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From: b on 17 Mar 2010 17:44
On Mar 17, 5:33 am, Cardinal Creek <cardinalcreek...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> The only thing that lets me see something on the TV is the HDMI
> selection on the TV remote. The only thing that changes the channels
> is the cable remote--pressing numbers on the TV and VCR remotes
> doesn't do anything-the show on the screen stays the same. The wiring
> is the same as it was the day the VCR was installed several months
> ago. The tape is fairly new and everything was doing fine before I
> started pressing buttons to find out how to change the clock. So far,
> any taping I've done is taping a show that is on the screen at the
> moment--have not tried to program a show to be taped later. If we can
> get back to just instant taping that will be ok. Taping at this
> produces only a black screen.
>
> Some things I've noticed on the VCR remote--the only buttons that work
> are the playing, stopping, forward and backward buttons, the rec/otr
> button and the input button. None of the other buttons bring up
> anything on screen, including the setup button, which is the first
> step in programming and probably in setting the clock. Cannot bring up
> an menus. I'm wondering if the remote and/or the the VCR is/are
> defective.
>
> When the cable guy tried to help me (he got me to the HDMI button), he
> had me press the VCR, TV, and Cable buttons on the cable remote, then
> turn power off, then back on.
>
> In my own meagre defense: for 5 or 10 years I've had TV's with VCR's
> attached. Got a separate VCR when one of those TV VCR's failed. So far
> I've had to rely on Geek Squad to get me set up, but not even that guy
> could get it so that ALL of these functions could be done with one
> remote.
>
> I am grateful for any help you can give me.

none of what you posted above in your last response will help us to
help you, as it does not respond to any of the checklist points I made
in my last post in this thread. The only way you're going to resolve
this permanently is by being systematic and eliminating various
possibilities.
check the setup out, carry out the simple checks mentioned before and
we'll try and solve it.
-B
From: Sylvia Else on 17 Mar 2010 18:59
On 18/03/2010 3:27 AM, Robert Macy wrote:
> On Mar 17, 5:45 am, "William Sommerwerck"<grizzledgee...(a)comcast.net>
> wrote:
>>>> Did the explanation that the VCR had its own little TV receiver
>>> inside it make any sense to her? It should have.
>>> I never expressed it quite that way. But I certainly tried to explain
>>> the concept of a tuner and recording the signal coming from it.
>>> She seemed to find the idea slippery. I think she just about got
>>> it when I explained it to her - but the next time the television needed
>>> repairing (which it frequently did), she'd raise the same doubts.
>>
>> In fairness... About 12 years ago I was working on COM Apps documentation at
>> Microsoft. One of the people in that section was a German conputer scientist
>> who was one the few people I've ever met who was smarter than I. On several
>> occasions he explained some of the theory involved in their work, and I was
>> at a complete loss. I couldn't begin to grasp it. I had no idea what he was
>> talking about.
>>
>> Perhaps it was all bilge, though I doubt it. It was probably that he wasn't
>> explaining it very well.
>
> I have found that "if a person cannot explain something to another
> reasonably intelligent person, they don't understand it themselves."
>

That's only true up to a point. Complicated ideas may require
significant background knowledge before they can be understood.

Sylvia.
From: Sansui Samari on 19 Mar 2010 09:35
On Mar 17, 3:59 pm, Sylvia Else <syl...(a)not.at.this.address> wrote:
> On 18/03/2010 3:27 AM, Robert Macy wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Mar 17, 5:45 am, "William Sommerwerck"<grizzledgee...(a)comcast.net>
> > wrote:
> >>>> Did the explanation that the VCR had its own little TV receiver
> >>> inside it make any sense to her? It should have.
> >>> I never expressed it quite that way. But I certainly tried to explain
> >>> the concept of a tuner and recording the signal coming from it.
> >>> She seemed to find the idea slippery. I think she just about got
> >>> it when I explained it to her - but the next time the television needed
> >>> repairing (which it frequently did), she'd raise the same doubts.
>
> >> In fairness... About 12 years ago I was working on COM Apps documentation at
> >> Microsoft. One of the people in that section was a German conputer scientist
> >> who was one the few people I've ever met who was smarter than I. On several
> >> occasions he explained some of the theory involved in their work, and I was
> >> at a complete loss. I couldn't begin to grasp it. I had no idea what he was
> >> talking about.
>
> >> Perhaps it was all bilge, though I doubt it. It was probably that he wasn't
> >> explaining it very well.
>
> > I have found that "if a person cannot explain something to another
> > reasonably intelligent person, they don't understand it themselves."
>
> That's only true up to a point. Complicated ideas may require
> significant background knowledge before they can be understood.
>
> Sylvia.

I think a large part of explaining a concept to someone is the amount
of effort that someone wants to put into understanding it. I can be
as dumb as a knob in an area, but if I put enough time and effort into
it, I will eventually understand it. However, without the initial
building blocks, the amount of time and effort could be well beyond
the scope of reality. In which case the op might starve to death
before learning to fish on his/her own (to use the old analogy).
-J
From: woodpecker on 31 Mar 2010 12:09
On Mar 16, 8:33 pm, Cardinal Creek <cardinalcreek...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> The only thing that lets me see something on the TV is the HDMI
> selection on the TV remote. The only thing that changes the channels
> is the cable remote--pressing numbers on the TV and VCR remotes
> doesn't do anything-the show on the screen stays the same. The wiring
> is the same as it was the day the VCR was installed several months
> ago. The tape is fairly new and everything was doing fine before I
> started pressing buttons to find out how to change the clock. So far,
> any taping I've done is taping a show that is on the screen at the
> moment--have not tried to program a show to be taped later. If we can
> get back to just instant taping that will be ok. Taping at this
> produces only a black screen.
>
> Some things I've noticed on the VCR remote--the only buttons that work
> are the playing, stopping, forward and backward buttons, the rec/otr
> button and the input button. None of the other buttons bring up
> anything on screen, including the setup button, which is the first
> step in programming and probably in setting the clock. Cannot bring up
> an menus. I'm wondering if the remote and/or the the VCR is/are
> defective.
>
> When the cable guy tried to help me (he got me to the HDMI button), he
> had me press the VCR, TV, and Cable buttons on the cable remote, then
> turn power off, then back on.
>
> In my own meagre defense: for 5 or 10 years I've had TV's with VCR's
> attached. Got a separate VCR when one of those TV VCR's failed. So far
> I've had to rely on Geek Squad to get me set up, but not even that guy
> could get it so that ALL of these functions could be done with one
> remote.
>
> I am grateful for any help you can give me.

Is there some teenage kid living nearby that could come to your house
and try to figure it out. Maybe you could give them some cookies &
milk/pop/beer/whiskey in return? Kids these days can be much more
adept at solving problems like this than us adults.
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