Hi there,

I have sky digital connected to my new DVR-433H-S - i have configured it the same as my last DVD recorder for RGB quality recordings.

I have also configured the Outputs in the menus for RGB.

The weird problem i have, is that when viewing SKY through AV1\L1 - the picture ISN'T RGB - BUT it records it in RGB.

Say i put on ALLO ALLO - when watching it "live" its wishy washy NON RGB quality...

IE When i play it back on HDD via the menu (in fact even just pressing MENU the screen changes to RGB) - the picture is SOLID RGB quality.

Surely, it should ALWAYS be in RGB mode when viewing "live" just like when you press HOME MENU and play it back....

Any ideas guys!?

Cheers....

PS when i put the recorder into standby - i get a nice solid RGB sky digi pic.

All you need to do is change the recorder from DVD mode to TV mode(or vice versa).
There is a single button on the remote that will do this,but offhand I can't remember which one it is.
Give it a go

THANK YOU!!!

You press SHIFT and TV/DVD - that was really annoying me.

(why would you not want it on though i.e other mode....)

OMG - thanks!! I have a 630 and this has been puzzling me too. When the recorder is taken out of standby, the Sky picture goes back to 4:3 and composite. I just accepted it really as my VCR does the same thing - if the Sky box is connected pass-through on its Ext socket then when the VCR is switched on the RGB and 16:9 disappear.

I misunderstood the explanation of the TV/DVD button in the manual. I thought it meant that DVD mode displays what the recorder is outputting and TV mode displays what the TV is tuned to. In other words, it would just turn off the Active pin so that the TV would revert back to its original channel before the recorder became active. Since I don't have terrestrial reception, this would be no use to me as the TV isn't tuned to anything, only AV1 which is what the recorder is on. But it seems this function makes the Ext socket pass through RGB as normal.

Good - i'm glad my post has helped not just me!

Yeah, that button is misleading, looks like it changes TV to DVD if you had a Pioneer TV and DVD player - so the numbers worked the DVD and TV etc...

I've only just set the unit up, but im pondering now, can i play commercial VHS tapes and record to DVD to edit and dump to DVD ?

I read about a COPY hack here:

_ttp://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?dvdplayer=dvr-433h&hits=50

Not sure if the copy hack will stop the macrovision encryption to enable you to copy VHS tapes...

I've just checked the description in the manual:

TV mode: picture and sound from the TV's tuner
DVD mode: picture and sound from the recorder's tuner or external input

So it doesn't make sense to me because my TV's tuner isn't tuned to anything. But hey, it works!

Ah, it's just dawned on me what's happening. SCART Pin 8 is the key to this.

My TV is actually permanently set to AV1, not an internal tuner preset, and is what the recorder is connected to.

As I suspected, changing the recorder to TV mode removes its active signal (12v) from Pin 8, thereby putting the TV back to what it was originally, which is still AV1 so I still get Sky. With me so far?

Pin 8 from the Sky box is then passed through as normal, which will be 6v, which is the signal for 16:9. So the picture goes back to 16:9.

The reason why the TV goes to 4:3 when the recorder is switched on is because the recorder puts 12v on Pin8 to say "I'm active" - which is also the signal for 4:3. It doesn't pass through the Pin8 from the Sky box.

LOL!

Mani, you definately can record from your VCR onto HDD as I've been doing so over the past few days (only had mine a week). You only get 4:3 .. or at least I do and the quality is what you would expect but it'll do until the film is on TV.
Talking of which I recorded Oh Brother where Art Thou a couple of days ago, edited it, grumbled at the quality, the missus went out and bought it as a surprise and we saw an advert last nigth saying it was on TV on Sunday Hry ho.

I keep re-reading this thread as I think it lies at the root of my 4:3/16:9 issues but I can't get it to sink in. I'm like others in that when I turn the DVR on a lot of programs from Sky turn back to 4:3 (not all though). To my mind the programs didn't seem to be predictable (had thought at one stage they had been editted or filmed in 4:3) as some daily shows appear in 4:3 others click back to 16:9. Some modern programs such as Star Gate, Buffy are 4:3 whilst the news might be in 16:9.

Can I run my setp my you lot incase someone spots something out of place.

