We have been trying to connect our magnavox dvd to our TV. We are also connected to direct TV. We know you have to turn the direct TV box off, but don't understand how to connect the dvd so we can use it. We know it has to do with the video and speakers, but do not have enough tech knowledge to figure out what we are missing. If you could explain this it would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully in very simple directions if possible. Thanks

Audio and Video Output of DVD and Direct TV can go into different inputs on Projector.
What Outputs do you have On DVD and do you have an unused Input of the same type(Composite, component)?

It is a Magnoavox dvd player. On the back from left to right are:
White coaxi Green Blue Red Yellow
L V video
Red/R

First, please be more careful when choosing a forum to post in. I moved this from the Windows forum which is for question about Microsoft Windows computer Operating system. Nothing to do with TV connections.

Before we can answer your question we need to know whether the DVD is a player or recorder. If it's a recorder do you want to be able to record from Direct TV. We also need to know what type of inputs and outputs the DVD has and what inputs the TV has. It might be helpful if you attach pictures of the backs of each device.

Now we neen to know what the Projector has for inputs.
If it has Composite and Component, then You might connect REd, Blue, Green, red and white(component) for DVD, and Red, White and Yellow(Composite) for Direct TV.
HDMI is better Quality if available on your equipment, It is hard to guess without you say what inputs and outputs you have?
Need ALL.

There are 7 places

A dvd player not recorder. Don't understand what composite and component mean. Connected red and white to audio and yellow to video

This site explains the difference in the various types of video input/output
So what is Component Video anyway?

Since the DVD is not a recorder. You don't need to connect it inline with the DirectTv. So what you need to do is see what inputs are available on the TV and what outputs the DVD has. Then use the best quality connection they both have.

Read-can't connect yet

You have to understand, we can't help without knowing what outputs the DVD has and what inputs the TV has. Think of it like the test where you have different shaped blocks that go in correspondingly shaped holes. You have to match the block to the hole. But we can't tell you what goes where without knowing what blocks you have and what holes you have.

Monstercable used to have very good Color diagrams, the've changed.
If you Google "component" and "composite" it will show a photo of each, then you just need the red and white for audio.
The older VCR's and viseo games used Composite(yellow, red and white).

Good deal, this may be helpful in the Future:
Home Theater connections: HDMI, DVI, Component Video, S-Video, Composite, Digital Audio Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD - using the best connections for audio and video