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Mike I do understand what you are saying and I repeat that when researching recorders, on an av site, posters/users were saying the same as you, ie that you can't watch one programme and video another. Some of these posts were from people who had already bought it and were complaining about it. Then another posted that they were all wrong and you can watch one and record another and one by one they all cottoned on. So I went ahead and bought it (DMR-EX79) and yes, he was right, you can. So you are not the only person to be puzzled it. Trouble is it was 2009 when I got it and I can't remember exactly what was said but it was something like - you need to watch it, or tune it (not sure which), through the TV. And as I said my friend set it up without any trouble and it was fine. Thank you so much for trying to help though.