This has been child's play in the past. But now it ain't - something I'm missing is occurring, and I would be most appreciative of any assistance offered.

This conundrum involves a Toshiba SDV98KC2 DVD/VHS combo player, a Telus digital cable box (connected via Ethernet to the DSL hub), and an old TV which only has a coaxial input.

The connection between the combo player and TV is coax as I don't have an RF modulator and the TV has no other input.

I have tried four variations of connecting the devices together, consisting of wiring configuration (Cable -> Toshiba -> TV (CTT) or Toshiba -> Cable -> TV (TCT) ) and cable use (either coax or RCA) between the cable box and combo player.

1) Cable -> (Coax) -> Toshiba -> TV
2) Toshiba -> (Coax) -> Cable -> TV
3) Cable -> (RCA) -> Toshiba -> TV
4) Toshiba -> (RCA) -> Cable -> TV

The result is the same in all variations: the TV shows the cable signal, and, though the combo player does function (as the lights on the front change in accordance with the buttons I press), I get no signal from the player.

To add to this, the TV/Video button on the cable provider provided multifunction remote no longer displays "CABLE 3" when pressed. I suspect this may be related, but this remains, at this time, only a suspicion.

Is the combo player supposed to automatically cut off the signal between the cable box and the TV, or is there a button or configuration I haven't seen or tried, respectively?

Again, thanks for any help on this one.

Make sure that the cable box and combo unit are set to output via the same channel.

Then you can connect everything in a string of coax connections... most likely in the order of cable box to combo unit, from combo unit to TV.

Then in order to watch the combo unit (for my example, I'll assume everything is outputting to channel 4), you have the TV tuned to channel 4, and turn on the combo unit. To watch cable you will need to turn the combo unit off, but keep the TV tuned to channel 4.

If it's still not working, then without seeing the equipment there isn't a lot that I can do to help.

Thanks for the additional info, FadedMaster. A 17" LCD TV has since been plugged into it - the sound is lousy until some better audio equipment can be connected, but it confirms that the combo player cuts off the signal between the cable box and TV either when in VCR mode and playing, or in DVD mode.

With the Cable -> Combo Player -> TV combination, the TV would have to be on channel 4 anyway. With that data, I'll likely get the older CRT TV working with it. The LCD screen would work better as a computer monitor - it's got a VGA port on it.

Cheers, Ultra Member FadedMaster.