Cant get converter to work on Chromacolor?

[50scraze]

I decided to give my 71' chromacolor a little more use and hooked it up to an Apex Digital to analog converter. Only problem....I get nothing with the box hooked up! Funny thing is i get a few channels in perfectly with out the converter.

But in order to get all of my channels (i get free cable) I need that converter box! Im hoping this is some simple stupid mistake. All i can get is the guide screen and the picture is very snowy.

I feel like an idiot..this should be simple! help please!

[zenith2134]

First thing I'd do is verify that your converter is set to output on the right RF channel (some have 2,3,4 as you know)

[50scraze]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

First thing I'd do is verify that your converter is set to output on the right RF channel (some have 2,3,4 as you know)

Yes, this one uses channel 3 or 4. comes in snowy no matter what one i use.

[jr_tech]

Is the menu from the converter snowy, or just the channels?
jr

[50scraze]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Is the menu from the converter snowy, or just the channels?
jr

The menu from the converter. I just tried it on my 62 Packard Bell..same issue. So either I'm doing something wrong or my box is bad.

heres my hook up its very simple:

Cable from wall into converter-

Cable out from converter into Tv.

of course im using one of those cable to antenna adapters. can the issues be there?

[zenith2134]

Sure can be!

I've seen many a bad 300-75 ohm balun...causing the exact symptoms you're describing.

[jr_tech]

Perhaps use a VCR or some other source of ch 3 &4 to test your balun and coax cable ?
jr

[50scraze]

Ok I had an extra on of those adapters and the picture is better now. The box still wont pick up any of my cable channels though. Even though its plugged directly into the cable! Everything shows up as "invalid channel". Tried the auto scan function and it finds 0 channels..ughh...

Do some of these boxes only convert over the air signals? This really shouldn't be so difficult!

[jr_tech]

If the Apex is one of those "$40 coupon" boxes for OTA ASTC digital reception, it will not be useful for decoding cable digital channels.
jr

[ctc17]

That box MUST be used with antenna. Directional antenna on the roof is best. Run converter box with top cover removed or its life will be very short form the super hot microprocessor chip.

[50scraze]

Originally Posted by ctc17

That box MUST be used with antenna. Directional antenna on the roof is best. Run converter box with top cover removed or its life will be very short form the super hot microprocessor chip.

Ah darn! Any recommendations on a box i can use directly for my cable? Andy yea i noticed it got really hot really fast!

[wa2ise]

"Digital cable" uses a different modulation scheme (QAM) than the over the air digital TV ATSC signals (8VSB) use. Your box won't decode cable signals. It will only decode over the air DTV stations.

[andy]

...

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by ctc17

That box MUST be used with antenna. Directional antenna on the roof is best. Run converter box with top cover removed or its life will be very short form the super hot microprocessor chip.

Yes, and those Apex boxes are junk to begin with. I obtained one for free, when my neighbor went into a nursing home. I think he'd had it only a month or so and it crapped out on me after about a half a week's worth of use. I've got Digitalstream boxes that I've had since before the DTV transition and a Channel Master box that I got shortly after the DTV transition and both of them still work great. The Zenith/Insignia boxes are good, too.

[Phototone]

Wait....doesn't cable still provide standard NTSC signals for existing older televisions? I remember Cox advertising to that affect. I have one older TV (but cable ready) hooked up directly to my cable feed and it can tune all the stations I pay for. Even for a pre-cable set, there should be signals on the first 12 channels, so they can be tuned in on any TV.