How to Hook Up a Cable Box to an LCD TV/VCR

Component, composite and audio cables all use a round connector.

In the future, all televisions will probably communicate wirelessly, but until then, the only way to hook up your cable box to your LCD TV/VCR is by using cables. Most cable boxes have a few different types of output ports, so you have a few options when it comes to connecting the box to your television. Once you have determined a type of cable to use and have ensured that both the cable box and TV have the required port types, hooking up the two devices is a simple process.

Things You'll Need

• Connection cables

Instructions

HDMI

1. Locate the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port on the back of the cable box. The port will look like a small trapezoid and will be labeled "HDMI." If there is more than one HDMI port, find the one labeled "Out."

2. Repeat the process to find the HDMI input port on the back of your LCD TV/VCR. If you find multiple HDMI input ports, locate the one labeled "HDMI 1."

3. Plug one end of your HDMI cable into the port on the cable box, and plug the other end into the port on your LCD TV/VCR.

Component Video

1. Locate the component video output ports on the back of the cable box. Component video has three separate small, round ports that are colored red, green and blue. They may be listed as "Component video out," or the individual ports may be listed as "Y," "Pb" and "Pr." Locate the same set of ports on the back of the LCD TV/VCR.

2. Find the two audio output ports on the back of the cable box. These ports will look the same as the component video ports but will be red and white. Then find the same audio input ports on the back of the TV.

3. Flatten out both ends of the component cable on a table in front of you. Pick up the red cable that is in the middle of the other four cables (not the red cable on the end). Plug this cable into the red component video port on both the cable box and the TV. Now plug in the other cables, matching each cable color to the port color. This process prevents you from accidentally swapping the red video cable and the red audio cable.

S-video

1. Locate the S-video connector on the back of the cable box. The port will be round with six small openings. Locate this port on the back of the LCD TV/VCR as well.

2. Find the two small, round audio ports on the back of the cable box and the TV. The ports will be red and white and will be listed as "Audio Out" on the cable box and "Audio In" on the TV.

3. Plug the S-video cable into both of the ports on the cable box and the television. Then do the same for your red and white audio cables. Match each audio cable's color to the color of the port.

Coaxial

1. Locate the coaxial output port on the back of the cable box. It will look identical to the port that has the cable coming in from the wall but will be labeled "Out."

2. Find an identical coaxial port on the back of the LCD TV/VCR. This port will be labeled "In" and should be the only coaxial port on the television.

3. Place your coaxial cable up to the port on the back of the cable box. Push in the cable while you turn the circular piece of metal at the end of the cable clockwise to screw it in. Repeat this process for the connector on the back of the TV.

Tips & Warnings

• To verify that your connection was a success, turn the cable box on, and use the "Source" or "Input" button on your TV to change the input type. Choose the one that corresponds to the name of the cable that you used. The exception to this is a coaxial connection: simply tune the TV to a numbered channel.

• When you use an HDMI or coaxial cable, you don't need to plug in audio cables, since these cables carry both video and audio.

• These sections are listed in order of performance. HDMI will give you the best video performance, while coaxial will give you the worst.

• Composite video is almost exactly the same as component, except the three colored video cables are replaced with one yellow video cable. The port for the composite video cable is also yellow.

References

• Crutchfield: Choosing Audio and Video Cables
• Motorola: DCT6400 Series High Definition Dual Tuner DVR Cable Receiver User Guide
• Toshiba: 15-inch Diagonal LCD TV/DVD Combination
• Crutchfield: Understanding Digital Cable TV