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Help connecting HDD to iDTV to record Freeview


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Old 31-12-2008, 22:11
harwookf
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I have a Samsung iDTV LE46A558 and a Pioneer DVR-720H HDD/DVD Recorder.

Currently, I have the aerial going into the HDD, then out to the TV. A scart lead is connected between AV1 (RGB) on the TV and AV1 on the HDD. (It was AV2 but kept changing to the channels when the machine switched on, etc.).

All the Freeview and analogue channels are working on the TV without any problem. Also I can record analogue channels on the HDD. However, I would like to be able to record from the Freeview channels.

Can anybody help with this?

Many thanks in advance.
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Old 01-01-2009, 11:03
Scorpio
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You have things connected correctly.

Turn on the DVDR and the TV, set the TV AV control to AV1 so that you can see the DVDR.

Obviously all menus are a little different but, essentially, you need to open the main menu on the DVDR, find the tuning menu, see if you can get into the DVB tuning menu and then do a channel search - some models will do a digital and analog search every time but no worries.

At the end, you may have to save channels but probably not. Check that you can use the channel guide to find programs to record and then (probably) select it to set a recording. You may have to power the DVDR down into 'timer recording' mode and the DVDR will power back up when the recording is due to start.

Rgds,
Scorp
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Old 01-01-2009, 13:56
Nigel Goodwin
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As far as I can tell from Pioneers website, it's an analogue only recorder.

He can record the channel he's watching on the TV (by recording from the SCART socket), but it will only be analogue composite quality.

The only real solution is to buy a proper recorder, with a digital tuner.
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Old 01-01-2009, 14:15
Chris Frost
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OK, so the Pioneer 720 has no built in Freeview tuner so you want to record from the TV's Freeview tuner - Right?

1) AV1 on the Pioneer 720 is an output. That means signals go only one way - from the 720 to the TV. You need to get a signal in to the 720 so you need a connection that is both an input and an output. You need to connect to AV2/L1 on the Pioneer otherwise it won't be able to 'see' the Freeview signal from the TV.

2) Your connection on the Samsung TV also needs to allow two-way traffic. Choose a SCART socket that is both an input and an output.

3) Set the Samsung TV to the Freeview channel to be recorded. Set the Pioneer manually or via the timer to record from AV2/L1. Note a) - you might need to leave the Samsung TV on so that it keeps supplying a TV signal to the SCART - check your manual on this. Note b) You must not change channels on the Samsung whilst the Pioneer is recording.


If it's inconvenient to leave the TV on or to not change channels then you could always look at getting a Freeview box and hooking that in to AV2/L1 instead.

Regards

Chris
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Old 01-01-2009, 17:19
Scorpio
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I'd go with the last point in Chris's post - buying a sperate freeview box, so as not to tie up the TV.

Anyway, recording in this way will always be more cumbersome than with a seperate Freeview box - or better still, a twin tuner PVR.

Scorp
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Old 01-01-2009, 18:06
harwookf
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Thanks all for your replies.

I had tried scanning for channels again and this still only picked up the analogue ones.

When the Scart is in AV2/L1 it keeps changing the channel automatically on the telly when switching on to record, which is a real pain.

Keeping the telly on the same channel would be a problem as well as not being able to turn it off.

You confirmed my thoughts, so have bought a Panasonic DMR-EX98VEBK as I wanted a VCR to transfer to DVD as well. Awaiting delivery on this, but it has a single tuner with Freeview too.

Do you know if this would need to be set up any differently? I'm not sure if I will still want to keep the Pioneer as well, so would appreciate 2 connecting options just in case.

Thanks again.
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Old 01-01-2009, 19:09
bobcar
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To be honest you probably would have been better buying a dual tuner PVR and keeping the old DVDR - it would have been much cheaper and better. Do you have to go through with this order?
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Old 01-01-2009, 19:45
Nigel Goodwin
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To be honest you probably would have been better buying a dual tuner PVR and keeping the old DVDR - it would have been much cheaper and better. Do you have to go through with this order?
I would agree, a dual tuner PVR would be a lot better, and keep the analogue DVD recorder for archiving programmes from it.
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Old 01-01-2009, 21:34
Scorpio
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another post to second the above, dont buy another DVDR, use the current one for archiving and a new PVR for timeshift etc.
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