Expert: cleggsan - 9/27/2004

Question
Hi, I just bought a dvd player and a rf modulator and got home hooked it all up and started to watch a movie and all of a sudden the screen starts flipping back and forth from tv to dvd and the rf modulator is going on and off what can this be? I don't have the modulator pugged in the same oulet as the dvd player and its not sitting near the dvd player and i know it cant be that the dvd is scratched because i hooked the dvd player up to my daughters tv becuase she has audio/vidio outputs on her tv and the dvd player worked fine so should i return the rf modulator or what?

Answer
Tabitha,

First, just a minor correction, your daughters tv has a/v "inputs" not outputs.  The signal from the dvd player goes into the inputs, not the outputs..... but that is alright; only engineers understand the nomenclature used in the industry!

As to the tv switching back and forth from tv to dvd, I am confused about that.

If you have the rf modulator connected to the antenna input of your tv, then there could be no tv signal for it to switch over to.  If you have both of them connected at the same time, that would be a problem.

Some rf modulators have a switch and the tv signal from the antenna or the cable plug into the rf modulator box and there is a switch on the modulator to choose which you are watching.  But, most of them do NOT have a built in switch.

The best way to do this is to buy, in addition to the rf modulator, an rf switch (from places such as Walmart or Kmart or Radio Shack).  Connect the tv signal into the switch and the rf modulator into the switch box.  Then, you push the button on the switch to select which program you want to watch.  Then, there can be no switching back and forth.

So, let me know if you have further questions; however, I am inclined to think the problem is in the wiring and not the equipment.  

If you do need further clarification, give me the make and model of your rf modulator so I can check its capabilities.

Thanks for writing in.

Cleggsan