Poor picture from my tv to my dvd recorder - please help!

[mariabkbcards]

let me break it all down exactly as it appears on the back of my dvd recorders and maybe some wise person here can help me out. if someone can tell me specifically if all of this is correct or not, i would truly appreciate it. let me know in simple terms where exactly i am wrong and how to fix things to get the best recordings possible. thanks so much.

my hd tv:

rf out - goes to ant in on the back of my tv

rf in - goes to the rf out on my cable box, and the tv in on the cable box goes to the wall

component video out - green, blue, and red cables going to the back of the tv (just bought these thinking this was my problem, but i do not see much of a change)

out - white and red audio cables to the back of the tv

then on the back of the cable box is hdmi going to hdmi in on the back of the tv

my non-hd tv:

rf out - goes to my tv

rf in - goes to the rf out on my cable box, and the tv in on the cable box goes to the wall

out - red, white, and yellow cables go to the back of my tv (my tv does not have a spot for s video, i assume if i upgraded the tv, this would make a better recording picture?)

in1 - red and black audio cables and a s video cable going to the back of a dvd player (for transfers)

overall, i have been happy with the quality i get from recording using my non-hd tv. i would like to get nice quality recordings on the other tv as well. even if i can at least get the same quality as the non-hd tv i would be happy because right now it is too pixelated. help me out! thanks again.

ps - i did notice on the back of the cable box, there are spots where i can plug in composite video cables which are not being used. perhaps this is something i am doing wrong?

[jagabo]

I find your wiring description confusing. You don't mention the DVD recorder anywhere. It would also help if you worked in the order the signal passes. For example: wall to DVD recorder to TV, wall to cable box to TV, or wall to cable box to DVD recorder to TV -- so it's easier to see the flow. And mention any splits.

[samijubal]

NEVER use RF connections unless there's no other way. Video quality is poor and audio is mono. Use the line connections from the cable box. If it has s-video, use it, if not, use composite.

[lordsmurf]

Coax audio is not necessarily mono.

[mariabkbcards]

the wiring description is basically my dvd recorder for each i have listed. like where i first start off saying rf out, that is the rf out on the back of my dvd recorder.

i am really confused on all this, can anyone help? it would be greatly appreciated.

[jagabo]

Here's how I interpreted your HDTV setup:

[WALL] ----RF----> [Cable box] ----RF----> [DVDR] ----RF----> [HDTV]
                   [Cable box] -----------Comp--------------> [HDTV]
                   [Cable box] -----------HDMI--------------> [HDTV]

That will work but:

1) You don't need the component cable from the cable box to the HDTV. Just use HDMI to watch the cable box.

2) Don't use RF cable to connect the cable box to the DVD recorder and the DVD recorder to the HDTV. Unless that's your only option. Use the highest quality connection that's available on each pair of devices. Highest to lowest quality video:

HDMI and DVI
component (red, green blue RCA connectors)
s-video (4 pin DIN connector)
composite (yellow RCA connectro)
RF

Highest to lowest quality audio:

digital coax and digital optical
RCA stereo (red and white RCA connectors)

For a DVD recorder you're probably looking at s-video or composite in and out. And this may not help much with your "too pixelated" DVD recording problem. That is generally caused by insufficient bitrate (too much time a DVD). You notice it more on your HDTV because it's probably bigger and the higher display quality makes the problems more noticeable.

[samijubal]

Coax audio is not necessarily mono.

From a cable box or satellite receiver it is. The only stereo over RF is whatever analog channels are left that use MTS.