Hi,

I've got a DVR-520H. RGB output to TV on AV1, and freeview box RGB input to AV2. When the DVD recorder's off and it's doing a direct passthrough, the display's fine, just as if the freeview box is plugged directly into the TV. It's also fine when playing back recordings from the freeview box.

But when I've got the DVD recorder on, and I'm watching freeview on L1, the picture's pale and looks like it's of greatly degraded quality - I can't find any picture settings that will fix it. None of the defaults, and I tried anything that looked applicable on custom (and some things that didn't).

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

Not sure if this will help, but try pressing the TV/DVD button on the remote. I've never got my head around what it does exactly, but it certainly cured a few problems I had (to do with widescreen switching) when viewing a passed-through signal with the recorder turned on.

Also make sure the Pio's external input is set to accept RGB.
Last edited by Chris Simon : 06-09-2006 at 18:09

That worked a treat, thanks Chris! What a weird way for it to operate.

I think it's because when you take the recorder out of standby, it 'takes over' the video output and rather than simply passing through what's being received at the input, it sucks it in, processes it, then outputs it again. Generally, you'll lose widescreen switching as it uses Pin 8 on the SCART plug for its own purposes and doesn't pass through what's coming in at the input.

VCRs have always worked in the same way. You can pass through a Sky box signal for example, but when you switch the VCR on you lose widescreen from the passed through signal.

With VCRs, you'll also notice that your display suddenly changes from RGB to composite (because VCRs can only output composite, even though they can pass through RGB), which will cause the sort of deterioration in quality that you're seeing. However, unless you haven't got your input and output set to RGB, I don't understand why you'd see this effect with a DVD recorder.

Anyway, pressing the TV/DVD button effectively restores the pass-through capability even when the recorder's switched on. I think. Like I said, I don't fully understand it. What it does is to switch between DVD mode (when the DVD recorder generates its own output) and TV mode (which allows you to watch the TV signal without interference from the recorder). Have a look at the explanation in the manual. It didn't help me, but the penny might just drop with you!
Last edited by Chris Simon : 06-09-2006 at 20:29