Well this is my first topic/post on these forums, but I am a member of many others across the net. I wouldn't call myself a genius when it comes to home theater, but I know more than the average bear. I usually end up setting up/configuring people's setups. There is nothing worse than when someone buys an expensive system and then isn't even using it to it's full potential. Anyway onto the scenario:
THE BACKGROUND INFO
I am a college student, and I purchased a 28" computer monitor for my dorm room. It met most of my needs better than an actual television (it's 1920x1200 so it supports the native resolution of my MacBook Pro in 16:10 ratio) and I use it for playing my Xbox 360 in HD. I would have rather had a more glorious set-up and I hate the low contrast ratio but there is limited space in the dorm room.
The monitor has your basic HDMI, VGA, YPbPr, and old school RCA connectors. The nature is that it IS technically a computer monitor, it has no RF or TV tuner functionality. I would have no problem but obviously the school does not provide you with a set-top box where I could just connect into the HDMI, it's the simple coaxial cable out of the wall.
The only way I could get cable TV was to dig out the VCR from my pit of old electronics and use it as a medium between the two. The coaxial cable is connected from the wall socket to the VCR, and then the VCR is connected from it's video out RCA to the monitor's RCA. (With mono sound, yea it's terrible.)
THE PROBLEM
I had this same setup last year, and it pretty much worked as expected, allowed me to watch cable TV up to the 50 or so channels my school offers. This year it's different, I can tune in to channels 2-14 and then there is a massive skip to 48-56. I know that above channel 13 or so the frequencies change...but it worked last year. Does this have to do with the switch from analog to digital? That's what I expect, and I also expect that my friend's TV (which is an actuall TV) has a more up-to-date tuner that allows it to get the channels. Any suggestions?
THE BACKGROUND INFO
I am a college student, and I purchased a 28" computer monitor for my dorm room. It met most of my needs better than an actual television (it's 1920x1200 so it supports the native resolution of my MacBook Pro in 16:10 ratio) and I use it for playing my Xbox 360 in HD. I would have rather had a more glorious set-up and I hate the low contrast ratio but there is limited space in the dorm room.
The monitor has your basic HDMI, VGA, YPbPr, and old school RCA connectors. The nature is that it IS technically a computer monitor, it has no RF or TV tuner functionality. I would have no problem but obviously the school does not provide you with a set-top box where I could just connect into the HDMI, it's the simple coaxial cable out of the wall.
The only way I could get cable TV was to dig out the VCR from my pit of old electronics and use it as a medium between the two. The coaxial cable is connected from the wall socket to the VCR, and then the VCR is connected from it's video out RCA to the monitor's RCA. (With mono sound, yea it's terrible.)
THE PROBLEM
I had this same setup last year, and it pretty much worked as expected, allowed me to watch cable TV up to the 50 or so channels my school offers. This year it's different, I can tune in to channels 2-14 and then there is a massive skip to 48-56. I know that above channel 13 or so the frequencies change...but it worked last year. Does this have to do with the switch from analog to digital? That's what I expect, and I also expect that my friend's TV (which is an actuall TV) has a more up-to-date tuner that allows it to get the channels. Any suggestions?
