I got a DVD recorder for Christmas. It’s really outstandingly cool. Just being able to record stuff and then delete it afterwards with the press of a button is about the coolest thing ever. Yes, I am easily amused.
However, I’ve got something of a complex setup as regards telly stuff. You see, there’s not only the DVD recorder, but a VCR, the set-top-box for cable, the TV, and a magic retransmitter box. The magic retransmitter box broadcasts the TV signal it is fed so that it can be picked up by other TVs in the house, meaning that the STB can be in my living room and my daughter can watch cable channels like CBeebies in her playroom. Coolness incarnate.
Other requirements: record videos onto DVD (so I can take the last ten years of taped-off-the-telly films and put them on DVD, getting some space back—not for hiring videos from Blockbuster and taping them); record DVDs onto video (so that Sam can take stuff we’ve got on DVD/VCD/SVCD and play it at school—again, not for ripping off copyrighted stuff); record cable channels and ordinary telly onto video or DVD at my choice.
So, after some serious fiddling about and some help from andyfras over at the UK radio and telly forums I came up with the following:
It’s all fun, this audio-visual stuff, I tell you. Even more fun than the last time I did this. Fortunately, since the last time I got new kit (a DVD player, two years ago) I’ve bought a new TV, which has modern inputs like SCART, so it wasn’t as bad this time.
Looks interesting, Aq. Comments. Wouldn’t you get better playback quality from the DVD recorder if you connect it to the TV via a SCART? Why have you got two connections (AV to AV and RF to RF) from the recorder to the TV?
I’ve got a very similar setup (except no retransmitter).
Posted by davee on January 4th, 2005.
davee:
Yes, I would get better playback quality from the DVD if it used SCART to the TV. However, as you’ll see from the diagram, the DVD has two SCART sockets: one input, one output. The output one can’t be connected to the TV, because it’s already connected to the VCR (so that the VCR can record DVDs).
There are two connections because the DVD needs to be able to see the RF (so that it can record TV channels) and so does the TV: I could split the RF in two after the VCR and send one to the TV and one to the DVD, but instead it just passes through the DVD. The DVD doesn’t actually seem to output on RF, though, so the AV connection allows me to see DVDs on the TV.
Posted by sil on January 4th, 2005.
Gotta love this fun with wires stuff. I always enjoy wiring my 3 consoles, tv, video and hi-fi together to meet my somewhat odd use cases. All the hassle of planning it out is always worth it though.
Posted by Gary Fleming on January 4th, 2005.
There’s never enough SCART inputs on tellies.
We got a dvd recorder/vhs combination for Christmas too, and it’s fantastic. All those scratchy old pop tv appearances I use to record off various odd Channel 4 programmes can now be permanently archived on much cheaper (and smaller!) DVD-Rs…
Posted by steve w on January 5th, 2005.
Having read the above perhaps you can help me with my very simple but baffling (to me problem). I have a good but old Sony TV (it has 2 scart sockets), connected to a luvly JVC vid-rec and then my cable NTL digital box. Some how things have gone wrong, possibly daughter using a DVD player or her old Nintendo, pulling things out of sockets and putting back incorrectly. So, I cannot watch tv whilst recording. I have managed to set the Vid up thru the terristrial aerial socket on the wall, and can get BBC1 thru to Channel 5 and can use Videoplus but as soon as I push the clock and the Vid goes onto timer record, I cannot get back to any channel. Can you help?? Vronks
Posted by v-gilbert@ntlworld.co.uk on January 11th, 2005.
Vronks: blimey, no. I don’t actually know much about this stuff. I recommend you try the UK radio and TV forum who were very helpful when I had problems!
Posted by sil on January 11th, 2005.
Hi all, I wish I had come upon this site before I spent over 9
(yes 9)hours fixing up a panasonic dvd ram recorder. Trying to follow the intructions was a nightmare on its own. I myself have other machines attatched to my telly. I got myself really confused with all the cables and connections. Finally I succeeded through trial and error. Never again. I’m 64 and am getting past it for all this modern stuff and jargon. (not really though). It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one suffering with the setup problems. Good luck to all of you.
John Smith
Posted by John on April 21st, 2005.
Just a word of thanks for the diagram above for setting up a DVD recorder.
I had just about given up trying to find my set-up in the ones described in the manual until I saw this diagram. Brilliant!
Posted by alan on December 3rd, 2005.
i’ve just recently bought a dvd recorder, and although i’ve set it up to my tv and sky, i can’t get any sound from it.if the dvd rec is off(or on standby) then i can get pic’s and sound, but as soon as i turn on the dvd rec then the sound goes off, still got the pic, but no sound. anybody know what i’ve done wrong.
theres only tv, digital box, and dvd rec, no vcr or redirector,
Please help
Posted by chrisboldy on December 18th, 2005.
