VCR and the digital switchover

[bobthefisherman]

Afternoon all....

I'm not very good with technology, and this may be a stupid question, but, we had the digital switchover forced upon us last night, and now we cannot record anything on our VCR....
The OH's teenage sister has had a look at it, and can't come up with any ideas....

Do we need to buy one of these digital recorder thingys, or is there some way around it?

Bob.

[foxyferret]

I have the same problem. There is nothing wrong with it, you can still play back videos I think. I need to buy a digital tv recorder I have been told. You can get some which record to a disk, and some which record and store on a hard drive until you want to delete them. If you like to keep things forever, a disk one is more appropriate.

[bobthefisherman]

Thanks foxy,
I thought that might be the case. I'm glad we can still play them back - I've got hundreds of them going back about 25 years or so...

[VHG]

A VCR has a TV tuner inside it.

When you record something on a Video you are NOT using the tuner in the TV, but the tuner in the VCR.

And the tuner in the VCR will be analogue, and so is not picking up a signal any more.

So your VCR is NEVER going to be able to record programs from the TV tuner inside.

I believe there are ways of wiring up a VCR so it picks up the signal from the TV tuner (but I have never done it).

As has been said, you can continue to play VCRs.

You may now need to buy a digital recorder thingy, with a hard disk in it, which is far better than using video tapes anyway.

[bobthefisherman]

Thanks very much VHG,

That explains everything,

I'll go out and buy a thingy (with a hard disk) - I don't want to attempt wiring things up......

[VHG]

I found this web page which shows you how to set up your TV so the signal from the TV is fed into the video recorder so you can still record videos.

Not done it myself so you are on your own.

http://www.switchhelp.co.uk/faq_video.html

[ChuckFickens]

Errr, that page is about how to use a VCR and a cheap set top box.

Recording from the TV tuner will almost certainly not work, pretty much all TV SCART sockets are input only, it's very rare to find one that outputs anything to make it suitable to connect to a VCR.

Besides, if you used your TV tuner you'd have to leave your TV on (and set to one channel) to record anything, not entirely practical if you're going out or to bed.

[bobthefisherman]

Thanks Chuck,

I can't be bothered with these cheap set-top boxes, it just creates clutter and more work.....
I'll just go and get a new recorder, it's not that urgent....

[denis567]

I understand everything that is being said about a VCR not being able to record on the digital channels, but a few years ago (probably 5 or 6 ) we used to enjoy watching Colin Fry on Living TV, and we used to record the programmes onto tape, via a digibox and VCR, so I cannot understand how that squares up with the current situation.

[foxyferret]

since my reply, I have been having a fiddle. I found that by pressing the "input" button on my video, I can record the channel I am watching but obviously as soon a you change the channel you get snow. The display on the video changes to L something on mine but I guess they are all different. As Chuck says, you have to be physically there to turn the video on and off, but I found that I could turn the TV off and as long as I left the digi box on the channel I wanted to record,it did record. I am going to get a new digital recorder soon but I thought this may be helpful info meanwhile.

[foxyferret]

sorry, ref my previous, I should have said by pressing input on my remote control for the video.

[roslyn251254]

I have an excellent Toshiba dvd/video recorder with built in freeview - about £120 i think. It is brill - it can record onto dvd or video tape, you can watch a dvd or video tape whilst recording something on the other, you can copy a video tape onto a dvd or vice versa. I am very pleased with this machine. Hard disk would not be so good for me as I like to watch video or dvd on different sets.

[bobthefisherman]

Thanks foxy,
My digital thing's built into the TV, so I'd have to leave it on while I was out, and probably record things I don't want....
I'll just buy a recorder. It's a good excuse for the missus to go shopping with a legitimate reason....

[bobthefisherman]

roslyn,

that sounds perfect - where did you get it?