TV/DVD/STB/VCR Instalation Problems

[Clank]

Hi, this may have been covered before but I cant find specifics.
I have literally spent 7 hours today trying to re instal my TV/DVD/STB/VCR as I have never managed to tape from cable.
My TV has 2 scarts (1 rgb, 1 svid) DVD has 1 scart, STB has 2 scarts and VCR 2 scarts.
Terrestial comes into my VCR via RF cable, and then out to TV via RF cable.
DVD connects via scart to RGB connection on TV
Scart then connects STB's VCR port to VCR's 'satellite in' port
Scart then connects VCR's TV out port to s vid port on TV
My problem is that I cant record from NTL cable TV as a 6th channel? ie I cant watch terrestail and record cable at same time and vice versa.
I tried connecting via this post's advice


However when I tried this I was then left with an empty scart port on my DVD player with no where to plug it into!
I have been pulling my hair out over this and am ready to throw it all in the skip. If you have any ideas out there I would be very grateful.
Clank

Hi & Welcome to the site.

Does your DVD have Svid out and two audio out? Can you not plug this into your TV/Video's Svid in and audio in, eradicating the need for another scart lead?

If you want to connect all your devices by scart then you need a scart splitter....

Looks like this:-

[Tristan]

Hi there,

You have three options, as I see it.

1) Ditch the direct connection between the TV and VCR. Connect the STB to the "output" Scart of the VCR, and when you press play the STB will pass the picture through to the TV. Then connnect the DVD player to the other Scart socket on the TV.

2) This depends on your TV. Some have the ability to pass the signal received on one Scart through to the other one -- my Sony does it. This means you don't need a direct connection between the STB and VCR, as it can go "through" the TV. You can then connect the DVD player to the STB via the socket meant for VCR connection, and the pass-through on this socket will do its job when you play a DVD. This is the method I use, and means I get RGB pictures on both cable and DVD.

3) Buy an RBG scart splitter as above.

Personally I recommend option 1 for ease of use, if you can put up with composite/s-video output from the DVD player.

Hope this helps,

Tristan