I have a digital stb from time warner, a samsung dvd recorder, a yamaha a/v receiver, and a Sony TV non-HD. I have tried to hook-up the DVD/Recorder for 2 days and am about to shoot myself. RF in from wall to rf in on STB, composite video and audio from the STB to line 1 in on the dvd recorder, audio out from recorder to the Yamaha receiver, component out video to the TV. Seems simple enough. The dvd recorder will not recognize any channels above 125. Since HBO and all the goodies reside above 125 what have I done wrong or am I just SOL?????????
Don't use the recorder's tuner. Set the recorder on line 1 and use the box.
I understand cables but this line 1 on the recorder and using the STB to change channels has me confused. I can leave the recorder on line 1 and display any channel I want on the TV, however my specific question has to do with setting the recorder up to do a timed recording while I'm gone for the evening. Do I use the recorder's menu and tell it to record channel 200(HBO), then make sure the STB is powered on??
David, Thanks for your advice. This is finally starting to make some sense. I apologize for using your knowledge instead of aquiring my own but this dvd/recorder thing is brand new to me. If you or anyone else has the patience here are some additional twists and wrinkles to this saga.
With my old setup..tv,a/v receiver,vcr,dvd player, and no cable box I could use the vcr menu and record channel 17 at 1500 hours AND watch TV on another channel at the same time. It appears that option is gone now due to the cable box(STB). Also my vcr was passive in that it could be powered off and the signal would flow through it to the TV. Now this goofy Samsung DVD R120 recorder has to be powered on in order to get the signal to the TV for regular viewing. That doesn't seem right and I will pursue that with Samsung.
Finally my cable provider is TIME WARNER and their remote for the STB allows the user to time record from their box HOWEVER their software assumes you are recording on a VCR and of course their remote does not recognize the code for my SAMSUNG dvd recorder. Maybe TW wants to lease a DVR to me. Which begs the question, why do I need my own personal DVR. The answer is that I like the idea of recording to a portable medium vs. a hard drive.
You can watch analog channels while you record from the box, but you can't record a digital channel and watch another digital channel. Split the incoming cable to the box and the recorder, then if you want to watch the box without the recorder on, use an A/B switch on the recorder and box outputs, unless the box has 2 sets of line outputs and the TV has enough inputs. When you want to record from the box, you can watch analog channels through the TV tuner.