Hello

My father in law has a problem and I'm sure someone on here will know the answer.

He has a Samsung LE26R41DB LCD TV, with Freeview 'built in'. He has conencted his DVD recorder to it via Scart leads.

He can record fine manually if the TV is switched on and is showing what he wants to record (either digital or analogue), but when he turns the TV off it just records a blank screen. Also, when he switches from digital to analogue it seems to record whatever is showing on the screen.

Is there a way he can make the DVD recorder actually record something when the TV isn't on (e.g. during the day or late at night) or even record a digital programme while he is watching analogue (or vice versa)?!

cheers in advance !!

As far as i know the Samsung's can't do this.

You certainly can't record from it when it isn't switched on - hardly an TVs are capable of that. You wouldn't be able to record from a Freeview STB if it wasn't switched on either. You've come across the same problem that other people have identified - because the Freeview box is also a television set, there doesn't seem to be a way of splitting the two; that is, pick up and transmit the digital TV signal without displaying the signal on the screen. If it is something that he will want to do a lot of in the future, I would suggest he invests in either (a) a second STB, (b) a DVD recorder that has a built-in digital tuner or (c) a blanket to cover the screen when he is recording but doesn't want to watch.

As far as outputting DTV through the scart while watching something other than DTV, some can some can't. Looks like the Samsung can't.

I've only seen Sony's that can use the digital tuner while the TV itself is turned off.

Thanks for all your replies, looks like he'll have to go for a separate STB.

cheers again, I knew you would all come up trumps!

Panasonics can activatye the scart sockets using a timer for planned recordings while (say) you are out.

But even these cant record digital while watching analog, as the scarts output the signal to which the tuner is set to.

By far the simplest (and most cost effective) solution is to buy a cheap digibox and have it permanently connected to the DVDR for recording the '2nd' channel while you are watching the main channel via the TV tuner.

Digibox TV scart ---> DVDR AV2 (set to RGB)
DVDR AV1 (set to RGB) --- TV AV1 (the RGB scart)

Ext aeriel ---> digibox RF in
Digibox RF out ---> TV RF in


Rgds,
Scorp

Toshibas output the current digital channel that the set is tuned to, regardless of what is being watched. You can be watching Freeview, analogue terrestrial, Sky, a DVD or a video, and the current digital channel will still be being output on both scart sockets. Not much use to the OP admittedly, seeing as he's stuck with a Samsung...

Although it may help out other members in the future.

How do the TVscarts output digital channel 1 if you are watching (say) digital channel 2 to which the Tosh must presumably be tuned?

Unless, you mean via an external digibox which is usually connected to one of the scarts, in which case, you couldn't pick up the TV output at that point. I assume, by setting the TV to input (say) AV1 you are not affecting the output signal at the scart sockets...........fiendish...

Rgds,
Scorp

If i were watching digital and tuned to ITV2 then switched to Analogue, then the ITV2 would still be output on the scart.

As Telly_Man says, the Toshiba outputs its current Freeview channel via both scarts, regardless of whether you are watching DTV or not. It doesn't have two digital tuners in it, so you can't output More4 while watching BBC3, but it can output More4 while you are watching a DVD or a video or Sky or BBC1 on analogue. If you wanted to output one Freeview channel while watching another, then yes, you would need an STB. But it would make more sense to connect the STB to the DVDR, and just watch the Freeview channel that you wanted to watch on the TV.

In summary, it doesn't send the thing that is currently being viewed on the TV screen to its scart sockets. It sends the channel that it is receiving on its digital tuner to its scart sockets, regardless of whether you are watching the digital tuner programme or not. But the TV still needs to be switched on.

I understand what you are saying but I think you missed my point, which was that outputting a digital signal to a TV's scarts sockets is of little use if those scart sockets are occupied by the very devices you are referring to: DVD player, PS2 etc. An external box makes MUCH more sense, I agree.

With the Panasonic, the scarts can be activated independently of the panel for recording to a scart connected DVDR while you are out.

Rgds,
Scorp

I have my DVD recorder connected to AV1 of my TV. When watching a DVD, the signal is sent from DVDR to TV. When recording a DVD, the Freeview signal is sent from TV to DVDR. Works in both directions. And my VCR is connected to my TV using AV2, works in the same way. Sky is now Sky HD, so that uses HDMI for connectivity.