hi steve,
it depends a bit on what scarts you have to your tv, i am by no means clever at this game, but i have freeview, humax, sky, dvdhdd, video, all ending up at my tv.
everything is coaxed, except for the dvd, it goes in but does not come out. but goes through, and i have scarts on my two recorders and sky going into the tv.also scarts to each of the recorders, and then the video is connected via a phono and audio lead to the dvdhdd.
i can see everything on the tv, mostly via the scart, the video can record from the dvdhdd, and everything else, the dvdhdd records everything except the video.
i made it more to my way of thinking so that its really like drawing a water pipe diagram, you work it out which to start from and where you want it to flow, i doubt mine would suit you, as i think its all dependant on your requirements, though i would say put the freeview at the beginning of the chain in the coax
regards
phil