Connecting Panasonic DMR-E30 through Digital Cable Box

[zippychimp]

Hello. I am new to the forum here and was hoping an "expert" out there could provide me with a solution to a frustrating situation.

I just purchased a Panasonic DMR-E30 and have hooked it up to my television the way the manual specifies: the source signal coax cable comes in from the wall outlet into the digital cable box, the coax cable "out" from the digital cable box goes into the "RF IN" input on the back of the E30.

I upgraded to Monster Video Coax Cable, instead of the cheap one that comes with the E30, and have it coming out from the "RF OUT" output on the back of the E30 and into the "RF IN" input on the back of my television.

I also upgraded from the crappy a/v connectors that came with the E30 and upgraded to Monster Cable Series 2 A/V (red, white, yellow) coming out of the "OUT1" outputs on the back of the E30 and into the "VIDEO1" inputs on the back of my JVC 32" flat screen tube TV.

The TV does not have component video inputs or S-Video inputs, due to the fact it is almost 10 years old.

My problem is this: When I am watching tv with the E30 off, the picture looks outstanding. When I turn the E30 on and go to my tv's "Video 1" input, so I can record off cable on my E30, the picture quality of the cable stations degrades quite noticeably. It is very noticeable when I cycle through my JVC TV inputs from the picture I receive on the normal tuner-which looks pristine - and toggle over to "VIDEO 1", which I would use when I am recording off cable tv.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice for improving my cable signal picture quality on the E30 "Video 1" input. I am afraid this inferior signal is the one I will be recording when I try to record off the cable tv source.

Much thanks, and my apologies for the long post.

Patrick in Philadelphia

[jbenj01]

If not mistaken, you've got to set your E30 to the correct auxiliary input line (antennae line), which will be either input lines 1 or 2 (or however many the E30 has--think it has 3).

with cable tv on, toggle over to "video 1", as usual, then press the "line input" on the E30 remote until you get a clear signal.. on the E30 display screen, you should see the channels change from 03 to L1 to L2, etc.. i think the correct one is L1. good luck

[rw2516]

Does the digital cable box have the red,white,yellow a/v outputs? I run from the red/white/yellow a/v outputs of cable box to the line1 inputs of E30. Then run a/v outputs from recorder to a/v inputs of tv. I get a better signal and better recordings than with the coaxial. I also have the coaxial hooked up so I can watch tv with the recorder off and the tv set to channel 3.

[zippychimp]

Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, my digital cable box does not have a/v (red/white/yellow) outputs available to try your suggestion.

As for the correct auxiliary "Input" line, that advice has not proved to solve the problem either. I thought AUX inputs were for connecting sources like VCR's and Camcorders or even other DVD players to the E30 to copy them. Right now, I have no aux inputs connected, I am simply trying to record over-the-air cable programs to my E30 on the RAM disc that came with the unit.

When I hit the input button on the remote, it does switch from Ch 4 to L1, L2, L3, back to Ch 4. The only setting of those that shows the cable tv picture is the Ch 4 setting. L1, L2, & L3 are blank screens. Then again, I understand this since I have no AUX inputs coming in, only the cable from the digital cable box (as specified in the manual).

It continues to frustrate the hell out of me the "pass thru" of a live source looks much worse than source viewed directly. The picture just looks different and "weaker". A good analogy is it is like the source telecast is VHS SP and the pass through on the E30 "video 1" looks like VHS EP or worse. MAJOR quality drop-off, and I am frustrated this is the watered down picture quality I am forced to accept if I want to record off of television.

[zippychimp]

Hey, I wanted to give you an update. I exchanged my digital cable box for one with a/v outputs (red, white, yellow) and then took your advice and ran an a/v red, white, and yellow from the cable box to the "LINE 1" input of the E30. I then ran a/v red, white, and yellow from "out" from the E30 and "in" to my television's inputs.

IT LOOKS TERRIFIC - much better than it had!!

I am using the a/v cable included in the box with the E30 as my a/v "OUT" from the E30 and "in" to my tv. I have a "Monster Cable Series 2" A/V running from my cable box "out" to the E30 "Input 1". I figure the quality of the a/v cable coming out from the E30 and into my tv is not going to affect the quality of the recording, so I am hoping to just get away with the included "cheapy" a/v cord and not have to buy another $40 Monster Cable a/v.

Everything looks 100% better and I guess I can just record off of the "LINE 1" setting. It's amazing to see the difference when I hit the input button on the E30 remote and compare the quality diference from CH 4 to LINE 1. LINE 1 is almost indistiguishable from the antenna reception. CH 4 looks as bad as when I first described the problem above.

For E30 owners out there, my question is: Do you use the included A/V cables that came with the unit or did you upgrade to better A/V cables such as "Monster", etc.?

[bakerlite]

Is the RF output signal of the DVD Recorder too close to the signal of the cable box or another terrestrial channel? If you have two devices with RF outputs, and their signals are close to one another, you will usually get interference and poor picture quality (herringboning, ghosting, etc).

I have trouble in my area as there are lots of strong terrestrial signals and it's often hard to find an empty RF channel to tune devices into. I have a digital cable box which feeds an RF signal through my E-30 and then to the TV - I've given up trying to loop through the VHS too as this was causing too many problems.

What other outputs apart from RF does your cable box have? Do you have scart or component outputs that you can use? If you're only using RF, does this mean you lose any stereo signals transmitted?

[zippychimp]

Bakerlite, Yes, Ch 3 is a broadcast over-the-air station that broadcasts in my area, so perhaps that is a reason for the poor look, although I have my tv defaulted to CH 4 for all my a/v and normal cable viewing.

I have resolved the issue the best way I could - that was getting a digital cable box that had a/v (red, yellow, white) outputs. I am running them out from the cable box into the "LINE 1" inputs on the E30. It has made a very noticeable improvement, but is still not "100%" what the normal antennae picture looks like - I'd say about "95%". For now, this will have to do. I will simply record over-the-air cable shows off of this "LINE 1" input.