How to find engineer to configure all my tv/dvd etc kit

split_second

scart from tv to v box
scart from dvd to tv

dvd might need routing through the v box though

usignuolo

Well house is empty now, family have gone home and OH has gone out, so will see what I can do.
Spud - I tried the wizard thanks but for some reason the final diagram did not display, the one showing how it all linked up!

usignuolo

Been busy all over Christmas but found time to play with new Panasonic box today. Followed Downhillfast's instructions re cabling up and now looking at Panasonic box displaying AV1 which I assume is correct to record from tv.

How do I record from VHS - just insert tape in VHS drive and dvd in dvd drive and press playrecord option on zapper, or do I have to put V+ box on standby first?

googler

usignuolo wrote: »

How do I record from VHS - just insert tape in VHS drive and dvd in dvd drive and press playrecord option on zapper, or do I have to put V+ box on standby first?

The instructions for copying VHS to either the Hard Drive or directly to DVD are on pages 66, 68 and 69 of the manual.

Essentially, select the Function menu and follow the manual from there.

It's all internal to the Pana, so it won't care whether or not another box is powered up or in standby.

If you want to edit the content of the VHS before committing it to DVD, then consider copying it to the hard drive rather than DVD directly. On the HDD, you can do partial deletes, divide the tape into individual titles, name them accordingly, then when you put them on DVD you have a menu structure, rather than a big uncategorised wodge of stuff from the VHS.

Note that if you recorded the tape on a Panasonic machine, and it has the correct index points at the beginning of titles, then the machine will divide it up according to these index points automatically and give you seperated titles on the HDD - however, it backtracks by 10s or so at each point, so you need to trim the beginning and end of the titles on the HDD before committing them to DVD.

googler

I take it from the Thanks that we're making progress....?

usignuolo

Yes and No, I am sure I have it cabled up correctly but when I put in a VHS tape and a dvd and tell it to record from VHS to DVD, nothing happens. Maybe I need to put the V+ box which is on AV1 on standby first?

googler

usignuolo wrote: »

Yes and No, I am sure I have it cabled up correctly but when I put in a VHS tape and a dvd and tell it to record from VHS to DVD, nothing happens. Maybe I need to put the V+ box which is on AV1 on standby first?

As I said, going from VHS to DVD or VHS to HDD is all internal to the Pana, and it won't care how you have the cables connected, as long as you press the right buttons to kick it off. When you press buttons on the Pana, can you see the result of what you've pressed on the TV screen?

What do you MEAN by 'nothing happens'? The machine doesn't show any advance on the time counter, you can't see any instructions on screen,, what exactly?

Once you have VHS and DVD loaded, do the following;

Press Drive Select on the remote a couple of times, until the display on the machine shows 'VHS'. You should now be able to use the transport controls to Play, Fast Forward, Rewind your tape. Tell me if you can do this successfully.

If you can, press Drive Select a few times again until the display shows you have selected the DVD drive. Press Direct Navigator. You should get six boxes onscreen. Once your disc is recorded, these will contain the titles you recorded, but for now they should all be blank, showing the disc is empty and ready to record. You are using DVD-R or DVD-RAM blanks, aren't you? Press Return after this

Once you're verified that you can play the VHS, and that you have a blank DVD loaded, you should press the Function key and follow the prompts from there, as per the pages of the instrn manual I referred to above. Have you read this section of the instrn manual?

usignuolo

VHS tape is loaded and so is blank DVD (although DVD drive seemed a bit reluctant to open, it did so eventually). "VHS" is illuminated on front of box. According to manual, I should then press the right hand side of the round button on the right hand front of the Panasonic box to record from VHS to DVD. (Quick method).

When I do this the centre ("copy recording") flashes red in the centre of round button briefly and then goes out. VHS tape plays for 1 second and then stalls, nothing is visible on the screen of the tv. Have also tried pressing play on the "zapper" but nothing happens tv screen remains blank. Nothing activates.

Instructions in manual say to chose relevant channel before copying which is why I wondered if I should somehow reset tv to be looking at AV2.

I have been looking at the quick one step recording instructions for copying VHS tape to DVD by the way, around p24 in the manual.

Will reread your latest instructions to see if that helps.

Thanks

usignuolo

UPDATE : My friend Jay, who has the earlier model of my Panasonic box, and Freeview, came round to give me a hand. We managed tocopy from VHS to DVD and DVD to its HDD on the Panasonic. We then tried to record timed tv shows onto the Panasonic using the Programme Guide (Guide +) supplied with the Panasonic box - eg we tried to set it up to record Sherlock tonight. This wouldn't work (Guide + could not find any tv channels with the EPG). After some poking around in the manual, we found that Guide + (for timed tv recording on the Panasonic) ONLY works with an aerial input. As I have cable input it does not work. So the only option is to use the V+ box to record to onto the V+ HDD and then play that back and record onto the Panasonic HDD or DVD at the same time. Shame the Guide + firmware tv recording option won't work except with an aerial. Looks like the same problem would occur if I tried to use it Freeview supplied with the Panasonic box. ie I would have to convert to an aerial, which I am reluctant to do as the signal is not so good round here because we are below a hill.

eit won't workmneirgthe the dnaual, nanocipuy OD

googler

usignuolo wrote: »

Instructions in manual say to chose relevant channel before copying which is why I wondered if I should somehow reset tv to be looking at AV2.

You need to select the AV input that the Panasonic is connected to, or you won't see anything on screen.

What do you mean by 'stalls' - the tape runs for a bit, then stops? Is the tape in good condition? Have you played it recently on another good VHS player or recorder?