[frustratedone]

Hi

I recently purchased a Sony RDRHXD860S DVD revorder and am having a nightmare setting it up.

I have the following:

Sony RDRHXD860S (2 scart sockets)
TV (2 scart sockets)
Virgin/Telewest Cable box (2 scart sockets)

I have no terrestrial arial - just telewest/virgin cable


I have tried every combination of leads and can now record whatever is currently showing on the tv but cannot autotune any channels or view the programme guide.

I read somewhere I need to add an arial loop but am not sure if this is possible as I have no 'normal' arial.

I didn't realise before I purchased the machine that I would need a twin tuner if I wanted to record a different channel to the one I was watching (kind of assumed that would be standard - is it me or do things seem to be going backwards?). Is it possible to buy a separate stand alone tuner or am I stuck now?

Any help at all would be much appreciated - I've been searching the internet for days now and I'm no cloder to getting the channel guide working

Many Thanks in Advance....

[aekostas]

Are you talkinag about getting the Virgin channel guide working on the Sony? You cannot do that; Virgin sell/lease their own box that lets you do that, as does Sky. That's what you get with closed platforms. The Sony will give you the guide for Freeview (I think) programs, but you don't have an aerial, so... Things *have* moved on, but particularly in the case of subscription-based platforms, you get what you pay for.

[frustratedone]

Hi

thanks for the reply...

I didn't think I was talking about getting the Virgin guide on the dvd recorder but I guess that is what I’m trying to do. Without a channel guide on the dvd recorder it seems a bit useless…

[IanTHarvey]

If you haven't got an aerial, no amount of tuners is going to help you. The Sony is primarily designed to record analog/digital broadcasts, the ability to record other external sources, as you're doing, is ancillary and difficult to integrate fully with external EPGs.

BTW this is the PVR/VCR forum, you'd be better off in the DVD recorder one.

[Teknowledgy]

Hi there,

The situation of being able to watch one channel whilst recording another has not really changed that much since the days of the VCR, at least in its implementation.

That is to say that if you wish to watch a different channel to the one you are recording, you need two sources somewhere in your system. - Note, I said sources and not tuners, as the sources do not necessarily have to be tuners. These sources could be in the form of the Freeview tuner within the Sony 860, Virgin Cable, Sky, a Freeview set-top box or an integrated Freeview tuner in a TV.

Obviously in your case, you do not have an aerial, so we can rule out any amount or type of tuners from the list of sources. Which, unfortunately, reduces your source options somewhat.

Given that you have Virgin Cable, your only options, if we are still sticking with just Virgin and not Freeview is to either rent a second set-top box from Virgin, giving you two sources, or to get V+ installed which would enable you to record two channels at the same time and watch a third. You could then transfer any recorded programmes from the V+ hard drive to your Sony 860 at your leisure. Virgin actually have an offer on at the moment consisting of half price V+ installation (£75 instead of £150) until the end of March.

Failing that, your only other option is to get a digital aerial installed, providing you with the full use of the EPG on the Sony.

Technology has indeed moved on in terms of its' ease of use, practicality and features, but the implementation of recording a different channel to the one you're watching remains the same. - Even in the days of VCR, you still had to feed an aerial cable to the VCR first and then to your TV before you could record anything from TV on your VCR.

Unfortunately, these are your only options given that your Virgin box is your only source.

Hope that helps.

Regards.

[aekostas]

Originally Posted by frustratedone

Hi

thanks for the reply...

I didn't think I was talking about getting the Virgin guide on the dvd recorder but I guess that is what I’m trying to do. Without a channel guide on the dvd recorder it seems a bit useless…

This is indeed the key realisation.

Otherwise, you may want to Thank Teknowledgy for a very complete answer