Deadman31

I have a Pioneer 810hs Tivo/DVD recorder that I am trying to hook up. I cant get the welcome screen to come up but I can hear some lady talking. is there something I am doing wrong?I have the Tivo hooked up to the cable box(HD) and the cable box running to the TV.

BigDave

Try hooking up the Tivo directly to your TV first to run the setup. You might even want to use the composite cables before using s-video or component cables.

Deadman31

Ok here is the thing. The component cables that run from my HD box to the TV would have to go where? into the DVDrecorder? I have tried to follow the directions in the book but there are so many cables behind my tv its awfully confusing. Can I use the component cables for the HD and still use the composite cables for the TIVO somehow?

BigDave

The reason why I wanted you to directly connect the Tivo to the TV with composite cables is to setup the Tivo to use component cables.

The TIVO might default to using composite video and then you set it to use component. I know my old Tivo did this, but I can't find the setting on my DirecTivo.

You also might want to search Tivo Community and see how people the Tivo/DVD hook them up. I'm not sure how the Tivo handles an HD signal.

Deadman31

ahh ok. Thanks I will try that.

Deadman31

Well I got it setup (thanks BigDave) but now my HD channels are not right. Is this some kind of copy protection thing? Can you not watch HD when you use TIVO

chipmac

Probably not since there are no HD Tivos released yet. Your Tivo most likely only works with SD signals.

Deadman31

I don't want to record HD, I just want to watch it.

chipmac

Well then what are you using for a HD receiver? The cable box right? Does the Hd cable box have a switch for SD/HD or two outputs? If two outputs then use Svideo for SD and component out for HD. Plug HD component into one input on the TV and the Svideo for SD into the Tivo which goes into another TV input and switch inputs to your HD receiver to watch HD and switch to the Tivo input to watch DVD/SD or record SD.

Deadman31

yes I have the HD cable box as my HD receiver(Comcast). The box has component outputs and regular A/V out. I plugged my cable box back into the component out on the tv and then I tried to plug the Tivo into a regular one, but I get no TV or sound on it, just the TIVO menu. Any suggestions?

chipmac

OK first things first. With the Cable box hooked up with component cables to the TV you're able to watch HD shows normally. Is that correct? Now does this HD cable box upconvert all signals to HD or do you need to switch between SD and HD on the box or the remote when you change from a channel showing HD to one showing SD? If it upconverts all SD to HD then this signal can't be sent to the Tivo using the component cables because Tivo won't know what to do with an HD signal.

So if you're able to watch HD with the cable box connected to the TV you should be able to also connect the cable box to the Tivo using a composite cable for SD signals. You might need to switch the cable box to SD mode or tell it that you want to use the composite outputs of the box. With the composite cable connected to the Tivo and the Tivo connected to another input on the TV you should see the Tivo menu where you can set up how you want it to work. Since I've never seen a Tivo working with a digital cable box I'm not sure how the Tivo box tells the cable box to change channels once you tell it which cable system you're on.

Deadman31

I just switch to the HD channels and they come on. I have gotten to where I can see the TIVO menu on the other input but I get no video. When I try to test the connection I still get the no video result. Right now I have the TIVO running into the cable box, the cable box plugged into the component input and the TIVO plugged into the composite input. I tried emailing TIVO but they were no help. They actually told me they had no idea how to do it.

Deadman31

Ok, I got the TIVO working on the other input, but there is no sound. Should I try an optical cable(from?) my receiver or something?