Having trouble getting DVD Recorder and DVR to work together.

[v0lten]

A lady I work with used to have just a DVD recorder and when she wanted to record something, she recorded it right to a DVD no problem. I convinced her to upgrade her cable and get a DVR as well. She did. Now, whenever she tries to record anything to her DVD burner, it just burns nothing, like a blank screen.

I've tried many different ways of helping her by hooking everything up to how I think it would work, but to no avail. I've hooked up my own and friends home theaters and never had a problem. I just dont know how to help her.

One thing I found odd was that the cable tech gave her RGB cables to hook her DVR up to the TV. I was wondering why he would use the 5 cables instead of just an HDMI cable. I found the reason later, I think. The HDMI is only carrying video from the DVR to the TV and NOT audio. Its also not the HDMI cable as I have tried others that I know to work fine. Why would this happen? Bad DVR possibly?

Anyways, these are the components she has: Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC DVR --- SV2000 VHS/DVD Burner --- and a Magnovox BluRay player.

I reverted it all to the way the tech installed it but its still not letting her burn something she is watching on TV or something on her DVR list to the DVD burner like it should.

How am I supposed to hook this up correctly for her?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[adk highlander]

Did you check the composite outputs you are using from the DVR to the DVDR to make sure they were on? Connect the DVR to the TV using the composite cables to make sure they are on. It is possible that because the box is HD that the SD connections are not active.

There may also be a setting in the cable box to turn on audio over hdmi.

 

[v0lten]

Did you check the composite outputs you are using from the DVR to the DVDR to make sure they were on? Connect the DVR to the TV using the composite cables to make sure they are on. It is possible that because the box is HD that the SD connections are not active.

I did not try that, I tried only the RGB and HDMI cables from the DVR to the TV. Both work. The HDMI only has video. How would I go about activation the SD connections so I could hook them into the DVDR?

There may also be a setting in the cable box to turn on audio over hdmi.

I did some more research and I believe you are right. Someone said hit Menu twice really fast on the DVR and it brings up options where you switch the audio to HDMI. That would make sense.

 

[adk highlander]

I did not try that, I tried only the RGB and HDMI cables from the DVR to the TV. Both work. The HDMI only has video. How would I go about activation the SD connections so I could hook them into the DVDR?

I would first check to see if it is active and if they are make sure you connected them to the input on the DVR. I use Directv and not cable so I don't have experience with that cable box. It is possible that you cannot have both at the same time.

 

[Damn Noise!]

I have Dish Network and the HD DVR sends two signals (one HD to our main TV and one SD to our second TV upstairs) I was able to connect my DVD Burner to that second source (SD) and burn all I want.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[agarwalro]

First and foremost, inform the lady that according to MPAA she is performing piracy!

Now, can you tell us how it was connected before? (when recording worked)

Also, what connections are available on the TV?

 

[v0lten]

First and foremost, inform the lady that according to MPAA she is performing piracy

I will let her know

Now, can you tell us how it was connected before? (when recording worked)

I did not see it before as she already had the cable guy come out and configure the DVR. She says it was just a coaxial from the wall and she thinks it went into the DVDR and back out to the TV.

Also, what connections are available on the TV?

2 HDMI ports. 2 Composite connections. S-Video. and 2 AV spots.

I would first check to see if it is active and if they are make sure you connected them to the input on the DVR.

I thought an ideal connection to get this to work would be: coaxial from wall into DVR. HDMI from DVR to TV. RCA (or S-Video or RGB if possible) from the DVR output into the DVDR input.

From there Im kind of stuck. Is that all of the connections required? Just push burn on the DVDR? Or is there another Output from the DVDR that needs to go to the TV so you can switch the inputs to say AV1 and watch what is being recorded?



Its a big pain to head over to her house and move everything to get in back of her system so I want to make sure I have as much knowledge as possible before I head back over.

 

[TLS Guy]

I thought an ideal connection to get this to work would be: coaxial from wall into DVR. HDMI from DVR to TV. RCA (or S-Video or RGB if possible) from the DVR output into the DVDR input.

That is your trouble right there.

In most units if HDMI is enabled, than the analog outputs are disabled.

I would bet that is your situation.

I think when this lady wants to record off the DVR, you will have to teach her to switch HDMI off and enable the analog outputs.