PLEASE CAN YOU HELP I NEED TO CONNECT MY NTL DIGITAL BOX AND DVD RECORDER TO MY TV WHICH HAS TWO SCART INLETS AT THE BACK
BUT AFTER TRYING FOR SEVEARL HOURS AND DAYS CAN GET NOWHERE
CAN YOU PLEASE HELP
Posted by JOHN SCULLION on January 19th, 2006.
Thanks for the useful wiring diagram. Just one or two queries if you could help me. The scart leads - could you tell me which socket they are going into on each device, AV1 or AV2? You refer to ’scart out’ on the DVD recorder but I don’t know if that is AV1 or AV2. (What does AV stand for anyway?). I’m also confused by the cable that goes between the DVD recorder and the TV and is labled AV at either end. Is this a scart cable or RF cable and which sockets are you plugging it into? I don’t seem to have any sockets on my kit labled AV apart from the AV1 and AV2 scart sockets. Hope you can help. Many thanks.
Posted by Len Carr on February 1st, 2006.
hope i dont bore you iv just purchased a panosonic dvd recorder with buil in free view im also on a NTL set box on video plus i can set it up for terrestial programes but it wont work on the NTL ones can anyone tell me how to get it working ok the machine is panosonic DMR ES 20 D
Posted by Bill Frearson on February 3rd, 2006.
Recently bought Panasonic DMRES30V (dvd/vhs recorder) to go with Samsung HDTV (with built in frreview). However cannot record as yet the TV images. The Panasonic only has the 5 terrestial channels and these are shown in poor quality when the box is on. Does anyone know how to solve this problem?
Posted by DS on February 10th, 2006.
can anyone help please. i have a (panasonic tv 2 scarts) (panasonic dvd recorder 2 scarts) (panasonic video recorder 2 scarts) (sky box 2 scarts) (1x security camera scart lead) the scart lead for the security camera has to be into the dvd recorder as it can record for 142 hours. i also have a 6 way aerial box which feed the upstairs tv’s.can anyone work this one out as its doing my head in .Thanks
Posted by percy on February 11th, 2006.
percy, you may need to buy a “Multi SCART adaptor” as I think your TV does not have enough scart sockets. They are readily available in many shops, notably even in TESCO. Also, please could anyone reading this refer to my previous post in relation to my problem.
Posted by DS on February 12th, 2006.
Bill Frearson, we have similar problems with similar boxes. My recorder does not show my Freeview images. Yours does not show your NTL images. I’ll share with you my instructions from Panasonic (which I have not tried out as yet):
“We would advise that in order to record digital stations please ensure that
the TV’s AV2 is connected to the DVD recorder AV1 via SCART and that in theAV set up menu, the AV2 is set to DVB out. Once you have this connectionplease select the correct source to record from by locating the ‘INPUT SELECT’ button on the DVD’s remote control.
Press this button twice so that the DVD-LCD screen shows A2 where the
channel select would normally be. Once this shows A2 press the ‘RECORD
button on your DVD and this will then record the digital programme being
shown.
If you wish to timer record or watch an analogue channel you would need to
set the DVB timer and tuner lock on the TV, after which you should be able
to watch an analogue channel while recording a digital channel. You will
not be able to watch a digital channel while recording another digital
channel.”
If this works or this helps please tell me. Byee.
Posted by DS on February 12th, 2006.
Len Carr, I dunno what you need to do but I do know that AV stands for “Audio Visual”.. Oh, and sorry for posting so many messages in a row, y’all!
Posted by DS on February 12th, 2006.
Help, for Christmas we bought a Panasonic dvd/vhs DMR-ES30VEB and a Philips LCD tv with built in freeview (the dogs do dah we thought)! This to compliment the NTL digibox we already had.
Does anyone have a clue as to how we can record from the NTL system all we can get are the standard ITV/BBC channels. Even the youngster are at a loss, so being middle aged, I’ve no chance.
Now getting to the stage where I’m tempted to send the whole lot back. any help most welcome.
Posted by Phil on February 22nd, 2006.
Phil, you have the same box and problems as me…are your terrestrial pictures also of poor quality?…try pressing “INPUT SELECT” for now (1 or 2 times)… you will see your digibox pictures and will be able to record them, i think. can anyone help the pair of us? LET’S PUT PRESSURE ON PANASONIC!!!
ps in my case i am the youngster and my grandmother owns the box and I don’t know what to do either lol!
Posted by DS on February 22nd, 2006.
