Idiot's guide required to record Freeview channels on a VCR

John_Gray

I have just rearranged all my RF and Scart connections according to this diagram (select TV & Digital Box, 2 Scart Sockets, Video and DVD Player). And yes, I checked them again!

As far as I can tell, everything works with the exception of recording Freeview channels to the VCR.

The VCR is an old Panasonic, and I record the five analogue channels without problems by setting up the appropriate channel 1-5 in the menu, also date, start time and end time, in the usual way. If I select (say) channel 24 (ITV4) and set it to record something, what gets played back is simply wavy vertical black and white lines, presumably 'no signal'.

I am clearly missing something fundamental - can someone tell me or hint at what I should be doing? Thanks!

closed

is the vcr channel set to AV in

Better off with a pvr really

buglawton

2+ years ago I ditched the VCR to make way for a single box to both receive and record all Freeview channels.

Best decision ever. Can record 2 channels at the same time, can auto record a series etc. And no more cluttery video tapes lying around.

I suggest take the plunge and do the same!

John_Gray

Thanks to both of you - but you clearly missed my earlier thread!

closed wrote: »

is the vcr channel set to AV in

A good question! How would I do this, please?

closed

no saw the other thread, nothing to stop you buying one now unless I'm missing something.

keep changing the vcr channel until it goes to whatever the av channel is for the scart input.

macman

Your VCR's built -in tuner is analogue only. So you can't record Freeview from that. As explained above, you need to import the Freeview channel in from the TV.
The problem with this set up is that it will preclude you from watching one channel while you record another, which (for most people) is the whole point of a VCR or PVR.

spakkker

I didn't miss your old thread , maybe you did as you were told what to do in it -post #12
Sometimes the remote number keys don't select av but often just using channel down/up button will -av often below ch1 or ch0. There may well be a key on the remote just to select av source. When watching a video recording try and just stop playback and either re-tune the vcr or,best, just select av on the vcr and you should see the freeview channel the freeview box is tuned into

ukcarper

As closed says you should set your video recorder to AV then you should be able to record what’s on digital box. If you TV is digital you will be able to watch a different channel if it’s analogue you should still be able to watch one of the analogue channel on TV.

Have you got a button on VCR remote labelled AV have a look in manual for VCR. could try 0 on remote.

John_Gray

Thanks, I will try to find the video recorder manual, but as it predates Freeview I'm not sure how helpful it will be - if I find it...

ManAtHome

I used a Sony VCR in the early days of freeview - there was a button on the handset to cycle the input round the aerial, scart1, scart2 (pretty sure selected input was shown on the VCR). Then it was freeview box on and channel selected, switch VCR to scart1, set record times and go.

arealhighlander

John_Gray wrote: »

Thanks, I will try to find the video recorder manual, but as it predates Freeview I'm not sure how helpful it will be - if I find it...

It doesn't really matter if it predates freeview or not?

As your VCR is analogue, you cannot receive TV pictures on it and record them. What you CAN do is record the video and sound which is coming out of your Freeview box (via the Scart cable).

To select this to record you need to set the VCR to view the AV input (Audio Visal input) or Scart connector. As the others have said, you select this usually by pressing a button marked AV or sometimes a circle with an arrow through it. Note that you will only be able to record what the Freeview box is showing and the box will also have to be on at the same time.