DMR-E85 recording from satellite

Hi All,

I hope you can help me, I'm a little new to all this..

I have just purchsed the above DVD Recorder, and whish to know, how exactly I can get it to record a different channel on my Telewest decoder to the one I'm watching (is it even possible) ? Or will it only ever record the channel I'm watching ?

Also when setting uo the E85 it asked me to hook up an ariel connection.. as I am on cable, I don't have an ariel, and as such didn't connect one... Is it necessary to install one... if I'm only ever going to watch channels through the cable?

Cheers in advance

Mark

[charker]

I'm no expert but...

Unless you have 2 receivers (either satelite or cable) you can only receive and therefore record one program, the one you are watching.

SKY+ for example has two receivers (and a modfied LNB on the dish, and 2 cables from the disk to the box) to allow you to watch one channel and record another. I assume you would need 2 Telewest boxes.

Forget the ariel, you don't need it. Connect with SCART RGB if possible.

Charker

thanks for that answer.... it's about the same as I had expected..... damn..

the next question is, are the signals comming through the telewest cable for BBC1 BBC2, etc unscrambled?.. If so couldn't I just split the incomming cable going into the decoder, and have one going to the decoder for all the channels I subscribe too, and the other going straight into the tele, and then tune the tele into these unscrambled signals... then I could flip over to normal terrestrial tv and watch that while recording something on the AV from the decoder.... Is that possible ?..

p.s. I would use my roof ariel for this normally but I can't seem to get a signal from it.... splitting the cable to the decoder would be easier ?

Cheers Mark

[charker]

No you don't need an aerial at all unless you want to record channels from it. Your DVD recorder is only capable of recording aerial signals through the coax connector or signals being input through the SCART.

Your assumption is that the signals coming down the cable from telewest are in the same format as signals coming from a rooftop aerial. I suspect that this is not the case although I don't actually know.

if you push the telewest lead into a TV without the decoder do you get signals you can tune into or do you destroy the TV??? I would be wary of trying!

You might be able to split the signal from telewest into 2 telewest decoders but I'm not the one to ask. If you could then you would feed the DVD recorder through 2 of its AV input sockets.

Charker

[Nelviticus]

No, the signals coming down your Telewest cable are *not* the same as the ones you get down an aerial cable. The decoder is called a decoder because it decodes the signals. The only way - really, the only way - to be able to record one channel and watch a different one is to ask Telewest to rent you a second decoder. You would probably require a second wall point for this, but they should be able to confirm that. You'll probably have trouble though because both boxes will respond to the same remote control.

I was under the impression, reading through these forums, that if I was to split the cable heading to the STB, I could use one of the split cables to use as the ariel input to the tele.... this would then allow me to tune in the unscrambled channel signals, like BBC1 and BBC2...

I have read a lot of people saying they have managed this, but never seen any actual instructions..

Does anybody have a definative way to achieve what I am looking for

Thanks