Skip to Content Find it Fast

This browser does not support Cascading Style Sheets.


Catvision Information

Find it Fast

Living @ UNH

It's Time to SET-Up Your Cable! arrow

But first, there are four important components that you will need to begin installing your cable service:

Hooking up your television

Depending on the equipment you have, there are many possible ways to hook up your television (especially if you have DVD players and VCRs and High-Def receivers). We will outline three simple configurations below. You should identify the configuration that best matches your situation, and then follow the installation instructions for that particular configuration.

Cable-Ready Television A newer TV that has been designed for receiving channels 2 through 60+.

Cable-Ready TV with VCR This configuration gives you the option of programming your cable though the VCR rather than the television.

Non-Cable-Ready TV with VCR An older TV that only receives channels 2-13, but when connected to the VCR allows you to receive all the channels.

Getting started

Find the cable TV connection point on the wall of your room. This is the source of your cable signal. This faceplate has one of three different configurations (see below), and can be found on one of your room walls, usually at electrical outlet height and always adjacent to or part of your phone jack:

A cable port looks like a short, thick, threaded metal cylinder with a tiny hole in the end. Once you've found it, screw one end of your coaxial cable onto this connector. Make sure to tighten the metal ring around the end of the cable so it's a tight fit. A loose-fitting cable can mean the difference between great signal and no signal at all.

Now, run the other end of the cable to the back of your TV (run it around the room if necessary). Hook it up the same way you did with the other end, into the RF connection plug on the back of the TV. The plug should be labeled "CABLE" or "RF IN" or "VHF".
Once you've done this, plug in your TV and position it the way you want it. Turn it on, and get ready to program your set for cable TV.

Programming the TV: Overview

If you have your manual, look in it to find out exactly how your set is supposed to be programmed. Your manual should be able to give you better instructions than this guide can, because it will be talking about your specific television. Basically, there are only two steps involved in programming a cable-ready television set:

  1. First, let it know that it'll be receiving a cable signal;
  2. Second, scan through the channels to store the available ones in memory. Some TVs detect a cable signal automatically-- all you have to do is plug in the coaxial cable, follow the on-screen prompts, and turn the set on. The TV does the rest. However, some TVs need to be programmed manually.

Programming the TV: Step 1 - Receiving the cable signal

Many TVs are set to receive antenna (or off-air) signals by default. You will have to adjust your TV to receive the cable signal. Usually this can be done with your remote control.

Press the MENU (it may also be called SETUP) button on your remote. You should be taken to a new screen: either a blue screen with commands, or a screen with control icons on it.

If you don't have a MENU or SETUP button, try any similarly-named button that looks promising, until you get an option screen. Look for a menu (usually called SETUP) that lets you choose your television's input source; you should use the CABLE input.

Other input options that will work for receiving a cable signal:

Make sure CABLE is stored in the TV's memory. Many times a customer will see CABLE on the menu and wrongly think that it is selected. You can test it this way: after selecting CABLE, exit completely from the menu, then go back into the menu and see if CABLE is still highlighted. If it is, then it was selected properly.

Sometimes, the cable switch is an actual switch on the TV itself. Look on the front and back of the set for any switches labeled ANT and CABLE (or something similar). Keep your eyes open for switches hidden behind obscure access doors. Once you find it, set it to CABLE. Programming the TV:

Step 2: Storing the cable channels/Autoprogram

Now that you have your TV set up to receive a cable signal, you now need to scan and store your channels. This process stores the channels of the UNH’s cable system into your television's memory, and deletes from memory any unused or inactive channels.

AUTOPROGRAM is usually a menu selection on the same menu where you selected CABLE. Or, there may be a button on your remote which says AUTOPROGRAM, CHANNEL SCAN, AUTOSCAN, or something similar.

Once you have selected or pressed AUTOPROGRAM, do not panic. Your screen will probably go blank or turn blue, and it will begin cycling through all of the cable channels. Usually, TVs are cable-ready for up to 125 channels, so let the TV scan through the channels until it finishes. DO NOT interrupt the scan - or else you may have to scan all over again.

After the autoprogram is complete, you should be able to flip through all of the UNH channels with your CHANNEL UP and CHANNEL DOWN buttons.

Configuration 1 (Cable-Ready TV)

Cable Setup

Program the channels as instructed above

Configuration 2 (Cable-Ready TV with VCR)

Like Configuration 1, program the channels using Configuration 2 may also be accomplished in more than one way. Refer to the instructions for Programming, using the on-screen programming, front panel control, remote control or "auto-program" control found on the TV or VCR.

Configuration 3 (Non Cable-Ready TV with VCR)

*You are viewing pages printed from http://www.unh.edu/
These pages appear differently when viewed online.