Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M
Even in the analog days there were a good number of sets that were RF only or only had one AV input...when I got into retro game consoles as a kid I had to get a couple of AV switch boxes so my first 3 gens of Nintendo consoles, and VCR and whatever else I had could share an input without constant cable swaps... my analog racks still have switchers, but I've upgraded the more important stuff to use an old home theater amp as a remote controlled analog AV switch.
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The only analog inputs on my Insignia 32" HDTV I can see are one coax jack for an OTA antenna and three RCA jacks for analog video sources such as a VCR. Everything else is digital, including two HDMI inputs. These jacks work, and very well (I have my DVD player hooked up to one and my Roku device to the other); however, to use the three analog video inputs, which are located directly below the display panel, I must either turn the wood shelf I have the set mounted on about 45 degrees or else set the TV on its screen.
I don't like to do the latter since, of course, the LCD panel on all HDTVs is extremely fragile; one slip and the panel will be permanently destroyed. It is for this reason I wish there were some other way to reach those analog RCA jacks, as I'd like to hook up my VCR (a 1980s Panasonic) to my TV (I have maybe 50 old VHS tapes just sitting around gathering dust as I write this). I would do just that but, as I said, there is just too much risk of damaging the TV's LCD display if anything, and I do mean anything, happens to push the TV off the stand.
IMHO, the set should have been designed with the analog video input jacks mounted anywhere but directly under the LCD display panel. (I think these inputs were mounted where they are because the design engineers may have figured these jacks would not be used very much, if at all.) Where they are now, it is extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, to plug anything into them without worrying about the very real danger of the TV falling onto its screen.
However, I just this second thought of one way around this problem. Set the TV on its back cover, connect the VCR cable, then put the set back on the wood shelf and connect the other end of the cable to the VCR. Problem solved, with no danger of damaging the TV or the VCR.