Watching a digital channel while watching another question.

Spark

I have an old fashioned TV (big box) and I just bought a VCR/DVD HDD combi with freeview. At the moment the DVD recorder is connected to the TV with a scart lead to the AV1 connection on the TV.
My problem is that at the moment I can record a digital channel while watching an analogue channel on the TV, but I cannot record a digital channel while watching another digital channel which will become more of a problem when everything will go digital.
I have a standalone digibox that I have used with my previous DVD recorder, if I connect the digibox to the AV2 connection on the television, will I be able to record one digital channel while watching another digital channel? If the answer is yes, how do I connect the antenna in and out cables?
At the moment it goes in the combi and out to the TV.(I hope you understand what I mean).

kwikbreaks

You can get a Freeview PVR for as little as £35...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Grundig-GUSTB80IV-80GB-HDD---Freeview-Video-Recorder_W0QQitemZ230371189976QQcmdZViewItem

(I'm not recommending that one it is just the cheapest that came up in a google shopping search that already had a disk in it)

That will record one channel to hard disk at broadcast quality while you watch another and most allow pause/rewind of live programs.

To my mind at that sort of price it's time to consign your VCR to landfill (or at least just use the DVD function)

coolagarry

I got this pvr for less than £50 and find it really good.

http://www.pvrempire.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=156

I have it and a dvd recorder on my main tv and to be honest I hardly ever record on my dvd recorder which keeps asking me questions. With the pvr you just find the programme you want in the 7 day guide and press OK... Even I can do that

Richard_Wells

Hi Spark,

OK, here goes........
Aerial coax lead from your TV aerial into the “RF in” on your digibox. Coax lead from the “RF Out” on your digibox to the “RF In” on your DVD Combi. Another coax lead from the “RF Out” on the DVD Combi into TV. Does that make sense?

SCART from digibox to DVD combi. SCART from DVD combi to TV.
However, this depends on how your SCARTs work on your components. So you may need to go SCART from digibox to TV and SCART from DVD Combi to TV.
Leave the aerial leads as above tho!

Let us know how you get on.

Taffybiker

Richard_Wells wrote: »

Hi Spark,

OK, here goes........
Aerial coax lead from your TV aerial into the “RF in” on your digibox. Coax lead from the “RF Out” on your digibox to the “RF In” on your DVD Combi. Another coax lead from the “RF Out” on the DVD Combi into TV. Does that make sense?

SCART from digibox to DVD combi. SCART from DVD combi to TV.
However, this depends on how your SCARTs work on your components. So you may need to go SCART from digibox to TV and SCART from DVD Combi to TV.
Leave the aerial leads as above tho!

Let us know how you get on.

I agree with the aerial setup, but the combi has a built in tuner so the scart should be from combi to tv, and another scart from digibox to tv. Of course, the tv will need 2 or more scart inputs.

Spark

The reason why I bought a VCR combi is because I still have some old VHS tapes with films that can't be found on DVD. I can copy them to DVD as well. The VCR on my previous combi was playing up, especially the rewind, not surprising after having recorded some TV programs almost every day for 3 years on VHS tapes while I was working(I had quite a few VHS tapes left from the era before the DVD takeover).
I am a bit slow at upgrading to new technologies as I like to use what I got and make things last as long as they can. Eventually, I am forced to upgrade sooner or later. When my digibox will stop working, I might replace it with a PVR, but for now the digibox and my old tv will do.
Thanks for the help with the connections, I will do it at the weekend as during the week I don't have much time to play about, but will let you know how I get on.

Spark

Done, I got the combi on AV1 and the digibox is connected with a scart lead to the AV2 scart socket on the television, I can record on AV1 while watching another digital channel on AV2. The picture from the digibox is not that good, you can see like another picture coming through in negative, especially when the picture is dark, but it's watchable, it's probably the fault of the cheap digibox, I bought it from woolworths before they closed down.
Something is intriguing me, normally on the TV (which is a widescreen), if I set the picture on 16:9, I have a black band on top and bottom of the picture, on the digibox channel I have the same, but for some reason the picture from the combi takes the entire screen, there is no black bands, it doesn't bother me that much, but I wonder why. I could find nothing in the manual that would explain it.
By the way, thanks for your help, it is much appreciated.:)

Richard_Wells

Thanks for reporting back

Re the picture on your digibox not being that good. As a test remove the combi from the loop and just have the aerial lead going into the digibox and SCART lead coming out of the digibox into the TV. No other connections. How is the picture now?

Re the black bands on the picture. Your combi obviously has a "stretch" feature which stretches the picture to fill the screen. Sometimes this feature is called "auto" or "smart" or similar. Perhaps you could have another hunt around in the manuals to see whether you can find it under those terms?
Are you sure you've not got the TV set to "16:9 letterbox"?