Panasonic DMR-EX77 setup

[hleonard]

I recently installed a new Panasonic DMR-EX77 and it works fine so far. However, I also have an older Panasonic video machine that I use sometimes, mainly to record TV shows for friends. My problem is that, if I connect both machines up according to the instructions, that is with the DVD machine feeding into the video machine and that machine into the TV set, both machines then come up on AV3 on the TV set. I like to have the DVD recorder, which I use a lot, on AV1 for convenience. Can anyone suggest how I might connect both recorders but with the DVD on AV1 and the video on AV3?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks and regards.

[Teknowledgy]

Hi there,

If you could provide a little more information about your TV, that would be great. Ideally, the make and model, but if not, information about the connections available and quantity of each type.

With this information I should then be able to point you in the right direction.

Regards.

[hleonard]

Hi Teknowledgy and many thanks for your quick reply to my post!

The TV is a Panasonic TC29PS70K. It has AV1, AV3 and AV4 (component) connections, plus S Video. At present I have the DVD rec connected via the S Video lead and the audio into AV1. This works fine for record and playback. I have the video connected to AV3 with the 3-colour leads but there is no aerial input to it so it can't record off air.

If I connect as per the instructions, with the antenna into the DVD, then another cable to the VCR RF in, then the VCR RF out into the TV RF in and 3-colour leads from the TV to the DVD then to the VCR, playback of both DVD and video come up on AV3. I would prefer to have the DVD on AV1 and the video on AV3.

Your advice would be much appreciated.

[Teknowledgy]

Hi there,

I am unable to locate a manual for your TV model, so if you have a link to an online manual, or, failing that, could consult the hard copy of your manual and provide me with information regarding the type of TV (CRT, LCD etc.) the available connections (AV1 = SCART, AV2 = SCART RGB, etc.) and how many of what type of connections you have, that would be fantastic.

Then I can help you to solve your pradicament.

Regards.

[hleonard]

Hi again Tek!

The receiver is a CRT one, 68cm screen, about 4+ years old.

I've studied the manual and can find no reference at all to SCART or RGB. The only info about the video/audio terminals is a chart under the "Specifications" heading as follows:

AV 1, 2 S-Video In Y1 Vp-p, 75 ohms(symbol),
C:0.3 Vp-p 75 ohms

DVD Y 1.0 Vp-p, 75 ohms
Pb 0.7 Vp-p, 75 ohms
Pr 0.7 Vp-p, 75 ohms

AV 1, 2, 3 Video In 1 Vp-p, 75 ohms
Audio In Approx. 0.5 V, 47 ohms

Monitor Out Video Out 1 Vp-p, 75 ohms
Audio Out Approx. 0.5 V, 1 k ohms

There is also a note in the Connections section of the manual saying: "The AV3 audio input terminals serve as the audio input terminal for both the video input and for the DVD input."

I hope the above is meaningful to you. It is quite baffling to me.

Best regards. . .

[Teknowledgy]

Hi there,

So based on what your specs say, that should give you 2 sets of inputs consisting of an S-Video socket and 3 phono ports - red, white and yellow, labelled AV1 and AV2, and 1 set of inputs consisting of just 3 phono ports, - red, white and yellow, labelled AV3. In addition to these, you should also have a Component Video input labelled DVD (Y, Pb, Pr). The Component Video input also shares the L & R audio inputs of AV3. Finally, you should have 1 set of outputs consisting of 3 phono ports, - red white and yellow, labelled Monitor Out.

If you could confim whether or not this is what you do actually have this would be great.

I suppose that one obvious choice for you would be to remove the VCR from the equation completely and just use the EX77 for everything. Given some time to get used to the machine and the flexibility that Hard Drive recording offers, I would think that the VCR would become redundant quicker than you may have first thought. You would still have the ability to record one channel and watch another, as the EX77 has it's own digital, Freeview tuner, - so long as you fed an RF aerial cable into the DVD recorder first, then out of the DVD recorder and into your TV. - Although if you wanted to record one Freeview channel whilst watching a second Freeview channel, you would need an additional set-top box to do this as the only Freeview receiver you will have will be the one which resides within the EX77.
If you record programmes for your friend on VHS, - you could instead record these programmes onto the Hard Drive of the EX77 whilst also watching something else previously recorded either on the Hard Drive or on a DVD, - at the same time. Then later transfer the recording onto a DVD-R to hand over to your friend. - Your friend would certainly have better picture and sound quality for their recordings this way, - miles better than anything VHS could ever achieve.

