General cabling set up (very much a newbie needing help)

[andystar351]

Hiya guys and gals, any chance of helping a newbie out?.
I have finally made the transition from VHS to DVD but I have gone a little over the top and may have bitten off more than I can chew all in one go.
The answer may be easy to you experts out there but it has me tearing my hair out.
I now own a very cheap but perfectly serviceable DVD player (Pacific 1002w) and have no major problems with it at all, to go along side it I have also purchased a Philips DVDR70 recorder (and now the problem starts!!) I also have a Pace cable TV box and a VHS VCR (and obviously a TV). My question is , how the hell do I connect them all, bearing in mind the need to be able to transfer (copy) my old VCR tapes onto DVD using the Philips recorder or Vice Versa?
The TV set has 3x scarts EXT 1,2,3, obviously
The Pacific Player has 1x scart, 1x co-axial, 1x s-video.
The Philips DVDr70 recorder has 2x scarts
And the VCR 2x scarts.
Does anyone have a clue to help me connect them all? As I have completely lost the plot with it. To say that the instruction manual is no help is an understatement its incoherant, rambling, and as thick as the bible and has no cabling diagrams in it at all (just inconclusive instructions of what goes where non of which seem to work.
I am also having some sound quality issues with the cheaper player as my tv has surround speakers (no amplifier) hooked up to it but I am not getting any sound through them on playback from the cheaper machine,(sound from tv speakers is also abnormally quiet) However to ease the confusion I am willing to let this one slide for a while and combat that glitch at a later date.
I would appreciate any feedback at all on this one, as I want to get it all up and running as soon as I can. By the way if it makes it any easier I could take the VCR out of the set up altogether to free up any sockets I may need but would like to keep it in if I could.
Thank You all.

[Richard_G]

Pacific DVD Player to Scart 1 on TV
Pace Cable box to Scart 2 on TV
VCR Scart to DVD Recorder Scart 1
DVD Recorder Scart 2 to Scart 3 on TV

If all of them have Pin 8 autoswitching in the scart plugs used then your Tv will automatically select whichever unit you have switched on. Otherwise you will need to select whichever you want to watch.

Assuming you have a standard TV aerial as well as the cable box, you need to connect TV aerial to RF in on vhs, possibly then to cable box (if it has RF passthrough, some do some don't), then to RF input of TV.

As for the sound, you only will get stereo out of the DVD player as you have only the stereo signals connected. Scart may be a wonderful system but it can only cope with two audio channels. Unless you run from the digital audio output on your DVD player to a separate amp and decoder, you will only ever get stereo out. The sound is probably quiet because you have it set for 5.1 output and 4 of the six channels aren't doing anything. Go into the setup menu of the DVD player and set it for stereo only.

[sacajaweeda]

Not familiar with them Euroconnectors, but maybe something like this is in your future?

http://www.tevra.co.uk/acatalog/SCART_adapters.html

[andystar351]

Thank you...will try out the cabling as posted first thing in the morning.....looks like a plate of spaggetti already lol....as for the second reply....if i throw in my gamecube/ps2 aswell ill be needing one of those little beauties....so many thanks to you both
any more suggestions would be welcome aswell as i need to expand and improve all the time (technology aint it great??)

[Richard_G]

The setup I suggested will allow you to record to DVD your vhs tapes but you may not be able to record to VHS or DVD anything from the cable box. If your TV is fairly new (which I suspect it is as it has surround sound and 3 scarts), you MAY find that whatever you are watching is output on the other scarts. If this is the case, you will be able to record to DVD while you are watching. Some TVs also link the scarts when the TV is switched off so you will still be able to record when you aren't there.

If this isn't possible, you can daisychain the cable box with the video recorder and DVD recorder. In this case, go Cable box scart to VHS scart 1, vhs scart 2 to DVD recorder scart 1 and DVD recorder scart 2 to TV scart 2. This should allow you to record cable TV on either vhs or DVD as well. It will also give you a spare scart on the TV for your ps2. You may find that this arrangement won't work properly because of the autosensing signal on the scart cables causing one piece of equipment to override the others. In this case you can use partial scart leads (thinner 9 way ones instead of full 21 way ones) which don't have pin 8 connected through.

Good luck and only use a switch box as a very last resort, they ain't all they are cracked up to be.

[andystar351]

wow getting really confused now lol........thanks anyway much obliged think i am going to have to print the replies and sit infront of all those wires with a very stiff drink.

[Richard_G]

Tell you what. Connect one unit at a time and check that it works before connecting the next. That way when it all goes pear shaped you know at what stage you cocked it up!