OK, I'll start at the beginning.......
I've got a Daewoo TV with integrated Freeview,
Bought a Sony RDR HX525 from John Lewis, V.cheap but with no manual, leads, remote etc. Iwas told by the salesman that this'd receive the freeview signal from the tv. (Yeah - I believed a salesman, D'oh!)

So after finally realizing it could'nt in fact receive FView I got a cheap Freeview box from good ol' Tescos and started again.

After two days of cable hell I still can't get the recorder to find a freeview signal and I'm starting to think I've got an expensive Sony paper-weight!

One more thing - the PDF manual I D/loaded seemed incomplete and have now updated my PDF reader and have all the pages. Now I see references to a "G-Link" cable. From what i can deduce I think this is just for the TV Guide function but would not having this lead prevent me from picking up the freeview signal?

Apologies for the length of this post but I'm at my wits end here! Can anyone offer ANY advice and end this hell? Pretty- please?

First... it is possible to record using the TV tuner but it depends on the TV. I have a Sony RX710 connected to my Toshiba LCD by SCART. The TV has a timer and can be configured to output composite back down the SCART to the recorder. You need to check the TV manual and if it says it will check the options to see whether the output is configured correctly.
Second.. the recorder will not 'find' the Freeview signal unless you plan to use the aerial and have daisychained the aerial in the right order - wal socket to Freeview box to DVD recorder to TV.
Far better to daisychain the Freeview box through the DVD recorder using SCART leads - Freeview to DVD recorder to TV.
If you do this I suspect you will find the Freeview box by changing the channel down on the DVD recorder - BBC1 to Line 4, Line 3 etc.

Does any of this make sense?

An HX525 will never find a freeview signal, it doesn't have a digital tuner. You would need the HDX model for that.

To record freeview on an HX system you need to connect the separate Freeview box to the SCART socket or S-Video input, and select one of the "Line" inputs for recording (L1, L2, L3 etc.). Most Freeview STBs don't have an RF output, so they don't send the decoded Freeview signal out the aerial socket, they just loop-through the aerial signals to the TV. The Freeview box will have to handle all the digital aspects (EPG etc.), the HX525 will act basically like a VCR.

Just a quickie to say thanx to you both (cp2 & SteveMcK) for taking the time to help. I managed to sort it out using 3 scart leads, a lot of fiddling around, and by ignoring the manuals for all three products! (They each said something different and none worked!)

I can now record freeview to my heart's content - just a shame there's bugger-all worth recording!

So once again, cheers guys.

Great, glad you got it sorted out!