If you were to go down this road, it would certainly make connectivity simpler, -
RF aerial cable into RF IN of EX77
RF aerial cable out of RF OUT of EX77 and into TV
Component Video cables from EX77 to TV
L & R phono cables from EX77 to AV3 audio input of TV.

This method would achieve the best possible quality for DVD playback and the best usability/flexibility for recording.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

[Gavtech]

I agree with all Teknowledgy's recommendations above, especially in regard to connecting your DVDR via component connections, which would considerably improve your watching quality.

If you follow that connection regime described, it would leave the AV1 connection free for your VCR if you are determined to continue using it.
Although I also agree that it would be better to share discs rather than tapes.

However, I suppose it is possible that those you share with do not have a disc player.

[pkalva]

Hi there,

Not 100% sure on this but, couldn't the problem be resolved by having a co-ax splitter/amplifier so he can feed the co-ax signal to both the DVD & Video recorders ?

The RF pass-thru could then go thru the DVD recorder. He could then record terrestial channels on the video recorder and feed these and pre-recorded videos thru the AV3 input using appropriate lead(s).

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by pkalva

Hi there,

Not 100% sure on this but, couldn't the problem be resolved by having a co-ax splitter/amplifier so he can feed the co-ax signal to both the DVD & Video recorders ?

I don't think he has any problem at all with his RF feed, if I have understood it correctly, which can be simply daisy chained as is conventional.

It is his baseband outputs from the DVD and VCR that need handling.

He could simply feed the DVD into AV1 as he wishes, using S-video ... and the VCR into AV2 using composite - or S-video if the VCR was so equipped... but as Teknowledgy suggests, he would get a considerable improvement by abandoning his desire to use AV1 as the DVD connection, and using instead the Component connections ... which unfortunately restrict him to using AV3.

[hleonard]

Thanks again Tek, and also to Gavtech and pkalva for your contributions.

Yes, Tek, your summary is more or less correct, although nothing is actually labelled AV2. Please see the attached scan of the detail from the manual.

What I thought of doing was attach two coax cables to the antenna socket on the wall with a T-plug. Run one cable to each of the RF inputs of the DVD and video. Then run another from the output of each machine to the RF in socket on the TV set, using another T-plug. Wouldn't this allow me to record different channels on the DVD and the video at the same time? Only thing is, I haven't been able to find an appropriate T-plug to go into the TV rcvr. Are such available?

The suggestion to forget about using the video for recording is a good one, but some of my friends don't have DVD playback facilities, only video.

BTW, I'm not all that concerned about the quality of the pictures, as the ordinary video and DVD recording qulity is quite adequate for my needs.

Regards to all.

[Adrian_F]

I think you may find that AV2 is a set of connections (Red,White,Yellow plus S-Video) under a flap on the front of the TV for easy access (Camcorder for example).
As for the aerial, just daisy chain it from the EX77 to the Video then to the TV,there should be no need for a splitter.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by hleonard

Thanks again Tek, and also to Gavtech and pkalva for your contributions.

Yes, Tek, your summary is more or less correct, although nothing is actually labelled AV2. Please see the attached scan of the detail from the manual.

What I thought of doing was attach two coax cables to the antenna socket on the wall with a T-plug. Run one cable to each of the RF inputs of the DVD and video. Then run another from the output of each machine to the RF in socket on the TV set, using another T-plug. Wouldn't this allow me to record different channels on the DVD and the video at the same time? Only thing is, I haven't been able to find an appropriate T-plug to go into the TV rcvr. Are such available?

The suggestion to forget about using the video for recording is a good one, but some of my friends don't have DVD playback facilities, only video.

BTW, I'm not all that concerned about the quality of the pictures, as the ordinary video and DVD recording qulity is quite adequate for my needs.

Regards to all.

Do not use a T splitter. This will introduce a loss and make things worse , not better.
Do as Adrian_F says above and daisy chain the RF connections.

If you want detail of that then follow Teknowledgy's post no 6 where he says:

RF aerial cable into RF IN of EX77
RF aerial cable out of RF OUT of EX77 and into TV

...but instead of out of the last instruction of 'into the TV' take it to the RF in of your VCR and the the VCR RF out cable to the TV.
This will allow your whole system to access the RF channels.

As you are not concerned about the quality issue, to achieve your objective, simply connect the DVDR to AV1 and the VCR to any other convenient input.

[hleonard]

Hi, folks,

Many thanks to Teknowledgy, Gavtech, pkalva and Adrian_F for all your suggestions and help. I've learned a great deal from our exchanges over the past few days and am grateful for the time you've taken to educate me.

I'll put your advice into practice as soon as I get a chance and I'm sure I'll be successful.

Thanks again, fellas, and all good wishes.

hleonard