DVD / Skybox connection help

[CaptainChaos]

Hi ...
Ok, I've just bought myself an LG HDD/DVD Recorder (RH265/RH266) and obviously want to connect it up to replace my old VCR to tape from Sky (I don't have an aerial so I can't get terrestrial TV - everything goes through Sky).
The DVD recorder has 2 scart sockets (AV2 decoder scart & AVI scart jack), the TV has 2 scart sockets (its a Sony) & the Skybox (the old type) has 2 scart sockets).
The DVD recorder plays DVDs automatically, but I can't record from Sky at all - all I get is interference, as if it hasn't even found the sky.
Sky plays fine independently, but obviously I need to find out how to record from Sky to the Hard Drive of the recorder, or to a DVD-r disc!
Any connection advice would be gratefully accepted.
I've also got a powered Scart hub which has (at the moment, the DVD recorder & a dvd karaoke thing which works fine).
Helllllp
Thanks
Ian

[DB83]

Typically, sat receivers are connected to the AV2 socket of the recorder. I have Sky connected this way to one recorder and a European sat system connected to another recorder. I used to have both connected to one recorder via a scart switch box.

The way it should work is Sky >> Recorder >>> Tv with the AV socket of the Recorder connected to the tv and no direct connection of the Sky Box to the Tv

[CaptainChaos]

Ok, thanks, but which way are they connected?
For example:
Tv has 2 scarts - does it matter which goes where?
The DVD recorder has (it says) 1) AV2 Decoder scart (blue coloured) 2) AV1 Scart jack (black)
The Skybox has 2 scarts 1) VCR scart 2) TV scart
Please excuse my ineptitude.
Could I somehow add the VCR somewhere in there so I can watch old videos and/or record rubbish for the kids?
Thanks
Ian

[DB83]

SkyBox(VCR Scart) >> DVDRecorder(AV2= Decoder(Blue))
DVDRecorder(AV1-Black) >> Tv (usually AV1)

If the VCR has a scart socket then you can connect this to the AV2 socket of the Tv.

To record both to the DVDRecorder and the VCR, you could use a simple aerial cable from the SkyBox to the VCR and tune the VCR into the output frequency of the SKyBox (it may already be set up from the previous installation)

If the VCR also has 2 scart sockets then you can dispense with the aerial connector and obtain a y-splitter adapter (1 input and two outputs). Best to get the DVDRecorder working first and I can then point you to that type of adapter if you have enough scarts on the VCR

[Richard_G]

There's two ways of doing it and both should work:
Sky box TV Scart to TV SCART 1
DVD Rcorder AV1-black to TV SCART 2
Sky Box VCR Scart to DVD Recorder Decoder Scart
To record from Sky you tell it to recod from AV2

Second way is Sky box to DVD Recorder, DVD Recorder to TV. That's it but in this case to record Sky you need to tell it to record from AV1.

[CaptainChaos]

Thanks very much everyone - It now finally works!
I've still yet to work out how to get the VCR to record, but I'm sure that'll come soon!
Thanks again,
Ian

[DB83]

For the VCR:

If it has 2 scart sockets then you can plug this cable into the Sky box and the lead from the DVDRecorder goes into one of the sockets and a lead from the VCR goes to the other socket.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Scart-Plug-To-2-x-Scart-Socket-Cable-Y-Splitter-Lead_W0QQitemZ29...d=p3286.c0.m14

You connect the other scart point on the VCR to the 2nd scart input on your tv.

If the VCR only has one scart socket then this can ONLY connect to a tv and you then use a coaxal fly-lead from the Sky Box to the VCR.

You can, of course, connect another coaxal fly-lead from the VCR to the TV instead of a scart lead. Recording from the Sky box to the VCR and playback to the tv is still possible this way.

[CaptainChaos]

Ok - I'm now an (almost) happy chappy!
I'm not too worried about the VCR now, I'll just use that so the kids can watch the old tapes I did for them.
Thanks for all your assistance.

Next query!!
When I watch "normal" Sky programmes, the widescreen TV shows it wide/zoom/4:3 or whatever you feel like watching (ratio).
When I record onto the DVD recorder, it records perfectly, but when you play the recording back, it seems to automatically go to 4:3, even though I've set it up as 16:9 ratio. Like I said, when it starts playing back, I can change the TV to show it "widescreen" and there's no loss of quality.
Is this a DVD recorder issue or a TV issue?
Cheers
Ian

[DB83]

Are these programs that you record widescreen or standard 4:3 ?

The recorder should record the program in the aspect ratio of the source.

The dvd recorder settings (atleast mine does) refer to playback and not record.

4:3 on a 16:9 display usually appears either as pillar-bosed (wide black areas on both sides) or cropped (part of image missing top and bottom.

Unfortunately I cannot test this out as I still have a 4:3 tv set.

[CaptainChaos]

To be honest, I have no idea if the programmes recorded are 4:3 or letterbox format - I recorded some of the Euro 08 football, and a couple of other bits & pieces.
On playback, they came on screen as 4:3 (ie. just the 4:3 image in the middle of the widescreen area until I adjusted the picture on the TV to "wide" (mine is a widescreen TV).

[DB83]

You are describing 'pillar-boxing'

You should also check the settings for your tv. There may be a 'smart' option which should fill the screen up whatever the aspect ratio is of the recording.

The reason that you do not see this without recording is because the Sky Box is controlling the playback with its own settings (probably set for 16:9)

[CaptainChaos]

Ok, I'll try playing with the TV - Thanks!

[mpack]

Ok - I'm now an (almost) happy chappy!
I'm not too worried about the VCR now, I'll just use that so the kids can watch the old tapes I did for them.
Thanks for all your assistance.

You may find it handy to hook up the VCR to the passthrough SCART on the Sky box. It will now "pass through" to your HDD/DVD recorder instead of the TV as it used to, opening the possibility of using your setup to do VHS to DVD conversions (at least this works on my similar setup - VCR, Sky box, Sony HDD/DVD recorder, TV).

When I watch "normal" Sky programmes, the widescreen TV shows it wide/zoom/4:3 or whatever you feel like watching (ratio). When I record onto the DVD recorder, it records perfectly, but when you play the recording back, it seems to automatically go to 4:3 ...
Ian

I could just be that you've forgotten to tell the LG unit that you have a widescreen TV (remember to also enable RGB output!).

Otherwise it could be a DVD compatibility issue. As I understand it, a single DVD title (one continuous video clip) can be either 4:3 or widescreen, it can't be a mixture of both. So, if you record a widescreen TV show that has ad breaks in 4:3 then the recording is not DVD compliant. The player has to force it to one aspect ratio or the other to make it compliant (on my Sony this is only an issue when I choose to dub from HDD to DVD - if the stream is already compliant then it can "fast dub" to the DVD, otherwise it will have to "slow dub" - ie. reencode in 4:3, in which case a one hour show takes an hour to dub). The Sony has an option to override the aspect ratio of the source for this reason - I force all recordings to be flagged as 4:3, since that is usually what they are.

[CaptainChaos]

Yoikes ....

Ok, I'll have a play around & see what happens.
With regard to copying my old VHS tapes to disc, I might just connect the dvd recorder & vcr as and when I need to do it, rather than start unplugging it now that I've got it all working!
The 4:3 ratio thing I can live with - it's only 2 clicks on the TV remote to sort it out, so it's not a major issue.
Thanks everyone for all your help.
Ian