Multiple digital tuners confusion!

[NICKSTER]

I think I'm being pretty stupid tonight!

My in-laws have just bought their first lcd panel with freeview.

They're going to get a hard drive dvd recorder with freeview for xmas.

Is there a way that they can watch one freeview channel while recording the other? Is there some way of feeding their arial into both units? Without degrading the signal?

I'm getting even more muddled when I start to think about the Sony recorders that have integrated digital and analogue tuners. Does that mean you have to choose one or the other?

They don't get a very good freeview reception so it would be great if they could record something from their basic sky box and be able to watch another channel at the same time. I'm not sure how to advise!

Any help much appreciated.

[Geofbob]

If your inlaws buy a recorder with an inbuilt Freeview tuner, and hook it up to a TV with a Freeview tuner, then they can certainly watch one programme while recording another. They would simply connect the aerial through the recorder (as with an old VCR), use the tuner on the recorder to record one programm while using the tuner in the TV to watch another.

However, when you say "hard drive DVD recorder" I wonder whether you mean a DVD recorder - which can record either onto separate discs or onto a hard drive; or you mean what is generally referred to as Personal Video Recorder (PVR), which has only a hard drive. PVRs often have twin tuners which enable one programme to be recorded while watching another, whether or not the TV has a Freeview tuner.

All that said, I'm somewhat baffled by your reference to Sky towards the end of your post. Sky is of course received via a satellite dish; but Freeview is normally received through a TV aerial. If they want to play around with Sky and Freeview at the same time, then what's said above may not totally apply.

PS I don't know whether you can record analogue while watching Freeview (or vice versa) but it's rather irrelevant. If you can receive Freeview, then there is no need to use analogue at all. All the analogue channels are also on Freeview.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by NICKSTER

My in-laws have just bought their first lcd panel with freeview.
They're going to get a hard drive dvd recorder with freeview for xmas.
Is there a way that they can watch one freeview channel while recording the other? Is there some way of feeding their arial into both units? Without degrading the signal?

Could they watch BBC1 on their previous TV while recording ITV on their previous VCR? Of course they could - because each piece of kit had an independent tuner. That's what they're going to have with their new TV and their new DVDR. So, of course they'll be able to watch one Freeview channel (on their TV, using their TV's digital tuner) while recording another Freeview channel (on their DVDR, using their DVDR's digital tuner).

[NICKSTER]

Thanks for both of your responses.

I suppose I'm just wondering what flexibility they're going to have one they have their new equipment in place.

They will have:

o standard sky box
o hd tv with freeview
o Sony dvdr with freeview and analogue tuners

Unfortunately they receive very poor freeview reception (eg Channel 3 and Channel 4 are not available), hence my questions about sky and the analogue tuners.

I think you've both pretty much answered my queries though, and my initial suspicion last night that I was being pretty stupid turns out to be true. I was getting carried away wondering how one arial could be fed into both the DVDR and the tv (I thought an aerial splitter might be required!) whereas of course, that's just how VCRs have been working for years.

So again, thank you both for taking the time to respond.

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by NICKSTER

I think you've both pretty much answered my queries though, and my initial suspicion last night that I was being pretty stupid turns out to be true.

Not at all Nick. We've all been there.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by NICKSTER

Unfortunately they receive very poor freeview reception (eg Channel 3 and Channel 4 are not available), hence my questions about sky and the analogue tuners.

Note that Freeview reception will improve considerable when the analogue switch off occurs...which may not be too long where they are.

The likelihood is the will be able to receive the missing channels thereafter.