Television Well lately my tv has been showing a huge black box which covers the bottom of the screen everytime i try to hook up my vcr or dvd player or xbox 360 i dont know what this means and if i can fix it but if i can it would be cool to know how thanks.

Yes! you are right, this almost sounds like a captions problem, check the DVD/VCR Combo menu, if it has captions turn it off using your remote.

Try this. You will need 2 RF cables and a RCA cable that has a red, black, and yellow plug on each end.

1. Plug the antenna signal into the converter box.
2. Connect the RF output (TV out) of the converter box to the RF input on the VCR
   
3. Connect the RF output (TV out) on the VCR to the TV
   
4. Finally, plug the DVD recorder into the converter box also, but use the 3 RCA cables that came with it (audio left, right and video).
   

If the DVD works through this "box". Things are looking alright. There must be a number of inpus or hookups to connect VCRs or DVDs or what ever to this "box" that then allow you to hook tp the TV.
If this is the case there has to be a way to swithc the box to the different things hooked to this box so that you can see& hear them.
I do not know what this box is, but can only guess you need to get the manual or more info on how it works.

If you can try to hook each one of your pieces seperately to the box.
First unhook the DVD that works, and hook the VCR. If works, unhook the VCR and hook up the the enxt piece. That way you'll know if each of them is working.

There should be video in and video out on the dvd player. You shouldhave the wires going from video out on the cable box to video in on the vcr. Then you should have video out on the vcr going into the tv

Leave the cable box powered on but disconnected from the TV or VCR. All other components should be disconnected and unplugged, giving clear and easy access to all connections. If components sit in an entertainment unit, make sure all A/V cables can reach the RF modulator and the cable from the modulator can easily reach the television.

Step 2 Hookup the first coaxial cable from cable box output, usually labeled "TV," "TV out" or "Out to TV" to the cable "In" on the VCR. Connect the second coaxial cable from the VCR's out to "TV" to the coaxial input on the RF Modulator.

Step 3 Connect the third coax cable from the coaxial cable "Out" jack on the RF Modulator to the coax cable "Input" on the television.

Step 4 Take one A/V cable, connect the red (right audio channel,) white (left audio channel) and yellow (video) from DVD player's "Output," to the corresponding DVD "inputs" on the RF Modulator. Place components as desired but still disconnected from power. Plug in all power cables including the RF Modulator's into the surge protected outlet strip.

Step 5 Make sure the Channel select switch usually found on the back of the VCR and the Channel select switch on the RF Modulator are both set to Channel 3. This channel is used on the television to view your components.

Step 6 Turn on the power strip and turn on the TV. Cable reception should come on as usual. Set the TV to Channel 3 and turn on the VCR. With VCR on test it by playing a video tape. The RF Modulator should sense the signal and automatically switch to "VCR."

Step 7 Switch off the VCR and with the television still on channel 3, turn on the DVD player. As the RF Modulator senses the DVD player signal and switches to DVD, its welcome screen should be seen on the television. Play a DVD to test and once you're done with the DVD turn it off and the cable should come back on.

It's a text box for either closed captioning or demonstration mode. Go into the setup menu and turn off closed captioning. If you have trouble doing that, then just restore factory settings.

I've had a similar problem, It was not the TV or the DVD player but the SCART junction box (a separate unit that automatically sent the live input to the output SCART socket, to fix I just uses a spare empty input socket.

if you don't have one of these units try with a different SCART socket or AV input also try replacing the leads between the player and TV.

make sure the subtitles are turned off on the tv and the player

You should be connecting video in of Dvdrecorder to video out of Tv.
Samir

If you have the DVD Player connected to the vcr, it is the copy right protection software that is doing it, this is on every single DVD to defer con artist. A way to fix this, is to get a video image stabilizer, or find a way to work around the VCR. If this does not fix the problem, it is possible that the video output on the DVD Player is malfunctioning somehow