Using VCR w/ digital cable box...

[~Maxx]

Greetings everyone. I have what will hopefully be a simple question...

I just got first my digital cable box a couple of weeks ago and I'm trying to figure out a way that I can use my VCR in conjuction with it in such a way that the VCR will record the shows that my fiance' likes to watch using the VCRs timer feature. I have a feeling that this will be a bit tough to explain in detail - but I'll give it my best...

First of all a rear view of my cable box can be found here (http://un2maxx.com/images/cable%20box.GIF). The VCR is a standard stereo unit with coax and RCA I/O.

What I need is to be able to use the VCR as an analog receiver seperately from the cable box. My fiance' likes to record her soaps during the day while she's at work, and often wants to record a certain TV program while watching another. If I wanted this post to be 1,000 pages long I could explain everything that I've tried already in detail - but most of us don't have that kind of time. Basically the cable box will not work if I run the VCR first in the chain, and the VCR will not record its own signal if I run the cable box first. The manual for the box (which can be viewed here (http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/DCT2500/downloads/DCT2500_User_Guide.pdf) ) does not explain in any kind of detail what each of the connections are on the back of the box and there are a couple of them that I'm not too sure about. The preceding pdf file does state the following on page 22 under "Cabling with the RF bypass"... "The RF bypass allows you to view an unscrambled analog channel on a TV while recording another channel..." This sounds like what I need - however the cabling schematic shown does not in fact allow the VCR to record anything other than the channel that the cable box is set to.

Anyway... Sorry for such a lengthy post. If anyone has any suggestions, or can explain to me the connections on the RF bypass box I would be very gratefull. I am a home recording enthusiast, and have a pretty good working knowledge of analog and digital audio signal compared to most consumers. But this cable thing has got me stumped. I'm actually a bit embarassed to have to ask for help - but oh well.

Thanks in advance...

~Maxx

[jstout66]

dude, I still use my VCR to tape tons of stuff. I have one unit hooked to my digital cable box. Your input cable wire goes to the input on the converter box. The wire from the output on the cable box that says (to tv) goes into the input plug on your VCR, then you run your output wire from the VCR to the TV. Now here's the limitations..... Your tv and VCR must be tuned to the output channel of the box (either channel 3 or 4) You can only change channels thru the box. You no longer change them thru the tv or VCR. You can set the time on the VCR but you will always have to remember that you set the channel to the output channel on the box (either 3 or 4) and you MUST have the box turned on AND set to the real channel you wanna tape. It's kind of a pain, but I do it all the time. It sux that you lose the ability to tape one show while watching another. I have VCR/DVD combo units on all my sets and I still have a few hooked to the cable directly so I can still use the watch one/record another feature. You might wanna do the same thing if you think taping off the digital box will be a pain. Hope this helped.