Recording from a Virgin Horizon box to DVD

Brendan Burgess

Founder
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I might have to get rid of my Horizon box as it's on the blink.
I have a lot of unwatched programmes which I would like to transfer to DVD.

I used to be able to do this, but I think it was before the Horizon Box.

If I remember correctly, I had to actually play the programme on the TV from the Virgin Box and then set the DVD to record.

But that does not seem to work now.

1) Is it possible and reasonably easy to do?
2) If it's possible do I need to get someone in to set up the connections and show me how to do it?
3) I don't think that they are that important that I would bring the box somewhere and ask them to move them all to DVD.

In general what happens when you replace your Horizon Box? Do you just lose all your recordings?

Brendan
 
Your horizon is using hdmi slot of tv.
Your recorder needs to use tv scart connection.
Set the recorder to record the tv channel your horizon box uses eg AV1.
Play the program.

There might be better ways.

I havent recorded from horizon but think that worked from old mediabox.
 
Hi Odyssey

Thanks for that. This is the current set up.

From the wall to the Horizon box - coax in

from the Horizon box (scart out) to the DVD player - Line 3

From the Horizon box (HDMI out) to the TV (HDM in 1)

From the DVD (Scart Line 1) to TV

Do I need to change that?

Brendan
 
Im not sure if your scart from horizon to dvd on line 3 will do anything as I am assuming you will need to record through the tv.
Possibly you could record future programs direct to the dvd recorder by setting the horizon to autotune to the program and then record to dvd by selecting hdm1 channel and specifying time.
Eg if you want to record stuff next week knowing your horizon box will be going.

First thing I would try is by playing through the tv though.
 
odyssey06 said:
First thing I would try is by playing through the tv though.
Click to expand...

Hi Odyssey

This is what I am trying to do but don't know how.

Should the wiring above allow me to do that?

I can't figure it out.

I wouldn't go back to recording to DVD as it's so simple recording on the Horizon box.

I suppose if I knew that I was going to lose the Horizon Box, I might record new stuff to DVD and try to catch up on the old stuff.

Brendan
 
My advice is to just not worry about it.
My box failed a few years ago and we lost all the recordings. We were annoyed for about 30 minutes and then I realized it was a liberation. They weren’t sitting there reproaching me for not watching them. It was great.

Of course, we got a new box and it’s now full of stuff we haven’t watched again.
 
Hi Brendan, sorry my pointers aren't more exact. It's been ages since I recorded that way I had an ancient UPC box that auto tuned but couldn't record.
Have your Virgin box on with the programme paused.
Tune your TV to the channel you would use for watching things on the DVD player (scart line 1).
On your DVD recorder remote control, look for an button called "Input" or "Source".
I'm hoping as you cycle through the inputs on the DVD recorder you will see your programme paused.
Hit record on the DVD recorder and hit play on the Horizon remote.
 
Thanks Odyssey

I tried that, but didn't get very far.

With the previous box, I was able to watch the TV channels via the DVD player. But I have a white screen now.

At one stage, I did manage to record the sound, but there was no picture.

I have to ring Virgin to try to fix the Horizon box and I will ask them if it's possible.

Brendan
 
I wouldn't bother ringing Virgin. You're technically not allowed make copies of stuff on the Horizon box HD. The loophole for boxes like Horizon is that "time-offset playback" is legal, copying isn't. Also don't bother trying to record via the HDMI from the Horizon box as the content is marked as copy-protected and most digital recorders will honour that by refusing to record.

So you'll have to use the analogue SCART (as you knew). There's no reason it shouldn't work. Debug your problem by first testing that the video is indeed being output on the SCART from the Horizon box. Do this by disconnecting the HDMI from Horizon to TV (optional), the SCART from DVD player to TV, and the SCART from Horizon to DVD player. Instead plug in the SCART from Horizon to TV and check that you can see playback from the Horizon on the TV when you select the SCART input. (If you didn't bother disconnecting the HDMI make sure that's not what you are watching). Ok, now plug everything back in the way it was. You definitely have video output on the Horizon SCART so it should be possible to record from it on the DVD player. Fiddle with stuff until it works ().

I'm inclined to agree with huskerdu though. I've always loved switching media boxes so that all the recordings get lost. The family members who have hogged all the disk space for years (and couldn't POSSIBLY delete all those back episodes of Soapy McSoap) never even notice their precious programs are gone.
 
So I plugged out the HDMI cable.
I went Scart from box to DVD; scart from DVD to TV
and I now could see the TV

Then I fiddled about with it.

When I press a button on the Remote Control, I see 4 "sources"
TV HDMI4 EXT and Screen Monitoring

When I am on Ext , I can see the TV picture through the DVD player and I can record it, but there is no sound.

To get the sound I have to go to the HDMI but then I can't see the DVD player.

Brendan
 
I've never attempted what you're asking so forgive me.

I've two thoughts:
Have you tried connecting DVD recorder to TV via HDMI cable? Maybe it will then be able to capture sound and picture.

The horizon box has a USB port on the back of it. Have you tried to connect it directly to your computer?
 

do you need to change a sound output setting when using scart instead of hdmi? check the menu

see page 56

https://www.upc.ch/pdf/support/manuals/en/television/horizon/user-manual-horizon.pdf
 
Blackrock1 said:
do you need to change a sound output setting when using scart instead of hdmi? check the menu

see page 56

https://www.upc.ch/pdf/support/manuals/en/television/horizon/user-manual-horizon.pdf
Click to expand...

That link seems broken at the moment, but also available here: page 56. You can enable and disable sound individually for SCART and HDMI outputs, or you can let the box detect the right setting which could mean it disables sound on the SCART if there is a HDMI cable connected.
 
Update:

A friend of mine came over and got it working in a couple of minutes.

The only difference in the cables was

From the wall to the Horizon box - coax in - same

from the Horizon box (scart out) to the DVD player - Line 3- same

From the Horizon box (HDMI out) to the TV (HDM in 1) - changed this cable to "HDMI In 2(ARC)" although I think that this is not relevant.

From the DVD (Scart Line 1) to TV - same

These were the actual steps which I thought I had done, but they are working now.


1) Turn on TV and Horizon Box

2) Turn on DVD player

3) Select EXT on TV using the middle button on the top of the Horizon remote

4) Using DVD remote use “Input Selector” to go to Line 3 so you are watching Live TV via the DVD

5) Play the recording from the Horizon Box

6) Hit Record Button on the DVD remote
 
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