TV ,DVD,Video ,freeview help heeded

ginger_nuts

anyone know how I should set up a TV ,DVD recorder ,Video & freeview
I have a set up off sorts but I cant record anything from freeview .
Tv 2 scart
DVD 2 scart
Freeview 2 scart
video 1 scart

Joe_Bloggs

Run your DVD off one of the TV scarts. Connect the other of the TV scarts to the Freeview box scart 1. Connect Scart 2 of the freeview box to the video scart socket. One of the freeview scart sockets can often be made to avoid using on screen information,eg channel number, and have an audio signal that is not affected by the freeview remote control. You also are going to have to setup your video to record from it's scart. These scarts are often bi-directional. You may have to read the manual to have it record from the scart rather than the inbuilt tuner. For playback you will have to depend upon scart pass through from the output of the video scart through both freeview scart sockets to the TV. This should happen when the freeview box is on standby.
Timer recording will involve setting both video and freeview box timers.
J_B.
Have you seen this :- http://www.firebox.com/?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=1202

ginger_nuts

how do I set it up to record using the DVD recorder

Joe_Bloggs

Sorry, I read it as a DVD player. So you could put your DVD recorder in between the freeview box and the video recorder or insert the DVD recorder in place of the freeview box and move the freeview box down one place along the scart chain. In the first case you can record freeview to video tape and to DVD. You can't view the video when you are using the DVD recorder to record freeview.
In the second case you can view DVD output whilst recording Freeview to video.
The problem here is the lack of Freeview tuners. If you got another small freeview box and connected that that to the DVD recorder you could then watch any free view channel whilst recording the other to video or DVD as in my original suggestion.

There is a picture quality issue here. Your Freeview box is converting a digital mpeg2 signal into an analogue copy for display/recording with a TV/recorder. The DVD recorder is converting this analogue signal into an mpeg2 type signal in real time at a cost of quality versus size versus encoding time. Were the freeview decoder built into the DVD recorder then then only the original digital data transmitted/received need be recorded.
J_B.