I have a cheap HDMI to S-video/composite converter I bought off Aliexpress. I need to be able to record from an HDMI source to an old Panasonic DVR, which only has S-video input. This does not involve HDCP. The HDMI source is not copy protected and I am not running it through a stripper, although I did try that briefly just to see if it made any difference. It didn't.

When I plug into the DVR, the picture quality is terrible, almost no colour at all except for a little faded blue, and there are interference lines running through it. Yet if I plug straight into the TV, or via the amp, the picture is fine, with strong colours.

Clearly something in the DVR is interfering with the input signal. I get the same result with both s-video and composite. I don't know if this has to do with copy protection or something else, but the source signal is definitely not HDCP and when I test with a computer HDMI, I get the same result. Picture quality is fine as long as it doesn't go through the DVR.

Does anyone know what is getting in the way here? Is there a fix for this? I'm not looking for solutions that involve other approaches. I need a way to get this specific thing to work, HDMI to S-video to DVR. Why does it work without the DVR, but not with it? Any information would be most welcome.