Hooking up DVD recorder

[Jammers]

I have a home theater system and need to know how to hook up a DVD/VCR recorder. The unit has no tuner. My setup is a Yamaha AV receiver, blu-ray player and HD cable box. How do i connect the DVD recorder so it can record off the TV?

[sanlyn]

You can't.

[usually_quiet]

TVs do not normally include connections that output video, so you cannot record from the TV. ...but you can hook up the DVD recorder to record SD output from the HD cable box and display it on the TV. If the DVD recorder came with a manual it should include diagrams that tell you how to connect the DVD recorder to do that. If it did not come with a manual, one may be available for download from the Internet.

[Jammers]

So i would run one set of composite cables from the output of the cable box to the input of the DVD recorder?

[Jammers]

Double post

[smrpix]

Yes.

Depending on the connections available the order of quality/preference would be:

1. Component
2. S-Video
3. Composite
4. Antenna

[usually_quiet]

The OP's DVD recorder will likely only have composite, s-video and stereo audio available for input. It has no tuner, so there won't be a coax antenna-in or coax antenna-out. DVD recorders almost never have component video-in, but they often have component video-out or HDMI-out. DVD recorders always have composite video-out, and stereo audio-out, and usually S-Video-out too.

[smrpix]

The OP's DVD recorder will likely only have composite, s-video and stereo audio available for input. It has no tuner, so there won't be a coax antenna-in or coax antenna-out. DVD recorders almost never have component video-in, but they often have component video-out or HDMI-out. DVD recorders always have composite video-out, and stereo audio-out, and usually S-Video-out too.

True,

makes me appreciate my old Toshiba RDXS35SU that much more.

[Jammers]

Would it also work if i ran the cable from the A/V receiver output to the DVD recorder input?

[sanlyn]

It depends on the receiver. We don't know what you have. Receivers with analog outputs specifically designed for output to VCR's or DVD recorders will output only the same as the input signal. If you input s-video, the vcr output will deliver s-video. Likewise with composite i/o.

If you're thinking of inputting HDMI or component to your receiver and getting it thru the receiver's vcr outputs, it won't work.

[Jammers]

The receiver is a part of this system. Yamaha YHT-797 5.1-Channel Network Home Theater System. Haven't read the manual yet to see if i can do it. Only one way to find out and that is to try hooking it up that way.

[DB83]

Haven't read the manual yet to see if i can do it....

Jeez man. That would be one of the first things to do BEFORE even switching it on.

But the chances are that, as previously noted, only one output is allowed from the receiver. I assume, since you will not give any real details, that you have hdmi in from the cable box and hdmi out from the receiver to the tv. A secondary output will more than likely cut out either the hdmi or just show no output from the composite. It could even, in the extreme, damage the output circuitry and you end up with nothing. There should be warnings about this IN THE MANUAL.

The only way that could work is a composite connection from the cable box to the recorder. Remember though that any recording will be SD even though the channel could be broadcast in HD. And you will only be able to record what you are watching or a channel you have pre-tuned to when recording remotely.