wierd problem recording freeview

[Simba27]

My setup includes a freeview box outputting via scart to a UHF modulator. Then the UHF is fed into an analogue HDD/DVD recorder. It's worked fine like that for several years. It's a lidl recorder (Liteon badged as Targa).

Anyway, a week ago my Tevion freeview box died. They rarely seem to last more than a 2-3 years. So I went out and bought a new one, this time a TVonics branded unit.

But now my recorder won't record the freeview channel. When I press record on the it pops up a message saying "protected input source". I can't find any info about what that means. It records all the other analogue channels just fine. The recorder worked perfectly with all my previous freeview boxes.

Does anybody know what's happening and how to fix it?

 

[PaulR]

If you're saying that you used your recorder to record programmes through the RF lead then, as far as the recorder is concerned, nothing should have changed as it's still the same UHF modulator - isn't it? If you are ABSOLUTELY sure that you haven't changed anything on the recorder this is a puzzle as RF inputs are what it expects to record and whether it comes from a TV transmitter or a modulator shouldn't make any difference. TBH I'm stumped.

If not, please let us know what has changed.

 

[Simba27]

Yeah. That's what's puzzling me. As far as the recorder is concerned, nothing has changed. It's just trying to record the same UHF channel as before.

The only thing that has changed is the new freeview box that's feeding the UHF modulator.

 

[Simba27]

It doesn't record even with the TVonics freeview box connected directly to the recorder via SCART.

As far as I can tell the signal produced by the TVonics box is out of spec, even though the picture looks fine. The recorder thinks this out of spec signal is Macrovision copy protection and refuses to record it.

I contacted TVonics customer support for advice but they were utterly useless. They are an absolute joke. You have to dial a premium rate phone number and then you get to speak to a disinterested person with no apparent technical skills. :-bash

To make a long story short, TVonics didn't seem interested in listening to my problem. They just kept insisting that their box was perfect and either my recorder must be faulty or I must be doing something wrong. Never mind that I had tested my recorder in the exact same configuration with 2 other freeview boxes without any problem.

So I returned the TVonics piece of junk back to the shop and got a Phillips box instead. That one works just fine and is actually a much nicer box than the TVonics one. I wish I'd bought the Phillips one in the first place.

 

[PaulR]

Nice to hear that you've resolved the issue and thanks for letting us know. It's a shame that TVonics weren't interested in your problem though.