Tuning my Panasonic DVD Recorder to the TV without Cable

Leodogger

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

And yet Cajef at post #3 of the thread quoted directly from the manual with the same answer;
"The Panasonic DMR-ES30V is not equipped with an internal digital tuner. It has to be hooked up to a cable, satellite or digital converter box in order to record broadcast programming."
Why did you fail to see that post?

I didn't but didn't understand that this meant purchasing a PVR which to me means purchasing another video recorder to hook up to my own video recorder, which not knowing the difference between a PVR and my own video recorder, to me seemed a nonsense.

I did warn you, I am not technical, my husband even puts all the plugs on everything and knows where all my computer leads go whilst I know nothing about them, only how to use the keyboard and computer itself and I have been a typist / secretary all my life :rotfl:

googler

JWhite wrote: »

Googler - Yes I did know about the switchover but as I said previously, I did not know if my unit was only able to be used as an analogue receiver and presumed naively there was some sort of add on device to make it digital (not being technical).

There is - it's called a Digital Terrestrial Receiver, a Freeview Receiver, a Digital Set-Top Box, a Freeview Set-Top Box etc etc. You "presumed naively there was some sort of add on device to make it digital", but you haven't actually added on of these devices, have you? You're just trying to get it to work on its own without one of these devices.

Yes, there are devices to get it to work - any of those in this set of eBay listings would appear to be suitable

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Freeview-Boxes-/96964/i.html?LH_ItemCondition=3&_from=R40&_nkw=freeview&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=2

As I said NO-ONE bothered to explain that DVD Recorders which were analogue would become obsolete after the switchover.

It was all over the press, TV and other media for months, if not years

I never even knew what analogue and digital actually meant in terms of which units (TV/Video Recorders etc.) were usable and which were not and naively believed that if a nation could switch over signals it would be made in such a way that the units could be converted to work with the new signal.

But as I said, you haven't taken any action to 'convert' your unit, have you?

googler

Tiexen wrote: »

Can I ask when you had Virgin Media did you record from that?

It appears the OP had a V+ box, a type of PVR

googler

JWhite wrote: »

I didn't but didn't understand that this meant purchasing a PVR which to me means purchasing another video recorder to hook up to my own video recorder, which not knowing the difference between a PVR and my own video recorder, to me seemed a nonsense.

You have two choices - buy a Freeview Digibox (Set-Top Box, Receiver) and connect that between your aerial and current recorder, or replace your analogue recorder with a PVR or DVD recorder that has a digital tuner. Panasonic have a wide range of both.

Leodogger

googler wrote: »

But as I said, you haven't taken any action to 'convert' your unit, have you?

No because as I say yet again, I didn't know that my unit was purely analogue and there was no button to switch it to digital, which I actually have on my TV remote, there are separate buttons on it to switch between analogue and digital ! Why would I presume I needed something extra (a box) to convert it to digital ?

No I didn't record after my Virgin Engineer insisted we had a new V box when we were having problems with our signal after the last time we moved house (before this move). They came in, put in the box and immediately afterwards our Video Recorder ceased to work ! I phoned Virgin and they explained that we would not now be able to record without purchasing their V+ box which i was angry about. Why should I be forced to pay for something when I hadn't asked for the box to be changed. The engineer failed to mention changing the box made our Video Recorder obsolete. :mad: Whether the switching off of the analog signal coincided with the change over of the box I know not. All I know is immediately prior to his arrival we could record using our Video Recorder and after he left we could not.

[Deleted User]

JWhite wrote: »

Whether the switching off of the analog signal coincided with the change over of the box I know not. All I know is immediately prior to his arrival we could record using our Video Recorder and after he left we could not.

Virgin, in common with Sky, changed over to digital more than ten years ago. When exactly did you buy your DVD recorder? I don't think you've bought it recently!
I suggest you read the history of digital changeover to inform yourself of things you should already be well aware of due to the government spending £millions "educating" everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_terrestrial_television_in_the_United_Kingdom

Nothing technical in the link, you'll be pleased to know.:)

Leodogger

googler wrote: »

It appears the OP had a V+ box, a type of PVR

No we had a "V" box, not a box which records from the TV as my previous post outlines. We never wanted to rent a V+ box and that is my point of contention. Why would we when we had a perfectly working Video Recorder until he changed the box to a "V" box. As I say, something he failed to mention when he put it in, obviously a ploy by Virgin to get you to rent their V+ box. It is obvious now we could not use it anyway with the switch over, but I thought the switchover as I say only affected TV's and I ensured when we purchased our last one that it had a digital tuner in readiness.

Can I just add that I am 64 yrs of age and completely ignorant of all the technical changes that are constantly taking place. If I can't figure it all out having used computers, video recorders etc. all my life, I hate to think how poor old ladies in their 90's get on when they have never seen a laptop, iPad, iPhone, mobile phone, computer tablet or a video recorder until they hit about 60 or 70 yrs of age :rotfl:We have friends in their 80's who only know how to switch on their Video Recorder and Press Play or Record whilst the TV is on, they don't even know how to set the timer !

[Deleted User]

JWhite wrote: »

We have friends in their 80's who only know how to switch on their Video Recorder and Press Play or Record whilst the TV is on, they don't even know how to set the timer !

As already pointed out(over and over!:)) most people aren't using traditional video recorders anymore. With the advent of DVD and Blu-Ray, most people use hard drive PVRs for time-shift recording and buy pre-recorded discs (or illegally download) for archiving.
Read the link I posted earlier for the full low-down.

Leodogger

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Virgin, in common with Sky, changed over to digital more than ten years ago. When exactly did you buy your DVD recorder? I don't think you've bought it recently!
I suggest you read the history of digital changeover to inform yourself of things you should already be well aware of due to the government spending £millions "educating" everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_terrestrial_television_in_the_United_Kingdom

Nothing technical in the link, you'll be pleased to know.:)

Thanks for the link, but can I point out that in fact I DO use a computer, thousands of little old ladies do NOT and how are they to know if they don't happen to be watching the TV at the exact time this information is being broadcast.

For your information we purchased our Video Recorder about 12 yrs ago, so not that long before Virgin started using digital and in fact the switch off of the analog signal was only a couple of yrs ago so Panasonic were well aware this was going to happen 10 yrs ago probably if Virgin were using it but were still selling those units a good few yrs after we bought ours, so easily 10 yrs ago.

If you care anything about the environment, you don't throw away perfectly good working units into landfill tips just because the technology changes, in fact you would expect a government who insists we pay GREEN taxes out of every orifice they can find would ensure suppliers of electrical goods manufacture them to last more than a few years, unless of course you love gadgets or are a millionaire and care nothing for the environment.

Leodogger

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Virgin, in common with Sky, changed over to digital more than ten years ago. When exactly did you buy your DVD recorder? I don't think you've bought it recently!
I suggest you read the history of digital changeover to inform yourself of things you should already be well aware of due to the government spending £millions "educating" everyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_terrestrial_television_in_the_United_Kingdom

Nothing technical in the link, you'll be pleased to know.:)

Just read that link and as you say not too technical even for me

It looks like we may be purchasing a PVR and chucking our 100% reliable Panasonic (state of the art when we bought it) in the bin. Perhaps I will email David Cameron and let him know I am doing my bit to ignore his green policies which his party and every other keeps banging on about but seemingly they do nothing to enforce them except tax us and fill the landfill sites allowing him to increase our green taxes even more !