Vcr Recording From Digital Cable (1 Viewer)

[Darren Oleski]

Hi -

My best friend depends on my input for all of his audio/video purchases. But he asked me about something of which I know little about...vcr's. He basically wanted to know about buying a new vcr. How can he be assured that it's tuner will allow for recording of all the channels he gets from his digital cable service?

What do we look for in the vcr's specs that will tell us this?

Thanks!

 

[Marc Rochkind]

All digital cable systems require some sort of set-top box that does the tuning, so the VCR is not involved in the tuning if you set up the recording manually.

However, to do it automatically requires a little device (forget what they're called) that goes from the VCR to operate the set-top box's remote function, so the VCR can change the channel. My VCR (a cheap JVC S-VHS model) didn't come with the gadget, but with a card that I sent it to get one free, which I did. Haven't used it yet, though.