I have a samsung hdtv with built in tuner and my surround sound receiver and the cable box all connected and they work fine. i also have a toshiba vcr connected and it plays vhs just fine. i'll set it to record a tv show but when i go to the channel its set to be recording theres no picture or sound shown on the tv for what its supposed to be recording, so, its not doing that. in the samsung manual it shows how to connect a vcr to play tapes and then on the next page it shows how to connect another vcr to record shows. well, my vcr can play and record so why do they show setup for 2 vcr's, one for playing and another for recording? If I can use only my current one what connections need to be made to which devices so it will record vhs? Thanks,Jim
Jim - I am having the same problem - read my note I just posted under the DVR category. I think the cable box (DVR) must be the reason we cannot record tv shows now. Ruby ----------------------------------
Comcast was out yesterday and installed the DCT3412 DVR with digital service. Previously, we had no digital service with just the HDTV set top box for viewing high-def through our recently purchased Hitachi CRT big-screen TV.
After he made the connections, and I turned on the VCR, there was just a blue screen - although playing a VCR tape works just fine. He mumbled something about we wouldn't be watching digital TV through our analog VCR anyway. I didn't realize at the time that if there is NO PICTURE - then we couldn't RECORD a TV show.
I know we can record a show through the DVR while watching another live show but SOMETIMES there is a 3rd show on that we would like to record - that is when we would have used the VCR.
The WEIRD thing is that when I turn the VCR on, and tune it to channel 3, I can change the channels with the Comcast remote...but, of course, the VCR's channel has to stay on channel 3...so no recording different channels.
What in the world did he do? I have never, ever, had a VCR that had to be set to channel 3. Is it because the DVR's tuners are both digital and the VCR is analog?
He has the "cable in" going into the DVR, then the DVR's "out to the vcr/tv" going to the VCR, then "VCR out" going to the TV. All the other connections were left the same.
We have a TV/VCR combo in the other room where we could record a 3rd show but I can't figure out what happened to the VCR connection I'm talking about above.
Hi Ruby, With a DVR you can record shows by using it. Mine isn't a DVR, its a plain Comcast box. I priced a Comcast DVR box to replace my current Comcast box and it's another $55.00 a month which I can't afford right now. So, right now I'm stuck waiting for any help with the VCR to record shows or I'm just going to get a DVD player/recorder for a good price. The DVD player/recorder should work fine instead of a VCR. Let me know if you get any answers from them. Thanks, Jim
Before getting the DVR, we just had the regular HD cable box and had no problem recording on our VCR BUT the way the Circuit City guy had it hooked up was Cable into VCR then out to CABLE BOX - it worked BUT the cable guy had a fit when he saw this hookup saying it was all wrong. We did see an improvement in the ANALOG channels when he hooked the DVR with CABLE directly into the DVR first but now we can't record with the VCR.
So...you might want to try that if you are not hooked up that way now.