[Ken42]

I've had a look round here and can't find an answer to my question, although there are similar ones, so aplogies for not looking hard enough.

My sister-in-law is moving over to Virgin because the signal in her new flat is poor. The flat is pre-wired for Virgin (like all others in the block) and there are two output sockets (I think). She is also having telephone and broadband in the package.

She has a Panasonic Hard Disc DVD recorder, which has inbuilt Freeview.

How should she link the V-Box to the DVD recorder?

[m.stephens]

First of all, you can't use a Freeview box to get "Freeview" channels from a cable connection. They are totally different systems. You can only use the DVD-R to record whatever is coming through the V box

Here is one of several possibilities for connecting the boxes.


1. SCART cable from "TV" output on V box to SCART 1 on TV (set it to RGB instead of composite) as it will give a better picture.

2. Another SCART cable from "VCR" out on the V box to the SCART "IN" on the DVD-R (this one will have to be composite as the V box will only do composite from this socket - if you want RGB , get a multiway SCART adaptor and plug the single end into the TV output on the V box and then plug the cable to the TV and the cable to the DVD-R into the multi end )

3. Another SCART cable from the DVD-R SCART "OUT" to SCART 2 on the TV.


4. Aerial lead into "RF IN" on DVD-R and then another from "RF OUT" on DVD-R to the normal aerial socket on the TV - might not be much point in this bit if the normal TV signal is unwatchable.


Note that with a normal V box ( as opposed to V+) you can only get one channel at a time so, if cable is all you have, you need to watch what you are recording.

[Ken42]

Thanks for the info.

Is there an HDMI out or component out from the normal Vbox? The TV has quite a few inputs.

Is there a timer function on the V box, so she can set several different programmes to record whilst she's out?

[m.stephens]

On a normal V Box you have either composite or RGB - thats it.

There is a "sort of timer" facility - if you select programs from the program guide before they start, the box will change to the required channel automatically. Obviously you would need to set the DVD-R timer as well separately.