This is
where the fun start, remember at this time, we are talking about
the standard coax connection, not using any scart leads at all. You may need
to use coax and scart leads, depending on what your equipment has available,
some digital TV's have 3 scart sockets !
Amplifiers, may help pick up Channel 5, they will also improve reception of
other channels. Installing one might mean the difference between getting a poor digital signal,
or no signal at all. You may also need to
change your Aerial for one designed for Digital TV.
When you add a VHS
recorder to your system, you will need to tune in your TV for its signal,
remember we are using coax, see the manuals for how to tune in your TV, and
if you can move the output frequency of the VHS recorder.
Before
you can view these digital channels, on your existing equipment, you
need a digital TV converter. These take the digital signal from your Aerial and convert it into signals your television can decode.
Many
companies now produce these boxes, for around ?40
Shows connection in and out of the
equipment using coax cable
Aerial To TV
out
inout
Line Amp Added
out
inout
in
Add Freeview Box
out
inout
inout
in
VHS Recorder Added
out
inout
inout
inout
in
Two Televisions
out
inout
inout
inout
Has 2 outputs
in
in
In the last circuit showing two televisions, you can
see the line amp has been moved to the end, this is because its being
used as a splitter for two televisions. The line amp would have
Aerial IN, TV
1 out, TV 2 out marked, if you have 3 Televisions, then you would buy a line amp
with 3 outputs.
The line amp will still amplifier the signal, it would
be better at the start of the circuit, but will function almost as good
at the end. You may realise now, why scart connections are used
instead of coax. Note, you should not use a Y connection to
connect up two televisions, they need to be electrically isolated.
The last circuit, will show the output from the VHS
recorder on all televisions, you will be able to record Freeview
channels on the VHS recorder, you will be able to see Freeview on both
Televisions.
When
they finally switch off the analogue channels, all new televisions, VHS
recorders and DVD recorders will all have digital tuners, but at the
moment its difficult to record an analogue channel while watching a
digital.
You can use these coaxial splitters, but they should not
be used to connect 2 TV's
In In
the above last circuit, you can feed output 1 from the line amp into the
Freeview box, which then feeds the VHS Recorder, which then feeds the Y
splitter input 1 (Shown Red) While the second output from the line amp
can go direct to the TV, this way you can watch a analogue channel,
while recording any other channel.
Although the last circuit is not very practical, you can
see a method of bringing the Aerial direct to the TV. So if all else
fails, you would still have the analogue channels coming through,
just like before :)
Using just coaxial cable means there is going to be a
lot of signal drop on each connection, so keep the connections to a
minimum, you will also find that some Freeview boxes pass though the
analogue signal as well as the digital, while some don't have a coaxial
output at all, and a scart plug needs to be used.
There are never two installations the same, there may be
3 VHS recorders, and two televisions, your equipment may or may not have
Coaxial outputs, you need to visualize the signals travelling along the
circuit, and arrange things as you want them, remember when the analogue
signal is finally switched off, your going to need to re-think the
installation, if your still using equipment without digital TV
built in.
Finally this last circuit shows the analogue going
direct to the TV's coaxial socket (Blue) while the digital signal is fed
to the VHS recorder via a scart socket, with the output of the VHS
recorder coming out of another scart socket into the TV's scart socket
(Green).
This is a much better method..