VCR/DVD tuner?

Question

I'm looking to buy a VCR/DVD combo for a friend.. the price is 39.99 after rebate, a Magnavox. However, I'm confused as to whether or not it's the right one to buy. All the combos say they don't have a tuner, which I know means it can't record from TV. However, is it possible to add a tuner? The deal is just too good to give up.. My friend has digital cable, so I'm not sure how we'll go about hooking it up. She has a VCR now, but it doesn't work, it's apparently broken. Think I should go ahead and buy this combo?

Answer 1

It might be possible to run from a video out on your cable box to a video in on your VCR recorder but chances are your cable box employs content scrambling which VCRs can not decode. This is a form of analog content protection called Macrovision ACP.

It is explained in depth here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrovision...

Answer 2

If your friend's TV has enough inputs, it may be better to have a separate VCR and DVD player. The VCR will probably have an NTSC and a Cable tuner built in. It  won't have a digital tuner compatible with digital cable, but regular cable can still be recorded. Avoid the combo if you want to keep the friend.

Answer 3

Since your friend already has digital cable, a built-in tuner will be of limited use for her, since digital cable uses a different sort of tuner than the one normally found in TVs or VCRs (hence the need for the cable box.)

If she wants to record from cable, she'll have to connect the digital cable box to the inputs on this VCR/DVD combo box.  Most cable boxes have multiple outputs, so this shouldn't be a problem.  Just get a standard AV cable (the yellow/red/white type) and use that.  Be aware that she'll only be able to record whatever channel the digital cable box is set to, so she won't be able to watch one channel and record another.  Also, if she wants to record a show while she's out of the house, she'll have to manually change the cable box's channel before leaving.  (some boxes allow you to schedule channel changes to help with external recorders.)

Of course, this assumes that this $40 combo box actually has any inputs.  If it doesn't, you're essentially buying a VCR that can't record, making this a $40 piece of junk.