I promise I'm not sitting around making up odd problems--but I have another oddity for which I need help.

I won't go through the whole history of how I discovered this; I'll just describe it.

I have my old Sharp VCR hooked up to my 990 at Video 4 input--just the analog R and L audio and the single video cable. (There's no dgital or composite or S-video output from this old guy.)

Of course, to use the 990's on-screen menus, I have a hook-up to the TV via composite cables. Apparently that's the only way to watch anything that comes through the analog video inputs also, right? At least, to find a signal from the VCR at all, that's what I have to use. Okay--no problem.

When the power of the VCR is ON, I get the television CABLE signal that passes through the VCR just fine. AND I can also use the 990's on-screen menu function just fine--but with a TV image behind it. The latter is weird, but no biggie.

Now we start getting to the problem. If I turn the VCR power OFF and try to use the 990's on-screen menus, I get a horizontaly-split video screen, with the menu in the top half and nothing but noise in the bottom.

By experimenting, I've found that the screen is always split when the VCR power is off and I'm usng the 990's composite output. The 990's messages always show in the top half of the screen, and the bottom half is noise.

So this part of the problem MUST have something to do with the 990, since the VCR has no power when this happens. Something about having an analog input (the VCR) that's sending nothing to the 990's composite output, maybe?

Second part of the problem--or maybe a second problem: turn on the VCR, and I'm pleasantly watching the TV signal. But then I try to use the VCR to play a tape. When the tape first starts I get the "play" signal from the VCR displaying on the video screen just as it should; but then I either get (A) a horizontally-split screen with nothing but blue in the top and a noisy version of the TV signal in the bottom, or (B) I get a black screen with the "no signal" message. Almost always when A happens, in a few seconds, it switches to B. So I'm assuming that when B happens, this means that either the TV or the 990 has decided it can't decipher the conflicting signals in the two halves of the sreen and has shut down.

There seem to be two variables then: whether the VCR power is on or off, and whether I'm trying to play a tape or not. (1) If the VCR power is OFF, the video screen via the 990 composite output is always split. (2) If the VCR power is ON, the screen is fine UNLESS I try to play a tape, at which point it either splits or I get "no signal."

The problem is not in the VCR: I can watch it just fine through the coax cable that runs straight to the TV (not through the 990).

Anybody got any ideas? Thanks.