Ask Me Help Desk - Hooking DVD recorder and HD cable box together

This is over my head. I have Hitachi HDTV and a HDTV Cable box Explorer 8300. The cable line from the wall goes into the cable box and then red, green, & blue wires go from Out 1 to input 3 on the back of the TV. Also there are additional red & white wires that go from Out 2 to Input 3 on the back of the TV.

I have a Sony DVD recorder RDR-GX330 and a GoVideo VCR/DVD combo DV2130 that I would like to hook into all this. I can not figure where the wires should go. There was directions that came with the DVD but they do not show a HD box. I tried to go buy what they had but it would not work with the HD Box. I was even trying to leave the combo out, just to get to use my DVD recorder I have had for 3 months. There are diagrams on my cable site but none show how to hook a DVD recorder to a HD box. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Kimmie

There are a bunch of different type of connections. First is Coax. This is a cable from your cable company into the Cable box. It has a screw on F connector. It has a thin solid core with woven sheathing. Next there is composite video. Using RCA type jacks there is a single yellow jack for the video and red and white jacks for the audio. From there you go up to S-Video which uses a round 5 pin plug. Component video is next with red blue and green RCA jacks. From there you go up to DVI and HDMI connections.

So, what you need to do is look at the Output jacks on your cable box and the input and output jacks on the recorders and TV. You then have to match them. Most likely you Go-Video deck only has Coax, Composite and maybe S-Video. The Sony may also have Component.

Another issue is whether you want to be able to record while watching something else and whether your TV has the ability to switch between inputs.

So we need some more info to help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

TSo, what you need to do is look at the Output jacks on your cable box and the input and output jacks on the recorders and TV. You then have to match them. Most likely you Go-Video deck only has Coax, Composite and maybe S-Video. The Sony may also have Component.

Another issue is whether you want to be able to record while watching something else and whether your TV has the ability to switch between inputs.

So we need some more info to help.

First thank you for answering. Second you lose me when you tell me to match them up. LOL!

Here is what I have got:

The cable box has the cable wire coming from the wall to the box. It then has the component r,g,b wires going from OUT1 to the TV. Also in the OUT1 box there is a separate red and white wire going out to the TV.

Left open on the cable box are an OUT2 for red, white and yellow cables, a place for a black digital audio out, a svideo out and the cable out all have no wires in them.

The DVD recorder has LINE1 IN that includes red, white and yellow and svideo, digital OUT that is orange, Component video OUT that is Green, Blue and red
LINE OUT that is red, yellow and white and svideo plus the cable in and out.

The VCR/DVD combo has Digital Audio OUT coax and svideo, Component vido OUT red, green and blue with a white line out and red audio.
Then it has Line 1 IN w/ yellow, red and white plus the cable in and out.

Wow I am now even more confused. I would love to be able to record on the DVD player while watching another channel but I do not if that is an option. Thanks again!

Oh yeah, my TV has the ability to switch between five different inputs.

If your cable box is a model 8300, like this one, then it is NOT HD. For HD you need the 8300HD.

The cable box has a built-in PVR and dual tuners. You can split the cable from the wall and connect to each of the tuners, then you can record one show while watching another.

You do not need the Sony, unless you want to record to DVD?

Your cable box is connected correctly for best output to your TV. You do not need to connect any other cable box outputs to your TV.

I use an Explorer 3250HD at home and found that all the outputs are active at the same time. I believe this is the same for yours.

So if you want to record to DVD, you can connect the s-video output, Red and White RCAs from the 8300 to the corresponding inputs on the DVD recorder. If you have another set of component video inputs on your TV (for example Input 2), then you can connect the DVD recorder output to this input.

So now, while watching a program, you can record to DVD at the same time. If you want to watch a DVD, switch to Input 2.

You do not need the VCR/DVD combo, unless you want to watch vhs tapes, in this case, connect the s-video output, red and white RCAs to the corresponding inputs on your TV (for example, Input 1).

Quote:

Originally Posted by HVAC888

If your cable box is a model 8300, like this one, then it is NOT HD. For HD you need the 8300HD.

The cable box has a built-in PVR and dual tuners. You can split the cable from the wall and connect to each of the tuners, then you can record one show while watching another.

You do not need the Sony, unless you want to record to DVD?

Your cable box is connected correctly for best output to your TV. You do not need to connect any other cable box outputs to your tv.

I use an Explorer 3250HD at home and found that all the outputs are active at the same time. I believe this is the same for yours.

So if you want to record to DVD, you can connect the s-video output, Red and White RCAs from the 8300 to the corresponding inputs on the DVD recorder. If you have another set of component video inputs on your TV (for example Input 2), then you can connect the DVD recorder output to this input.

So now, while watching a program, you can record to DVD at the same time. If you want to watch a DVD, switch to Input 2.

You do not need the VCR/DVD combo, unless you want to watch vhs tapes, in this case, connect the s-video output, red and white RCAs to the corresponding inputs on your TV (for example, Input 1).

My box does look similar to this but I guess I failed to mention it says 8300HD instead of just 8300 then it also says HDTV Cable. I do want to record DVDs and my children have hundreds of VHS tapes so I would really like to get it hooked up too.

Sorry I forgot the HD part!

Ah, since it's the 8300HD then it should have a HDMI. If your TV has HDMI input, then connecting an HDMI cable will give you the BEST picture currently available. :)

It will carry audio too, so you can disconnect the component video cables and the corresponding red,white RCA cables.

My directions for hooking up the DVD player and the vhs is still the same. Enjoy your HD.:p

All these inputs and outputs are either color coded or a specific jack type. What I meant by matching is really very simple. If you have a blue, green and red set of Outputs, they should be connected to a blue, green and red set of Inputs. If you have a S-Video output it should go to a S-Video input.

Thanks for all your info. I am not up to tackling it tonight but I will definitely let you know if I figured it out tomorrow night.