This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Web Buzz by Stuart Langridge. Original Post: Setting up a DVD recorder with a VCR and a cable STB Feed Title: as days pass by Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/kryogenix Feed Description: scratched tallies on the prison wall Latest Web Buzz Posts Latest Web Buzz Posts by Stuart Langridge Latest Posts From as days pass by

I got a DVD recorder for Christmas. It’s really outstandingly cool. Just being able to record stuff and then delete it afterwards with the press of a button is about the coolest thing ever. Yes, I am easily amused.
However, I’ve got something of a complex setup as regards telly stuff. You see, there’s not only the DVD recorder, but a VCR, the set-top-box for cable, the TV, and a magic retransmitter box. The magic retransmitter box broadcasts the TV signal it is fed so that it can be picked up by other TVs in the house, meaning that the STB can be in my living room and my daughter can watch cable channels like CBeebies in her playroom. Coolness incarnate.
Other requirements: record videos onto DVD (so I can take the last ten years of taped-off-the-telly films and put them on DVD, getting some space back—not for hiring videos from Blockbuster and taping them); record DVDs onto video (so that Sam can take stuff we’ve got on DVD/VCD/SVCD and play it at school—again, not for ripping off copyrighted stuff); record cable channels and ordinary telly onto video or DVD at my choice.
So, after some serious fiddling about and some help from andyfras over at the UK radio and telly forums I came up with the following:

It’s all fun, this audio-visual stuff, I tell you. Even more fun than the last time I did this. Fortunately, since the last time I got new kit (a DVD player, two years ago) I’ve bought a new TV, which has modern inputs like SCART, so it wasn’t as bad this time.