Can You Please Help
For three days now i have been trying to connect a brand new dvd recorder with hard drive (Daewoo DHR 8100P)i can get sound but no picture,I need to connect to my digibox NTL,Hopefully through my home cinema system.a diagram would be helpful as instructions are not good.
Tv and dvd recorder both have two scarts as does ntl box.
All Help would really be appreciated.
Ken
Posted by ken on March 12th, 2006.
How do I connect the following please- TV Sony KLVL23MI to DVD Recordr Sony HX510 to NTL box and a Sony VCR SLV 525 plus a amp for a TV in the bedroom.
All help would be appreciated.
Allan
Posted by Allan Paice on March 15th, 2006.
We bought a new PANASONIC dvd recorder with HD at Christmas and the bloody thing has never given good results. Now we have bought a new TV with Freeview and even though it has Smartlink (QLink) it refuses point blank to find them when we program the channels either by AUTO or Download from Box…. It’s driving me mad……..All we get on Down load is Channel 4 and with AUTo we just get 4 analogue chaneels and sky… none of them too good. We have tried a signal booster… still crap . Any bright ideas…. Thanks, Mike
Posted by mike on April 13th, 2006.
Freeview via cable? If you get your TV from a cable provider such as Telewest or NTL, you won’t be able to watch Freeview on a Freeview set-top box using your cable TV aerial wiring - this is because cable companies don’t send digital terrestrial TV signals down their cable system. To get Freeview, you need to connect a Freeview box (or digital TV set) to a standard TV aerial that’s pointing at a digital TV transmitter. hope this helps. if so get back to me at david.sand@ntlworld.com
apparently ntl dont send digital signal.mmmm?.
dave
Posted by david on June 27th, 2006.
i hav a dvd player and video player and i want 2 no how 2 plug them in 2 a tv so that i can record a dvd to a video tape
i need 2 no hw 2 put in 2 sets of AV wires
plzzzz help my problem
contact me at my e-mail as soon as posible
thanx
zaz
Posted by zaz on July 9th, 2006.
i have got a hd ready tv with freeview and have just bought a dvd recorder.
I have set it up in the same way as my analogue tv with dvd recorder where everything is fine.
On my hd ready tv the channels are set and the recorder works but the screen is constantly green.
How do i make the picture normal
Thanks
Posted by Ryan on July 10th, 2006.
Hi
This site may help a little tho it doesnt show DVD Recorder connections
http://www.dtg.org.uk/consumer/connection_wizard.html
Gerry
Posted by Gerry on August 11th, 2006.
Hi We ahve a dvd recorder, which we want to set up impossible when we set it up to the tv and digital box if we get it top copy we can then not erase the dvd without changing all the cables. When we change the cabels we can erase a dvd but then it comes up with no signal so cannot record. We have a TV a DVD Recorder, a digibox what r we doing wrong. Please Help
Posted by Pat on August 25th, 2006.
Hello, I have a TV set, Video recorder, DVD player, and a Sky satelite box. Also i have a TV Aerial withh booster, connected through a coaxial hub running to other rooms in the house, to be able to watch different programs than the Sky program selected on the main set. Needless to say it is not working properly. I have to unplug the Scart from the DVD, connect it to the video to be able to use it. Also I cant tape from any Sky channels. Could you please show me the correct cable connections. If thats not enough I have a Scart plug comming from my hi-fi amp, with no place for it to go.
Posted by Geoff Matthews on September 1st, 2006.
I have dvd recorder,vcr and home theater system how can I hook them up? i just got dish network. Thanks
Posted by Anonymous on September 27th, 2006.
I HAVE JUST BROUGHT A TOSHIBA REGZA 32C3030D LCD HD DIGITAL TV.I HAVE AN NTL DIGITAL BOX AND DVD RECORDER WITH HARDRIVE.MY PROBLEM IS WHEN I TRY TO RECORD NTL IS RECORDS THE FREEVIEW FROM THE TV.CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME BY SENDING ME A DIAGRAM OF HOW YOU THINK I SHOULD CONNECT THEM UP.THE TV HAS TWO SCART SOCKETS AVAILABLE.HOPE YOU CAN HELP PAUL
Posted by paul salmon on May 17th, 2007.
I just bought a Panasonic DVD recorder DMR-EZ28, with a tuner, I have a Comcast digital cable box, and a VCR and hooked everything up according to the manual, but, now I can’t access any of my on demand features, thru my cable box, because I have to go thru my DVD recorder to change channels, is ther any way around this,
My other panasonic DVD player(not recorder), just went hooked up directly to my TV, without attaching thru the cable box. I also tried to play a DVD which worked, but I couldn’t get the TV to show a VCR movie. I have to put my TV on the “S-video” input mode.
What can i do,
Thanks
Barry
Posted by Anonymous on September 9th, 2008.