HDD Recorder connections

[TEAK36]

This is driving me crazy. I have an HDD recorder, a Sky Digi box, and a VCR, that I would like set up, but I am buried in a jumble of SCART leads and just dont know what I am doing.I have read the manuals, but I am still confused. Yesterday I even purchased an S-Video cable which had a SCART at one end, and at the other was the S-Video connection and also a red and a white connection, which I believe is the audio, but this did not make a difference when connected up. I have spent absolutely hours messing around with various set ups, and I do have them all working (sheer luck I think), but when I turn the HDD Recorder on, I get a no signal message, and then I have to keep pressing the source button until I find the SCART 2 option, and only when I have done this can I watch tv through the HDD. Of all the various set ups I have tried, this is the only one that has everything working, but I am sure it is not the correct set up because the picture quality whilst watching tv through the HDD is not great.
Anyone got any ideas?

[sunnyday2d]

hi teak,
just a thought, have you got your scart lead that goes to
the TV connected to AV2 instead of AV1, Cant help you with
connections has i have never had any sky eqipment.
but it sounds to me like you may have your ariel connections wrong, a poor picture & no signal does seem to indicate this.
sorry i cant be of more help.
good luck.