Keith asked

12th July 2012

I am asking this on behalf of my elderly parents who are considering purchase of a TV with Freeview HD as a means to receive HD channels.

Can they connect their aerial to their current SD Humax PVR, in turn connect this PVR via standard coaxial cable to the new TV and still get HD channels on the TV? Does the PVR pass on the HD signal to the TV or kill it leaving only SD?

The PVR would also be connected via SCART as at present allowing SD PVR recorded programs to be viewed on AV input on TV.

It sounds as though the Humax recorder has an aerial pass-through and that shouldn't alter the aerial signal itself, only the signal strength may be affected and your probably won't notice that. So long as both the TV and recorder are connected to the aerial at the same time, either separately or to one and other via a pass though the inbuilt tuners in each, be they standard or high-definition, will work.

Mike asked

10th July 2012

If we buy a TV with an inbuilt DVD player and the DVD packs up, will the TV also?

Probably not. The TV stopping working will likely make the DVD player stop working but the other way around should be ok; all you should lose is the ability to play discs, all the other functionality of the TV should keep working.

Heather asked

4th July 2012

We bought a Panasonic TV set-top box which only used an HDMI lead, we could not get it to connect to our 4 year old Samsung television. We exchanged it for a Bush box, with SCART lead which keeps freezing and switching off then re-booting, this happens a lot when we adjust the volume, but can happen just out of the blue.

The Panasonic was bought to replace a Hitachi box we'd had for several years and had started to play up. I have been looking at Argos for another replacement but they are mainly all with HDMI leads. Some say they have 1 SCART socket and HDMI and some say they have 2 SCART sockets and HDMI sockets. If we buy one of these can we just use the SCART socket on its own.

The reason you'll see more boxes with HDMI ports these days is because Freeview HD can only usually be connected to an HDTV via HDMI. Any box that has a SCART output should work with your television but irrespective of weather the box you buy supports Freeview HD or not, you will only get a standard-definition picture from the SCART output.

Don asked

3rd July 2012

I have an HD Ready Pioneer KRL-32V and a Pioneer DVR-550HX-S . They are connected by an HDMI cable. What additional equipment is needed to receive HD broadcasts and how should they be connected so that I can still record programmes on my DVR. I appreciate the fact that HD programmes would not be recorded as such on the DVR.

Assuming you live in an area of the country where Freeview HD is available or is about to be available, which you can check here:

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch

all you should need a Freeview HD set-top box reciever or recorder. Freeview HD devices come with an HDMI output which you can connect to your HD-Ready television. You'll need to connect both your existing recorder and the new Freeview HD device to your aerial, either directly if you have a spare socket or using a splitter or aerial pass-though if one or other box has one of those. With both/all devices connected to your aerial the Freeview tuners they contain will continue to work, and the audio and video outputs from each will be carried via HDMI to your HDTV.

Sophie asked

20th June 2012

I have a Samsung Syncmaster 172 MP TV and it has stopped working. Is itcompatible now we have switched over to HD? Also I want to get a new Freeview box, which one is compatible with this TV?

If your TV is still working but no longer able to receive any channels this probably confirms my impression from searching online that it only contains an analogue television tuner which is longer working after digital-switchover.

A Freeview box will get you the digital Freeview channels that your TV isn't able to receive itself. I think your TV has a component video input so you want to find buy a Freeview set-top box with either a SCART socket or a component video output. The former will probably be cheaper and easier to find but you will also need a cheap SCART to component adapter in addition to a component video cable to connect the two devices.

Paul asked

12th June 2012

I have a HD Ready television and have a digital stream Freeview HD recorder attached to it. We are receiving the regular digital channels but I have been told that some areas of where I live are receiving some HD channels already. (Northern Ireland). However, I am not receiving these HD channels. Do I need something else to receive these HD channels? The main switchover is in October.

You may be able to manually tune another transmitter in your area if you are able to pick up more than one at your location with these instructions:

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/manual_retuning

But if that doesn't work I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until October:

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/northernireland

Carl asked

12th June 2012

I have Sky HD in lounge, I have 2x (1.4) HDMI cables running from the lounge to the loft, where they meet my HDMI amp (1x4). One of these is used to provide the amp with signal, while the other takes the signal back to TV in lounge. The other outputs are, 2 - out to bedroom (1.4) and 3 out to the kitchen (1.3) The lengths are as such; lounge 2 x 15m, bedroom 10m, kitchen 25m.

My problem is, as I'm sure you're already on to, the kitchen feed. When the TV is switched on/off the other TVs lose their signal temporarily ( I think this is to do with the hand shake ) but if I have the other TVs on, and change source on the TV in the kitchen to watch terrestrial, then the other TVs will not show a picture. Is there anything I can do other than change cable as this is behind the structure of the building now?

A 25 metre passive HDMI cable is beyond the limits I would expect any HDMI cable to work but you may well be successful with a good quality cable. There's no specified limit on the length of and HDMI cable but beyond about 25 feet or 8-9 metres poorer quality cables will begin to fail to work. I'd move the TV you're having problems with closer to the source and use a different shorter cable to confirm that the long cable really is the source of your problem. If that proves to be the case I'd look at pulling a cable you know to work at that length though if you can or to look in to other, probably wireless ways of feeding your remotest HDTV.

Anthony asked

7th June 2012

I have a Toshiba 32" HDTV with an HDMI input and 3 SCART sockets on the side. I have recently gave up Sky and using the Sky dish I have purchased a Humax HD Freesat recorder (Foxsat-HDR) but I can't get my Panasonic DMR-ES30VEB VCR/DVD recorder to record or playback.

The Humax has the 2 cables from the dish and goes into 1 and 3 sockets on the HDTV but it has no outlet for a coax cable for a recorder. The Humax and the TV are connected with an HDMI cable and this works fine but there is no connection on the Panasonic recorder for an HDMI cable possibly because it is not HD so I am using a SCART cable. Can you use both HDMI and SCART as the HDTV is switched to HDMI?

For your Humax recorder to work all you need are the two existing connections to your satellite dish as inputs and the HDMI connection to your HDTV as an output so you can watch what its receiving/recording.

You're likely going to use your Panasonic recorder less now you have a Freesat box (the Humax) with recoding capabilities but connecting it up for the occasions when you do want to use it is reasonably straightforward. You need to connect it's SCART output to one of the SCART inputs on your HDTV and switch to the appropriate input on the HDTV when you want to watch it. If it has a built in Freeview tuner you will need to connect it to your aerial for that to work. In term of recoding you may be able to connect a SCART output from your Humax recorder to the SCART input on your Panasonic recorder but you will have to manually tune and schedule recoding on both devices which will likely be laborious and error prone, hence you being more likely to use your new recorder going forward.