Sky Pace box setup for RGB, 16:9. Gold SCART connected to AV2/L1 on DVR. DVR set for RGB on both AV1 & AV2. AV1/OUT goes to Philips CRT AV1 which is set to AV (options are AV or S-video)

Sound, picture are fine apart from programs clicking to 4:3 If watched via DVR. Have thought about changing the setup to Sky to TV and Sky to DVR then DVR to TV if that would help but not got another decent qual. cable.

If I press TV/DVD the screen goes back to 16:9 but more importantly the sound goes to mono.

Any thoughts?

Mate,

I dont understand the problem.

It sounds like you don't have one.

Sky (and FREEVIEW) broadcast in both formats depending on what program it is...

UK gold for example showing the bill, will be broadcast in 4:3 format - if you then switched to BBC1 and the news was on - this will be in 16:9 - so the screen with "GROW" (switch to 16:9) if you then went back to UKGold, it should "SHRINK" to 4:3.

This is how its supposed to be!

Maybe it's just I just never realised how many programs are still broadcast in 4:3 Never really thought about it before as I've always watched Sky direct to TV which stretches virtually all programs (the odd sports program being the exception)

Would be nice to have a setup feature on the Pioneer to leave as is or stretch program..

why would you want to watch people looking fat and stretched >

I also discovered this problem but it was because I didn't have proper RGB until I connected up the Pioneer!

Lots of shows on Sky are still in 4:3 (Simpsons, Futurama, Malcolm in the Middle), and everything on the UKTV channels is also in 4:3.

Before I had my TV set to 16:9 and everything was 16:9 whether I liked it or not, which suited me okay at the time, but since I hooked up my Pioneer it seems that the 16:9 switching pin works fine now and it's flicking back and forth all the time.

The most annoying thing is where the programme's in 4:3 but the ads are in 16:9 so your TV has a field day flicking back and forth!

This can cause a problem too when you go to record your shows to DVD, if your HDD title contains both 16:9 and 4:3 footage then it flags it up with an exclamation mark.

James

Probably just being paranoid but can't help thinking that swapping screen size dozens of times per day can't be good for the TV. On mine there's a very audible click when it does so.
Last edited by Buelligan : 10-01-2006 at 16:21

Personally, I'm a great fan of keeping everything in the correct aspect ratio.

Most decent TVs will allow you to override the setting of the widescreen pin. If the worst comes to the worst, you might simply be able to cut that wire in the scart cable. (Don't blame me for any unintended side effects!)

Hear hear! (or is it here here)

Watch it how its meant to be viewed - thats what i say - lol.

(Im sure it won't harm your TV)

You can always turn off Scart Control on the Sky digi menu in picture settings.

I wish I could watch everything in the correct ratio, but my Samsung rear-projection telly puts stupid grey bars down the side rather than leaving it black and they are more distracting (and potentially damaging to the telly) than watching fat people.

u sure u cant turn grey to black on a menu somewhere?

If a 16:9 programme is displayed in 4:3,change the channel on the Pioneer up or down one then back again and this should then correct the ratio.
But if you record something,although the ratio changes seem to register ,the picture will not change back and forth between rations-or at least it won't on my 420.

That's possibly to do with your TV, rather than the Pioneer 420. (My TV occasionally misses changes of aspect ratio, and I have to do it manually).

i think this thread should be closed really - the objective was achieved by mongosito, and no longer seems to be serving any purpose.

cheers everyone!

No its not the tv.
My Panasonic never misses a ratio change whether through Freeview,Sky+ or DVD.
But when viewing Sky or Freeview via the Pioneer (usually only when recording something from either box) the Pioneer remains fixed ,even if I change from a 16:9 channel to a 4:3 channel it won't change.But if I channel up or down then back to L1 it corrects itself.
Of course if I record something with WSS on the Pioneer HDD,the WSS is lost on a real time copy ,but retained on high speed,as with chapter stops.
On the rare occasion I use rate conversion I record onto a -RW,then use the PC and IFO edit to manually add WSS before burning back to the -R

Sounds like a bug to me. Have you tried reporting it to Pioneer?

If anyone knows how I'd be much obliged, but I can't find anything

As its never caused me any problems and my 420 is discontinued,seems little point.
The Pioneers at least record WSS to all formats which is more than can be said for other brands