| Here is the situation: You just bought that 50 inch | | | | (left and right) on the cable box and run the cable to |
| plasma you have been drooling over for six months, | | | | the L and R port in the COMPONENT section on the |
| brought it home and stripped off all four thousand | | | | TV (usually located either directly next to the Pr Pb Y |
| layers of plastic and now what. You realize that you | | | | or vertically after it. Look closely here because it is |
| have to get a High Definition cable box, a HD Satellite | | | | sometimes easy to mistake to Blue and Green cables, |
| or put an antenna on your roof. The easiest thing to do | | | | or mix up the Red audio cable with the RED |
| by far is to install a cable box, particularly if you already | | | | component cable. |
| have cable service. Most cable companies bundle their | | | | Now turn on the TV and change the source to reflect |
| services and offer real savings to customers who sign | | | | what you just plugged in. Remember with new TVs |
| up for multiple services so you might actually save | | | | you don't actually use the "TV" tuner built into the TV, |
| money by adding services, at least in the short term. | | | | you are using one of the other inputs. Most of the time |
| So here is what you have to do: go down to your local | | | | you would use the remote that came with the TV, and |
| cable systems payment center and ask for an HD | | | | push either the TV/VIDEO button or the SOURCE |
| Cable box. You will have to decide if you want to go | | | | button to switch sources. Once the TV is on the right |
| with just HD or HD with a built in DVR tuner, but either | | | | source you should have a picture on the screen. If you |
| way get the box and ask for an install kit. The install kit | | | | don't, make sure the box is plugged in and turned on. |
| should have at least Component and Audio cables. It | | | | Oh No the picture is lousy or I don't have one at all! OK, |
| might come with HDMI, S-Video, Composite or Audio | | | | calm down. You can fix this. The first thing you want |
| Y Cables. You will also need the Remote Control and | | | | to find out is if your box has enough signal to run |
| you should ask for any literature on the box. | | | | properly. Usually you can find out by trying you On |
| Once you have the box you will need to install it. Look | | | | Demand service. If it doesn't work than you probably |
| to see where the old TV is plugged into the wall and | | | | need to get more signal to the box. Check all your |
| make sure that it does not go anywhere but directly | | | | wires and make sure you did not run the cable from |
| onto the Cable IN port on the back of the box. I know | | | | the wall into anything else before it goes into the box. |
| that the $300.00 surge protector you bought has a | | | | Next go downstairs (or wherever your wires |
| cable in and a cable out, but please don't use it, most | | | | terminate) and take a look. They should be near your |
| of the time all it does is alter or block the return path, | | | | fuse box. You want to take a look at how old they all |
| which affects your On Demand type services. Nest | | | | look and how many splitters you have. (Remember |
| you need to decide what type of HD cable you are | | | | last summer when you ran your line into the |
| going to run to the TV. You could use either the | | | | bathroom? Well that could be what is messing up your |
| component cable (the one with RED, GREEN, and | | | | TV). If everything looks relatively new and you cant pull |
| BLUE and maybe another RED and WHITE) or the | | | | the ends of with a small amount of force than they |
| HDMI (which looks kind of like a flattened USB cable). | | | | might be OK. |
| You must use one of these two cables in order to | | | | If the splitters don't look new, and you bought them at |
| receive HD. | | | | the hardware or electronic store you may need to call |
| If you are using HDMI, plug the HDMI cable into the | | | | the cable company and have them fixed. It is generally |
| HDMI port on the back of the Cable Box, then plug the | | | | cheaper for them to do it rather than buying the tools |
| other end into one of the HDMI ports on the back of | | | | and stock that you need to do it right. If the splitters |
| the TV. Some TVs may have multiple HDMI ports, | | | | look OK then the next thing to do is to unplug the |
| others may have none at all. If you are using | | | | wires one at a time to determine which one is feeding |
| Component cables, run the RED from the Pr port on | | | | the HD. Once you know which one it is (by the way |
| the back of the box to the Pr port on the back of the | | | | hopefully you enlisted a helper here rather than running |
| TV. These ports are usually in groups of 5 labeled | | | | up and down the stairs) make sure that it comes off |
| Component 1, Component 2 and so on. Continue with | | | | the first splitter. If you have High Speed internet, that |
| the BLUE cable. Run it from the Pb on the Back of the | | | | should get the best signal, so be careful to not plugging |
| cable box to the Pb on the back of the TV. Now run | | | | it into a different port. Now go and check the TV. If the |
| the GREEN cable from the y port on the back of the | | | | signal is still bad its time to call the cable company, at |
| TV to the y port on the back of the TV. That's it for | | | | least you will know what they are talking about when |
| the Video portion. To run the audio locate the L and R | | | | they come to fix it. |