How to Wire a Digital Cable Box
In today's technological world, you do not have to have the cable installer wire your cable company digital cable box. In addition, you do not have to use the digital cable box from the cable company. You can buy your own digital cable box from TiVo, DirecTV or DISH Network. There are several configurations to wire the audio and video from your digital cable box to your television, but for the purposes of this article, we will assume that you are using a TiVo digital cable box and wiring it directly to a flat-screen HDTV.
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Instructions
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Wire a Digital Cable Box
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1
Plug one end of a coaxial cable into the "Cable" RF connector on the back of the digital cable box.
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2
Plug the other end of the coaxial cable to the RF connector on the wall.
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3
Plug one end of your HDMI cable into the back of your digital cable box. The HDMI cable has video and audio information, so no additional cables will be required.
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4
Plug the other end of your HDMI cable into the back of your flat-screen HDTV. Note the name of the HDMI input on the back of your television.
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5
Power up your digital cable box. Power up your television. Use the "Input" or "Source" button on your television remote to toggle to the name of the input where you plugged in your HDMI cable into the back of your television.
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Tips & Warnings
If you do not have an HDMI cable, you can also get an HD video signal from blue, red and green component cables and an HD audio signal from a toslink optical audio cable or digital coaxial cable.
Older coaxial cables cannot deliver information fast enough to display HDTV signals correctly. Make sure your coaxial cable clearly indicates that it is compliant with HDTV standards.
There are two RF connectors on the back of a TiVo digital cable box. If you accidentally plug your coaxial cable into the RF connector for "Antenna," you will not be able to get a signal from the cable company.
