CONVERTER box instead of OLD VCR

[JohnGri]

I am using an old VCR as a converter to play my 2600 on a modern TV.  I thought I could use a converter BOX such as ALURATEK ADTB01F.  I connected the Atari output cable to an Atari 2600 TV Adapter F Type Male to RCA Female RF Coax Coaxial Connector (aka Widget).  I connected a coax cable from the widget to the coax input of the ALURATEK. I scanned channels and put the tuner on channel 3 but no game appeared on the screen. if an old VCR can do this, I'm surprised the new converter did not. I thought the components in the VCR that made it work were a tuner and a  RF input were the key to solving this.  I wonder if the difference is the VCR  tuner is analog and the ALURATEK is digital? Is there a way to accomplish this without using a VCR?

 

I was able to use that widget to connect the Atari  to another modern TV. I think the reason the other tv worked is  because while it is fairly new it is not a smart TV ( I think the term "not so smart" TV has been coined for these kind )

 

Thanks in advance, John

[+MrZarniwoop]

The typical use case for an old VCR is as an RF demodulator (tuning analog RF TV signals from your Atari 2600) and then using the VCR's composite video output and RCA audio outputs to modern TVs that lack an old analog RF TV tuner by using composite video/RCA audio inputs. That does not appear to be what your box does.

 

Your box looks like it takes QAM digital TV over RF (like over-the-air HD TV from an antenna), and primarily acts as an analog TV RF modulator along with some other features. The primary use case looks like watching/recording modern digital TV broadcasts on older TVs that can tune to old analog RF TV channels 3/4.