Greetings!

At this time I have a Olevia 37 inch lcd and getting a signal via hd cable (Mediacom). I purchased a Sony RDR VX525 DVD recorder/VCR combo unit, which does not have a tuner.

I hooked the Sony to the tv using the HDMI and the cable to the Sony via component cables.

I am getting a thin green line along the bottom of the screen when running either the cable signal or a dvd (which by the way didn't look too upscaled to me).

Am I doing something wrong? I can't believe this green line is something that I'll have to live with.

Also, the remote that came with cable won't learn the Sony signal.

And, one last challenge for this fantastic group of techies - I have a YSP 1100 with Subwoofer to add to the mix. Does this go to the Cable box, or dvd recorder set up? All have optical connections.

Last word - I am not at all adverse to returning the Sony - I'd appreciate any suggestions for a better unit; keeping in mind I'm cheap and not blessed with techie abililties (Which is probably obvious by this post!).

Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
CNolte

It's unlikely that you are running a signal from the cable box to the Sony recorder via component cables - that Sony model doesn't have a component input (that's a rare feature found only in a few obscure models). You would have to use S-Video (preferable) or composite.

Maybe you don't have a cable box, and your cable is plugged in to the Sony recorder directly?

Problems like your green line do occur due to small incompatibilities between equipment, and there may not be much you can do to fix it other than experiment with a few options. Can you adjust the overscan or zoom on your TV to get rid of it?

You probably won't see any obvious benefit to upconverting DVD resolution if your TV has a decent scaler.

Your surround sound system should be connected to both the cable box and the DVD player separately, and you'll need to switch the sound source when you switch video inputs on the TV.

Does your Sony DVD recorder actually have component cable input (which from everything I've learned in this and videohelp forum is rare)? (Apparently, a few earlier/older DVD recorder models had such imputs. (So one possibility is that you're connecting a component cable to the Sony when the Sony doesn't have component input - it likely only has component out. Instead, from your cable/satellite box to Sony DVD recorder: 1) best option...use an S-video cable (which will require a separate audio (red/white cable also); OR 2) composite (yellow-red-white coloured) cable. See if that works. If not, you might need to enable digital/hdmi video/audio - via the Sony's AND LCD TV's setup menus (refer to their manuals). My other suggestion if above does not work): keep either option 1 or 2 (above) and use a component cable (plus audio cable ) between Sony and TV. Hope one of these options does the trick for you...and that I've not confused you further.