Can i use a PVR and Virgin Freeview box together?

[james3mc]

I'm a VirginMedia customer and receive cable TV into a TeleWest Explorer 4200DVB, which of course has NO hard drive.

I've also got an old Goodmans GHD8015F2 PVR, which has an 80GB drive.

Can i somehow use the two together so that i can record the cable-delivered Freeview channels?

If so, how (in what order) do i connect then together?

[clemenzina]

I think that a PVR only records "raw data" from the signal which it receives via its aerial. I'm sure it can't record from SCART like a DVD recorder could if it were attached to your Virgin box. An old HDD/DVD recorder would do the trick.

Can't your PVR receive Freeview signal at all?

clemenzina

[Geofbob]

No, this can't be done. As Clemenzina says, the Goodman PVR can only record from its internal terrestrial digital (ie Freeview) tuner. To record from your Virgin box, you need an HDD/DVD recorder - for suggestions (positive & negative), see the Forum immediately above.

[james3mc]

Originally Posted by clemenzina

...Can't your PVR receive Freeview signal at all?...

I'm sure it could if we had a terrestrial aerial. We only have cable coming into the house (and it's not our house, so we can't put an aerial up).

[Geofbob]

Originally Posted by james3mc

I'm sure it could if we had a terrestrial aerial. We only have cable coming into the house (and it's not our house, so we can't put an aerial up).

There is a remote - but I stress remote - possibility that the PVR would receive a doigital signal through an indoor aerial. Something similar to this one from Maplins might work - Indoor Amplified TV Aerial > Maplin However, before spending the tenner or so, you might want to check what sort of signal you're likely to receive by puttting your postcode into the Wolfbane website - UK digital TV reception predictor But even if there's a strong signal, there's still no guarantee with an indoor aerial.

[clemenzina]

I've only got a set-top aerial for my Freeview. If you put your postcode in here:

http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

it will tell you what sort of aerial you (should) need.

clemenzina