I followed the instructions from Magnavox on connecting our new H2160MW9 to our SA Explorer 4250HDC STB (digital converter box) and our Samsung LN46A TV, but the connections are not working. We are going through the STB first, to the Magnavox and then on to the TV (via HDMI), but it's not working correctly. The Magnavox does not acknolwedge our channels after doing a channel scan and is only recording "snow" even when we manually enter a channel number. Thank you very much and please advise.

I followed the instructions from Magnavox on connecting our new H2160MW9 to our SA Explorer 4250HDC STB (digital converter box) and our Samsung LN46A TV, but the connections are not working. We are going through the STB first, to the Magnavox and then on to the TV (via HDMI), but it's not working correctly. The Magnavox does not acknolwedge our channels after doing a channel scan and is only recording "snow" even when we manually enter a channel number. Thank you very much and please advise.

You need to go into the 2160 first, then onto the STB. Your scan should work fine this way. Note, that the 2160 will only receive channels that are sent "in the clear" - probably only the networks and a few onthers.

Daniel711 - thanks for your reply. I am very new to all of this, so would you mind telling me what connections I need to make (RCA out from DVR to in to STB, etc.)? I would appreciate it very much. Thanks.

Daniel711 - thanks for your reply. I am very new to all of this, so would you mind telling me what connections I need to make (RCA out from DVR to in to STB, etc.)? I would appreciate it very much. Thanks.

I have a very similar setup to yours. You do not mention having an audio/video receiver, so I'll assume you are listening through the TV directly (and the TV has at least 2 HDMI inputs). Here's how I'd do it.

- Coax from your wall outlet to your Magnavox 2160's "Cable In"
- Coax from your Magnavox 2160's "Cable Out" to 4250HDC's "Cable In"
- 4250HDC's HDMI out to HDMI input on the TV.
- Magnavox 2160's HDMI out to another HDMI input on the TV.

If you are recording a show that you get "in the clear" (don't need the cable box to get the channel), you can switch to your cable box input on the TV remote and watch something else. If you are recording a channel that you need the cable box to descramble, you cannot watch another live TV channel (however, you can watch a previously recorded show on the Magnavox's Hard drive simultaneously).

Also, the setup above does NOT allow 2 way communication for "On Demand" content from your cable provider. I like to watch free HD on demand shows occasionally. Because of this, I run my Coax from the wall outlet into a splitter first. Send one coax cable from the splitter to your Magnavox and the other coax cable to the 4250HDC and that problem is solved.

Thanks so much for you help. Are these all of the connections I need to make? I am a bit confused about whether I also need to make antenna in/out connections between all three machines. I know that HDMI carries both sound & video, but do I also need to make RCA connections from the STB to the Magnavox? Thanks and sorry to be such a pain.

Was that supposed to be an insult? I looked at your sketch and, since I don't understand much of this, it was absolutely worthless. The simple response from SteelTownGuy was a lot easier to understand than your diagram.

Thanks so much for you help. Are these all of the connections I need to make? I am a bit confused about whether I also need to make antenna in/out connections between all three machines. I know that HDMI carries both sound & video, but do I also need to make RCA connections from the STB to the Magnavox? Thanks and sorry to be such a pain.

You don't need to make any additional antenna in/out connections (by coax, I presume you are saying) other than what I listed in my first post. Sending coax through the 4250HDC to the back of your TV (for instance), is going to give you the worst possible video/audio quality...I don't see the point in that, personally.

My apologies on the ommission of the RCA connections. Yes, you must also send audio and video from the 4250HDC back to the Magnavox. When you record scrambled channels which must be viewed through the box, the Magnavox will be set to "L1" in its Timer Recording menu. I use S-Video out from the 4250HDC to the S-Video in on the Magnavox as well as L/R stereo RCA cables for sound. You could also use a yellow/white/red (composite video), but I prefer S-Video. If you do go S-Video, make sure you have your Magnavox set up correctly in the "General Settings" menu. I believe its default is composite video, so you have to change it so that it accepts the S-Video input.

Thanks so much for you help. Are these all of the connections I need to make? I am a bit confused about whether I also need to make antenna in/out connections between all three machines. I know that HDMI carries both sound & video, but do I also need to make RCA connections from the STB to the Magnavox? Thanks and sorry to be such a pain.
Yes, you need RCA connections from the STB to the Maggie. You can also use "component" (Red Green Blue) cables instead of HDMI from the maggie to the TV, and from the STB to the TV. I use component for both, since HDMI is full of bugs, IMHO.

Thank you so much for your directions. I appreciate the details in your explanations.