Hello,

I have recently purchased a new Samsung DVD recorder and have been having a slight problem. Ever since it has been connected the quality of the DTV signal is poor. This means we now have to use the DVD recorder's digital tuner to watch TV off. Have we connected it the wrong way?

Both the TV and DVD recorder have digital tuners. They are connected by HDMI, the main aerial goes into the DVD recorder and we have linked the two with the coaxial cable. I believe that the problem is to do with the aerials, perhaps the main aerial should go into the TV? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You talk about 'aerials' (plural) and 'main aerial'. If you have more than one aerial, why? And how have you connected the two aerials to your equipment?
Daniel

When I talk about aerials I meant the main aerial and the coaxial cable. The main aerial is connected to the DVD recorder and the coaxial links the DVD to the TV.

Sounds like you have it connected the correct way. I'm not surprised that you're getting a weaker signal to your TV. Not only have you lengthened the connection (which usually doesn't make a huge deal) you've added an extra tuner between the antenna and the TV.

What kind of antenna do you have (roof-top, set-top, etc)? Is there an amplifier on the line? Are you within the city you are trying to get channels from? If not, how far away are you?

I'm guessing that before you added the recorder, the signal was pretty close to not coming in. Instead of getting a worse picture quality like it was with the analog signal, you get no picture at all when the signal is weak. So now that you've added that little bit to it, you're probably right in-between not getting the channels and getting them.

If you don't have an amplifier, adding one as close to the antenna as you can get will probably help.

We have an antenna in the loft with an amplifier, as well as the one on the roof. Before the picture was perfect for our TV. Like I said its definitely to do with having the extra tuner. Would the DVD recorder still work if I have the main aerial in the TV?

If you connect one antenna to the recorder, and the other to the TV, then yes, it will still work.

EDIT: And since the recorder is connected to the TV via an HDMI cable, you will still get a picture from the recorder.

But I don't know if it will affect the recording quality. We want to be able to use just the TV to watch TV on. Not having to have the recorder on as well.

With digital OTA (over-the-air) broadcasts, either you get the broadcast, or you don't. The close to in-between there is, is when you have tiling (the scrambled boxes).

So quality shouldn't be affected. Not unless one antenna doesn't get some channels. In which case, if you connect that antenna to the recorder, for example, then you will not be able to record said channels.

So do you think it would be best to attach the main aerial to the TV?

So do you think it would be best to attach the main aerial to the TV?

Whichever is more important to you.

If you want to ensure that you get the best signal for recording and not miss any recordings, then attach the better antenna to the recorder. Vice versa for watching shows.

The other thing to try, is once you have them connected check if you get all the channels you want on both the TV and recorder, then it won't matter.

But let's say you always watch channel X live, while recording something on channel Y. If you don't get channel X with your main antenna, but you do with the second antenna, then you will obviously want to attach the second antenna to the TV so you can watch channel X live.