company who refused to help me. My cordless phone went dead when she was reminding me how to set up the remote to work the tv...so I didnt get to thank her. Hopefully she might read the forums here (I know some Tivo employees do) so I hope she reads this and knows how so thankful I am for her helping me. I swear my brain shut down this week. (I have Multiple Sclerosis, so I think my brain isnt cooperating with me as much as it used to)

At least the phone was polite enough to wait till everything was working before it's battery died.

Yay! now I can watch my Tivo again. I was starting to go thru Tivo withdrawal.

Now all is right with the world again...except the borrowed tv is 19 inches, and my dead tv is a 32 inch. Hopefully Best Buy's warranty will take care of the tv and things will be back to normal again soon.. (knock on wood)

Thanks for trying to help in here too. I knew I had a cable plugged in the wrong spot somewhere, just couldnt figure it out till I discovered the hidden panel on the tv.

We're in an ice storm now, so I'm betting having a working tv and Tivo (and modern electricity) might not last long tonight.