Need help hooking up Directv to receiver (1 Viewer)

[Sheena]

I have my DirecTv receiver hooked up to my receiver. But I want to be able to record things on my VCR without turning on my VCR whenever I want to watch TV. Can someone give me any suggestions on how to hook up the audio/video so that this works??? THANKS!

 

[Lew Crippen]

This pretty much depends on your DirectTV receiver (and possibly your VCR). I have two RCA receivers, one with a digital 5.1 optical output and one without. The receiver that has the 5.1 output also has a jack for controlling VCRs and the receiver came with cable that has a plug to go into the jack on one end and an infrared bulb on the other. Plug the cable into the jack and tape the infrared unit to the infrared sensor on the VCR. Then go through the DirectTV menu and assign the correct VCR code to the DirectTV receivers (your can train the unit, if you don’t know the code).

After that, there are options to record programs from the station guide. It is pretty much a one-button operation. When the program comes on, the receiver sends a signal to the VCR to begin recording. And another to stop. The DirectTV receiver takes care of the correct channels.

The digital receiver was about $200, but a $50 discount was included.

My standard receiver does not have this feature.