How to Connect a TV to a Cable Box

Hello , what you see on your screen right now , this is the back of a fairly typical TV .

And this is the back of a fairly typical cable box .

Welcome to our channel all about home electronics .

Where in this video , we're going to demonstrate how to connect a TV to a cable box .

And actually , we're gonna demonstrate two methods .

We believe that you're going to quickly determine which method is most suitable for you as well .

In the description below this video , we're going to time stamp each step so that you can quickly reference it .

We'll begin right after this .

Take your first coaxial cable and make sure that center pin conductor goes inside the hole of a known working cable outlet in a wall plate like this .

Now , if you don't have a wall outlet and you just have a loose cable on the ground , you can skip this step .

Now take the other end of that same coaxial cable and on the back of your cable box , locate the threaded connector labeled cable in and fasten it right there again , make sure that center conductor on your coaxial cable goes inside the hole .

Otherwise this won't work , be certain to connect the power supply that came with the cable box .

This way , your cable box can sync up with the cable system .

And if you need to contact your cable company in order to activate a service within the box , they'll be able to connect with the box remotely from their office .

The first method we'll demonstrate is the HDMI method .

If your television does not have HDMI ports on the back like this one in our example and only has a threaded connector , then you'll want to fast forward in this video to the second method .

Using the HDMI connection method can be pretty straightforward .

So long as you're not concerned with certain features like CE C ARC , ultra high definition television or other features specific to your make model and year of manufacture television , generally any HDM I cable like we're showing here would be appropriate to make the connection between the TV and the cable box .

But you'll notice in this example on the outside jacket of our HDMI cable , it says high speed HDMI .

And this would be the preferred cable .

We recommend if you're intending to view things like ultra high definition content on a four K or eight K or better compatible television , and you're intending to view that content through your cable box .

Now , oftentimes in any television , the most capable port of all of the HDMI ports available would be port number one .

Whereas in this case , it's labeled arc , which stands for audio return channel .

And you would be connecting this HDMI port to a sound system , which is not what we're doing .

In this case , we're not connecting a sound system .

We're connecting our cable box and we want every imaginable feature that this TV has and this cable box has .

So we're going to plug one end and it doesn't matter which end of the HDMI cable into port one , make sure it's fully seated and that you feel that gentle click .

We do want to say it would be entirely OK to connect that HDM I to port two or port three .

The connection on the back of your cable box is pretty straightforward because in this example , and in most cases , there will only be one HDM I port , just plug the other end of that same HDM I cable right in there .

Now that we've completed the cabling connections , it's time to turn the cable box on .

Take the remote control that came with the cable box , locate the power button and press it also do the same with your television using the TV remote , power it on and finally using the TV remote that comes with your TV , locate the input or source button and go over to HDM I one .

Now take a second coaxial cable and you can disregard the different colors of cables we're using in this video because the color of the cable in this situation has no bearing on whether this works or doesn't work .

So you take that second coaxial cable and you want to fasten it to the other threaded connector labeled RF out .

Or in your case , it could be labeled cable out on the back of your TV .

Locate the cable antenna threaded connector and connect the other end of that cable right there .

If your television has more than one threaded connector , hook it up to the one labeled cable .

Now that we've completed the cabling connections , it's time to turn the cable box on .

Take the remote control that came with the cable box , locate the power button and press it .

Also do the same with your television using the TV remote power it on .

Also make certain that your television is set to the TV input or that threaded connector input .

You might have a button on the face of your TV or possibly on your remote control .

You could have a button labeled input or source or it might be TV as well and make sure your TV is on the correct channel .

Oftentimes you'll need to turn your TV to channel three or channel four and then you'll be able to switch channels using the cable box remote control .

This concludes this video on how to connect a TV to a cable box .

If you have any questions , please post them in the comments below the video .

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