Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Koons1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Hi, I've gotten a lot of different answers to this question. I have nothing against DVRs, but I have been very comfortable with PVRs for a long time, and have used a great one that I have for a while with other carriers. However, there is either something about your box or something else that is keeping me from succeeding in setting this up. I thought it would be as simple as running Component from the VZ box to the PVR and then from there to the TV. However, all I get is a gray screen. Then I discovered an oddity about my PVR: it cannot accept Component from an HD box because it can "only accept standard definition interlace signals". The machine does have Component inputs and outputs and even an HDMI output., but apparently it just can't handle the Component from the HD set. So my question is whether there is a way I can set this three-way arrangement so that I can record in standard def (I record primarily to see what I can't catch and erase, it's not that important to hav a fab picture for posterity), while still having a high-def Component connection to my TV? The PVR does not have a cable card

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

Since the recordings on the PVR are SD, why bother connecting it to your TV with component (unless it upscales the output and that is better than your TV doing it).  What I was suggesting was connecting S-Video to the PVR , connecting the PVR via either composite or S-Video to the TV (assuming you have additional SD type inputs) and keep the STB component to the TV.  If that doesn't work for you then you need to buy an external switch to switch the TV input from the PVR to the STB component connections (try looking at monoprice.com).

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

All of the video / audio outputs on the STB are active at the same time.  You can use either S-Video or Composite if your PVR will accept those formats (this will allow you to record in SD, but the HD output will be the same as what is being recorded).  Means you can't record one channel while watching another.

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Koons1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thank you. My unit does accept S. However, let me ask a question that may make experts laugh:

If I run S from the cable box to the PVR, then run Component from the PVR to the TV, am I basically wasting video quality in that last connection, because, for lack of a better term, the PVR has nothing better than S to deliver to the TV, or is there a possibility of upscaling along the way?

Tjhanks

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Koons1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Sorry - let me be even more precise: I was referring to the quality of the picture delivered to the TV when the PVR is not in use. In other words, if I run S from the box to the PVR, is S the best that I can then deliver to the TV for regular viewing?

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

Since the recordings on the PVR are SD, why bother connecting it to your TV with component (unless it upscales the output and that is better than your TV doing it).  What I was suggesting was connecting S-Video to the PVR , connecting the PVR via either composite or S-Video to the TV (assuming you have additional SD type inputs) and keep the STB component to the TV.  If that doesn't work for you then you need to buy an external switch to switch the TV input from the PVR to the STB component connections (try looking at monoprice.com).

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Koons1
Enthusiast - Level 3

OK - we are making progress, and you are almost rid of me. Here is the current situation:

I ran composite from the Box to the PVR and Component  from the Box to the TV. I ran Component from the PVR to the TV, simply because I currently haven't got any more Composite or any S.

The result is that I have picture from the PVR and from the TV inputs of the television, and indeed the HD comes through on the latter and a rather poor picture from the former.

The problem is that I get no sound at all from either. I'm particularly suprised that when I select the Box input on the TV, presumably bypassing the effect of the PVR, I get no sound.

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
PJL
Master - Level 3

@Koons wrote:

OK - we are making progress, and you are almost rid of me. Here is the current situation:

I ran composite from the Box to the PVR and Component  from the Box to the TV. I ran Component from the PVR to the TV, simply because I currently haven't got any more Composite or any S.

The result is that I have picture from the PVR and from the TV inputs of the television, and indeed the HD comes through on the latter and a rather poor picture from the former.

The problem is that I get no sound at all from either. I'm particularly suprised that when I select the Box input on the TV, presumably bypassing the effect of the PVR, I get no sound.


Composite cables (and component for that matter) only carry the video signal.  You need to attach analog audio cables from the STB to the PVR also.  Only HDMI cables carry both video and audio, so you need analog audio cables to the TV from the PVR -- unless you use HDMI from the PVR to the TV.

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
Koons1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Update: I set up the connections on a different TV, and everything works. The only thing is that, of course, the PVR input produces pretty poor images with Composite. Hopefully an S-cord will improve matters

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Re: Setting up a PVR to FiOS
jmw1950
Specialist - Level 2

S-VHS can improve the picture quality considerably. In Composite Video, the Chromiance and Luminance signals are separate in the time domain, but not in the frequency domain. As a result, sophisticated electronics (a comb filter) are needed to obtain maximum resolution, however the ultimate limit is about 330 lines, and it is a very rare Television receiver that can get more than 300 lines resolution from composite video or the old Analog over the air signal. Absent a comb filter, the upper limit on Analog TV or composite video is about 260 lines resolutions.

S-VHS keeps the Chromiance and Luminance Signals physically separate, and as a result can provide up to 400 lines resolution. Also keep in mind that many PVR's can record the program at different bit rates (analogous to the 2, 4 and 6 hour speeds on the old VCR's). To obtain the full benefit of S-VHS, you need to record at at least 4 million bits per second, 2 million bit per second can only provide about the same quality as a standard VHS VCR.

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