They make this issue difficult because of DRM. The industry don't want you doing what you are trying to do.

Also if that DVR is recent, it will have the latest copy protection firmware and detect copyrighted programs. In that case when you play back from the DVR there will be no output at the analog outputs, and she won't be able to transfer from the hard disc of the DVR to a DVDR whatever you do. I understand that this applies to very few programs, if any at present, as it forces the use of HDMI and therefore locks a lot of consumers out from watching TV programs later, unless they have HDMI. There never will be a DVD R with an HDMI input, that is absolutely illegal.

 

[v0lten]

How do I go about switching the DVR from HDMI to analog? And if I did that, would her Composite connections still work or no?

 

[MDS]

How do I go about switching the DVR from HDMI to analog? And if I did that, would her Composite connections still work or no?

Change the connections back to the way the cable tech originally set it up.

If the output of the DVR is via HDMI, it will not simultaneously send the output to another analog output. Composite video and analog audio outputs are generally active at the same time as the component video outputs.

If you had the DVR functioning with HDMI you may have to power it down and connect it using composite video to be able to see the menus to change it to not use the HDMI output.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have found an online copy of the instruction manual for that DVR.

You can do this and leave the TV connected with an HDMI cable. The good news is you do not have to disable HDMI.

You need to find the instruction book and go to pages 16 and 17, where everything is explained.

Programs are only available for copy at the out 2 composite video output and the the audio from the out 2 analog outputs.

You have to activate the copy mode via the PIP menu.

You can watch TV, at the same time copy to the DVD burner.

 

[v0lten]

It is hooked up with composite right now because using an HDMI I wasnt getting any sound. The reason for that was explained above. But still, the way it is hooked up right now is DVR to TV with composite and DVR to DVDR via analog from the DVR output into the DVDR input. Thats not working. When she records its just blank air.

 

[MDS]

It is hooked up with composite right now because using an HDMI I wasnt getting any sound. The reason for that was explained above. But still, the way it is hooked up right now is DVR to TV with composite and DVR to DVDR via analog from the DVR output into the DVDR input. Thats not working. When she records its just blank air.

Your terminology is a bit confusing making it hard to visualize how you have things connected. The way you worded things makes it sound like you've got analog video to the TV (but no audio) and analog audio to the DVDR (but no video).

'Composite' refers to video - a single cable with a yellow connector (although the color doesn't really matter, it's just a convention). This is analog video.

Analog refers to analog audio - two cables, one with a red and one with a white connector. Although composite video is analog too.

So you need all three cables from the DVR to the TV and another three cables from the DVR to DVDR if you wan to go the all analog route (which you probably have to since the DVDR is not going to record digital audio or video).

Now if you actually do have the connections right, another potential problem is the resolution setting for the DVR. By default the SciAtlanta boxes set the output resolution to 'Upconvert 1' which IIRC is 1080i. The DVDR is only going to work with 480i. You should change the DVR setting to 'Pass-thru' which means it won't touch the resolution of any signal coming in. Pass-thru is actually better for most HDTVs anyway because the TV generally does a much better job of scaling and/or deinterlacing than the cable box.

One caveat: although all outputs of the DVR are active at the same time, it may or may not downscale 1080i to 480i at the composite video output. If it does, you should be able to record an HD program (although in SD). To test it out, try viewing both an HD channel and an SD channel.

 

[TLS Guy]

It is hooked up with composite right now because using an HDMI I wasnt getting any sound. The reason for that was explained above. But still, the way it is hooked up right now is DVR to TV with composite and DVR to DVDR via analog from the DVR output into the DVDR input. Thats not working. When she records its just blank air.

Did you read my last post and the instruction book?

There are two sets of composite and analog audio outputs, labelled 1 and 2.

You can only access the hard disc to record to another device from output 2. You can not record from the 1 set of outputs.

You have to activate the record to the DVDR from the PIP menu screen.

You can use HDMI out to the TV, and you can record from the hard drive in the DVR while watching something else. You can see what you are recording to disc in the PIP screen. If you can see your recording in the PIP screen it will be present on the composite number 2 set of outputs only. If you can't see what you want to record in the PIP screen you DVD will be blank.

I don't think we can help you further, it is pretty straightforward. You can not make ANY changes to what I have told you. If you do it any other way it won't work.